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Published: February 17th 2012
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Hi everyone,
Today's update is mainly about parties but I don't want you to think for a second that I have spent all of this time just having a jolly! Obviously playing party games and dancing all evening is very exhausting work!
So let's start with Tuesday which was St. Valentine's Day, an occasion that has a real meaning of togetherness and appreciating the people around you here rather than expensive meals out and red roses. We took the girls over to the boys' orphanage and we all spent the day together.
The boys' orphanage is about a 10 minute taxi ride away into a more deprived area than where the girl's orphanage is located. To fit in all of the girls and the volunteers we take 3 taxis there and we squash in at least 6 people, not including the taxi driver, it is very cosy to say the least. You will understand just how cosy when I tell you that majority of the taxis here, in fact majority of the cars here are lovely Suzuki Altos just like mine. It is so nice to be somewhere wher my car is appreciated rather than nicknamed the shoebox
or the Flintstones' car! The journey costs 5 Soles which is about £1.25 and to be honest that was quite expensive, the journey into town is just 3 Soles.
At the boys' orphanage there are 18 boys aged from 8 upwards. They all have very sad backstories and many of them are recovering from drug addictions from when they lived on the streets prior to joining the orphanage. You can tell none of this from first meeting them as they greet you with the same warmth and smiles that the girls do.
On Thursday of this week we returned to the boys' orphanage for another party, this time to celebrate the 8th birthday of the youngest member of the family. Both parties were tiring but exhilirating affairs. The peruvians love to feed you and after a 3 course meal we were then treated to a couple of pieces of cake, a bowl of biscuits and sweets and a lollipop! And after you have consumed all of this you spend the rest of the day dancing! We had a dance off boys versus girls in the birthday party and although some claim the boys won (obviously this was the
boys) it was abundantly clear to all who observed that the girls stole the show. To add a British flavour we followed the salsa dancing with the classics 'YMCA' and 'Saturday Night' by Whigfield! Ooh and we also had an arm wrestling competition, which I know you will be surprised to know that I won a few rounds of, yes I think they let me win too!
The birthday boy also had a piñata that we bought for him which he throughly enjoyed, it was a Cars one so he kept the case to put on his wall. No waste in this area of the world, everything is valued. I would love to show you pictures of all of the kids and of the great time that we had but I think it may be best to keep these for when I am home. We also bought him a lovely big chocolate cake, which for those among you who cherish cake was just £9.50 and it fed at least 30 of us! The orphanage directors really make an effort to celebrate the childrens' birthdays and to mark them as a time when that child feels more special than any
other, even though for some of the children they are not really certain of how old they are or when their birthday is exactly, each child is celebrated.
Other than partying I have done some very boring things like going to the launderette to sort out my washing, I felt like I was in Eastenders, and going to the market to buy more supplies. Life here is not as glamourous as you may think by my partying stories!
Another really interesting event that took place this week was a visit by some students and a lecturer from the local university to the girls' orphanage. It was similar to an aim higher event in that the aim was to help the children understand more about university and to realise that they could go and that they should believe in it as a possibility and an option for them. It was fascinating to watch and to hear the girls talk about what they would like to do with their lives in the future. We had a range of career desires from Clothes Designer to Astronomer to Actress, it was heartwarming to see that they still have these hopes in spite of what their previous circumstances may have been.
The only other thing I can think to share with you today is that I lost my mobile phone. That in itself is not that interesting, just a bit of an inconvenience ( I had bought a spare phone with me as I knew this was likely with my level of absentmindedness!) However, when I tried to buy a local SIM card, it became much more interesting! I am ashamed to say that my knowledge of the spanish language is not very good, I can understand some bits but mostly I am lost. The lady that was selling me the SIM had about the same level of understanding of english. This would normally be a problem, but in the age of technology it was not a problem at all. The Sales Assistant simply swivelled her computer screen around, loaded up the Google Translate page and we each typed in what we wanted to say and then read the translations. It worked a treat although I still wish I could have communicated traditionally!
Well on that note, I shall bid you goodnight. I will update you with more stories as soon as I can,
Take care,
Tasha
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annonymous
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hello miss do you have sunburn? Mr teixiera is missing you.