The First Weekend
The sun is setting and vuvuzelas are blaring in the distance. As I wait for Marybeth to get back from tennis I have some time to write about the last few days…
Friday was the first day back at the center. The way Cathy and Marybeth have set up the center now is to have academic tutoring Monday-Thursday and Fridays are game days. The kids choose between tennis, basketball, soccer, music, etc. Despite my request to teach basket weaving, Marybeth insisted I go down to the basketball courts and play basketball. I spent the afternoon shooting around with Macrenne, Ladianna, Shaun, Ronaldo, Romencia, and Melandri. We brought Denzel down too in his wheelchair which he seemed to enjoy. Friday was also the first day I saw Salome :) She has grown from the little girl who stole my heart five years ago into a beautiful young lady! In the evening the Lion’s Club was going to have a Bingo night. We invited Melandri, Bonita, Romencia, and Salome to go with us but on the ride over it was cancelled so we returned the girls home. That evening we went shopping for food and MB made a delicious stir fry which we ate outside under the stars.
Saturday is still soccer day. What’s amazing is Marybeth now has two different locations where she runs her program and she has put some of the older BNC kids (Sheola, Macrenne, and Dios) in charge of running one group of fields while she is off at the other field with all the Pumpkins (the girl soccer teams). Everything runs flawlessly and the kids get a paid at the end of the day for helping to run the program. The Hammond family from Ossining, NY was at the field and we kicked the ball around with the kids for awhile. Around noon I went up to the center and met Melandri and Bonita. They are both 17 and studying to pass their grade 10 exam which they have failed. I have agreed to tutor them while I am here so we met to plan out the next few weeks. Melandri needs tutoring in Math and Physical Science and Bonita needs tutoring in Life Science, Geography, and History. We decided I would tutor them Mon-Sat from 10-1pm, an hour and a half each. It will be intense but I’m hoping to give them a foundation in preparation for the October exam. Aside from Geography and History, I will be learning as I teach it! Later I helped Salome with some of her math homework and spent time chatting with her… she is wonderful- so polite, curious, and thoughtful! Around 5pm MB returned from soccer and we spent a few hours going through books before meeting the Hammond family at the house they are staying at for dinner. They made an awesome spaghetti dinner and we talked the night away.
Today has been very relaxing. I woke up around 10am, ate a bowl of cereal, then sat out in the sun for a few hours before heading off to tennis with MB. Once again, she kicked my butt (6-3, 6-3, 6-3) but it was good exercise and I feel my game getting better. She stayed to play more tennis with Fr. Joe two hours ago and she’s still not back… I don’t know where she gets the energy. Tonight we will watch the World Cup at one of the houses she is house sitting.
I hope all is well with everyone. Happy Birthday to Erica :) Have a great day… God bless you all!
Friday was the first day back at the center. The way Cathy and Marybeth have set up the center now is to have academic tutoring Monday-Thursday and Fridays are game days. The kids choose between tennis, basketball, soccer, music, etc. Despite my request to teach basket weaving, Marybeth insisted I go down to the basketball courts and play basketball. I spent the afternoon shooting around with Macrenne, Ladianna, Shaun, Ronaldo, Romencia, and Melandri. We brought Denzel down too in his wheelchair which he seemed to enjoy. Friday was also the first day I saw Salome :) She has grown from the little girl who stole my heart five years ago into a beautiful young lady! In the evening the Lion’s Club was going to have a Bingo night. We invited Melandri, Bonita, Romencia, and Salome to go with us but on the ride over it was cancelled so we returned the girls home. That evening we went shopping for food and MB made a delicious stir fry which we ate outside under the stars.
Saturday is still soccer day. What’s amazing is Marybeth now has two different locations where she runs her program and she has put some of the older BNC kids (Sheola, Macrenne, and Dios) in charge of running one group of fields while she is off at the other field with all the Pumpkins (the girl soccer teams). Everything runs flawlessly and the kids get a paid at the end of the day for helping to run the program. The Hammond family from Ossining, NY was at the field and we kicked the ball around with the kids for awhile. Around noon I went up to the center and met Melandri and Bonita. They are both 17 and studying to pass their grade 10 exam which they have failed. I have agreed to tutor them while I am here so we met to plan out the next few weeks. Melandri needs tutoring in Math and Physical Science and Bonita needs tutoring in Life Science, Geography, and History. We decided I would tutor them Mon-Sat from 10-1pm, an hour and a half each. It will be intense but I’m hoping to give them a foundation in preparation for the October exam. Aside from Geography and History, I will be learning as I teach it! Later I helped Salome with some of her math homework and spent time chatting with her… she is wonderful- so polite, curious, and thoughtful! Around 5pm MB returned from soccer and we spent a few hours going through books before meeting the Hammond family at the house they are staying at for dinner. They made an awesome spaghetti dinner and we talked the night away.
Today has been very relaxing. I woke up around 10am, ate a bowl of cereal, then sat out in the sun for a few hours before heading off to tennis with MB. Once again, she kicked my butt (6-3, 6-3, 6-3) but it was good exercise and I feel my game getting better. She stayed to play more tennis with Fr. Joe two hours ago and she’s still not back… I don’t know where she gets the energy. Tonight we will watch the World Cup at one of the houses she is house sitting.
I hope all is well with everyone. Happy Birthday to Erica :) Have a great day… God bless you all!
posted by Jim | 2:55 AM
2 Comments:
hehe! i just read this! thanks! :)
it's so nice to have some news about the kids and MB!!
Buenos Dias Senor,
Espero que la vida te este tratando muy bien. Las fotografias estan muy bonitas e inspiradoras. Ahora que nada lo detiene, disfruta de estas oportunidades.
Cuidese,
Reyes
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