happiness

Today, as I walked through Pachacutec, someone called my name in a very cute Peruvian accent.  One of the third graders I taught today I wondered?  I turned around towards the voice and got a huge hug.  Not from one of my third graders though, from one of my SIXTH GRADERS.  Do you remember them?  No, let me refresh your memory...

This is the class that I was able to sponsor with the donations you all gave me.  That money is still effecting people today.  The love it helped to spread means so much.

My mind was blown and my day was made after that short conversation. I had no idea that any of the sixth graders would remember me seven months later.  I know that I stand out, being about one of ten while people in almost the whole of Pachacutec.  But still, volunteers come and go pretty frequently.  

I was very happy after this conversation.  

This afternoon, after we got home from Pachacutec and ate lunch, Katie and I went to the new orphanage Divino Jesus.  This orphanage is the new home of all the babies from San Antonio.  

This orphanage makes me happy also.  Yesterday was the first time we were allowed to visit this orphanage, and it is very different than the one they were in before.  At Divine Jesus, there are 5-8 children in each room with one mom to a room.  The moms seem much happier here, and this translates into better care for the kids.  

My kids yesterday were allowed to play with their toys all day; we even colored!  Having 6 children versus 15 children in one room makes a huge difference as to what you can do with them.  Today, when we went back, Katie and I walked into the huge courtyard and found them all playing outside!  In all four months I was at San Antionio's, I probably played outside with those babies no more than 15 days.  Today, all of the kids were out together, and the moms were playing with them.  They were getting to be little kids; running and screaming and laughing.  I was happy when I left there today.

Happy for the first time ever leaving an orphanage.  But happiness must be a relative thing, because even through they are better off, they are still missing so many things they deserve.  Parents to worry about tucking them in bed, about wether they have eaten enough, about their cough and runny nose, and about the bump on their head.  The small things that mean the most, the untangle things.  Those are the things that matter the most.  I was happy today.  But still, I was sad.  

Once you meet these kids who have no one; once you hold their hand and kiss their bellies, you can't fully heal your heart.  Your heart is broken the moment you let yourself love them.  After knowing their pain and longing for love, you can't be completely happy again.  This is the way I would have it though. I wouldn't ever change it.  Because we are told:

"I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!" - Matthew 25:40

Jesus dies for me, the least I can do for Him is continue to love with a break in my heart.

hate is a strong word

I'm sure everyone has been told at least once that hate is a very strong word and to be careful how they use it.  Well today, I used it, and I meant it.  Saturdays are usually a day off for us, but today we got to go to Pachacutec with a woman from Lima who had gathered donations for the women of the Wawa Wasi Program.  The Wawa Wasi Program is a government supported child care system.  These are houses that single working mothers can drop their child at to be watched, and the mother only has to pay 2 soles a day, which is about 70 cents.  These children are fed three meals a day and nutritional supplements to make sure they are getting all the needed nutrients.  They are also tested to make sure they are  developmentally at the right place.  

The women who watch these children and their mothers have become a community.  Today, as we met the mothers and some of the women who watch the children, the love that these women have for each other became apparent.  The caregivers love each of the children they watch as their own.  The mothers, young and old, one child or seven, form a community.  As we waited for the donations to arrive, we all introduced ourselves and told some basic information.  As I watched these women interact, I saw the love they have for each other.  They understand the struggles each one of them goes through daily and they are there for each other.  These women are truly beautiful.

The young moms, just 18 or 19 years old, look young.  The ones who have a few more years under their belt, look many many years older.  I think that five years of raising children in Pachacutec must age you at least 20 years.  I was shocked at the ages of some of the women, thinking them older.  This just shows the trials they go through daily, and of the strength they truly have.

Riding home, the conversation came to what we think of Pachacutec.  I said I hate it.  This place, a place full of beautiful hardworking men and women, is a place of no opportunities.  As we were handing out the donations, it hit all of the volunteers at the same time.  We did not want to be doing this. It was horrible.  The women all needed, there was not enough for everyone to have one of everything.

