June, 2006
Work Continues
Boy, it's been hot here in Lo de Marcos, but that hasn't slowed down work at La Casita!
Thanks to Dave and his helpers, the entire house now has a fresh coat of paint outside, as well as in, and a large sign announcing our presence to the world.
Tonio, the Glassman from La Peņita, donated materials and labor to fix the broken windows and Armando, the owner of the house, has agreed to apply our rent for the
next few months to have the fence completed, thus providing us with more security.
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Inside, most of the vestiges of the fire have been erased and
the walls of the games/TV room sport many different designs and drawings thanks to Dulce, Patti, Gaby, Alondra, Nataly and many more of the niņos. Lots of vivid colors make the room bright and cheerful for the kids.
The activities classes have continued over the summer with usually around 30 kids, sometimes as many as 50, in attendance each day.
They have been working on crafts, playing on the computers or just enjoying time with classmates, games and books.
We recently took delivery on a small refrigerator and also got the stove's oven fixed,
so Patti and Dulce have been giving cooking lessons, too, the results of which I can most certainly vouch for. Yummm, mango cobbler is the greatest! Patti has also taught some yoga classes.
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Student Exchange
Nico and Julia Gurney have been visiting on a student exchange program we've been working to set up. Their host family was Rogelio and Perla Parra, whose son Rogelio Jr. will live with Nico and Julia's family
in northern California next fall while attending school. Nico and Julia enjoyed their time and home-stay tremendously and helped each day at La Casita during
the three weeks they were here. They also participated in a beach cleanup day and then shared some delicious enchiladas that the kids made so the workers could recuperate energy.
Nico and Julia made a lot of friends and everyone is going to miss them lot.
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We Have Internet!
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We continue to work with our recalcitrant computers and seem to have reached a point of equilibrium...or at least, a stand-off.
For the moment, all the computers are connected to the internet for email, browsing and chatting. Before the kids are allowed to use the computers or the internet, however, they must bring a signed note from home
giving their parents' permission. We found that some parents had fears about possible misuse, and since we are unable to supervise every minute that each child spends on the computer, we thought to
avoid problems by making sure the kids' mothers and fathers were fully aware of the situation and accepting of it. A simple parental release form has seemed to quiet the troubled waters.
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To be completely operational, we need to replace our four older machines with newer, more powerful models. If you have or know of a donate-able computer running Windows XP, we could certainly put it to good use!
The older models (running Windows 98, for instance) just don't have the speed and memory necessary to handle current requirements. We could also use two more monitors to replace ones
that appear to be on their last hours.
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Time Out!
Patti and David are returning to the States at the end of July and Dulce, Fernando and I are heading off on a month-long European jaunt.
I will be continuing to update the site with new photos, however, so stop back once in a while and take a look.
And, if you start to get lonesome for Lo de Marcos, you might drop by the LDM website. I just completed a complete update of (almost) all the maps, services and
businesses in the pueblo. You might find it interesting to re-visit some of those places!
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