Sunday, October 16, 2011

October 16th

It’s been a slow week at the farm.  I started it off sick Sunday through Tuesday and then Danny wrapped it up sick Friday through Sunday! Our symptoms included headaches, no appetite, and just general malaise and now we have to just cross our fingers that the kids aren’t next. 
Also this week the teachers of the younger grades were absent from school so Harper and Cal didn’t get in much “academics.”  They still went to school with Danny most days (because he was subbing in the older grade class.)  Cal did his usual all week- he played in the tree house with the Lego’s and then enjoyed soccer at recess.  Harper got to help Danny a lot with the English lessons.  She modeled the ABCs for the kids and helped with their pronunciation. At the end of the week Cal and Harper got to show all the kids our "Sesame Street Letters and Numbers" DVD and they were really excited to share this. Although it was much slower paced than most weeks the kids still wanted to go to school each day and see their friends.
Harper and Edgar watch the parade


All the girls decked out for their dance in the parade





About 20 kids piled into this truck to come to Canoa



On Wednesday all of the farm volunteers went to Canoa in the morning for a parade.  All the area schools participated by marching, singing and dancing.  The Rio Muchacho School marched and danced dressed in long wide skirts and trousers.  Sadly for Harper she wasn’t part of the processions, but we got to watch all the school groups and cheer.  It was one of the few parades in Harper and Cal’s lives that they were not in!  Because the parades in Carbondale usually have more participants than spectators we all felt a little left out sitting on the sidelines. 
One of the other schools in the parade
Cal cheers muy fuerte
This weekend we decided to stay at the farm for Saturday.  It was a nice lazy day and Cal and Harper spent almost all of it playing with their friends who live here.  Harper and Crystal (a 7 year old girl who lives just across the river and who’s grandmother works in the kitchen at Rio Muchacho) spent their day coloring rainbow after rainbow.  Cal played with Davíd driving around a little truck in the dirt.  Language barriers don’t seem to matter when you are making truck sounds and passing crayons!
With Danny in bed (and the disagreeable señora away for the weekend) I got to do a little cooking in the kitchen.  Two other volunteers and I took the kids up to the garden to grab ingredients and then we got cooking- we sautéed kale and onions and I attempted to concoct a recipe from home.  The soup and beans portion of the meal had already been made by the señora (the sweet one) and so although it wasn’t much, it was fun to cook for myself a bit. 
Tonight we will stay up late to make chocolate because there are a few new tourists here at the farm.  Cal is taking a nap now to get ready.  Tomorrow it is off to Canoa for the day to eat our gringo food and use the internet.  Ciao!
A new kitten is at the farm and Harper has been having so much fun with it.  Sadly it appears to have fleas so the fun has slowed a bit.


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