25/11/2019 – San Rafael, Argentina

1 month today until Christmas! That seems weird since we are living on a farm in such intense heat! Haven’t heard any Christmas songs yet!

Today is all about Alex’s 6.5 birthday. He was born in the winter so they have his party late so that he and his friends can run around in the garden.

Josh got up and fed the animals and I sorted our breakfast out before we got to work. We swept and washed and moved furniture and pinned flags and balloons up – there were 5 adults running around all morning to get the place ready. The theme is space, and they have gone all out! There is even one of those themed boards with the face cut out to have your photo taken with, and special posters and a piñata of Leica the dog has been made.

By about 13:00 we quickly had time to change, although Josh got asked to come out and help before he even had had a chance to wash! By the time I got outside there were about thirty 6 year olds running around outside, and only about 4 adults supervising. I spoke to Leonora and she told me she was also surprised at how few parents had turned up! There was a trampoline and two entertainers for the kids, who played music and games all afternoon. There was loads of food, so we helped serve it and pour drinks. Josh took loads of photographs of everyone to send to Leonora. There was a super cute little boy who, from what I can gather, has Prader-willi syndrome. He kept pointing to cakes and his mouth and we had to keep trying to distract him!

Josh and I fed the animals as usual in the afternoon, and by the time we returned to the house most of the guests had left. We cleared and washed up a bit before retreating to our room. We chilled out a bit and spoke to Matty on a video call. Afterwards, we cleaned our bedroom and bathroom, which we have to ourselves now the other volunteers have left. We had leftover pizza for dinner and Frederico kindly printed our vote by proxy paperwork for us. It hailed the biggest hail stones I have ever seen this evening, Josh and I went outside to see them more closely! Then the sun came out and there was an incredible rainbow and bright blue sky, above big dark dramatic clouds. We spoke to mum and Claire on a video call in the evening. William is starring in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and it is the opening night tomorrow!