Team #141--so many laughs!

Quote: Michelle Holker

”What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.”

-Albert Pike

Journal: Kaitlyn Henry

The morning of June 23rd started off like any other. We had our breakfast at the hotel and took the bus to Calderon. As we made our way through the market the group separated in its usual way, Allen and Beth headed to Center #2 while Irene, Elena, Michelle and I stayed at Center #1. It was a typical morning in Center #1, with Irene in the kitchen and Elena helping in the classroom, Michelle and I headed to help in the baby room with tia Norma. With the biggest trouble maker absent for the day, the baby room was very tranquil, that was until I heard one of the kids yell "tia hace chi chi." Not thinking anything of it, I continued to play with the kids until I noticed the one guilty of "hace chi chi" was indeed on my lap and had left me with a wet pant leg. After I cleaned myself up I continued the daily activities in the classroom; singing, dancing, feeding and caring for the kids. A few hours later the tired group enjoyed a nice lunch but we kept one thing in mind, Panderia Alex. After lunch the group didn't want to break our habit so naturally we stopped at Panderia Alex to get dessert and Michelle and I did some more last minute shopping which was not necessary but we somehow found a way to justify it. After the long lunch break we headed back to do more work, Irene and I helped with Spanish tutoring which is a huge challenge when you lose your voice.

The afternoon was filled with laughter as Irene and I helped pronounce words and the tias gave us funny looks as if to say "that's what I said." After a successful day we headed back to the hotel to rest before our last dinner. A combination of laughing so hard I cried and almost choking on my dinner because I could not stop giggling made our last dinner at the hotel the highlight of my day.

As the group reflected on our day of service we discovered that the painted piece of art I bought for my dad resembled an urn and we could not stop laughing at the idea of presenting his gift, an Ecuadorian urn. As we continued to laugh at the “urn” I bought, which came with dust so it was sure to fit the part, Michelle warned us to be careful not to choke on our dinner but she did mention if you are ever in a situation where you must perform CPR you just need to think of the song “staying alive.”

This spiraled the group into more laughter and as I pondered “what do you do during the most upbeat part of the song that says ‘staying alive staying alive’” Michelle was quick to read my mind and said “you don’t actually do it to that beat.” Thankfully Michelle cleared up the staying alive CPR technique and they all decided that if they were in need of CPR they would not want me to be around because I would most likely start dancing and lose sight of the fact that someone actually needs resuscitation.

The giggles and outbursts of laughter continued and eventually the smiling group left our last dinner, in hopes that we didn’t cause too big of a distraction for the other guests. After dinner Beth, Allen, Michelle and I walked to the mall to go to the bookstore and to the Supermaxi to get some Ecuadorian goodies to bring home. Upon arrival to the hotel, the group parted ways so that we could get a head start on packing and some rest before our last day of service.