The women and their children were all seated in a line, we were to go up and down handing out the items.  There were not enough blankets, what do you tell the woman with her hand out for a blanket?  How do you say sorry, you should have sat one seat to your left, then you would ahve gotten that last blanket. We only had a few winter jackets, how do you decide who gets one?  The ones asking loudly or the ones sitting back nicely like we asked?  Which one need it more, the one voicing their need, or the one too ashamed to ask, too polite to say what they really need.  It was not something I would do again.

This is what brought on my hate for Pachacutec.  I do not hate the people.  One of the ladies asked before the donations arrived, what we thought of Pachacutec.  I told her the truth.  It is full to the brim of hardworking, respectable, caring people.  It's the place I hate.  It makes these women do things they should never have to do.  No one should have to let go of their dignity and beg for a jacket.  These are the women who are well off, there are others who do not have that support system.  I can only imagine what others have had to do to support their families, of the dignity they have lost.

Driving through Pachacutec.

simplification...

We have moved from Elizabeth’s house to Lydia’s tonight.  I loved Elizabeth’s house for a few reasons.  Elizabeth and her husband have four children, a boy who is 19 and a girl who is 21.  Both are fluent in English.  Elizabeth and her husband both work during the day.  Elizabeth works at a hospital close to her home.  We think that she wakes up around 5:00 everyday, cooks our lunch, goes running, goes to buy fresh bread, and leaves for work around 7:00.  When she returns from work, she either sets out leftovers, or bread and another simple food, or cooks dinner for us.  She still manages to clean and make time to talk to us. 

I think what I have learned about living here for a few days is how simple a typical Peruvian’s way of life really is.  Lydia and her family do live differently than us, but with almost 15 volunteers in their house all the time, their way of living seems much more westernized. 

They live so much more simply than we do at home and are just as well off.  If you open Elizabeth’s kitchen, you will find some fresh vegetables, some butter, a bag of milk, eggs, a bottle of yogurt, and a few other basics.  They have no processed foods or snacks, no pantry full of foods that contain unknown numbers of chemicals.  They buy their bread every day from the bakery down the street, which has freshly baked it.  Another store just a few houses down, sells fruits and vegetables.  They always have a few bananas and oranges sitting out on their counter. 

The typical Peruvian eats a small breakfast (we eat bread and fruit at Elizabeth’s), a larger lunch (she cooked pasta yesterday with a white potato sauce, and then used the leftover noodles today and made a red pork sauce with sweet potatoes on the side), and then a small late dinner (past volunteers have had leftover potatoes, a roll and avocado, rice, etc.).  I didn’t get to experience this aspect of Peruvian life last time, since Lydia has Soledad, her cook, cook two large starch laden meals a day.  Like I said, she tries to make things at her house much more westernized. The trash can in the kitchen is tiny.  Literally, the size of  a tissue bow.  They do not produce any trash in this house.  Thinking about it though, most of our trash comes from processed snack wrappers, pre mad dinners, and bottled/canned drinks. They don’t have any of this here.  

Elizabeth’s family does not have a washer like Lydia does, so all laundry is done by hand.  Like Lydia’s we wash the clothes out to dry.  There is also one bathroom for the four of them and the volunteers they have staying with them.  They do have hot water, but you must turn it on at least ten minutes before you want to shower so it can heat up the water.  Like Lydia’s they do not have air conditioning or heating.  In the winter they just wear a jacket around the house. 

Their house is one floor, probably about the size of the upstairs of my house minus the dining room and sunroom.  But, it’s enough room, we are together, see each other instead of all being home but being in different rooms.  They also do not have a car, but walk or take the bus anywhere they needs to go. 

I really love the simplicity of this family.  They were so welcoming, stopping to talk to us when they are home.  Elizabeth even is going to take us to the YMCA, and wants to keeps in touch if we ever come back to Peru. 

Enough for now…tomorrow we are taking the kids from San Milletos, the orphanage for children with special needs, to a play of some sort.  I’m sure I’ll get some great pictures!

The mural some of the volunteers painted, I got to help finish it and see it sung up.

Back To Volunteering!

