Costa Rica Adventure Day 2-Petting Zoo, Gringa Style

   Today was the day!  We got up early to make sure we made all our buses...too early.  We ended up having to kill an hour before going to our placement.  And we still got there 20 minutes early.  Which is better than late.  Because we got there early, the woman that was going to meet us at the bus wasn't there yet, so as we were walking up to the day care some of the kids saw us and yelled "IT'S THE GRINGAS!!!!" That was when I knew it was going to be a very interesting day. :)
   The place where we work is called Gatitos.

We are the first volunteers to work there...I keep speaking in missionary terms and telling people we are "opening" the area. (old habits die hard I guess). But in reality that's what we are doing.  They gave us a notebook to record the activities we did and how they went.  And we are working on finding a balance between those that already work there and what they do, vs what we do and how we are going to help.  The woman who runs it is named Mayela and she is so amazing.  Over and over I saw her do so many Christlike things for those around her...like giving food to a woman who didn't have any for her baby.  There's also another Natalie, Mayela's daughter.   She taught herself English and is working on teaching the older kids.  As the kids said, there's not really a mix up though because they call her Profe (short for profesora).  There are a few other women that work there as well...Lily-watches over the babies, Andrea-teaches preschool and Marciana-the cook.  There's a great feeling there.
   A little bit more about the Day Care...It started off being funded by Mayela.  Single mothers in Purral depend on it as an option for free childcare.  The youngest that we worked with today was 2 and the oldest was 12 or so.  Most of the live in extremely poor conditions and are victims of domestic violence.  It's now run off a small government subsidy which also provides the children with a snack and drinks *lunch* each day.  It's about a 45 min ride up to Purral and it us up on the hill over looking the rest of San Jose.  Most of the houses are made using the tin roofing stuff.  It is amazing what Mayela and others are doing for these kids.
    As soon as we arrived, we were pulled every which way.  I'm pretty sure I now know what it must be like to be in a petting zoo. They all wanted to be loved on and wanted attention.  Which was very easy to give...except when they all wanted it at the same time haha.  They were so shocked when they realized Mom didn't speak any Spanish, but a lot of them didn't let that stop them.  You can always play with any one regardless of what language they speak.
    After a little bit they sent me up with the younger kids to work on English.  They brought me colored blocks so we just worked on the colors, some of them picked up on it really fast.  And the one that everyone remembered...YELLOW...Probably because it is pretty fun to say :) Then one of them wanted to paint....and it turned into painting time.  With some review of the colors.  I realized a few things: 1. I do not have enough experience of working with more than like 3 or 4 little kids at a time 2. Some of them don't even know their colors or numbers in Spanish let alone English...they look at me like "what the heck are you talking about gringita" 3. If they are not sitting on your lap or touching you somehow or you are not looking at them...they are still too far away from you. 4. I totally understand why they need volunteers there, many of the children go under the radar a lot. 5. There is a reason I chose secondary education instead of elementary education as my major :)
    We played most of the rest of the day.  I got to play BINGO and even won the prize...yes, I shared the cookies with everyone else that was playing.  That was a novel thing.  They kept telling me that I won so I got to keep them.  But sharing is caring and it can be fun :) ha ha.
    I know I do better when there is structure so that is what I'm going to try and do for "English time" Hopefully Mom can help me out with that since she's had a whole lot more experience then I have.  I'm really looking forward to coming back tomorrow.  A lot of them are just like little sponges that the world hasn't gotten to yet.  Sweet, innocent, ready to learn anything, and have some awesome women at Gatitos there to watch over them.  I'm excited to work with Mayela and her colleagues.  And Mom is a big hit.  They have a hard time saying Rhonda....so it's just "tu mama?" whenever they want to talk to her or play with her.
    They are really cute.  But don't worry Papa...it's a daycare so none of them are going to come home with her. Haha
   That about sums it up.  I need to work a lot on names.  We got back in time to see most of the US game...that was, fun.  And tomorrow is another adventure.  We'll see if the petting zoo novelty has worn off by then.