It seems crazy to think that this time last month we had only just arrived in Iquitos, everything has gone so fast, it seems like just yesterday we were unpacking everything.
We've had quite a quiet week in the Aldea, although on Thursday evening when we went to the school for picking up Nancy we found out from one of the tías that since they went back to school Nancy hasn't been going. The aldea only found out by accident from school, so as of Monday she will be going to school with all the other children in the Aldea in the mornings! It felt like the same thing was happening that happened with Samuel last week, Alex and I were waiting outside the school gates until practically everyone had left and no sign of her! However turned out she was already at the Aldea! We've both asked her about it and all she said was that she has been spending time on her own, a bit weird but at least it has been sorted now.
Friday was the festival of Primavera and Juventud (Spring and youth) so all the younger kids had a day off school and in the evening they put on a film for them to watch, with popcorn for the proper cinema experience! Alex and I were both looking after 2 different casa's whilst the tías went out, I had to feed, change and put one of the babies (1 and a half) to bed which was interesting to say the least! I ended up putting her nappy on the wrong way round, but apart from that it went quite smoothly. We got to catch the end of the first film-Smurfs. Definitely a pirate copy with horrendously dubbed spanish that every now and then would switch back to English, but they seemed to enjoy it. The second film was an Indian film which all the older kids loved. My first indian film experience, interesting to say the least seeing as I had to guess what was going on through the Spanish subtitles and the odd english word from the actors. It was a seriously long film, and a very bizarre experience with a strange plot, but one I can add to my list.
Yesterday we had to look after one casa in the morning and then a different one after lunch until about 8. Pretty hard work, especially trying to get the kids washed and dressed when we didn't have any water! We decided to go out for a drink so were getting ready at the casa, once we had put the younger kids to sleep, all the older girls found our make up fascinating. They were giving each other little make overs and watching us put our make up on which was pretty funny. They were all desperate to go out, so we've decided that some time soon we want to take the older girls out into Iquitos for the day and just buy them an ice cream, because I think they would love having some time outside the Aldea-I know I do! It was really nice last night, we've found a cool little local bar that plays some amazing music (all in English) and pretty cheap drinks so we went there to have a relax, still haven't found any friends yet so just Alex and me haha. Hopefully we can track some english speakers down soon!
Sunday- our long awaited day off, we even managed an amazing lie in till 11! we came into Iquitos for breakfast in an English cafe we found last week. The food is lovely and they have free wifi, so obvious appeal there. We have had a pretty chilled out day, spent most of it in the internet cafe having a massive planning/organisation session about our holidays over christmas and then managed to get caught in the rainstorm. We've finally decided on Ecuador, around Quito and Guayaquil for Christmas day, then we will travel back down across the boarder to spend New Year in Mancora with the other Project Trust girls as all our Christmas dates don't really coincide until New Year. I think finally doing the research has made it seem a bit more real about how independant we are here, if we don't manage to sort out what we want to do then we'll be spending Christmas out here in the jungle. At the moment the thought of being somewhere new for Christmas is actually really exciting and I can't wait till we're out travelling up there on our own! Hopefully it will go to plan but I guess we'll see.
The 2 Spanish girls who have been staying with us in the Aldea (only at weekends) since we arrived left on Saturday. It was bit of a bittersweet goodbye because, although we will definitely miss their company and conversation, we now have a lot more room in the apartment and another bedroom which we're considering moving into. Or even if we spread out our things more so we are not so on top of each other with all our clothes (mainly Alex's though, I'm sure she's bought her whole wardrobe out with her!) it could be nicer. Either way it's given us a project to work towards for a while, I think this week I've been feeling a bit lost just because we haven't really settled into a set routine yet. It seems to be up to you to get any form of activity planned and organised here. I've been teaching one of the boys his alphabet-slow going but we're getting there! Eventually we want to set up an english club for the older kids, some sort of sports club (definitely Alex's idea not mine, especially in this heat!) and something to do with the kids during the day who don't go to school, it's just trying to work out something that is suitable for them all to do. The ages during the day range from toddlers to 11 year olds, which doesn't give us much to go on really!
