sooooo time seems to be literally flying past. I can't even understand how it's going so quickly! We've been working on christmas decorations with the kids...that's been pretty exciting and sort of putting me more in the christmas mood because it just doesn't feel like christmas without the cold, snowy atmosphere!Sort of running out of christmas ideas to do with them, i've exhausted all my magazine collage ideas and next week we'll be painting baubels which im sure they'll love because any opportunity to get their fingers dirty and cover every available surface with paint.
On Tuesday we took all the girls out to the cinema to see the twilight film, and I actually understood quite a bit more then i thought i would considering it was dubbed in spanish! Quite impressed with myself to be honest. We took them along the boulevard for a bit of walk afterwards which I think they enjoyed. I definitely underestimated how much of an effort it would be with 9 girls, especially teenage girls because they were constantly pestering us for more food! The only thing that put me off is that none of them said thank you, they just seemed to think that it was something they deserved from us, as the gringa tías and that's slightly made me uneasy about it, but guess we'll see.
We worked up the energy for another film night in our casa with all the girlies watching a J-Lo film, dubbed in spanish AGAIN and this time it was pretty hard for me to understand so I'm glad it was one I'd already seen! Haha, we've decided to make it into a club for them every now and then. Saturday I also recieved my parcel from home with some long awaited chocolate and my Peruvian mascot, Paddington bear who is now sat at the head of my bed :) all the kids love him, I also got an advent calendar which has had to spend a few days solidifying in the fridge because it was all practically liquid. The tías were all really jealous of that one, I can see I might be sharing out more then I actually eat on that one....
We also had a bit of rainstorm yesterday which I got caught outside in, and I had a proper loving life moment. It just sort of hit me that I'm really here, seeing the sky in all it's amazing colours and all the kids running about in the rain I just felt incredibly grateful for being here. I realised that this seriously is a once in a lifetime opportunity and that realisation has just made me even more determined then before to make the most of every single second, so that when I get home and stuck back into the uni, work, friends cycle all over again that I can be sure I did everything I wanted to do here and won't have any regrets. I know that probably sounds incredibly cheesey cheese but you know what, it's incredibly true right now!
Today after another mammoth internet session we've been invited to the birthday party of one of the tías grandaughters, she's 7 so we're going to searching for something to turn up with. We can't have the gringa entertainment turning up empty handed! Will let you know how that one goes....
amor y besos x
Sunday, 27 November 2011
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
Movie week
Wow well last week was pretty busy as one of the babies was in hospital meaning our casa sleep overs started up again, on Monday (after a sleep over) we managed to be in 4 houses over the day! Pretty impressive and ridiculously tiring! As a reward we went out to the cinema on Tuesday-which is their cheapo half price day so any cinema trips always have to be planned for a Tuesday. After such a busy few days it felt so nice and relaxing being out the aldea, watching a film that was actually interesting! I really enjoyed it and felt quite awake after.
I also went to therapy again, which was exciting. I'm starting to love that place it just has an amazing realaxed calming atmosphere about it, the tías also bought me a coco helada on the way back (frozen coconut) which they chop off the top so you can drink out the juice...it was weird. Refreshing because it was obviously cold but apart from that I didn't really like anything else about it! I did like the fact that when you'd drank it all, the lady took it back, casually whipped out her machete knife to chop it in half and give you back the coconut pulpy bit to eat. That was also pretty weird because it was really slimy, so pretty much a bizarre experience that I'm not sure I'll be repeating!
FINALLY got a parcel from home, with this indian film I've been dying to show to the girls-only to find out it doesn't have spanish subtitles!! Alex recieved a little care parcel too with some well awaited chocolate and an amazing hand made baubel from her mum which had the Aldea's name and our names on it. Seeing as we don't have a tree we've donated it to the Aldea tree where it looks beautiful of course :)
On Saturday the Aldea had a visit from a local school, they turned up with a clown in tow so it turned out more like a birthday party kind of atmosphere with all the kids stuffing themselves full of sweets! After lunch, 2 of the tías turned up with loads of 'paradillas' like grilled chickens with potatoes which seem to be really popular and had been donated to the Aldea by someone. Alex and I got a plate each (pretty much a whole chicken on 1 plate!) So by the time we'd worked our way through that we were absolutly stuffed-but we had a massive chat with three of the tías who are quickly becoming very close friends. I really enjoyed spending time with them, and it shows how much our spanish has improved that we could chat for so long, we found out about some of the past kids they've looked after and also what kind of lives some of the kids have gone on to have/what they think will become of the older ones here at the moment. I really enjoyed chatting with them, it made me feel like a proper part of the Aldea family!
