Anticipating my stay at Lavra Mambre

I woke up this morning less red and less tired, two good signs. When I entered church for Typica (no priest), I was bombarded with hugs and "do you feel better", and "so you're not gonna die." Even the nannies and cooks were worried about me. It really made me feel like part of the hogar family. After I reassured some of the boys the worst that may happen is I lose a limb, we enter the church and begin prayers. Typica is short. We had some time before lunch, so we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went swimming. I unfortunately could not participate, because one must expose themselves to sunlight when swimming. I sat on the bleachers (in my raincoat with my hood up for shelter from the sun) with some of the nannies and older girls and we sang some spanish kids songs together. Between songs, I counted to 3 probably close to a million times for kids to jump in the pool, or have races. Lunch for me was vegetables and beans. I have been playing it safe by avoiding all types of meat (very against my character, except on Wednesdays and Fridays and other fasts). We did have manjar for dessert though, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

After lunch, los chiquitos watched Lady and the Tramp while the older ones watched Soccer Buddy and High School Musical 3. I helped Seno' with the popcorn and learned that consume de pollo makes popcorn almost edible for me. After a dinner of more vegetables and less meat, the older girls were given permission to watch the ultimate gift. What a touching story!

So, it was a fairly uneventful day, yet wonderful with the children as always. Tomorrow afternoon, Anya and I will be going to the monastery. I am not quite sure when we will be getting back, but I think the earliest will be Sunday morning. With that being said, it is obvious I will have no computer access for the next week up at Lavra Mambre. I will take my little journal with me to keep notes so I can record my experience here when I return to the hogar and my computer. I am anticipating the peace and tranquility at the monastery, as well as the scorpions, daily prayer, and apparently delicious duck eggs. I have never stayed in a monastery before, so I look forward to observing the monastic life and participating in this community for a week or so.

Check back in a week! Nos vemos pronto y Dios les bendiga!