Read more: How to Add Meta Tags to a Blogger Blog | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_4432068_add-meta-tags-blogger-blog.html#ixzz1dedpEYPR - Capital on the Edge -: December 2012

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

POST by FRAN: A Quaint Little Quinceñera

Francesca, with Billy & Brian at Fran´s Quinceñera


Saturday, the 17th of November, was a very important day for me. I turned 15 on Monday the 12th of November, but my birthday party was on the 17th. In Latin America, turning 15 is a really important event; it is when you fully turn into a ‘señorita,’ or a young lady.

It is usually celebrated as a HUGE party! The quinceñera (lass turning 15 years old) wears a really poufy princess dress, which is usually light pink, but doesn’t have to be.

The parents invite all of their family and friends. It’s like a wedding in that way - the birthday girl usually does something with her dad, like dancing a waltz. There are usually 14 special people representing one’s 15 years of life.

It’s a big thing, but I’m getting ahead of myself…  Before my party it was disaster, just like a wedding… Everyone at the house was stressed out, trying to get everything neat and tidy. On the actual day of the celebration, the cake was delayed by 20 minutes, which in turn made us late for every other appointment!

Franny getting ready for her party

The tables and chairs didn’t have transportation… the center pieces were nowhere in sight… Everything had been moved a step behind all because of the cake! We had to go shopping for the food and then go to the salon; I was in the salon for four hours just having my hair and makeup done!!!!

Mum, Lorenzy, and I were dressed up and took some photos in the mall with granny on a little Christmas chariot covered with beautiful fairy lights. It was really embarrassing, but the photos turned out pretty!

Francesca taking a ride to the ball (or just having one)

We took off our dresses in the car and went back home where the disaster was. Anna was stressed out because she was doing all the decorating, our house looked amazing! Anna is an awesome big sister! I don’t want her to leave!

The place looked really good, the tables were neatly arranged around the pool, and fairy lights were in the trees. The center pieces were little plastic hearts sitting on top of a square mirror with candles to the side in a little glass cup with purple beads.

All the Trickers (talented teens who live with us) and dancers were putting on their purple shirts and black pants with reflector strips on the side. I was trying to drink a lot of water, trying not to get a head ache. I was starting to get nervous, “what if no one comes!?” “what if the cake got squished in the car?!” “What if? What if???!”

All the boys

I started to get my dress on at 6pm. I put on the under skirt that was bigger than the door, then I tried to put on my purple poufy dress. I couldn’t get it past my head because of my hair, so I had to take off the under skirt, step into the purple dress and then pull up the under skirt.

I felt like I couldn’t breathe for five minutes while granny tied up my dress with a purple string, sot that I looked just like a princess!

After the troubles with my dress I slipped on my high, HIGH heels. I walked around a bit to get used to them which probably wasn’t the best idea! My feet began to hurt, but the show must go on.

Francesca and her family

Before I knew it people were coming in and saying “You’re so pretty!!”  I went to the front to meet the people who were coming in. There were problems at the front gate and I was so dumb to go and get involved! I decided to just leave it to Nestor, the guard, to sort out and go enjoy myself.

That night was the night that I will remember for the rest of my life… Dad singing ‘love was made for you and me’ with the letters of my name… The Trickers and the dancers doing a dance mix up (it was really funny, especially the part when Yordy started to head bang in front of me!). We danced and just had a load of fun that evening. I will never forget that night, and even the cake was perfect too!

Franny and her cake

POST by FRAN: Doing the Brien´s Dirty Work

Fran and Yader, performing domestic duties



We are used to cleaning our clothes by a washing machine and a dryer right? Well here we only have a washing machine and it doesn’t really get the clothes very clean… I am the wonderful person who has to do the washing and the first time I washed the clothes they came out dirtier than when I had put them in!

I had to come up with creative ways to get the clothes clean. I tried rewashing them in the washing machine, and it worked a little bit. I tried soaking the clothes in washing detergent and water and then washing them in the machine, but in doing this the clothes only got a really bad smell!

My friend came around to the lavandero (laundry) and saw me taking out a bunch of dirty clothes from the washing machine. She said “why are the clothes so dirty?” “I’m not really sure” was my response.  “Well why don’t you do this?” She grabbed a rather dirty t-shirt out of my hands and put it on the lavandero and applied some soap on it and started scrubbing with a hard bristle brush. Low and behold the dirt came off straight away!

I grabbed all the really dirty clothes, which were mainly jeans and white t-shirts. We both worked together. It was a lot of work but the clothes weren’t dirty anymore!

I started to do this more often and it was a lot of work but my arms are getting very strong.  My arms started getting into shape! The clothes looked really good… except for the white clothes. I needed to scrub a lot harder and ‘put my back into it!’ One day my mum saw me scrubbing really hard and said ¨why don’t you use Clorox?¨

I got a little bit of Clorox in the lid; I had bad experiences before, so I scrubbed the white clothes with the Clorox and then put them into the washing machine with a little more Clorox and walla! Clean!!

My chore, for 2012, was to wash all the clothes and at the beginning, I didn´t know how to do my chore - I had to learn on the job and I had to learn from other people. I was never alone while learning.