Saturday night we watched Anastasia with the older girls in our apartment, it was AMAZING I had completly forgotten my love for Disney films. I even managed to understand the majority of what they said and could remember all the words to the songs-in english obviously but the girls found it hilarious!
On Sunday Alex went to church and then we had a moochy lazy day round town because we had absolutly no energy. We had an exciting market breakfast of maduros (sweet bananas) and like a ball of mushed up bananas and potato though! We ended up back home by 5 and watched another disney film, this time Mulan-another childhood favourite which definitely didn't disappoint! Even more exciting was that the Disney dvd Alex bought had 5 Disney films on all for 5 sol! Awesome :)
Tonight we are taking 9 of the older girls to the cinema in town to see the new Twlight film which they're super excited about. They bring it into every conversation we've had with them since we told them about it-like 2 weeks ago. To be honest though I'm also looking forward to taking them out the Aldea and giving them time to have a bit of a chill. Should be fun....
hasta luego x
I also went to therapy again, which was exciting. I'm starting to love that place it just has an amazing realaxed calming atmosphere about it, the tías also bought me a coco helada on the way back (frozen coconut) which they chop off the top so you can drink out the juice...it was weird. Refreshing because it was obviously cold but apart from that I didn't really like anything else about it! I did like the fact that when you'd drank it all, the lady took it back, casually whipped out her machete knife to chop it in half and give you back the coconut pulpy bit to eat. That was also pretty weird because it was really slimy, so pretty much a bizarre experience that I'm not sure I'll be repeating!
FINALLY got a parcel from home, with this indian film I've been dying to show to the girls-only to find out it doesn't have spanish subtitles!! Alex recieved a little care parcel too with some well awaited chocolate and an amazing hand made baubel from her mum which had the Aldea's name and our names on it. Seeing as we don't have a tree we've donated it to the Aldea tree where it looks beautiful of course :)
On Saturday the Aldea had a visit from a local school, they turned up with a clown in tow so it turned out more like a birthday party kind of atmosphere with all the kids stuffing themselves full of sweets! After lunch, 2 of the tías turned up with loads of 'paradillas' like grilled chickens with potatoes which seem to be really popular and had been donated to the Aldea by someone. Alex and I got a plate each (pretty much a whole chicken on 1 plate!) So by the time we'd worked our way through that we were absolutly stuffed-but we had a massive chat with three of the tías who are quickly becoming very close friends. I really enjoyed spending time with them, and it shows how much our spanish has improved that we could chat for so long, we found out about some of the past kids they've looked after and also what kind of lives some of the kids have gone on to have/what they think will become of the older ones here at the moment. I really enjoyed chatting with them, it made me feel like a proper part of the Aldea family!
Saturday night we watched Anastasia with the older girls in our apartment, it was AMAZING I had completly forgotten my love for Disney films. I even managed to understand the majority of what they said and could remember all the words to the songs-in english obviously but the girls found it hilarious!
