A Turkey on the Loose

I really don't get homesick. It's been more than four years and I only remember being homesick once before in all my time here. But today I am homesick.

In the past I have gone back to the US for the 4th of July. I've missed Christmas and Thanksgiving in the US, but I've never missed the 4th of July. I love eating the food we eat in the summer. I love hanging out with my Mom on her balcony, the fireworks, time with my nephews... But this year it just didn't work out.

The two things I miss most about the US (besides people) are live music and ethnic food. I miss Indian, Ethiopian, Thai, and sushi most.

The live music I like doesn't exist here. I never realize how therapeutic live music is for me. It's like my "reset" button. Every once in awhile I need to go and lose myself in live music.

Today, at this moment, many of my good friends are seeing live music in the US. They are all posting about it on Facebook. I think some good music could shake this Chikungunya right out of my bones.

Instead of losing myself in music, I lost myself in food. I didn't eat. I cooked. It was a wonder I had any ingredients to cook with because I am not going to be around much next week, so I purposely didn't buy anything.

I had quinoa, which I am trying to incorporate instead of rice or pasta in my diet. I had tomates. Fany gave me five limes and a bunch of parsley. And I had cucumbers for cucumber/pineapple smoothies.

I ended up making tabbouleh. As I finished cooking I realized something. Many times, I like cooking more than eating.

Healthwise, things are pretty good. Today the backs of my knees and my fingers ached. My back had that burning feeling between my shoulders as I was cooking. But otherwise I felt good.

Wednesday was a super good day. My back only ached a little while we gave the club. The club this week was interesting. It was about drugs and alcohol/peer pressure. In that community we have to face these things much differently in the US. Every single child in the room is effected by drugs or alcohol.

Thursday morning all of the volunteers had a training. It was really fun. When I left, I felt proud of where I serve. The trainers made boring things (like learning legal rights of volunteers) fun. We felt appreciated and valued.

Impacto Juvenil Volunteers

After the training everyone else went out to lunch and then they went to a water park. Although I was encouraged to go have fun, I chose to skip the outing because I had the literacy class that afternoon.

My knees hurt going up the mountain. I had to stop and rest every few steps. Going back down was rough on my knees too. But it was so worth it! Only two students aren't reading yet. They both have learning disabilities. But they still feel hopeful and eager to be in the class so I'm not going to give up. The rest are getting more and more confident.

Right in the middle of class, Doña Francisca started yelling about her turkey. One of her turkeys got loose so she sent her younger kids to chase after it. Not everyone has their class interrupted by escaping turkeys. Just one of the reasons I love this class:

Friday I didn't feel well. But I am focusing on being grateful for the good days. I'm hoping for a lot of them next week while I have to work on a pregnancy prevention campaign in Los Pinos.

This is Karla, the daughter of my friend Clara who passed away from Leukemia a few months ago. I first met Karla when she was 13 years old. Now she is all grown up and a teacher! She also has a paid position at Impacto Juvenil. Since school was on break she was able to come to the volunteer training. I love seeing the woman Karla has grown into and the way she serves with all of her heart. She teaches elementary school all week, then spends Saturdays with the kids of her club.