Zoom-Zoom-Zoom-Zoom

Whew! What a week it has been! To sum up, it has been go-go-go. We’ll take it from the top…

So I am working on a couple trips as the resident visa and trip expert (yeah right), one being a trip for six to the states this coming fall. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s a fundraising tour so the kids will be expected to perform (i.e. dance and sing) as well as give their testimonies in English. We did a big long audition process back in March and now the six that were chosen/that earned it are working on preparing their dances (along with the two back-ups). They practice every Tuesday with our dance professor for an hour!

Yeah boys!

Practicing the bachata in parejas!

...And here's the merengue!

Eso....gotta love the mirrors in the dance studio!

On Friday, we had our first Earth Fair! It was a Marijo project where she got pretty much everyone at NPH involved from the volunteers to the school to the tias. It turned out to be a lot of fun and as one of the kids exclaimed “It feels like a real fair!” Each grade in school had a table and we walked around checking out each other’s stuff. Then I stayed afterwards with some of my girls on consequence to clean the multiusos (much to their dismay)…busy busy busy!

9th grade's table!

Jesus (on the left) is our newest...here he's eating popcorn with his new friends, Maicol and Jofran!

Here's the fair!

Fausto as a farmer!

Yesenia and Jaydy as plantains!

Saturday was all of the April birthday festivities! We started off the day with a shopping outing to San Pedro. I spent my time with Anita who was beyond thrilled to go spend her 150 pesos (approx. $4). We also bought gifts for the special needs house and baby house. And I took lots of pics!

Alejandro, Fausto and Yomerkis headed into Iberia!

Darlyn, Ernito and Junior Olivo!

The twins (obviously) Jose and Josecito!

Anita with her new friend, hehe...

Twins Leonela and Lionardo plus Tia Virginia!

Olivo with his prized cookies!

The whole crew!

Anita and I on the bus!

Later in the afternoon, we had the actual birthday party! Since it was nice out, we decided to switch it up and do it in the park instead of one of the houses. It was a big success! There was a little mix-up with the birthday cakes and some problems with ants, but in the end, everyone got some cake and went home satisfied! Plus we got some fabulous photos!

Saul, our youngest, turned 3...how adorable!

Feliz cumpleanyos!

Another million-dollar photo!

Here's the crew!

Time to chow down on that yummy cake!

Sunday was Visitor Day (my 6^th and most likely last one!) We had an unusually high turnout which was great! All of the kids except for one who have left the home within the last year were able to make it, which was fantastic! Since we are at an all-time low for number of volunteers (just 8 of us right now), we were busier than ever running around doing activities…I was in charge of Giant Jenga and the music in the park! At 2:00pm, there was a talent show for all the visitors as well! Besides that, I fit in an English lesson with Wilson and then we ended the night with a showing of my new favorite movie, Pitch Perfect, in Santa Ana! (If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know where I got my blog title this time!) Talk about a LONG day!

The volunteer crew (plus 2!)

Giant Jenga!

Franklin and Josi...first sibling pic I have of the two together! (And yes, I did bribe Josi!)

Yocattia came to visit much to the girls' delight!

Milagros and me...her laugh kills me!

Me, Erika, and Nelly!

Chandaille, Belkis, and Maria del Carmen!

Typical Lucy...

Monday happened to be Worker Day meaning there was no school or office…woohoo! I got to spend the entire day with the girls. We started off the morning doing a Zumba dance CD on the back terrace and then spent the entire afternoon riding bikes! We went to the nearby batey, Monte Cristy, to play some basketball and just hang out in the park there for a change of pace. Of course, we also made our rounds and visited all of the NPH workers and professors from there as well. We finished off the afternoon by returning to NPH and teaching the three girls from my house who couldn’t go because they don’t know how to ride bike as well as my tia how to ride. It was a lot of work and a lot of fun! After a good hour and a half, Carmencita caught on along with her “teacher”, Belkis…I was actually so proud of them it brought a tear to my eye!