Weekend Fun in June

Well so far this month of June has just been rain, rain, and more rain as well as the falling of temperatures.  The rain itself wouldn't be too bad but combined with the fact that the electricity goes out with even the slightest bit of rain and the fact that it has rained off and on for a couple of weeks now makes everything a little bit more difficult.  I am quickly learning how to dry laundry inside as well as running out to grab clothes off the line when the rain comes in.  Sadly my garden has just been do wet to do anything with but I do have some lettuce, carrots, beets, radishes, and cabbage coming up.  Also I have a lot of things that are ready to be transplanted into the garden once I get a chance to get another bed dug which I can do once we get a few days without rain.  Even with the rain though I have been able to get a lot done around the house and have had lots of time to hang out with some of the kids in my community.

This is a picture that I took one Saturday afternoon.  It rained all morning and then let up for a couple of hours in the afternoon and I was getting a little stir crazy so I went outside and pruned my few bushes and planted them up and down my “drive way”.  They all seem to be doing well with the cloudy days and rain helping settle them in.  

You may or may not be able to see it but there is a beautiful rainbow following a storm.  Rainbows seem to be very common here with storms which I am thoroughly enjoying!

This is a picture of two of the neighbor kids and my nephew Junior that come over and color almost every day after school but most definitely every weekend.  My fridge is full and running over of pictures which I am very proud of.  

Last Sunday it didn't rain so I was able to get out into the garden and work a little bit and the neighbor kids stopped by to help and I was able to get a full bed made and we put a border of glass bottles that we collected from around my community.  You can also notice a draining ditch I dug in front of it at the roof line to collect the water.  I am still working on the design of it but eventually would like ditches to go in between each one of my vegetable beds; it is more of just an experiment right now but working quite well!

That same Sunday in the afternoon we went on a little adventure down a huge hill in my community and into the forest where there is a tiny creek and what the kids called “waterfalls” but is just a small stream of water but we took our pictures none the less.  This will be a much better place to hang out in the summer when it is so hot and not in the cool winter.

Another picture of the small creek with all of the beautiful plants and trees.

The view from the top of the hill and we went down into the trees at the bottom where the creek was.

After our adventure to the waterfall we went back to their house and they have a beautiful poinsettia tree which I have started to notice a lot around my community.  Back home in the US we just see them in pots around Christmas time but here they are everywhere and can get really large and very impressive.  Between all of them flowering and the cooler temperatures my body thinks it is Nov-Dec and not June!

 The kids helped me dig up some new banana plants from their house and transplanted them into my yard, so hopefully I will be eating fresh bananas from them in about a year.  Also you can’t see them in this picture but we planted a couple of pineapple tops.  They are supposed to take two years to produce fruit, so although I will not be here to enjoy them either the next volunteer or my host family will enjoy them.

One day this past week I was able to get into the school and did a survey with the 57 students that were at school this week.  The girl in the first row on the left is my niece Rocio.  I was surprised by the number of kids that were at school this day because it was very chilly and of course the school isn’t heated at all and school starts at 7 but they were all ready to go.  I think if we started school at 7 am in the cold in the US we would have a lot of angry parents and students.  Sadly many families do not have the resources to properly clothe their entire families, especially the kids but they seem to just take it in stride and just seem to run around a lot more.  A lot of kids have been getting really sick which I think is just a combination of the cold and rainy weather so I pray that a few sunny days they will get better!

On Friday the kids had a rainy day (which means that school is usually canceled) so the kids came over and we were able to get a batch of chocolate chip cookies made before the power went out.  They had a fantastic time and had never made or eaten chocolate chip cookies so it was a treat for everyone.

This week I will be headed to a conference with my contact to learn about project design and management.  Luckily this week is supposed to have no rain which will be a fantastic break and I feel like a lizard or cat sitting outside soaking up the sun.  Hope you all are having a fantastic June!