So last week was a little bit of a hard week. It started off just fine, because I was on descanso and I just stayed on the island because I only had two days. So I read, used my computer, watched movies, cooked, and just generally relaxed. It was really nice. I think I maybe managed to even sleep until 8, which is really late for me in Nicaragua. The rough week started a little bit on these days because there was some confusion about some stuff my mom sent. She sent it down with Casey, a friend of mine that came with the St Olaf group, but it got left in the luggage that stayed in the office in San Jorge. So I told her no big deal, just leave it with someone at the office. Jayden (the subdirector) was going to the office on Monday, so I asked him to get it, but he came back and said no one in the office knew what he was talking about. So I got a hold of Casey and asked who she left it with. I let Jayden know, and I also told my roommate Birgit, because she was going to be stopping by the office on Tuesday. Well, she came back, and said she didn't have time to stop at the office, but that she had asked Raul (the head guy at the office) and he didn't know what she was talking about. So I was starting to get a little worried.

Wednesday was just a bad day all around. I went back to the school to start work again, and found that someone had broken into my room. Luckily everything valuable (the kids' binders with their work, the books, the math games, etc) were all locked up in the lockers. But whoever it was that broke in made a mess of the unlocked locker (just filled with papers) and also took some colored pensils that were sitting out, along with my broom. So although it wasn't really that big of a deal, because nothing THAT valuable got taken, it was still very annoying and didn't help my bad mood. So the rest of that day I was still trying to talk with Jayden to see if he could track down the stuff for me.

Thursday went much better. I went to the school as normal, and Jayden found me at 8:30, after I'd worked with my first two kids. He asked if I could leave right away to go to San Jorge to fill out visas for the dance group. He also said they had found my stuff, so I'd be able to pick it up. So that sounded like a great deal (I'd already said I would help fill out the visas- they had to be done in English, that's why they wanted someone from the US to do it.) So I ran out of the school, let some volunteers know where I was going, and got on the ferry at 9. I was at San Jorge all day, filling out visas, which wasn't the most interesting work, but it was nice to feel like I was being really helpful. So I got those done in time to catch the last ferry back to the island.

Friday was actually a nice day. There was no school, so I got to sleep in and catch up on some work in the morning. Then a group of important people from the government came to visit. The main reason for their visit was to see if the government might be interested in buying this property when NPH is ready to move, and then the idea is that they could turn it into a university specializing in agriculture. I think also they were here to see if they could help NPH out in any way. But so the dance group performed and there was a nice lunch. Then in the afternoon everyone went to a soccer game because it was the finals in the boys' island league. It was a two game final, and the first game ended with a tie.

Saturday was also an ok day. The second half of the soccer game was at noon, and then I had time to call home after we got back before mass at 7. So it was just a normal, relaxing Saturday.

Sunday was a big day, and actually a hard day. It was visitor's day here at NPH, so everyone got up really early to leave at 5:30. We caught an early ferry and went tot he office in San Jorge. Then the kids' families started to arrive. It sounds like such a nice day- the familes come to visit! But I'm not sure I saw any purely happy kids. There were lots of nervous kids at the beginning, wondering if anyone would even show up to visit them. And then as the families started to come, there were lots of mixed emotions from the kids who got visitors. They mostly seemed pretty happy to see whoever it was the showed up, but there were obviously lots of mixed emotions. Many kids didn't really want to stay with their families for too long, and preferred coming to check out the activities we (the volunteers) were doing, which were aimed at the kids without visitors. But as our psychologists reminded us, we don't know the history of these kids with their families. We don't know if there was abuse. Also, there's very understandably mixed emotions from kids whose relatives sent them (or were made to send them) to live in NPH. Some of the weirdest situations were where mothers showed up to visit their kids, and brought with them OTHER kids (the NPH kids' brothers and sisters). I can imagine how strange that must feel for a kid, to live in NPH when their brother or sister lives at home. And then of course there were the kids who didn't receive any visitors at all. Some seemed ok (more or less) but others were really sad. There were many kids still sitting at the gate at 1PM (the visitors started coming at 9AM, and the day ended at 3PM) just waiting, hopeing that maybe their visitor was just late. I sat with one girl for a while, and she just held my hand and leaned her head on my shoulder. Finally I bought her an ice cream. (That was another sad part- there was ice cream and other snacks for sale, so the kids with visitors were buying them, but the kids without visitors didn't have anyone to give them the money.) So we had some ice cream. Maybe that helped a bit. Besides being a hard day, it was a very LONG day, because we left the house on the island at 5:30 and didn't get back 'til 6PM. So we headed back to the volunteer house and relaxed for the rest of the evening. So that was my rough week.

Luckily this week has been going much better so far. Monday was school again, but an easy day for me because I only have two students on Monday. So I worked with them both before recess, and then came back and did some prep work at the house. On Tuesday exams were scheduled, so I headed up to the older girls around 4 to help them study. After dinner I continued Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with the girls, so that was fun. Tuesday was a strange day. We had mass at 7AM because a priest from the States was visiting. Then after that all the kids had exams, so I couldn't work with any of my students. So I came back to the house and did some prep. I worked a lot with the older girls on math in the afternoon, because Wednesday is math test day.

This morning again I can't work with any students 'cause their in exams, but we have our psychopedagogical team meeting at 10. And tomorrow I'll be able to work with kids again. Then Friday I go on descanso. I haven't actually decided where I'm going yet, so I'll write about where I went and what I did when I get back.