Sunday, 25 September 2011
Wednesday, 21 September 2011
21/09
Last Sunday we made it out of the Aldea and onto the bus (!) by half 6! Which I was pretty impressed with, our first bus journey was pretty exciting all the buses in Iquitos are wooden! And they don't have bus stops there is just a person hanging out the doorway who shouts to the bus driver to stop if anyone wants to get off/on. So that was interesting, we got off at the port of Nanay to get a bus over to the island of Padrecocha. But we arrived at like 7 in the morning so ended up the only ones on this boat over there. The boats are amazing, all wooden with little thatched rooves over them from the sun, they all sit really low in the water so you get a lovely breeze as you're going along. The journey was only about 20 minutes but by the time we'd arrived it looked like we were properly in the jungle, it was a lot greener. The town of Padre cocha was absolutly tiny, there were a few cafe's along the sand but once we got up into the town it was mostly just houses, all of which were absolutly tiny with tin rooves or just thatched rooves! We finally made it up the the mariposario (butterfly farm) after a lot of dwadling to make it there when it actually opened rather then an hour before. It was absolutly amazing, the butterflies were in a seperate caged off area so you could walk all round it and we were some amazing looking butterflies. The owner then took us on a tour round the whole farm, we saw her breeding area with all the little caterpillars and chrysllis bits which was cool, we then found out not only does she have butterfly's but she has lots of rescued animals. We saw loads of different types of monkeys, ones with red faces were incredibly tame and were just walking round everywhere, the rest were in cages. She had a Jaguar that had been rescued from being sold illegally when it was 2 years old and only weighed 88 pounds! It has now been there 8 years but is now too tame to be released. There were also manatee's, parrots who said hola, a tortoise, a capabara and im sure quite a few more I can't remember! We went back into Iquitos for something to eat and had a lovely day away from the Aldea relaxing.
When we got back that evening we had to sleep in one of the casa's again which I was a bit annoyed about, it being our day off but we were both so tired we ended up going straight to sleep anyway. We've also had another jungle storm which lasted from midnight untill we woke up at half 5 that morning, it was crazy I could feel the rain coming through the nets! Although the breeze was quite refreshing.
Monday morning we ventured down to the market by the children's school which was quite exciting, I found a baby melon-called un melon pepino? Which was really yummy! Alex found some really cute banana's, it's unbelieveable how many types of banana there are, there are normal ones like in England, ones that you can only eat once they've been cooked (kind of like cassava) and then these really yummy ones that you fry and they're called platano frito-absolutly gorgeous! We made some for the 2 Spanish girls on Saturday night as part of our going away party for them, with the help of some of the older girls in the Aldea, after finding out we'd bought the wrong type of banana's so had to find some of the proper ones!
The rest of this week has been pretty quiet, nothing much has been happening in the Alea. We went to the cinema last night to see a film called Agoro which was actually an English film...however it looked really old and it was about the religious wars going on in ancient Egypt at the time of the thesist Hipatia! It got better by the end although it was seriously strange to start with, and the actual cinema itself just looked like a hall with a big projector screen haha. You'll be pleased to know as well that the food in the cinema is just as much a rip off in the middle of the peruvian jungle as it is back home!
Lot's of love everyone xxxxxxxxxxx
When we got back that evening we had to sleep in one of the casa's again which I was a bit annoyed about, it being our day off but we were both so tired we ended up going straight to sleep anyway. We've also had another jungle storm which lasted from midnight untill we woke up at half 5 that morning, it was crazy I could feel the rain coming through the nets! Although the breeze was quite refreshing.
Monday morning we ventured down to the market by the children's school which was quite exciting, I found a baby melon-called un melon pepino? Which was really yummy! Alex found some really cute banana's, it's unbelieveable how many types of banana there are, there are normal ones like in England, ones that you can only eat once they've been cooked (kind of like cassava) and then these really yummy ones that you fry and they're called platano frito-absolutly gorgeous! We made some for the 2 Spanish girls on Saturday night as part of our going away party for them, with the help of some of the older girls in the Aldea, after finding out we'd bought the wrong type of banana's so had to find some of the proper ones!
The rest of this week has been pretty quiet, nothing much has been happening in the Alea. We went to the cinema last night to see a film called Agoro which was actually an English film...however it looked really old and it was about the religious wars going on in ancient Egypt at the time of the thesist Hipatia! It got better by the end although it was seriously strange to start with, and the actual cinema itself just looked like a hall with a big projector screen haha. You'll be pleased to know as well that the food in the cinema is just as much a rip off in the middle of the peruvian jungle as it is back home!
Lot's of love everyone xxxxxxxxxxx
Saturday, 17 September 2011
Número 7
So today we've been here 3 weeks tomorrow which just seems crazy in itself and I can't get over how long ago it feels like we arrived in Lima, time is passing so quickly!
