A crazy last couple of weeks before travelling

We've been so busy in these last two weeks it's been crazy. The boys broke up from school for their summer hollidays and since then we've been working from roughly 7am till 8pm. It's been really nice to have more of a lie in but I've definately been missing our breaks! Works had a different feel though because they haven't had to do homework, go to school etc so it's been a lot more chilled out which is nice. I've had a lot more time to just spend with the boys playing with them, which sometimes we don't get much time to do because everything is so routiney and structured normally. We've had the time to do some daft stuff like crafty things and a little puppet show. On one of the days we spent hours playing with bubbles with the boys, they loved them so much! And of course there's still been loads of visitas and actividades for the boys, which have been funny.

Most of the visitas just come in and play games with the boys and bring panetone. Always plenty of panetone! One of the visitas the other day was in San Antonio with a clown and a girl in a slutty mrs santa outfit. Ben Diez and Papa Pitufor came along as well for a bit as well! I was kneeling on the benches next to Elsa but kept falling off because it was hurting my knees and Elsa, one of the hermanas in Sonrisa, just turned round and jokingly called me a 'nina malcriada' which apparently means like crazy girl. Evie was saying they all think I'm a bit wild and a bad influence haha, oops, not the reputation I was hoping for.

Ciudad gets loads of donations from the public like toys and clothes for the boys and that kind of thing. A lot of the clothes we get are for women girls as well, which is silly because it's an all boys care home, but it means volunteers and hermanas get new clothes! Had a big lot in the other day and managed to find two pairs of jeans, a top, a jumper, jacket and pair of shoes that fit! Evie says I'm slowly turning into a Peruvian and starting to look like one now and if I didn't have blonde hair I'd almost fit in haha.

The other day we went to Parque de las Aguas with the first second and third place acts from Noche de Talentos and other volunteers! The fountains were really beautiful and there was a light show thing which was stunning. Hands down highlight though was jumping and running through the fountains! It was really nice to spend some time with the older boys as well because they're all so nice and funny. Normally we don't really see any of the boys except the ones in our pabellons. We were just running about playing tig, pushing the boys and other volunteers into the fountains and generally bein daft. Although I managed to bulldoze Paul from Nino Jesus over when I was running round, oops, although he found it hilarious. Also because it's summer here none of us even got too cold, even though it was about half ten at night when we left and we were all soaked. It was just a great day!

Hepetitus A seems like it's here to stay for at least a while longer, a boy in Sonrisa and in San Antonio have it now as well! Although Tania is doing much better and had her bloods back which were good, although she's had to take about 6 -8 weeks off work! It makes me feel so relieved that I got the jab before coming! Work has been crazy though because there's only two hermanas and me looking after all the boys. It's been fine because it's only temporary, but I'm definitely hoping there will be another hermana/volunteer here for next year in Nino Jesus. Who knows anyway, some people are expecting a bit change round with the hermanas next year!

We had the biggest coincidence last weekend! One of my best friends is at Cambridge and there's a guy called Joaquin staying in her halls who's from Lima! He came back to Peru for three weeks over christmas and one the one day off we've had we messaged him to see if he wanted to go out for a drink - and it was his birthday! Couldn't believe our luck! So we hopped on a bus to Barranco and went out for some anticuchos and cocktails! He was really sound, had a really good night, and it was nice to get away from Ciudad and have a night out. Also they're very few and far between because we don't get much time off!

After a good 'ol sleep through the day Alex and Aneesha, the two PT volunteers from Iquitos and our roomies from training, came to visit that weekend as well! It was really nice to talk to some of the other girls here and just hear stories of their time in Peru. They both had a look round Nino Jesus and Sonrisa then we borrowed one of them each for church and tea. I stole Alex and kind of talked her through what work was like here and showed her round. Then after we just stayed up talking in the amplitheatre about our projects, speaking spanish and life in Peru. Their project sounds really nice and a lot more relaxed! I get the impression that our project is like on the opposite end of the scale from theirs. Like sometimes ours can be so structured and routiney with not much room to do our own thing, whereas some days they were saying they don't really have anything to do. I think there's just good and bad things about each project, it'd be easy to say I wish ours was more like that or something but they all have their faults and good points.

