Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Things are going so much better. My day at the orphanage consists mainly of playing volleyball for hours and teaching. (My forearms look like I have hickeys from the bruising! But I love playing with them…and I still have my skills! Haha jk.) I love teaching now. It was so disorganized, which frustrated me, but since I spoke up…now we can finally get this moving! Now I only work with the kids who speak more English. I'm not going to lie…they are my favorites out of all the girls. The older girls really look up to me and they make me laugh all the time. Two of them remind me of myself when I was younger. In class they are like the class clowns…but I don't mind because I love their sense of humor. One of the two was a major troublemaker for me at first. I hated my first two hours at the orphanage partly because of her. She would laugh at me when I taught and would distract the other girls. She made me so angry, but now she begs me not leave them. She told me that on Thursday she isn't letting me leave her. Ugh…I want to cry as I type this. I think leaving these girls is going to be even harder than when I left my kids in Cost Rica…maybe because in 4 days I grew more as a person than I have in my whole life. This experience was challenging for me, but I learned so much about myself and what volunteering is really about. (You were right, Bonnie, I finally see my reflection.) I don't want to leave them. Ugh…I'm seriously so sad. (Mike can we cancel the Olympics so I can stay? Haha jk!) There is also a younger girl who is attached to me. It's weird…all I did was smile at her one day and since then she doesn't want to leave me. She never talks…she just wraps her arms around me and doesn't let go…and when it's time for me to leave…she escorts me so she can give me a kiss and hug 'goodbye' at the door. It's amazing the impact they have on us-the volunteers-w/o realizing it. I am not going to lie…I really think I might have to come back…I love Costa Rica as a whole more than Peru…but my heart is with these girls. They have changed me in a way that I don't know how to explain. Oh, and I must add…they don't call me Mary or Miss…they call me "Mees". Haha It's too cute.
As for the clinic…it was really scary…but it's also an experience that has forever changed me. Most of the kids are mentally challenged or disabled. It's sad to see, but they put a smile on our faces! We mainly play, hold, and feed them. One little boy screamed every time I left him or someone else held him.:( It will be difficult to leave them, but at least it won't be hard on them...they won't remember me. As hard as all of this was…I would do it again in a heartbeat! It's funny…you go to volunteer to give of yourself…but in the end you are the one receiving…these girls at the orphanage and children at the clinic will never know how much they have given me!
So for those of you that are wondering what is next (other than having to go back to lame old Jersey for a week! Yuck!)…I'm not certain but I have a couple plans. For those of who knew me before I was laid off…you know that I was kind of like a workaholic. Work was my life, but now I do not miss it at all. When I go back to work, I know I will still have a good work ethic….that's who I am… but I will not allow it to prevent me from living ever again. So I have a couple of ideas: 1.) Get my Masters in Executive Non-Profit Leadership I can create the non-profit in honor of my mother w/confidence & before school starts in Aug I will come back to Peru for three months and then find an HR admin or assistant position just to get my feet thru the door & not have too many responsibilities while going to school, 2.) Join the Peace Corps…not sure, but I am thinking about it, 3.)If neither of the first two plans work out, then I have to just find a job…but it's not what I want at this moment! But you got to do what you got to do so I guess I can do that and continue to volunteer in the states until I find what's really meant for me.
CIAO!
- comments