Last time I wrote we were off to a party with the tías from the Aldea as a last celebration of the 19th anniversary. It turned out to be more of a meal which we didn't realise and had already eaten tea so had to eat till I felt so full I couldn't move. THEN they started up the music and we both got dragged up to dance which was very embarrassing though all the tías are really nice and it was just a massive laugh. We did improve a little bit (might have been influenced by the beer) but still couldn't be persuaded to dance more then 3 times and that was hard enough. We've also found literally everyone drinks beer here, it was already on the tables at the restaurant when we arrived and everyone shares out all the bottles which I thought was a little strange but shows the sense of community here I guess. We managed to make friends with two ladies who are also new to the Aldea and had a really nice evening chatting with them (very stilted conversation but we managed it!) The only problem is we cannot remember their names and keep seeing them around the Aldea, but have to wait till they come up to us before we start speaking to them!
The kids started back to school this week so it feels like we've all got a proper routine now, we walk them to school at 7 every morning, then pick them up at half 12 after we've eaten lunch, taking one girl down who goes to school in the afternoon so we have to walk back down at 6 to meet her. It's definitely breaking up the day more so we I feel like i'm doing a bit more with my day and even though it's only a 5 minute walk it is still absolutly boiling! We also have to walk past the only prison in Iquitos-it would be us...so EVERY morning and lunchtime we're greeted with all the workers sitting outside, blowing kisses and shouting "hola mi amor!" at us as we walk past, which all the kids find hilarious but it's getting old already! I found out from one of the girls that they did it every day to the last volunteers too, so my hopes of them getting used to us has gone. Guess we will have to put up with it!
There are few children in the Aldea who can't go to school as they've only recently moved to the Aldea within the last 2 years so don't have the right documents and we've found maybe about 7 of them between 7 and 11 who can't read or write at all! We've decided to start up an alfabeto club... which might have been slightly ambitious as I tried teaching one of the boys the first bit of the alphabet the other day with some picture cards we made and it was seriously hard work because everything I want to say I've got to translate into Spanish first! But I'm sure we'll get there eventually it might just take us a while.
Tomorrow (our proper day off) we are heading off to a butterfly farm in the jungle, we have to get a mototaxi, then a boat over the river, then a bus and then walk which I'm sure will be eventful but I'm pretty excited to try something different. Tonight we're having our third sleep over so far, this time in a new casa with 3 little babies which should be eventful! The two Spanish girls who have been coming every weekend are leaving this week so this will be their last weekend here and they've invited us to have dinner with them tonight, hopefully we'll see an improvement to our first meal we had with them!
Last little gossip point for today, on Wednesday when we went to pick up the kids from the afternoon school one of the boys didn't come out of school, we were waiting for 45 minutes and eventually thought he must have already been back at the Aldea so we left. However when we got back he wasn't there which lead to some tías going out searching for him, we found out eventually he'd gone back to his mum's which they had arranged during their visiting time on Sunday. Since he left the Aldea he won't be coming back and one of the girls spoke to him during school said he is planning on moving to Lima with his brother so he can see his dad in prison there. It was a massive shock to learn that he'd just left and wasn't going to be coming back, especially for the tías I think but most people seem to have got used to it now and I'm sure there will be another child arriving soon.
Think that's all for now, can't think of much more to say, other then we both really really want to get our own bikes so we can zom around Iquitos rather then using the crazy mototaxi drives who are definitely always over the speed limit by about 40 km/ph!
Hasta pronto :) xxxxx
Last time I wrote we were off to a party with the tías from the Aldea as a last celebration of the 19th anniversary. It turned out to be more of a meal which we didn't realise and had already eaten tea so had to eat till I felt so full I couldn't move. THEN they started up the music and we both got dragged up to dance which was very embarrassing though all the tías are really nice and it was just a massive laugh. We did improve a little bit (might have been influenced by the beer) but still couldn't be persuaded to dance more then 3 times and that was hard enough. We've also found literally everyone drinks beer here, it was already on the tables at the restaurant when we arrived and everyone shares out all the bottles which I thought was a little strange but shows the sense of community here I guess. We managed to make friends with two ladies who are also new to the Aldea and had a really nice evening chatting with them (very stilted conversation but we managed it!) The only problem is we cannot remember their names and keep seeing them around the Aldea, but have to wait till they come up to us before we start speaking to them!
