One week already....

Having arrived in costa rica after what can only be called the worst journey of my life( two days if airport hotels in Houston) I experienced a million different emotions. I was pretty nervous about meeting everyone but I had nothing to worry about as my two roomate were so lovely, michelle and katy. I had missed orientation and the tour due to arriving so late I had to go straight into planning for my placement the next morning. We start at 7.30 in the morning so I am up at about 6am most mornings. I work until 1pm when I then you back to the bade ad have lunch. In the afternoon we either have Spanish or we do more volunteering. The food here at the base is amazing though it is rice and beans for every meal including breakfast so I may not be saying that for long!
My placement is with a goverment funded child centre which is aimed at helping single mothers in the real areas work and have somewhere for their kids to go which isn't paid for. The emphasis is heavily on family and teaching the childen manners, hygeine and basic Spanish and English. I have started a projects on shapes, colours, and animals this week. I have big plans though- I'm going to build them a fort, oh yes my medieval history degree does come into use! Downside to placent the children are wild, I've been bitten, punched, hit an called racial slang. Lovely, and they are all under 5! They are troubled children and it certainly comes with the territory but it has meant I have found it hard to warm to some of them. On thursday I volunteered at an orphanage which was really sad and brilliant at the same time. The children are so desperate for attention and want to play and learn. At the same time they are violent with each other and discipline is very difficult. The boys seem to pick on the baby girls and I caught them kicking a two year old girl. They are scared at mealtimes and gulp their food down as they try to steal each others.
I had such fun keeping their attention for 14 mins while I read them a story in Spanish. A wee boy made me two paper aeroplane as a gift.
A group of us went on a trip to a cloud Forrest farm this week and had a cookery lesson. It had been monsoon rain for two days and the rain insane. The farmer took us on a rainforrest trail to a waterfall which was breathtaking. I have never been soaked in my life. We went back to his house where his wife had made coffee and tortillas, and the girls ended up doing Spanish karioke with the farmer, I cheered them on. It was exciting to be in someones home in the Forrest and feel so confortable and welcome.
I went to the national reserve manuel saint Antonio this weekend but that is for another post!
Love to you all xxxx