*Some mysterious, anonymous person submitted this story, and it's too cute not to share. If you know who wrote it, let us know so we can credit this night-game-playing person!*
Every day after classes, the kids would usually have to wait for their parents to come and pick them up. There was a small alley that led to an apartment behind our school which was an unofficial waiting place for everyone. It proved to be a perfect place for an assortment of games: soccer, tag, etc. I had the fun job of supervising and wrangling kids up when their parents came to bring them home.
Richard was a little boy whose father worked late and so he was usually the last one waiting. We quickly became friends from our one-on-one time together each night. The game was always a mixture of soccer, tag, basketball, and LOTS of shouting. The rules changed by the play, and Richard was always the decider of what was allowed and what was not. We would swap English and Spanish, talking about what we were doing and how the game was to be played.
My favorite night was when we gave each move a Spanish or an English name. We had the “kick of the dragon”, the “throw of the eagle”, and the “bite of the snake” (Richard’s signature move). There were days when teaching was hard, and I missed home at times. But every night I would forget all about the hard things in life and just have a little bit of play time with my little friend Richard.
Anonymous
ILP Volunteer 2009
Mexico
*Note: This photo, however, is not anonymous. It's from Jason and Becca, who went to Mexico with ILP in 2009.*
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