So, I've had a full week of volunteering. The first day after I got back from Colombia, I got to help finish a project they had been working on the whole time I was gone. We finished building a house for a woman who runs a wawa wasi (a government sponsored program, where single moms can drop off their children to be watched while they work). This woman had a house, but it was horribly run down, and the area where the kids stayed was really dirty and dangerous. She had a piece of land beside her house, but didn't have money to build anything. While I was gone, they got the concrete floor laid. The day after I got back, we got to the house and they had put up the walls, and we watched as they put up the tin roof. The woman who we were building the house for was so gracious, and invited us into her house for lunch. She made us chicken and rice, and very traditional Peruvian dish.

Before After

That Friday, we got to take a group of seven students from the school we teach at in Pachacutec out on the town for a day. It was one of my favorite days so far, because we really got to know the children. They came to our house with Soleded at about ten in the morning. Once we all got introduced, we set out for the zoo. It's about a 30 minute walk form the house, so we decided to walk it. We spent a few hours looking at all the animals. Once the kids were practically being dragged around by us because they were so tired (even the one who hadn't taken a breath all day was sitting on the ground every chance he got), we left the zoo and took them to get lunch. We gave them a choice between pizza and chicken. Guess what they chose..chicken. Never in America would kids choose to eat chicken over pizza. Lidia suggested we take them to Mireflores, the really nice area of Lima. So, we got a bus to Mireflores to go eat lunch at Norky's. Norky's is a middle of the road chicken and chips restaurant. When we got to the restaurant, I realized that most of them had never been to Mireflores, and none of them had been to Norky's. They were so cute all sitting around the huge table. When the food came, they ate and ate and ate. They were even amazed by the hand dryers in the bathrooms (which were enough to awe them by themselves). After lunch we took the to Larcomar, a park on the coast that overlooks the beach. The kids literally ran to the railing, and it was so precious. After that, we took them to Tottus, a Walmart like store and let them pick out clothes or shoes. One of the girls came out of the dressing room with her shirts on, and her face had the biggest smile I have even seen. It is things like these, their reactions to the bathroom and the view of the beach that make me appreciate my life and all the blessings God has given me.

The kids at Norky's Group picture

Looking out at the coast Fountain fun

Last weekend was a slow one, I got caught up on sleep and unpacking. We also went to a Japanese Peruvian festival where I tried some really disgusting Japanese desserts. On Sunday, we went shopping in the afternoon, and I went to mass at 8:00pm. Don't worry though, I managed to mkae it home between shopping and mass for pizza!

Japanese desserts..yum:)

I went back to my normal schedule once the new week started. Monday Semillitos, Tuesday Pachacutec and La Punta, Wednesday San Antonio's, and Thursday Pachacutec and La Punta again, and today back to San Antonio's.

I had a ton of fun Wednesday at San Antonio's. I'm still trying to convince my parents to adopt one little boy. I'd be happy if there are any other takers… His name is Joni, and he is amazing. Out of all the kids, I think he is the only one who really remembered me from my time there before my trip to Colombia. When he came in the room his face lit up and he ran over and gave me the biggest hug. He knows my name now, and gives me kisses on the cheek all the time. I wish I had a picture to show you all, because you would fall in love with him too. One of the downs babies in that room is also adorable. He is so aware and wants to play with the other kids so bad. He can finally walk really well on his own, and moves around the room quite a bit. He tries to play with them sometimes, but the kid like to pick on him. One kids in particulare likes to lay his whole body on him and bite his ear. I noticed this happening Wednesday, and I looked at the mom and she was just sitting there watching. She didn't care and it made me so mad. When I went over to pick him up, he was crying. When he cries and gets made he dosen't make any noise, but tears flow from his little eyes, and he clenches up his whole body. He ended up letting me hold him for almost 45 minutes. I would take him home with me too If I could.

Pachacutec and La Punta were a ton of fun. Tuesday we gave the girls at La Punta hair wraps, they LOVED them. Thursday when we went back, they had all cut them out. Supposedly, from what I could undertand, they weren't allowed to keep them in. But, when we asked where they went they all pulled them out from their pockets. It was so cute. There are only 7 girls there right now, and Jessica has left.

