This morning again began the same - medium boys house, toddler house, Comedor for breakfast. And then the rest of the day was different:
I headed to the school right away because I had no idea when Profe Ramon was going to give the test. It turns out he wanted it to be done 1st thing during the school day. While Luis David and Carlitos were doing the retake in the presence of another teacher, I worked with Miguel on reviewing for his test. He was absent the day of the original test because he had some sort of surgery on his stomach, which set him back about a week. I asked him what exactly was done, but he didn't seem to know either. We spent the hour working through problems, reviewing for the original test. When it was time for recess, we decided to stop and pick up tomorrow. It looks like he'll be taking the test on Friday.
During recess, a student came to get me to let me know that both Carlitos and Luis David had a couple of questions regarding the retake test I had made for them. They were small questions and Luis David finished his test fairly quickly after that. Carlitos used up all of recess and still needed a bit of time to finish, so we were sent to the office for him to finish up the test. When he finished, Profe Ramon asked me if I could correct the tests and get the results to him before lunch. I wasn't really sure at that point because there were only about 45 minutes until lunch and I hadn't even made an answer key for the test. I told him I'd try, but it'd be more likely that I would get it done just after lunch. I took the tests back to our room - because I work best in complete silence, and I knew that if I stayed in the school...there would be students who would walk the halls, pop in to say "hi" and just distract me from getting the tests corrected in a timely fashion. In our room, I quickly made an answer key and was able to correct the tests with a few minutes to spare before lunch time.
I ran them back to the school and gave them to Profe Ramon, explaining Luis David's score was how it was because he had completely forgotten to do 2 problems on the test - one of them was the absolute easiest problem on the test. Students have to get a minimum of 70% on the test to pass the course. Carlitos passed with an 82% and Luis David, even though he missed 10% of the test because of missing those 2 problems, passed with a 71%. The boys were SO happy to hear that they had passed because now they are still on track for graduation.
We headed to the Comedor and then after lunch Doris grabbed Bob to help her set up a printer in the orphanage office while I got Alina and Noah ready to head into town. Bob had to download a driver in order to get the printer and the computer to 'talk' to each other, and said that this would take a while, so we headed into town together and the plan was to work with the download when he got back.
In town we wanted to buy a year's supply of coffee. Coffee costs SO much less down here, and it's SO good!!! Last year we got so much that it lasted through March, but our intention last year was never to buy a year's supply. With both Alina and Noah not taking many clothes back, we should have enough room in the suitcases to not be over the limit in weight. Coffee was just about all we got in town. We did stop at Glenda's when we were on our way back from town so that she could say "hi" to Bob and then say goodbyes to both Alina and Bob since they'll be heading back to the States on Saturday. I let her know that I was planning on making a guacamole for the medium boys next week, so I'd be by to get some avocados, tomatoes, onions, and other ingredients for that.
We unpacked all of the groceries before heading to the Comedor for supper. Noah had found out it was Salomon's 13th birthday today, so brought an egg to the Comedor to get him. After Noah threw the egg, then one of the 'encargados' (bigger boys who help with the medium boys house) put water over Salomon's head, and then another 'encargado' poured hot sauce over Salomon's head. I'm not so sure Salomon has ever gotten this kind of treatment on his birthday before.
After supper, we needed to get ready for church. I wore a dress that a teen girl had given me. The dress was a size to big for her, and she said I should wear it to church. However, when I put it on, my knees showed and I'm not very fond of dresses that are above my knees. I did wear it to church, but will be giving it back to this girl since I know I won't wear it in the States. Perhaps she can gift it to another girl here at the orphanage.
We had asked to bring William, Maycol, Salomon, Brayan, and Cristopher to church with us. As usual, Michell snuck in to sit by us when she was finished with her chores of cleaning the Comedor.
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From left to right: Brayan, Alina, Cristopher, Salomon, Noah, Maycol, William |