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.

Before

After...pretty sure JL had some help but  hes definitely trying to write the letters himself now and Jhon doesn´t trace anymore :)

Alejo talking jibberish and the boys pretending to understand

Edwin and his squirrel

Kids on their way to school

Juan and Edwin´s butt crack

Steph and Abel...they secretly get along really well

Bryson, I hate any facial hair you ever grow...see how creepy you look!

Morning routine...check whats for snack time

José Luís always excited about food

Drop in guests in Kinder...Alejo playing with hair again

Movie time on Friday afternoons

Play time

kiddie pool

Filomena the excellent cook

Kinder boys singing Jesus loves me this I know...

bow ties!!!

Sand boarding with the Amigos

Jhampier, photographer and model haha

The winning performance on Peru´s independence day celebrations

Alejo´s angry face

Alejo´s angry march

Edwin getting a lift to Tutoría

Playing caballos (horses)

Time out :(

Playing monos (monkeys)

Lisa in complete control...taking over until the new teacher arrives

The kids, volunteers, staff. All my amazing friends.

¡Feliz Navidad y Feliz Año Nuevo!

Christmas in Peru is very strange. Even stranger because we´re in a children´s shelter. Lots of groups came with presents, paneton, chocolatada (most delicious-est chocolate drink ever) and entertainment. This is all strange because Christmas lasts a whole month and the entertainment involves clowns and other things you wouldn´t normally associate with Christmas but hey, if its free, whos going to complain?

Clowns on stilts...

angel clown...

Dr clowns...

and a strong man clown.

Fernando fell for the heavy weights trick

Edwin was lead angel in his school's Christmas play!

I had my first overnight house covering over Christmas night boxing day morning. Thankfully I wasn´t in the house during Christmas day, Stephanie (very bravely) did that with the two new short termers Emily and Tiffany from good ol´ En Zed. That experience really made me appreciate the people I work with here. Emily and Tif helped with bathtime and dinner and Bryson came down to help put them to bed and wake them up twice during the night for pee time. Still, ´challenging´ would be the best way to explain the night. The cook was ill so we had to make do with Paneton and sugary tea for dinner.
Anyway three highlights of the night;
1. Edwin was getting out of the shower butt naked and dripping wet and tries to walk through the casita to his room. I stand in his way to get him to dry off before going to his room, to avoid slippery floors. He responded by blowing a whistle right in my face, no idea where he got the whistle. Then when I try to get it off him, he sticks it between his butt cheeks so I can´t get it. I start to walk away so that he doesn´t see me laughing (because I have my "I´m not playing games" face on) and he pulls it out of his butt, puts it in his mouth and starts blowing it again!
2. Waking up kids to pee is hilarious! They are so out of it! I didn´t know it was possible to sleep that deeply, it was as though they were sleep walking. I had to wake up a couple who had fallen asleep again standing up, leaning against the toilet stall wall.
3. Alejandro woke up crazy early at 5:45am shouting for me. So I went and got him and put him to bed again next to me. Thankfully he went back to sleep. Alejo has a breathing problem, so when he sleeps he sounds like the cross between a cat purring and a warthog snorting. Its kind of soothing, so I went back to sleep too.
Big thanks to Stephanie, Bryson, Emily and Tiffany. I´m sure my job wasn´t the hardest but I was struggling and they made it all bearable.

Jhon sleeping in his gloves...

and this was the position Steph found him sleeping in the morning. Still wearing his gloves.

We said goodbye to three kids on Friday. Eduardo, Camila and Christina pequeña left to live with their grandparents. It was happy and sad to see them go. To be honest, I only spent time with Christina. She was in my tutoría back when I had the year 1 kids. My favourite memory of her was when I asked her to tell me a joke. I didn´t understand half of it and I´m pretty sure she accidently gave away the punchline but it was hilarious because she acted it all out. She was an elephant that had stepped on something...I think. Oh and try annoying her and she´ll throw you this look that so seriously says "No. Stop that now. You´re not funny". I wish I´d go that look in a photo. Classic Christina pequeña.

Christina pequeña and Camila leaving

Eduardo leaving with his sisters and grandparents

I´ve been learning a lot about American culture lately. Actually, I think I´ve learnt more about the US than about Peru. Bryson´s home team, the Denver Broncos, had bee doing quite well, up until the last two weeks. So I´ve been hearing a lot and learning a lot about NFL. And maybe Tim Tebow has a little to do with my sudden interest...maybe. Besides lessons in NFL, I´ve learnt a lot about their food and attitudes to food. For example theres ketchup, and then theres real ketchup. Coffee and real coffee. Don´t ask me what the difference is. And, say for example, I had made an amazing meal, nothing but perfection and I let one of my American friends taste it, I expect their response to be;
"Oh wow, thats so good! But you know what would make it great? Add some cheese/ peanut butter/ bacon to that". Everytime, without fail.
But besides their poor taste in food, their general attitude and personality has made me really want to visit the US. Something I have never had the urge to do. I had figured, if I wanted to experience the US, I´d turn the tv on. And maybe Tim Tebow has a little something to do with my wanting to visit...maybe.
Seriously guys, google Tim Tebow.

