¡A mí, Tía!

Rosa: Even with all the movement of classrooms in order to keep painting, the Bible School went surprisingly smoothly today. We started off in the church singing every song we'd learned - in some cases even screaming. "Aleluya!" "Alaben al señor!" And the new favorite, El Ciego, more commonly known as "Blindman". After we finished singing, the kids filed out in lines by age, a miracle in itself. We sat down in the church expecting a bit of downtime while the kids listened to the Bible story, when in came the preschoolers!

There was painting going on in their classrooms, so the two groups of daycare kids were relocated outside. The elder of these got an extra dose of music. Let me tell you, three-year-olds don't have the longest attention span. They can't learn a whole new song the same way the older kids can - so when all else fails, resort to "Tengo una Finca" (I have a Farm - similar to Old McDonald). I never knew there were lions and wolves in farms! But we made animal noises for every creature in the animal kingdom whose name we knew in Spanish. Once our well of Spanish animals ran dry, we sang "We Are Marching in the Light of God", attempting to march in a conga line, while in fact mildly exploding about the church. Meanwhile, the two year olds played outside on the playground.

Allison: While Rosa sang with the three-year-olds, I was with Zoe and Wesleigh, playing with the two-year-olds on the playground. It was definitely interesting. While the teachers sat and supervised; we three were mildly attacked and tackled by the little kids to help them across the monkey bars, swing them, and play with them on the see-saws. Although, our plan was not well thought out. As we helped the kids across the monkey bars we found that as soon as we set one down another would tug at our shirts yelling "¡A mí, Tía, a mí!" Although it was hectic and not the ideal plan, it was extremely endearing that the called us their Aunts. To be called Aunt by these little children who barely know me, made me realise how much it means to them that we play with them. Sadly, I had to leave, but I did get to see them again later.

Rosa: After music time with the preschoolers, the older group headed out to the pavement. I played with the chalk while Allison was upstairs with crafts. The little boys mostly colored the walls and benches solid with chalk, managing to cover themselves head to toe with purple, blue, and green. Bridget played the "pick up and spin around in the air" game, while I kicked the ball around. "¡A mí, Tía! Tíramela!" Throw me the ball!

Allison: After playing with the two-year-olds, I went upstairs to help with crafts in the older classrooms, for most of the time I was with Alexander in his classroom, passing out scissors, glue, crayons, etc. But once the crafts were done, they all came up to me because I had a sharpie, because they wanted their name and my name  or the names of everyone in our group written on it. It was really sweet that even the kids that didn't know me very well wanted my name written on their project. Although, Alexander and I had a few miscommunications and misunderstandings about what each other was saying, we worked really well as a team, for a girl who doesn't speak a lot of Spanish and a boy who doesn't speak a lot of English. After the craft, I went outside to play with the kids. Yuliani and Grimerys were chasing each other when Grimerys fell. I ended up bandaging her arm and knee, although the way kids crowded around me, you would have thought I was performing CPR. But it was cute to see that they all cared to check if she was ok.

Rosa: I skipped around from classroom to classroom to church to playground for the remainder of the day, taking pictures and videos. But Yuliani and Grimerys, two little girls who have been my friends since day one the first time I came to Baní, kept dragging me off to play. "¡A la casita! ¡La tiza! ¡Mira!" To the playhouse! Chalk! Look! We wrote Rosa y Yuliani y Grimerys, best friends forever. I keep trying to capture their giggles on video, to capture the moments forever. Towards the end, Grimerys fell and skinned her knee, which caused quite a hullaballoo but turned out just fine.

And then, Jun! Jun (pronounced yoon) is a cross between tag and hopscotch, involving chalk lines and quick thinking. We played for perhaps an hour before lunch. The Dominican and our group really played well together. Last year, we had the Garcías, but without them, it's been an adventure to connect with the new clergy family. Milquella's daughters and her extended family are very sweet, and it's nice to finally get to know them. After lunch, Allison and I helped decorate the room above the church for the fiesta tomorrow.

We all can't wait for cake!

Allison & Rosa

Allison swinging on the playground

Rosa with Rafaelito