We got to the school this morning and begin work right away since the kids know who we are already. We begin by placing the rocks we painted earlier yesterday around the base of the trees around the school. It’s a little random, but it looks nice with the bases of the trees encircled in white rocks. As soon as we finish placing those rocks, we paint the rest of the rocks that we brought up from the hillside. We didn’t bother washing the rocks today because they weren’t that dirty and it hadn’t really made a huge impact in the past. Right as we finished painting the rest of the rocks, the bell rang for the kids’ recess. We are al very excited to see the little kids again and play with them because we didn’t get to see them yesterday. We were also allowed to bring our cameras today so we could take pictures of the school, the children and of the kids in action at school. The kids come out of their classrooms and we give them hugs and we all start speaking again. I find the little girls that I became good friends with and I showed them my camera. The rest of the recess I was taking pictures and they were running around with my camera taking pictures, of themselves and their friends and of things around the school. Today we played a lot with them on their small playground, the see-saw they have there was insane! It was two metal pipes stuck together and we fit a lot of kids and volunteers in the seesaw and we all went up and down, up and down for awhile on the see-saw. After the wild see-saw experience, we walked around the school holding hands and the kids really wanted to take pictures, so we let the run around with the cameras for awhile. It didn’t take long before the girls knew how to go back and view the pictures and how to change the settings. There was one instance when the camera was accidently switched to video mode and there are a whole bunch of video clips that are one second that were supposed to be pictures; it was really cute. Partway through this, the kids would run up and tickle us then run away, then we would tickle them back and then this would start a huge game of tag, lanta! When recess was over, the kids had to go back into their classrooms and the volunteers spilt into groups to play with the kids and interact with them in the classrooms. I was in the group that got to go into the computer lab with the 3rd and 4th graders. I sat between two boys in the computer lab. The one on my right was very loud and talkative and liked to play games on the computer; he kept yelling to his friend across the room. The kid on my left though was quieter and liked to play the educational guessing games. We talked some and eventually got into a deep conversation about the beauty of the night sky with the stars and the moon. The computer lab is always a lot of fun, I enjoy speaking with the kids about technology and it oftentimes surprises me how young they are and how much they know how to do on the computer. Recess time was again and we played more games and this time we played hand games and I got it on video. You can’t really hear it, but we are speaking Spanish and she is explaining to me how the game works! After recess I went back in the computer lab with the kids and one of the little girls was drawing pictures on the computer that said” Te amo Sarah” (pictured above) and it was absolutely adorable. It made me feel really happy knowing that I was making a positive influence on a girl’s life but it was sad to think about that on Friday, only 2 days away, we would be saying goodbye for forever. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the moment and kept smiling away! When I went back outside, there were two adorable kids that were really high energy and tiring out two of the other volunteers running around and playing tag with them, so I took over for a little while and got a chance to talk with the kids and get to know them. The boy liked to climb trees and play soccer and he had brothers and pets and was telling me about his life. We ran up and down the hill playing tag and around the field too and when we got tired, we went in the shade of the trees and talked one on one about life; him climbing trees and me standing on a painted rock. The girl liked Hannah Montana and Selena Gomez music, and when she told me that I brought her over to a table of other volunteer and we all sang some of the songs for her. She was really shy and didn’t want to sing along with us, but I could tell that she really enjoyed our company. We went back in the shade of the tree and talked some more and then the boy came over and they were asking me about phone numbers. I thought they were going to ask me for my phone number because the day before the older boys were asking us for our phone numbers (which we declined to tell them), but to my surprise, they ran over to their backpacks and grabbed out pieces of paper and wrote their phone numbers down for me to call them. The boy handed me the number written in red and told me it was his mom’s number, and the girl handed me her home phone number written in pencil with an orange heart on it. I was so touched that these 2nd graders wanted to keep contact with me and actually talk to me more; I was almost on the verge of tearing up. I was heartbroken knowing that I will most likely never see these children again and it is impossible for me to call them. I began to explain to them why I couldn’t call them, but then I looked at their faces and I saw joy and happiness and a little confusion with my Spanish speaking skills, and I couldn’t bring myself to tell them. It was at this moment that I decided two things: 1)I want to definitely volunteer internationally again and 2) my life now has a purpose. I want to travel the world the rest of my life and volunteer. With CCS again in Costa Rica and many other Spanish speaking countries; with my family; to other countries where the language barrier will be so expansive and create difficulties, but the service will be worth it; and finally, with my own family 20 years from now. I want to be that special person to help someone in need, even if only for a few days. That would make the rest of my life, just like my life has been made today; at 16 years of age I now know the path that I will be traveling down the rest of my life. This has been a very life changing trip for me. The week of volunteer work is already half over and I know that I will miss their smiling faces.Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Volunteer Day 3: Wednesday June 20, 2012
