Like all good things in life...

To rise early with a clear mind and a healthier body helps us to focus on the plans for the following day. Everyone was seated for breakfast promptly and was interested in hearing Sloan’s review of Monday. The one thing we know was that La Ciudad de los Niños was starting their winter break later that day. The team was not sure how the process would flow.
Arriving at the Ciudad was familiar; the younger grades were in session at the school next door. Therefore, most of the jobs included sweeping, making beds, folding clothes and experimenting with communication in Spanish. Using single words, facial expressions and body movement helped advance my feeble Espanol, but sentences were not always completely understood, leaving us in a moment of “huh”?! The older familia volunteers headed to the bakery to continue a never ending mega-project of scraping, sanding and painting – this in order for the bakery to comply with local government code requirements.
Working at the Lavanderia had its surprises. After Edith translated a description of the job, the fundamentals were sensible, that is until the laundry supervisor appeared with a distressed look, saying that the shirts, long sleeved and short sleeved were hung incorrectly. Arms were dangling randomly; shirts were not sequenced from the side wall to the center; nor were they properly ordered from the back to the front; nor were the short sleeved shirts hanging 90 degrees to the long sleeved shirts. So, let’s start all over again, pull them down and get it right, gal. Later I learned to assume nothing, and did a demo for the supervisor before beginning. I guess, there really is something to the old truth that if you expect, then let someone inspect.
Lunch was the usual routine with a vegetable soup broth, hot faintly flavored water and a main course – this one of rice, cauliflower, and chicken – and, more appealing to my taste than other lunchtime fare. The los niños were excited about their winter break vacation. Following lunch most of the boys returned to their familias to pack clothes, clean their cubby holes and prepare for their journeys home. It is unbelievable how much the small boys can fit into one back pack and a medium sized yard waste bag.
At 3:00pm. the entire Ciudad de los Niños gathered in front of the front office for a blessing from Brother Hugo of good wishes and God Bless You. Gradually all of the children were leaving the Ciudad with their families, relatives or guardians. By the time us Global Volunteers gathered to head back to the Hostal Terrablanca, it seemed evacuated. It was very difficult to say good-bye, chau or adios or whatever parting words to boys with whom we were just starting to feel comfortable, especially knowing that we would not likely ever see them again. My los niños were not sure if I would be there when they returned in two plus weeks.
The thought for the day: Like all good things in life, there is a beginning and an end, but in this case the end came much too quickly.

by Sheila helped by Sloan! :)