Jessica is one of the girls I got rather close to. She was put in the house by her parents becasue she kept sneaking out to go to parties. She told me that they were harmless parties, but I think they must not have been so innocent or she wouldn't have been there. Jessica really wanted to go home. One day she asked me to call her dad for her and ask him to call her at the home. They weren't allowed to come visit her, so she had no way to communicate with them. I said maybe, and came home to talk to Lidia about it. Lidia said I could, but I should make sure it was actually her dad. When I wrote her a note asking if it really was him, she never wrote back (I was in Colombia at this point) so I'm assuming she either got to go home soon after I left for Colombia or it wasn't really her dad. All I can do now is hope and pray that she is happy and safe. Jocelyn is still there, and as full of life as ever. Her best friend has left, and I think she might be a bit sad. But, sadly, their used to having people they grow close to leave them.

I LOVE Peru. Especially when it involves going to go see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows or Harry Potter y las Reliquias de la Muerte as it says in our movie theaters. Because being in Peru means I got to see it a DAY BEFORE everyone in the US! Yes, you heard that right, Harry Potter came out on the 18th here. We were lucky enough to be able to find a theater that was showing the movie in English too! So, as the hour approached we got our robes, hats, and wands (really black clothes, construction paper hats, and sticks off a tree) ready to go. We glittered our hats, colored in our Gryffindor badges with crayons, and put string on our hats to keep them on. We got to the movie theater 2 hours ahead, and there was almost no one there, nothing compared to the US. There were maybe two lines of people. No one else was dressed up, and our costumes got applauded when we walked past everyone. But, out mindset was that we already get stared at enough so whats wrong with standing out just a bit more? Minus well give them something worthwhile to look at:) Once they finally let us in, I went and got my survival kit: popcorn, skittles, and a coke. By the time they actually started the movie (they dimmed the lights and turned them BACK on twice after midnight when the movie was supposed to start) most of my supplies were gone, but I was just ready to see the movie. So the lights dimmed, and the famous music came on, and the rest is history…

Amazing costumes right? We really wore them..look at the first picture. That's us playing cards in the middle of our line. We did have people take pictures of us.

I'm going to meet my grandparents tonight at the airport! We're going to be in Lima tomorrow and then fly to Cuzco Sunday to see Machu Picchu. Pictures coming soon! I can't wait to see them!

I've Been Busy in Peru

It's been nonstop since I last blogged. We have been busy doing our normal projects: the orphanages, Pachacutec, and La Punta. On top of this, we have had some opportunities to do some really cool things!

Sunday was Canadian Thanksgiving. Since our house has been overrun by Canadians recently, we decided to celebrate. We had the traditional foods with a bit of a Peruvian twist in some cases. Turkey with amazing stuffing, beets, carrots, RICE!, and macaroni and cheese (that the boys cooked all by themselves). For dessert we had pumpkin pie (Saludad being the amazing woman that she is, managed to track down a pumpkin!) and bread pudding. I can easily say that the bread pudding is one of the top ten foods I have ever tasted.

I started the week off on Monday at Semillitos. I had a great day working with the older group of kids. I took a boy, named Isaías, outside to play. I love to see how the kids react to being outside. They don't get to go out very often, because there needs to be someone watching them all the time. Many of them are in wheelchairs, so they have to be pushed everywhere. Isaías can walk, he is probably about 6 or 7 years old. First, we went on the trampoline. He loved being bounced while he was sitting in my lap. He also loved to lay on his back or stomach and be bounced. Then, he wanted to swing. This was by far his favorite activity. I must have pushed him for an hour. He never grew tired of it.

Tuesday started off as a normal day. We began by teaching English up at Pachacutec. On Tuesdays I have the 6th grade. The lesson I had planned was a review of the last three lessons I have taught them; classroom objects, the concept of inside and outside, and the words this/that/these/those. Then after we reviewed these three things, we put them all together and learned how to make a sentence saying something like: "This workbook is inside." All in all, the lesson went very well, and they caught on quickly. After Pachacutec, we went up to on of the Wawa Wasis and helped put a concrete floor in. The floor that the kids had been playing in before was sand, and was always damp and moldy. The concrete will keep them healthier, cleaner, and safer. Mixing the concrete and watching the floor come together was a ton of fun. We got to meet the babies before we left. They were just as cute as the ones at the orphanage, little Peruvian kids are just so precious.