There's this new Italian man volunteering in San Felix that's going to be here 'por siempre'. When we first met him we didn't get a good first impression - he seemed like a bit of a cocky sleeze. Well it turns out he IS a cocky sleeze! Sara, the Italian woman that we live with said to us last weekend that if he comes by again and asks to see her to tell him she's not here because he's been bothering her. The other day he told her he thinks because they're both Italian and a similar age (they're both about 40) and working at the same project they should get together. He bought her some earings, and said she was pretty but that you don't need to know someone to have sex with them. But it turns out he's been leaving flowers for one of the women in the office as well and saying similar things to her! I'm so glad he thinks me, Evie and Laura are too young to target. To be honest he's just a creep and they've spoken to Hugo who said if he carries on he'll lose his job, so we're hoping for that! The boys struggle enough as it is understanding girls without his influence.

We had Paseo the other day as well to the park just down the road with all of Nino Jesus and some of the Mums! We were just playing with the boys really and had a tutoras and mums game of volleyball! We decided to get the boys a treat for lunch so went to Rokys to get fried chicken and chips and it cost almost 350 soles for all the boys and mums! Worth every penny. Then after lunch we sent the boys off to play football together and we ended up having a right little mothers meeting. Emmerson's Mum started it off and that woman can talk. They were comparing ways of bringing up their kids - like how late to let their older kids stay out and when to stop breast feeding that kind of thing. Emmerson's Mum was giving out tips of how you can earn more money and be successful when you're selling things. Then the conversation turned to men. Again she was talking a lot and saying how you have to keep your man in line but know your place as he's the head of the household. They were all trying to set eachother up with their friends and things. It was really nice to get to know some of the Mums a bit better because I know the boys so well but sometimes feel like I don't know much about their family life.

 

Ok so Christmas time! Christmas was actually really lovely here. Had Christmas Eve off because the boys were just resting and sleeping ready for staying up late so watched Love Actually and did some errandy things like sewing up my clothes and getting things ready for traveling! Managed to skype my family back home as well which was really nice - and got to speak to them all together! Borrowed a dress from Laura and went up to mass at half eight. It was two hours long so I wasn't really looking forward to it, but ended up being really nice. Last year the electricity cut out on Christmas day so as a joke Hugo turned all the lights off except the fairy lights around the altar which was really pretty. Then we all headed up to the comedor for Christmas dinner. There were 'traditional' remote control shark and fish balloons in the sky which I didn't really understand, but was funny and the kids liked it. We ate some tasty but slightly questionable beef, mashed potatoes, green beans, rice, and Michael made some stuffing that went a bit wrong and no one ate. Ahh well what can you do, and ice cream for dessert! Best of all we used plastic plates and forks and stuff so we didn't have to wash up after. We sat about for a while just chatting and playing with the boys for a while, then at midnight the boys all got to open their presents! Most of it was just like clothes and shoes for next year, but some of the boys got bikes and toy cars. I think the tutoras were asked which boys had good behaviour and then those ones got the best presents. Also I didn't realise that last year Isaac's Christmas present from Ciudad was to have an operation so that he could walk properly. His legs were really bent and they paid for them to be straightened and he stayed at Ciudad over the holidays because his family couldn't care for him properly when he was in a wheelchair. Anyway, everyone went round as well and wished Feliz Navidad with a hug and a kiss, which took a while seen as there's so many boys. On Christmas morning all the boys headed back to their families for their 6 weeks holidays, and Ciudad turned into a ghost town. We had a little volunteers Christmas thing and did our secret santa, then at night we went off to Pariwana to begin our travels!

Vols on Christmas day with Hermano Hugo

 

Big love to you all, Moffy xxx

Festivities and the like

We're quickly becoming the DVD lady's favourite customer! Every time we go to the market we seem to pop by to see which new DVDs she has and almost always buy one, but for 60p a DVD it'd really be rude not to. I think I'm up to 29 so far!

