Massive Update
Better late than never, right? Let’s see, well I’ve been in Denver for about 6 weeks or so and have about 10 days left. Today, I was working with the Summer Program and we got to go to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science for free through this awesome organization called ArtReach. We all had a blast looking at the Minerals and Gems exhibit- some of the crystals were from one of the caves featured on BBC’s Planet Earth- needless to say, it was awesome. Then we went up to the “stuffed” animals floor. Taxidermy was a bit challenging to describe to 6 year olds, but we all did our best and had fun posing s different animals. One of the highlights was riding on the escalators. As my last post said, the majority of the kids who come to Mercy Housing’s Summer Program aka Peace Pals are refugees from all over. East Africa and Burma are probably the most common places of origin, but kids reign from West Africa, Mexico, with a handful of Denver-natives. Some kids and their families have moved to the U.S from their home countries as little as 2 or 3 weeks ago, therefore escalator rides prove to be a scary and exciting adventure.
I spent last semester abroad in Ghana, and things that seem like ordinary chores (like going to the post office) often turned into adventures, so its been really awesome to be transitioning back to life in the Western-world with people who are as easily excited by “ordinary” experiences, as I was. Anywho, after the museum we played in one of those water fountains systems that spray up from the ground. All in all an awesome day.
Tomorrow, is the program’s last day, and since we this summer’s theme has been the Olympics we are having our own closing ceremonies just as the other Olympics are having their opening ceremonies. This is of course, after my 7:30 AM meeting with my supervisor 