i think i'm in love

It's only my second day here at The Oasis and I'm totally in love with the girls here! 


Yesterday, I went into Zone 1 of the city to order Quincenera dresses for Maribel and Evelyn who turned 15 earlier this year. They have one big Quincenera in November for all the girls who turn 15 during the year. The event is going to be on my last day here, and I'm so excited to get to be a part of something that's so integral in the Latin American culture.


It is so cold here and there's no heating in any of the buildings! Last night, I slept with two layers of clothes, a sleeping bag, and three blankets. When my alarm went off at 6 this morning (breakfast is at 6:15!) I really didn't want to get out of bed. I'm glad I made myself get up though because it was a great day!


Here's my view this morning as I was sipping tea and reading my Bible. Yes, those are volcanoes!

Here's the view from the upstairs window of the school. This is such a beautiful place!

My main job at the school is going to be tutoring girls who are behind their classmates academically. I work with Maribel and Candy from 7:30 to 9:15 and 10-12. From 9:15-10, I work with Aldy and Isabel on math. 

Maribel and Candy are in the kindergarten class. They know that these two will end up being held back, so they want me to work with them as much as I can, but really it's so that the teacher will be able to move forward with the rest of the class. Candy is eleven years old and has been in kindergarten for three years. It really breaks my heart.

Here we are working on writing the alphabet this morning:

To practice recognizing numbers 1-10, we went outside and drew with chalk on the sidewalk. I had them write the number and draw that number of whatever they wanted to draw...stars, flowers, etc. in each square. Then, we walked to each square and jumped that many times. It seemed to work somewhat, but we'll probably end up working on the same things tomorrow. I love that I can be creative with them and try to make learning fun. 

I'm really making a point to give them a lot of praise when they get things right because I know they really need encouragement to desire to learn since it's difficult for them. We're going to read a story from the Jesus Storybook Bible and use it to practice recognizing letters, so I'm praying for some good conversations about the Lord with these sweet girls.

Here's Maribel and the number 3 :)

Since the school year ends in November and these two cuties (Yaren and Carolina) have only been at The Oasis for a couple of weeks, they aren't in school right now. When we were outside working on numbers, they wanted to play too. 

I don't have any responsibilities so far for after lunch. All the girls here are sponsored by 10-12 families and letter writing time is coming up, so that's sure to keep me busy later with translating! For now, I just hang out with the girls, which is totally fine with me because I absolutely love it. Today, I joined in the P.E. class after lunch and we played "futbol." I ended up playing with another group of girls later in the day. Can you believe I played soccer TWICE in one day??

This is Isabel. From the minute I met her, I knew I would be picking up some sass from her. She's a lot of fun! 

This is Wendy and Bellen. They're in the kindergarten class too and keep asking me if I can take them out in the hall to study sometime. They don't understand what makes Maribel and Candy so special!


We played on the swings...

and Wendy and I played doctor with my flashlight...

This morning, Wendy saw that I had something on my lips so she asked me for some "brilla." I really just use Aquafor on my lips, so it made me laugh, but I gave her some. Now all the girls come up to me all the time asking for more brilla. Who knew Aquafor could be such a big hit??

That's all I have for now. After being up since 6 this morning, I'm starting to fade quickly. There's so much more I could say, but this is just a little preview for you.

Can't wait for tomorrow!