Bittersweet

Oh my gosh 18 days!

I feel like I am just finally finding my groove with the camp and getting comfortable with everything and now I have such little time left. I know it's been a while since I have posted but it's only because I have been having so much fun.

We had the Olympics at camp not Friday but the week before. It. Was. So. Fun.

I can't even tell you how cool it was to see the oldest kids (the greens) and the youngest kids (the reds) work together on one team and compete in events side by side. This is the team that I was assigned to and you better believe I wanted to win just as much as they all did (if not more). Unfortunately after a long hot day in the sun and many fun games we were defeated by the Yellows and Blues (wha wha).

This Olympic day marked the middle of the camp, and with it the goodbye to many of the volunteers who were here for only four weeks. It was a hard weekend of slowly saying goodbye to people and also saying hello to the volunteers who will be here for the next 4 weeks. In order to have a very dramatic goodbye we all decided to stay up and watch the sun rise. though only a few of us actually made it till dawn, it was a very anticlimactic sunrise.

The new volunteers are great and because some of them where coming Sunday night and Monday, we didn't have camp on Monday in order to plan and have orientation. So I spent the Monday volunteering with Shawn and Kelly again, which was amazing as ever.

Tuesday ended up being a rain day which made the week very short for the new volunteers first week.

The second session of camp has been off to a great start. Although I was sad to say goodbye to my partner in crime in Music, Adrienne who spoke fluent Spanish, I did get to say hello to an amazing new volunteer Caitlin. The only new challenge I face is that she doesn't speak Spanish, and now it is on me to talk to the kids and explain all the games in Spanish which I can do. My Spanish has gone through the roof from working with the kids at the camp, I only hope I don't lose it when I get home. However, this week being forced to lead the group has made me feel so much more comfortable in what I am doing and the activities I have planned. For example addressing our lack of instruments issue by drumming on Anthony's car!

I feel so close to the kids now too. They literally are all so precious and have such heavy burdens to bare that it makes all of the hard things (including the fact that I haven't hugged my mom in 100 days) worth it. They are the toughest and yet most loving kids and I hate to here their stories and see how some of them live, but it is amazing that through it all they can come to camp everyday and put a smiles on there faces.

It's an unreal experience seeing 5 year old kids who don't know their colours or numbers but know how to cook for them selves or be left alone. From the kids who don't get food in the morning, to the kids who are abused by their parents, the fact that they are so capable of being so loving with us at camp amazes me everyday, it is so bittersweet.

This weekend we had Cabreranos which is a huge festival where everyone who was ever born in Cabrera returns to party. It was so fun, there was lots of drinking and dancing. It also happened to be the grand opening of the Malecome which has been entirely transformed in the time that I have been here. It's a clift edge that meets the ocean, and has the best breeze in town. When I first got here it was a gravel narrow road but now is a wide paved dream with huge sidewalks, benches and street lights. It is sure to be the new park (where everyone goes to meet up and drink).

I can't think of what else to say, other than how much fun I am having. I love this chapter of my life and it has been tough and fun all at the same time and I know now its going to be a tough goodbye.

Lots of love!

Chantal

It’s been another week already!

I feel like I am getting more comfortable with the Gringo Mafia in town and I have really started to enjoy getting to know some of the volunteers better, and remembering why I came. I felt for a while that I was losing site of why I was here and getting caught up in meaningless drama, but this week I feel I have sorted it out as best I can. I came here because I wanted to help people and I wanted to make some friends on the way and I have reflected a lot this week about my time here, because I still have time to change things and leave with my original intentions fulfilled. I haven’t done everything right here, I have made mistakes but I have decided that I am doing the best I can if I am being true to myself, and this I know I am doing. I am no super woman but I am doing the best I can just being me.

I realize that I am being highly nostalgic (my friends at home love it when I do this!) but this week I have started to look at things and wonder if it would be the last time I was there. I know I still have 4 weeks (which will fly by) but with all of the 4 week volunteers talking about leaving this weekend, it’s hard to not think about going home. The hot shower, a toilet seat, what food I want... (It’s a vicious cycle!)

Now on to my week here, nothing to exciting happened, but I spent the week just enjoying the volunteers, the camp, the kids, and everything. Don’t get me wrong, every week has it’s challenges as did this one, but for the most part I simply enjoyed.

On Wednesday we had the hurricane Chantal winds and rain that impeded on camp and the day was spent watching the storm, playing cards and other things. Part of me was really excited to have a hurricane come but it turned out to be anti-climatic when it got downgraded back to a tropical storm. I am happy that everyone is safe and there wasn’t much damage here in town.

Thursday all the volunteers played soccer together (without kids) which was so fun. Although I didn’t play it was fun to watch.

Friday and Saturday was the usual go to the park and sit, drink, and hang out.  The last time I will be doing that with many of the volunteers that were here because they will be leaving so soon.