On Sunday Alex went to church and then we had a moochy lazy day round town because we had absolutly no energy. We had an exciting market breakfast of maduros (sweet bananas) and like a ball of mushed up bananas and potato though! We ended up back home by 5 and watched another disney film, this time Mulan-another childhood favourite which definitely didn't disappoint! Even more exciting was that the Disney dvd Alex bought had 5 Disney films on all for 5 sol! Awesome :)
Tonight we are taking 9 of the older girls to the cinema in town to see the new Twlight film which they're super excited about. They bring it into every conversation we've had with them since we told them about it-like 2 weeks ago. To be honest though I'm also looking forward to taking them out the Aldea and giving them time to have a bit of a chill. Should be fun....
hasta luego x
Sunday, 13 November 2011
Lazy days 13/11
So I know it's only been a week but it feels like last weekend (our weekend of freedom) was so long ago! We had an awesome time, made some traveller friends in our two hostels, I started to get slightly jealous of all their exciting adventures when all our stories involved children! After being woken up on Sunday morning in our first hostel to be told that the builders had cut off the water and it would probably be off all week, we had to change hostels. We ended up in a super nice one for our last night, where we got breakfast and wifi AND a balcony with hammocks to chill out on,which was lovely, we even got actual mattresses!! An absolute luxury seeing as all we have in the aldea are foam mattresses which get pretty flat very quickly.
As much as I arrived at the Aldea on Monday full of determination this week has been quite lazy! We celebrated one of the older girls birthday's on Tuesday and bought her some sweeties, nail varnish and I made her a little thread bracelet. I'm getting pretty good, finally found a use for the hundreds of threads I bought out with me. I'm planning on learning lots of different styles to impress all the kids and hopefully leave them with something they can pass on to the next volunteers.
We had a trip into town on Friday afternoon, and realised we've been into the post office so much that there is now a lady there who we get our stamps off who recognises us-not sure if that's a good thing or not, but I guess she could be classed as a friend? I've had quite a lot of casa sitting this week too, mainly with the same casa! On Thursday when Alex had her first trip taking the kids to their therapy I was casa sitting for 3 hours, in without question one of the liveliest, busiest casa's so it felt like just as much work as her therapy trip. There have also been a few tías off work this week which means all the casa's have been pretty full, meaning that casa sitting is even harder work! At one point, the casa next to us had 15 kids in it!
One of the kids who had previously been taken back to his family, arrived in the Aldea on Friday night looking really really ill and thin-he's only been away a month! So the tías have been taking it in turns to stay with him at the hospital, our casa sleep overs have started up again. Alex did the first one on Friday night, then I was left to look after one from half 7 in the morning till half 2! Unbelievably tiring, although it was great spending so much time with the kids, they seriously just drain me of energy. We watched Beauty and the Beast in Spanish though, I was impressed how good the songs still sounded even in spanish! Haha. An afternoon of rest, only to be told at tea time on Saturday I was sleeping in the boys casa! Only had 5 to deal with which wasn't too bad, and I think I've even mastered the knack of sleeping without a net when we have to-it just means trying to cover up every exposed inch of skin and cover yourself in sticky mosquito repellent!
I went to church this morning too, something I've been meaning to do for ages but have been unintentionally putting off. It was quite an experience! Something completly different to anything like a church service I've ever seen in England, probably didn't help that I really didn't understand much but overall the service seemed a lot more friendly. At one point everyone was hugging all the people around them, we all gathered hands in lines along the church to sing a prayer and then everyone around me dropped to their knees to pray. Took me a while to work out what I was supposed to be doing, the silly gringa standing up staring at everyone praying! I think though, that even though it was definitely a different, almost bizarre experience I quite enjoyed it, I feel a lot more relaxed about things, and sort of more at peace :)
After a week of barely any rain last week, we had a massive storm on Thursday..finally! It started at tea time, when everyone was in the comedor and I ended up running back and forth sin my flip flops carrying all the younger kids back to the casa's, under the table cloths-the only sort of cover we had for them. The rain here is just insane, when it rains it properly rains-comes down in sheets and the pavements are ankle deep within minutes, so when I finally got them all inside I looked like I'd had a shower in clothes and the path was like a paddling pool of water-halfway up my leg! To top it all off we then lost the electricity which resulted in Alex and I playing cards by candlelight, quite fun, even if it was slightly dangerous!
