Ok, so this week has been absolutely hectic and I haven't had any time or enerygy to give you a day by day run through. So I took a few notes about some things I did throughout the week so I could at least give you the highlights.
Ever since these new volunteers arrived, we have been going hard. We have been working super hard trying to prepare for classes which started this Wedneday. Since last week, I have been given a promotion. Apparently, I am now the head of agriculture and the grounds here on campus. Warren is familiar with golf and told me that he wants me to make this place look like pebble beach. But before I start working hard on all the grounds problems, I needed to focus on helping prepare the school buildings for classes.
So on Tuesday, I went over to the bathrooms behind where they are holding classes to clean them and get them ready. It is simply a three stall building, nothing much. But when I looked inside.....wow. Thats all there is to say about it. The floor and walls had mold and algea all over, the little trash bins were full of used toilette paper since we are not allowed to flush it, and when I opened the toilette seats, each toilette had a massive amount of thick exrement that had live maggots crawling all throughout it and had larvae wiggling around. It was quite the disgusting mess.
Eric helped get all the "mud" out of the toilettes, and then I spent the next good little while cleaning the toilettes, the walls, and the floors. It was kind of a yucky job, but now it is so much better! I have noticed that I have come pretty close to overcoming one of my biggest phobia's....the smell of poop. Just in the last month, I have cleaned these bathrooms and have changed a few babies diapers. I had never changed a diaper in my life before because I simply cannot handle the smell. So in that department I have come along way.
Other jobs that Eric and I did today was clean the 3 school buildings and classrooms, set up desks, and spray for bugs and spiders. The other volunteers here have been so helpful in cleaning and preparing the campus for the upcoming year. One of the biggest helps has been in mowing a good portion of the campus. and then having the kids pick up the mowed grass.
On Wednesday, we had a faculty worship in the morning and have been for the past couple mornings. This was also the first day of school. But beings how we have not recieved all of the books and supplies, we were not quite ready for classes. So what happened is that the teachers took the kids out on walks and gave outdoor education classes.
Eric is going to be a full time teacher and will teach all kinds of classes. But school only goes until about 12. Then there is lunch, and a brief rest until 2. Then from 2-4, all of the kids participate in the work program. This is where the kids are divided up with different volunteers and are required to work. For me, I am working in the fields all day every day. Which I think is a lot better fit for me. Especially because I want to learn more about fixing things and being more self sufficient.
Today, while everyone was at school, I decided that I wanted to work on the wood pile behind the big house. It is absolutely terrible. There are wood chunks and trash all over with weeds growing up through all of it. Amos, one of the new volunteers helped me out a little bit over this 2 day process. We worked for a few hours today and then for a few more the next day. This is also the job that we put a couple of the kids on. After 2 days of some pretty solid work, we finally finished picking up and cleaning the entire area. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take an after picture quite yet, but I will post a before picture.
Thursday was kind of a bitter day, especially for me and Eric. Today was Ali's final day here at Familia Feliz. It's hard to believe that an entire month has already gone by. She has been such an amazing help and could not have come at a better time. When she came, there was no one to take care of Jenette, and then 2 days after she was here, a bunch more little ones showed up. So without here, we would have had no idea what to do with them. She did an absolutely fantastic job taking care of, playing with, and cooking for the children. She also provided a lot of mental relief for Eric and I.
For work today, we finished the wood pile, I helped cook lunch, and we made sweet rolls. But the most exciting part of my day was burning trash. That has become a big responsibility of mine. Familia Feliz has built up a major amount of garbage over the years and one of my responsibilities is to burn it. So today was a trial run where I took 2 big barrels, filled them with trash, doused them with diesle, and set them on fire. It went fairly well except while I was trying to start the fire with my $0.14 lighter that I bought in town. As I was trying to light it up, the lighter melted while my thumb was on the metal. Yeah, it didn't feel too good. But I held my hand under running water for about 20 minutes and it helped a lot. The best part of the day though was coming into town with Ali. She needed to check into the airport the day before her flight so that they wouldn't give her ticket away. So Warren, let Eric and I bring her into town and spend a few hours with her to eat dinner and say goodbye. Also, It was Valentines day allowing me to say hello to my wonderful girlfriend Kristen Long. It was a very nice evening that allowed us to have some good food which by the way, Eric's parents offered to pay for. That fact alone increased my enjoyment of the evening by about 10 fold! But It was sad when we finally had to say goodbye.
Oh! and one other thing that happened today that pretty much stopped my heart, was that Warren asked me to teach Sabbath School. Now, in the States, this isn't wuite a big deal because there is a quarterly and a lot of intereaction. Here, we don't have either. And second, it is only to the older kids, volunteers, and staff. So it is pretty much a sermon. I didn't know what to say, because he has made it clear, that when he "asks" someone to do something, he isn't just asking haha. But I like that. For me though, I hate public speaking, and I have never given a sermon.
Friday, I ended up spending a decent amount of time in town. My goal was to take a truck load of all the unburnable metal to a spot where they used to take garbage. But when I got to the place, the guy came up to me and said that it is private land now and that we cannot dump trash there anymore. So that was fail number 1, I also needed to order a new part for the truck, but the store was closed. Fail number 2. I also wanted to pick up the blades for the lawnmower that were being welded, but they wern't ready yet. Fail number 3. Then finally, I wanted to repair yet another flat tire that we had and that was a success! But while we waited for places to open up and for the tire to get fixed, I pretty much got another day off. So that was really nice.
Saturday morning finally came and it was my morning for the adult "sermon". I was nervous enough as it was, but about an hour before I spoke, 7 new volunteers arrived. Great! This just added to my stree. But oh well, I can handle it. I spoke about children, how we are supposed to raise them in the way that they should go according to Proverbs 22:6 and how we are supposed to do that. I ended up sweating an incredible amount and had to change clothes after I spoke because they were soaking wet. But fortunately, a couple people told me that I did a good job, and while I was speaking, I heard a few "mmmm's", and we all know THATS a good sign!
P.S. Happy valentines day to my mom, my grandma McLennan, Grandma Miller, and Kristen Long! Love you all!
You Stay Civilized......Planet Earth!!!!
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