Saturday, August 11, 2012
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Long Over-due Update
So it's been a really long time since I posted. Sorry about that. Peru can be a busy place. Since my last post of videos of our Salkantay trek, I've done the Lares and Choquequirao treks, spent a lot of time volunteering with the kiddos and moved apartments twice. I'm now in a beautiful lofted apartment (two lofts: one for a sitting area, the other to make the second bedroom for my roomies Brenna and James from Australia). We've lost a few kids at the school, but gains a few more and they are gorgeous kids with sweet personalities.
Brenna is a teacher back in Australia, so she's been making our program much more organized and thinks up really fun activities for the kids. I gave her $50 of your donation money and $50 from my grandma to buy books for the classroom. She's really awesome about making reading a priority and bought a whole bunch of beautiful books so the kids are really excited to read. She also got in contact (I think with the help of our awesome friend Stephanie from England) with a lady who runs a children's library, so every Wednesday we take 7-8 of the kids on a bus to the library and they get to pore through a whole bunch of books in this tiny library and they love it!
James has been doing an amazing job managing the program since Shawna left to go travel before returning to Belgium. He's great at organizing and leading and entertaining the volunteers. The two of them make an awesome team heading up this program and they are fun roomies too.
I also bought a box of those mosaic tiles for the classroom... different little shapes that you have to use to form pictures. They like those too :).
So on the Lares trek... I can't believe I didn't write about that... Ruben and I just did that one solo. He carried our tent and sleeping bags, I just carried my backpack... what a nice guy, eh? It starts out at some beautiful hot springs, then you trek through the mountains to a town in the clouds called Huacahuasi (town or house of cows in Quechua). The boys of the town were in the school yard wearing their traditional dress of colorful ponchos and hats with ribbons hanging off of them, hunched over little circles drawn in the dirt, playing marbles. We walked through to watch and one of them invited us to camp in his yard and use their house to cook. He wanted 1 nuevo sol for us to camp at his house; that's 38 cents. They live in a stone house with Andean grass for a roof. The stove is a three burner iron (or some other material) thing on the ground that you burn llama poop in for fire because there are no trees at that high elevation. The mom was going out to the mountains to care for their llamas for the night, but Edgar and his two small cousins were there for the evening. We decided to cook dinner for the boys and make arroz con leche for desert later. So we sat with Edgar (11 years old) and chatted in Spanish (they learn it in school) while his two younger cousins chatted and giggled in Quechua (they haven't learned Spanish yet) until we looked their way and they would start and be very quiet until they felt they weren't noticed again. Later Freddy, one of the small boys, pulled out a couple of thin books from the other side of the room. They were Edgar's books he'd bought from the school, fables in Quechua with lots of colorful pictures. Freddy pored through the pages, looking at the pictures because he can't yet read, then looked again from the back cover to the front. We were talking to Edgar and Ruben was encouraging him to keep inviting the guides/tourists to camp at their house and use that as a way to support his family. He was such a beautiful boy, so friendly and open. We ended up buying some food to leave with them from the tiny tienda run by a 7 year old, and I cooked them breakfast in the morning before we sat and ate our breakfast with an 83ish year old man who came to visit their neighbor. He was also very gracious and friendly. I was so impressed with the people there. We told Edgar we'd come back around November, so I've been on the hunt for books in Quechua to bring to him and Freddy. It's surprisingly a difficult task to find children's books in Quechua in Cusco.
Then there was the Choquequirao trek. We bought some camping equipment in preparation for Ruben to start his own trekking agency... the website is almost ready... and decided to take it with us to try it out. My roomies Brenna and James came with us, which made it really fun. I have to say, this was the hardest trek yet, by far. It's about 42 miles out and back and a 4500 elevation gain in one day. Oh, and it's also HOT. The bridge was out, so we got to ride across the Apurimac river in a basket. The site was amazing. It's much bigger than Machu Picchu, and only 30 percent excavated. Pretty amazing. Ruben and I heard a huge rush of wind type noise when we had stopped to put on sunscreen and saw three condors flying in formation through the canyon. It was awesome. The crap part is that once you're done in Choquequirao, you have to retrace your steps, and you've already seen the horrors that lie ahead of you, heh heh. It was so hot when we were climbing back up the other side of the river to our camp, that the hot water we took out of our backpacks felt icy on my head when Ruben was pouring it over me trying to cool me down. We ran out of water about 15 minutes from the camp, so when we got there, we put our heads under the sink and just sat there with water running down our faces. The views were just incredible. I'm going to put the pictures to some music and I'll post them.
So we got a few new kids because we've lost some of the originals due to different reasons... Mario is our oldest kid. He's very enthusiastic and very polite (most of the time). He shakes the profe's hands before going home and gives some of us hugs and kisses. I'm the profe for his homework group, so I get to talk to him more. He's really pleasant. I'm trying to get him to help me with my Quechua, but I think he's embarrassed that he knows it and pretends that he doesn't. His younger brother, Alberto, is suuuper shy. He typically watched the other kids, while clutching this three headed dragon toy and looking around with a little furrowed brow. He's a sweet boy. Sadly, I was told by my roomies that they saw him digging in the trash on the last Friday outing, only to find out he was looking for food because they only eat once a day at their house. We decided at that point that we need to make sandwiches to send with them on Fridays since we don't make dinner that day. It breaks your heart to know just a bit of what this sweet kids are going through on a daily basis.
We also have Julio, who is always eager to help out with whatever you may be doing and is really smart at math and pretty much everything else he tries. We have Helen, our oldest girl, who seems very wary to get to know us, but opens up a tiny bit once in a while with a beautiful smile. I believe Roly is her little brother, another boy on the quiet side, who seems eager to learn and was eating up our review of the food pyramid. We also have a little one called Adrian who is clearly babied at home and is learning not to whine like a two year old, because the profes don't listen to that, but put him in front of a camera and he becomes a really cute little guy posing in all kinds of ridiculous ways that remind you he can be pretty cute.
I was pretty sad not to be around for my cousin Hill's wedding to the amazing Jono, but I am excited that they are starting their life together and can't wait to congratulate them in person in December.
I'm still confident that this is where I was/am supposed to be this year and feel really blessed to have this opportunity. Hope everyone is doing well!
Besos! Kelly
Brenna is a teacher back in Australia, so she's been making our program much more organized and thinks up really fun activities for the kids. I gave her $50 of your donation money and $50 from my grandma to buy books for the classroom. She's really awesome about making reading a priority and bought a whole bunch of beautiful books so the kids are really excited to read. She also got in contact (I think with the help of our awesome friend Stephanie from England) with a lady who runs a children's library, so every Wednesday we take 7-8 of the kids on a bus to the library and they get to pore through a whole bunch of books in this tiny library and they love it!
James has been doing an amazing job managing the program since Shawna left to go travel before returning to Belgium. He's great at organizing and leading and entertaining the volunteers. The two of them make an awesome team heading up this program and they are fun roomies too.
I also bought a box of those mosaic tiles for the classroom... different little shapes that you have to use to form pictures. They like those too :).
