jojo vs Peru: home again home again jiggity jig

I´ve been back in good ol´ Sydney for 2 weeks now and it feels really odd and at the same time, completely normal. It doesn´t feel as though that much has changed in the last 7 months whereas I feel like a changed person. It feels good to be back to old friends, hot showers, air conditioned cars and excellent customer service but I still often think back to Peru and miss the kids and my volunteer friends.

Two of my Kinder boys will be starting school this year and I´ll miss seeing them off on their first day. I missed seeing a girl meet her new family for the first time. I missed two older girls move on to a new transitional home. I missed meeting the new volunteers. I will miss the birth of my friends first child. I miss only having to walk less than 50m to find a friend to hangout with. I miss trying to have conversations with Peruvians using my crap Spanish. Strangely...I also miss saying "Does anyone know whats for lunch?...Can you go down and see whats for lunch? awww man I hope its not anchovies". I hate missing all of this but to have had the opportunity to have known these people and that way of life has been a blessing. A blessing and a joy which outweighs the pain of leaving them.

Things I miss:
- Edwinisms. Edwin doing anything Edwin-like. eg singing and swinging, playing with his tapita, saying SaaammMMmmmm, calling me tia Jo O O Ooooo or tia Josh, ahah ow!, fuerte hugs and insisting everyones hands are dirty.
- Alejandros angry march and his giggling after hes just done something naughty. Playing with my hair and combing it with a plastic fork. Alejos loud breathing...sounds like a warthog, if warthogs could purr
- Jhon being a lion and Ben10. Reading with Jhon is always a pleasure.
- José Luís getting crazy excited for snack time. I´ll miss hearing him saying everyones name wrong. eg Tia Jot (Jo), Tia Cheetah (Lisa), Jote tuPi (José Luís), Alejano (Alejandro)...actually he could say Jhon right
- Trying not to laugh after witnessing a child do something naughty or dumb
- The Kinders showing me what they have in their backpacks for snack time, as soon as they come into class
- The Tesoros house always being fun and insane and fun
- Hearing the kids from my bedroom at all hours of the day
- Chatting with Filomena the cook
- Trips to Salaverry

Things I will not miss:
- Putting one of the Kinders in the naughty chair (especially José Luís, who checks if time is up every 3 seconds)
- Cleaning up after they eat oranges at snack time
- The showers
- The sand...everywhere!

It is also a difficult experience to be back knowing that I will now have to establish some kind of stability in my life...in other words get a job. My plan, which has always been my career goal, is to become a pilot in the military. This will be a long and difficult process so I am preparing and bracing myself for a lot of work and possibly some disappointments. If I am able to be accepted on my first application, I could expect to be in Officer Training by the end of this year or the beginning on next. If not, I have two more opportunities to apply for the pilot position, each 12 months apart. So if you would like to, you can pray for strength for me. A lot of strength, as I am committing myself to take every opportunity to achieve this goal.

To finish up my final blog I want to thank everyone that has shown Hogar De Esperanza and me, their wonderful support; my workmates especially for the amazing Christmas fundraising, old workmates and friends who have encouraged me with their emails and new friends I´ve made along the way who have been so supportive of the work all the volunteers do. Thank you so much, your support really does make all the difference.
And finally, a huge thank you to my volunteer friends. I really did not expect to gain such close friends. You all made the 6.5months so much fun and really did change me for the better. Thank you for your kindness and care, I owe you so much. Come visit me in Sydney!

I leave you with some of my favourite photos.