Jan 4 2010

HOLA! It was a big day. We woke up to find that there were no reflections this morning but that all of the office workers were here. Leila asked to meet with us about a schedule which we finally have mapped out. We are going to try and split the villa into big kids and little kids so that we will be able to accomplish more. Whenever we try and play a game with all ages the older kids end up dominating. So after our meeting we got to access the internet which ended up being very overwhelming! Even after 5 days without the computer I accumulated so many new emails and Facebook posts and didn’t know how to handle them all. It was nice to be able to access the “real world” though. I will hopefully be able to get on the internet every weekday between 11-12:30 Nashville time. After our time on the computer we headed down to Casa Semilla de Amor for lunch. This house is full of girls and only 2 boys. The boys are Milton- one of the sweetest boys in the villa. He is so caring and really loves learning new English words. The other boy is Mario- a 2 year old who is most likely the cutest child I have ever seen. I will post pictures soon! The girls are sweet too. Some of the older ones seemed resentful of our presence but perhaps they will warm to us as the month goes on. I had a hard time eating the food prepared for us during lunch today. We had rice (which is never that great) covered in boiled beets and a small slice of beef. I have never tried beets and had always thought that they tasted like spiced apples for some reason. I took a big bite and now know that I am not a beet fan. But I ate it all graciously. After lunch we returned to the apartment where we had the greatest surprise of all… RUNNING WATER!!! It was absolutely amazing! I took a shower for the first time in 4 days and have never felt so clean. We gave our apartment a makeover too. We mopped the floor and put all of our food and clothes away. By the end of the two hours we and our room were spotless. It was a nice change. Mary and I took our clean selves down to the court where we had instructed the older children, ages 10-16, to meet us for a rousing game of futbol. The sun was BLAZING today and some of the boys were in long sleeves and pants. I felt like a wimp in my shorts and tshirt sweating profusely and having to take multiple breaks in the shade. After a long competitive game it was time for the little kids to play. They gathered and we decided to stay in the cool grass closer to the houses. Mary and I translated the childhood classic Duck, Duck, Goose in Pato, Pato, Ganso and explained the rules. It has become an instant favorite among the kids. After many more games it was time for dinner. They had moved dinner time up because the whole villa was going into the city of Cochabamba to see the lights that were still up from Christmas. Mary and I ended up going with the girls from San Miguel and having an amazing time. We spent hours walking through the main streets and seeing all of the street performers. We watched multiple Michael Jackson tributes, amazing break dancing battles, and lots of carnival like activities. It was nice to get out of Amistad and see more of Bolivian culture. We just returned home and I am completely exhausted so I am gonna hit the sheets. Buenos noches!