So on the Lares trek... I can't believe I didn't write about that... Ruben and I just did that one solo. He carried our tent and sleeping bags, I just carried my backpack... what a nice guy, eh? It starts out at some beautiful hot springs, then you trek through the mountains to a town in the clouds called Huacahuasi (town or house of cows in Quechua). The boys of the town were in the school yard wearing their traditional dress of colorful ponchos and hats with ribbons hanging off of them, hunched over little circles drawn in the dirt, playing marbles. We walked through to watch and one of them invited us to camp in his yard and use their house to cook. He wanted 1 nuevo sol for us to camp at his house; that's 38 cents. They live in a stone house with Andean grass for a roof. The stove is a three burner iron (or some other material) thing on the ground that you burn llama poop in for fire because there are no trees at that high elevation. The mom was going out to the mountains to care for their llamas for the night, but Edgar and his two small cousins were there for the evening. We decided to cook dinner for the boys and make arroz con leche for desert later. So we sat with Edgar (11 years old) and chatted in Spanish (they learn it in school) while his two younger cousins chatted and giggled in Quechua (they haven't learned Spanish yet) until we looked their way and they would start and be very quiet until they felt they weren't noticed again. Later Freddy, one of the small boys, pulled out a couple of thin books from the other side of the room. They were Edgar's books he'd bought from the school, fables in Quechua with lots of colorful pictures. Freddy pored through the pages, looking at the pictures because he can't yet read, then looked again from the back cover to the front. We were talking to Edgar and Ruben was encouraging him to keep inviting the guides/tourists to camp at their house and use that as a way to support his family. He was such a beautiful boy, so friendly and open. We ended up buying some food to leave with them from the tiny tienda run by a 7 year old, and I cooked them breakfast in the morning before we sat and ate our breakfast with an 83ish year old man who came to visit their neighbor. He was also very gracious and friendly. I was so impressed with the people there. We told Edgar we'd come back around November, so I've been on the hunt for books in Quechua to bring to him and Freddy. It's surprisingly a difficult task to find children's books in Quechua in Cusco.
Then there was the Choquequirao trek. We bought some camping equipment in preparation for Ruben to start his own trekking agency... the website is almost ready... and decided to take it with us to try it out. My roomies Brenna and James came with us, which made it really fun. I have to say, this was the hardest trek yet, by far. It's about 42 miles out and back and a 4500 elevation gain in one day. Oh, and it's also HOT. The bridge was out, so we got to ride across the Apurimac river in a basket. The site was amazing. It's much bigger than Machu Picchu, and only 30 percent excavated. Pretty amazing. Ruben and I heard a huge rush of wind type noise when we had stopped to put on sunscreen and saw three condors flying in formation through the canyon. It was awesome. The crap part is that once you're done in Choquequirao, you have to retrace your steps, and you've already seen the horrors that lie ahead of you, heh heh. It was so hot when we were climbing back up the other side of the river to our camp, that the hot water we took out of our backpacks felt icy on my head when Ruben was pouring it over me trying to cool me down. We ran out of water about 15 minutes from the camp, so when we got there, we put our heads under the sink and just sat there with water running down our faces. The views were just incredible. I'm going to put the pictures to some music and I'll post them.
So we got a few new kids because we've lost some of the originals due to different reasons... Mario is our oldest kid. He's very enthusiastic and very polite (most of the time). He shakes the profe's hands before going home and gives some of us hugs and kisses. I'm the profe for his homework group, so I get to talk to him more. He's really pleasant. I'm trying to get him to help me with my Quechua, but I think he's embarrassed that he knows it and pretends that he doesn't. His younger brother, Alberto, is suuuper shy. He typically watched the other kids, while clutching this three headed dragon toy and looking around with a little furrowed brow. He's a sweet boy. Sadly, I was told by my roomies that they saw him digging in the trash on the last Friday outing, only to find out he was looking for food because they only eat once a day at their house. We decided at that point that we need to make sandwiches to send with them on Fridays since we don't make dinner that day. It breaks your heart to know just a bit of what this sweet kids are going through on a daily basis.
We also have Julio, who is always eager to help out with whatever you may be doing and is really smart at math and pretty much everything else he tries. We have Helen, our oldest girl, who seems very wary to get to know us, but opens up a tiny bit once in a while with a beautiful smile. I believe Roly is her little brother, another boy on the quiet side, who seems eager to learn and was eating up our review of the food pyramid. We also have a little one called Adrian who is clearly babied at home and is learning not to whine like a two year old, because the profes don't listen to that, but put him in front of a camera and he becomes a really cute little guy posing in all kinds of ridiculous ways that remind you he can be pretty cute.
I was pretty sad not to be around for my cousin Hill's wedding to the amazing Jono, but I am excited that they are starting their life together and can't wait to congratulate them in person in December.
I'm still confident that this is where I was/am supposed to be this year and feel really blessed to have this opportunity. Hope everyone is doing well!
Besos! Kelly
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Salkantay Part 3
This last part shows our arrival in Aguas Calientes. In true Peruvian fashion, there was a parade to meet us as we came into town. Ruben and I planned to hike another mountain overlooking Machu Picchu called Putukusi. It started out really fabulously. The secret stairs to the right of the train tracks were mysterious and alluring. The path was gorgeous and different from what we'd been hiking for the last four days. We even had a dog that decided to hike along with us (we had two but one left after we met the first obstacle). Unfortunately this hike has a lot of straight up faces of the mountain/rock that require ladders to ascend, and the rains destroyed the ladders. We climbed around the first broken one and Ruben climbed pretty high on the second set, but we decided even if we could get up, it would be pretty dangerous to come back down since the rocks are covered in slippery moss. We'll have to go back another time when the ladders have been rebuilt.
Salkantay Part 2
After we reached the Salkantay Pass, we hiked downhill for the rest of the day to reach the bottom of the valley where our camp, Chullay is located. It rained all afternoon, so we were walking in streams and mud for hours. We got to skip the hardest part of the rain sitting in a tiny room, drinking hot cafe con leche and eating fresh guacamole, since Ruben talked to a lady who owns a tiny store out there in the midst of those amazing landscapes. Toward the end of the day, we practically had to run to make it to camp before it was pitch black. The moon wasn't shining very bright that night and we didn't have our flashlights with us. It was an adventure. The next day we were rewarded with sunshine and a beautiful walk in the jungle, as well as a fun ride in the back of a truck with a bunch of Peruvians, bags and luggage, and a baby cow. We camped in Santa Teresa where it's nice and warm (jungle) and you can see all kinds of things growing like coffee, bananas, and passion fruit (tastey!).
Salkantay Part 1
Hey! Last
week I did the Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu (we skipped the Machu Picchu
part) with three of my friends from volunteering and my boyfriend Ruben as our
guide. It was an awesome hike packed with insanely amazing landscapes,
some freezing rain in the highlands, and some gorgeous hot weather in the
jungle. The video was pretty long, so I had to split it into three parts to upload. My parents might be the only
people who actually finish watching it, but enjoy as much as you please!
Waaw is still
going really well. Our core team from the past couple of months is
starting to break up as people go home or continue on their travels through
South America, but we have a steady flow of great new people coming in as well,
so the program should continue to function well. Our Friday afternoon
trips with the kids that have earned enough stars during the week for good
behavior have been going well. We took them to the Wanchaq market one day
and let them pick out stuff to buy that would fit in each section of the food
pyramid (we are studying nutrition in our activity time). They loved
having the chance to pick out the stuff and ask how much it cost, then pay for
it with the money we gave them. As we split into groups of six kids with
two volunteers, my Belgian volunteer partner Eddy and I were asked by several
of the women working in the market how many children we have. Another
week we took them to the small town of Orepesa, where all the bakeries are.
They got to make some bread and see how the process works. This week we
took them to a dairy farm where they screamed and laughed and stood in awe of
the cows, then tasted fresh milk that was still warm from the cow (they aren’t
that big into pasteurization here). Our
kiddos are as enthusiastic and fun as ever. I'll make a new video of them
soon when I get enough pictures.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Waaw Cooking Days 1-2
3/19/12
Ay ay ay. So my task this week for Waaw is to cook for our 28 kids along with Margaux from New York/Holland. We got together ideas for the four days this week that we need to cook and came up with spaghetti, chicken/veggie noodle soup, chicken adobo, and a Quechua meal that was prepared in Margaux’s homestay… I originally forgot that we don’t have to cook on Fridays so we also have chili as backup. I went out Sunday afternoon and comparison shopped in two local supermercados for ingredients.
