Last Blog From Monte Cristi for 2009!

http://picasaweb.google.com/Geedz913/Jaramillo?feat=directlink (pictures from Monday)

http://picasaweb.google.com/Geedz913/InstituteParty?feat=directlink (pictures from today)

I know you are all going to have hours of free time now that my blog will take a short break while I'm home but don't cry too hard.

Yesterday I spent most of the day working on revamping some old units to get ready to post for the volunteers to have access to. In the afternoon I spent some time with the kids hanging out after working on the Feliz Navidad picture of the kids that we had taken the previous day. It didn't turn out very well because most of the kids weren't looking and the letters were all mixed up.

In the evening I was going to go to my room and work some before culto but I ended up sitting over on the basketball court with Jenny and Arianni. Jenny was teaching Arianni a song that is on the radio that I'm sure has some pretty dirty, negative meanings. She always was having her dance in some promiscuous ways to the song. It was sad to see a little girl so young following her older "sister's" commands and doing whatever she wanted. However, she was still a 4 year old and not listening. Sometimes she would just sing jarble to annoy Jenny. But it was fun hanging out with them. Arianni was sitting on my belly as I was laying down. I could sit like that and hang out with her all the time!

We had culto with the kids at 8pm. They had a hard time calming down for some reason but finally they got somewhat quiet and we started. They sang several songs and opened the floor up to anyone. Nena came up and sang by herself, all shy which is odd because she is the ring leader and always crazy, and then Bebo and Christine got up and sang Here I am to Worship in English and then in Spanish. Mancho preached about Jonah and the whale and did a great job. It is so funny because the younger boys will get up and preach but they are so shy! They speak so softly and race through their preaching. He did a great job and made it most of the way without help.

After culto, Bebo, Bella (a university girl here visiting), and Nicol were playing a game. One person would hide their face against the wall and the others try to run forward. The person hiding says, uno, dos tres, mariposita and then turns around and if they see you moving you go back to the start. However, here the person counting can come and talk to you and make faces at you, etc. It was hilarious! Bella, Bebo, and Nicol were saying hilarious stuff to each other and making each other laugh. Bebo at one point was squatting down and Bella said, “you aren’t on the toilet, stand up”, so he started laughing and had to go back to the start.

Today was another day of work but some play. We had lunch at Comedor Adela in town and then I headed to the Institute. They had Christmas parties today for each of the English classes. They did crafts, then sang the song the classes had been practicing all week, and then had treat bags and listened to Christmas music. I worked up until the last class and then watched them sing in the park and hung out with them at their little party.

We headed back here afterwards and Heather and I decorated a cake for Vivian. She leaves Saturday with me but won’t return. We had Moni make two cakes, one big one and one small one. The small one we cut a heart out of and put on top of the big one. Now this sounds pretty, but it wasn’t quite as successful as we had imagined. However, the cake turned out pretty well. It said “We’ll Miss YOU!”. I have a picture!

After dinner, I spent time hanging out with the kids. I chased a few around for a little while but then had to stop since my belly was full. I sat on the basketball court and played with multiple different kids, tickling them, catching them, and just talking. Joanni came and sat in my lap and we started singing different songs in English. We called Christine over for some help and there were several kids, me, Christine, and Heather singing songs in English. It was a lot of fun!

I said my goodbyes to everyone as I won’t be seeing these kids for a month since I’ll go to Jaibon (the other orphanage) the first week I’m back in January. It will be weird not seeing them for so long! Tomorrow we are headed to Jaibon to help set up and get ready to host groups there. We’ll be doing all kinds of work projects and we’ll spend the night in Jaibon tomorrow before heading to the airport on Saturday. See some of you very soon! Good night!