After Pachacutec, Miranda and I went to see the girls at La Punta. That has easily become my favorite place we volunteer. The girls seem like little sisters, they call us their sisters too. It's hard to imagine that at home they would be freshmen, sophomores, and sometime juniors in high school. They have all been through so much, but still have such a positive outlook on life. It's my favorite place, but it's also the hardest place to go. There are three girls who I have grown really close to, and two of them could leave any day (they were already supposed to have left). I never know if it's my last goodbye, or if they will be there when I walk in the door the next time. A lot of the girls really miss their home. We get to deal with a lot of tears and sad faces, it is especially hard to comfort them when you can't speak their language very well.

On Wednesday, I went to San Antonio and had a normal day. I played with all the kids, and gave lots of hugs and kisses. A few of the boys will give kisses on the cheek now when you ask them for one. One of the girls in my room graduated up to the next age group and we got a girl from the younger group. Her name is Melina, and she has the cutest head fully of curly hair. She is still in that stage where she totters around and falls down quite often. The bright spot of Wednesday was in the morning. We got there a bit earlier than usual, so I was in the room as the kids came in one by one from the bathroom where they were being washed up from breakfast (no sticky hands). Ss each one came in and saw me their little eyes lit up and they ran over and gave me a big hug. It made my day! Jonie is my favorite (shhhh), and he always gives the best hugs in the morning with his huge smile. I want to bring him home with me!

Thursday, we didn't go to Pachacutec because there was a march at Semillitos. Saturday is national special needs day, so they had a march to get ready. We got there at our normal time…just in time to see the moms start getting the kids ready. They probably spent 2 hours changing every kid into a costume, painting their faces, and decorating their wheelchairs with balloons. I got to push around a cheerleader named Maria. Once they were all ready we got lined up for the big march! In lines of four we set off. We thought that we would be marching at least for thirty minutes, but it turned that we were just going around the block. All the volunteers got a good laugh out of this. We prepared for 2 hours and walked for ten minutes. Either way though, it was fun and the kids had a blast. After we were done walking we got to go to the cafeteria for music, dancing, and food! We were also allowed to take pictures since it was a special day! That night a few of us went to see a water show (fountains with lights and music)…it was pretty cool. But, the pictures we got out of it ended up being the best part.

Friday was a normal one again, I went to San Antonio and played with all my little babies! After we got home we went to the Inca Markets and Plaza San Miguel, the mall near our house. I also went running! Yay for working off all those carbs!

I almost forgot last Saturday was the 75th Anniversary of Inca Kola, the lime yellow bubble gum flavored fizzy drink that Peruvians are obsessed with. One packed taxi ride later and we were at the park to join the festivities like a true Peruvian would. To celebrate, they had a HUGE Inca Kola bottle filled with balloons that they released on 10/10/10 at 10:00. It was pretty cool, there were fireworks, dancers, announcers in flashy dresses, and live music. So Peruvian! They also managed to lock all the gates but one to the park. So, everyone that had come into the park though multiple entrances had to squish through one or climb the fence to get out. Both seemed to viable options, I saw many people I thought would never make it over a fence hop it. Also very typical Peru.

Dear First Grade...

Dear 1^st graders,

Thank you so much for your letters. Reading them made me so happy. I also loved your pictures. I can’t wait to show them to all the other volunteers!

My family at the airport with me right before I left Nashville.

I have been in Lima, Peru for 2 months now, and I will be here for 2 more. I will be here for 4 months at all. I got here by traveling on three different planes. The first one went from Nashville to Chicago. The second one went from Chicago to San Salvador, and the third one went from San Salvador to Lima. I have had so much fun here so far! I get to work in four different places here so far. I work in an orphanage for children with special needs on Mondays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I teach the 5^th and 6^th graders in a school in Pachacutec. I also go work with teenage girls on Thursday and Friday afternoons. On Wednesdays and Fridays I work in an orphanage for normal children.

Two girls who go to school in Pachacutec.

This is Pachacutec. The blue building are their school rooms, they do not have any glass in their windows. The pavement is their playground, they do not have any swings or slides to play on.

Some more students.

This type of top is a very popular toy in Peru, all the boys can do tricks with their tops.