This morning we went to the store, bought all our ingredients for today and tomorrow and were quite pleased with ourselves for being under budget. This afternoon we got to the project, and with the help of our fellow volunteers we washed and chopped red peppers, carrots, onion, garlic, and lots of tomatoes… we cooked up our onions and garlic in a little oil, added the veggies, cooked them down, and … here’s maybe where we went wrong… added ketchup in place of very pricey tomato paste. We figured it has a similar consistency with spices and sugar, so it should be fine. And if you ask our volunteers or Margaux or myself, the sauce was delicious… it boiled down to a great consistency with the ground round beef we cooked and added. We added it to the tallarin (pasta noodles) and served it up to the kids.
When they were served they all said, ooo que rico! (ooo delicious!), but after a few minutes we had a myriad of reactions… a few of the kids liked it, a few of the kids were super polite and tried to choke it down, others just were not liking it which showed on their faces. Haha. One of my favorite little kids, Victor, who is always quick to give you a strong hug that lingers a bit (he’s adorable) actually really liked it and said, “Que rico la comida!” as he passed by. Later one of the other volunteers came into the kitchen laughing that Victor was telling him very enthusiastically that THE PEPPERS ARE THE MOST DELICIOUS PART! I love Victor. As long as he was happy with dinner, I’m happy.
So now I’m really worried about tomorrow’s planned chicken adobo because it seems that the sauce was too sweet for their tastes… and this recipe is pretty sweet as far as meat goes (correction, it’s salty from the soy sauce, I was thinking of Korean BBQ). It’s hard enough trying to please little kids when you’re cooking… it’s even harder to please them when they are from a different culture, because like I said, all the volunteers liked it (and we are from Belgium, Holland, Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S.).
Other than that, the program is going well. They selected 28 kids that need to be there the most due to family need after interviews with the parents on Friday. We only had 24 kids there today, so I’m not sure what happened with that… but they really seem to enjoy the activities and having help with their homework and are always very entertained by us, whether we are meaning to be funny or not. It’s a great program and a great group of volunteers right now… everyone gets along really well and is always willing to pick up a knife to chop veggies or come over to help with homework that another volunteer can’t figure out with our limited Spanish skills… I’m really happy to be a part of it. I just need to figure out how to feed Peruvian kids food they will like while hiding some veggies in their dinner :).
3/20/12
So today we cooked chicken adobo that my dad makes at home. This version is Filipino food… one of my favorites along with poncit. It required a lot less chopping than yesterday since we only needed garlic, onion and green onion in addition to the soy sauce and white vinegar. It’s super easy to cook since you just chop, throw everything in a pot, and let it cook down into delicious chicken and sauce for your rice. We used the excess chopped tomatoes from yesterday, added chopped cucumber and lime juice and salt, and we had a cool veggie (fruit?) salad for a side to counter the salty chicken. We also learned from yesterday that the kids are accustomed to the typical Peruvian custom of having a mate (tea that’s not just black tea) with their dinner, so I picked up manzanilla (chamomile) from the store this morning…
Everything was going so smoothly until our gas tank ran out… meaning we had no way to finish cooking the chicken, start cooking the rice, or boil the water for tea with only an hour until we serve dinner. So we quickly looked to the family that lives there for help… after a little confusion about how much gas we had (little versus none) we got a new full gas tank from a dude who brings it on a motorcycle and were back in business. Once again the volunteers were coming into the kitchen saying, “Wow it smells great!” which gave me no confidence because we all agreed yesterday that the pasta sauce was great… we started dishing out the food and soon heard the kids coming back from the park and clambering in to wash their hands. We dished out plates with minimal salad, rice, and chicken, because they are required to finish their food and yesterday some of them were pretty miserable. A few minutes later as I was still filling plates in the kitchen, I heard Stejn ask the kids if they liked the food and a resounding “SI!!” came from the room. I was soooo excited. (After yesterday I lost a little confidence in my cooking even though Ruben and my hostel family always seem to enjoy what I cook for them.) A little while later we had the kids coming back for seconds and even thirds… Seems we found a winner of a dinner recipe that we can use again! Thanks dad!
Also, we got a really sweet note from one of our girls, telling us that she loves us and thanking all of us for teaching her beautiful things. We tend to get little notes or flowers or hugs every day… and it never gets old. :)
And now some pictures, because things are always better with pictures and because you should see how cute our kids are.
Stejn and Shana teaching the kids about gallos y gallinas (roosters and chickens)
Trent and Maria helping with some puzzles
Georgia and Zack making words with the kids with scrabble tiles
Margaux and I having fun on kitchen duty… we eat a lot of chocolate from the tienda across the street to get us through, thus the happy faces
This little girl’s face says it all as she’s trying to figure out how she’s going to choke down this strange food… (spaghetti with sauce sweeter than they are used to)
Much happier campers today
Our precious letter of thanks today
Friday, March 16, 2012
Waaw!
SO, we started Waaw (formerly Wawawasi, but it means house of babies in Quechua and we take 6-11 years olds, so we needed to avoid confusion) this past Wednesday. It has been really crazy, loud, a bit chaotic at times, but really fun!
Monday and Tuesday we went to the local school and handed out fliers and jumping origami frogs to the parents and kids. My Belgian friends showed me how to make a new and improved jumping frog to the ones I make from post-its.
Wednesday afternoon was our first day of the program. We start at 2pm since the schools get out at 1pm. Our planned schedule is to have homework time from 2-3pm, activities at stations to learn and foster creativity (with different mediums like clay, drawing, acting things out, etc) from 3pm-4pm, sports and games in the park up the hill from 4pm-5pm, a nutritious dinner from 5pm-6pm, then we all go home. This week since we are just getting started, we have been doing homework, a snack, puzzles and games, sports, then going home. Homework is a challenge as many times we don’t understand what the homework is asking to begin with (we are all at different levels of learning Spanish), and then often they are doing things like Peruvian geography which we aren’t familiar with. I need to find an Atlas somewhere in town.
Our first day we had 21 kids come. Most of them left early because they were giving out free shoes in San Sebastian, so they definitely needed to take advantage of that. It rained that day, so we couldn’t take half of them to the park to play like we’d planned, which meant we had stir crazy kids making a LOT of noise in one tiny room. All of the volunteers were a little relieved that a bunch of kids left to go get shoes as we were a bit overwhelmed the first day, but overall it went very well and we were happy with the supplies we had and that all the kids seemed to enjoy it.
Yesterday was our second day and we had 43 kids. It was a bit crazy, but since it didn’t rain we were able to go to the park and they loved it! We played some crazy running around games and when we participated they were so excited. There’s one game where everyone sits in a circle. One person walks around the circle and stops between two people. Those two have to get up and run in opposite directions around the circle, and try to get back first to grab the flag. They think it’s hilarious when we are competing with them, so they chose me and a kid a few times. They call us “profe” short for profesora or professor, so when we play, they scream “Profe! Profe!” It’s pretty funny. I have to remember to wear clothes I can be fast in :D. Also, these kids are tough. There were a couple of times when they ran into each other or just lost control and fell on the concrete, but instead of crying like you’d expect they jump right back up laughing.
They have been loving the bananas and apples we’ve been giving them this week. Our goal is to provide nutritious meals every day because according to the research done for this program due to malnutrition, it’s very likely with a lot of these kids that their brains will not fully develop. Next week I get to cook for 28 kids, so if you have any ideas for nutritious meals that you can cook in a pot, please send them my way. So far all I have in mind is spaghetti with a veggie on the side for one day. They intend for us to cook chicken once a week and fish once a week. Other than that, suggestions? Please?
