I woke up to a cool breeze and wild dogs barking. Already looking forward to resting again. I opened my sleeping bag and used it as a blanket. When I couldn’t sleep anymore, I got up, organized my things and then took a short walk around camp.
I remember the little things from yesterday:
-The embraces to make us family, not strangers who know each others names.
- Bessy telling us that us being here is a dream come true.
-The excitement of all (including us) for a banana after our lunch yesterday.
- Having to be quiet and listen.
- Seeing my staff eat this up!
It is very cool this morning. It will be nice if it lasts.
…
We ate breakfast, and then I taught everyone some cheers. It was more funny than productive. We then dismissed to have the counselors and staff clean up the cabins while I sat down with Agu and Bessy.
While we were meeting, the children arrived early!!! Crazy! Loco! We just made it work. It was great! I remember huddling everyone up and just saying “lets go with it”.. and then we cheered “no se trata de mi”. (its not about me) All the kids were so excited and we greeted many with cheeks and kisses. Agu then circled them up and I handed her the megaphone. It was a sweet moment of being able to serve. It is encouraging to work with her. She is passionate about camp and kids. Bessy has selected her to be the role of program director and so I feel as though I need to teach her as much as I can but with the sensitivity of allowing them to make decisions that fit better in their culture.
We then moved to the inside of camp for the greeting and camper cabin assignments. Each one of my counselors was paired with an Argentine counselor and they got in the middle while Agu shouted each name of the camper in their cabin. It was beyond a joy to see each greeting and embrace take place! It was good. We then moved to snack, get to know you time, and move in.
Lunch was stressful later. At least 30 minutes late. We are still working on kitchen and cook relationships. At least Bessy is. She is doing so well managing multiple relationships. We also found that for our first meal, we didn’t have enough plates or silverware. While trying to work out a solution, they discovered a cupboard with more! Whew!!
Laura and I’s first trip to town…
Bessy said that we could go buy something extra for our staff for breakfast because what they were getting was not enough. Bread is the dominator of all the meals, and it is good, but it is just not enough to sustain my team for the whole morning of camp. So we left, and ended up driving for over an hour to our destination. Bessy’s fiance, Tito, took us in the cab. He is a crazy driver and only twice was I scared, which is saying something, because I never get scared in the car. Laura was freaked out the whole time.. Haha.. Trying to remember the details: Boxes on poles to hold trash off the ground. Small cars. Lots of car shops and mechanics. Very poor and dirty. Graphiti on nearly every wall and building. Lots of bikes. I did see a blockbuster in a nicer area, weird.
We ended up at a parking garage with animal labels on each row. Instead of colors or letters, they use animals. I like it. Easy to remember that we are on the “jaguar” row. Rode an escalator with no steps on an incline. We arrived at a mall/type of place with a huge supermarket/walmart type of place in it. I think we are coming back here Sunday. It was funny because here Laura and I are in this place with no idea. I got busted for taking a picture. It felt weird to be “the guy” who doesn’t speak the language. I was happy because after the supermarket, I bought a coke from a convenience store and I don’t think she knew I was from the U.S. Nice..
We arrived back and they were kind of freaked out without us. (because it took us way longer than we thought it would…) But, they were already doing worship! Praise the Lord! If we didn’t have Agu, I don’t know what we would have done. We Quickly threw together the Moses skit and did it with translation. Although crazy, the kids seemed to love it. While they reflected, we had a great talk with Bessy and then I talked with her for awhile to understand more and build the relationship.
She goes all over the place. Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay… Events all year. She really wants Laura and I to return next year for consistency. SHe selected the group of Chicos that came to CCI training. (Meanwhile, I shared matte with Marcos.) It was good to understand more of the big picture here.
I then met up with some of my staff to ask them questions and make sure they were good. I reminded them to just keep encouraging. “Buen trabajo” meaning good job, keeps coming up. I hope that Agu and the others feel encouraged by us and have confidence. There are still some small details that need to be passed on, but they are doing an amazing job! And my staff is rocking it out with a phenomenal job so far!
8:50pm - About to eat Dinner
Dinner was good. Tanner was carrying a boy in and they were dancing and making this sign with their hands. It was the rock on/I love you type of thing. I joined them, and quickly, Agu came over and told me that it was a symbol of a bad thing in Argentina. I felt bad but was thankful that Agu was comfortable telling me things like this. I realized we probably needed a meeting to make sure that my staff don’t try so hard to connect with the kids, that they accidentally lead them astray. I told Agu that it would be good to have a meeting with Bessy to figure out the best way to prevent this would be. We had a great talk, we had all the children go into the gym with my counselors and Agu, while Bessy went and met in a huddle with the Argentine counselors. I went up to join them, but since they were in a huddle, it didn’t seem like they reacted so well. I tried to make a joke out of it by walking away, but they said “no!” I was relieved. It was awkward because I was to be a part of them and to encourage them with what they are doing, but sometimes I don’t quite know how. I was able to tell Bessy to tell them that I was proud of all of them and their efforts and that they were doing a great job. They seemed encouraged. Yes!
After dinner, the mattress situation became crazy. Actually, crazy doesn’t describe this. Agu led the children in a circle quiet song time and then they went to their cabins to reflect on the day. It was difficult becauyse so many are also sleeping in cabins as well, so bedtime is crazy. We have zero staff cabin areas. So its either sleep on the floor in a cabin, or in the dining hall or our floor. To add to the stress, apparently we have 15-20 more people staying with us. So they re-arranged the dining hall for the women to sleep on one side, and the men on the other. Neal, John and I slept across the way in another room with the bluffs guys. The funny thing is that, like the dining hall, it is surrounded with windows. That have to be open to keep us somewhat cool. To make the night better, I was able to get a hot shower, but it was so hot that I couldn’t stand under it. Oh the extremes. :) Story of my life. We went down around 11:30. As usual for me, it was difficult to sleep. Not too hot, but many snores and wild dogs barking. And I have trouble falling to sleep anyways in general. Wow, this is only the 2nd day…
