This is my girl Karla. She's competitive, loving and can sometimes have the worst attitude but at the same time she's growing so much. Karla was the girl that when I first got here, I said to myself, that's my one, the one girl I'm going to find out her story and challenge her to come to practice and activities with a good attitude. So little by little I have been imposing myself on her life with house visits, choosing her for the Day of the Girl video (which didn't end up panning out, but we had a blast together filming) and just spending time with her when I see her out and about. She's a tough one, when she loves she loves willingly and fully but when she's angry or sad it's enough to make me cry sometimes with her. Recently we had a futbol sala night (indoor soccer) and everyone was being very loud, we needed to say something to the girls but weren't able to so Karla's way of helping was yelling fiercely in the other girls faces "CALLENSE!" which means SHUT UP! She continued to do it throughout the practice and my patience wore thin with her yelling. So I told her "Basta, tu tambien!" "Enough, you too" now I didn't yell but I was clearly frustrated with her. She was upset with me and her grudges hold long. Hassell luckily talked to Karla the next day and explained to her that I wasn't mad, even though I had tried to talk to her that night, she of course wouldn't hear me out. I figure by now she's forgotten and moved on from the situation but I've learned that even out of impatience I can't show anger towards these girls. The whole situation left me feeling awful after practice because I am here to love on these girls and sometimes patience does ware thin because they are young, growing and totally wild sometimes :) I think out of all the girls Karla has taught me the most so far, she comes off as hard to get to but in reality she is so proud of being a mariposa, of playing soccer, of her team and her friends. And when she does smile, which is rare, it's such a beautiful smile. I have a feeling she will end up blossoming into one of the great leaders of the mariposas by the time I leave.
