Friday September 21, 2012

Friday September 21/12 update

The Boys had taken over my bed so I slept in the recliner until 4am until the Boys found me there, so I slipped back upstairs to take control of my bedroom.  I didn’t sleep all that well but stayed in the sack until 10am and felt a little refreshed.

Right now I have enough people booked for the Night Photo Tour to break even, but have several others enquiring.  I will give it until tomorrow then put another ad in GringoTree to try to get the procrastinators.

I really did not feel like going today but had gotten an email that we were going to take the AAC kids to the park.  Not much else was mentioned so I dragged my butt on the bus and went to join the others.  It was threatening rain and sprinkled most of the time but nobody seemed to mind.  I didn’t even dig out my umbrella.  There was another “school” of kids at the park so it was a busy place but all the kids got along.  The kids were really enjoying the slides and the zip line with almost no rambunctiousness.  The rowdy boys disappeared down by the river so they weren’t a bother.   We managed OK even without Miguel and parents, but we had the kind assistance of two of the teens, Adriana and Mariuxi, who are really super.

Rick Smith from Calgary, owner of the Kookaburra Café, came by with a possible new recruit who is a former teacher named Frank.  I had been in correspondence with Frank who had replied to my GringoTree ad for teachers for the school.  I told Frank he had the first lesson on Monday so he had better get prepared.

Of course some of the kids clamor for a chance to take photos with the camera, so a few of the shots are theirs.  You will notice a couple of shots with a small boy in an orange shirt showing off.  This is Leandro, one of the original shy kids who wouldn’t smile or say Boo when we began the classes.  Now look at the smiles and the confidence in this little guy!  Those are the little paybacks for what we are doing.

Of course the sun came out just as we had to leave….

We got all the kids back to the school in one piece and I passed out the Canadian flag pins that Dick had given me yesterday.   They were thrilled.   Of course Juan, one of the rowdy boys, tried to pierce his ear with it!!  These macho Latino boys can be a handful.

I stopped at Feria Libre and picked up a dozen monster juicy Mandarins and a dozen large tomatoes.   I got a shot of a gaggle of young shoeshine boys operating on the front sidewalk.  I heard from a reliable source that many of these kids may be supporting themselves because their families can’t, and they have been dumped in the city to fend for themselves.  That is truly sad.

After this busy week I treated myself to some KFC at Monay Mall before heading home.   Can you imagine, they already have the huge Christmas Tree set up!!

I heard from Ed and Dick that they had tried for reservations at Joe’s but the place is sold out.   I sent a note to Joseph to please try to squeeze them in since they always have a couple of no-shows.  I hope it works.

Tomorrow I had better concentrate on laundry before heading to Joe’s.

That was today’s excitement.   Please see all photos at souvenircuenca.blogspot.com.  Hugs to all.