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!