17/1/2011

5:59pm

One other change I forgot to mention yesterday:

I was talking to my project leader, and mentioned how my back and shoulders were getting a bit sore, from my very thin mattress and hard bed, I suspected. I'm loving my host family so I didn't want to move, but was just wondering if there was anything I could do. He said that with the upcoming work with the kids, a good sleep was important, and that he would take care of it.

As I was ducking between my room and the bathroom to have a shower last night, I glimpsed my host father dragging a thicker mattress through the door. Not for the first time that night, my heart swelled for these lovely people.

Which brings me to today; the first day of the workshop with the children. I, being me, was pretty apprehensive about it. However, as soon as we started, I realised all my fears were quite unwarranted. They loved all the masks I made for them, even drawings that I deemed my most poor, rushed work. I managed to communicate with them fairly well in Spanish, and soon enough I found myself matching the smiles on their beaming faces. You could really tell that this week is going to be the biggest highlight of their life for quite a while, and that was an awesome feeling.

The afternoon was over before I knew it. We still have three more days working with the kids, but I have a feeling this time is going to fly. It's now Monday evening, and the street parade is on Sunday. Finally, the volunteer work that had such an incredibly long lead up has begun.