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.