Day 8

I finally have a nickname! Serenita, it means little mermaid – all thanks to my hair. Okay, so no one has called me that to my face, but this one girl told me that’s what my nickname is and I’m sticking to it. 

This past week I’ve been living at the bible college, because El Refugio is just 3 minutes away. It’s not like a typical school – the layout is like an oval, with dorms all around, and with a small courtyard in the middle which is also a volleyball court. Then there is a small library and 3 classrooms or something. The whole place is really cute. Classes don’t start until February sometime, so right now it’s being used to have different meetings and conferences and services; I sit in on some of them to practice my Spanish, and I usually understand the larger part of what is being said :D Every morning at 8:45 there are devotions, and yesterday I worked up the nerve and even commented on a verse, in Spanish. It was a stuttery sort of comment, but people understood what I said! Babysteps.

Today we took the kids to the “beach”. There is no beach, only rocks. But rocks have their own charm too, I guess. Anyway, getting 12 kids all sunscreened, bathing suited, and into the van to leave is a feat in itself (I’m never having 12 kids btw). I think it took 1½ hours, but it was worth it – chillin out on the rocks, eating apple wedges, surrounded by super tan Peruvians wondering what sort of family we are, standing up to my knees in water whilst holding a million tiny hands and trying to not fall into the surge of the ocean. The water was freezing, might I add. FREEZING. I think the current that goes by is from the North Pole, in all geographical seriousness. Neither I, Tamara, Irene, or Mercedes (all us who are working at the orphanage) brought bathingsuits so we weren’t planning on getting wet, but there was a lot of splashing and holding and catching and jumping and pouring etc. So now my clothes are hanging up in the bathroom, and I’m hoping they’ll be dry by the time I leave tomorrow... I still don’t know what time exactly. No importa. That means not important, in Spanish. 

Words learned today:

Wet – Mojado

Dry – Seco

Empujar – push

Arreglar – to clean up

Pipi – pee

Popa – poo

Disculpar – to apologize

Uña – nail