The kids started back to school this week so it feels like we've all got a proper routine now, we walk them to school at 7 every morning, then pick them up at half 12 after we've eaten lunch, taking one girl down who goes to school in the afternoon so we have to walk back down at 6 to meet her. It's definitely breaking up the day more so we I feel like i'm doing a bit more with my day and even though it's only a 5 minute walk it is still absolutly boiling! We also have to walk past the only prison in Iquitos-it would be us...so EVERY morning and lunchtime we're greeted with all the workers sitting outside, blowing kisses and shouting "hola mi amor!" at us as we walk past, which all the kids find hilarious but it's getting old already! I found out from one of the girls that they did it every day to the last volunteers too, so my hopes of them getting used to us has gone. Guess we will have to put up with it!
There are few children in the Aldea who can't go to school as they've only recently moved to the Aldea within the last 2 years so don't have the right documents and we've found maybe about 7 of them between 7 and 11 who can't read or write at all! We've decided to start up an alfabeto club... which might have been slightly ambitious as I tried teaching one of the boys the first bit of the alphabet the other day with some picture cards we made and it was seriously hard work because everything I want to say I've got to translate into Spanish first! But I'm sure we'll get there eventually it might just take us a while.
Tomorrow (our proper day off) we are heading off to a butterfly farm in the jungle, we have to get a mototaxi, then a boat over the river, then a bus and then walk which I'm sure will be eventful but I'm pretty excited to try something different. Tonight we're having our third sleep over so far, this time in a new casa with 3 little babies which should be eventful! The two Spanish girls who have been coming every weekend are leaving this week so this will be their last weekend here and they've invited us to have dinner with them tonight, hopefully we'll see an improvement to our first meal we had with them!
Last little gossip point for today, on Wednesday when we went to pick up the kids from the afternoon school one of the boys didn't come out of school, we were waiting for 45 minutes and eventually thought he must have already been back at the Aldea so we left. However when we got back he wasn't there which lead to some tías going out searching for him, we found out eventually he'd gone back to his mum's which they had arranged during their visiting time on Sunday. Since he left the Aldea he won't be coming back and one of the girls spoke to him during school said he is planning on moving to Lima with his brother so he can see his dad in prison there. It was a massive shock to learn that he'd just left and wasn't going to be coming back, especially for the tías I think but most people seem to have got used to it now and I'm sure there will be another child arriving soon.
Think that's all for now, can't think of much more to say, other then we both really really want to get our own bikes so we can zom around Iquitos rather then using the crazy mototaxi drives who are definitely always over the speed limit by about 40 km/ph!
Hasta pronto :) xxxxx
Saturday, 10 September 2011
Party time at the aldea
Well this week has been the 19th anniversary of the Aldea so partying all week. Monday was the first of the parties but Alex was also pretty ill so didn't make it out, she slept it off for most of the day. Leaving me to enjoy the heat and daces alone, whilst videoing everything to show her later. The procession from the square back up to the Aldea was the first bit, with everyone from the Aldea literally walking along the main road, (busiest road into the city) with motorbikes overtaking us on one side. It was ridiculously hot and felt like it took ages but then once we got back to the Aldea we were treated to 3 dances from the kids. All of which were amazing, from 3 girls who are only 9 and managed to salsa dance, two of the older kids did a typical peruvian dance. I was amazed by it and super jealous I can't dance like that.
Tuesday was when the tías introduced little party games for the kids like an egg and spoon race- but holding the spoon in your mouth!? and some balloon popping one which they all loved. The next day we had the same games but this time for all the tías. Alex won one where we had to eat an apple hanging off a string, then we teamed up against the other tías for the balloon race-they all run surprisingly fast! I was impressed.
Some children from another Aldea came over in the afternoon and they organised some volleyball and football matches against each other, which all the kids loved and I really enjoyed watching the volleyball. All the girls were really good at it, very impressed. The next night they had one with all the tías against the other aldea which we won! It's hilarious how competitve they all get against each other, even more then the kids did!
We managed to make it into town on Wednesday to FINALLY post some letters which have been waiting for a week, third time lucky for the post office to actually hold some stamps so we could post them out.
Thrusday evening was like an outside concert where lots of poeple from Iquitos came and there were little musical perfomances with some dances as well, both kids from the other aldea and the girls from this Aldea. My personal favourite was 4 boys from the other Aldea who gave us a recorder perfomance of my heart will go on (Celine Dion) it was hilarious, made even funnier by how seriouly everyone watching it was!
