It's raining babies

I am very, very satisfied right now. My project at the orphanage could not be better. Some of the other volunteers who arrived with me aren't so happy with their projects because there isn't much to do, but there is always a ton to do at the orphanage. (One of the people who volunteer at a daycare actually decided that the kids there were too spoiled to have all the toys she had brought so she took them over to the orphanage today).

Today was the first time I have seen any "tranquilla" at the orphanage, which Ticos always speak of. Today many of the parents came to visit their children at the orphanage. I didn't get to see any of the parent since they went to the other house but watching the kids as they waited was an odd experience. They were so calm, just waiting for their turn to go down to see their parents, I guess hoping that their parents would come. One girl's parents didn't come after all; they changed their plans to come on Monday. She was pretty upset for a while which was very sad.

It was kind of nice having a quieter day today. I did a lot of cleaning windows and dishes. You have no idea how much cleaning goes on there. They do laundry every day and everytime the babies are changed (there are 7 in diapers) the diapers and underthings have to be washed. (yes, they use cloth diapers and they were very difficult to figure out. I still think that the diapers I put on must fall off a few hours later). Those babies are a handful. There is a whole routine in place for waking them up from their nap and changing them all, then changing them again and putting them in their pajamas for dinnertime, feeding them, then taking them all to bed. It's nuts. And yes, all this happens even on a quiet day.

Anyways, the best part of today. I mentioned that I was trying to make Pamela and Fabian feel special. Well Fabian likes me already. He is my special little helper and helps me find things and tells me what words are in Spanish. Yesterday Pamela screamed and screamed when I tried to pick her up and take her back to the house and out of the rain. Today things looked a bit more hopeful. She was coloring by herself and I asked if I could join her. Of course she said no and put her colouring things away. I just took them back and acted very excited to be coloring by myself. It took about 30 seconds for Fabian to come and join me coloring so I left Pamela alone but after a few minutes she came back herself to see what was going on. She didn't stay but she looked like she'd like to sit down and join us but was too stubborn to do so. A bit of psych/ common sense for you... when kids like negative attention you ignore the bad stuff they do and heap praise on them when they're actually doing something right. There aren't too many times when she's doing something right but I think she might be pleased with the kind words when she is. Anyways... I was colouring with Fabian and Brandon(who is 7) came to join me. He is pretty active and hasn't shown any interest in me before but he came to join us really quickly. He was refusing to say anything directly to me (again I know it's because my Spanish is crappy) so Fabian was relaying sentences between the two of us. But I coloured a picture for him and wrote him name on it. At first he said he didn't want it, give it to Fabian, but I insisted it was for him. He said "for me?" with a really sweet look on his face, and later he put it aside and said "this is mine". The kids are just so sweet. I have a feeling I might have to come back here at some point. I really hope that I'll be able to.

Things at my house are going well. Gina and I had a nice simple talk over the breakfast table today. Her cooking is actually very similar to what I eat at home, rice, beans, potatoes, except that here I have that for all meals of the day. It's a little plainer than my food at home, and vegetables seem to be kind of like brussel sprouts here.... no one really eats any. They have something like pickled vegetable in a big jar in the fridge which are ok but not the same. We had some fresh veggies yesterday which was a nice treat. Hah, a treat to eat vegetables! Some things you take forgranted until you can't have any.

I am definetly not of a Tico composition. The heat here is really getting to me. After I leave my house in the morning, I swelter for the rest of the day. And my walk to the orphanage is killing me. It's about a 30 minute walk uphill at 12:30 when everyone else is taking a siesta from the hot sun. I have not figured out how to avoid being completely overheated by the time I get to the orphanage yet. They must think I am very burnt because my face is always beet red. Today I tried walking with an umbrella which made some difference but not much. I'm not sure what to try next though. I'm sure I'll just adapt to the climate eventually. In the evening when I walk home, I walk in the rain. Rain here is very different from in Vancouver. It's not a steady drizzzle, sometimes is nuts. It just pours from the sky in great streaks of water. Yesterday I took a taxi back home to town because it was raining so bad. On nights when the rain isn't so bad though, I kind of enjoy it because it cools me down.

On the weekend I'm travelling to Manuel Antonio, the most trafficked tourist destination in Costa Rica. It was chosen my by travel companions so I thought what the heck. Anyways, I'll updat you on Monday about how the trip went. Adios!