First day at Kids Kabin

Today was another busy day! We started the day by joining the sisters and Brother Ralph for morning prayer and breakfast. After breakfast we went across town to meet the other AMA (Associate Missionaries of the Assumption) volunteers working at the Pendower project. They are really nice and it was good to get to know some other young adults in Newcastle who we can get together with. Also, one of the volunteers has been here since January and will be good resource since she already knows where everything is in Newcastle. It was nice to see where they live and work and also where the nearest bus stop is to their house since they live too far away to walk.

After lunch we went over to Kids Kabin where Melissa, Abby and I will spend most every afternoon. Kids Kabin is an after school program for kids ages 8-12 and it runs from 3:45-5:15 Monday-Friday. The number of kids varies from day to day but they try to keep a high adult to kid ratio so that each kid can get some individual attention and help with the projects/activities. We met the director, Will, and some of the other staff at Kids Kabin and had a tour of the building. There are rooms for woodwork, pottery, glasswork, general arts and crafts, sewing, cooking, gardening and bike repairs. We spent some time organizing and getting ready for the start of sessions. Kids Kabin had been closed for awhile during the summer vacation and there was a lot that needed to be done. There were only 4 kids that came for the session at 3:45. School doesn’t start until tomorrow and since Kids Kabin just opened today and is connected with school they had no idea how many kids to expect. They said it varies each year when they start again-they can have a ton of kids on the first day or just a few. Today it was just a few. It was nice to start out with a small crowd since we are all getting used to things. We were “kids” for the day and got to participate in the making and not really the leadership roles that we will normally have. I was in the cooking room for the day. There were a bunch of bananas that were going to go bad so we made a banana cake and banana fritters. Both were very tasty! After the kids left we helped with more organization before heading back for a later dinner. It was really nice to get started doing something!

Brother Ralph helps out at Kids Kabin some days and this afternoon he gave Melissa, Abby and I some “proper English chocolate that is a lot better than the Hershey bars we have in America” aka Cadbury chocolate bars. He also printed each of us a copy of the pictures we took this morning outside the sisters’ house. It was so nice!!

We made our first purchases tonight which was exciting even though it was just basic items like lotion, toothpaste and Kleenex! We are looking forward to our free day on Friday – especially to browse through the stores! The simple things like shopping for essentials are suddenly exciting and interesting. I find it interesting looking at the different flavors, packages, names and products!

One interesting thing I’ve noticed so far is that a lot of the outlets have a switch on them to turn the power on and off. I need to start making a list of other differences!

It was another super windy day today! Sadly, it looks like we will be having a few rainy days in a row starting tomorrow. We have been really lucky so far with no rain! I guess I better get used to it!

Take care,
Laura