A Busy Week

This has been a busy week. I've barely had any free time, between volunteering and getting ready to go home. I can't believe how much time has passed so quickly. I leave to go home on Thursday and it just doesn't seem like I've been here for eleven months.

I spent Monday and Tuesday with Express Connect. We went to a new school and gave multiple presentations about Self Esteem.

Wednesday, as per usual I went to the orphanage.

Thursday I volunteered again with Express Connect, we went to the Alexander Flemming school again, the school we first visited in November. We gave five presentations about bullying.

Friday I was back at the orphanage of course spent some time with Alejandro and Eduardo. Ale played with my camera, and took lots of selfies, which I think are absolutely adorable.

How can he not make you smile?

Today we went to the Inca market and bought some souvenirs and a few gifts for friends. We also walked around at Locomar and made a visit to the Gap store. I bought a hoodie that says GAP Peru. It was a fun day with my family despite preparing for leaving.

It feels crazy to be going back, and I am sure it will seem as alien as Peru did at first when I go back.

 

An Armadillos English

Today I visited the orphanage with my brother Marcus and as I didn't have a fluent Spanish speaker with me I had to try really hard to speak to others. Luckily there wasn't too much to say to anyone over five, however I managed to thoroughly confuse Eduardo. He is a sweetheart though so he didn't seem to mind too much, although it could have been due to the fact that I brought him food. 

The kinders were really cute today, they were coloring giraffes when we got there and after lunch had a small party. They were doing renovations in the kindergarten room so we were all outside today, luckily it wasn't too chilly.

 

I brought the kinders tangerines and chocolate milk, which was good because otherwise Ricardo, Xiomara and Angelo would not have had anything for lunch. 

 

Marcus and I played soccer with Eduardo while Alejandro was doing lessons with a tutor.

 

 

And of course I fed him cookies, and when Alejandro came out I gave him a pack too.

 

Alejandro played with my camera as per usual and we took some pictures together.

 

 

I'm not completely sure what we were doing when Alejandro snapped this, but I was definitely trying to give Eduardo some bunny ears. Look at his smile. Is he too old to call cute?

 

I loved watching the kinders dance, and of course I decided to join them. If you have never danced with a bunch of little kids, you should add that to your bucket list. Seeing how they dance and watching the girls talk and giggle was very amusing.

 

After we said our goodbyes, and I promised Alejandro and Eduardo I would be back on Friday, this time with Laura we left. Marcus and I decided to grab some lunch and see if we could find any bottled milk at the store.

 

We ate at a sandwich shop at La Molina Plaza before shopping at Plaza Vea. I ordered myself a sandwich and coke and Marcus a hotdog without any condiments and an inca cola and thought I had done a pretty good job ordering in Spanish. My confidence only lasted until the food was brought out and the only thing placed in Marcus' basket was a small baguette, not even cut.

 

We both looked at each other and I apologized before bursting out laughing. Marcus found it more of a nuisance than he found it amusing.

 

 

He angrily chastised me on my poor Spanish skills and said “Your Spanish is like an armadillo's English" I stared at him blankly before he continued, “...except an armadillo doesn't even know what English is, which is more the point."  I asked him where he had heard that and he looked at me with a serious face and said, "I made it up myself."  Funny kid. If you can make any sense of Marcus' armadillo analogy let me know.

 

Happy Wednesday!

One Of Those Days

I came home yesterday afternoon after spending the morning at the orphanage. The first things out of my mouth were, "I've been hit, kicked, tackled and bitten. I want a shower." My mom responded with "Oh, you had one of those days." Yes, yesterday was one of "those" days, and despite the brutal beatings it was perfect.

We were greeted by happy faces when we walked into the kindergarten. Each kid was working on a puzzle. I watched for a moment until I heard "Mira" look, and turned to see a girl holding up her completed puzzle. I walked over and knelt beside their table as I exclaimed "Que bueno, muy bien."  Not to be outdone, one of the boys tugged my hand and said "ayudarme" help me. I started helping him put pieces together. I pretended to put them in the wrong spaces and they would say "No!" and point to another spot. Occasionally a little hand would grab the puzzle piece and put it where it belonged. It was fun to see how they figured out where to put the pieces, some by trying  everything, some by matching up lines and colors.

