So I think I'm going to give this a try this year and maybe write a blog entry every few days.  I arrived at Bosco late in the afternoon yesterday.  It was a pretty smooth flight given all of the luggage I was bringing with me.  I had 2 rolling bags (checked), a big duffel bag, and a backpack.  I was packed to the gills.  Only one of my bags got opened and looked at, but as far as I know, everything is still there.  Mimi and about 10 boys came to pick me up at the airport. Doogie was there as well, and as always, he was so excited to see me.  The drive from the airport was only about an hour and a half, which was the shortest yet because apparently there is a new stretch of the toll road that extends further to Mandeville.  The boys who were in the van were all well behaved, and honestly if I didn't look back, I wouldn't have known they were there
      Once we arrived at Bosco, I unloaded my things (at Carolyn's house) and then went to the playfield to see what boys are here and what boys aren't.  Turns out, most of the boys I had been close to in the past are no longer here, for a few reasons...either they got transferred to Alpha or they went home over the summer and didn't return.  I get to make some new "favourites" down here this year.  I usually let the boys who want to spend time with me come to me rather than me go looking for them.  There are a lot of new boys this year....seems to be about half and half.  There also aren't as many boys total this year...usually there are 150-160 boys, but there must only be 120-130 boys this year.  After spending a likkle time on the playfield, I went to have dinner at the convent with the sisters.  I went to bed early because I was wiped out from my long travel day.

      This morning I woke up and went to church with Mimi and some of the boys.  It was good to see some people from St. Paul's that I hadn't seen since last year.  By now, after 7 years of coming here, others besides the Bosco Boys have gotten to know me.  I spent most of the day after Mass on the playfield with the boys just chatting with them and playing games.  The younger ones seem to come to me most often.  Rushane Hall is my shadow.  He saw me and instantly hid behind another boy, but eventually he lightened up and now follows me everywhere, but never says a word.  These boys remember EVERYTHING.  Every little thing we talked about or every little thing I did, mostly things I forgot about they quickly reminded me of.  I can twist my arm 420 degrees....I did that a couple of times last year for them, and now that's all they have asked me to do.  I only show them a couple of times. 
      This evening I went to have dinner at St. Paul's to meet this year's PVI group.  For those who don't know, they are the Passionist Volunteers International.  There are 5 of them who are spending a year in Jamaica doing various outreach projects on the island.  This is the 3rd year I have been coming here that there have been a group of PVI's here.  It's been nice to have people closer to my age here to spend some time with and also share time for Christmas with the boys.
     Tomorrow, I will be going to Kingston to Alpha Boys School to spend the day and see the boys over there, some of whom as I mentioned before used to be here at Bosco.  I will be spending the night and returning on Tuesday in the evening sometime.  It's my plan to decorate for Christmas on Wednesday.  It might not be until then that I update this again.  Hopefully by then, I will have pics to post too.  I betta be getting to bed because it's going to be an early morning to leave to go to Kingston (5am).