The morning air is cool. I
slept poorly, but did not want to get out of bed. My shower was cold, but my breakfast
good. I do wonder why I drink coffee—Nescafe
with any amount of sugar (and no half and half) is foul. The food was what Americans are supposed to
like (pancakes with syrup straight from the US) with local fruit and
bread. After the meal, I made poor Doña Celia
identify all the foods in Spanish. Como se dice and point. I am a large child.
I am the only one here at La Morada, except for Doña
Celia and her daughter, Alejandra, until another group arrives on Saturday. It
means it is very quiet. I can sit in the
courtyard and read without interruption.
Or, take a nap.
Lila picked me up and I spent the morning at the orphanage which is called La
Villa. Diego (Doug) gave me a tour. It all feels rather familiar, but I actually
remember little from my trip 12 years ago.
Everything is very Catholic.
Diego is my translator. I
attended a Bible study with the mamás (the women who each lead a house of six
to ten orphans) and a papa (the leader of the house of teenage boys), in
Spanish, of course. It felt like I could
understand about half of what folks said, but usually felt rather lost. At least everyone loved my iPad Bible!
I had my first Spanish lesson today for two hours. Reginaldo explained things to me that I had
never known about Spanish. The most
important one is that English is about consonants and Spanish about
vowels. I was both disheartened by how
little I know and yet encouraged by how much suddenly comes back to me.
I have not yet gotten Internet access, but there is
supposed to be some at La Villa. Maybe
tomorrow. I would love to be able to
wander around from here, but I'm not sure how to do that. I'd like to find a bike and ride between La
Morada and La Villa, but I don't think folks would be too comfortable with
that. If nothing else, I will need to
find a way to jog in the mornings.
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