Only a few days left in Mostar

It is hard for me to believe that we have only two and a half days left in Mostar. Although I am really looking forward to the camps and travelling, I will miss all of the kids so much. It will be especially hard for me to say goodbye to the older girls, because it took a while for us to develop a relationship with them but we are now very close.

Classes have become somewhat chaotic now - none of the kids have school anymore, so our class size has doubled. It is working out for the best, I think, because the older kids help out the little ones. Some of the boys who we rarely saw before speak English well and are really interested in learning.

Today after class we took a van of 11 people (Laura, Aldin, and I and 8 of the teenagers) to three very different places near Mostar. First we went to Poticelj, a city that was first mentioned in literature in 1444. There is an amazing fortress and castle that the kids really enjoyed. Laura and I also got to do some shopping. Afterwards we went to the river Buna and the kids swam and played volleyball. The third place we went to was Kravići, Bosnias largest waterfall. The waterfall was absolutely amazing and we are hoping the director will give us teh van again on Thursday so we can go back.

I wasnt able to hike up to the fortress and castle or go swimming because I have an enormous cut on my foot that makes walking difficult. This past weekend Laura, Aldin, and I went to Neum, the only city Bosnia has on the coast. Bosnia has so little coast that to get to Neum by bus requires traveling through Croatia. While I was swimming on the coast I stepped on a sharp rock or a piece of glass. That day wasnt too bad but the next day I could hardly walk. We were staying in our own apartment (for 10 Euros a night!!!) and the people who rented it to us were great and helped me clean it up. They put some antibacterial stuff on my foot and then poured rakija (strong Bosnian alcohol) on it. It hurt like hell, but it must have worked because I went to the hospital once we got back to Mostar and they said there was no infection. Since I am not a Bosnian citizen, I had to pay for the hospital visit, but when Aldin told the nurse that I was working at the orphanage she lowered the cost and told me the hours and days she was working - she is going to change my bandages and reclean the wound for free. Everywhere we go in Bosnia people are so hospitable and nice. When they hear that we are volunteering at the orphanage, they go even more out of their way to help us. I will be sad to leave.