This week Alex hasn't been too well, so it's been pretty hard trying to keep her spirits up and not to get sucked into just spending all day in our casa. It's definitely made me realise how much I rely on her liveliness and energy, as much around the kids as to keep me going too, we really have become a proper little partnership! Hopefully she's got all that behind her now so we can have a livelier week, it makes me feel pretty helpless sometimes like there is nothing I can really do. But, fingers crossed we'll be happy and jolly all week :)
Off to our hotel with a pool AGAIN later, quickly becoming one of my favourite places to chill out! So hasta luego todos.
aneesha x
As much as I arrived at the Aldea on Monday full of determination this week has been quite lazy! We celebrated one of the older girls birthday's on Tuesday and bought her some sweeties, nail varnish and I made her a little thread bracelet. I'm getting pretty good, finally found a use for the hundreds of threads I bought out with me. I'm planning on learning lots of different styles to impress all the kids and hopefully leave them with something they can pass on to the next volunteers.
We had a trip into town on Friday afternoon, and realised we've been into the post office so much that there is now a lady there who we get our stamps off who recognises us-not sure if that's a good thing or not, but I guess she could be classed as a friend? I've had quite a lot of casa sitting this week too, mainly with the same casa! On Thursday when Alex had her first trip taking the kids to their therapy I was casa sitting for 3 hours, in without question one of the liveliest, busiest casa's so it felt like just as much work as her therapy trip. There have also been a few tías off work this week which means all the casa's have been pretty full, meaning that casa sitting is even harder work! At one point, the casa next to us had 15 kids in it!
One of the kids who had previously been taken back to his family, arrived in the Aldea on Friday night looking really really ill and thin-he's only been away a month! So the tías have been taking it in turns to stay with him at the hospital, our casa sleep overs have started up again. Alex did the first one on Friday night, then I was left to look after one from half 7 in the morning till half 2! Unbelievably tiring, although it was great spending so much time with the kids, they seriously just drain me of energy. We watched Beauty and the Beast in Spanish though, I was impressed how good the songs still sounded even in spanish! Haha. An afternoon of rest, only to be told at tea time on Saturday I was sleeping in the boys casa! Only had 5 to deal with which wasn't too bad, and I think I've even mastered the knack of sleeping without a net when we have to-it just means trying to cover up every exposed inch of skin and cover yourself in sticky mosquito repellent!
I went to church this morning too, something I've been meaning to do for ages but have been unintentionally putting off. It was quite an experience! Something completly different to anything like a church service I've ever seen in England, probably didn't help that I really didn't understand much but overall the service seemed a lot more friendly. At one point everyone was hugging all the people around them, we all gathered hands in lines along the church to sing a prayer and then everyone around me dropped to their knees to pray. Took me a while to work out what I was supposed to be doing, the silly gringa standing up staring at everyone praying! I think though, that even though it was definitely a different, almost bizarre experience I quite enjoyed it, I feel a lot more relaxed about things, and sort of more at peace :)
After a week of barely any rain last week, we had a massive storm on Thursday..finally! It started at tea time, when everyone was in the comedor and I ended up running back and forth sin my flip flops carrying all the younger kids back to the casa's, under the table cloths-the only sort of cover we had for them. The rain here is just insane, when it rains it properly rains-comes down in sheets and the pavements are ankle deep within minutes, so when I finally got them all inside I looked like I'd had a shower in clothes and the path was like a paddling pool of water-halfway up my leg! To top it all off we then lost the electricity which resulted in Alex and I playing cards by candlelight, quite fun, even if it was slightly dangerous!
This week Alex hasn't been too well, so it's been pretty hard trying to keep her spirits up and not to get sucked into just spending all day in our casa. It's definitely made me realise how much I rely on her liveliness and energy, as much around the kids as to keep me going too, we really have become a proper little partnership! Hopefully she's got all that behind her now so we can have a livelier week, it makes me feel pretty helpless sometimes like there is nothing I can really do. But, fingers crossed we'll be happy and jolly all week :)
Off to our hotel with a pool AGAIN later, quickly becoming one of my favourite places to chill out! So hasta luego todos.
aneesha x
Friday, 4 November 2011
My Gina left the aldea last week, she's gone back to live with her aunty. It was all so quick we didn't even know she'd left and didn't get a chance to say bye. Pretty devastated, but it's not like we're short of kids who are just as cute. Especially a new baby who came on Tuesday, only 22 days old!! He is adorable, and it's pretty exciting that we will get to see him grow up!
