a week of hellos and goodbyes

Last week was fairly normal, except that I was sick (sinus-infectiony something), so I was resting a lot. I started working with some new kids in aula de recurso. They all seem like they'll be pretty fun to work with. I've got one more new one to start this coming week. I'm still enjoying my work there, but I've managed to give myself a lot more prep work. I had all my kids read a beginners chapter book, and then when some of them were finishing, I decided to let them pick what book they want to read next. I have a few chapter books that I'm letting them choose from and then if they don't see any of those that looks interesting, I'm letting them chooise a story book. As expected, they're all choosing different books, which is great, 'cause hopefully it means they will really like what they're reading. But it means I now have to write comprehension questions for a lot more books, rather than just copying ones I already wrote. So I'll be doing a lot of that soon!

Last Thursday (a week ago) we had our hello event. Manh Hung, our volunteer coordinator who went back to Germany for emergency surgery came back, along with the NPH dance group who had been on a trip to the States to raise money. (They raised a lot!!) The kids were really excited to see their siblings and friends return, and they were also really excited to see Manh Hung. It's nice for us as well to have Manh Hung back. Birgit (our interim volunteer coordinator) did a great job, but she was working as an occupational therapist at the same time, so she had a lot less time to spare than Manh Hung. It's especially nice for Birgit, since she can now go back to being a therapist, which is what she really wants to do.

Then Friday was our first goodbye. Anne, an art therapist from the Netherlands, left to go home. She arrived a year ago January, so she stayed longer than the normal one year. She wanted to help Lislot (the new art therapist, also from the Netherlands) get started. She did that, and then spent some time just being with the kids, and not having to work, which I know was really nice for her. So Friday she had a party with a dj that she paid for. She wanted to make sure her goodbye was upbeat, and not sad. So the kids all came to the ranchon and danced. I left early because loud music and dancing isn't my favorite thing and I was still really tired from being sick. But I stayed up because we had a cake and a present for her after the party.

Last weekend was really quiet. I rested a lot, and also got caught up on some work that I hadn't done because I was sick. We (the volunteers) did an activity Saturday morning. It was kinda random, but the kids liked it. Six volunteers painted their face a different color (with watercolors) and then had a watercolor set with them. We spread out around the field. The kids had to run to each of us and we would give them an excersice (jumping jacks, run to the edge of the field and back, whatever). When they did it, they would get a dot of our color on their face. While they were doing this, some of the other volunteers plus some tios were being the "ghosts" which meant they were running around with wet cloths or toilet paper and wiping the dots off the kids' faces so they had to come back and do the excersices again. When a kid got all 6 dots, he or she had to find three other kids with all 6 dots, and together they could "capture" the ghosts and then they couldn't erase dots for two minutes or something. There was no real end to the game. We just ended when the kids got tired and all disappeared to drink water. But they seemed to like it, and the tios had fun too, so it was nice.

This week I was working at the school as normal. Nothing very different or exciting to report! Yesterday was our 2nd day of goodbyes. Yesterday (Wednesday) was the last day for Kristin (our phsycologist) and Tio Paco and Tia Rosa. Tio Paco was the director of the house, and Tia Rosa is his wife and was helping with the girls' house. They will be going back to Mexico (where they're from. Tio Paco grew up in NPH Mexico, and I'm not sure if Tia Rosa did too, but I don't think so). Kristin is going back to Norway. So to say goodbye to them we had a big lunch on the beach and then games and music all afternoon. It was a really nice day, esp since there was a really nice breeze on the beach, so that helped with the heat. Then that night we surprised Kristin with a bonfire on the beach. She was up saying goodbye to the kids, and three volunteers went to get the fire started. When Kristin came back, we blindfolded her and led her to the beach. She was very surprised and happy. We roasted marshmallows and cooked bread on sticks(that's a German thing I think). And we also sang songs. So it was very nice.

Then today there is no school, because May 1 is labor day here so all the workers get the day off. So Sana, the volunteer in charge of the family program, took all the kids without siblings at NPH to the beach, because they were sad because they never get to do fun events. And the rest of us are here working and helping out with things here.

This weekend we're going to San Juan del Sur for a volunteer vacation. Everyone is coming, not just the people who have descanso. So that's will be fun I think.

So it was a bit of a sad week, saying goodbye to two volunteers. I didn't know either one really super well, because it's hard to get to know someone really well in less than 4 months, but I really enjoyed spending time with both of them. But soon new volunteers will come. A nurse is coming at the beginning of June, and a phsycologist is coming later in June. And we're still inviting some other volunteers, so we'll see if they accept.

That's about all the news from here. I'll probably write Monday about the San Juan trip because I'm just going with the group that doesn't have descanso (even though I have descanso) because San Juan isn't my favorite place, so I don't feel like spending money to be somewhere I don't like that much anyway. It'll be nice for two days with the group, but I'll spend Friday and Monday here just relaxing and maybe getting some work done. It's cheaper too!