Journal by: Carlos Alvarez

“Happiness is only real when shared.” Alexander Supertramp

We woke up early as usual, it was a chilly morning and the warming sun was slowly coming up. We had an energizing breakfast before our corresponding duties. Eric, Mimi, and Ryan where going to the secondary school like the day before and Eitan, Eugenio and Carlos where going to work in the new kitchen with Moses. We had a brief meeting and those who where going to the lessons parted with Edward and the kitchen boys with Moses. Eric and Mimi went to second form, where Eric used his skills and talents to involve those shy students to participate and talk out loud in front of his classmates. Ryan, the now appointed teacher of his class, taught them some music and even got some of the students to sing, while the substituted teacher laid back and enjoyed his lucky break.

Meanwhile, Moses minions, did as they were told, feeling naïve towards the mixing of cement, brick placing, and the difficult art of plastering. After a couple of hours at work, we all went to the teachers meeting, where we had the traditional doughnuts and tea. Few announcements were shared and it was a short meeting, so we finished our respective drinks and headed off to our previous assignments. The morning chores tired us out, so we headed back to the house to have the ever delicious lunch prepared by MamaTony. Everyone was very quiet during meal time, as hunger was definitely our priority.

After lunch the two full of energy younglings went for a two and a half hour nap while the others went to finish the kitchen work. The four elders were doing all the hard work while the youngsters enjoyed their soft pillow. At around four o’clock we waited for Edward as he was taking us to the football field where the much expected match between Pommern against an adjacent village was going to be held. We took the short walk to the field where we saw a good amount of students waiting eagerly on the sidelines for the match to start.

Eugenio and Carlos, who where going to play for Pommern’s team, went with their fellow teammates to settle their positions and the game strategy. Eric, Mimi, Eitan and Ryan went to the sideline bench as they waited for the kickoff. Finally the referee called both teams onto the field, they formed a straight line and started running towards the middle of the field. The green Pommern soldiers lined up next to their red opponents. The whistle blew, and it was game time. It was a very close first half, but Pommern got a penalty and managed to jump ahead one nil. Eugenio was substituted by Edward, our team leader, who swore only to play 15 minutes and gave all he had in him. Haran, the second headmaster also went in, and was named MVP after a very satirical chant and dance around the ball. Unfortunately the opposing team managed to score once, and in the last and remaining five minutes they scored the winning goal. It was an excellent football match, and as good sportsmen every player shook hands with his teammates as well as his opponents. Carlos and Eugenio where exhausted and had red clay coming out of their ears by the end of the match, so they took a shower before meeting the others for supper.

Pastor Saga and his wife joined us for dinner, and even though we were all very tired, we used up our fifth wind to concentrate on the so interesting topics Pastor Saga was more than open to share with us. After a very productive and long day, we were thankful that the upcoming days were the highly anticipated weekend.