I have been lucky enough to be able to travel around Lima on the weekends. One weekend, I went on a boat to see sea lions, went to a farm to milk cows, and flew over the Nazca lines. The Nazca lines are huge pictures drawn in the desert by people thousand of years ago. The only way you can see the pictures are to fly over them! I also went to a city called Canta and went horseback riding to the top of a mountain to see ruins. Ruins are buildings that were built thousands of years ago, and are now falling down because no one lives there now. I have also gone to some really cool museums in Lima.

Horseback riding in Canta.

Learning to milk a cow!

The sea lions.

One of the Nazca lines called the waving man. Look closely…

The weather was very cold when I first got here, but it’s starting to get warm now! The seasons here are opposite than ours at home. When it is summer for you all in Nashville, it is winter here. During Christmas time, when it is very cold for us, it is their summer time so it is hot. Isn’t that cool? They don’t get snow on Christmas, but they can wear shorts outside!

I’m staying in Peruvian family’s house. Their family has a mom, dad, grandmother, aunt, 2 brothers, and a sister. There are also 14 volunteers that are staying in the house. They work in the orphanages with me. All of the volunteers are very nice. Since I have been living in the house, we have had volunteers from Germany, Australia, England, America, Canada, Scotland, and New Zealand! I’ve gotten to meet people form all over the world! I share a room with one other girl. Her name is Katryna. She has the top bunk, and I sleep on the bottom.

This is the view if you look outside my window. The houses are all connected, and people hang the clean laundry on the roof because no one had a dryer.

This is my bedroom. The bottom bunk is mine!

Our house is very nice. We are very lucky to have running hot water. Many people in Peru live in shacks and don’t have running or hot water. All of the kids who are in my 5^th and 6^th grade classes live in shacks without running hot water. They have to buy their water from big trucks.

This is what the houses that my students live in look like.

Our food is very good. In Peru we usually eat potatoes, rice, and meat for lunch and dinner. We have bread, cereal, yogurt, and fruit for breakfast. One of the traditional dishes of Peru is cuy. Cuy is guinea pig. They cook the whole guinea pig, and then bring it out to you to eat with the head still on. It looks really gross, but taste pretty good! They also eat anticuchos, which are traditionally made from cow heart. I really loved these when I tried it!

Anticuchos

My family does not have any pets. But, there are a lot of dogs in peru. Many families have dogs as pets. There are also a ton of stray dogs.

I wear normal clothes here. Most Peruvians dress just like you and me, in jeans and a shirt. There are some Peruvians who dress in traditional dress which is very colorful.

Girls in Cuzco wearing traditional Peruvian clothing.

Thanks you all again for all of your letters. They were so much fun to read! I hope you all enjoyed reading my letter and looking at the pictures! I would love to come talk to your class when I get back and share some of the cool souvenirs I got with you!

Heaps of love from Peru,

Maemie

It's The Little Things In Life

Yesterday, I went to San Antonio's for the first time in a week. I was supposed to go last friday, but I ended up at home sick. I'm not going to lie though, I really didn't want to go on Friday. I was almost relieved to be sick.

I went to mass on Sunday at the Catholic church on Sunday, San Miguel Arcangel. This was the second time I have been able to make it to mass at this church, and the third time while I've been in Lima. It was the first time that I took my Magnificat with me to read along during mass. Having the Magnificat with all the Mass parts, psalm, and reading, and gospel in English made Mass much more meaningful and enjoyable for me. I realized just how much I miss Christ the King and all my SEARCH friends. But, being in church made me feel very much at peace, and remember the reason why I am here.

I ended up here because of a series of complications with the whole college process. My mom thought a few of them were too "perfect" to be coincidences and had to be "God things." I came to believe this as the time to travel to Peru neared. It really did all work out just a little too perfectly to just have happened.

Going to mass made me remember that I'm here to do God's will, and that some of the things I'm going to be doing will not always be fun and exciting for me. On Wednesday, I went to San Antonio's with a new outlook. Yes, it may be tiring and boring at times to sit in a room with 15 two year olds, but they need to be loved. I remembered all the love and attention that my parents, grandparents, friends, and family gave me growing up and realized that these kids get about 1/10th the love that I got. Me just being there, holding them, talking to them, and trying to get them to be nice to each other, no matter how fruitless it may seem, makes a difference to them.