Our Haloween watermelon, we nicknamed him Pedro the pumpkin :)
Weekend libre!
Feels like ages since I last wrote something here so apologies, but seeing as we're now out the aldea for the whole weekend (!) might as well start here.
Last Friday we went on an outing with some of the kids as part of an organised events week to Quistacocha-like a laguna which just casually happens to have like a jungley style zoo as well. We got taken on a tour around, seeing loads of monkeys, a jaguar, loads of beautfully coloured parrots and something that looked like a dolphin that was definitely my favourite. It was so nice being outside the aldea with the kids and seeing them have fun in somewhere other then within the aldea walls. They were all desperate to go swimming in the laguna, which did look super inviting so we're both determined to take them sometime. We also had a Diwali celebration with the kids on Friday night. With some little homemade diva lanterns and all the pictures that we had been working on with the kids up, the inevitable sweeties and the story of Rama and Sita to tell them a bit about Diwali. I think, HOPE it went alright, after some sweety bribing they all seemed to enjoy our storytelling session-from what they could understand anyway. Minor mishap where a misplaced diva set some of the pictures on the wall on fire, but Alex whipped out her emergency fire bucket so it went out pretty quickly! haha, but apart from that it was nice to show them something new-it makes me feel like we've really put our stamp on this year!
Saturday was another group of kids on another trip, when we went to reserve ran by the I.I.A.P (instituto de investigaciones a la amazonia peruana) and did like a tour round a bit of the jungle. Seriously hot and sticky and full of mosquitos but really interesting, even if we could only half understand what the guide was saying. We even got given a proper jungley lunch with juanes (rice and chicken wrapped in banana leaves) in a jungle hut. After all that activity Sunday was quite a quiet, relaxed day but definitely needed.
Think we've both come into this week full of energy, which was just as well as all the kids were off school both monday and tuesday for 2 bank holidays in a row-who knows why, that's just how Peru works but it made it an elongated weekend!
Monday-Halloween we improvised the pumpkin by using a watermelon instead which Alex made look just as good as a pumpkin, maybe better because all the kids loved eating every last possible bit out of it they could. We watched a few indian films with the kids in our apartment which they loved, it felt like we were having a giant sleepover, with loads of mattresses all over the front room and kids over every possible inch of the floor!
In other news, two girls escaped again on Wednesday night by climbing over the walls at 2 in the morning, they've previously tried it but were found on the street outside! This time the police didn't find them until the next afternoon, which caused quite a stir in the aldea, they then stayed somewhere else until one of the girls came back today. We also had one of the older girls try and leave from school with some boy, which all the tías got quite worked up about, after an eventul reunion at school where one of her teachers rescued her she was brought back to the Aldea sae and sound. Don't think she'll be going back to school until after Christmas now...
I went with one of the tías to take two of the kids to therapy on Thursday, I've been before but only really soon after we arrived and I can really notice the different in my spanish! Fingers crossed that means I am actually improving, we managed to hold a conversation the whole time! Alex also made friends with the watermelon lady from the market, she's agreed to do some english lessons with her son, which should be interesting. AND we got a free watermelon out of it because the lady was so grateful haha :)
We found a cool little square across the road from the aldea on Thursday where we spent the evening watching a little dancing club in the square, their only music was from 2 drums! It was really cool, amazing how quickly they all can move, we've decided Peruvians definitely have a diferent way of dancing that English people just don't have. They all seem so free and when they start dancing, literally every part of their bodies seem to move-they never stay still. I really really want to learn but as the kids keep telling me, gringas can't dance!
We left all our niños today for our weekend away, I'm super excited just to feel like a bit of tourist, doing all the touristy things but at the same time it will be strange. We've been here for 10 weeks today and have spent every single night in the aldea, so it's going to be a completly different experience. The thought of going away, and the look on one of the little girls face when she thought we were leaving to go back to England, really brought home how close I feel to the kids now and as one of the tías told me-they have become my second family. I already can't imagine having to leave them, I feel so responsible for them!
