Hello again!
SO the Carnevale day we had at school was epic just as predicted. I went in armed with a super soaker and a backpack full of water ballons but that was no match for ten teenage boys running at me with a bucket full of water each....brrr! Everyone was sufficiently soaked with minimal injuries, although I did have to give poor Benjamin a long cuddle because he was so confused as to what was happening and why he was getting splashed. We also had a great celebration that day in which a tree is cut down and then replanted (?) with lots of little presents tied to the branches. Everyone dances round the tree (very danish :p) while a couple dance together in the middle, then the boy takes an axe(!!!! health and safety!) and takes a couple swings at the tree. A new couple then enters the circle and the dance begins again. This lasted quite a while and everyone got a turn at chopping down the tree before it finally fell and the children descended on it in a frenzy scrabbling to get the best presents. It was a lovely day and all the children were pleased with what they got, which was fantastic. The following day was the last day of summer school
:( The children performed each play and dance so well, and at the end all the teachers and staff were invited on stage to dance along to the routine, that was not quite as smooth, haha! Then there was a slight panic in the kitchen as we frantically tried to preare a HUGE traditional peruvian meal of Beef, potato, Yucca, corn etc for SIXTY children.......omg. That was an experience man.... After the meal goodbyes were exchanged between the children and teachers, some children asked ´will you here next year?´ Ahh....if only I could be. That night Maggie and I hopped on a bus up to Cusco where we had a very lively weekend, Australians man....they party hard, haha. It was almost too much for me to handle but I managed somehow. Monday we started our work painting the Rainbow house which proved to be a bit of a challenge with six children running amok with pàintbrushes. It was quite a tiring day, I don´t remember ever shouting at the children so much; ¨PUT THE BRUSH DOWN¨ ¨GO PLAY OUTSIDE¨ by four o´clock I was ready for a beer, so was Maggie so thats what we did. That became a little routine throughout the week. On Thursday we started work on the Rainbow Centre so now it is looking quite fresh with bright colours. Our new coordinator Laura also brightend up the animals buying collars for the school cat and dog, very cute. On Friday we sadly had to bid farewell to Maggie. Needless to say that I didn´t remain dry-faced during this farewell, I got quite attached to Maggie as she reminded me quite a bit of Denmark, the lifestyle and my friends back there so it was very difficult to see her go. The volunteer house is quite empty now with Maggie gone, and also David and Laura have found a little flat not too far away so they´ve flown the nest. Soon Gerry and Andy will be saying goodbye too :( sad sad. We all have such a laugh together. Caroline is still here though, which is excellent! This weekend Caroline and I went up to Pisac for a little bit of shopping, and I was supposed to go dancing with Arson, a Peruvian friend but was feeling a bit ill so that didn´t happen. On Sunday Gerry, Andy and I went on a four hour hike up the the Inca salt pans (Salines) which are absolutely breathtaking. They were built by the Incas but are still functioning today and they cover an impressive stretch off the mountainside. We then continued up to the village of Morais before returing to Urubamba. Caroline wisely opted to sit out on this little adventure.
Today in school was more painting and updating a few things for Laura, more of the same tomorrow. Then Wednesday off to the fourday Inca trail!!!!!!! At FIVE IN THE MORNING! No I´m sure it´ll be amazing. Lots to see! Lots to walk!
I´ll try and post some pictures soon, its just that I can´t seem to find a working USB port in all of Urubamba. But will try!
Lots of love to everyone, keep writing to me its great to here from my various homes around the world.
Take care,
Harness lots of good Karma!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Peace and love people!
Chloe
Monday 28 February 2011
Wednesday 16 February 2011
It´s been a month!!!
Hi guys!