All the pabellons have been putting up their christmas decorations! Went shopping with Eli and Anita to buy stuff for Nino Jesus in the centre again, and have been busy at work making it look all festive. At 5ft 6 I'm by far the tallest person in Nino Jesus and so nominated to glue the decorations to the roof. I can't remember why, but we couldn't use the ladder to glue them on to the roof soo I was stood on a pile of tables, chairs and stools taller than me with glue gun in hand! Unfortunately I wasn't blessed with the natural ability to use a glue gun so I've got a million chuffin burns all over my hand. Oopsie. But Nino Jesus looks all pretty! There's tinsel around all the columns, baubles and santas and reindeers hanging from the ceiling and lights around the front. Anita was talking about putting 'un arbol en el techo' and I thought that must be some kind of idiom, but no, I literally stuck tinsel to the roof in the shape of christmas trees. We didn't really know how to do it so I made some of them like triangley trees so they kind of just look like arrows pointing to the ways out but the boys didn't seem to notice so it doesn't matter too much. Last night we nipped to the market to get some more lights and put them after most of the boys were in bed. We got Alejandro and the Pillacas out to give us a hand and they were all scared of going outside at first because it was dark and they thought vampires were going to get them!

The Doctor and the Nurse came into Nino Jesus the other day as well to see if there was anything that stood out as unhygeinic that could have caused the Hepetitus A to spread - new boys are still getting it, I think there's been about 8 so far. The Doctor got all up himself saying he could easily see how it was spread and stuff. He said the boys have to wash their hands then their face not both at the same time and they can't share towels for bathtime anymore - each boy needs an assigned towl and face towel. To be honest he was just plucking at straws, it was ridiculous. The boys go to school everyday and mix with other kids and go on Salida every other weekend, it could be a million things. Anyway, Anita stood her ground and defended Nino Jesus, which she has every right to it's always immaculate. He ended up leaving a little with his head hung a little lower. Damn right, I'd like to see him come here and run things better the prick.

Everyone in Lima seems to want to throw parties for the boys seen as it's almost Christmas time so just about every day there's been something on for the boys. The two groups of volunteer students from miraflores had their last session helping the boys with their homework the other day and one of them dressed up as Papa Noel giving out drinks and toys and things for the boys, which of course they loved. They've also had activities with KFC and McDonalds which I thought was a little strange but just went with it. There was another one as well where one of the richer schools came to share a packed lunch with them and brought presents. It's so strange, the richer Peruvian people get here, the whiter they seem to get. There were even some blonde kids!

The other day the boys had a meeting with the psychologist in the comedor - which is really just like observed playing and they make it fun for them. They were talking about where babies come from and had to colour in either the woman with the big belly or the stalk with a bundle in it's beak. Then she was asking who helps the mummy have the baby, so they were saying things like her friends, the daddy, the doctor, the hospital etc and Jhover stood up and shouted LAS ELEPHANTES! Sometimes I wonder about that boy.

At the weekend all the volunteers went for lunch with the winners of Noche De Talentos to a chifa buffet. When we were driving there on the bus Hugo stood up and had a little chat with the boys. I didn't realise what he was saying at first, but he had to explain how a buffet worked because none of them had been to one before. They were amazed that once you'd finished you could just go and get another plate of food and it cost the same. I think 18 was the record number of plates of food eaten by one of the boys. Don't know if it was the buffet or not but later on that day me and Evie were both really ill. I ended throwing up in the sink which clogged it up, not the prettiest of sights, and had to go to Nino Jesus to borrow the only plunger in Ciudad. I was tired and ill so my spanish wasn't at it's best, all I managed to say was 'me and Evie are ill and need the plunger please. It's really bad' Elisa gave me a funny look and went off quickly to find the plunger for us. 

