Back to Day One

Well actually day three technically. After all the trouble getting here I've spent most of my free time sleeping. But that doesn't mean we haven't been busy. Straight off the plane (after a lengthy conversation about lost bags) we came to the house, did a quick orientation, and did a day long city tour. We visited all the cool places I remembered from last time. The hippy market, the artisan stores, plaza de San Fransisco, the old cathedral and the new, the flower market, the list goes on forever. But it was a blast of nostalgia that really got me excited for the stay here.

Day two was as if not more tiring. It was day one with the kids. The volunteer house is now onsite at one of the orphanages so no bus ride in the morning, which I found I kind of missed. Who'd a thunk I miss a good commute in the mornings. Anyway the great thing is I get off of brushing my teeth and I go straight to brushing kids. We worked our first day in Casas Esperanza and Milagros, where because it is a special needs orphanage, most of the kids there were the exact same as last time. I got to say buenos dias to all the kids I said goodbye to last time, and that was really special. We did all the favorite activities: futbol, musical wheelchairs, and plenty of books. I also got to meet new kids that have come in since, and I'm really excited to get to know them and love them like I do all the kids here.

Now today was kind of a doozy. If you haven't heard of the earthquake here yet, get out from under your rock. Cuenca (the city I'm in) wasn't affected much at all. Maybe a few houses in the city were damaged, but nothing like the coast. And the hurt that was felt there has made it's way here. Today we spent all morning helping with relief efforts. We went up to the food bank (which for some reason is way up high in the mountains and has a beautiful view of the city but that's beside the point) and helped sort, package and send donations. It seems like everyone in the city gave something. Some people wee able to afford enormous 75 pound bags of rice, and some (most) people just took empty water bottles, filled them with water from their own sink, and sent it out to the people in need. It didn't matter if you had nothing. You found something to give. One particular thing I found was a small bag of diapers, that someone had taken a sharpie to and written: There is strength in Ecuador. Now my Spanish isn't that good and maybe my translation was terrible. But it was a cool moment for me to see the whole country work together to help with relief efforts. Anyway, I'll update you guys more as I see it, and I have quite a few pictures to put up when I have the time, but it is not this day.

First Goodbyes

Today us Sunday, and my last shift is on Wednesday. It seems as if the past 3 months have flown by. I'm going to miss these kids so much. I spent my morning in Casas, where recently I've been training Valerie, to be the new site leader. Though it's been less training and more just letting her learn to control my crazy kids and love them. I then spent my afternoon in Casa Esperanza, where I'm not gonna work again. I have one more shift in that location, Los Pequenitos de OSSO; I have one more shift in Casa Milagros on Tuesday. Today in Casa Esperanza I got to spend some time with Martín, who normally doesn't get taken outside because he is very difficult to watch unless you stay with him the entire time. But he loves doing anything new, and we had an awesome time before I left. Something I realized today is that in the past couple months it's been easier and easier to talk with the kids. It's not that my Spanish is getting better because most of the kids at OSSO are handicapped and can't talk. It's just that I've come to realize how they will communicate and how I can help. I felt like I could understand little Brayan through his smiles. As I've said I'm excited to get home and see my friends and family, but I'm gonna be heartbroken leaving any of these kids behind.

Hamburger Graffiti

All over town I've been seeing the same graffiti signature. A pair of hamburgers on the same wall. And I finally just decided to start keeping track. So today was a pretty great day, I started off with a shift in Casas, like always. The reason for that is that the site leader goes to his/her site 5 to 7 times a week, so I spend over half my time there. But anyways I went and had an awesome time. I love walking into Tadeo Torres and having all the kids run and tell me "Hola! Jérémie!" it makes me so happy I get to be there to help in any way I can. In the afternoon I went out with one of the other volunteers and we explored the area down near the river tomebamba. There are some awesome little stores where you can buy humitas, a traditional treat here. We also walked to Los Artes del Fuego, where there are tons of artisans that do iron work. It was pretty cool, and all the pictures are on fb and my imgur.

Impromptu keyboard thing

Fast Sunday's aren't very fun down here. Sometimes it seems that I'm the only one fasting, and not only that but the kids always eat delicious foods, and whoever gives it to them offers it to me. I've got three cups of jello and and a hand full of crackers upstairs to prove it. But also fasts here seem to be the most yielding. I feel like fasting makes me so open to the spirit and after ending it I felt overwhelmed with the spirit.

Another fun thing today is that that I played the piano in sacrament meeting. When we arrived there was no prelude music, and no one played for the opening song, so I walked to the chorister if she would like for me to play for the meeting and she let me. So for the meeting I played impromptu on a 5 octave keyboard and naturally made a ton of horrible obvious mistakes, but still by the end I felt like I had contributed more than I had detracted from the spirit of the music. Testimony was meeting was great, it seemed as if everyone was so eager to bear their testimony, and they all had strong testimonies if the gospel. I then got to work with mis hijos in Casas. I love those kids so much and I know it's going to tear me apart to leave them in 3 weeks. Today I did a little game where you rock the kids back and forth and do this chant:

Aserín, aserán
Los maderos de San Juan
Piden pan, no les dan
Piden queso, les dan oueso
Y les corten el pescueso

Then you tickle their neck as you say pescueso. The kids love it, especially little Karla. So after doing it with her Cristian came running up to me yelling ¡Córtame! ¡Córtame! And I almost laughed me head off. But the best part was that my Florcita heard me laughing and starting to laugh too, and her laugh starts fairly normal then her smile becomes very grinch like and her laugh becomes very guttural, which started an endless cycle of laughing for her, Cristian, and me. Speaking of laughing I think I finally won over Jennifer's heart; she is three years old and when she first arrived at Tadeo Torres she had a very hard time adjusting. But then I found her weakness: tickles. And after a couple days of working hard at her I think I'm ready to change her name to squeaky toy or tickle me Elmo. I love Jennifer.

