june 8. 2015
we were signed up to help with the dog clinic today, and got there at 8am. then we were told they would start at 8:30…9:00, 9:30…and people in the village would just bring their dogs to get fixed throughout the day, and the kids could comfort dogs coming out of surgery. well, one finally showed up, and we never saw the dog after the procedure. while we were waiting, abyl and luciano(the boy who helps around our house and the house in the village for nathalie-who owns both homes), was cleaning up the yard. we told him to have our kids help, and they planted and helped clean up branches and garbage. he’s a very resourceful kid! made two swings, put a ladder against the tree to help them climb, and made a see-saw by turning a table over and putting it on a cement block. we stayed at the dog clinic today(same house we rented for classes) until 11:00. we decided it was time to feed kids lunch.
we hiked up to our house, had lunch, sat and relaxed for an hour, and luciano wanted to take all the kids swimming in the lake. i’m a little nervous about this, because we know what’s dumped into the lake, but everyone swims in it, and it’s ginormous, so we are hoping it’s cleaning itself, and we let the kids swim in it. it got a bit choppy with the wind and waves coming in from boats, so we payed to let them swim at the vulcano hotel swimming pool(25Q-$3.25pp). sounded great-it was a beautiful pool and hotel, and we just enjoyed the amazing views.
price’s headed home before the storms, and we headed home up the mountain. luciano and his friend abyl were at our house working on heating our hot tub, but the rains came and that was nixed. there’s a small building by the hot tub that luciano likes to work in doing crafts and projects, and him and abyl were hanging out up there. we invited them in to play some games with the girls-and it was a lot of fun! they loved the game- spot-it, and then the girls got out some of the magic trick stuff they brought, and they had so much fun watching and learning the tricks. very intelligent boys-even though luciano stopped school at 7th grade, and won’t continue. abyl has continued school, and is in 8th grade.
we are learning a lot of spanish from these kiddos-it’s been great. luciano asked for a bread knife and bowl, and came back with freshly cut platanos rojos. he had me try one, and they taste like our bananas back home. so fun trying new things. jarom made brownies, and we wrapped up game time and they headed home after about an hour and a half.
a couple of the girls have started not feeling great-and who knows what germ or bacteria is causing the issue-we planned on this happening. gave everyone some flu herbs, and we hope they are strong enough to fight it.
tomorrow is our first day of classes with the kids. as much as i like walking around the village saying “hola” and “buenos dias”, it’s too weird and difficult to just stop in front of somebody’s shack home and start visiting with them. their homes are very simple, dirt floors, some with running water to a sink, some with no running water, maybe a table inside. laundry tossed over the tin roof or tin wall separating them from their neighbors. so we are excited to start getting to know and have fun with the kids where they are more on our turf…where we invite them in to play and do different activities. i hope it goes well, and we can make more friends. we are so grateful for luciano who has been our 14 year old buddy, interpreter, helper, and guide.
