May 29, 2016

     Today was a little slow but I made it! It started off interesting and then was pretty normal the rest of the day. When I strolled into the main room of the Hogar (right next to the kitchen and dining hall) I heard screams from inside the dining hall! I ran over and what I witnessed is the definition of chaos. There were girls on tables and chairs, girls running and screaming, and some even swinging brooms in the air wildly. Guess what all of this was for? There was a rat on the loose hahahaha. The rat was running around the dining room floor then into the main room when I grabbed one of the brooms from a screaming five-year-old. I proceed to hit the rat a few times and save the children of the orphanage. That would be a great thing to put in my resume wouldn’t it? “Saved an orphanage full of little girls from a menacing, disease carrying animal”. Anyways, they told me I have to say a prayer for the rat at church and throw it out back haha.

        We then went to mass and it was the same as always however, I am noticing that I can pick up more words in the service! I am also able to hold a solid conversation with the girls now! My Spanish is actually getting better!!! After mass and in the afternoon, Chiki and Carina and I went to a fast food place in the city to have lunch. It was called Chriss (hehe). I had some hot wings with French fries and OH MY did I need that. I don’t think I can eat boiled chicken and lukewarm canned meat ever again after this trip.

        In the evening I played basketball and soccer with the girls. It was a lot of fun and I taught them the basketball game “Knock-Out” (I told you my Spanish was getting better!). To add to that, I was undefeated at Knock-Out the times that I played (I hope I’m making you proud Coach Coop). I also learned some new Spanish words dealing with basketball so that was neat too. When we got bored of basketball we switched to soccer which was a lot of fun! Some girls had some serious skill and really impressed me. Others were very physical and one even attempted to slide tackle me (ON CONCRETE!). These girls here are tough as nails. I have seen one (3 years old) run straight into a metal pole, fall down, shake it off, and continue playing. I have seen others fall off tables and chairs without a sound. Like I said, tough as nails.

        To end the night, I had a nice hour and a half long conversation with three girls (age 15). I was talking to them about everything and anything and it was a very insightful experience. I learned some swear words (DON’T TELL ANYONE!) haha and some other things about their lives. One girl has lived at the Hogar for 12 years (the other two have been here 5 years and 7 years). It made me think and realize how fortunate I have been to live in such a stable environment my whole life. I knew that I was lucky before but this put my life into a new prospective. These girls don’t go to other countries or vacation spots. These girls have no parents to help them get through the day. Some girls have no family whatsoever. These girls have each other and that is what I think propels them forward.

        Anyway, I hope that you can spare a thought for these girls. It really is heartbreaking to see the situation that they are in. These are treated tremendously well here at the Hogar Sagrado de Corazon but nonetheless, the life they are living is not meant for anyone.

Chao.

 The fast food resteraunt that we ate at. Notice that I didn't make a typo earlier!

 These are some girls holding up their ages. The girl on the right is 10 but she didn't want to hold up her age.

 This is me on the court playing goalie. The girl that took this picture was sitting on top of the goal post.

There are three boys at the orphanage. This is our youngest one, Leonardo. He is 2 months old.