Hello everyone. Yes, I know that I have been a slacker and haven’t updated in about 2 weeks. But, better late than never, right? So, as many of you may already know, I am back home. YAY!!! But even though I am home, I still haven’t finished my blog yet. I haven’t written about my last week in Peru. So, here we go….
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| Xiamara coloring her fish |
My last week was full of fun and exciting times. On Monday, we did an art project with some of the younger kids. We took paper plates and made fish out of them for the kids to decorate and color. They had fun cutting and decorating the fish and we had fun watching them be creative because each kids decorated their fish differently, showing their personality. There were a couple of kids though that would see how us volunteers were decorating our fish and would copy us almost directly, but what can you do? haha After each kid finished their fish, we took them back to our house and put them up on the windows so the kids could see them.
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| Alfredo's finished fish |
This week, there were a lot of last, which was kind of sad. Last time doing laundry, last time doing the school run, last time of being woken up by someone banging on our front door...but having been back to the States for a week, I can tell you that I definitely miss it. It's the little things that at the time you find annoying but once their not there anymore, you realize you actually miss them.
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| Andrea doing her homework |
Also during this week, I got to spend some time with a little girl named Andrea.I helped her out with her homework as well as play around with her outside in one of the trees located in the middle of the Aldea. Andrea is only 4 years old and goes to pre-school but here in Peru even the little kids get homework. My job was to help her get it all done so her Tia could help some of the other kids with their homework. Her homework was to color things in in a specific color, do some cutting and tracing, and put things back together. So all in all, it wasn't that hard but her attention span wasn't that long, like most kids are so I had to try and keep her on task which was a job in itself. After we did get all of her homework done, we went outside to play around and ended up climbing around in one of the trees. This tree is very interesting however because it's branches have grown more outward instead of upward so it's fairly easy to climb, even for us gringa's. haha
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| Andrea and I hanging out in a tree |
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| Jayde pushing the kids around on the trolley |
On Thursday, we decided that we wanted to do a bonfire for some of the older kids. This did however take a lot more preparation that we initially thought. We had to get a bunch of sweets and treats for the kids to eat, as well as marshmallows and cookies so we could teach them how to make s'mores. We also had to collect all of the wood from one side of the Aldea and cart it to the other side which ended up taking a fair amount of time. It was fun though because some of the younger kids came and helped us out (as well as beg us to let them come to the bonfire). Later that night when it had gotten dark, we made a fire, and taught the kids how to roast marshmallows and make s'mores. I think it ended up being a success, because the kids practically tore through all of the treats and I'm pretty sure the Tia's didn't appreciate us getting them all hyped up on sugar before bedtime. It was a fun way to spend my last night at the Aldea.
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| Us trying to figure out how to make the trolley move |
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| Lucho and Alfredo during the party |
Friday was a very emotional day for me, but it didn't start out that way. They ended up having a birthday party for all of the kids who had birthday's in the month of April, so we had to help decorate for that. Then Jayde and I finished packing all of our stuff into our suitcases so we could leave after the party. The party was really fun, and a good way to spend our last day at the Aldea since all of the kids were there. After the party, we went to each house so we could say good-bye each all of the kids. I had been fine up to that point, but when we walked into the first house so say good-bye, I lost it. It had finally hit me that I was leaving and would probably never see these kids again. I had originally thought that going to Peru would be the hardest thing I had ever had to do, but leaving all of those kids who I have come to love so much, trumps that a hundred times over.
I will never forget the past 4 months that I got to spend here in Peru. It was amazing and wouldn't trade it for the the world. I will be forever grateful all of the kids who accepted me with open arms and loved me. This was an experience of a lifetime and has definitely change me for the better.
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| My last picture :( |
