Volunteering week 2!

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My second week volunteering! I still had spanish classes every morning. (I will just summarize what I did this week).

Monday (Sep. 5th)
This afternoon we went back to work as San Judas Chico (the girl´s orphanage) since it was a Monday. This time the girls actually had homework so Vivi went in one homework room with the younger girls (preschool-ish age), and I went in the homework room with the older girls (elementary school age). I helped a bit with the homework, but my spanish and grammatical knowledge is probably about as bad as theirs, so I am afraid I wasn´t that much help. There was one girl who was in one of the higher grades and really smart so I helped her a bit with english and she was really cute and eager to learn, it was great. We ended up working on homework all night, right up until it was time to leave (5:30ish) so there wasn´t any time to play with the kids today, but it was still fun helping with the homework.

Tuesday (Sep. 6th)
Today we visited Casa Acogida again (the shelter for trafficked girls). Vivi and I got there before Joao this time so we just started and I led the stretching and exercises like we did last time for about an hour. Then the girls wanted to dance, so we let them dance. I was surprised that only one of the girls actually knew how to salsa, so we taught the rest the basic step and it was a lot of fun. Then we started our meditation. We only meditated for about 5 or 6 minutes but that was about all the girls could handle and I could tell they were all trying which was cool. Vivi and I asked a few questions again like last time, such as what is one thing they do in their life that is just for them (ex: dancing, reading, studying, cooking, etc.) and then also what their goals are and what they want to do in the future. We also quizzed the girls on some of the capitals of countries around the world and it was incredible how little they knew (turns out California is the capital of the US, who knew.) Some of them used to go to school before they ended up in the shelter, but now in the shelter they aren´t allowed to leave so they don´t go to school. The only time they have an opportunity to learn is when volunteers are there long enough to actually teach them some stuff. Before we left we played an incredibly fun game of futbol. None of the girls were very good so it was really relaxed, and just fun.

Wednesday (Sep. 7th)
Ccorca again today, and maybe our last time since we are stopping the diverse program. So I will have to choose just one project to work with for the rest of my time here starting next week. I contributed today to buy the oranges (25 soles, about 9 USD, bought 250 oranges) and this time we had to wait for about an hour for the public transport to come. Turns out it is just a taxi that we try to pile as many people as possible into, making for an uncomfortable hour-long ride. When we got to Ccorca Joao went to the market to eat some food so I decided to try some as well. Sheep head soup. I had heard about it but never thought I would actually eat it. I had already told the woman I would have a bowl so I had to eat some. The meat on the sheep head itself wasn´t actually half bad, although I don´t think I will be eating it again, the worst part was the broth which had a really strange flavor. But at least I tried it! Then it was off to the preschool (el Jardin) wo play and give them the oranges for snack. We were running a bit late so we left early to distribute the oranges at the elementary school before playing futbol with the kids again, this time 5th grade. They were so much for fun and willing to play, it was great!

Thursday (Sep. 8th)
Back at San Judas again today. The girls in 4th grade were preparing for exams today so the teacher was actually teaching them something and I couldn´t really do much at first. There was one girl in a different grade who I ended up helping write a ghost story for her homework which was fun and then towards the end I started helping the other girls study for their exam tomorrow. Some girls memorized quickly, but others had a really hard time and I´m not sure anyone has taught them memorization tricks. I tried to teach them a bit, but they just wanted me to quiz them over and over, which I guess is another way of doing it. I left late today I was having such a good time with the girls and I felt like I was actually helping. Starting next week I´ll just go to San Judas every afternoon and then for my 4th-6th weeks (when I´m done with spanish) I´ll go to Casa Acogida in the mornings and San Judas in the afternoons. I am excited for that arrangement because then I can work with both groups!

Friday (Sep. 9th)
At the boy´s orphanage today we just played futbol again. I really like playing futbol and this week in Ccorca it had been so much fun, but it is really hard to play with these boys for some reason. I think they are just not really used to playing with girls so I just mostly let them play, but this time too they were a lot worse at following the rules and listening to Joao. He ended up having to take some of the trouble makers back to the orphanage because they weren´t playing nicely. But it was still good to see the boys having fun.

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