June 13, 2009 3:57 pm

My first Saturday here. Saturdays are their cleaning days and it took most of the morning. Everyone has chores-- from Kenneth who is 5 to Rommer and Oliver who are 18. We helped where we could and tried not to be a distraction.

I know we are not supposed to have favorites, but I do. Ron Ron, Jake, and Clark are definitely my favorites. I will try to upload pictures soon. It is difficult because the USB port does not work on the orphanage computer.

They bought us food for lunch and we ate with the kids. I tried Halo Halo today. Jenny described it as dumping the entire contents of your refrigerator in a blender. It wasnt very good but the kids enjoyed our leftovers. We snuck out and had McDonalds for lunch and I tried spaghetti and chicken.

9:56 pm

Didn't to bed as early as planned-- Krista, Hailey and I played hide-and-go-seek and sardines with the older guys. You are never too old for those games. The youngest person was 18 and the oldest was 27.

Rommer and Oliver are 18 and live at the orphanage. Chuckie, Elon, Ben Mark, Lester and JM are 20 or 21 and play at the praise band. They all hang out around the church and orphanage every night. Lenwell is older-- 26 or 27 and dates Ma'am Olen (one of the teachers that live here). He hangs out with us though.

I promised them I would try ballute. It is a raw, developing fetus of a duck or chicken served in the egg. I told them it had to be dark because I didn't want to see what I was eating. It's served by street vendors on bicycles so I pray I don't get sick.

One thing I haven't written about yet is our neighbors-- rats, cockroaches, and lizards. The cockroaches are as long as my index finger and the rats could eat my cat at home. The lizards are just everywhere. Hailey was taking a shower yesterday and I heard screaming. A cockroach climbed up her leg; she knocked it off and it chased her around the shower until she smashed it. I had to go in and do the clean up work.