Anyways, I'm sure you'll hear more from me after our eventful weekend outside the aldea!
Todo mi amor xxx
Last Friday we went on an outing with some of the kids as part of an organised events week to Quistacocha-like a laguna which just casually happens to have like a jungley style zoo as well. We got taken on a tour around, seeing loads of monkeys, a jaguar, loads of beautfully coloured parrots and something that looked like a dolphin that was definitely my favourite. It was so nice being outside the aldea with the kids and seeing them have fun in somewhere other then within the aldea walls. They were all desperate to go swimming in the laguna, which did look super inviting so we're both determined to take them sometime. We also had a Diwali celebration with the kids on Friday night. With some little homemade diva lanterns and all the pictures that we had been working on with the kids up, the inevitable sweeties and the story of Rama and Sita to tell them a bit about Diwali. I think, HOPE it went alright, after some sweety bribing they all seemed to enjoy our storytelling session-from what they could understand anyway. Minor mishap where a misplaced diva set some of the pictures on the wall on fire, but Alex whipped out her emergency fire bucket so it went out pretty quickly! haha, but apart from that it was nice to show them something new-it makes me feel like we've really put our stamp on this year!
Saturday was another group of kids on another trip, when we went to reserve ran by the I.I.A.P (instituto de investigaciones a la amazonia peruana) and did like a tour round a bit of the jungle. Seriously hot and sticky and full of mosquitos but really interesting, even if we could only half understand what the guide was saying. We even got given a proper jungley lunch with juanes (rice and chicken wrapped in banana leaves) in a jungle hut. After all that activity Sunday was quite a quiet, relaxed day but definitely needed.
Think we've both come into this week full of energy, which was just as well as all the kids were off school both monday and tuesday for 2 bank holidays in a row-who knows why, that's just how Peru works but it made it an elongated weekend!
Monday-Halloween we improvised the pumpkin by using a watermelon instead which Alex made look just as good as a pumpkin, maybe better because all the kids loved eating every last possible bit out of it they could. We watched a few indian films with the kids in our apartment which they loved, it felt like we were having a giant sleepover, with loads of mattresses all over the front room and kids over every possible inch of the floor!
In other news, two girls escaped again on Wednesday night by climbing over the walls at 2 in the morning, they've previously tried it but were found on the street outside! This time the police didn't find them until the next afternoon, which caused quite a stir in the aldea, they then stayed somewhere else until one of the girls came back today. We also had one of the older girls try and leave from school with some boy, which all the tías got quite worked up about, after an eventul reunion at school where one of her teachers rescued her she was brought back to the Aldea sae and sound. Don't think she'll be going back to school until after Christmas now...
I went with one of the tías to take two of the kids to therapy on Thursday, I've been before but only really soon after we arrived and I can really notice the different in my spanish! Fingers crossed that means I am actually improving, we managed to hold a conversation the whole time! Alex also made friends with the watermelon lady from the market, she's agreed to do some english lessons with her son, which should be interesting. AND we got a free watermelon out of it because the lady was so grateful haha :)
We found a cool little square across the road from the aldea on Thursday where we spent the evening watching a little dancing club in the square, their only music was from 2 drums! It was really cool, amazing how quickly they all can move, we've decided Peruvians definitely have a diferent way of dancing that English people just don't have. They all seem so free and when they start dancing, literally every part of their bodies seem to move-they never stay still. I really really want to learn but as the kids keep telling me, gringas can't dance!
We left all our niños today for our weekend away, I'm super excited just to feel like a bit of tourist, doing all the touristy things but at the same time it will be strange. We've been here for 10 weeks today and have spent every single night in the aldea, so it's going to be a completly different experience. The thought of going away, and the look on one of the little girls face when she thought we were leaving to go back to England, really brought home how close I feel to the kids now and as one of the tías told me-they have become my second family. I already can't imagine having to leave them, I feel so responsible for them!
Anyways, I'm sure you'll hear more from me after our eventful weekend outside the aldea!
Todo mi amor xxx
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