Three Houses

This time I'm going to start by telling you about the end of our day.  After returning from Salaverry, Kelly and I went to the houses for her to deliver some things she had brought for the kids.  When we went to the little boys' house, Jhon came out to see.  I asked him if those were his pajamas he was wearing, and he said yes.    Then he asked was I going to wear my pajamas.  I told him later.  The kid's obsessed, I tell you.

This morning I was kitchen help for Filomena.  I was assigned everyone's least favorite kitchen task, sorting rice.  Sorting rice is really just a nice way of saying getting the bugs out.  Filomena pronounced this rice pretty clean to begin with, so it was an easier task than usual.  I did not find any bugs.  My next task was peeling boiled potatoes.  She pronounced my first effort "esta bien," and I was very happy.  I am not as good in the kitchen as Filo.  Just in case you were wondering, she cooked 25 cups of rice, and that was just for the kids.  She was also busy washing seaweed.  That's what the kids ate for lunch.  Blessedly, she cooked a pasta dish for the volunteers.  I'm told she only does this when there are lots of volunteers around.  Edwin loved the seaweed, though.  He finished his own plate and Jorge's and Paul's.  I think they were glad for his help.

We took the older girls sandboarding on the dunes behind the albergue during the late morning.  The only people who actually sandboarded were Kelly, Stephanie, Marjorie, and I.  The other girls seemed to enjoy getting out, though, and they climbed all the way to the top of the highest dune.  Treci, the orphanage's loyal dog, came with us.  As soon as she saw the sandboards, she knew where we were headed and got so excited.  She led the way.

They had our despedida today at lunch.  We're not leaving until Sunday, but the staff won't be here then.  The despedida is a going away party.  I think the length and complexity of it corresponds to the length of the volunteer's stay.  The kids began with skits, which were really funny.  Look for video from Kelly on facebook.  Then the director of the orphanage prayed for us.  Then they gave us each several small gifts.  Kelly and I each received a bracelet, a note from the director, and a box made by one of the kids in art class yesterday.  I'm not sure what Alex got.

After lunch we had baking class with the younger boys and then the younger girls.  They weren't really baking but rather decorating the cupcakes the older kids had made earlier in the week.  The kids LOVED it.  They were each allowed to eat one cupcake during class and the others were to be saved for the fiesta tonight.  The boys all ate their cupcake as soon as they had it decorated, and all but one of the girls waited until the end to eat theirs.  The sprinkles were especially popular!  It wasn't exactly the most sanitary food prep ever, but we sure had a lot of fun.

Baking classes were followed by the fiesta.  We sang songs and ate the rest of the cupcakes.  It was fun to sing with the kids again and made me miss doing VBS with them.  I love leading their songs!  Yes, we did sing "Gozo, Gozo" and "Yo Tengo Un Amigo," but I spared everyone "Que Lo Diga."  We sang it on the bus to camp last week anyhow.  I also took a photo of each kid to be used at our monthly Prayer for Peru meetings.

Kelly and I went to Salaverry tonight with Elizabeth, Bryson, Stephanie, and David.  I managed to get full again.  This was accomplished by eating a plate of dinner here before I left and then having a burger and ice cream in Salaverry.  The food in town was the same as last Friday and once again cost under $2 American.  Gotta love Peru.