Alpha Day 2 and back to Bosco

Sorry for the delay in my postings.  I wasn't feeling well the past couple of evenings, but I'm okay now.  I spent the morning at Alpha on Tuesday and mainly hung out with the boys on the playfield before I was going to leave.  I played Monopoly with them for a bit.

As a follow up from the camera workshop I talked about yesterday, Brad Clarke was determined to be the best student of the 15 that participated in the class.  Because of that, they gave him his very own camera.  It's a nice camera so it seems.

Shortly after this picture, some of the boys went on yet another treat. It seems that at Alpha, the boys are constantly going on treats.  There is more opportunity for treats at Alpha because it is in Kingston and more companies and people are willing to donate things or services around the holiday season.  Susan has actually had to decline requests for treats for the boys at Alpha because there have been so many.

So this is Ramone Bullock.  I was on the playfield at Alpha and the boys came to get me saying that Ramone was at the gate waiting for me.  It just so happened he was walking by and was talking to a boy through the gate and they told him that I was there.  This picture makes me laugh just because of the composition of it, he's wearing a striped shirt and he is behind the bars of the gate...ironic?

This is just a pic of the basketball court at Alpha.   There is a HUGE football (soccer) field right next to it as well.

Well, early in the afternoon, we left Alpha. I said my goodbyes.  I might go back on one of my last days, but it depends on the timing and what else is going on.  We brought back one of the Brothers with us to Mandeville because he is sick and there is better access to a doctor with Sr. Susan's doctor.  After we brought him back, he went straight to the doctor and got blood tests.  Turns out, he has dengue, which is a tropical disease spread by mosquitos...closest equivalent in the US: West Nile.  He is staying with me at my house through the holidays, so I got an unexpected house guest.  Don't wory, it's not contagious.

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Yesterday (Wednesday) was Christmas decorating day.  I started about 10 in the morning and recruited the help of 6 boys.  Decorating for Christmas is something the boys and I look forward to each year, but it's something I can't have a lot of the boys help me do...6 is plenty.  My mom sent some decorations down with me (at my request) and we used those to supplement the decorations that were already there but are getting really worn out.  

It took most of the day to get the tree up and the decorations spread through the room.  I didn't manage to get a pic of the rest of the rec. room, but maybe if i remember to, I will.  We also put up a tree in the cafeteria and did a little bit of decorating there too.

I got to see the new addition to the catering hall yesterday too.  It is HUGE!  The new hall is probably 3 times bigger than the current hall and there is a nice big entryway and new bathrooms and store room.  It looks really really nice too.  I didn't get pictures of that either however, but one day I will.  They want me to look into what it will take to put speakers in the new hall, but the challenge is being able to run wiring because all of the other wiring was done before the place was concreted in and sheet rock was put up.  I will probably design the sound system and get the speakers for Susan, but because I only come once a year and she wants it in before this time next year, she will probably get someone else to install it.  That's a project I have to work on once I get back home.  I will talk to an electrician before I leave here and see what he suggests as far as how easy the wiring will be.

Yesterday about 12 boys came from another home in Spur Tree that is closing down.  The people running it (to my understanding) just kind of up and left it.  They have been working to transfer the children from there to other homes.  There were both boys and girls there.  3 of the boys are four years old, 2 of those are twins.  I haven't spent much time with them, and all 12 of them seem to hang around each other.  I think they are getting better at mingling with the others from what I was seeing on the playfield this morning. Here are 2 of the young ones:

That was pretty much it for yesterday...most of the day being taken up by decorating for Christmas.  Today's  big thing is the Birthday Party.  The boys who have had birthdays in November and December (and maybe January?) will all get special time together and treats.  You Wright State students all know what the birthday party is all about.  Usually they have the birthday party earlier in December, but the Wright State group didnt come down this year (they will be coming in April) so they saved the birthday party for when I came down.  I haven't spent a birthday party with the boys since I came during the summer of 2009.  It should be fun.  Well, time to eat lunch, then PARTY!