I went to take two of the younger kids to their therapy sessions as well, one 2 year old girl has downs and another 3 year old has brain malfunctions, none of which me and Alex can work out what it is in english although she's 3 and still doesn't speak or eat properly. But the therapy centre was a really eye opener, it was pretty new and had lots of brand new equipment, all the staff were really friendly and you could tell they loved working with the kids. It's surrounded by greenery and lots of different fruit trees-really jungely! One of the tías took me round explaining them all. Both the girls really enjoyed it although were tired out by the end!
On Friday we had our first spanish mass, which was pretty weird considering I didn't have a clue what was going on and didn't understand it. So don't think the mass was really my thing but Alex seemed to enjoy it and is pretty keen to go with older kids on Sunday's, don't think I'll be going but we will see. We then had an absolutly massive lunch, where everyone sat all together on loads of long tables and it was so filling neither of us could eat anything for the rest of the day!
In the afternoon some english, american and canadian people all came round to look at the Aldea. It was SO nice hearing english accents, nothing against Alex's but it was nice not having to mentally translate everything someone is saying to you. So we spent some time chatting with them and showing them round the Aldea where the kids all became amazingly shy and nothing like their usuall hyperactive selves. The visitors turned up just at party time, where we had started a little birthday party to celebrate all the kids who had had a birthday from July to September which they coincided with the anniversary of the Aldea. All the Kids got presents, including Alex for winning her apple eating competition earlier in the week. It was seriously humbling to see how much they appreciated their presents which were only little things, they looked like toys from poundland! But they loved them. ( have lots of pics but will have to upload them next time as I'm running out of time now)
Up to Friday night where Alex and I decided to go out for our first Friday night in Iquitos. We found this amazing bar in the tree tops, literally like a massive tree house that must be about 8 trees but but it was amazing, with gorgeous views over the river. We found out that the two girls from last year had worked there at the weekends, which is pretty interesting not sure if I'd be up for that too but it's definitely an amazing place. Had my first peruvian beer as well! Only because all the standard drinks were reaaally expensive but it was pretty good, might have been converted!
That's all for now, will be in again soon so will upload my pictures/videos then as I'm on a ridiculously slow computer.
Hasta luego chicas (and chicos) :) xxx
Tuesday was when the tías introduced little party games for the kids like an egg and spoon race- but holding the spoon in your mouth!? and some balloon popping one which they all loved. The next day we had the same games but this time for all the tías. Alex won one where we had to eat an apple hanging off a string, then we teamed up against the other tías for the balloon race-they all run surprisingly fast! I was impressed.
Some children from another Aldea came over in the afternoon and they organised some volleyball and football matches against each other, which all the kids loved and I really enjoyed watching the volleyball. All the girls were really good at it, very impressed. The next night they had one with all the tías against the other aldea which we won! It's hilarious how competitve they all get against each other, even more then the kids did!
We managed to make it into town on Wednesday to FINALLY post some letters which have been waiting for a week, third time lucky for the post office to actually hold some stamps so we could post them out.
Thrusday evening was like an outside concert where lots of poeple from Iquitos came and there were little musical perfomances with some dances as well, both kids from the other aldea and the girls from this Aldea. My personal favourite was 4 boys from the other Aldea who gave us a recorder perfomance of my heart will go on (Celine Dion) it was hilarious, made even funnier by how seriouly everyone watching it was!
I went to take two of the younger kids to their therapy sessions as well, one 2 year old girl has downs and another 3 year old has brain malfunctions, none of which me and Alex can work out what it is in english although she's 3 and still doesn't speak or eat properly. But the therapy centre was a really eye opener, it was pretty new and had lots of brand new equipment, all the staff were really friendly and you could tell they loved working with the kids. It's surrounded by greenery and lots of different fruit trees-really jungely! One of the tías took me round explaining them all. Both the girls really enjoyed it although were tired out by the end!
On Friday we had our first spanish mass, which was pretty weird considering I didn't have a clue what was going on and didn't understand it. So don't think the mass was really my thing but Alex seemed to enjoy it and is pretty keen to go with older kids on Sunday's, don't think I'll be going but we will see. We then had an absolutly massive lunch, where everyone sat all together on loads of long tables and it was so filling neither of us could eat anything for the rest of the day!