This monday was just crazy. Anita popped by Sunday night to ask Evie if she could work in Nino Jesus for a couple hours in the morning because her and Elisa needed to go and get the blood test to check they didn't have Hepetitus A before they had the jab. They stayed to help with morning cleaning, and left just before breakfast leaving me and Evie with 24 little munchkins to attempt to ferry off to the comedor, eat in silence, wash up and then get them back to the pabellon to watch a film till they got back. They all insisted we watch Barbie school of princesses and wanted me to teach them how to plait my hair, but just managed to pull out about half of it. It was really stressful becuase the boys do have respect for us, but nothing like with the hermanas so a lot of them were misbehaving. The youngest ones especially are at that age where they just want to play and be naughty. It's just hard because there's so many of them and they're expected to behave so well! My hermanas got back and we got them changed and things ready to go on the paseo to KFC. Anita asked who had been naughty and things and gave them a good ol telling off, then said she had to go out and the boys who were naughty couldn't go on the paseo so could I stay and look after them. That wasn't too bad because there was only 6 of them, except it was all the naughty ones so trying to get them to do anything peacefully wasn't on the cards. To make things worse, there was a group of around 20 visiters come to see Nino Jesus and the boys were pretty much running riot round them. One of the boys, Christopher, I can't even describe how naughty and uncooperative he can be with words, it's something you have to see for yourself. He kept running and hiding under the sinks and scaring the visitors. I tried to make it look like we were playing a game though and I think we just about got away with it, with the help of the fact that the boys are so cute too. Just after lunchtime Elisa and Anita came back and I took 20 minutes off to nip back for a shower and try and regain some kind of sanity. After a couple of hours of work as normal, Hugo called us to the office to say that their blood results came back negitive and they had to go and get the jab now. We called Evie back into Nino Jesus just before bathtime when the boys really get into their own element. I don't think this morning could have began to prepare her for what was to come. When Anita came back, she said her face was white as a sheet and to tell her she was sorry. It was really cute though, I asked the Pillaca twins, Christian and Henry, some of the older boys, to give me a hand with the younger ones and they were so good. In Nino Jesus because there's such an age gap there's definately a feeling that the older boys are like older brothers and are happy to help with looking after them. It was definately a stressful day and I've only just stopped hating Cesar for spitting all during dinner time. She was saying it's the first time a volunteers ever been left with Nino Jesus, and hopefully the last.

Yesterday was the day of the virgin or some shit like that so there was an hour and a half long mass after morning cleaning. On and on about how Mary's dream was to have a baby so God granted her wish. Me and Evie were just sat at the back giggling. I feel bad and stuff because it's such an important and big part of their life, but my eyes have well and truely not been opened to religion this year. We just try and find the funny side.

Two weeks till travellinggggggggg!

Moffy xxx

This could be a long one...

Admittedly it got to the point where there was so much to write about I'd been avoiding a blog, then there was more to write! But, after having a nice long lie in, until 6.30am, I'm feeling refreshed and up to the challenge. Could be a long one though

 So..starting from the week after Lozza left. That week all the boys were off school - normally they go from 8 - 1 - so our working week was a bit longer because we weren't having official breaks. Except that on Monday we went to go and pick up a package in Lindsay after morning cleaning which is about an hour or two each way depending on traffic, so we ended up missing lunch at Ciudad. We popped into a little street cafe on the way home and both had Cerviche. So the next day at morning cleaning I was feeling a bit strange, but that day Nino Jesus went on a Paseo to a park about a mile down the road so we went on our way. A combi drove past Ciudad when we were setting off, which turned out to be empty. Anita pulled out the poor and helpless kids card and we ended up paying 5 soles for us all to get there - that's 30 of us all together. It got to about lunch time though and I felt fucking awful, so ended up going back to the apartment to die. I was pretty gutted because most of the time the boys are just stuck at Ciudad and going outside even Nino Jesus is a big adventure for them and they were really excited! For the best though because I had food poisoning. About 12 hours later Evie came back from work with the same symptoms as me and we died in the apartment together for a few days. I felt really awful though, I think that was my lowest point I've had so far. It's just like I wasn't even holding down water for a while, and you don't have normal home comforts here like you do at home. Especially being ill with a lot of time just sitting around and not doing much, I ended up thinking a lot about my Dad's death in March, so that was a really hard couple of days for me. It was all okay in the end though, and after I recovered I felt much stronger and generally a lot better about things! That weekend the American volunteers went on a religious retreat and left their keys to their apartment so we could use their cooking stuff. We were still recovering and didn't have much energy so just ended up just staying in with Laura and Christoff and had Pizza, Sangria and a good ol game of monopoly - in spanish!

