Day 8

I am currently at cruising height, somewhere over some large body of water. I already miss every single one of the people I have met on this trip. Apparently I have become to sound like a broken record, repeating the fact that I miss people over and over again, 

This has been one of the best weeks of my life.

 Yesterday was our last day of work. I returned  Zaragosa, to say goodbye to everyone. It was a half day, but we all put in as much work as possible, just to see how much we could get in. It was weird, knowing that it was the last time I would probally see any of these kids ever. They are the sweetest kids I have ever met, and leaving was so hard, but  I would rather have met them and had to say goodbye than to have never known them.  When we walked down the hill to the village, all of the kids were waiting for us.  Sofia was there, as well as Helen, and another girl Paulina. They all rushed towards us, giving us hugs.
We brought them donuts, as a sort of good bye gift. They were really good donuts, and the kids were so happy to see them.
I am having trouble conjuring up words to explain how I felt and what I did. I had the same problem last night at reflection. I just sputtered about how much everything meant to me and how it was nice to be there. The whole trip is all just a blur of love and friendship and happiness.Yesterday, I helped Sofia and Helen make bracelets, and played tag and ride the Sophie-pretending-to-be-a-pony with Sofia and Paulina. I taught them Ring Around the Rosie, and counted jump rope jumps.
As the day’s arts and crafts project, we made paper Leis (I am getting really good at them). I helped the kids cut and design and string their necklaces, and, as I was doing sow, I was struck with how much my Spanish has improved. I was able to explain how to do things, and the kids (usually) looked like they understood what I was talking about.

After lunch, we played a game of soccer. I played goalie, and did pretty poorly. I kept saying the score was “Sophie is a really bad goalie to three” and “Sophie is a really bad goalie to four”. It was fun though, and I got appropriately muddy. 

After my astounding loss, it was time to say good bye.

It was the hardest part of the entire trip. I held Sofia and Helen and Paulina for like a hour, and then everyone began to walk to the bus. We all were hugging each other, and carrying the kids, and saying goodbye and adios over and over again. We got to the bus, and it took 20 minutes just to get in the vehicle--there was too much love and sadness to leave too quickly.

After we drove away, the fact that I am probably never going to see any of the kids again really sunk in. I cried.

After leaving Zaragosa, we met up with everyone at the hospital/house/church where Oscar Romero died. I made the obligatory jokes about not knowing who he was. I froze because of over exposure to air conditioning.
We went back to the house, ate dinner, had reflection, and listened to a local band and watched a local dance group. It was a good ending to a wonderful week.

I would like to thank everyone for reading and commenting and sharing my blog with everyone, it made it easier to force myself to write it. I hope you were able to live vicariously through me. =]


Sophie