Well, this first week was like three weeks (anyone else like The Jerk?). It was pretty long, filled with meeting a million people, going to ehh 20 hours of Spanish classes, and training for my new job. The first couple days were exciting but also kind of like a slap in the face when I realized that I am actually here, and will be here for an entire year. Feelings of "ahh what have I gotten myself into?" have been fairly balanced out by realizations how amazing this coming year has the potential of being.
I have resolved to remember that I am here to love the kids, and I want to spend as much time with them as possible. Several sweet and welcoming gestures from many of the high schoolers have really touched me this week- many have invited me to eat with them, asked me to go ahead of them in line for lunch/dinner, offered to help me carry the huge water jug for our house, invited me to play sports with them, and one boy even worked for a solid 10 minutes to machete open a coconut just so I could try a cup of fresh coconut milk. As intimidating and unapproachable teenagers can seem at times, I have been grateful to have met many that are going out of their way to be kind to me. I'm finding my go-to topics of discussion with them are food, school, music, sports, tv and movies, the World Cup, and el amor with the girls haha. I am hoping to learn all their names asap, but it's hard when there are ~75 girls and ~75 boys.
For the sake of keeping this puppy relatively short (I'd like to write a little more often in shorter posts, but our internet was extremely unreliable this past week with the rain from the hurricane) I'll just outline my average day so far so A. you can know what I've been up to and B. you know when you can (hopefully) find me online to skype or fb chat. It'd be one-sided if I only told you about my life and didn't get a clue as to what's going on with you...not to mention not fair!!
Here's my average weekday for last week and this coming week...it will change soon:
~7 am or 7:30 am-> wake up and get ready
8 am-> leave to catch the bus to language school
9 am-11 am-> grammar class with my teacher Martha (a little on the crazy side but nice) with 2 other students, a teacher from the US and a really nice woman from Holland who works with the deaf for Wycliffe Bible translators
11 am-1 pm-> conversation class with Luis(?) with a group of 3 teachers from the US, my Dutch friend Bernadet, a Catholic priest, and I...we read stories/books out loud and talk about them...yep. I do better when I get coffee in between the sections. I am probably the least 'eager beaver' of all of them, but it is not a bad time. Everyone in the class but Bernadet and I go off on excursions every afternoon and keep asking me why I can't come...I have work, derrr. haha.
1 pm-2 pm-> take the bus back to NPH
2 pm-2:30-> grab lunch at the dining hall. I really like the food so far!
2:30 or 3:30-5:30-> training for working in the sponsorship office. This involves translating letters the kids write to their godparents (sponsors) and mailing the letters to the correct Friends of the Orphan region offices in the US and Canada.
5:30-6:30-> CHILLAX
6:30-8 pm-> activity time! All the kids have to get out of their dorms and participate in an activity. Last week I went to running club once, played card games, and watched the boys play in a soccer tournament on the cancha de futbol. I hope to go to running club again this week, play volleyball, and play guitar with the musically oriented kids. I think it would be cool to try to get to know different groups of kids by doing a different activity every day.
8-9 pm-> dinner in the cafeteria with the kids.
9 pm onward -> do any language school hw when I have it (I thought I was done with hw!?), CHILLAX, read, go to bed early as possible!
Other highlights of the week:
-Lifeteen, or the kids' youth group on Wednesday night was a really fun time. Two boys played guitar and we sang worship songs, all songs I know and love, just their Spanish versions. We (the new volunteers) introduced ourselves and the kids went around in a circle and introduced themselves to us.
-I bought a cheapo cell phone at the mall Plaza Cuernavaca on Friday. This was the first time I went somewhere besides NPH or language school.
-We went out Friday night for one of the volunteer's despedida (goodbye) so I experienced Cuernavaca nightlife...we were given a free pizza, went to a tiny bar with a live band that played the type of Mexican music some people might find annoying, but not me of course, and ended up at a hilarious dance club that had overweight guys dancing on poles...they played reggaeton there so it was my favorite.
-I bought Season 1 of Glee and and a movie at la fayuca, aka Cuernavaca's version of Polvos Azules (in Lima) aka the black market, oops.
I keep trying to upload some pictures but it's rejecting my attempts! I'll try again later.
I'll finish up by sharing the verse that has popped up multiple times when I've been reading the past couple of days: But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show us that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. -2 Corinthians 4:7 I've decided God uses the most interesting packaging to deliver His love to those who need it. Sure, I've felt far away from the people I'm used to "getting my love from" but God has shown me that He can work through just about anyone to remind me I'm never alone! It's also cool that He would also consider living in this self-proclaimed 'sometimes spastic' jar if it means that when something great happens, it's obviously His doing and not mine. Sweet.
Love you!! and Happy Birthday, USA!
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