You can see in some of the parents that are coming up to the door the intense need they have for this program. Moms that are working on the street selling random goods all day, that can’t give their kids the attention they need and can’t help with their homework because they can’t read themselves. This is going to be an awesome program. I just wish we were able to take as many kids as want to come, but we are limited for space, limited on volunteers, and limited in funds to support the program. We have to select 28 kids to stay in the program this weekend and I’m sure we’ll have more than 43 today as we had moms coming and asking yesterday if their kids can come. The selection process is going to be horrible and telling the parents and kids that we can’t take them is going to be worse. Please pray that we’ll have wisdom in selecting the kids that need this the most and can benefit from it the most.
Margo (New York/Holland) and Stejn (Belgium) when we took the kids to the park yesterday.
Monday and Tuesday we went to the local school and handed out fliers and jumping origami frogs to the parents and kids. My Belgian friends showed me how to make a new and improved jumping frog to the ones I make from post-its.
Wednesday afternoon was our first day of the program. We start at 2pm since the schools get out at 1pm. Our planned schedule is to have homework time from 2-3pm, activities at stations to learn and foster creativity (with different mediums like clay, drawing, acting things out, etc) from 3pm-4pm, sports and games in the park up the hill from 4pm-5pm, a nutritious dinner from 5pm-6pm, then we all go home. This week since we are just getting started, we have been doing homework, a snack, puzzles and games, sports, then going home. Homework is a challenge as many times we don’t understand what the homework is asking to begin with (we are all at different levels of learning Spanish), and then often they are doing things like Peruvian geography which we aren’t familiar with. I need to find an Atlas somewhere in town.
Our first day we had 21 kids come. Most of them left early because they were giving out free shoes in San Sebastian, so they definitely needed to take advantage of that. It rained that day, so we couldn’t take half of them to the park to play like we’d planned, which meant we had stir crazy kids making a LOT of noise in one tiny room. All of the volunteers were a little relieved that a bunch of kids left to go get shoes as we were a bit overwhelmed the first day, but overall it went very well and we were happy with the supplies we had and that all the kids seemed to enjoy it.
Yesterday was our second day and we had 43 kids. It was a bit crazy, but since it didn’t rain we were able to go to the park and they loved it! We played some crazy running around games and when we participated they were so excited. There’s one game where everyone sits in a circle. One person walks around the circle and stops between two people. Those two have to get up and run in opposite directions around the circle, and try to get back first to grab the flag. They think it’s hilarious when we are competing with them, so they chose me and a kid a few times. They call us “profe” short for profesora or professor, so when we play, they scream “Profe! Profe!” It’s pretty funny. I have to remember to wear clothes I can be fast in :D. Also, these kids are tough. There were a couple of times when they ran into each other or just lost control and fell on the concrete, but instead of crying like you’d expect they jump right back up laughing.
They have been loving the bananas and apples we’ve been giving them this week. Our goal is to provide nutritious meals every day because according to the research done for this program due to malnutrition, it’s very likely with a lot of these kids that their brains will not fully develop. Next week I get to cook for 28 kids, so if you have any ideas for nutritious meals that you can cook in a pot, please send them my way. So far all I have in mind is spaghetti with a veggie on the side for one day. They intend for us to cook chicken once a week and fish once a week. Other than that, suggestions? Please?
You can see in some of the parents that are coming up to the door the intense need they have for this program. Moms that are working on the street selling random goods all day, that can’t give their kids the attention they need and can’t help with their homework because they can’t read themselves. This is going to be an awesome program. I just wish we were able to take as many kids as want to come, but we are limited for space, limited on volunteers, and limited in funds to support the program. We have to select 28 kids to stay in the program this weekend and I’m sure we’ll have more than 43 today as we had moms coming and asking yesterday if their kids can come. The selection process is going to be horrible and telling the parents and kids that we can’t take them is going to be worse. Please pray that we’ll have wisdom in selecting the kids that need this the most and can benefit from it the most.
Margo (New York/Holland) and Stejn (Belgium) when we took the kids to the park yesterday.
The kiddos playing that game I described earlier.
Typing back on our little cloth bandanas that help us keep track of who needs to come back to the school with us. Other neighborhood kids come over and want to play too while we're out.
The view from the park is not to shabby :)
Ohhhh before I forget... thank you so much to the people from work and family and friends who gave me money to spend on volunteer work down here... so far we've contributed to this program by buying paints, playdoh, two large plastic tubs for carrying toys to the park, facepaint and brushes, and velcro to use on the puppets for the puppet theater. All that costed 106.80 soles, which is about $39.55, so we still have over $450 to donate when needs come up. Believe me, these kids really appreciate everything that is given to them here. I've never seen kids so happy to play with puzzles and silly games. Thank you so much for your help!!
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Some Maps
I used google maps to show my mom where I'm living now and she thought it would be a good idea to post it here... so if you're in Cusco, Peru in the next few months, look me up!
Friday, March 9, 2012
A Little Piece of Paradise... I mean Peru
Don't read too much into the song... I'm not trying to run away from you guys forever. I just love Coldplay, and this song, and wanted you guys to get a peek at what I'm seeing down here. The snowy picture is the Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu that I hope to do with Ruben in the fall. Enjoy!
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Wawawasi Progress...
Sorry it’s been a long time since I’ve updated… our progress in getting ready for Wawawasi has been slow! We’ve been buying supplies, painting, buying more supplies, getting the wrong colors, getting stuck… but the room is almost completely painted…
Today after painting, we worked on puppets for the puppet theater. We are making a variety of animals, a Peruvian boy and girl, and an Incan king and queen.
Saturday the teachers from FairPlay are going to come and clean and help get the room ready.
Monday and Tuesday we will be doing “marketing” by walking the neighborhood and giving out information to the mamas and origami jumping frogs to the kids.
Wednesday we are projected to start! It’s going to be really fun and I’m sure very challenging, but we are all really excited to get started!
I also got an email from Yanapay saying that the first email was an error and they still need help, so it’s possible I will work with them later this year. I would really like to work with them as well, since they seem to have an awesome program and they are also located much closer to where I live now, so I could walk up there. ALSO, I think they would benefit from the money that you all donated much more than FairPlay since FairPlay does their fundraising in Belgium/Europe. It’s hard to say though. I’ll watch and see if there is a specific need we can fill at Wawawasi.
Here are some pictures of the art that was designed by Josie from Northern California of all places. She’s an art student at a college in Oregon.
I moved from my homestay (which is a little silly because Wawawasi is in the same house) to a hostel near the mercado San Pedro. It’s a covered market where you can buy everything from half a cow carcass to fresh mangos (my fav!). It’s not quite as quiet here as Cari Grande, but I love being walking distance to the plaza and the market. I also have a kitchen so I can cook and I’m paying about half as much as I was at the homestay. The other residents of the hostel are really funny to live around. The bulk of them right now are Argentinians that are in some kind of circus. Others are musicians, so we constantly have some type of music playing… everything from an acoustic version of MGMT’s “Kids” to more Andean sounding music with flutes… it’s a happy place to live. The owner is a really nice lady named Delsy. Her husband and 16 year old also live here and her parents visit often. She often gives me food when she makes lunch for the family like fried fish with giant corn and salad and when I cook French toast, crepes, or Korean bbq, I always share with the family. The only thing I don’t like about this place is the freezing cold water when it’s already 45ish degrees every morning and night… and this is SUMMER.
In other frivolous news, I got a haircut near my hostel for 5 soles (that’s less than two bucks) and colored it (I have lots of grey hair) for 40 soles (less than 15 bucks). Since we don’t have hot water in the hostel, having my hair washed in hot water felt like a little piece of heaven, haha.
