Day 17: Long Day, Good Day

I woke up in the morning, not feeling anything remotely like P. Diddy.

Today we had out split team, so Sheryl and Matthew did campus while Izzy and I (and Doña Maria and Georgen and Esther) did the CDI. We left for the CDI around 7:30 and got there about 20 minutes before the kids were set to arrive. 

We have one young man, Diego, who is actually like 26 physically, but has some developmental disorders, so he's mentally right around the same level as the younger kids. Diego doesn't exactly have much understanding of time, so he was already at the CDI, waiting for us. We got everything opened up and set up, then I sat and talked with Diego for a while about how big the buses were until the other kids arrived. 

First session was small, praise the Lord. The kids we had sat very attentively for the devotional and Doña Maria shared some great additional thoughts. They love working on the memory verses, which is surprising, but good. 

We didn't do the English lesson during the first session, at Georgen's suggestion, so we focused on homework, devotional, and playing. It was a gentle start and very needed.

The kids all got walked to school, and then the second session happened. 

I don't think things work out in averages on purpose, but today definitely did. Session 2 was crazy and very full. There was a fight between two of the kids, which wasn't a lot of fun to break up, and I wasn't 100% sure how to navigate it. It worked out though. 

The kids were a bit rowdier for the devotional, but still loved the verse practice, and we got it done. For the English lesson, Izzy and I had worked out who was gonna do what, but since we didn't do it first session, we just did a review of the Monday/Tuesday lesson. When I get thrown off, I have a tendency to take more control than I should and just push through things, so I didn't do a great job of team-working. Again, we got it done though. 

I think some good stories happened, but my brain is too mushed for that. On the way to the bus stop, we got some McDonalds (KitKat McFlurries slap) as a reward for surviving. Oh, yeah! The kids during the first session taught us a bunch of Tico words for body parts, which was funny.

On the bus, I spent an inordinate amount of time staring at the seat cover of the seat in front of me. The decoration was letters, which didn't stand out to me at first, since we've been working with kids. The more I thought about it, though, the weirder it was. Then, I had a memory: about a week ago, Matthew told me that in China, they often use English letters as decoration. Then, as I thought about that, I noticed that not all of the letters were present. GNUXY were missing. Odd choice, I thought. 

Then, I had another thought (we did a lot of math with the kids today, so I thought a lot about numbers). G is the 7th letter, N is the 14th letter, and U is the 21st letter. (we're ignoring XY in this theory) So, the numbers that were left out are multiples of 7. I know 8 is a lucky number is China, so I thought maybe 7 is unlucky and so they skipped those letters. I googled it and it's true, 7 is an unlucky number in China. So, I'm assuming our bus was bought (or at least upholstered) from China. 

I am basically Sherlock Holmes. Matthew agrees.

Um.........eventually the crowd on the bus dies down because we're basically the last stop. The first time we got to our stop, Matthew and I weren't sure if we should get off, but the bus driver looked back at us and said something to the effect of, "where are you going? please get off my bus now." Izzy and I had some good conversation (very helpful for me as a team leader) on the walk to the casita and pulled Sheryl and Matthew in a little bit when we got there. Teamwork is fascinating, and I'm not always very good at it, but it's good to be reminded that we're all made differently and that is a blessing and gift from God. It can be hard to know your role though. It ties in nicely with the Respect theme at the CDI.

Now, as the team leader, you'd think my role in the team was pretty obvious: lead it. I feel uncertain of what that looks like though. I think I alternate between seasons of learning and seasons of using what I've learned. Don't get me wrong, I still learn while I'm Doing and still do while I'm Learning, but it's about primary focus and feel. Right now, I feel unsteady on my feet. Anyway, all that to say: it's cool that our team is different and finding different roles.

Good stuff. But, more pressing matters triumphed and we began thinking about dinner.

We decided to walk to Oxigeno, because that seemed easier than trying to pick food right then, and it'd be nice to be outside the AirBnb for a bit. I immediately started walking the wrong direction (don't think about the fact that I literally went there yesterday to run), but Matthew knew where we were going, so I didn't get far.

I got some Mexican food at the mall. It was really, really good. I had a gringa, with some pretty legit salsa. Praise the Lord. My burning mouth was so happy. We talked and chilled and headed home...after scooping some dessert.

I got to talk with Alexis tonight, which was wonderful. WhatsApp has been very helpful, thanks and gig 'em. We're tryna navigate through some stressy stuff, but it feels really sweet to do it together. My life is incredibly blessed. Just wow.

Did some non-related admin work, didn't go for a run (i'm so sore), blogged, did some duolingo...finna go to bed.

PRAYERS PORFA

-for our team to experience God's presence powerfully

-for the church here to experience God's presence powerfully

-for the CDI kids and H@ngout students

-for church tomorrow night

-for our remaining time here

Art. Recognize the Value.

Letters, just no GNUXY