After our delicious breakfast proceedings, we headed into the family room for a presentation about the history of The Center. We learned about how much The Center does for it's members, as well as the barriers they face including the aftermath of the COVID pandemic, and the importance of helping all the members of the families not just the youth. After the wonderful presentation we headed on our way to receive a tour of The Center. We were taken around the rooms such as the welding room, the sewing room and all the classrooms. We were also excitedly greeted by the children with big hugs, smiles, and shouts. After our tour, we happily made our way to the playground and partook in games of soccer, which we got absolutely destroyed in. Although we learn a lot in Ms. Gorman's Latin class, it has not been very handy when trying to communicate in Spanish. We only know the basics and the kids talk at a very fast pace, leaving us giving lost and confused stares. As we headed into the cafeteria for lunch, we were greeted by many shouts of the little kids begging us to sit with them. The kids tried to communicate some English to us but only managed to share their love of 67(!). For lunch we indulged in the best rice we have ever had, flavorful beef stew, and coleslaw. After lunch, we headed back out to the playground, playing many games at the park including flower hunting, playing on the swings and going down the slides. We then were taken to the sewing shop where we participated in a competition of taking apart old jeans to upcycle them into new clothes. Audrey cut her hand and Simone was very good at taking apart the seams. Some of us were skilled, others of us were not. We won the competition, with 46 jeans taken apart and ready for upcycling. We then headed back to the house and prepared ourselves for dinner. For tonight's dinner we indulged in potatoes, green beans, chicken curry, garbanzo beans, and broccoli onion cucumber salad. The food here is amazing! Finally, we finished off our night with reflections, sharing stories about the kids we met and the joy they brought to our lives, and prepared ourselves for the morning to come. Stay tuned to hear about how we get our butts kicked in the soccer game tomorrow against the centers select high school team.
With love from Ecuador, Simone and Audrey