A blurry pic of my new look (it's just my old look refreshed):
Friday, February 24, 2012
Puerto Maldonado and Wawawasi
Disculpame. It’s beena long time since I last wrote. I took a little trip to the jungle (Puerto Maldonado) with my buddy Ruben and came back with a fever. I've been taking multivitamins that the pharmacist told me would make me feel maravillosa, and I actually am feeling much better. Here are a few pictures of that amazingly beautiful place.
So originally I didn’t want to volunteer with FairPlaybecause I’m taking my Spanish lessons there, and home staying through them, andgoing to cooking classes through them… I wanted to branch out a little. However, after applying to one place, playingwith kids but not really doing much at another, and seeing/hearing of countlessothers that I’m not quite sure of… I’m going to start volunteering with FairPlay. I know the people that are running thisprogram have a heart for these people are doing this for all of the rightreasons. They are trustworthy and theyhave an excellent program planned.
If you didn’t know, FairPlay is owned by John from Belgiumand his Peruvian wife Fanny. You canread more of the history of FairPlay in better detail on their website. It’s a really cool organization. But as for the volunteering, this is acompletely separate venture they are starting in March. Basically for 6 years John has wanted tostart a program for the children of mothers living in extreme poverty. The idea is to start an afterschool programto teach subjects – like information about countries around the world – thatare not taught in the schools. Thisgives the kids a place to be that’s not on the street when they are not inschool and a chance to learn new things they would otherwise not be exposedto. The problem is that these kids aremalnourished, which means theirs brains will not develop normally, makinglearning harder for them. So as part ofthis program we will be cooking healthy meals for them, packed with nutrientsthey need to grow and learn. The programis completely free to the mothers, but they are required to take classes onnutrition and hygiene and other things on how to care for their children. So the kids will learn about different thingsat 4 different stations, eat some food, play some games in the garden with thevolunteer staff, and get to play with the puppet theater.
The program is supposed to start in March, when the kids goback to school from summer (heh, it’s freezing here) break. So we have been working this week on buyingsupplies and painting the room, buying supplies to make cushions for sittingon, and organizing what else needs to be done. Next week we will complete our painting, buy the supplies and set up thekitchen, and get the materials ready for the start of the program. The name of this program is Wawawasi, whichin Quechua (the main language of the Andes) mean house of babies.
We’re pretty excited to get started! Wish us luck!
Here is a picture of the room after we painted the base coats and before the designs are going on (maybe tomorrow).
So originally I didn’t want to volunteer with FairPlaybecause I’m taking my Spanish lessons there, and home staying through them, andgoing to cooking classes through them… I wanted to branch out a little. However, after applying to one place, playingwith kids but not really doing much at another, and seeing/hearing of countlessothers that I’m not quite sure of… I’m going to start volunteering with FairPlay. I know the people that are running thisprogram have a heart for these people are doing this for all of the rightreasons. They are trustworthy and theyhave an excellent program planned.
If you didn’t know, FairPlay is owned by John from Belgiumand his Peruvian wife Fanny. You canread more of the history of FairPlay in better detail on their website. It’s a really cool organization. But as for the volunteering, this is acompletely separate venture they are starting in March. Basically for 6 years John has wanted tostart a program for the children of mothers living in extreme poverty. The idea is to start an afterschool programto teach subjects – like information about countries around the world – thatare not taught in the schools. Thisgives the kids a place to be that’s not on the street when they are not inschool and a chance to learn new things they would otherwise not be exposedto. The problem is that these kids aremalnourished, which means theirs brains will not develop normally, makinglearning harder for them. So as part ofthis program we will be cooking healthy meals for them, packed with nutrientsthey need to grow and learn. The programis completely free to the mothers, but they are required to take classes onnutrition and hygiene and other things on how to care for their children. So the kids will learn about different thingsat 4 different stations, eat some food, play some games in the garden with thevolunteer staff, and get to play with the puppet theater.
The program is supposed to start in March, when the kids goback to school from summer (heh, it’s freezing here) break. So we have been working this week on buyingsupplies and painting the room, buying supplies to make cushions for sittingon, and organizing what else needs to be done. Next week we will complete our painting, buy the supplies and set up thekitchen, and get the materials ready for the start of the program. The name of this program is Wawawasi, whichin Quechua (the main language of the Andes) mean house of babies.
We’re pretty excited to get started! Wish us luck!
Here is a picture of the room after we painted the base coats and before the designs are going on (maybe tomorrow).
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Trabajo Voluntario III
Hola a todos!
So this is my fourth week in Cusco... it's been really fun getting used to the differences in living here, rather than just vacationing... there are funny quirks in living in a house rather than staying in a hotel. It's more relaxed in our neighborhood than it is in the centro. There are less taxis, less traffic, so less polution and you can actually breath... there's also more dog poo all over the sidewalks from the random dogs that roam around the city ;)
Classes are going well. I love my professoras. They are both really sweet and we laugh a lot during our classes when I try to explain things in spanish and they don't have a clue what I'm talking about because I'm not making sense. Other than those times, I think I am making a lot of progress in speaking. At least I can understand loads more than when I got here and people seem to understand what I'm talking about about half to 3/4 of the time, rather than 10%.... heh heh.
I have been spending lots of time with the students in my house, who are really fun. Laura from Texas is super smart and going to go to school for study abroad in Arequipa. Stephanie and Paul are a couple from Minnesota (they are a pastor and youth pastor) and they are traveling before hosting a group from their church to volunteer at this school they support as well as take the train to Machu Picchu. They already hiked it themselves on the Inca Trail. We have been having a good time trying out food and drinks, and doing fun little stuff in Cusco like the overpriced chocolate museum. I will be very sad to see them go at the end of next week. It's been like having a little family in Cusco.
Stephanie and Paul took me to the school they are volunteering at. It's pretty awesome. During the school year the kids actually attend classes, then go to these little classes in the afternoon to learn trades like bracelet making, baking, carpintry, painting and drawing, and ceramics. Right now they are on vacation, so they just come in the afternoon and do their trade classes. I went with them the last two days and we played with the kids and hanged out with them while they were doing their classes. I sorted beads with little girls and asked them about their siblings and their favorite games. They asked me how to say words in English, and I had them teach me words in Quechua. The teacher borrowed my llama bracelet to figure out how to make it so they can make those too... it's kinda weird not to be wearing it since I've worn it since August nearly every day. :) Grace is still wearing hers while I'm gone, so I have to be sure to get it back.
Yanapay is a strange sitch. I went to visit that one day and they said come back sooner if you want! Then they sent me an application, I had issues returning it, so they sent me another format, finally they received it... then they told me they don't need volunteers for the kids right now.... just in marketing.... which I know nothing about. :) I might just email them back and ask what particularly they need help with... but it's odd. The school in Choqachaka is really cool, but it doesn't seem like they need volunteers. They are pretty self sufficient. So the hunt is still on for volunteering opportunities... I do think it will be good to finish my classes before volunteering full time anyway because it is pretty exhausting doing both. Also, my friend's dad seems to know of some places and would like to help me out.... so please keep praying that I will find the right place to serve.
Here are some pics from the school we visited this week.
The girl in the pink in the first pic is my pal Milagros (miracles). She taught me a bunch of clapping games, then we were running through Cusco holding hands after school the first day because I thought she lived close and wanted me to walk her home. Turns out she lives like 30 minutes by car outside of the center and wanted to walk me home... somehow we compromised and Paul, Stephanie, and I walked her close to her bus stop before going back to school for our cooking class on Tuesday night.
