9 March 2017

Today was an interesting day… I acquired a new shadow in the form of an elementary schooler named Stella. She waits for me when I arrive in the morning and during recess! Her presence makes me miss home less, that smile, her eyes and especially her hugs…what more could I ask for?  Though Stella and the younger kids at Heritage don’t have a grasp on English just yet, we seem to be communicating just fine. We talk through hugs and waves and giggles and by holding hands. The kids at Heritage have me totally smitten. They’re insanely polite and friendly and are always trying to make you laugh. Elementary schoolers, universally, are the best.

The middle schoolers, who I teach, are little more high strung. They’ve got the same love and humor but they’ve got way more energy! Once they get going or get distracted, it’s harder to get their attention back to the lesson (which for us is art). Yesterday we drew self portraits in an attempt to connect faces and names. Today we drew pictures of our favorite places. As a person who is terrible at drawing, I was blown away by the talent in the room. Some kids even had really advanced and developed styles. It was awesome to watch.

After our school day finished up, we headed back to the house for some relaxation before our service project. It was a quick break though because we had to make a quick detour to the tailor, Sister Sarah. At the market yesterday, everyone purchased fabrics for Sarah to make dresses and pants and skirts (and anything else you might have wanted) out of. I, of course, opted for two dresses. I’m so so excited because the fabrics I picked are unique and totally gorgeous.

The next part of the day wasn’t as glamorous as designing dresses. We were making cement blocks. It was an experience that left my sneakers cement soaked and my lungs full of sand, however, it was kind of fun! It was just like building a sandcastle at the beach, you had to make the sand and water and then press it into a mold. Our cement making was apparently hilarious because we had an audience of about 10 Heritage high schoolers watching us and laughing periodically. I’d totally agree with the hilariousness of it all because I was giggling right along side them.

It was a good day.

Rachel