Arrival at the Hogar & Futbol 'til mid-july

We had a rough start as the night before departure, Jacqui noticed a call on my cell (and as you all probably know, I am really bad with keeping on top of messages and voice mails so thank goodness Jac saw it) that my flight is CANCELED! Less than 15 hour notice, my dad calmly helps me figure out an alternative plan. I now have to leave from La Guardia which is bad news because we now have to leave the house even earlier in case we hit traffic or accidents. Long story short, we made it in plenty of time and I even had time to have lunch with my parents.

Flights were uneventful. I am pretty sure we flew over the BP gas disaster, but it was dark by the time we left Miami. Maybe on the way back I'll be able to see it, or even better, it will be cleaned up by then...yeah right.

I arrived safely at the hotel last night around 9 Guate-time. Everything worked out fine. I took a shuttle the hotel provides, so there were no sketchy taxis involved. It was a standard US hotel, similar to a Hilton. I was so tired from traveling all day, I just crashed after a few minutes on the computer. As always when I'm not home, I woke up before my alarm went off, took my last warm shower for few months (unless I want to wake up before the sun which is highly improbable of happening), and headed to a delicious breakfast of some fruits I have missed from Ecuador, bean burritos, and pineapple juice. Jorge, who works in the Mission Office and does a lot of work for the Hogar, picked me up at 9. He updated me on the hogar news and we talked about futbol. He's rooting for Uruguay because he was originally from there.

When we got to the property, it was like I had never left (and I was only here for a week in December last year). Most of the older girls remembered me, and some of the younger ones recognized me. I unpacked, took a little nap, and watched the Greece vs Argentina game with the kids. Its great how into it they get. They all have their favorite teams and players. Most of us were rooting for Argentina, but of course there are a few who say they like Greece just to be different. When someone (and I mean anyone from either team) scores, they go wild! Air guitars and GOALASOOOOOOOOOs and dancing, its so cute! They are really into it. There are posters of their favorite players and they even have a bracket they are in charge of updating. Some asked me if I wanted to watch the 5:30am game with them tomorrow! Some of them haven't missed one game yet, and when 2 are on at the same time, they picture in picture it and switch back and forth. Even church schedules have been altered because of these big hinchas (fans)! Now that's dedication. After a lunch of veggie soup, pizza, and mangos (good transition food), I had a meeting with Madre and received my duties for the summer. There are not going to be as many teams this summer, but there is still a lot to be done. Most of my work is administrative (database filing, designing forms, transferring from floppy to disk, etc.), but I also have responsibility in the kindergarten classroom. I have my own little office area, granted it is in the dental clinic it is still temporarily my space. There is talk of me potentially having ESL classes for the older ones. So, I have my hands full, and I am really looking forward to a great summer here.

My living quarters for the next 2 months. I'm already all moved in!

After the little ones had dinner, we got ready for a little surprise birthday party for Jorge. He turned 50 this past Sunday. Some family and friends joined together for the celebration. The girls set the tables with candles and flowers as Erika (another big reason the hogar runs smoothly) and the kitchen staff prepared a fantastic meal of camarones and tilipia. There was also mango salad, GUACAMOLE, and beans. It was also Madre's nephew's 15th birthday so there were two delicious cakes-- carrot and oreo. Madre and the girls put together a slide show for Jorge of pictures of his life. It was a really nice evening, and a great way to spend my first night. But I better head to bed if I am going to attempt this crack of dawn futbol game. If the 10 year olds can do it, I really have no excuse.

Jorge and Michael blowing out their candles