Well... that's pretty much it for now. I'm going to check out the jungle with my friend tomorrow. I had to get a yellow fever vaccination in order to go there. If you saw me after I got my shots for the trip in August, you'll be happy to know I didn't come down with a 4 day fever this time ;)
Have a great week. I'll try to post pics of la selva (jungle) soon after I get back!
Kelly
So this is my fourth week in Cusco... it's been really fun getting used to the differences in living here, rather than just vacationing... there are funny quirks in living in a house rather than staying in a hotel. It's more relaxed in our neighborhood than it is in the centro. There are less taxis, less traffic, so less polution and you can actually breath... there's also more dog poo all over the sidewalks from the random dogs that roam around the city ;)
Classes are going well. I love my professoras. They are both really sweet and we laugh a lot during our classes when I try to explain things in spanish and they don't have a clue what I'm talking about because I'm not making sense. Other than those times, I think I am making a lot of progress in speaking. At least I can understand loads more than when I got here and people seem to understand what I'm talking about about half to 3/4 of the time, rather than 10%.... heh heh.
I have been spending lots of time with the students in my house, who are really fun. Laura from Texas is super smart and going to go to school for study abroad in Arequipa. Stephanie and Paul are a couple from Minnesota (they are a pastor and youth pastor) and they are traveling before hosting a group from their church to volunteer at this school they support as well as take the train to Machu Picchu. They already hiked it themselves on the Inca Trail. We have been having a good time trying out food and drinks, and doing fun little stuff in Cusco like the overpriced chocolate museum. I will be very sad to see them go at the end of next week. It's been like having a little family in Cusco.
Stephanie and Paul took me to the school they are volunteering at. It's pretty awesome. During the school year the kids actually attend classes, then go to these little classes in the afternoon to learn trades like bracelet making, baking, carpintry, painting and drawing, and ceramics. Right now they are on vacation, so they just come in the afternoon and do their trade classes. I went with them the last two days and we played with the kids and hanged out with them while they were doing their classes. I sorted beads with little girls and asked them about their siblings and their favorite games. They asked me how to say words in English, and I had them teach me words in Quechua. The teacher borrowed my llama bracelet to figure out how to make it so they can make those too... it's kinda weird not to be wearing it since I've worn it since August nearly every day. :) Grace is still wearing hers while I'm gone, so I have to be sure to get it back.
Yanapay is a strange sitch. I went to visit that one day and they said come back sooner if you want! Then they sent me an application, I had issues returning it, so they sent me another format, finally they received it... then they told me they don't need volunteers for the kids right now.... just in marketing.... which I know nothing about. :) I might just email them back and ask what particularly they need help with... but it's odd. The school in Choqachaka is really cool, but it doesn't seem like they need volunteers. They are pretty self sufficient. So the hunt is still on for volunteering opportunities... I do think it will be good to finish my classes before volunteering full time anyway because it is pretty exhausting doing both. Also, my friend's dad seems to know of some places and would like to help me out.... so please keep praying that I will find the right place to serve.
The girl in the pink in the first pic is my pal Milagros (miracles). She taught me a bunch of clapping games, then we were running through Cusco holding hands after school the first day because I thought she lived close and wanted me to walk her home. Turns out she lives like 30 minutes by car outside of the center and wanted to walk me home... somehow we compromised and Paul, Stephanie, and I walked her close to her bus stop before going back to school for our cooking class on Tuesday night.
Well... that's pretty much it for now. I'm going to check out the jungle with my friend tomorrow. I had to get a yellow fever vaccination in order to go there. If you saw me after I got my shots for the trip in August, you'll be happy to know I didn't come down with a 4 day fever this time ;)
Have a great week. I'll try to post pics of la selva (jungle) soon after I get back!
Kelly
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Unas Fotos de Cusco
Here are some pics of where I am living in Cusco Peru
.JPG)
My room in Cari Grande, San Sebastian
La Iglesia de San Sebastian
.JPG)
The view from my bedroom window on a sunny day.
.JPG)
Taken from our roof.
.JPG)
Clouds rolling in for more rain
.JPG)
On my walk home, or from the roof, who can say?
.JPG)
Taken from a secret location in the Plaza de Armas... 10 pts to the person who can guess where from...
.JPG)
Taking down the Peruvian flag for the evening
.JPG)
Soy una fanstasma.
.JPG)
Cristo Blanco y Kelly oscura
.JPG)
Plaza de Armas from Cristo Blanco
.JPG)
Plaza de Armas por la noche
.JPG)
Una otra de la catedral en Plaza de Armas
La iglesia de San Sebastian
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Trabajo Voluntario II
Above is a picture from the roof of the house where I live on one of the sunny days last week - when I burnt my face to a crisp! I will add more pics later. I need to resize them or they will take an hour each to upload!
So today I went to check out a volunteer opportunity at a place called Aldea Yanapay. Google them, they have lots of pics on their website.
It´s a community center for kids of low income families in Cusco. I had a hard time finding it because from the outside it´s basically a giant metal door with a tiny metal door on a very dirty street up in the hills of Cusco. I was wandering up and down the street in the rain until a funny little boy was running up to the metal door, looked at me, and asked me what I was looking for. I told him Aldea Yanapay, and he said it´s right here!! I followed him in and got to talk to Yure, the guy that started the whole project. You can read his history on their website. Basically inside, it´s a really cool looking place with a room for games, a room for art, a room with five computers so the kids can learn how to use computers and do homework, and a biblioteca (library) for them to do homework during the school year (they are on summer break right now) and general studying of subjects on their break. They have the kids in the art room for 2 hours at a time, and moving around every 40 minutes in each of the other rooms. What struck me while I was getting the tour was how much love the people that work there have for the kids. They are genuinely connected with them and the kids seem really happy to see them when they come in. The kids themselves were the sweetest. When we were looking in the library, they were kind of staring at my shyly, but when I smiled and waved they had HUGE smiles and waved back. In the art room, they were more outgoing and asked me, ¨Where are you from? What´s your name? Her name is Kelly too!! Do you have a twin??¨ I didn´t have to explain that I don´t, but my sister and I are often confused as twins haha.
Anyway, I still have my lessons with FairPlay through February, and I may seize the opportunity to travel next week to la Selba (the jungle!!) with my friend and his family friends, but I plan to start working there in the afternoons next month and possibly the mornings (or both!) when my lessons with FairPlay end.
Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray that this will work out and that I can have a positive influence and learn from these beautiful kids and people. I can also use prayer as I search for a place to live that is safe, close, and not that expensive :).
To my work friends that so generously donated to that card before I left, as well as my family and friends that gave me money before coming here.... I think Yanapay could possibly be a place that could benefit from your donations. I´m going to hold off for a bit, and see what needs they have instead of just throwing money blindly in their direction, but stay tuned!! It seems like a great place that is really making a difference in the lives of these children.
Take care!! Kelly
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Trabajar Voluntario
Hola a todos!
So this is week two of being here... I think I´m pretty much used to the altitude by now, except when I´m walking a couple of miles uphill. I think I´ve dropped a few pounds just from getting around... not too shabby. I´m still not used to the intense climate changes... it´s freezing in the morning, can get very sunny and burn you to a crisp if you´re not wearing SPF 90, then the clouds roll in and it´s starts pouring rain within 5 minutes. Haha. It´s an adventure in itself. I´m also still not used to the GIANT spiders I keep finding in my room and freezing cold showers :).
