Live Tarantula 2019

As we got up and ready to head down to the comedor for breakfast this morning, I reminded Alina, Noah and Kaylyn that this was our last Sunday at Orphanage Emmanuel.  It was our last "free" day.  After eating breakfast, Noah asked for the keys to the room, so I gave them to him and he ran back...I assume to change for church and then head over to the medium boys house to grab Brayan and Gibran.  Alina was next to head to our room as Kaylyn and I finished up breakfast.

When Kaylyn and I were done with breakfast, I took her on a tour of the school since it was on the way to our room.  I have forgotten she hasn't yet gotten a full tour of this place.  We will have to do some more walking out to the farm later this week.  I showed her the 2 classrooms where I've been teaching (Bachillerato 1 and Bachillerato 2), and then we headed back to our room.  As we made it up the hill, we saw Alina standing outside the hotel room, smiling.  I approached her and asked if Noah left her the keys and her response, at that time, was yes and they were on the arch.  I got closer to the arch and noticed a small black blob and paused, smiling at Alina.  Kaylyn, confused why I didn't go immediately grab the keys, went and grabbed them herself and let herself into the room.  Now, before I go any further, I do want to say that this black blob was on ONE side of the arch and the keys were on the other, so Kaylyn was not in danger at all.  I let her know after she grabbed the keys that there was a tarantula on the arch. 

Alina told me after the fact that as she came up to the room, Noah was leaving.  She noticed the room door was closed, so asked Noah for the keys.  Apparently he replied with a smile, "The keys are on the arch, right next to a tarantula!"

I'm not sure if it was "sleeping" or if it was all tucked into a ball because it was cold since it was still morning, but it wasn't that recognizable if you didn't know what to look for.  I decided that the tarantula had to go, so I got my broom and swept it down from the arch.  When it hit the ground, a leg popped off (I did NOT intend for this to happen), and then I swept it off the porch onto the grass.  It landed upside down.

I kept an eye on the spider, and a little while later noticed that it had flipped itself over.  Once again I went for the broom and decided to poke at it, so it would go running in the opposite direction as our room.  Each time I poked at it, it decided to come running towards me, so I flung it again - further away from the room.  Once again it landed upside down.  We had to go to church, and I will say when I got back from church it was gone.

We went to church this morning and Noah had brought Gibran (his sponsored child) and Brayan.  I brought Nikoll and Julissa, and Alina had went to the toddler house to pick up her 2 boys that I had posted pictures of earlier, Jose Francisco and Dilmer.  David opened up the service today and also dedicated Allison's baby to God, so it was wonderful to see a dedication.  Alexander preached the sermon today and talked about having been with pastors in town who received donations from Orphanage Emmanuel of clothes and toys, and watched as those pastors gave the donations out to the poor in town...allowing them to take 5 items each.  He mentioned a woman who only had 1 dress, so she would wear it for a week without changing/washing it...what a blessing to receive extra clothes!  When people send supplies down here to Orphanage Emmanuel, they are not just blessing the orphanage, but those in town as well.

Kaylyn with Dilmer, Alina with Jose Francisco, Julissa, me, Nikoll, Gibran, Brayan, Noah

David (founder of Emmanuel) opening the service

After church, we took the children to the store to get them chips, a soda, cookies and ice cream.  We spent the morning with them and then headed to the comedor for lunch.

Left to Right: Alina, Jose Francisco, Kaylyn, Nikoll, Michell

Kaylyn with Dilmer

Left to Right: Gibran, Brayan, Noah

After lunch, I spent the afternoon with Erika, Dayana and Coco in the medium/big girls yard, which it out front of the comedor.  One of the girls braided my hair as I chatted with the girls.  Kaylyn got her nails painted by some of the older girls.  The nails on her hand are an alternating red and blue, and her toe nails are a deep burgundy (which she didn't really care for, but then do look much nicer than they were before).  Kaylyn walked back to our room (where Alina was taking a nap).  I stayed in the yard with the girls until it was time for them to line up for supper and then went to the comedor again.  Noah made it down to the comedor on time for supper, but Alina was about 20 minutes late.  When I asked her where Kaylyn was, she didn't know.  What actually happened is that Kaylyn went to the bathroom and Alina thought she had left for the comedor, so she left too...locking Kaylyn into the room.

When we got back from the comedor, Alina and Kaylyn decided to enjoy the rest of the watermelon that we had bought from Glenda last Wednesday.  I let them know they would really need to clean the kitchen when it was gone because ants would find their way to the kitchen in droves if they weren't careful with the cleaning.

As they finished up eating the watermelon, Rebekah and Nathaniel (Miller) came over to play with them.  They headed down to the school playground and played until dark.  It does get dark early down here, compared to Wisconsin.  It's pretty black by 7pm...so I really don't have to worry about them staying up too late!