Up at 4:30 to go film the sunrise at the Santurce Market Place. I wanted to get there to film the doors opening, but the doors were already kind of open when I got there. Still, I found a great spot and set up the tripod and got about an hour and a half of footage of the place as the sun lit up the sky. That's how long the battery lasts, turns out.
Back home to drive in with Janneke to get the kids to camp, and to stop at Best Buy on the way back and get more video cassettes. Janneke realized halfway there that if I was going, there was no need for her to go, and she could have stayed home and gotten work done. Hadn't occurred to me, either.
The whole thing was made triply ridiculous by the fact that Best Buy doesn't open until 10:00.
But before we found that out, we dropped off the kids and were saddened to see them trundle off happily, confidently, no-problem-at-all-to-be-walking-through-palm-trees-and-spend-the-day-among-non-English-speakers. We are ever so glad we did this, and eager to find more options for them for the coming weeks. Though it's turning out to be tough. There is one woman who's willing to give T four hours a day of baking lessons, but it would be one-on-one, and it's the interaction with the kids that's the most useful. Plus, four hours alone with any adult would start feeling like a job really quick. So I spent some of the rest of the morning calling places and trying to find out options. Got a few messages in; I'll give them another jingle tomorrow. I also called the San Juan Parque Central, a gigantic, new, wholly pre-apocalyptic park complex that apparently was meant to take over for the one we visited a couple weeks ago. But the guy seemed not to be quite all there; lots of grunted, one-word answers, with little or no follow-up information. I decided I would have to drive there myself and actually talk to someone.
I also walked back to the park and chatted with Basi a bit, but she was so busy I couldn't get a decent moment to ask if she'll let me interview her and film her store. But tomorrow's another day.
But first, Janneke and I went off to see Q at his last day of soccer camp. We got there in time to watch about 45 minutes of the end-of-the-week slugfest among the three five-man teams to determine the champions of the week. We watched a few short games, and Q was downright ferocious for most of it. In fact, over the end of one game, which his team won 2-0, and the second, which his team won 3-0, Q had one assist - and four, consecutive, goals. Including one that - Well, let me describe it: Q received the ball at midfield and zigged and zagged into the corner, where he tried to center the ball. It was kicked into the air by a defender near him; Q ran under it, headed it over the defender, ran around him, and found himself with the ball coming down toward him and the goalie charging. Before it could hit the ground, he popped it into the air again, over the arms of the leaping goalie - and into the net on the far side. The whole crowd of kids, on both teams and the team that wasn't playing, erupted in shouting; the coaches put their hands on their heads or slapped at the air helplessly; Q ran and slid on both knees, arms splayed the sides, and screamed, and was mobbed by teammates - and a 13-year-old from the team not playing, who lifted him in the air and carried him around the field for a bit, hollering.
The players all gathered around the coaches at the end, not leaving the field; unlike last week, we were the only parents who'd showed up to see the end of the week. There was talking, a lot of high-fiving, and when it was all over, Q came away with a little bag containing a pair of soccer shorts. One of the other kids reached us at the fence before Q did and told us with a grin:
"Q fue el jugador de la semana."
What a fantastic end to a fantastic experience. Here are some pics:
Q and Alejandro, a boy he got on really well with, who was on his team and who kept coming by to high-five Q and say "Bye" one last time. And one more. And one more. You could tell that each was very sorry to see the other disappear over the horizon.
Q and a couple other boys, all signing each other's SPADI camp balls. Not sure who's on the left, Giovan on the right.
Dropped Janneke and Q at home, and headed straight back out to Best Buy, and thence to T's camp.
Where I finally bullied my way past the barricades and got in to see what some of the inside of this delightful camp looked like. Behold:
One of T's friends singing in the camp-ending talent show.
T in the audience, cheering her on.
T in her starring role as the wolf for their re-telling of the Three Little Pigs. In Puerto Rico, the first house is straw ("paja") - but the second is of wood ("madera"), and the third is of concrete ("cemento", which is technically not correct, but is what they said).
T and her friends, and one of the counselors, who really pretty much ran the show.
T at the final sign-out. What a sad moment!
I watched the theatrical production (I sneaked out one minute before the end of the second one, to go see the parrot they have in a cage (it's the same species as the wild escapees we saw a couple weeks ago), and got busted by T, who broke down and accused me of not watching her shows. "I did! I did!" I said, and qucikly re-told the plot of both, and held up the camera to show her the photos and prove it. She bought it. ('Cuz it was true.)) Then I helped T carry out all her booty (they're big on giving prizes at this camp), collected the dog, and headed home.
But not before swinging by the Parque Central, so I could talk to someone other than whoever that monosyllabic dude had been on the phone. Found the office of the Natatorium - the largest outdoor pool I have ever seen, a gorgeous, multi-million-dollar facility that would be the envy of any city, anywhere - and walked to the front desk.
Where there sat a young man - the same one I'd talked to on the phone - with spiked hair, a yellow polo shirt, and Down's syndrome.
I felt awful. He was pretty clear about there not being any options, but when he allowed me and T to go through to the pool area so she could use the bathroom, I checked with a couple of other people.
The guy had been right: No organized classes or anything until August 15th. Shoot. And damn me to hell for doubting him.
Collected Clarabelle (we'd left her tied at the front, where we could still see her through the glass - What, do you think I'd leave her in the car? Or tied up where we couldn't see her? Sheesh! What next...!), drove home, and pretty much piled back into the car - by now, it was 4:30 - to go out for dinner and a movie.
T ate Burger King; I had "La vaquita frita", which is not a dish, it's a Cuban restaurant chain. I had the "mofongo relleno de ropa vieja". Literally, that's mofongo - a banana-based dish of unimaginable deliciousness - filled with, literally, "old clothes". Which turns out to be their funny name for pulled pork.
And speaking of pulling: T lost a tooth while we ate! She worked it and worked it, and took the advice of a family nearby, who told her to grab it with a napkin and twist it until it came out. We all applauded when it finally did. Janneke and Q ate somewhere else, closer to the theater; their start time was about twenty minutes earlier than ours, so they didn't really have time to walk all the way back to the food court.
Janneke and Q saw "Harry Potter"; T and I saw "Zookeeper". T said that it was the best movie she had ever seen.
I would not go quite that far.
But it did make me laugh. And T insisted on sitting in the very front row, so it was a pretty neck-stiffening experience for me.
Get this: Two previews before the movie, and TWENTY-TWO COMMERCIALS! Something is wildly out of whack in San Juan in that department. I wanted to burn the place down before they finally showed me some Kevin James riding an ostrich.
Home, where T wrote the tooth mouse (our version of the fairy) a four-frickin'-page letter before turning in.
OK - Off to a well-earned and much-needed shower, and then to bed. Won't be getting up at 4:30 tomorrow. Won't do that again until probably Monday.
Banzai!
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