So I wanted to update ya´ll on my search for a place to volunteer (and also a place to live). I went up to this place called Niños Hotel today. It´s one of the many orgs in Cusco that has a business to fund a program for kiddos before and after school. They have two hotels that are on busy (too many taxis = hard to breath) streets, but are gorgeous on the inside. They also have fairly cheap apartments which I wanted to check out because I only have next month covered in my homestay and I´m here until July. The apartments are above the area with the kids, so I got to see them when I went to check it out. Turns out they don´t take volunteers because they employ Peruanos to run the hotels and work with the kids. That´s actually great, because then they don´t have the constant flux of workers with volunteers coming and going, so while I was disappointed, I´m happy for them. The apartments were pretty nice, but they don´t have a fridge and the shared bathroom looked pretty creechy, so I told them I have other places to look.
Then I climbed a mountain, okay an extremely large hill, to get to South America Explorers which is a club for people travelling around. You have to pay to be a member, but they have all kinds of resources on volunteering, apartments, jobs, etc. It´s an interesting idea. If I can find someone else to sign up at the same time, I´ll think about it, because it´s way cheaper, but for now I´m going to keep looking and talking to the head of Fairplay.
Then I went to the cafe for Yanapay, which is a really cool looking community center for kids in Cusco. Their restuarant funds their center and the food was really good. I asked the girls working there if Yanapay needs voluntarios and they said yes and gave me a map. I´m going to go check that out tomorrow!
Tonight we have a cooking class at Fairplay. Usually they teach you how to cook typical comida Peruana, but today I think we´re making pasta with pesto. JAJA. Benissimo!
Well, I´ll let you all know how the Yanapay thing goes. Hasta luego!
AY! I forgot to say on my way home I was buying chicha morada candies to break a bill into smaller change for taxis, when I noticed that the girl at the counter was working on something. I asked her, tarea (homework)? She was working on English! So smiled and pointed at my workbook and told her I was working on Spanish. We laughed and had a nice conversation (with my limited spanish). I´ll have to go back to see how it´s going for her.
So this is week two of being here... I think I´m pretty much used to the altitude by now, except when I´m walking a couple of miles uphill. I think I´ve dropped a few pounds just from getting around... not too shabby. I´m still not used to the intense climate changes... it´s freezing in the morning, can get very sunny and burn you to a crisp if you´re not wearing SPF 90, then the clouds roll in and it´s starts pouring rain within 5 minutes. Haha. It´s an adventure in itself. I´m also still not used to the GIANT spiders I keep finding in my room and freezing cold showers :).
So I wanted to update ya´ll on my search for a place to volunteer (and also a place to live). I went up to this place called Niños Hotel today. It´s one of the many orgs in Cusco that has a business to fund a program for kiddos before and after school. They have two hotels that are on busy (too many taxis = hard to breath) streets, but are gorgeous on the inside. They also have fairly cheap apartments which I wanted to check out because I only have next month covered in my homestay and I´m here until July. The apartments are above the area with the kids, so I got to see them when I went to check it out. Turns out they don´t take volunteers because they employ Peruanos to run the hotels and work with the kids. That´s actually great, because then they don´t have the constant flux of workers with volunteers coming and going, so while I was disappointed, I´m happy for them. The apartments were pretty nice, but they don´t have a fridge and the shared bathroom looked pretty creechy, so I told them I have other places to look.
Then I climbed a mountain, okay an extremely large hill, to get to South America Explorers which is a club for people travelling around. You have to pay to be a member, but they have all kinds of resources on volunteering, apartments, jobs, etc. It´s an interesting idea. If I can find someone else to sign up at the same time, I´ll think about it, because it´s way cheaper, but for now I´m going to keep looking and talking to the head of Fairplay.
Then I went to the cafe for Yanapay, which is a really cool looking community center for kids in Cusco. Their restuarant funds their center and the food was really good. I asked the girls working there if Yanapay needs voluntarios and they said yes and gave me a map. I´m going to go check that out tomorrow!
Tonight we have a cooking class at Fairplay. Usually they teach you how to cook typical comida Peruana, but today I think we´re making pasta with pesto. JAJA. Benissimo!
Well, I´ll let you all know how the Yanapay thing goes. Hasta luego!
AY! I forgot to say on my way home I was buying chicha morada candies to break a bill into smaller change for taxis, when I noticed that the girl at the counter was working on something. I asked her, tarea (homework)? She was working on English! So smiled and pointed at my workbook and told her I was working on Spanish. We laughed and had a nice conversation (with my limited spanish). I´ll have to go back to see how it´s going for her.
Friday, January 20, 2012
La Fiesta de San Sebastian
Hola a todos!
So a couple of corrections from last time... my grammar teacher´s name is Nely, not Anna. Not sure where I got that. And I live in Cari Grande in San Sebastian, not Sebastion.
Anyway, I was sitting in my room last night journaling, watching fireworks (fuegos artificiales) from my window, smiling like an idiot while I pondered how awesome this city is.
Armando, the father of the house in which I´m staying was kind enough to take us to the fiesta de San Sebastian yesterday. It´s a celebration of Saint Sebastian, the saint of my neighborhood, and it lasts 4 days.
It was raining and freezing, but it was amazing. There was a parade in front of the church with hundreds of dancers in the brightest, most elaborate costumes I´ve ever seen. If you´ve seen the bag I carry around from Cusco that is bright purple with lime green, hot pink, and various other blindingly bright colors, times that by hundreds of people dancing with huge smiles and laughing. There are also dancers wearing bird masks or masks with creepy old man faces. You can really see the blending of the culture of the Andean people with the Catholic tradition at these fiestas. The dancers were interspersed with bands that were playing awesome drum beats with a lot of horns. Just to give you an idea of the intensity of this music, I live about a mile away, up the hill with many buildings between the plaza and my house, but I can still hear the beats from my room. The dancing was intense... i don´t know how they kept that up for as long as this parade went on. They probably apreciate the freezing weather. It was really nice of Armando to take me and Braydon (another student at the language school from Australia that lives with us now) over there even though it was pouring and he could watch it on TV. He doesn´t speak much english, but is super friendly and patient, so it´s actually pretty easy to communicate with him.
ALSO, my teachers told me that next week they will take me to some places to check out volunteering so I don´t have to wait until March when Fairplay is getting their afterschool program started!!! Please pray that God will make a place for me, because I´m loving being here, but I didn´t come to go on one long vacation!! By then, I´m sure I won´t be sick anymore, so I can work with the kiddos. I just have a stubborn lingering cough that I will probably have for the next month or so.
PS Aunt Sue - this is the Fairplay website: http://www.fairplay-peru.org/content/14613 I´m staying at homestay option 2 but I don´t see my room on there.
Hasta luego!
Kelly
So a couple of corrections from last time... my grammar teacher´s name is Nely, not Anna. Not sure where I got that. And I live in Cari Grande in San Sebastian, not Sebastion.
Anyway, I was sitting in my room last night journaling, watching fireworks (fuegos artificiales) from my window, smiling like an idiot while I pondered how awesome this city is.
Armando, the father of the house in which I´m staying was kind enough to take us to the fiesta de San Sebastian yesterday. It´s a celebration of Saint Sebastian, the saint of my neighborhood, and it lasts 4 days.
It was raining and freezing, but it was amazing. There was a parade in front of the church with hundreds of dancers in the brightest, most elaborate costumes I´ve ever seen. If you´ve seen the bag I carry around from Cusco that is bright purple with lime green, hot pink, and various other blindingly bright colors, times that by hundreds of people dancing with huge smiles and laughing. There are also dancers wearing bird masks or masks with creepy old man faces. You can really see the blending of the culture of the Andean people with the Catholic tradition at these fiestas. The dancers were interspersed with bands that were playing awesome drum beats with a lot of horns. Just to give you an idea of the intensity of this music, I live about a mile away, up the hill with many buildings between the plaza and my house, but I can still hear the beats from my room. The dancing was intense... i don´t know how they kept that up for as long as this parade went on. They probably apreciate the freezing weather. It was really nice of Armando to take me and Braydon (another student at the language school from Australia that lives with us now) over there even though it was pouring and he could watch it on TV. He doesn´t speak much english, but is super friendly and patient, so it´s actually pretty easy to communicate with him.
