June welcomed many new volunteers. Leila
(England) and Ashley (USA) came to help with the Foundation and another Ashley
(USA) wanted to teach English as well as do some outreach programs to the local
schools. We also had the pleasure of a yoga teacher at Clara Luna. Jami is a
Hatha instructor from USA and taught at least two classes a week. The runner
and surfer volunteers were particularly thankful for that extra stretch in the
morning.
June
1st is Children’s Day. Both Club de Ninos and the Foundation
celebrated with parties and presents. The Club de Ninos kids had to jump
through a small hoop before getting to the party. Leila informed us of another
Environmental Day at the start of June and suggested a beach clean-up.
Naturally, it turned into a competition of which team could pick up the most
garbage but in the end the beach was the clean winner. As reward, the children
who helped pick-up the trash would receive a special gift at the Kids Day
party.
Party
day arrived and somehow our normal Club de Ninos attendance tripled. Maybe it
was the giant Power Rangers BOUNCY CASTLE in the backyard?! (FYI bouncy castle
is saltasalta in Spanish and it was awesome awesome) While some of the
volunteers were living the carny dream, the others were inside helping the kids
make crowns, face painting, and singing endless Chuchuguaguagua
(an earworm if there ever was one). Presents were handed out at the end and
delicious Alice-made banana cake was demolished. Don’t worry, there was no
bouncy castle after the cake.
The
next week at Club de Ninos we brought out everyone’s inner monster. We read
‘Where the Wild Things Are’ and created monster face masks. We also tried to a
campfire day, where we created scary stories to scare in the dark. However, the
scariness was somewhat diminished by the success of the other campfire
activity: making friendship bracelets. The kids, as soon as they understood how
to knot them, could not put those bracelets down.
Copa
Mundial!!! World Cup had hit and the whole of Puerto Lopez was glued to their
screens watching Los Amarillos. Clara Luna took this as an opportunity to teach
a little about world geography. At Club de Ninos, everyone was split into four
countries: Australia, Japan, Mexico, and Germany. Each group had to read about
their country and answer questions. After they were familiar with their new
nation, we had our own Copita Mundial but instead of a ball we had a feather.
Each team picked a player to blow a feather across the “field” over the “goal
line” before the opposing team could do the same. After the round robin, the
winner was Japan in an undefeated streak never before seen on the feather
pitch. Germany came in at a close second, followed by Mexico, and trailing at
the rear was Australia. Coming into the semi-finals, Mexico narrowly defeated
ze Germans and Australia, out-blowing all expectations, ousted the number 1
seed Japan. The consolation finals found Japan rise to their former glory and
take third place, leaving Germany in last. Tension rose as Australia and Mexico
took the field for the championship match. Who had enough air left to blow that
feather across the line first? Who knew in their lungs that this was their
time, their Cup? 3-2-1-Ven, and the feathers were off. Mexico started strong,
with clean hard blows sweeping the feather clean across the floorboards.
Fatigue and a snag in the wood brought Mexico neck-in-neck with Australia.
Australia blows forward without even a glance at their opponent, eyes only
focused on that goal line. Mexico unsnags the feather but it is too late, Australia
has just blown the feather over the line – GOOOOAAALLLLLLLL!! The underdogs of
the tournament brought it when it was needed most.
June
21st is World Music Day (we really love our international days here)
and Club de Ninos learned about different instruments from around the world. The
kids also got to decorate and make their own maracas. As Ecuador were playing
Honduras that day, most of the noisemakers had distinctive yellow, blue, and
red motifs. The last week of June had
the theme of Special or Unique. The kids interviewed each other to find out
what makes them special: a skill, an experience, a weird thing they can do with
their nose? On Friday the kids came together to perform their uniqueness in a little
Clara Luna talent show.