NFL lesson...thats Tim Tebow the quarter back hes pointing at

Me and my lucky charms yum yum

So New Years Eve was celebrated with burning dolls at the orphanage. In Peru they burn scarecrow things wearing old clothes. This represents getting rid of the old to bring in the new. We also had some fun with the fireworks, which we picked up on the way back from dinner. Buying fireworks just off the street is a thrill in itself!

The kids also got to go on camp this week. A group from the US came down and hosted the camp at the nearby Laguna resort. The highlight for all the kids I suspect was the pool. It is getting so hot down here!

   

Abel, lovin` it

Edwin running from Steph whos trying to fix his undies

Sofia and Christina enjoying the pool

Jose Luìs not enjoying the pool

 I was completely surprised when Josè Luìs agreed to get in the pool but I didn`t question it incase he changed his mind. I put him on the edge of the pool and while I was sitting down next to him he jumps right in! I fished him out straight away but he was already upset haha. We stayed in for another 5 minutes, Edwin and I tried our best to get him to enjoy it but no luck.

Finally a picture of Jhon smiling!!!

Edwin, very proud of his palm tree

The good, the bad and the ugly

So my time in Peru is quickly coming to an end. Its only a month and a half until I leave and I´m feeling kind of nervous about it. On the one hand I know that I need to go back and make a step towards having a career. On the other hand I can´t imagine leaving because life here is so simple and easy and I´ve made a great bunch of friends amongst the staff, volunteers and kids. Plus, everything that happens here feels like an adventure.
For example; wake up and have breakfast outdoors looking out at sand dunes, go to work downstairs, teaching 3 little Peruvian boys who call you Tia Joo, have lunch which may be something delicious or chicken feet/ cow stomach soup/ mystery meat, take homework class problems, problems, more about this later, chill in the afternoon play with kids/ watch movies with mates/ run laps around the orphanage which did I mention, is in a desert! Its all very surreal.

One thing I definitely will not miss is tutoría time. This is the 2 hours of homework time in the afternoon. Since July, I've had three different groups to work with, two Iniciál  kids (the Kindergarteners that go to school; Pedro and Jorge), five Year 1 kids and now the 3 highschool girls. Its never been an easy time for me or the kids. With the two younger groups my biggest challenge was getting the hyped up children motivated and interested enough to sit still and complete their homework, without just copying each other.
Now that I have the teenagers, the problem is their lack of commitment and motivation to better themselves. They show up late or don't turn up at all, forget their books, copy and paste from the internet, prioritise art over all other subjects and then sulk when I try to explain the importance of responsibility and respect.
 As I write this, Roxana is very diligently doing her homework (thankfully), while Esthefany sulks in the corner. Esthefany has two exams in two days time and she can't understand why she can't leave her studying until the day before. It feels like I'm banging my head against a wall trying to explain it to her. Shes an excellent girl, very enthusiastic and kind and loving but shes struggling to cope with what she sees as limited freedom here, so she frequently rebels. Yamelit, my third student, has decided to study in her casita with her madre, which is probably for the best. This is a huge improvement from Friday last week where she decided she'd nap instead of turn up to class, then, conveniently felt rested enough to wake up for her hour of internet time. I guess I'm expecting too much of them to show some responsibility. Incredibly frustrating.  
I just had to let that out...

Good news is though, in case you haven't noticed, Christmas is coming yaaaaaay! I haven´t been excited about Christmas since....childhood? Yes, that long ago. The kids here are really excited. The best thing for the kids about living here is that they get presents in a constant stream all through the month. Church groups, families and individuals from around Trujillo and from overseas come bearing gifts throughout December. Madness! But fun nonetheless.
My very generous coworkers back in Sydney have sent me money to buy the kids individual Christmas gifts! So this weekend is reserved for Christmas present shopping. The volunteers, organised by Stephanie, are all chipping in to buy all the kids new (fun) bedspreads. If anyone feels like helping me make up the last $40 of the $140 I need to raise to do my bit, feel free to email me and I'll work out how to transfer the money. Much appreciated. Plus any surplus can join the Christmas gift fund.

I leave you with pictures of my trip with Jenn to Puno, where we visited Lake Titicaca and Cusco, where we hiked the Inca Trail for four days to Macchu Pichu. Yes its a hard life.

The floating islands of Uros. The islands are made of reeds bunched together.

2 hour boat ride to the island of Taquile

View from the top of Taquile out to Lake Titicaca.. It looks just like the ocean.

Another underbite dog that stalked Jenn for about 15mins.

 

Calle Recoletta, which is barely wide enough space for a car and one pair of hips 

Baby alpaca!!!

12 sided Quechuan stone...which is apparently famous

A dozen fruit juice stands all selling the same types of juice, right next to each other

Cusco Planetarium, the best part of the trip!

Gandalf the White, showing us the stars

Briefing for the Inca Trail hike

10 out of 16 people on the group were from Australia haha, the others were from England, Belgium, Germany and America

First rest stop on the first day of the hike. The donkey didn't move the whole 20mins we were there

The hardest workers on the planet; our porters

The sight we walked 4 days to see, which is also accessible by bus

Llamas; pose for photos, eat grass, repeat

Sun Temple

Earth temple

Royal toilet (the hole in the ground)

Kickin' back on one of the many terraces