Today was a busy day. It was full of work and excitement. Today we were able to paint the school after one and a half long days of sanding. We are still not done but we got alot done today. I am greatful for the man who has been helping us with the refurbishing of the buildings. Fernando is a man who speaks no English; however, we are all able to communicate with him. Most of us understand him by the gestures and body motion he uses. I speak Spanish, so I am able to speak with him and translate for the guys. Something special that happeneded today was that the JESUIT PROVINCIAL OF ARGENTINA came by to have lunch with us. Originally he was only going to visit the school, but he decided to stay for lunch (we had pollo con arroz) when he heard that we would be here. Fr. Alejandro Tilve (that was his name) sat on the other side of the table so I was not sure what they were discussing at the time. I found out later what they talked about because Mr. Henry and Mr. Pinkston filled us in. To be honest, I find out about a lot of things mainly because they need someone to translate documents and other things (: Anyway, the best part of the day came after lunch. We were allowed to teach a group of kids that were in an after school program. They ranged from ages 5-11 and they were all extremely happy to see us. We separated them into three groups and directed different activities. Some played Jenga, others played Uno, and my group sang. We taught the younger group "Row Your Boat" and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" along with "Happy Birthday." All of the children sang and did the actions that we gave them. The last thirty minutes I led everyone outside to play capture-the-flag. I lost track of the score and most kids did not play one hundred percent correctly, but we still had a lot of fun. When we got back to the house, the youth center was open and filled with teens. I talked to a couple of them but then I went inside to take a quick shower to get all the paint and grime off. Unfortunately, the paint did not come off. My hands are covered by dried paint right now. Oh and also......Mr. Henry accidentally turned off the water heater. The water wasn't exactly freezing but it was pretty cold. After I got out of the shower I went outside to talk to the teens and play a little soccer with them. The counselors eventually called us in to decide something special to decorate the teen center. The teens had made some designs as suggestions for a mural, and they had all of us decide on what mural we wanted them to paint. We voted for a quote that said "No es impossible que sea possible" (Its not impossible for it to be possible). After that we had our usual ping pong tournament. (We usually get hyped on mate' to make the game more intense :P As the night wound down, we ended with the usual reflection that proves to be extremely helpful in making us aware of all the wonders that happened that day. The most special moment for me today happened on the field where we played capture-the-flag. Today I meet a boy named Santiago. He is probably around five years old. I met Santiago while we were singing. He was the first child who actually sang and performed the actions simultaneously. Eventually everyone performed the gestures like him, but he was the first one of the group. He was wearing a blue vest and he had glasses on. Anyway when we started playing capture-the-flag, Santiago came up to me and asked me how to play, for he did not understand (I had already explained how to play to everyone). I kneeled down and started to explain but as I did so, one of his friends snuck up and tagged us, putting us both in jail. That round ended with both of us in jail, for we were never rescued. When the next round started, Brendan B. gave me his video camera and told me to film the game a little bit. I started filming and I noticed right away that Santiago was looking at the camera. After I finished filming I asked him if he wanted to film. He came running towards me and did something I was not expecting. He stood next to me with his hands on his side looking out at the playing field a little bit. I would have expected him to reach for the camera but instead he positioned himself beside me in a way that made it easy to teach him how to use it. I showed him how to hold it, how to turn it on and off and how to zoom. He stared playing with the zoom right away and I helped him hold the camera because it was a little heavy for him. After a while Santiago said he wanted to film on his own, so I invited him to sit with me on the grass. I gave him the camera and he filmed for a little while. He seemed to always point it up to the sky and film the sun! After another while one of his teachers came by and told him to return the camera to me. He did it hesitantly, but after about a minute he gave it to me and told me to film him. So he danced around the field and rushed at the flag only to be captured again. I was the referee so I picked his team to free him quickly. What will always stay with me is his smile and the way his face lit up when I gave him the camera. That was truly special to me. I hope to see him again on Monday. I know the schedule tomorrow, but I will let it be a surprise for everyone else (I had to translate it for Mr. P so thats why I know (:
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