Well there we are the second House Swap and I am still standing. This week I swapped house with Freddy and once again it was a wonderful experience. I suppose the idea of the whole thing is to get a closer experience of how people in the sector live without running water (therefore no showers and no flushing toilet) and with poor electricity. I had Freddy’s house at the back of his Mum’s house. Freddy’s brother, Diego and his sister, Yesenia along with her two daughters (Nicole and Brittany) live there so it is a busy house. Basically I lived in Freddy’s house but ate with the larger family – Freddy’s house is so small there is no room for a kitchen. Of course, I did a house swap last July so I was quite used to the toilet beside the pigs but I decided that I would just wash (throw water over myself) in Freddy’s house – it was just as easy. I made good friends once again with the pigs, although one spat on me today! The big difference this time round is that we are in the rainy season so there is a large pool of lying water in the middle of the back yard which I presume has all sorts of bacteria living in it. As well as that, there was one night that the rain was coming in on top of the bed where I was sleeping. As I got into bed, I realized that I was underneath a drip but then though there is no solution …. So I just put my head under the covers and went to sleep. And it worked!!! Of course, the best bit about the whole experience was sharing time with Freddy’s family. Like Freddy, they are lovely people and it was just great to sit round at nighttime and share all the stories of the day, rest in the hammock and then head off to sleep. By way of thank you to them I invited them for lunch today so, as well as eating well, they went away with extra plates of leftovers which I am sure they will devour. Muchas Gracias, Freddy.
The other side of this week was that I did not use the car at all – apart from one emergency. So it was up and down hill to get to visits and up and down hill to get to Masses. And buses into the city centre the twice I needed to get there. I was shattered most nights but glad of the extra opportunity to live simply and meet the people in a much closer way.
The school build continues to move forward. This week they are putting the pillars up on the second floor. So I really do think they will be finished more or less for the start of the new school year on April 5th.
I have also continued to make my visits to the various chapels to meet with our Parish Catechists as they too prepare to start a new Catechetical year.
And then there’s the youth work so……. It’s no rest for the wicked!
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