In the afternoon some english, american and canadian people all came round to look at the Aldea. It was SO nice hearing english accents, nothing against Alex's but it was nice not having to mentally translate everything someone is saying to you. So we spent some time chatting with them and showing them round the Aldea where the kids all became amazingly shy and nothing like their usuall hyperactive selves. The visitors turned up just at party time, where we had started a little birthday party to celebrate all the kids who had had a birthday from July to September which they coincided with the anniversary of the Aldea. All the Kids got presents, including Alex for winning her apple eating competition earlier in the week. It was seriously humbling to see how much they appreciated their presents which were only little things, they looked like toys from poundland! But they loved them. ( have lots of pics but will have to upload them next time as I'm running out of time now)
Up to Friday night where Alex and I decided to go out for our first Friday night in Iquitos. We found this amazing bar in the tree tops, literally like a massive tree house that must be about 8 trees but but it was amazing, with gorgeous views over the river. We found out that the two girls from last year had worked there at the weekends, which is pretty interesting not sure if I'd be up for that too but it's definitely an amazing place. Had my first peruvian beer as well! Only because all the standard drinks were reaaally expensive but it was pretty good, might have been converted!
That's all for now, will be in again soon so will upload my pictures/videos then as I'm on a ridiculously slow computer.
Hasta luego chicas (and chicos) :) xxx
Sunday, 4 September 2011
One week later
Well it seems pretty weird when I think that this time last week we were just arriving in Iquitos airport, and here we are sat in Iquitos! Today is our first day off, very well deserved because we´ve been working so hard! Friday night both of us were asked to look after one of the casa´s whilst the tía went to the hospital to look after the baby there, so we had to stay over night! in casa uno which also happens to be the only house of all boys, their tía had left only the good boys and the naughtier ones spent the night in another house. We slept in the tías bedroom, Alex managed to get into the baby cot! Which apparently was surprisingly comfortable and we both had pillows which was a luxury as our casa doesn´t have any. Despite our worries the kids were all well behaved and in bed asleep by half 9. I managed to come back with 10 mosquito bites from just that one night, which are all unbelieveably itchy and the kids are loving the massive red blotches I have aqquired as none of them get bites because from babies they have built up a resistance to it!
I also managed my second lot of hand washing yesterday and definitely think I am improving, the kids love helping me hang out my clothes as they are so different and larger then all of theirs!
Last night we finally got some time to ourselves and relax, and then managed to miss tea which had been made earlier because of the rain, however one of the casas had some spare so offered us this. We accepted gratefully only to find out when we got back to our house, we had rice and chicken feet for tea! Surprisingly fleshy but we still could only bring ourselves to try a tiny tiny bit of it. I think that might take some getting used to!
We also found a frog in our room last night, hiding behind the door, which alex managed to sweep out into the hall and then it hopped away into the fields, not going to lie I was not a lot of help at all. He was super close to my bed so I freaked out and let her deal with it. which she did pretty well, to give her credit.
have put up some pictures on facebook of the kids, and tried to do it here but the computer went crazy so will have to be another time, lo siento.
hasta luego xx
I also managed my second lot of hand washing yesterday and definitely think I am improving, the kids love helping me hang out my clothes as they are so different and larger then all of theirs!
Last night we finally got some time to ourselves and relax, and then managed to miss tea which had been made earlier because of the rain, however one of the casas had some spare so offered us this. We accepted gratefully only to find out when we got back to our house, we had rice and chicken feet for tea! Surprisingly fleshy but we still could only bring ourselves to try a tiny tiny bit of it. I think that might take some getting used to!
We also found a frog in our room last night, hiding behind the door, which alex managed to sweep out into the hall and then it hopped away into the fields, not going to lie I was not a lot of help at all. He was super close to my bed so I freaked out and let her deal with it. which she did pretty well, to give her credit.
have put up some pictures on facebook of the kids, and tried to do it here but the computer went crazy so will have to be another time, lo siento.
hasta luego xx
Friday, 2 September 2011
5 Days in...
Wow well I don't really know where to start, so much seems to have happened since we last came into Iquitos!
First off I think our Spanish is starting to improve already, both Alex and I are finding it harder to switch back into english, although there are still loads of words we don't know and lots of the kids we can't understand but they definitely appreciate us trying and most seem to be pretty patient with us. We met the director-Lucina for the first time on Wedsneday which is when most of the office staff came back to work after the festival Santa Rosa. She seems very friendly, doesn't speak a word of english though but then again nobody does! We had to sit in on a meeting where she read out our profiles to all the tías and then had to stand up and introduce ourself infront of the whole circle of people!