Other big news, we three new girls in Casas, and they are all super cute. They're all sisters and their names are Maria, Michele and Marisela. They're all doing great and I can't wait to go back tomorrow afternoon and work with them some more.

Gas Fire

So today was kind of crazy, there was a fire in the laundry room. I had helped one of the workers, Gladys, bring a gas can to the room (because everything here runs on gas) when she came running back out and asked me to come back in. So I strolled into the room as the smoke started filling it, fun stuff. The best part was that the fire was being fed by the gas can and was in-between a wooden closet and the dryer. After asking about a fire extinguisher and starting to fill buckets of water I decided to go tell the nuns that their laundry room was on fire. Then after dousing it in water and that not doing anything we went out to evacuate the kids and get the bus driver to tell him why we were late. We called the fire fighters and they did us the favor of finding the fire extinguisher in the smoky room and putting it out. I couldn't have imagined a better ending to this story. Oh wait, they could have landed in Charlotte.

In all honesty it was a miracle that happened today, there were so many things as a matter of chance that happened right and the fire was handled well. First I happened to be by the laundry room when I was supposed to be in the lunch room, so I could go help as soon as it happened. Also the fire happened in a room made of concrete completely and it was hard for it to spread. The kids were all in the comedor, close to the exit so we could evacuate easily, and the gas in the buildings never exploded or else the orphanage and the other one next to it would have been destroyed. It's a reminder to me that God is looking out for these kids, because they have more purpose in this life. There are tons if more volunteers that will come and learn from them and there smiles. But most of all it reminds me that, while their mortal parents aren't able to take care of them right now, they have an immortal Dad that is making sure that they accomplish what they were sent here to do, including being a blessing to my life and many others.

Abandoned Gold.

Today was pretty great, especially in the afternoon. All the kids with september birthdays celebrated in OSSO and the Casas kids were invited. I got to take all the kids and have them see the other locations I work at. We all got together and some of the volunteers dances thriller for the workers, them the workers danced to a dong called something like chiuaua, ad finally Zach danced to firework. Pretty fun. Then, after cake and some delicious jello yogurt crossover, we did the piñata, ate candy, and all got sugar highs. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I got to be there. I just feel really bad for the worker who had do put them to bed while they were all hyped up.

So this past week I've had a very unique experience. Rex, the founder of OSSO is staying in the house. All the people here love him, and after talking to him I understand why. He is such an awesome charitable person, and I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't love him. A couple days ago he told some of the volunteers that the thought of no one wanting these orphans is the same as saying there are bricks of gold laying in the street, and no one wants them. But I know that even if they don't have parents here that want to raise them, there is a father for them up above and he will do everything to raise them right here. I'm so lucky to be a part of helping these kids, and I love being with them.

Paradise falls.

So yesterday I went to waterfalls at Girón, one of the most beautiful places in the world, and in my opinion, a place lost in time. Despite the lack of snipes the trip was a blast. We hiked for 3 hours through open fields, dense trees, and high mountains to find huge waterfalls that we could walk under and jump into. If was a ton of fun and I'm so grateful I got to go. Afterwards we went to Negro's house (our guide for all our trips) and he made us some of the best trout I've ever had, and I don't like fish. The fish apparently came from El Cajas, the Ecuadorian national park. That night we got home did laundry, watched contagion, played bang and went to bed. On days we go on trips we don't get to go to the orphanages.

Today made up for all that though and I got to be with my kids from Casas all day both shifts, so I've got my hands full. This morning I went with Whitney and Zacharie, and we had a blast. After breakfast the Hermanas or the Nuns all left for a meeting so we got the kids to ourselves. We took them all to the TV room and took them on walks as the got rowdy. When walking around with Cristian, Pablo, Edu, Karla, and Jasmine I took them all to the smaller and poor Cristian fell fast asleep slumped over in the swing! I've never seen him so tired. So I took him and put him on the bench and let him use my sweater as a pillow. In the afternoon I went with Nico and my mom. It went surprisingly well, the kids behaved great! We gave them baths and basically had play time for the whole 4 hours. Basically today was awesome.

I love being here so much and it seems everyday I love these kids more. I wish I could stay longer. It's so true that the more you serve someone the more you love them, even if you don't want to. The best way to get rid of a bad attitude or turn a cruddy day around is to lose yourself in service. It's such a blessing to be able to do that for 9 hours a day! Miss you guys so much and I can't wait to see you guys again!