Saturday. Ted and I walked a dirt path along the highway to our soccer game at the Mexiquito orphanage. It was around noon and the sun was directly overhead. As we arrived and walked towards the area we would eventually be playing a game on, I heard Gangnam style blasting from a stereo inside and witnessed some of the younger boys with big plastic glasses on strike poses and finish up a dance routine. Side note- the song "Gangnam style" is EVERYWHERE here. It's literally the only song we hear when we walk to the markets, or by the pirated cd shops, cell phone stores, shoe stores... all over. I'll admit I had been looking forward to seeing these kids all week. The boys slowly starting milling over when Ted and I engaged in a little one on one soccer match. Mike and Ted started bringing out the soccer balls, whistles, and orange cones for the match between "Los Azules vs Los Rojos." The boys already seemed a little tired from the morning but they still wanted to play, and what's more they wanted to play with everything we brought. My sunglasses were taken within the first five minutes. They looked better on the boy that wore them than me. I brought out a bottle of water and every one of them wanted a drink and then wanted to hold it... without letting it go. I brought out my sunscreen and forget about it! Surrounded in seconds by pleas for "bloqueador, bloqueador!" I gave each of them a little dab on their faces and then Mike blew the whistle and it was time to play. I cheered along with the very cool Madre (as in she's kind and calm) who has been joining along with the games. She clearly loves these kids and has a fantastic sense of humor. Even when the ball was launched towards her head she just laughed adjusted her habit and went back to playing with the smallest child of the group, a wee little guy wearing a shirt with a pumpkin face, probably not quite 2 years old. This same little one likes to play a game with me where he brings me plastic bottle caps full of dirt and I have to pretend it is a treat and eat it. During the rest between games, one of the kids was looking at a book and when I expressed interest in it, he handed it to me to read. It was called "Perdidos en el Bosque" and it was a version of Hansel and Gretel. I read it five times, as each time we finished they would say, "again!" And with little hands wrapping around my arms, heads pressed into my neck, bodies resting all their weight on my back, I felt like I could read to them all day. Whistles blew and "good game" and "game over" were shouted amongst the boys as they ran off to the kitchen for their lunch.

Ted was pretending to be a "caballo" and giving piggy-back rides and after he was able to finally peel the last boy off his back, we shouted our good-byes and thank you's to the Madre and the kids. Next weekend Mike, the coordinator of the games will be gone so we won't go until the following week. I'm a little sad that two weeks will go by before we can come back. Still, we get to come back, and the thought of being able to continue building relationships with many of these kids is... YEA!!!!!!!