Weekend Fun!

Take 2! Just wrote a long blog post, scrolled up with all the text highlighted to copy it, in case the internet went down, and it deleted itself somehow! AHH!

Anyway, I have had a fun relaxing weekend. Yesterday morning we said goodbye to some fun volunteers that had been here 2-3 weeks. It was sad to see them go. However, we had lots of work to get done for the group coming in later in the afternoon. We had to make 24 beds with sheets, towels, blankets, and mosquito nets! Then I met with Tom and Coco to discuss what the spring looks like for the Health Corps program. Looks like I'll be doing 4 weeks of medical clinics and 1 week of public health teaching! Should be a lot of fun, but very busy!

The afternoon I spent relaxing as we only had 4 people here at the orphanage. I used the time to call my Mom and Jo and get caught up with both of them. It was great hearing from them and finding out what is going on in the KY. Sounds like Baby Olivia is growing rapidly!

I made my way over later in the afternoon to play with the kids. Nena was cooking up some dirt patties served with a special weed on top. Franchesca, Jennifer and I enjoyed a great cuisine from her kitchen. Dirt mixed with water made into dirt hamburger patties and the weed smashed on top.

This game quickly ended because Lisy's Mom was here visiting and the kids love to sit and watch when parents come. About 10 kids were just sitting around staring at her Mom and her little brother who is 6 months old. Even Arianni who is normally so outgoing and boisterous was sitting there all shy and timid. It is amazing how the kids just love to hang out and see what is going on when parents come to visit. Lisy took me over to see "her baby" who was so cute. He only looked about 3 months old because he was so small. I asked her Mom to hold him and she handed him over. I was then quickly swarmed by 4 little girls wanting to hold him also. I'd put him in their arms but still hold on, and they would tell me to let go. I explained to them he was too little for them to hold alone, but then when I let Yanina, who is 20, hold him alone they didn't understand.

As her Mom got ready to leave, she got up, said goodbye to the pastor and started to walk away, then calling for Lisy to come say goodbye to her. It was as if she didn't really care that she was leaving, no dramatic goodbye or real sincere goodbye from what I saw. Often times the kids talk about going home with their parents, even if they never will, but I wish they could see what advantages they have living here. Food, shelter, clothes, love from the staff, their brothers and sisters, an education, etc. I guess at age 4 or 5 all you want is to go home to your Mommy and Daddy and be normal like your classmates or what you see on TV/in the movies.

Jasmin who grew up here and now lives in town came by to visit with her boyfriend and some other guys from town who came to play basketball. I talked with her for a little bit and then helped her round up some of the new volunteers that had arrived to play volleyball. She and Carolina, who still lives her, used to play volleyball all the time. The Americans weren't the greatest players so Carolina and Jasmin split up on separate teams. Before long, Carolina was playing on both teams. She would hit it over to Jasmin, who would then serve it up, and Carolina would come under the net and hit it back over, and then continue play on the other side by ducking quickly back under the net. It was quite hilarious, but at the same time amazing that she is so good and able to do that!

I sat down and talked to Nicol and Jasmin for a little while before getting my hair done by Nena. Lisy's Mom had brought her a big plastic barbie doll, like the twins got a couple of weeks ago, and Nena wanted to fix my hair like hers. So she started by pulling a piece from the front down the side by my ears on both sides and pulling it to the back. She didn't have hair clips to hold my hair down so instead I ended up with one big ponytail in the middle and two small side ponytails above my ears! Quite attractive I'm sure!

After finishing, she went crazy as she typically does once sitting still for too long. She was pretending to be a viscous dog and running around biting Indiana and me. We ran around screaming, yes I was screaming like a little girl, and she would catch up to us and bite our arms or legs. At first she was running on all fours, but this was too slow for her, so she became a two legged dog. It was pretty funny, until she got a little ferocious at times and bit too hard!

We pushed dinner back an hour because the group at lunch at 4:30 when they arrived, and the rest of the group was arriving around 7pm. Since it was later, the kitchen staff wanted to leave and I told them I would wash the dishes. So, after dinner I did as promised and washed the dishes that remained from dinner with some help drying them. We have a group of 28 volunteers here right now which means a lot of plates, forks, cups, but in the spring we'll have groups up to 250 people and I can't imagine doing those dishes 3 times a day! These women are AMAZING!

