Wipin' my face on my shoulder.

Lo and behold, Sunday morning rolls around and I, yes I, am on Maintenance Shift today. As you have probably read from Emily's note - working with Natividad is always an interesting experience. This morning was nothing short of interesting. The story begins here:

9 o'clock - I am in the staff house reading my Bible, praying and cleaning the staff house. I get a call from Emily asking me to come to the Reception because Natividad needs me. I sighed and put my shoes on slightly hesitant for the challenge ahead. I arrived at Reception and looked around for The Beast but Emily told me, "She needs you in the bathroom". My heart stopped. The.... the.... Bathroom? I've heard stories of this so called bathroom. I put my big girl panties on and walked over to "the bathroom". When I arrived i saw Natividad spraying the whole girls bathroom down from the inside with a hose. The walls. The toilets. The showers. The sinks. Soap was flying. Poop and toilet paper were flying. I was scared. Not just scared - horrified. What was to become of the sandals Zack and Kristen bought me for my 18th birthday? I took a deep breath from the outside of the bathroom and entered. She looked my direction and exclaimed, "Gracia!" I took a few more steps forward with a helpful face. She rambled off some Portuguese that i did not understand until the fifth or sixth time of her repeating it and us playing charades. I knew what I needed. I exited the bathroom in search of the Trash Picker-up-ers. I found them near the exit of the Reception - "that was easy" i thought to myself. I brought them back to her and she sighed and said something about "sacos"... It was then I realized that to pick up trash we WOULD need trash bags. I scampered on back to Reception this time in search of trash bags. This was easy as pie. Get 'em, got 'em, gone. Back in the bathroom i picked up piles of trash that i assumed were from the showers. Wads of hair, hair clippies, and old bottles of shampoo mixed in with dirt, sand and grime from who knows where. After i gathered the piles of nastiness i moved on to the girls individual trash cans in each toilet stall. This was nothing short of absolute gag-induced work. What I don't understand is why people choose to throw away poopy toilet paper in the small trash cans instead of just FLUSH IT! We are not in South America. The toilets flush just fine here!
....Back to my story. After I had gone through at least 12 individual girl trash cans I felt like I had had enough. What more could be done? Well, like they say, "you think it's as bad as it can get - it can always get worse." Natividad signaled to me to follow her and we creeped out of the girl's bathroom around the corner towards the boy's bathroom. This was not going to be pretty. When we peered into the boy's bathroom there were a few boys getting dress and walking around. Natividad rambled off something in Portuguese and then started repeating "Muito Rapido!". She motioned that I would be doing this one alone. Oh great... alone in a bathroom full of smelly guys = Grace's lifelong dream. I swept and picked up the trash minding my own business when the guys started talking to me. Is it just me or does talking to a person of the opposite sex while they're cleaning your bathroom seem a bit odd? Finally they all left and as I was going to get the hose to hose down the walls and anything, everything & everyone in site - in walks Armando back from church ready to help. So he willingly grabbed the hose and finished the boys bathroom. There are some things to be grateful for. :)
After doing a job of that sort - your hands don't go anywhere near your face or mouth. That's when "Wipin' my face on my shoulder" line was born. After we were dismissed, I ran to the staff house and washed my hands a few times as a surgeon would. Up to my elbow. I changed my clothes and then settled here to write this.


-Grace

Thursday, July 16.

Grace here.
Sorry for the long period of not journaling. I haven’t been spending quite as much time in Reception. We separated shifts so that there are only 3 shifts and I don’t like being in Reception when I do not have to be. I really haven’t been to the beach much since the first week. I really wish I made more time to go out there. Maybe later today if I get maintenance work done in time I can spend most the afternoon out there. I need sun.

The effects of being here are wearing on both Emily and I in many ways. Don’t get me wrong, we love it here but it’s impossible to not think of what we’re coming home to and all the responsibilities that need to be taken care of before we move off to college. Sleep has become less and less, and we all know my issues with food. Thankfully I will be receiving food either today or tomorrow from my bakery and possibly my mother as well. But we receive our strength to go on only from our Father in Heaven. He is what gets us through each day.

My adventure to the beach today was very disappointing. Michi and I got ready, went to the beach and it was very cloudy. We were hoping that the sun would come out and then we could get a tan… but instead it became cloudy, windy, and began to rain not 30 minutes after we arrived. So we came back.

-I did not get a chance to post this, so I’m posting it unfinished.-