 

Sunday a few of us went to playa Caleton in Rio San Juan. It was lovely, as are all beaches here. Sunday night there was a surprise birthday party for Fiona at their house. It was so fun we sat by the pool and Anthony made dinner. After dinner when everyone started to depart we got back in the pool to play a highly competitive game of volleyball. It was so fun that we ended up having Emily, Kelly and Shawn jump in the pool with their clothes on.

Monday night I got a tour of this amazing palace built into the side of a clift, but guess what I didn’t have? My camera! Oh well... then I went to watch a local baseball game. It was so cool to just chill out and feel like a local, plus it is always cool to watch a game in a new culture.

These are really the only interesting things to report. However this Friday at camp there is going to be an Olympic day, so you can look forward to reading about that next week. You better believe I am excited for it!

Also my Spanish had become pretty darn good if I do say so myself! Keep in mind my vocabulary is best for working with children, but none the less I am so proud of how much I have learned in the last few weeks. The camp has pushed me outside my comfort zone and challenged me to do more.

Much love!

P.S. This post is named after to things one being the hurricane that visited this week and the other being that this storm is a small reminder of the storm my brave friend Chantal went through 5 years ago this week when she received a stem cell transplant. Happy birthday stem cells!

An emotional week

What to say... there is nothing other than the harsh truth. I lost my grandpa this week.

 

It’s been an emotional roller coaster this week. I learned Tuesday afternoon that my grandpa died. It was incredibly hard to here all the way over here. I felt so helpless and the only thing I really wanted was to hug all my family because with all of these new party-party people in my life I felt all alone.

The week felt so weird being surrounded by so many people but feeling so alone. I am thankful for the camp and all the kids that I get to have in my life here. There is no place where you can feel more loved. There are usually two kids holding my hands and one hugging me around my waist. It helps but still I felt down for the most of the week thinking about what my family was going through; arrangements, visitations, the funeral and the rest of it. I tried to keep myself as distracted as possible, so it’s been a busy week.

Monday I had camp and it was a normal day with the addition of playing soccer in the afternoon. I don’t think I mentioned that I have been helping Shawn and Kelly (the chicken coop project people, and some of my best friends here) with their soccer initiative on Monday nights. It’s a lot of fun but sometimes when they don’t have many kids come out it turns into Kelly playing soccer with the kids and Shawn and I chatting like old friends.

There was a birthday on Tuesday night, so I tried to keep my bad news to myself and the bottle of rum that was with me.  Wednesday at camp we handed out t-shirts to all the kids for the first time in Camp Esperanza history. It was amazing to see how excited the kids were to get the very own new t-shirts. They were told that they didn’t have to wear the shirts every day but I swear half of the kids are wearing them every day.

Thursday all the volunteers headed over to Anthony and Fiona’s house for an afternoon by the pool. It was a really nice time to hang out and get to know everyone a little better. That is the plus side of keeping myself so busy this week; I finally feel like I am getting to know everyone.

On Friday at camp we had a bus full of high school aged volunteers from all over the US come and volunteer for one day. It was great to have the extra help and to get new games, songs and ideas from them. We also finished the mural I started! Later we went to Lagoona Dudu to swim and jump off cliffs. I had already been and no I didn’t jump, it looked way to scary. However I did enjoy the pretty scenery, swimming in the lagoon and more socializing.

Saturday we had nothing planned and I set out to aimlessly walk around town, just as I was headed home I ran into Alyssa and Julia. I asked them where they were going as they were getting into a vehicle and they said “The Bohca, come!” This is my all time favorite beach, it spans for so far that you can go for two hour walks away from everyone and everything but come back to the middle and be in party central. Despite having my bathing suit of even a towel to sit on I jumped in and away we went.

Sunday there was another birthday, Adrienne’s. We had planned on getting this fishing boat to take us to this natural pool; I really had no idea what this would look like but agreed to it. However the seemingly endless rain this week intervened again. So instead she wanted to go to the Bohca! So I went again, but as soon as we got there black dark clouds filled the sky and it rained all day but we took cover under one of the little restaurants huts and stayed and ate and drank despite the rain. However it was a 30 minute long and wet walk back to just the gua gua plus the squishy ride home, I don’t think the others already in the gua gua wanted me in my dripping wet state to squeeze in there, but I did.  

Monday (today) at camp we did a special presentation with the oldest group of kids. We had worked on this all week and you can see the final results in the video (pending it works)! ... ok it didn't work but I will eventually get it on YouTube and share the link after stealing internet for several hours :)

 If I am being honest hearing the news at the beginning of the week was rough and talking with my family is so hard to do without just wanting to be there. However it feels surreal to think that my grandpa is really gone and really it’s hard to feel sad when he doesn’t exist in my life here. I know it will become real when I get home.

This is the part of my trip where I just want to be home, I miss my family, I want a hot shower, a toilet seat and a big chicken burger. I only have 6 more weeks which are going to fly by I am sure, but it has just been a hard week. To be honest I don’t much feel like blogging this week but having hit 1000 page views and hearing raved reviews I appreciate the support you are all showing me in being here. So I know this wasn’t my best post but I wanted to thank you all for reading. There is a few more to come!

I love you all so much!