"Boys go to stupider to get more stupider. Girls go to knowledge to get more college."

Today was another awesome and tiring(in a good way) day in Salamanca.

Also, happy birthday Daddy, congratulations on your oldness. I love you!

We started the day around 12 when we left for the casino. Earlier this week we found out that the casino is the largest employer in the county. We also learned that Native companies are supposed to have 51% employees that are native. But they didn't. As a group we noticed that we hadn't seen one easily identifiable native in the entire casino/hotel. The casino itself was new and gorgeous- fully outfitted with sculptures and marble-ish material counter tops.

Because most of us aren't 21 we had to be "escorted" across the game floor to get to the place where we were having lunch. Now this was hilarious. The security guard at the front of the casino, in his blue and black uniform, took his job very seriously. In order to get to the other side (yes, we're chickens crossing the road) he had to walkie talkie the other side and get 'approval". He pressed the button on the walkie-talkie clipped to his shoulder and repeated "We have four female minors and one female adult accompanying. Four female minors crossing the floor. Four female minors crossing the floor." Then he handed us paddle number 4, said we were good to cross, but first told us that we must to stay on the turquoise carpet. "It's like the yellow brick road, stay on it," he said. It was like a game of hot lava, if you stepped on the red you'd melt. Mr. Security Guard also told us that we couldn't look at anything. Because he was going to be watching our eyeballs the entire time.. okay buddy. As I walked through the casino with my blindfold on I noticed the casino smelled of smoke. There were so many slot machines. While we were walking through I kept expecting to see G-Ma around the corner, sitting and playing the slot machines. Unfortunately, she wasn't there but I'll be calling her tomorrow because I miss her. Anyways, we ate lunch at a cafe in the hotel and it was pretty good. I ate chicken wings and finished all of them, I really need to cut back on the eating.. woops.

After lunch and gift shop perusing we headed over to the Youth Center.

It was another gorgeous day in Salamanca. We spent the afternoon playing outside, taking in the fresh air and sunshine. I started the day on the swings with Hannah. I think I've spent more time on the swings the past two days then I have in about 6 years. We talked about how school was going, what she did in school today, and what her favorite subject is. Those questions seem to be the go-to questions that I ask when the kids first get to the center, it's easy conversation. As more kids started to arrive we started up a game of kickball that entertained a bunch of kids till about 4:30. The way kids play games amazes me. They're always super strict with the rules, but secretly trying to cheat so their team wins. Someone made a really good observation earlier today- "Everyone always wants to play offense, no one ever wants to play defense." That lead to a more philosophical conversation. But back to the playing. We played frisbee (note: kids aren't great at frisbee, but they try so hard that it's cute) but that didn't last long. We also played a long game of catch with the football. My arm is sore, but I think the guys realize I can play sports pretty well. Now that I mention soreness, my entire body is sore.

While we were swinging kaylee exclaimed "I can see the entire world from here!" On her next up swing up she said "Hey look, there's Jupiter." That's where the title of this post comes into play. The two girls swinging almost immediately started singing "boys go to jupiter to get more stupider, girls go to college to get more knowledge" only, those weren't the words they were saying. Instead they went on for about 5 minutes saying the line "Boys go to stupider to get more stupider. Girls go to knowledge to get more college."At least they had the college and knowledge in there (even if it was in the wrong place). I wanted to tell them what it really was, but I just didn't have the heart. They were so cute and so into the chant that I let them roll with it. They also didn't know any other lines but those two. It was a good five minutes.

Today I had the opportunity to talk to a few of the older students. For the most part I've been playing with kids middle school and younger so it was nice to hear from some high school kids. We talked about everything that you go through when your a teenager. They aren't much younger than me and I know sometimes all you need is a person to listen to you that understands and won't judge you.

One of the boys told me that kids in Salamanca start drinking at about twelve years old. You're in seventh of eighth grade when your twelve, right? The group of boys also said that people start smoking cigarettes at ten years old. That one threw me off a little, in my group of friends I only have one or two that smoke. In high school almost no one smoked cigarettes, but here it was common for ten year-olds. One of the kids, I think he's 14, was playing basketball and was tired a few minutes into the game. He made a remark along the lines of "man I've gotta stop smoking." A sixteen year old told me that they used to smoke weed but that they stopped because it was too hard to play sports well.  I asked about how they knew where to get alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. Apparently there's a certain smell that the drug dealers houses have and you can tell where they are. The drug dealers keep dogs in case someone tries to run into the house and rob it or something like that. When it comes to alcohol and cigarettes, most kids have older siblings that they start drinking with when they hang out with them and their friends. A twelve year old chimed in and said that he would never hang out with his older brother. I asked why. He said that his older brother was a 17 year old dropout that's hanging out with a bad crowd and doing the wrong things(drugs and drinking). He didn't want that for his own life. I've come to realize that everyone has a lot of sisters and brothers. Everyone is cousins with someone or related in some way.

The conversation turned into relationships and how difficult they can be. A lot of them seemed confused when it came to relationships. They talked about how bringing someone home to their parents is a big step. On dates they'll go to Olean for a movie and dinner because there isn't much to do in Salamanca. They also talked about sex and the pressures and factors involved in it, how complicated things could get. It was interesting to hear that some girls were insisting on not using protection. I was shocked. I didn't want to get too involved in the conversation, my role was to sit there and listen to them talk about the things in their life. I couldn't help but wonder how many kids at the center were a product of this young and dumb mentality. One of the boys said he would always use protection because his mom had his brother when she was sixteen. He doesn't like the way she lives and he realizes the sacrifices that she had to make because she had kids so young. He also doesn't want his kids to go through that. I hope more kids understand that everything has a consequence.

We left the Youth Center sore, hungry, happy, and bordering on crazy. At dinner we came to the conclusion the more time you spend with kids, the more you think like them (a good or bad thing? not sure on that one). On our ride to Friendly's/ while inside Friendly's we had a few of what I like to call "gems". Here they are:

Kathy: "What's a Fribble?"
Me: "Its kind of like a thick milkshake."
Devon: "You're a thick milkshake!"

(While raising the roof)
Devon: You're ruining the roof!
Me: Nope, I'm just providing unequal support

Niki: I want to return to homeostasis.

I missed One Tree Hill tonight, which I'm really bummed out about, but I'll watch it tomorrow morning. When we got back we went into the lounge and watch Modern Family and Happy Endings. It was the first time I watched Happy Endings but I think I'm going to like the show a lot.

I'm off to bed for a long nights sleep, we don't have to be up until late tomorrow!

-Bree