We have mostly been spending our mornings playing with the kids, both outside in the fields but also in their game rooms, where one of the little girls actually weed on my foot! So that was experience number one, which all the other kids found hilarious and called me names for the rest of the day. Sometimes I think it's a good thing I don't understand everything they say!
I had my first handwashing experience which was seriously hard work and I only washed a few things. It's definitely made harder by the fact that none of the sinks have plugs so all our washing is done in a tiny bucket. Then to make things worse, on Wednesday night we had our first jungle storm, and were woken up to our doors banging around in the wind and then rain coming in through our upper windows as they are only covered by mosquito netting, because of the heat. However neither of us realised until the morning that we left our freshly washed clothes outside all night, so most of them were lying on the floor in the grass the next morning!
We spent most of yesterday playing with the kids who all had chores to do in their casas, most of these are done quietly, quickly and without complaints! The kids are definitely all very well behaved, each casa has a tía and then an older child, both of which have equal authority over the younger children. Two of the tías went to the hospital yesterday after lunch-11.30 leaving Alex and I in charge of their casas! Which was a challenge in itself. All the kids look up to us though and were prepared just to sit with us inside, playing games. However, by 6pm when one tía still hadn't returned we were running out of ideas. Then after tea we had our first power cut, so had to put the younger children to bed in the dark with only our head torches, which all the children were fascinated by! By 8pm when their tía had finally arrived and the electricty came back on we were both absolutly exhausted. Only to find out that we have to look after another casa tomorrow, 6-12 which includes both breakfast and lunch!
We are already drawing on the games we learnt on training, although with such a wide age group as all the children tend to play together it becomes harder to find suitable ones we can explain in our limited spanish!
Another positive though, the weather seems to have been cooler the last few days since the big storm, which is definitely a big relief, although how long it will last I'm not sure!
Hasta luego!
Aneesha :)
First off I think our Spanish is starting to improve already, both Alex and I are finding it harder to switch back into english, although there are still loads of words we don't know and lots of the kids we can't understand but they definitely appreciate us trying and most seem to be pretty patient with us. We met the director-Lucina for the first time on Wedsneday which is when most of the office staff came back to work after the festival Santa Rosa. She seems very friendly, doesn't speak a word of english though but then again nobody does! We had to sit in on a meeting where she read out our profiles to all the tías and then had to stand up and introduce ourself infront of the whole circle of people!
We have mostly been spending our mornings playing with the kids, both outside in the fields but also in their game rooms, where one of the little girls actually weed on my foot! So that was experience number one, which all the other kids found hilarious and called me names for the rest of the day. Sometimes I think it's a good thing I don't understand everything they say!
I had my first handwashing experience which was seriously hard work and I only washed a few things. It's definitely made harder by the fact that none of the sinks have plugs so all our washing is done in a tiny bucket. Then to make things worse, on Wednesday night we had our first jungle storm, and were woken up to our doors banging around in the wind and then rain coming in through our upper windows as they are only covered by mosquito netting, because of the heat. However neither of us realised until the morning that we left our freshly washed clothes outside all night, so most of them were lying on the floor in the grass the next morning!
We spent most of yesterday playing with the kids who all had chores to do in their casas, most of these are done quietly, quickly and without complaints! The kids are definitely all very well behaved, each casa has a tía and then an older child, both of which have equal authority over the younger children. Two of the tías went to the hospital yesterday after lunch-11.30 leaving Alex and I in charge of their casas! Which was a challenge in itself. All the kids look up to us though and were prepared just to sit with us inside, playing games. However, by 6pm when one tía still hadn't returned we were running out of ideas. Then after tea we had our first power cut, so had to put the younger children to bed in the dark with only our head torches, which all the children were fascinated by! By 8pm when their tía had finally arrived and the electricty came back on we were both absolutly exhausted. Only to find out that we have to look after another casa tomorrow, 6-12 which includes both breakfast and lunch!
We are already drawing on the games we learnt on training, although with such a wide age group as all the children tend to play together it becomes harder to find suitable ones we can explain in our limited spanish!
Another positive though, the weather seems to have been cooler the last few days since the big storm, which is definitely a big relief, although how long it will last I'm not sure!
Hasta luego!
Aneesha :)
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