On Wednesday, something happened that made me want to keep coming back. We have two babies with down syndrome in the 2 year old room. I think that they must be older, but have been held back because they are under developed. Neither of them can walk, but one is starting to learn. Yesterday, he was in the back of the room by himself trying to stand up and take a few steps. When he finally managed, no one really noticed because they were busy with all the other kids. I was sitting on the floor holding two kids and watching him from across the room, when one little boy, who is usually quite a bully, came up to me and made me get up and go watch the baby with down syndrome walk. He was so excited for him, clapping and patting him on the back. I started clapping too, and you could just see the boys face light up as he was being encourage. He became much more determined to take those steps. I loved seeing one of the boys peers celebrate for him, it made me appreciate God's love and purpose for putting me here.

For you SEARCH people out there, the Bryan Adams song "Everything I Do" came on today in the bus home from Pachacutec. I was in the middle of grading papers that weren't getting very good grades and was really frustrated. We have spent a month learning what was on the test, and most of the kids still got a "C." The song made me stop and take a few deep breaths and realize that it will all be ok…gotta love SEARCH memories!

I have been looking for something concrete to give money to since I've been here. Today, I met with one of the 6th grade teachers. I am going to sponsor their graduation, which I will unfortunately just miss (December 16th). I think I will end up getting them food for the reception, graduation gifts, and someone to film the ceremony!

Thanks for all the love and support back home!

Out In The Wild

This weekend we were given the opportunity to go on a trip, guided by three guys who are starting a tour company. We paid for our expenses, but they got us good deals with the people they knew, and we didn't have to pay them for their "guiding skills." The trip, which was estimated at around 150 soles, was a steal so pretty much everyone in the house decided to go.

We left on Friday, and headed for Canta. A small town in the mountains that doesn't see many tourists. We got to Canta, in about 4 hours which included a few stops. One of which was to see a Saint Rose of Lima Wishing well. When we arrived in Canta, we are a light dinner and headed to bed. We woke up at 5:30 on Saturday morning and walked 45 minutes to a local farm, where we got to milk cows. It was nothing like I expected, but wasn't actually that hard! Then a van took us back into town, where we ate sandwiches for breakfast and got ready to go horseback riding. I somehow ended up with the biggest horse, and was a head taller than everyone else. We rode for about five hours, to the top of a mountain to see some pre Inca ruins. The rid was a ton of fun, because we weren't on a path, so we actually told the horses where to go. It wasn't one of those rides where the horses know the path so well you could ride with your eyes closed. You definitely wanted to watch where you were going, because we were on the edge of a mountain, going straight up for most of the way!

Once we got to the top, we ate lunch and explored the ruins. Then, we got to watch a shamanic ritual, giving thanks to Mother Earth. After this was over, we very carefully headed down the mountain to the car that was waiting to take us back, since riding horses in the pitch black would be rather difficult.

We got up the next morning, to leave bright and early, and in typical Peruvian liking, we were told the man who was going to drive us back had to do something else in the morning and couldn't actually come until 1:00. So, we had a few hours to walk around and soak up the sun (which we never see in Lima thanks to the covering of smog/clouds). We ended up going to a waterfall and just laying out in the sun, and had a lot of fun!

We got back just in time on Sunday for dinner, and then I hit the sack rather early to get ready for volunteering the next day.

Today, I went to Pachacutec to teach my 6th graders. This is the first time I wrote out my own lesson plan and taught it. It went really well! I think that they are starting to retains some information, because most of them remembered what I taught them last week without much reviewing. I introduced simple present verbs, and suing them in simple sentences (I run. You run….very simple). But, they were writing them themselves by the end of class, so we're making progress! One of the teachers would only let us teach for 30 minutes today instead of 45, because they were working on math, so I guess I need to keep working on them to have their full support. She almost wouldn't let us in at all. I'm trying to think of a kind of "peace offering" to bring to the teachers for the lass room, but I don't know what they might need…any suggestions would be awesome!

