Day 4: Keeping up

As the days pass, it is harder to wake up. Some push-ups, a cold(er) shower, and strong coffee were required to be half awake. The delicious breakfast from Dave, our amazing host, provided the sugar necessary to get through the day. And one more time, our group split up for the morning work.

Three of us went to the houses we have been working on to give a final clean up and take care of
some last details. Thinking about the people who were going to have a shelter to rest and stay warm was very gratifying. We were ready to leave, but a little problem came up: the van was stuck on the mud from the melting winter! However, two strong girls and the guy who warmed up this morning with killer push-ups (me), were enough to put us back on the road.

While waiting for the rest of the group, our van decided to play some Latin/party music to get our energy back. I have to say, we are not bad singers. Now, after being pumped up and getting our power lunch, we got into Northridge Academy to do our best. By now, I feel all the group realize that we are here not to be superheroes, but to change, at least a little bit, the lives of those little kids.

As a team, together we were able to handle the 2nd graders, the toughest class to work with. We could tell though that they were smart and sweet kids, it just happen that they go every day through difficult situations. However, our day was not over after school. We went in the evening to Durant Turri Mott School to help with some tutoring, but at the end, the kids were the ones teaching us how to have some fun jumping rope, playing basketball and hula-hoop.

After a long day, we had a champs dinner at Dave's house, which was not a surprise since he has been keeping us well-fed since the first day. We closed the day having a deep and meaningful reflection, relating our service mission to our Catholic faith. However, "the Mafia" took the house over, and we let this silly but awesome game to take away our chance to get some good rest.


Atentamente,

Louis