One of the girls got really sick this morning and that was not at all comforting to me. At the school, Katie and I had the kids watch Planet Earth and then translated the names of the animals into English for them. They made really cute posters afterwards of all the animals in the movie. Luke and Nisty taught them fútbol and really wore them out. When we were watching the movie with the younger grades, two girls (both 6 and both named Carla) got into a fight. Carla #1 shoved a dead bug in Carla #2's face. Carla #2 didn't like that and punched Carla #1 in the face really hard. Other than that, we didn't have as many problems with the kids today as we did yesterday. The teachers don't know a single word in English so they ask us how to say simple things like hasta mañana in English. While we watched Planet Earth, I had the kids repeat after me the animals in English and the teachers were also repeating with me. It was really cool to teach the kids AND the teachers while at the same time learning Spanish from them. Thats how I know that we are being useful when even the teachers are learning. Its so cute whenever we leave the kids just yell our names and tell us they can't wait til tomorrow. They have so much fun during weeks like these and that makes everything seem worthwhile.
These twin 4 year old girls were leaving the school as we were so we walked them home. They live really far away from the school and they make the walk all by themselves everyday. Ruth held Juan's hand as we walked and Elena held mine. They lived way past our bungalows so everyone else went back to our stay while we walked on. On our way back, we stopped at the house of an old friend of Juan and Pepe. They were some of the richest people in Lunahuana yet they still had dirt floors and no doors in their house except for the front door.
After that, we left to go to the orphanage. We walked for a good 10 minutes before we got to an actual paved road. There we waited for another 15 minutes before we hitchhiked a ride to the orphanage. The 7 of us sat down in the grass and started coloring. Eventually, the kids warmed up and came to draw with us. I played with this one boy who was 3 named Christian. He was too scared to come join the group. I think he was new to the orphanage and had been removed from his home. He had bruises on his face and his forehead was very swollen. It was so sad but it was rewarding being able to help a toddler like that. When we left the orphanage, we stopped a mototaxi (a "motorcycle taxi", basically a motorcycle with a carriage with wheels added onto it) and all 7 of us plus the driver piled in, the four girls in the back (that seats 2) and Juan and Luke on the back. Pepe drove and the actual driver hung on the outside of the mototaxi. It could barely make it up hills with so much weight. We joined a pick up soccer game with some of the local kids but it quickly turned into dodgeball, Juan and Pepe against everyone else.
We then went directly to the elementary school for the town meeting about what rustic pathways is planning to do to the school in the summer. We asked them for their input because they know what they need in their town. We had to drag ideas out of then but they were all good and positive. Then, 2 drunk guys came in halfway through. They were very rude and were telling us our ideas were crap and they had no idea why we were even trying. Their idea was a medical center, something completely not feasible. It would take so much money to get the supplies to run a medical center 24 hours a day that was better than the one provided by the government and they just didn't understand that. Juan and Pepe got so mad because they were calling us all stupid and then the villagers went at it with them. It was so chaotic and crazy because people just don't want to try to even understand. This week, we're here to help the kids and make them happy, which we have succeeded, not save the world.
Food was awesome as always. For breakfast we had fried cheese and fried yuca. For lunch we had sandwiches where the bread was mashed potatoes and the inside was chicken salad. Dinner was amazing as always. My second favorite meal. A squash soup (which I surprisingly LOVED) and rice with a meat sautéed in onions, tomatoes and French fries. I asked Juan to help me get the recipes and he's going to try and have the cook give us some cooking lessons!
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