Sunday 2nd March
This week has been very a busy week filled with activities
at the Rainbow house and lots of mural painting at school.
We started off the week making Banoffee pie with the kids,
which they really loved. It was really fun to bake all together as they were so
excited to see the final product. We also taught them the names of ingredients
in English, as they are always very eager to improve their English. The pies
also ended up tasting delicious!
 |
| Rewena, the kids and I with the Banoffee Pies |
The next activity we did with them was face painting. I love
face painting, as I have done it at a couple of birthday parties and school
events in the past. They started being quite shy and didn’t really want their
face painted, which I thought was surprising. But in the end, they all went
crazy for it and decided to paint my face as well. I think they might have
almost had more fun doing that than getting their own faces painted. This
eventful afternoon resulted in a lot of bright painted faces that took quite
some time to wash off.
 |
| Matilde and Yessica face painting me as a 'bunny' |
 |
| Matilde and Yessica as angels and Marina as a tiger |
 |
| Group photo |
As we did these activities in the afternoon, in the mornings
I went to school and started working on the first mural. There are a few walls
that Jessica, the director, would like me to paint so I started this week.
Firstly, Marina and I painted one of the walls in the physiotherapy rooms that
Lucio (the school’s physiotherapist) asked us to do. Since this one was inside,
we used acrylic paint, which I am very used to so it wasn’t very difficult to
do. However, the rest of the walls are all outdoors. Therefore, I have to use
special paint that is very thick and quite hard to work with. I started to work
on the kitchen wall. There weren’t any very specific requirements, except that
it had to be ‘kitchen themed’. Thus, I drew out my idea that consisted of
kitchen utensils, fruits and vegetables spelling the word Cocina (meaning
kitchen in Spanish). The teachers seemed to really like the idea so I went for
it and after a lot of hours of painting under the sun and rain I completed it!
I am happy with the result, as I think it really brightens up the wall and I
hope will make the kids smile when they see it.
 |
| Physiotherapy room Mural |
 |
| Cocina Mural Sketch |
 |
| Cocina Mural |
Finally, to add to this very productive week, on Thursday,
it was Rewena’s birthday. Marina and I could not miss out on this opportunity to
secretly decorate the kitchen and living room at the Volunteer house with
streamers and balloons (that we still refuse to take down). We also went out
for dinner on Thursday for dinner with other volunteers and friends, and made
her vanilla cake covered with strawberries, that despite all the struggle,
tasted very good.
 |
| The Volunteer House fully decorated |
 |
| Our beautiful and delicious cake |
All in all, a productive week that I really enjoyed since it
was filled with different activities and things to do. This week will probably
be similar as I am ready to start a new mural tomorrow and we are celebrating
Matilde’s birthday who is turning 9 years old. Last week before the school starts
again!
 |
| Last night's sunset from my window |
