Monday. Fin joined me for school - 5a & 6a, learning food. I was a wreck by afternoon after my boozy late Sunday, so had to bail on finishing the mural and had a much needed siesta.
Met the girls later that evening (C passed) for Sex In The City...We´d all squealed, girly-style and did a little excited jumping on the spot and rapid mini-clapping of our hands when we heard the NYC girls had finally come to Posadas town. The original idea had been to dress up and I had suggested champagne, but in the end, all coming from different projects and different times, and with our vastly edited wardrobes out here, it was all we could do to just get there on time (as OZ Kirsten said "I´m only wearing my dyke boots and dyke shirt & jeans that I´ve had on all day"). Although I did woof down a Capirihna in Alex´s bar, on principal (no Cosmos here, sorry!)
I don´t know if it was just the sheer emotion of seeing Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte & Samantha on screen again, or the fact there was a baby thing going on with Charlotte, everything about Carrie´s wedding, the big relationship issues we all identify with, whether I just missed my gal pals back home dreadfully (I so do!), or that I´m just a big softie, but I found myself welling up quite a bit in the dark.
As we came out, Oz K said she found herself really missing her glam girly wardrobe back home. I was shocked, but only at the realisation I hadn´t even *thought* about mine.
Two bits of the film particularly struck a chord for me though...when Carrie gives her assistant a Louis Vuitton handbag, and her assistant goes crazy with joy, Carrie says it was the best money she´d ever spent. But for me, it´s the i-to-i experience that has been the best thing money *I´ve* ever spent (a different type of giving, but still!).
Also when Samatha goes on a shopping spree and fills her boot with tens of designer bags, Chanel, Prada, Vuitton, etc, I did think how much further that kind of money would go out here, and how different a world it is to that of the refugio kids.
Should I ever get a job again (!) it´s going to be hard to go back to splashing the cash in London on champagne, meals, taxis and shopping without that thought niggling in the back of my head.
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Tuesday with Leanne, revising food with the fill-in sheet. As it was my last day with 5a and 6a, I was literally *mobbed* to sign their English books (which I finally let them keep!) and given a host of really sweet leaving cards made out of pages from their books, and a couple of kids brought me sweets. (I´ll post more pics later, this is a quick blog to get up to date with this week, I don´t want to forget it all)
After lunch at home, I met Fin & Leanne and went to put the finishing touches to our masterpiece.
I had to pick up Millie (my favourite cutie, about 18 months) a lot during this session as she kept crying if I put her down or if anyone else took her (she positively howled and ran away if C came near her on Saturday, we think it´s the beard). With my colouring so different to the other voluntarios but similar to the locals, I think she thought I was her mummy...she kept staring at my face and reaching out for it.
Millie
But finally - tadaaaaa! Here it is.
We all signed it "Bueno Suerte, ¡Besos!, Sapna, Finnuala & Leanne". Then one of the kids pointed out it´s "BuenA Suerte, so I added a little line to the "o" to make it an "a".
Norma would be proud she taught us all so well...ahem!
Michaela and 2 of the boys, loving our work
One thing that really hacked us all off: Lea & Fin realised today that two unused pots of paint (a blue and a white) had gone missing. I´d prescribed more paint than we eventually used, as the original plan had been to do two walls, so they were either going to try and take them back for a refund, or failing that, give them to Veronica for the use of other i-to-i volunteers and projects.
The pots had been there on Saturday when C & I had gone in, and as no one admitted to knowing where they were, we could only come to one conclusion, that José had stolen them for his own personal use. That was 60 pesos worth (or 10 quid) - paint is relatively quite expensive round here.
As we walked out, to the sound of cheering children shouting "Ciao!" through their barred windows, we turned a corner, and I casually - but pointedly - remarked..."*That´s* a nice blue house". The girls stopped to see what was looking at, and we all burst out laughing. The girls said they´d been coming to this project for a motnh and had never noticed this brightly painted house before. It certainly did look shiny and fresh. And exactly the same shade you would have got if you mixed the two pots.
Wonder if José lives here?
Wed: went in, with C this time, to school. I´ve sacked off 5b so had a lie-in and just did 6b, my best class. They were perfectly behaved and all but 2 got "Excelente"s. I´m not sure if they´ve tried extra hard in my last week OR I´m finally making progress. Either way, it feels over far too soon.
Spent the afternoon drawing a picture of Cami as a thank you to Aida & co, I´m doing one of Filipe for our Spanish teacher Norma too, and have done a photo montage for the lovely Veronica.
I´ve also sacked off Salsa with the girls tonight - it´s exhausting doing nice things for people all the time! - so I´m heading off to bed now...it´s only 9.30pm.
Tomorrow is our last supper, with about 24 of us voluntarios and our homestay "mums" and our connected friends like V & her family.
I can´t believe it´s nearly over...
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