It was really nice to be back at work the next week though, I'd really missed my little boys! In my break as well Hugo called me into his office because he had a package from Mum and a letter from PT. It's amazing how much a bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk and a handful of Roses can bring! It's been really nice getting letters from PT as well! They're just kind of like an update of things at home and some stories from other volunteers that are abroad now. There was the top five songs in the charts, some of the news headlines, some bits about 'life on Coll' which all sound a bit silly, but it's quite nice to hear about boring home stuff. It's also a reminder that nothings really going to have changed at home, it's easy to start thinking everyone's going to change and it'll all be different when you get back.

The next Sunday was Anniversario! Fifty something years since Ciudad was started by Padre Illuminati so we put on a gret big show and a dance and invited lots of people. Most of the Pabellons did dances, Son Risa and San Antonio did traditional peruvian dances i.e. lots of stomping and hitting the floor with sticks. It was good though, they were all very cute! Nino Jesus did a dance too with Tanya, and at the end Emmerson did a little freestyle solo and it was just the best and cutest thing ever. Then at the end we had our volunteers act! We did kind of a copy of that famous Glee song, then Ryan, Michael and Christoff did an absoloutely priceless rendition of the single girls dance and finally an 'interpretive dance' to the Titanic song. At the end Anderson came hurtling into the middle of the stage shouting 'Hermana Hannah muy bien Hermana Hannah' and grabbed onto my legs. He's such a sweet little boy, I don't know how I'm going to say bye to him at all.

Tania with the boys at Anniversario

 Fastforward to Halloween! Was making the  boys halloween costumes a week or so before and they were all themed - electrical applicances. Of all things. I spent hours making a mobile phone, fridge and microwave out of boxes and paints. The fridge was class though it had a door and shelves and I stuck pictures of chicken and stuff on it. Anyway, after a lof of fucking about we found out we had a long weekend off because Monday and Tuesday were bank holidays so Lodge came up to Lima and we went and spent our time in Pariwana! I had a bit of a dodgey tummy first couple days but thankfully was better for halloween night. Met some crackin people and dressed up as dead people. Evie provided much of the entertainment that night, and two Ecuadorian girls that were staying in our dorm were kind enough to help clean up after her.

Me and Evie have both been thinking a lot about the project we're at, because it's a lot different to how we originally thought it would be. It's not nessecarily been a bad thing that it's been different, we just had to make the adjustment. First of all, it isn't an orphanage, it's a care home for boys. To stay here the boys have to be brought by a family member or God parent. One of the aims here is to work with the families to give the boys a better life. While we're caring for the boys, Ciudad trys to improve the family situation i.e. talking through issues with parents, helping find work, rehoming etc. Once a fortnight the boys go on Salida to see their families for a night and then the weekend inbetween, the families can come and visit the boys here. Sometimes it can be really sad seeing the boys saying goodbye to their families - they'll run away and hide because they don't want to come back. Not because it's horrid or anything, they just want to live at home with their parents.

Secondly, it is very religious. It's religious to the point that you can't escape it. We pray in the morning, afternoon, evening, before meals, after meals. They're told to say Gracias Jesus to everything instead of thanking the person. They pray at school, their school books all have religious context. The pabellons are decorated with religious posters and have religious messages on the walls. We go to Alabanza for half an hour Mon - Thur for half an hour then on Sunday for an hour. The hermanas and other volunteers also go to Laudes every morning for an hour - I went for about the first month then sacked it off! Alabanza I don't mind because it's just really a sing and a dance with the boys and it's a bit daft so it's okay. I can now recite the 'Our Father' prayer in spanish but don't know the enlgish one! To be honest the religion doesn't normally even bother me most of the time, it's just a bit much and sometimes I feel like I want a break from it all - especially when we're reminded how deep their faith is and how much it governs their life. They're so completely sure that God exists that sometimes it makes me wonder if I'm the one that's got it all wrong. I don't know what I would do without Evie sometimes just to keep me sane! It's catholic conservatism at its worst.