A lot has happened since I last wrote, we now have two more volunteers in the house; Gerry and Andy a married couple im the sixties. Very nice people. Summer school is almost over! This is the last week, next week is a week off for the kids while we volunteers fix up some things around the school. Tomorrow is the carnevale celebration at school, which is a water and coloured flour fight, which is going to EPIC! I will post pictures :) Last Monday I took Yelson out for one on one time and we had a really good talk about our dreams and plans for the future, the two of us have a great bond. It is wonderful to see him open up and be comfortable because he is quite a shy quiet person. At school we have been rehersing for the end of summer show, my class is putting on a short skit, while some other classes are dancing. It is so much fun but SUCH hard work to get some of these children focussed on the task at hand. We had some trouble with a few feisty boys at the school who were constantly fighting and getting into trouble but after a few trips to the principles office they are now on their best behaviour and are quite pleasant to be around. Two of them are quite happy to sit on either side of me and play with my hands which is very sweet. I´ve been having massage therapy with one of the older downsyndrome students at the school, Katya who is 22. Our sessions have been going well and we have some really good conversations, the therapy is important not only to reduce the pain of her arthritis but also for her to have an outlet where she can express her feelings and thoughts to someone.
We missed our trip to the rainbow centre last Thursday because Soledad had had an epileptic fit at school and was exhausted so it was best to just let her rest. Maggie is now out of hospital, having been put on an Iv drip for four days, she was diagnosed with Kidney infection, two types of salmonella and parasites....YIKES! Glad it wasn´t me, I´ll stick to the irregular bowel movements.....haha! We has a really great weekend in Cuzco, with tours of Saqsayhuaman, Ollantaytambo, Cuzco and lots of other stuff. Valentines day was celebrated in school with lots of friendship and trust games which was a lot of fun and really sweet to watch. Two of the special students Sharon and Michel, who normally are archenemies, spent the day giggling and kissing each other on the forehead and cheeks, much to the teachers amusement. Today one of the students Mauricio, who is 3, fell asleep in my arms for 3 hours (!!!) so adorable, I didnt want to let him go! My spanish has improved greatly and I can now carry on a conversation with the older children which is very rewarding. I´ve also learnt basic sign language so that I can communicate with a wondersful girl named Nayda who has severe loss of hearing. She is wonderful with a great sense of humour and likes to tease people.
A lot has happened since I last wrote, we now have two more volunteers in the house; Gerry and Andy a married couple im the sixties. Very nice people. Summer school is almost over! This is the last week, next week is a week off for the kids while we volunteers fix up some things around the school. Tomorrow is the carnevale celebration at school, which is a water and coloured flour fight, which is going to EPIC! I will post pictures :) Last Monday I took Yelson out for one on one time and we had a really good talk about our dreams and plans for the future, the two of us have a great bond. It is wonderful to see him open up and be comfortable because he is quite a shy quiet person. At school we have been rehersing for the end of summer show, my class is putting on a short skit, while some other classes are dancing. It is so much fun but SUCH hard work to get some of these children focussed on the task at hand. We had some trouble with a few feisty boys at the school who were constantly fighting and getting into trouble but after a few trips to the principles office they are now on their best behaviour and are quite pleasant to be around. Two of them are quite happy to sit on either side of me and play with my hands which is very sweet. I´ve been having massage therapy with one of the older downsyndrome students at the school, Katya who is 22. Our sessions have been going well and we have some really good conversations, the therapy is important not only to reduce the pain of her arthritis but also for her to have an outlet where she can express her feelings and thoughts to someone.
We missed our trip to the rainbow centre last Thursday because Soledad had had an epileptic fit at school and was exhausted so it was best to just let her rest. Maggie is now out of hospital, having been put on an Iv drip for four days, she was diagnosed with Kidney infection, two types of salmonella and parasites....YIKES! Glad it wasn´t me, I´ll stick to the irregular bowel movements.....haha! We has a really great weekend in Cuzco, with tours of Saqsayhuaman, Ollantaytambo, Cuzco and lots of other stuff. Valentines day was celebrated in school with lots of friendship and trust games which was a lot of fun and really sweet to watch. Two of the special students Sharon and Michel, who normally are archenemies, spent the day giggling and kissing each other on the forehead and cheeks, much to the teachers amusement. Today one of the students Mauricio, who is 3, fell asleep in my arms for 3 hours (!!!) so adorable, I didnt want to let him go! My spanish has improved greatly and I can now carry on a conversation with the older children which is very rewarding. I´ve also learnt basic sign language so that I can communicate with a wondersful girl named Nayda who has severe loss of hearing. She is wonderful with a great sense of humour and likes to tease people.
