And Then We Were Gone: The last push!!

The Highlights

· Deya’s Birthday!!!
Older and happier… for sure. I celebrated my birthday with the man I love, living life the way I need and in one piece, what else can I ask for?
Thanks to those friends and family who thought about me ;)
My mom as usual was the first one to call and ensure that I had resources to take Brian out for dinner… my brother surprised me with such a wonderful gift.

-Thanks brother for such lovely gift!!!-

-With the construction crew-

-With friends-

· Floyd was born again.
We finally got Floyd Yucatecan plates… he was born again ;)

· Our Volunteering efforts, with Hogar Nueva Vida.
Hogar Nueva Vida is really “New Life” and we enjoyed spending time there seeing how the girls are supported to grow with more confidence and skills in various areas.

We are now giving Cooking classes and English classes, Brian is “Maestro Brian” and I am “Maestra Deya”. Once a week we spend one hour teaching cooking and one hour teaching English. Cooking is more fun definitely and we hope that those skills are beneficial for the girls; at least they seem to enjoy the class and the food they prepare.
We are committed to this activity and spend the required amount of time to prepare and deliver nothing less than what the kids deserve.

We also have Friday activities with them once in a while and the last one was called: Salon de Belleza-Beauty Salon in which I was able to provide them with natural facials and got an opportunity to emphasized that beauty isn’t in the make-up but in the actual health and care of one. Beautiful girls who sometimes do not consider themselves beautiful either because of colour, size or shape. In this occasion I got to share with another Canadian woman who is also volunteering with the Organization full time for three weeks and who helped me get the facials done, thanks Jill!!!

· Little trips here and there, good new friends.
Slowly but surely we are getting around and meeting very nice people…
Thanks Debi and Tom for the fantastic time before your trip to Europe, looking forward to your return.
Thanks Patricia for the energy and opportunities you provide to us!!!

-This is what happens to Brian when he refuses to use solar protection-

· Our Renovations Project: Centro #1.
We are now in the last push to finish the renovations. Lots and lots of monitoring…

1- More of the unknowns.
No more unknowns so far!!!

2- Interesting knowns.
So far, workers in Yucatan are the best we have found in Mexico. I have to say that keeping a close eye in the project makes the difference; asking and making sure things are done the way I am told they will be done. No cutting corners!!!

3- Our stakeholders.
So far, so good. I try hard to make sure people are informed.

4- The beauty.
The second floor is getting painted. The guest’s room and bathroom are almost done.
The Rotoplas is on the roof, so that means we can distribute the water around the house.
The first floor got an island in the kitchen (3m x 1.2m).
Furniture is ordered.