We did puzzles, and then we sang songs and colored. They sang a song where the teacher would ask how are you today, and they would yell back their reply. It was the cutest thing.

 

We played outside. We played pato-pato-gonzo (duck-duck-goose) and then a game that resembled red rover and tag combined. I think they really just wanted to see us run around teasing them.

 

A few of us also climbed trees. We were feeling a bit sloth-like.

 

After we sat down, listened to music and ate cake to celebrate one of the Tio's birthdays.

It was a great day, my favorite part though was seeing Alejandro-Victor and Eduardo. I helped Alejandro practice his multiplication facts while Eduardo asked me all sorts of questions I couldn't answer. They talked to me about their day and about living at the orphanage and about foods they liked. I split my piece of cake between them to share. It was fun just to be with them and see them get excited over something like cake.

It might have been one of "those" days, I might have a few bruises and I might be a bit sore, but it was worth it. I saw smiling faces and got a few warm hugs and that's good enough for me.

Be Happy

I would like to introduce a few of the kids. This is Alejandro-Victor and his brother Eduardo. There story is a bit sad. They have been severely abused and were left at the Orphanage in the middle of the night two weeks ago. It breaks my heart because they knew they were abandoned. What amazes me the most is that while they have been though such hard times they are still smiling. They are two of the happiest boys I have ever met. I think we can all learn a lesson from these brothers, even when we get dragged through the mud and the muck of life we can get back up and be happy. Happy is a choice not a destination.

Alejandro-Victor is nine and Eduardo is twelve.

Eduardo and the pit bull we have nicknamed Pig.

 

 

 

These two showed me around this Friday and I had a lot of fun getting to know them more. Their smiles are contagious, every time they smiled I couldn't help but smile with them too.

 If these boys, with their hardships can still find a way to be happy- you can too. You may argue that their situation is different from yours and maybe it is- but does it really matter? Anne Frank wrote, "We all live with the objective to be happy, our lives are all different yet the same."  This smart young girl knew something most of us are still figuring out.. You may not be in the best situation, you may be having a bad day, but there is always something to be happy about- even if it's as simple as taking your lunch break or talking with your best friend. It could be a phone call from a family member or eating a snickers bar. Happy is a choice- not a destination. You cannot find happy on a map, but you can choose to be happy. Make the choice- Be happy, and smile because your smile is beautiful. (:

Last Saturday

March 20, 2014

  

Weekends are spent having fun, relaxing, hanging out with friends, and sometimes rolling in the dirt. In my case last  weekend had all  of these elements.

Saturday, March 15th we got a van, squished inside and drove up to Westfalia Orphanage. Ten of us went on Saturday to play with the kids. Nicole brought sidewalk chalk and some outside games for the kids to play and we all divided and made stations. The kids loved it- and so did we! 

The chalk got everywhere, and I mean everywhere. We came home covered in chalk dust from head to toe. I got some in my hair too. It was fun though, I don't think most of the kids had ever seen sidewalk chalk before. 

Emily and Melissa

Julia getting her hair done.

Eduard with Victor

 

 

Marcus tried his hand at pin the nose on the clown.

 This pretty much sums up how Julia and Emily acted the whole day.

Nicole and Dallas

Nicole being her usual happy self (:

More Julia and Emily.

Dallas dressed as a big blueman. The kids loved it.

More Nicole.

Eduardo and Victor.

Dallas could barely see with the suit and glasses on.

Brothers Eduardo and Victor fighting and loving being carried around.

Emily and Melissa.

Kids drawing with chalk.

Seeing Jael and Anderson sack racing was the cutest thing ever.

Everyone loves sunglasses!

Marcus, who came with us for the first time.

The garbage bags used for the sack races soon became outfits.

Right on Target!

Drawing Lions.

Melissa drawing.

 

It was a pretty great Saturday. I still have a bunch of pictures that I couldn't fit in the post! 



 

*Please Note this was written before it's publishing date.