Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Full week ahead

Yay!  Today the kids were back!

Yesterday I went to the church early to prepare for class.  After being there a while, the ladies who cook arrived, and all of the kids came in and sat calmly in the circle (which was odd).  Then Don Juan came to tell us that there was no Breakfast Program today because the church was closed.  Surprise!  Everyone had to go home.  I was disappointed.  But it did make it twice as sweet to see them today.

This morning the swim coach said that if even one kid wants to continue swimming past this week, he will be available to teach.  The people who are covering the costs have agreed to continue paying, so this week I am finding out who can continue swimming once school starts.

Some kids have afternoon classes.  The older kids have evening classes.  So I am thinking there will be a few who will be eager to swim.  I already had one boy say he was going to ask his teacher's permission to miss school for the first week so he can swim.  UGH!!  Priorities here are so skewed!  I told the boy very clearly that school is always more important, and he can not miss school for swimming.

I will be excited if we get another week or so of swimming.  I got a little sunburn today.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  Not too hot and not too cold.  I am hoping it stays like this through Thursday so the kids have a perfect ending to their official classes.

Tomorrow I have a meeting with a personal trainer from the gym.  He is an older man - I would guess in his mid 60's.  His son is a trainer at the gym too.  His grandson is studying nutrition and physical education in the US.  Since we chat almost every day, I decided to ask him if there was anything I can do about the fact that my thighs are getting too big.  I understand muscle is good, but I need my pants to fit.

He said it is an easy problem to solve.  I need to exercise with less weight and for a longer time.  Ummm...  My leg exercise is running.  I can't lessen the amount of weight I carry when I run - it's my body weight!  He said he will teach me how to lengthen my muscles tomorrow.  It will be interesting to see what he has in mind.

I am going to offer free pilates classes to church members.  I am thinking I'll teach two classes per week.  One could be at the church for people from the city and one can be up in the mountains for the people up here.  We just have to find a space.  Eunice is going to send out an email to church members telling them to contact me if they are interested.  Sounds like fun.

This is a busy week.  Tomorrow will start with swimming, the Breakfast Program, then we have a team building meeting at the church, kickboxing class and my time with the trainer.  After all of that I have to go home and bake a cake because Thursday after swimming and the Breakfast Program is Isabela's first birthday!  Ana invited me to come to her house and celebrate.  I told her I would bake the birthday cake.

I have some cute photos of Isabela - one that Ana especially loves, so I made copies and got a frame.  I finally found cheap frames!  (And better yet, I found Q-Tip brand Q-Tips!!!  I have been searching for them for almost 2 years here.)   While I was shopping for Isabela's gift I decided to make photos for each of the swimmers to celebrate their completing the program and to keep as memorabilia.  Most of the kids don't have any photos of themselves, so photos are a big deal.  I also made copies of the photos Cindy and her Mom took on Cindy's birthday.  Then I made copies of photos I had of Cindy's siblings and got frames for each of them.

Friday I have a meeting in the morning to discuss my next steps with the sports program.  At night we are celebrating Lolita's quinciƱera.  All great stuff, but whew!  It's going to be a long week.  I am glad the weather is invigorating instead of that dreary cold rain.

Today tilapia was on sale.  I grabbed some while I was getting stuff for the birthday cake (although Dr. Oz says tilapia is a useless fish, nutrition-wise).  As I was eating dinner I realized I was getting full.  There was only a little more risotto left in my bowl.  Normally I would either eat it and feel stuffed, or throw it away.  I wouldn't bother putting it away for another time.  I have been thinking differently about food lately.  Overindulging feels uncomfortable when so many people I know do not have food.