ALSO, my teachers told me that next week they will take me to some places to check out volunteering so I don´t have to wait until March when Fairplay is getting their afterschool program started!!! Please pray that God will make a place for me, because I´m loving being here, but I didn´t come to go on one long vacation!! By then, I´m sure I won´t be sick anymore, so I can work with the kiddos. I just have a stubborn lingering cough that I will probably have for the next month or so.
PS Aunt Sue - this is the Fairplay website: http://www.fairplay-peru.org/content/14613 I´m staying at homestay option 2 but I don´t see my room on there.
Hasta luego!
Kelly
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Viviendo a Cusco
Hola!!
So I´m in Cusco now. This is my third day here and so far, I love it!
I´m living in a house in Cusco that has 3 levels. From the street, it´s just a high wall with windows from the second floor up and a heavy wooden door. Inside there´s a courtyard, with the kitchen and a big room on the ground floor and the rooms on the floors above, all facing the courtyard. I live there with a Peruvian family, Armando and Maicha, as well as some of the teachers and the owner of the Fairplay where I´m taking Spanish lessons. From my window, you can see some of the hills surrounding Cusco with all the houses built into them. At night it looks like the silhouette of a mountain, covered in lights. It´s beautiful.
So I got a terrible cold the week before I came here, and unfortunately it´s still stubbornly hanging on. It must be getting better though, because today I actually have a voice and I don´t cough nearly as often. All that is to say that I won´t be able volunteer with kids until I get totally healthy, because I don´t want to pass anything on to the kiddos. It´s okay though, because I also need to learn a lot more Spanish before I do that. This is a good time to acquaint myself with the city and get used to the altitude. So far it hasn´t been too bad. I just get tired very quickly from the altitude and my sickness.
The lessons are really fun. From 8am to 10am, I walk around Cusco with Nayut, one of the moms that works for Fairplay. She has a young son and a 9 month old daughter. She´s really fun and we have a nice time. We went to the lavanderia today so I could drop off some stuff (you don´t do your own laundry, you give it to the people and pick it up the next day. I felt weird about having a stranger wash my clothes, but what are you going to do?). Then we took a bus, which is an experience itself to go to all kinds of markets. She told me this side of Avenida El Sol is where the Cusqueños shop, on the other side, gringos. On the bus I pulled out a World Vision pen that I have for Nayut and she told me her two kids are sponsors through World Vision! What a small world. (If you didn´t already know, I sponsor kids through WV) You´re the excepcion. From 10am to 12 noon I work on grammar in a little room with Anna. That´s fun too. Anna doesn´t really speak English, so it´s very interesting trying to talk think of different ways to say the same thing when I need to ask her something and don´t remember the Spanish for it.
There are a lot of districts and neighborhoods within Cusco. I live in Cari Grande in San Sebastion. It´s away from the historic center, so it´s nice and quiet, but you have to walk quite a bit to get anywhere. As far as I can tell, each neighborhood has a different saint that they celebrate. For the last 3 nights, there have been fireworks blasting off from this church behind the main square. I love it. This weekend my neighborhood celebrates Saint Sebastion, so I´m excited to see how they celebrate.
I´m lucky enough to have a friend that lives in Cusco, who I met when we came down here to hike the Inka Trail, which has been a huge relief. ´He has been teaching me different things about living in Cusco, like how to take the bus and where all the good cheap places to eat can be found. Yesterday we walked onto the university campus to look around and there was a girls soccer game going on. Each school within the school has its own team and they compete. This game was CRAZY. It was on a basketball court and the court was completely surrounded by students, mostly standing and mostly boys, who would scream everytime one of the girls took a shot at the goal. It was hillarious. There were definitely favorites on the team (MARIA¡¡¡) and quite a few fans who were shouting their love or heckles to the girls.
Tonight I´m going to study and take it easy. I have a terrible sunburn from walking around yesterday. Yesterday AND today were sunny!! It´s supposed to rain through Feb-March, so I´m soaking it in while I can. When I can figure out how to post pictures, I´ll put some up! For now, thanks for reading. I´ll try to write again soon.
So I´m in Cusco now. This is my third day here and so far, I love it!
I´m living in a house in Cusco that has 3 levels. From the street, it´s just a high wall with windows from the second floor up and a heavy wooden door. Inside there´s a courtyard, with the kitchen and a big room on the ground floor and the rooms on the floors above, all facing the courtyard. I live there with a Peruvian family, Armando and Maicha, as well as some of the teachers and the owner of the Fairplay where I´m taking Spanish lessons. From my window, you can see some of the hills surrounding Cusco with all the houses built into them. At night it looks like the silhouette of a mountain, covered in lights. It´s beautiful.
So I got a terrible cold the week before I came here, and unfortunately it´s still stubbornly hanging on. It must be getting better though, because today I actually have a voice and I don´t cough nearly as often. All that is to say that I won´t be able volunteer with kids until I get totally healthy, because I don´t want to pass anything on to the kiddos. It´s okay though, because I also need to learn a lot more Spanish before I do that. This is a good time to acquaint myself with the city and get used to the altitude. So far it hasn´t been too bad. I just get tired very quickly from the altitude and my sickness.
The lessons are really fun. From 8am to 10am, I walk around Cusco with Nayut, one of the moms that works for Fairplay. She has a young son and a 9 month old daughter. She´s really fun and we have a nice time. We went to the lavanderia today so I could drop off some stuff (you don´t do your own laundry, you give it to the people and pick it up the next day. I felt weird about having a stranger wash my clothes, but what are you going to do?). Then we took a bus, which is an experience itself to go to all kinds of markets. She told me this side of Avenida El Sol is where the Cusqueños shop, on the other side, gringos. On the bus I pulled out a World Vision pen that I have for Nayut and she told me her two kids are sponsors through World Vision! What a small world. (If you didn´t already know, I sponsor kids through WV) You´re the excepcion. From 10am to 12 noon I work on grammar in a little room with Anna. That´s fun too. Anna doesn´t really speak English, so it´s very interesting trying to talk think of different ways to say the same thing when I need to ask her something and don´t remember the Spanish for it.
There are a lot of districts and neighborhoods within Cusco. I live in Cari Grande in San Sebastion. It´s away from the historic center, so it´s nice and quiet, but you have to walk quite a bit to get anywhere. As far as I can tell, each neighborhood has a different saint that they celebrate. For the last 3 nights, there have been fireworks blasting off from this church behind the main square. I love it. This weekend my neighborhood celebrates Saint Sebastion, so I´m excited to see how they celebrate.
I´m lucky enough to have a friend that lives in Cusco, who I met when we came down here to hike the Inka Trail, which has been a huge relief. ´He has been teaching me different things about living in Cusco, like how to take the bus and where all the good cheap places to eat can be found. Yesterday we walked onto the university campus to look around and there was a girls soccer game going on. Each school within the school has its own team and they compete. This game was CRAZY. It was on a basketball court and the court was completely surrounded by students, mostly standing and mostly boys, who would scream everytime one of the girls took a shot at the goal. It was hillarious. There were definitely favorites on the team (MARIA¡¡¡) and quite a few fans who were shouting their love or heckles to the girls.
Tonight I´m going to study and take it easy. I have a terrible sunburn from walking around yesterday. Yesterday AND today were sunny!! It´s supposed to rain through Feb-March, so I´m soaking it in while I can. When I can figure out how to post pictures, I´ll put some up! For now, thanks for reading. I´ll try to write again soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)