Acortar Distancias

The agency where my friends and I are volunteering is called Acortar Distancias and it's like a summer camp for children in disadvantaged homes in the area. A lot of the kids live in the neighborhood we ride through everyday, the one without roofs and just an old bed sheet for a door (I wonder how they cope with the torrential rain and thunderstorms).

There are 500 kids in the program and 50 volunteers (though it is required to do social service during the summer if you are in college here) and a few full-time staff members. The younger ones are always so excited to come in in the afternoons, it's like a sea of children running through the gates. There are 15 or so teams, ranging from babies to teenagers and a group of moms too (who are SO psyched to be there, they have make-up and cooking classes).

The kids have gym class (basketball, etc.), creativity, equillibrios (which is balancing and tight rope and that kind of thing), acrobatics/gymnastics, and malabares (juggling and other things like that). Each class is supposed to teach the kids a value, such as balancing - trust in others, malabares - determination, etc. Each team has its own cheer too, to instill feelings of pride and family (this week's saying is "my family, my treasure"). Our cheer, the purple team/team #7/girls aged 8-9 years, is to the tune of Justin Bieber's "Baby" and it goes something like:

Siete, Siete, Siete ooooh (7, 7, 7)
Siete, Siete, Siete ooooh
De color morado vestimos (We wear the color purple)
...something something family, friends forever. I still don't understand all of it.

Camp is extremely exhausting. Not only do the girls like to run for 3 1/2 hours straight, they like to talk really fast in Spanish and the other counselors find it easier to talk to me in English (a lot of them know some) or give up on me altogether. Both are frustrating because I'm here to learn Spanish! I am liking it there though, and it will be interesting to see how much I can contribute despite the language barrier and to see if my Spanish improves much in the next 3 weeks (it ends the last week in July).

Here are two videos about A.D. Even if you don't understand what they're saying, it's interesting to see the neighborhood (and compare it with the rest of Guadalajara).

"Miramar" Corto documental
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lODSAVSA_8

Acortar Distancias
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNLSgps6YiQ (This girl is in Daisy's group, though the buildings they show are at the old location and not where I'm working, so mainly just watch the beginning)