My how quickly time passes!

Friday , August 13th
Journal by Pat

Quote of the Day: `We are not all called to be great. But we are all called to reach out our hands to our brothers and sisters, and to care for the earth in the time we are given.`

We started the day with Nia´s birthday watermelon slice and our 2nd rendition of "Happy Birthday." After our sad send off for Michelle, Art, and Daryl, our meager team of 4 headed for CASEM with our fearless leader, Nia.

I was actually rather proud of how we navigated the day. Maybe it was just my perception, but I engaged in more conversation with the associates and CASEM volunteers. I didn´t have Nia and Michelle to run to. Faustino started our 1st Spanish lesson by telling us about the guava jelly (jalea de guayaba) his 90 year old mother makes which he brought to share with us on crackers (soda).

Our attempts to complete the chairs was cut short by rain. We finally moved the chairs inside to dry over the weekend. We went to plan 2: Susan, Valinda, and I continued the task of straightening the shelves; Andy continued creating animals for the mural. I was slower completing tasks because I spent more time enjoying conversations with team members and associates, especially Patricia Jemenez who speaks very good English. She was very verbal about the plight of women in Costa Rica.

Andy, Valinda, Susan, Fio, and I walked to the cheese facory after lunch for ice cream. Valinda bought a tub of ice cream to share back at CASEM. Susan and I walked on to the Friend`s Meeting House and school. On the way back we followed a heard of cows.

Leidy taught Susan, Andy, Valinda, and myself to make balls of yarn. Leidy is quite a comedian. We laughed a lot as we fumbled with these little balls of yarn. Like most of the day, many mini Spanish lessons were injected into this simple activity. We were `loco catos.´

The evening went fine, though not as planned. Dinner was in town. We climbed the hills back home twice so we should sleep well.