The School In Pachacutec

School in Lima is very different than back in the US. Kids here go to school in the morning or in the afternoon. This limits the time the teacher has to teach the kids. At the school in Pachacutec, it always seems as if the kids are running free, just doing there own thing. Ask them why their not in class, and you will probably just get a shrug. Every school here has uniforms. Right now, most of them consist of sweat suites with the school logo on the breast or on the back. Even the poorest public schools seem to find a way to get the kids in uniforms.

Our job is to teach English. We get each class for 30 to 45 minutes once a week. This is not enough time for them to actually learn English. With the coming and going of volunteers, the organization of the teaching program has disintegrated. When I came into the program, there was and still is not a set curriculum. The volunteers are expected to come up with lessons on their own. Giving a volunteer with no teaching experience the job of making and teaching lessons, does not end well. I get the impression that the spanish classes have evolved into singing the "ABC" song and "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" over and over again, which does not teach the kids much English.

The teachers are not too keen on having English classes for their kids. You might ask why not? We see English as something that will help them in the future. Not having the teachers support, makes it hard to teach. But, I understand why they think our classes are a waste of time if we are just singing with the kids. Without their support, there is no way we are going to get more teaching time. And without a curriculum, we are not going to get the teacher's support.

In the time I've been here, there have been a few people who really seem to care about the way the program is going and about the kids. One guy who is a spanish teacher back home, wrote a very rough outline of a curriculum. It is very basic, and only consists of a list of points to hit throughout the year. Another volunteer who is still here, has been helping me and other volunteers write lesson plans, and is helping Lidia, the pogram director, come up with a more in depth curriculum. I think the ideal point that they need to get to to benefit the kids the most is to have a book with lesson plans for each week already written, so that each volunteer can take the plan and teach it. That way, there would be continuity throughout the English classes.

In the past two weeks, since I have been teaching, we have been having concrete lessons. No more singing for thirty minutes. In this time, I reallly think that the teahers have become more welcoming to our presence in the classroom. I hope that if we can get a good solid curriculum, we can then build better relationships with the students teachers, and then maybe one day we could have more time for English. It's a work in progress, but it's happening!

Just wanna Say Hey From Peru

I HAVEN'T HAD DIET COKE IN TWO WEEKS!!! But I have had a lot of potatoes and rice. To be more specific, for lunch and dinner every day. Not just one or the other, but rice with potatoes on top. Can you say carb overload? The freshmen 15 is going to become reality at this rate, and I haven't even been to college yet.

A little bit about where I've been working...I've worked in four different places since I've been here, and I think that I have finalized my schedule!

Monday: Semillitos

Tuesday: Pachacutec

Wednesday: San Antonio

Thursday: Pachacutec

Friday: San Antonio

Semillitos is the orphanage for people with special needs. Here, I'm working with the babies (from newborn to about 5 years old). I play with them, take them outside, and help feed them. They are very well taken care of, and loved. It is very tiering though. It completly amazes me that the "mommies" take care of them all day, I'm beat after a few hours!

Pachacutec is shanty town. In one of the schools there, I'm teaching english to five classes, two 5th grade classes, and 3 6th grade classes. Their english is very basic. This week, we will be teaching personal pronouns. Even though the 4th-6th grade classes all learn the same thing, but my 6th graders still do not know the things they've been taught for 3 years. They only get English for 30 minutes once a week, and with volunteers changing frequently, they don't ever get the same person for very long.

San Antonio is the orphanage for normal children. I'm working with the toddlers here, I do the same thing with them, that I do with the kids at San Megito. I love working with the kids here, but it's very hard sometimes. They all just want to be picked up and held, but we're not allowed to hold them. In each room there's usually 12 to 14 babies, and only 1 or 2 "mommies." When we hold them and then leave, they cry, so we can't. I hate the fact that I can't hold them. I was sitting on the floor with one and he climbed into my lap. I decided to let him sit there for a while. He snuggled into my arms and every few minutes he would turn around, look up at me, smile, and give me a huge hug. Then he would just snuggle back in. All he wanted was to be loved. They all need someone to love them. My mission is to get my mom and dad to adopt a baby:)

On a side note, the mayonnaise here is amazing. I have never tasted anything like it. It' rather odd though, because it comes in a packet. I haven't seen a jar of anything yet. The most popular soft drink is Inca Cola. I'm not really a fan of it, because it taste like liquid bubble gum and is neon orange.