. A lot of teasing between the children occured on Valentines day, and poor Yelson got an earful when some boys heard me call him ´mi amor´which translates to my love....whoops!
Thats mostly it I guess...I´ll try and write more frequently. If you try and comment more....haha
So yes, Cuidate (take care)
lots of love from Peru!
Good Karma !
xxxxxxxxx
Chloe
Tuesday 1 February 2011
Hello again!
A lot more up and down to report honestly :p My life has become very dramatic.
So Thursday and Friday were good, I had some good classes with the children. One moment sticks out quite a bit, Pierro and Abdiel are a pair of brothers in my class and we were makng some kind of paper mache thing. I was at one table with half the class while the other half worked at another table, Pierro has one hand with is cripple and sometimes its hard for him to do manual things, such as crafts. Abdiel came to me and said ´please please come help my brother, he can´t do this and he´ll be so upset if he is the only one who´s project isn´t good´. So I went over to Pierro who sure enough was struggling, and helped with his paper mache. While I did so, Abdiel hugged his brother and said ´my poor brother can´t do so much because of his hand, its so hard for him and he gets sad´. Hallmark moment! It was so so sweet.
Thursday I took Lizandra out for one on one time, we went to a bakery where we had cake and lemonade. She opened up a lot, we talked about boys which is really important for her since she is the oldest one in the house and needs someone to talk to when it comes to these things. (Alex, again she brought up your name!!!). Then out of nowhere she collapsed into tears, in the bakery. She explained that she was upset about Ely (the head teacher) leaving and couldn´t picture a future without her sunce Ely has been at the school for years and is very much a part of the family. So Lizandra was able vent her feelings in a very long conversation we had about Ely leaving. Then to cheer her up a little I took her to Plaza de Armas and gave her a very amateur manicure, which vastly improved her mood! SO it was great outing and really beneficial for her to talk about her feelings.
Then I was off to Cuzco for the weekend with Suzanne, fun fun fun! We ended up staying at different places, I was in a hostel and she in a bed and breakfast. But we met up every night at a Salsa club where I have now learnt to Meringue and very simple salsa steps.
So now the bad....or rather the sad.....
Monday is our day to go to the rainbow house and spend time with the kids. So Suzanne and I stayed at the house playing Uno and Ludo with them while Caroline took Soledad out for one on one time. The afternoon passed pleasantly with nothing out of the ordinary to report.
Then I went to an internet cafe to upload pictures and found that my camera was gone.
I ran home to double check that I hand´t left it there, I turned my room upside down, but it was nowhere to be found. I felt sick, could someone at the rainbow house really have taken it? the kids? the house mom? I loved them all so much and hoped that it wasn´t true.
The next morning at school Ely had a loooong meeting with all the children of the rainbow house. When I was called in, most of them were crying. I sat down and my camera and sunglasses( which I hadn´t realized were missng) were handed to me. Each child apologized to me one at a time, in the middle of which I broke into sobs, which made them all cry even more. They said that nothing like this had ever happened before and they all promised that it would never happen again and that they all loved me. It was very very emotional. Noone owned to taking the camera, which is why they all apologized, and it shocked them to see me cry. I still can´t believe on of them did it, I´m sure that they didn´t have th eintent to steal, but probably wanted to take pictures or something. Anyway so lots of crying over that last twenty four hours, unfortunately ontop of the drama I have contracted travellers sickness, as have three other people in the volunteer house. Meaning irregular bowel movements and abdominal pain......not fun. Another Volunteer has arrived (YAY!!) Maggie from Australia who is in her twenties. ALso the new coordinator is her(YAY) Laura from Englad who is also in her twenties. And a guest at the volunteer house named David from America, so FULLHOUSE!!!!!!!
Nice nice nice.
