Monday 7th September

Another early start as had set the alarm to the correct time to wake up but unfortunately the phone was set an hour early so was awake at 530 am, had hoped to speak to Allan before he got on his plane to Ulan Bataar but missed him, he has arrived safely though as got a missed call and message from him.

This mornings shift was scheduled to be in Julie's Safari Theatre where Mickey Mouse was coming to meet the children but almost as soon as we got there we were asked if we minded going to the Castle of Miracles as two volunteers had failed to show up. Goofy and Pluto were also taking it in turns there to meet the children but we were on a much more important mission.

Each wish child that comes to the village is given a star which they bring to the castle and decorate either with their name or a picture, whatever takes their fancy. This star is then placed in a magic box where the Fairy Stellar comes to take it away and when the children are asleep she places it is the Star Tower where it stays forever. The family can return the following day and can see the star in the tower, it really is quite special. Today we had a returning wish family, quite a group of them in fact as they had come to the village to donate money they had raised since they had lost their little boy. It was very emotional as there were a lot of tears being shed. The family could see lots of photos of the time they had spent at the village, obviously with pictures of their lost child. I gave  one of the ladies a hug and told her to remember how happy they had all been and she nodded in agreement . They then moved on to the Star Tower to find the young lads star, Debbie did  this bit and again there were lots more tears, including Debbie who used the wonderful expression, we are not crying we are washing  our eyeballs! How wonderful,  as she said it made them smile and lightened the mood.

Our next port of call after we had finished the shift was to try out a new supermarket, we sure know how to live. Today it was Publix which did have the edge by a country mile, a really good choice of fresh food and relatively normal people. There was a lady walking around in her curlers which did make us smile as to be honest even a good hairstyle would not have done much to improve her looks!  We also met Beryl who was shopping with her husband, she hailed from Nottingham and lived across the road there from William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, she was a sweetheart but we did have to gently edge away. Beryl had lived in the U.S. For 62 years already.

Tonight's  shift was Halloween and we had different jobs, Debbie was on face painting and painted a young Non English speaking lad who requested a Spider Man face, this was done very successfully , so successfully in fact that he asked for Dracula next............ his Grandma said no and Debbie was very relieved!

I had to desert my post for a while as I knew my blood sugar had dropped and I needed to get back to the car to get it sorted. Must admit I did feel rough but soon got back and felt better. Now maybe I was a bit of a mean Trick or Treat person because when the children asked me for a treat I requested a trick first. I had them winking, clicking  their fingers, whistling, singing, hopping on one leg and whatever they could do. My best by far was the young girl who pretended to steal my nose, that old trick we have all done with our children......... I asked her to put it back and she said no because my husband might fart and I would be better off not smelling it!  That child will go far and is incredibally astute. 

Back to the villa for a light supper and now ready for my bed.

Goodnight x