March 18th, 2010

Thought for the day: Enjoy the moment, it's the start of a journey. To serve others is to grow.

The day started much as the others, except we were all missing Jessica, with her bubbly personality and bright smile. she left last night and we all hope she had an uneventful journey home. June and Sara decided not to walk and there were only four of us at breakfast, then off to CDLN.

After a short meeting we all went to our respective homes. Barbara finished painting "her" wall and Jane covered six more books. We are now "trusted"enough to work without supervision!

We know our jobs well! Jose left to run some errands and came back with a papaya for us to share. We had an early lunch and shared our food with Jose, who is now a "bachelor" as Guerimiela and Diana are in Arequipa for two weeks. We invited Sara and June over to share the papaya and the five of us had a pleasant meal outdoors. Then off for lunchroom duty. After cleanup Barbara and I managed to collect the broken bowls and cups which always leaked all over the tables. I showed them to Jose, who promised to throw them away!

After lunch Jane planted the final twelve plants in the garden with the help of Manuel. Barbara's I-pod continued to be a big hit, until it could no longer function. The boys had signed up for turns so some were disappointed. We finished the afternoon by playing Tic Tac Toe and Hangman with the boys. I discovered the boys were so skilled in Tic Tac Toe that I only won two games! Barbara had the difficult task of figuring out a Hangman in Spanish!

After a ride home with Nerit we said good night to each other as June went off to meet Carmen's uncle, another relative. Sara and Barbara had errands to run and planned to eat out. Jane had dinner at the hotel.And so our Peruvian adventure is drawing to a close, with only one more day at the homes. I expect we all have mixed feelings. A sense of sadness at leaving our new-found friends and colleagues and a sense of pride in what we have accomplished in our two short weeks.

Tomorrow we will say good-bye to "our" boys and the tutors. We wish them all well and will miss them and will remember our time in Peru with fondness.

- Jane