I have a new home! Alleluyah!

I am still a little dumb-founded by today's events. For months now (7 to be exact, or ever since I got here) I have been dreaming of the day when I would be free of the donas and live in my own little casa. At the end of February was when Peace Corps would allow us to find our own houses in our communities, no more homestays. Well, I began looking mid-January with Maria Elena for a home here in La Victoria. We looked and we looked, we roamed the streets like the streets dogs and....nothing. Absolutely nothing that:
a) was safe
b) was within my Peace Corps budget
There are some quite nice apartments being built here. They are being built by my old host family in fact. They are the kind of apartments that I would want to live in in the US...and so they are very expenive. Well, not really that expensive, like US $250 per month, but on Peace Corps stipend that is all I get a month. There is no way I could spend all of my stipend on rent. Then another little casa was being built, but the same story, US $250 a month. If I spent all that on rent I would have no money for food, transportation or the occassionally trip to get together with other volunteers or to go to the beach. Plus, it really wouldn't look good for the Peace Corps volunteer who is supposed to be living humbly to live in a place like that.
So anyways, at the end of January, frustrated with my living situation and wanting a change I made a decision. I decided to live in the girls' home until I found my own casa to live in. Maria Elena was really struggling at the time. The two helpers for the home had left (the cook and another women who helped clean, do laundry, and spend the week nights at the home to help out). She needed help and I felt that I should at least have the experience of living in the home for a little while with the girls. I decided that it would be a temporary thing, just until I found my own house and that it would be mutally-beneficial for the girls and me to live together. Little did I know how hard it would be though.... I had gone from being a free-woman with few responsibilies other than for myself to being a mother of 21 girls. I began to resent my situation. I wanted to do something, I wanted to make a change and better the lives of these girls, but I was not ready to be a mother, let alone a mother to 21 girls!
My spirits began to drop. Although Maria Elena gave me plenty of time to "descansar" (rest) I found it hard to rest or sleep in the home. I was constantly on edge, just waiting for a little voice to scream "Molli!" or a knock on my door. I was feeling trapped, imprisoned in the home and resentful. I finally broke down and told Maria Elena I wasn't sure how much longer I could take it. Being the incredibly undertanding woman that she is, she told me not to worry, that she would find a solution. Little did I know it would come so quickly though!
This morning after I came back from exercising she sat me down. She told me that a friend of her's had found a house in Villa Mella (a larger suburb about 20 minutes from La Victoria). She said it was very nice and that we would go visit the house and see it. It is a very nice house, three rooms, a living room, bathroom (with running water!) and kitchen and almost always has electricity. So, 30 minutes after looking at the house and discussing it, we gave the money for the deposit and ya! All my misery and anxiety was cured, just like that. That is what is so amazing about this country. You never know what will happen.
Even though I will be living there with Liliana (Maria Elena's friend) and her son, that really doesn't bother me at all. I will go to the girls' home at 9am and return at 5pm. I will have a life. I am very happy about all of this :)