Friday the Chapel Hill group packed up and headed back to the States. It was fun having them around and a little stressful too. Whitney basically took charge of most things. I was the go-to girl for meal time organization and when Whitney wasn't around. It was interesting being in charge of making sure someone else could find their way around here, and I don't just mean literally. I definitely learned a lot about how far I have really come in the past two months of my time here and how much I do really know about place. Hopefully everyone left with great memories!
The Chapel Hill group from L to R: Christy, Matt, Rob, Jenn, Katherine, Shania, and Whitney
Another new responsibility that has just come up recently is cleaning the comedor after almuerzo. It really doesn't take that long, cleaning here is quite the science, but it cuts out another 30 minutes of my break time. Losing a lot of that lately!
Friday some of my girls helped us clean as a form of punishment. You can see the puddle of soapy water on the floor that Ruth is pushing out the door using a large floor wiper. They use this method of cleaning for practically everything and for the surfaces here it is very effective.
As Lent had started this week, all the sections were required to visit the Stations of the Cross at the church before mass. The Stations of the Cross here are rather unique: all but four are outside the front before entering the chapel in a large circle. Two are inside the church itself and two more are in small gardens on the other side. It's very pretty and a moving way of experiencing the stations. A few of the more unique ones: Station 11, the crucifixion, is directly below the crucifix in the church and in front of the Eucharist; Station 14, when Christ is entombed, is in a small catacomb off the main chapel and literally like being in a tomb; Station 15, the Resurrection, is outside in a small garden with a small empty catacomb at one side and a beautiful statue of Jesus standing in the middle of the garden reaching out to you. All in all, a pretty powerful display.
That night, the section played soccer for about an hour and half. This is such a job, both because I love soccer so much and any excuse to play and I love sharing this joy with my girls. I've recently realized how fortuitous it is that I chose this descanso. I share work weekends with Ochoa as the year of service kids have a very similar work and descanso schedule as us. She is the more reserved of the two encargadas in our section, but by sharing work weekends with her I get to play soccer more because she loves to play as well and get to know her better through time and a shared love of soccer. She prefers offense, I prefer defense and we're always on opposing teams so quite often we're battling it out on the field. Good times!
Me, taking a break from the game. My team won A LOT of games in a row which meant we kept playing, but finally we lost one and I got to rest. ;-) Briefly.
Saturday was such a fun day. It started with chores and lice checking (not so much fun) and then activity time started with water games. This meant a range of activities, from a simple water balloon toss to soaking the soccer field and turning it into a giant puddle just for the fun of it. I had a pretty good time chasing kids and getting soaked.
A video that shows a little bit of how lice-checking works. Yes, that's me, looking through one of my girl's hair for possible bugs. Thankfully, once again, none of my repasos actually had lice.
The water balloon toss. Take special note of the little boy who saunters through the middle of the action towards the end of the video. That's Enrique Iglesias (or at least he likes to add that last part in introductions) and he's just one big ball of love.
One of the boys from chicos section. We became fast friends when I defended his drawing against peer criticism the week prior. We had a good time at the balloon toss and then chasing each other around the newly renovated soccer field.
Another of my English students from Grandes B. He's modeling the results of one of the other activities offered. I think the white stuff is flour.
The soccer field in all its wet glory! There were actually some pretty deep sections. You can imagine the chaos: wrestling, grass fights, running, soccer, football, good times.
Enjoying the other highlight of the morning: mangoes and oranges covered in salsa.
After the morning activities the kids headed to lunch completely soaked and then left for the pool. Pool time is different here. Swimsuits are more of a suggestion than a requirement. Kids swim in just about anything: regular clothes, pajamas, underwear, some swimsuits, and any combination thereof. It's quite the fashion show. I didn't actually jump in as I had already changed out of my wet clothes, but I had fun watching the action.
Enjoying the pool. The girls are in my section and the little boy is the girl on the right's youngest brother.
That night everyone headed over to the boys' area for a huge bonfire. Entertainment included marshmallows, a photo slide show from the past year, and lighting things on fire. As you can see in the photo below (right side), the boys were highly successful at starting other, non-regulated fires. I stamped out a few, but they were persistent in their efforts. Thankfully, we all left the event fairly un-singed and with the house still intact.
Another sibling family here at the home. The one on the right is in my section and her sister is in terceros, the oldest girl group. They are so sweet with each other and spend time together whenever they can.
So, bad news, my camera's on the fritz so my photos from Sunday are currently unavailable. The day consisted of several scavenger hunt type activities: rey pide which requires a huge list of items to be found in the section and preguntas (questions) which is exactly what it sounds like, a list of questions to answer. Other than that, pretty calm day.
