One day we'll be together....

What a great week it's been. My school sponsors a school in Burkina Faso. Every year, they have an event to raise awareness about the school and the problems they face, mainly a shortage of food. This week, we had a run that all of the students participated in. Each day this week, a several grades ran laps in the park and/or at school. They found friends, families, and teachers to pledge money for each lap they completed. On Friday, we ended the week with a celebration assembly out on one of the patios. Each grade had representatives to place their collection into a basket. It was a beautiful, moving ceremony. Our theme song for the week was a song entitled, "One day we'll be together," by Bob Sinclair. It is a song that speaks of friendship and the importance of looking out for everyone because this world is yours and mine. Friday night, Amigos de Jesus had an event at school - our solitary dinner. People who came were served a garlic soup that is a typical dish in Africa, an apple, and water. The meal was to represent what the children who attend the school we sponsor eat on a daily basis and to remind us of how fortunate we are to have all the food we could possibly imagine. I had fun with my co-workers - we supervised the kids and helped clean up. Actually, a lifelong dream was fulfilled that night. When I was younger, I was always amazed by those huge dishwashers that were in the school cafeteria. I finally got to operate one! Although I have to admit, drying the dishes afterward with a hand towel wasn't so fun....After the dinner was over, I rode with my friend Eva to take another friend/co-worker home. Our friend Tamara, lives in the northern part of the city, and it's quite a way from the school. It was funny, because Tamara was telling us how to get home, and Eva told me I had to remember what she was saying, because she's not good with directions. Funny, the girl from Kentucky has to tell the Spaniard how to get back....Anyways, we followed her directions, but somehow ended up on a dead-end street and decided to look for the expressway instead. That took fifteen minutes to find, but we finally made it back.

Los Cotos

I had to wake up early Saturday morning because we had a field trip with Amigos de Jesus. We met at the Nuevos Ministerios train station at 9:30 am. It was pouring down rain and that kept a lot of kids home. We had a forty-minute train ride to Cercedilla and then had to switch trains and ride another one for 40 minutes. The second train reminded me of the train Daddy, Bart, and I rode from Lausanne to Gstaad, when we were in Switzerland a few years ago. We had to climb up the mountain and the train was old and slow. It was amazing to see snow within a matter of minutes and we climbed the hill. We finally arrived at a place called Los Cotos, which is on the border of Madrid and Castilla y Leon (the bordering comunidad - something similar to our version of states.) After changing shoes and putting on gloves, hats, etc, we walked up the hill from the train station. The area where we went was in a valley type thing - one hill on one side, facing another, with the road in the middle. The area was fenced off, and full of snow. The kids (and adults) had a blast! I was somewhat amused by the sleds here - they're made of plastic and really thin. They look like a toy shovel. Even the two seaters are really thin and cheap - nothing like the heavy duty sleds we have. However, they were tons of fun. I am forever grateful to my co-workers who loaned me nylon pants, gloves, and scarves. Isabel, the mother of the family who I live with, let me borrow a snow jacket she bought in Indiana last year. One of the students at the train station told me I wasn't prepared for the snow because I was wearing the wrong clothes. I had to agree with her. Everyone has snow pants and snow boots and here I was wearing my $20 black snow boots from Kmart. (The fashionable snow boots, not snow boots to hike up mountains). I had even thought I was doing good that morning to spray my boots with water protector. It didn't help one bit. My boots were completely drenched in water. Needless to say, I think those will be going in the trash pretty soon....Word of advice: Don't wear snow boots (uggs) to go sledding. They won't help you at all. I kept slipping and sliding and eventually fell. Finally, I decided it best to slide down the hill on my bottom until I reached the base.

Our snow family :)

Before we broke for lunch, the teachers had a race down the hill. Talk about pure comedy! My friend Conchi and I were on one sled and we won! It was quite hilarious. We ate lunch in the train station - that was an experience. It was packed and everyone was eating sandwiches. The entire time, I kept thinking about my mother, who would never have let us eat in such conditions. The bathrooms of course, had no toilet paper, but I figured that ahead of time and went in with kleenex. After our break, we walked back up the hill and made snowmen. My team created a family, complete with a puppy. We then walked back down the hill (well, in my case, slid down the hill) and began the journey home. The kids were still wound up and naturally, seemed to recharge. I was exhausted and wanted to sleep!


I was quickly reminded that I'm getting old for all of this. Last night, I got a cramp in my leg. Every year, I tell myself that sledding is dangerous and one of these days I'm going to get hurt. (Like the time I went sledding two years ago, and tried to be cool and snowboard down the hill. I fell immediately and came down hard on snow that had been covered in ice, that was covered by more frozen snow - this was the year we had the ice storm. My back hurt for six months....) But I'm such a big kid and can't resist. One of these days, I will learn. This morning I woke up in pain. My entire body was sore....Well, at least I have a year to recover until next year's trip....

This is probably the reason why I am sore....

I ended my day over at Eva's flat. She helped me study my Spanish literature because my test in on Wednesday. I'm so grateful to my co-workers! We then sat around and ate potato chips and cold fish that was marinated in vinegar - a typical Spanish tapa. I'm really getting into this Spanish thing :)

I'm off to bed. I hope tomorrow I'm not sore :(