After finishing the dishes, I headed over to see the kids again. They were all inside their comedor. When I walked in, Arianni was eating some of our leftover pasta from dinner. She tried to airplane the food into her mouth so I took the fork from her and played airplane with her a couple of times. I'd miss her mouth, go to her ear, and finally feed her. Other kids and even the staff were laughing, but the best was her giggle! I sat down with Luis Alberto and watched Curious George. Mery loves monkeys now because of the book Bryson read all fall about the 5 Little Monkeys. Everytime commercials would come on, she'd tap me, and ask where the monkey was. She would almost pout until he came back on, and then she'd get so excited and tell me about it!

As I was leaving and saying goodnight, Arianni wrapped her arms around my legs and wouldn't let go. I had to tickle her away but she still got up and chased after me. I picked her up and took her outside with me. She said "I want to go to your house over there with you". I told her I lived in the trashcan and asked if she wanted to come in there with me. She said no and begged to be taken back inside. It is funny how afraid of the dark these little ones are. They are so resilient, but still have the same fears as all kids, even Nena who is tough as nails!

I know this post is super long but I have just had so many fun stories from yesterday and today so bear with me if you want to!

Today was another fun day. We had orientation this morning but then lots of free time with the kids. After lunch I spent some good quality time with the kids starting with some fun games of Knock-Out, a basketball game. I just have to brag about the fact that I beat one of the 15 year old boys here at the orphanage, along with Marcos who lives in town and plays basketball everyday! Well, after that game he got behind me and knocked me out of the game in the first round 3 times in a row. He continued to brag all day that he beat me 3 times, but for me to beat him, considering I couldn't make a shot for the life of me 5 days ago, I'm pretty proud!

After that I was heading up to shower but stopped to talk to Heather, Jessica, and Ari. Ari was cooking up some rice, beans, and juice, which really was just all rocks! I went over and ate some rice and beans and as I was waiting for juice, Nena came up and asked for cards to play. The kids are on a card playing kick right now, they get into these ruts and play the same thing for a while, then move on. Cards, coloring, and Knock-Out are popular now, which I love all of them!

I went and got the cards and we played Go Fish. Nena didn't know how to play this so I taught her, and Arianni, age 3 wanted to join. Well, after we started I realized she doesn't know her numbers! So, we'd just have her show us the card and we'd show her the card we wanted, but the whole game you could see her hand! She loved it though and Nena was still having fun so it was all good! We played Robyito, a Dominican game, until coloring books were brought out and they got distracted. Arianni didn't get the book she wanted so she wanted to play cards, and so did Mineli. Now I had two that didn't know their numbers playing. Made for an interesting game, but they had fun so that is all that matters! Mineli would lean over, ask Nena what the card was, and then ask me for it. She said "Do you have the number A?". So innocent and cute!

I headed up to shower, sort donations, and then heard that Luz Maria, Joanni, Nena, Indiana and Jose Luis' (all siblings) Mom was here and I wanted to meet her. I went down to see her and as soon as I sat down the 5 little girls that were around the mother came over to me and sat with me! Oops, didn't mean to steal them away! Often times they spend a little time greeting their parent but then continue playing as normal. Lisy was chopping up a cookie with a little plastic taster spoon that you'd get at an ice cream shop. I asked for a piece jokingly and they gave me a tiny piece so I actually ate it since they are packaged and I knew it was safe. They were so amused by the fact that I ate it that they gave me another little bite and then made me eat a bigger piece. Nothing like stealing a poor child's cookie! :) But they followed the typical Dominican by offering something when they have nothing!

I spoke to their Mom and little and as she was leaving she gave big hugs and kisses to her kids. I could tell she really loves them but just can't afford them so they live here where they have more opportunities. It was cute to hear the girls say "Mommy, this", or "Mommy, that".

Arianni came and crawled up into my lap and I started pretending like I was hungry and was going to eat her. I started nibbling at her nose, her ears, then her arms, legs, belly and back. She was giggling the whole time and saying "You aren't going to eat me". Then I started tickling her and she started "eating" me. I gave her a kiss on her forehead and then she wanted one on the lips, so I gave her one on the cheeks. She persisted about a kiss on the lips so I gave her one because she is hard to resist! Well, then she wanted to basically kiss all over me, and I kept telling her no and she would just belly laugh! So adorable! Even when I headed over for dinner she chased me up to our side and asked for another kiss. She wanted to eat dinner with us she said and I would love to have brought her to dinner, but obviously that would not go over well with the other kids!

Off to church with the kids, and the rest of the night just hanging out before bedtime!

Countdown 6 days til Mom and Dad arrive!