Today the unthinkable happened!

The day started pretty much the same as yesterday with an early start and an uber ride to work. 

As much as yesterday was physically challenging for me today challenged me big time mentally. Most of todays students were male cerebral palsy patients. Seeing the challenges they faced was so sobering. Their task for today was the same as the ladies did yesterday but it was a small group so I grabbed a chair and helped make Xmas decorations with less time on my feet and a far easier job. 




The residents painted the sheets of paper which we cut into shapes using a template. Those shapes end up as Xmas flowers:
The disabilities, both physical and mental that some of these people have are devastating but heartbreaking to see them reacting happily to the smallest thing. I struggled to hold back tears with each interaction. 
The ladies from yesterday were all wheeled past for todays activity and many of them remembered me from yesterday and called out or waved. I was chuffed. 
At one stage a couple of clowns visited and with the help of somepatients put on a show. The looks on many of the faces and the volume of the clapping said it all. 
How the smallest thing can have such an impact always throws me. 
The teacher introduced me to Alwin. Alwin has lived in Seattle, Washington, USA for much of his life until he had a stroke and he returned home. Alwin has been left paralised from the shoulders down with minimal use of his arms, and could not hold the paintbrush. He had to paint with his finger.  We struck up a conversation and he told me how sad he was. 😭!  shattering. 
A comment on my post yesterday from my friend Dora reminded me of another fantastic experience I had in Sapa, Vietnam. Sapa is the place in North Vietnam where you see the massive rice terraces going up the hills. In winter it is bitterly cold and the ground is covered with snow. Quite by chance I had the opportunity to help a couple of Thai girls distribute clothing and shoes to the orphans of Sapa. For many it was their first ever piece of warm clothing and to see the looks on the faces of the kids when they realised what ‘warm’ was broke my heart. This photo is of a wee girl who was the sole caregiver of the wee tot with her. Imagine one baby caring for another and not having food, shelter or food. A memory ingrained in my mind. 

The memory bank has opened and I thought of the kids in the school in Kenya. They had shoes! But the wee guy sitting in the front desk has shoes that were far to big for him and slid off each time he took a step. That kid walked 5k to school each day and back again, through country that was also home to man eating animals. That kid joined his classmates everyday in immaculately clean, ironed clothes and was excited to be learning. That kid broke me each time I looked at his skinny wee legs poking out of his oversized boots. That kid.  

Back to today, Time was up anf Flora and I hopped on our bone shaking chicken bus for a ride back to town and decided we would stop at the first half decent food shop we found once we got off the bus. 

And that we did!  A gorgeous wee place called Wonderland. And Wonderland it was too.  We sat and without ordering anything were presented with a gorgeous tea set and a bikkie. The tea festival is on at the moment and Wonderland is a participant so the tea was gratis and we were given a booklet explaining the festival, where if we visited 5 of the many establishments listed we would get a gift. With nothing better to do before our cooking class we decided then and there we would participate. 
But before setting off we had lunch. Me a not so great crepe and Flora a bagel and salad. But, and there is always a but, the tea (with notes of lavendar, camomile and rosemary) was so delicious (I scored it 8/10) we both bought some. I hope I can get it home again. 

With two hours to kill before our cooking class we decided to go to the nearby Choco Museum which was also participating in the Tea Festival. 
Walking in the door I swooned. The smell of sheer unadulterated chocolate hit my nose like a sledgehammer.  I swooned and wanted a way to capture it.  OMG. The museum was a bit sad, more like a ‘shop’, but we did get to taste their choco tea and got a second stamp on our card. The tea was ok, just ok. I scored it 6/10.  
We still had time before the cooking lesson so decided to walk to another place and get one more stamp. On the way we passed yet another festival place an figured “why not”. Here we were in a very sophisticated coffee shop with a number of levels, lounge suites and a divine coffee. 

I dont remember the name of the tea but it was as spectacular, iced with hints of lavender and tiny jelly like bubbles that popped with flavour. (NOT like bubble tea).  We both rated it 10/10. I should have bought some. 

The place we originally came looking for was right aceoss the road so we tried that as well. The setting was sublime, the waiters wore hairnets, the tea came in heavy earthenware japanese style pots and was horrible 3/10 for them. 
 Four out of Five stamps received we ran out of time for the fifth and returned to Maximo for the cooking class. I was the first to register and was so looking forward to it …
Until we arrived with about 50 other people to a long bench with about 10 workstations and a solitary fruit (half a watermelon, a pineapple, a pumpkin etc) on each which the participants were going to chop. There was not a cooking utensil in sight and nowhere to cook!!
By this time my back was sore, my feet were sore and I really wanted to sit for a while. And so a cooking class with no cooking was not hard to turn my back on. I never ever thought I would walk away from a cooking class but I did and was not in the slightest unhappy about it. The unthinkable has happened. 
I wandered over the road to Maximo Nivel and had a rest. One of the ladies that lives where I do came over and we had a chat, then another two that I met the first day sat for a bit before I had to leave for my lesson. It is such a neat environment where you can sit and constantly see a stream of familiar faces. 
Today my lesson went well. Kathy explained things I had not been able to get my head around and we had a few laughs. It was certainly worth taking these lessons. 
That done it was home time; on the way I bumped into the lady who occupies the room next to me and we walked together. It was then dinner with the fellow residents. Each of us had a story to tell so we had a few laughs, shared ideas of where to go and what to do. It was great. 
And so my amazing day was over.  I have cried tears of happiness, tears of sadness, laughed, walked and drunk more tea that I could ever imagine and I abandoned a (no)cooking class. What an awesome day.  I am ready for bed and its only 8:30 but I know that it will be lights out very soon. 
Thanks for coming along with me.