Sad Days

Sad Days

6/29/12

            So as you last read, yesterday was a really sad day for me. I literally sobbed for hours on my bed. Santiago made me a sandwich and helped me to eat because I just couldn’t stop crying. I miss Madeline and the Geneva team so much, and every time one of their faces came into my head, I just started crying more.

            Well, though there’s not much to say about it, let me tell you about the last few days. Monday I posted in my blog, but after that I got to Skype with my mentor, Norma, which was wonderful. I stayed at Santiago’s house for a while because I felt sick. My allergies with dairy hit me once again when we made macaroni for lunch. It was delicious, but the butter I bought was NOT at all light! Darn containers in Spanish! So Santiago made me the “special tea”, which I found out is those long onions, oregano, and water! It helps a lot!

            On Tuesday I did pretty much the same thing. I wished I could’ve been with the Geneva team! I hung out at Santiago’s house just listening to music and going on Facebook. Santiago and his brothers just got a new Tablet mailed by their dad, so Santiago was on that. He was trying to look up Mario games, so naturally I showed him the website for it. However, Mario is addicting for me, so I ended up staying on it and playing for a while. Oh, I also had classes with Steffy at my house on Tuesday, as well, which was fun. We went over a lot of phrases that people use in Spanish that don’t always make sense in English.

            On Wednesday Santiago came over for a bit. He had exams these past few days, so he was studying. As he studied, I wrote notes for each of the 28 girls on the Geneva team. I put a few sentences, a verse, and a word in Spanish on there. Once I was finished, I left to go to El Refugio, where I put them on everyone’s beds. I helped a bit with dinner preparation, which was marvelous because it was someone’s birthday. The tables were all set up with decorations; it was cute. I got to cut the cakes and serve them.

            Oh, and once the girls returned, one of them yelled, “OKAY, who put the notes on our beds?! Allie, did you do that?!” So I said I didn’t know anything and ran into the kitchen. Some of the girls followed me in and gave me a big hug. I kept having the girls come up to me and hug and thank me, telling me it was just what they needed to hear. One of them cried! It made me happy to know my prayers that it would impact them each individually were answered in an awesome way!

            After dinner, we went to the bonfire, and I got to play guitar with just Kevin because Madeline was having her goodbye party. While we were there, people were just so sweet. One of my favorite guys, Drew, asked me if I had the CD with me, which I told him I didn’t. So he asked if he could give me his information and I could send it to him! =)

            Once we were finished a great set, Kevin, Santiago, and I went to Madeline’s goodbye party. We had cookies and ice cream, which was awesome. We played a few games, and I got to translate for Santiago. We played the same game we played with Lydia where we had to ask Madeline a question and guess her answer. After praying for her and signing her book, we went back home. As you read in the last entry, we cried for a while.

            On Thursday I went to El Refugio around 11:30 and got to talk to some people before helping prepare for lunch. I told girls I brought my things to do hair and makeup, which I was so excited about! I also had the group leader, Madeline’s dad, as well as Madeline, read my last blog post. I wanted everyone to read it and know how much they affected me!

            I went to Madeline’s house after lunch. She had such a cute little house! We started packing up her stuff and cleaning up a bit. She gave me a whole bunch of stuff to take with me, and then I straightened her hair. She left pretty quickly because she had things to do, so I packed up and went back to search for girls to do hair!

            I went into one room and told the girls about the hair and makeup, which they all quickly asked if I would do theirs! Unfortunately it took me longer than I thought, so I ended up only getting to straighten three girls’ hair. I did get to do a lot of girls’ makeup, though! I spent a lot of time in their room just talking and getting to know them. Kirsten, one of the sweetest girls I’ve ever met, read my blog entry out loud for some of the girls.

            All of those girls were absolutely beautiful- makeup or no makeup, hair straight or not straight! They all went to take their group picture, and I was able to be in a few of their pictures, which was cool!

            After that, Santiago and I went to Byron’s house to wait for their bonfire to be finished so we could say goodbye to everyone. They played poker, which I hate watching in English, so watching them play in Spanish was worse!

            We finally were able to go see the group, and I got to play a few of my songs for them. People gathered around the tables to listen; it was wonderful. I told them all about my CD, and afterwards they said they wanted to hear more of the songs. After tearful goodbyes and hugs to the Geneva group and Madeline, Santiago and I walked back home. As I said, I couldn’t stop crying for a long time, but Santiago helped a lot. Angelica also heard me crying and came in for a bit. I couldn’t say anything, so Angelica and Santiago just played with my hair. I was finally able to fall asleep, but I really don’t know how.

            As I’ve said before, it’s hard to sleep past 9am, so I woke up around 9 and just started writing a song. Then I watched old Ecuador videos in Spanish when Brenmarie translated for the Ecuadorians. Santiago just came and brought me my favorite ice cream because he knew I was sad yesterday; how sweet!

            Oh, and apparently Rebecca was wondering why Angelica was crying yesterday. When she explained that it was because someone she was close to was leaving, Rebecca said, “no, Mom! She is sleeping in my room! There are her clothes!” She was confused, so Angelica explained that it was Madeline that was leaving, not me. Later on when I didn’t come home, Rebecca was upset and said, “Mom! Where’s Allie? She hasn’t come home! Her clothes are here!” Angelica explained that I was, in fact, still here, but I wasn’t home yet.

            This morning my door was open a little, so Rebecca peaked in and said, “Where is Allie?” Angelica told her to be quiet because I was sleeping, but Rebecca exclaimed, “I don’t see her! She’s not here! It’s only blankets!” She was so upset until she finally saw that I was here later! She’s too funny!

            Today Santiago and I are just hanging out for most of the day. I went to his house and Skyped my parents for a bit. Santiago sang a song for them, and they bonded over talking about this famous Ecuadorian turtle that just died. My dad actually said, “HEY, Santiago! Got a question for ya. You like clams?!” Now anyone that knows my dad should be able to just hear his voice saying that; oh, it was funny. Ironically my parents are eating sea food for dinner tonight, and Santiago and I are eating fish!

            Well, it’s already been one month here, and so much has happened that I would have never expected. I never expected to sing my songs for a whole group of people. I never expected to get to spend so much time here with my new family and friends. I certainly never expected tearful goodbyes four weeks before I leave.

I have about one month left and much I want to do! This journey isn’t over for me yet!