I´ve uploaded more pictures on the first album
And also created another which has picture from weekends, Cuzco, etc.
Also PLEASE COMMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Come on people I write loads and loads so I think you can muster a few sentences ;)
Ok thanks for reading and send me positive energy for my bowels! HAHA! ok lots of hugs and love and good karma!
xxxxxxxxx
Chloe
A lot more up and down to report honestly :p My life has become very dramatic.
So Thursday and Friday were good, I had some good classes with the children. One moment sticks out quite a bit, Pierro and Abdiel are a pair of brothers in my class and we were makng some kind of paper mache thing. I was at one table with half the class while the other half worked at another table, Pierro has one hand with is cripple and sometimes its hard for him to do manual things, such as crafts. Abdiel came to me and said ´please please come help my brother, he can´t do this and he´ll be so upset if he is the only one who´s project isn´t good´. So I went over to Pierro who sure enough was struggling, and helped with his paper mache. While I did so, Abdiel hugged his brother and said ´my poor brother can´t do so much because of his hand, its so hard for him and he gets sad´. Hallmark moment! It was so so sweet.
Thursday I took Lizandra out for one on one time, we went to a bakery where we had cake and lemonade. She opened up a lot, we talked about boys which is really important for her since she is the oldest one in the house and needs someone to talk to when it comes to these things. (Alex, again she brought up your name!!!). Then out of nowhere she collapsed into tears, in the bakery. She explained that she was upset about Ely (the head teacher) leaving and couldn´t picture a future without her sunce Ely has been at the school for years and is very much a part of the family. So Lizandra was able vent her feelings in a very long conversation we had about Ely leaving. Then to cheer her up a little I took her to Plaza de Armas and gave her a very amateur manicure, which vastly improved her mood! SO it was great outing and really beneficial for her to talk about her feelings.
Then I was off to Cuzco for the weekend with Suzanne, fun fun fun! We ended up staying at different places, I was in a hostel and she in a bed and breakfast. But we met up every night at a Salsa club where I have now learnt to Meringue and very simple salsa steps.
So now the bad....or rather the sad.....
Monday is our day to go to the rainbow house and spend time with the kids. So Suzanne and I stayed at the house playing Uno and Ludo with them while Caroline took Soledad out for one on one time. The afternoon passed pleasantly with nothing out of the ordinary to report.
Then I went to an internet cafe to upload pictures and found that my camera was gone.
I ran home to double check that I hand´t left it there, I turned my room upside down, but it was nowhere to be found. I felt sick, could someone at the rainbow house really have taken it? the kids? the house mom? I loved them all so much and hoped that it wasn´t true.
The next morning at school Ely had a loooong meeting with all the children of the rainbow house. When I was called in, most of them were crying. I sat down and my camera and sunglasses( which I hadn´t realized were missng) were handed to me. Each child apologized to me one at a time, in the middle of which I broke into sobs, which made them all cry even more. They said that nothing like this had ever happened before and they all promised that it would never happen again and that they all loved me. It was very very emotional. Noone owned to taking the camera, which is why they all apologized, and it shocked them to see me cry. I still can´t believe on of them did it, I´m sure that they didn´t have th eintent to steal, but probably wanted to take pictures or something. Anyway so lots of crying over that last twenty four hours, unfortunately ontop of the drama I have contracted travellers sickness, as have three other people in the volunteer house. Meaning irregular bowel movements and abdominal pain......not fun. Another Volunteer has arrived (YAY!!) Maggie from Australia who is in her twenties. ALso the new coordinator is her(YAY) Laura from Englad who is also in her twenties. And a guest at the volunteer house named David from America, so FULLHOUSE!!!!!!!
Nice nice nice.
I´ve uploaded more pictures on the first album
And also created another which has picture from weekends, Cuzco, etc.
Also PLEASE COMMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Come on people I write loads and loads so I think you can muster a few sentences ;)
Ok thanks for reading and send me positive energy for my bowels! HAHA! ok lots of hugs and love and good karma!
xxxxxxxxx
Chloe
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