La Fantasma y Senor Pollo

I have recently been watching "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" on youtube. I thought of that movie the other day and thought to myself, "self...I bet you can find it online." And I did. I always loved that movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VffXZ44_LQ

This week has been a very weird and strange week. It started off warm and sunny and only a few kids were home sick with a fever and cough. Now Thursday, it is cold and damp and I think over 20 kids are home sick. In the mornings like I said earlier, I have been helping Becca clean, wash clothes and take care of sick children. Today we went to a new level of cleaning and disinfected every house, door, bed, even some children. We bought them masks...they look rather ridiculous, but I think they are working! So because everyone has been sick, no one is outside playing. Which makes for a quiet orphanage. I don't like it!

This is Italo wearing his mask at Anthony's Despedida.

So things were really weird around here, and still are, but at 3 today we had Anthony's Despedida (his going away party). He had served here at the albergue for 8 months. It was sad but it was good. It lifted all of our spirits. Miss Alli was the master planner. She is the teacher of the Miller School here on campus. Anthony was here assistant. She had everyone plan a skit, song, dance, or speech to give to him. Everyone did a great job! We made him a slide show that consisted of his volunteer despedida and his trip to the police station (it was a horrible joke!). For his despedida Sunday we all dressed up as superheroes and had a party on a micro bus. We passed out cake and drinks, danced, and made the Peruvians think we were ridiculous gringos! So after many tears and laughs all the kids said goodbye to their Tio Anthony. It was a good interruption from this weird week.

These are some of the kids during the different performances. The guy taking the pictures in the first picture is Anthony.

After the despedida, I went to talk to Alex, who is in charge of maintenance and the garden, and I was actually able to communicate with him! I didn't understand everything that he said but it is definitely improvement! I went to see if Jonathan could help me plant some of the cilantro today because he was causing trouble earlier, but because everyone was sick we decided he better not go out in the cold. So Becca decided to come help me and get out of the house. It was nice to talk and spend some time working in the garden by ourselves. Later I did some more laundry and punk little Josue came over to bug me. I realized today that he really doesn't dislike me, I am just fun to bother. He kind of reminds me of my dear friend Armando, who likes to bother me. I guess I react better than most people. It has become his little joke or rather I should say I am not it. But I think that in a few months we will be friends.

So I pray that the rest of the week goes better, pray for wellness among the kids and the staff. Also please pray for the director Liz's mother. I do not know all the details but I do know that she isn't doing well and financially they need help.

Love to you all!