We got to the school this morning and begin work right away since the kids know who we are already. We begin by placing the rocks we painted earlier yesterday around the base of the trees around the school. It’s a little random, but it looks nice with the bases of the trees encircled in white rocks. As soon as we finish placing those rocks, we paint the rest of the rocks that we brought up from the hillside. We didn’t bother washing the rocks today because they weren’t that dirty and it hadn’t really made a huge impact in the past. Right as we finished painting the rest of the rocks, the bell rang for the kids’ recess. We are al very excited to see the little kids again and play with them because we didn’t get to see them yesterday. We were also allowed to bring our cameras today so we could take pictures of the school, the children and of the kids in action at school. The kids come out of their classrooms and we give them hugs and we all start speaking again. I find the little girls that I became good friends with and I showed them my camera. The rest of the recess I was taking pictures and they were running around with my camera taking pictures, of themselves and their friends and of things around the school. Today we played a lot with them on their small playground, the see-saw they have there was insane! It was two metal pipes stuck together and we fit a lot of kids and volunteers in the seesaw and we all went up and down, up and down for awhile on the see-saw. After the wild see-saw experience, we walked around the school holding hands and the kids really wanted to take pictures, so we let the run around with the cameras for awhile. It didn’t take long before the girls knew how to go back and view the pictures and how to change the settings. There was one instance when the camera was accidently switched to video mode and there are a whole bunch of video clips that are one second that were supposed to be pictures; it was really cute. Partway through this, the kids would run up and tickle us then run away, then we would tickle them back and then this would start a huge game of tag, lanta! When recess was over, the kids had to go back into their classrooms and the volunteers spilt into groups to play with the kids and interact with them in the classrooms. I was in the group that got to go into the computer lab with the 3rd and 4th graders. I sat between two boys in the computer lab. The one on my right was very loud and talkative and liked to play games on the computer; he kept yelling to his friend across the room. The kid on my left though was quieter and liked to play the educational guessing games. We talked some and eventually got into a deep conversation about the beauty of the night sky with the stars and the moon. The computer lab is always a lot of fun, I enjoy speaking with the kids about technology and it oftentimes surprises me how young they are and how much they know how to do on the computer. Recess time was again and we played more games and this time we played hand games and I got it on video. You can’t really hear it, but we are speaking Spanish and she is explaining to me how the game works! After recess I went back in the computer lab with the kids and one of the little girls was drawing pictures on the computer that said” Te amo Sarah” (pictured above) and it was absolutely adorable. It made me feel really happy knowing that I was making a positive influence on a girl’s life but it was sad to think about that on Friday, only 2 days away, we would be saying goodbye for forever. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the moment and kept smiling away! When I went back outside, there were two adorable kids that were really high energy and tiring out two of the other volunteers running around and playing tag with them, so I took over for a little while and got a chance to talk with the kids and get to know them. The boy liked to climb trees and play soccer and he had brothers and pets and was telling me about his life. We ran up and down the hill playing tag and around the field too and when we got tired, we went in the shade of the trees and talked one on one about life; him climbing trees and me standing on a painted rock. The girl liked Hannah Montana and Selena Gomez music, and when she told me that I brought her over to a table of other volunteer and we all sang some of the songs for her. She was really shy and didn’t want to sing along with us, but I could tell that she really enjoyed our company. We went back in the shade of the tree and talked some more and then the boy came over and they were asking me about phone numbers. I thought they were going to ask me for my phone number because the day before the older boys were asking us for our phone numbers (which we declined to tell them), but to my surprise, they ran over to their backpacks and grabbed out pieces of paper and wrote their phone numbers down for me to call them. The boy handed me the number written in red and told me it was his mom’s number, and the girl handed me her home phone number written in pencil with an orange heart on it. I was so touched that these 2nd graders wanted to keep contact with me and actually talk to me more; I was almost on the verge of tearing up. I was heartbroken knowing that I will most likely never see these children again and it is impossible for me to call them. I began to explain to them why I couldn’t call them, but then I looked at their faces and I saw joy and happiness and a little confusion with my Spanish speaking skills, and I couldn’t bring myself to tell them. It was at this moment that I decided two things: 1)I want to definitely volunteer internationally again and 2) my life now has a purpose. I want to travel the world the rest of my life and volunteer. With CCS again in Costa Rica and many other Spanish speaking countries; with my family; to other countries where the language barrier will be so expansive and create difficulties, but the service will be worth it; and finally, with my own family 20 years from now. I want to be that special person to help someone in need, even if only for a few days. That would make the rest of my life, just like my life has been made today; at 16 years of age I now know the path that I will be traveling down the rest of my life. This has been a very life changing trip for me. The week of volunteer work is already half over and I know that I will miss their smiling faces.
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