Welcome to Internat

We made it! Brieanne and I met Horace near the university today and then took the 20-30min hike to Internat.

With regards to my previous email, 'bad' isn't too bad so far. As we entered the prphange, we passed a couple gardens and a park with a jungle gym (freshly pained). The first thing we did was meet with the director to get the okay for being there. He wasn't exactly excited that we were there but didn't put up too much of a fuss. When speaking to Horace later, I got the impression that the director doesn't like outsiders going there very much because of a nearby organization that got shut down after some questionable practises were exposed by foreigners. My perception is that he, like everyone else around here, is pretty desperate to have a job or to keep the one he has. According to Horace, he is making sure he gets a very good salary without paying his workers anything special but, however unfair and unsustainable that is, that practise is not unheardof.
From the looks of the place, the children are treated fairly well. The director is passive so, from what I saw the first day, he doesn't do much harm. The teacher I met seems to care about the children. I'm not sure if she's aiding development or just helping time pass but either way it's better than I had pictured. The facilities - or at least what I saw of them - are also better looking than I had pictured: they seem clean and friendly. There is also a bit of a gym inside where Horace says the children, especially the older ones, have class. After seeing the nice office area, I wondered if the gym equipment was available for the children or the director/secretaries and so I was relieved to learn that the gym is in fact used by the children. There are also classrooms to play in and some technological equipment like a TV and DVD player (presumeable donated). From my limited outside perspective, Internat doesn't seem too bad.

Now the best part . . the girls!
I was probably on Internat property for all of five minutes before being swarmed, hugged and held. The girls are 100% exceptional.
(Dis) Abilities range from communication to physical and mental. Some could speak, come could/did not, and one, Ilena, was pretty good at communicating in English. There was another who stuck to me (by not letting go of my hand most of the time), but who did not tell me he name or make much eye contact - she was quite content to just hunch over and hugg my arm. I think we'll be friends :)
Today we really just hung out and got to know eachother. I met about 15  girls/young women and can remember some names: Ilena, Natalia x2, Lulia, Kristina, and Nadia. Nadia has a cleft pallet and said her name with a strong lisp. I didn't think of the lisp when she said her name so simply repeated exatly what I heard, making everyone laugh.

Popular hobbies at Internat include sports, dancing, singing and picture-taking. Ilena (18yrs) is so hip she had Lady Gaga on her celphone! As great as it is that people who live here are active, curious and energetic, I can't help but think what further opportunities would be available to them in Canada. That can be said about many situations around the world but when it comes to my placement this summer "it is what it is." I wouldn't usually say that because what it is could, with some TLC, turn into what it can be, but it will probably take more than three months to figure out a better situation. Thus, it is what it is - I'll just do my best to teach what I can, learn what I can and have loads and loads of fun doing it. Already I can pick out some of the quiet, funny and hyperactive ones. I loved it - what a mix of personalities, everyone being themselves and sharing  their own little bundle of energy. I was at home in the craziness.

Internat has a pretty laid-back schedule of who comes and goes: I was told that  I can just show up play. Apparently other people do that too and the director doesn't go out of his way to stop it. (He's the businessman, not the cargiver.) I'm looking forward to Monday!