Friday

Today was our "shadow day" spent in the two centers with the year-long volunteers. Half of the group rose early to catch a 7 am bus downtown. They spent the morning working in the classes at Gota de Leche. They then headed over to La Marin for lunch, recess and to join with the kids in the "girls program". This meant an hour of English classes and then off to crafts. Today the girls were once again making crafts such as jewelry and picture frames to sell in the center. In the kitchen, they made cheese empenadas, which once again were bought up quickly by the hungry American high school students. After a long day of work, the group returned back to CMT 2 via the metro bus.

The other half of the group was able to sleep in a little later, but their day was similar. The morning was spent helping out in classes and playing with the kids. Since it was Friday, mass was held here today, followed by lunch. Several of the guys in this group got to serve as volunteers for the girls who are learning to be stylists, so there were some manicures and shaves given to los gringos.

This evening, we were joined by students and chaperones from Avila University in Kansas City. They arrived the day after us but have been participating in an intensive immersion course in the countryside. The dining room is pretty full but many of the year long volunteers are headed out as this is a three day weekend.

The guys have spent their evenings playing dominoes, cards and trivila pursuit. Everyone has remeained healthy to date and we are looking forward to a shopping day tomorrow.