Meet Clifford

Your and my favorite day of the week! AA Tuesday, when I answer your burning questions as best as I can without making shit up. This week's question comes from Claudio, and he asks:

Amy, who is Paula's favorite? You or Rani?

Claudio, you are quite the trouble maker. I know my mom would say that she "loves both of her girls equally," but I think she lies. We'll see, though, if mom comes to visit me in Honduras. She went to visit Rani in Thailand, so I think Rani is one up on me. If she comes to Honduras, then the two of us will be even. Vamos a ver.

Thanks for your question, Claudio. One point for you! Send me your questions for next week!

There has been an uproar in my comments section. "Who is Clifford?" my loyal readers have asked. "I didn't know you had a dog!" I'm sure I've mentioned Clifford before, but if not, a brief introduction:

Clifford (left) is neither big nor red. Sandra took Clifford under her wings when he was just a pup of 2 months. Clifford was born in El Naranjo, one of the roughest villages of the cuenca to a family who loved him very much but couldn't afford to feed him well. Sandra brought Clifford home and has raised him for the last 5 months to be a very good, happy dog. Clifford is half street-dog, half human. He is scared of bridges, little boys, and any man who is wearing a hat. He loves to cuddle and knows how to sit, speak, give high-fives, lay down, and roll over. Clifford also likes it when I exercise or do yoga at Guaruma... he always wants to participate! He's a cheerful dog and, although not much of a "protector," we enjoy having him around... most of the time. Especially since he stopped "doing his business" in Guaruma and starting going elsewhere.

Clifford, meet Team Amy. T.A., meet Clifford. We good now?

Classes are wrapping up for the year and we have some really fun activities planned for the students. Instead of classes, we'll be having a semana de desafíos or semana fantástica (week of fun). It was something done years and years ago to motivate the kids and end the year on a positive note. We are getting help organizing from Ivin, Deri, Javier, and Ruben, all "ex-Guarumas" who had graduated from our program.

In lieu of classes, we are going to bring all of the Guaruma students together from Las Mangas and El Pital. Every day will consist of 2 hours of challenges that they will have to accomplish in teams. This will run from Monday to Thursday, ending with a clausura - sandwich, drinks, and prizes.

This semana de desafío will be a nice change of pace to our regular classes as well as address two of the major concerns that we volunteers have: how to motivate the students and how to involve the "ex-Guarumas" in our programming. We're hoping for lots of participation and excitement surrounding the event. Amy 0, Honduras, 0, Claudio 1, Guaruma 1.

Yesterday's activity went super well. We divided the kids into teams and gave them a paper with 3 tasks that had to be completed in one hour. The first task was to use natural resources to create a drawing of an animal. To show that they had completed the activity, they needed to take a picture of their work.

The second task to complete was to create an animal using your bodies. The group below twisted and turned their bodies to create the shape of a snake.

Finally, each group had to find one object that we hid in our Guaruma compound. They were hidden in trees, under rocks, and in gutters.

After the above activities were complete, each group needed to write a story on the computer about the animal that they chose as well as upload all of their pictures for judging. The volunteers and event coordinators awarded up to 10 points for each picture and story, giving a grand total for Day 1.

The kids had so much fun and really enjoyed the change of pace! We're looking forward to taking the Las Mangas kids up to El Pital today for Day 2 of our activities.

Oh, and its still cold and still rainy. Sun, where are you?

Mosquito Bites: 1
Final Score: Amy 0, Honduras, 0, Claudio 1, Guaruma 1