Hiking in Lupsa

Yesterday afternoon, we took all the kids out to Lupsa to go hiking through the woods. We left a little before lunchtime (since it's about an hour drive to Lupsa) and then we ate some lunch and hung out for a bit in the feeding center there before starting our hike. Then, like 2-3 hours and a ton of bug bites later, we finished our hike! We all had a pretty good time and the kids seemed to really enjoy running through the woods and seeing all the little bugs that we kept finding. When we made it out of the woods, we hung out at the feeding center for a little longer (we were snacking) and then came back with a bunch of sleeping children in the van (which by the way, I was totally right about the no car seats; we [the adults] were the car seats yesterday!). 

We got back around 6:00 and had just under an hour to recover before volleyball with the teens (Monday night is like youth night where they come over to the orphanage to play). Of course, the previously sleeping kids were wide awake 5 seconds after getting home and immediately put on their bathing suits to swim in the pool thing we have set up in the yard. They begged me to come in and even though I didn't bring a bathing suit, I jumped in with some of my quick drying running shorts and a t-shirt. I was in there for about 20 minutes and then sat on the ladder to provide towel service ever time water got in someone's eyes! At 7:00, we started playing volleyball and I think it's safe to say that volleyball is not my best sport. It's prob. not even my mediocre sport! However, I did manage to get the ball over the net some although I was never on the winning team (we came close a lot though)! After we were done playing, I came back over to the house to finish doing some work stuff and then wandered back to the orphanage around 10:30 pm (don't worry; Sammy and Chad walked me over... no walking by myself at night!). Around 11:00, it started to rain (hallelujah!). The wind was crazy and I think I might have finally gotten a bit of a breeze in my room.

The rain was supposed to continue today but it didn't. However, it's still "cold" (like 80) and a little windy so we've all been inside today. We were supposed to go to the hot spring pools in Herculane but the weather put a dent in that plan. All the kids were super bummed but we'll try to go again later in the week I think. So now, it's lunch time and I'm just hanging out at the house uploading pictures and my student's papers. In a bit (at 5:30 pm), we'll have orchestra practice here at the house (not in Rogova like I keep thinking before) and I'll get to try my hand at the violin! This should be interesting....!

Here are pictures from our hike in Lupsa!