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Published: August 19th 2006
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Yesterday was my last day in Huancayo. It was bittersweet, as I was excited for my next adventure, but, despite only living there for a few weeks, I felt like I made a home there during my temporary tenure and I'm going to miss the life I had. One thing I won't miss, however, is the cacophony of morning sounds (the garbage truck music, people banging on the metal door, the fruit vendors, etc.) that ensure I woke up at least one hour before I needed to be awake (I guess it was good to start practicing for my re-entrance into the "real world").
There's a lot I´m going to miss though:
* The Volunteers: I originally thought that most of the volunteers would be from North America, Britain, or Australia since a big piece of the volunteer work is teaching English. However, the native English speakers were outnumbered 2 to 1 (not sure if this is the norm or just an anomaly)! At the time of my departure, there was me, one from the States, one from Britain, one from Spain, two from Luxembourg, and three from Sweden. It turned out to be quite an international experience.
In addition to learning more about Peruvian culture, I had a chance to learn quite a bit about other countries. During our extended meal times, we shared many stories about our respective country's politics, traditions, music, movies, etc. One of the highlights was when we all sang children's songs from our own countries. Some of them were completely distinct to that country, but others had been adapted into other languages. Let me tell you, it's quite humourous to hear the "Hokey Pokey" in Swedish!
I actually had a lot of fun with the Swedish girls: Ida, Paulina, and Anna. Despite our language barrier, they picked up on my sarcastic humour and even when I made comments just to entertain myself, at least one of them would hear me and start laughing. They also thouroughly enjoyed my Swedish "yaw" immitation (think the Ikea guy, but much worse!). In fact, even though they still have four months left on their South American adventure, they've started planning their next travel adventure...to Canada! And, then, as I've been told, I will be required to visit Sweden the year after. Hmm, I could think of worse things 😉 Actually, that's the one great
part about traveling and meeting other travellers: it always seems to open doors to other traveling adventures!
* The Family: Even though I never met the whole family (I was promised that there were at least three or four other relatives who lived in the house, but appeared to be MIA when I was around) and even though there were only a few who spoke English, Tino's family was so kind and hospitable. It must not be easy having strangers coming and going constantly, but the family handles it incredibly well. Although I was there for only two short weeks, they made me feel completely at home and comfortable. They also kept me well fed and full of tea to stave off the coldness.
It's actually amazing how well you can communicate when you're speaking with someone who doesn't speak your language and vice versa. Because I've become a master at Charades during my travel, I was able to have some great one on one conversations with Marie, Tino's wife. Although some things were definitely not communicable through hand gestures, I'm pretty sure I got the jist of her stories. The little girls (3 and 8 years old)
were also fun to talk to, as we're pretty sure that they understood a lot of what we said, but played dumb most of the time (therefore, we were careful to use good English words around them, as it's a guarantee that the first f-bomb one us dropped would be the English word they would repeat over and over again!). Speaking of repeating over and over again, thanks to the 8 year old, I now know Ice Age 2 in Spanish inside and out. I'm pretty sure I don't have to see the English version now, as I wanted it at least 10 times in one week. I guess some things don't change regardless of where you are--every kid is obsessed with cartoons.
* The Kids: From the girls at the orphanage to the kids at the Andean English School to the mountain kids, each of them touched me in a different way, and I will undoubtedly remember this experience for the rest of my life. I won't forget the girls' huge smiles and greetings of "Hello, Mees!" everytime I walked into the room. I won't forget the hilarious English sentences my kids came up with during our English
classes, such as "I love the music rock listen." I was especially touched when two of the girls drew me a picture, which had the caption, "Dear Miss Cristine. Thank you for teach us and beging a good person. Good travel." A few of them also asked for my e-mail address, so I might have some 10 year old penpals from Peru. So cute! And those mountain kids... Words can't describe the feelings that poured over you as you walked up the hill, still a few blocks from the "school house", and saw those kids spot you and madly dash towards you screaming "Professor, Professor" and fighting to hold your hand during the rest of the walk to the school.
* The City: Although there was a tremendous amount of poverty, Huancayo was a great place to immerse myself in the Peruvian lifestyle, as the only gringos in the city are us for the most part. We were such an oddity, many would stop and stare at us as we walked down the street (it didn't help that we stuck out like sore thumbs due to the fact that most of us towered over the locals!). The city has
a bit of tourism, but it definitely doesn't have that touristy feel that other cities such as Lima and Cusco have, which is quite nice (even though I admit to enjoying the luxuries that come along with the tourist towns, but that's for the next blog).
I am so very glad I decided to go to Huancayo for a few weeks before touring the rest of Peru. Not only was it a good thing for the kids I helped, it was a good thing for me. I'm not a big enough person to vow a life of poverty to help others now, but my experience definitely opened my eyes and will hopefully keep them opened.
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