A few little stories from November... After lunch the other day we asked Hermana Jacky for an extra box of helados for the boys as well and put the music on really loud. They were all just dancing outside in the sunshine eating icecreams and laughing and it was really nice. Then after that we did races with the boys up to the front door and back which was really cute too! Just a nice and normal day but it was really lovely.

About a week later we went on a couple of mini paseos with the boys as well! First we went to the rocky bit of land accross the road to make houses out of rocks. Anita put the boys into groups of two and gave them half an hour to make their best houses they could. Then we walked round and they explained what was where - almost all of them put little rocks in for the hermanas as well - and the best three got biscuits. Then we did a grand tour of Ciudad, through the pig and chicken farm, and then to the big veg patch bit and we were telling the boys what all the veg were. They couldn't believe how different carrots looked when they're in the ground and kept asking where the orange bit was! Even though it was only in ciudad it was really nice to get out of Nino Jesus with the boys! Sometimes it can be frustrating how structured and routiney it is here.

On the Paseo around Ciudad

Working with my little boys isn't all fun and games and sometimes involves some very loud tantrums. Some of my favourites have been Christofer's twenty minute tantrum over there being no toilet paper. He was literally kicking and screaming as if it was the end of the world even after we got him some toilet paper. To make it even funnier he was still standing with his trousers down. Also Emerson's tantrum because he drew his two's too small.

On the 12th of November we had Noche De Talentos! Which is an anual event set up by the American Cap Corp volunteers. We spent the day time helping them a bit, but they mostly had it covered so there wasn't much to do. We got to make lanterns out of milk tins, rags and lamp oil though which was fun! Then in the evening me and Evie were in charge of making sure the next three acts were backstage ready to go on, which meant we were just running around and looking for them and trying to keep them waiting. The older boys especially were sometimes hard to find because they kept running off to practice! Some of the acts were actually really good. Most of the boys who sang, not so much, but there was a skit called El Padre y Sus Hijos which was really funny, some good dances and a good drama act as well, which I was in! It was all about how the devil will try and tempt you into drinking, having sex, taking drugs etc but you should ignore him.

Anita with the boys at Noche De Talentos

As part of Ciudad's attempts to raise money every year they make and sell about 30,000 Christmas panetone. Soo as we've started the run up to Christmas, panetone season has also begun. We worked straight through three of our breaks a couple of weeks ago helping with the packaging because we had an order of 8,000 to send out!

One of the biggest things that happened in November though was Hepetitus A! Luckily I've had the vaccination for it, but it's a disease that affects the liver and can keep you ill for weeks or months. It started out with Tania, Cesar and Antonio having it, who have mostly recovered now, but Diego, Johan and Jorge are out now too. Tanias been off work now for around three weeks, which had meant I've been doing double the cleaning and am in charge of making sure the four year olds finish their homework. I'm getting used to it now though so it's going to be weird when she gets back, but I suppose that's good because she's leaving after christmas and I'll have to do that work then anyway. Although on the plus side because the boys may or may not be contagious and need to rest up, we haven't gone to Alabanza for the past three weeks either!

Travelling is coming up so soon now as well I can't wait! We're starting on Christmas day so it's been a countdown to travelling instead of Christmas this year! We're going North up the coast of Peru to meet all the girls at Mancora for new year then up to Ecuador to change over our visas and things. Although we've left it a bit late booking buses so fingers crossed we manage to get everywhere we'd hoped!

Haven't even finished writing up to date yet! Apologies for it being so long!

Lots of love to you all,
Moffy xxx