Tag and Colorful Yoga

March has flown by on me! I can’t believe that this weekend I will be traveling to Lima for yet another YAV retreat. This time we are going to Ayacucho to celebrate Semana Santa (Holy Week). It’s amazing how much faster life seems to go when you are happy. Last week was filled with planning for the kids therapy group and visiting the shelter, which basically means my week was full of chasing around little kids! But a lot of hugs and kisses also. 

This past week’s therapy group theme was exercise. So we learned how to stretch and then headed to the park outside the office to run around. I planned a few races, but the Thursday group of kids quickly got tired of that and asked if they could play tag. So for a good hour or so, we all played tag, running around and laughing. I had forgotten how much fun (and how much exercise) a good game of tag can be!  My Friday group was a bit more difficult because only two of the kids showed up, plus it ended up being pretty hot outside, so I quickly reworked the plan to move inside and play twister. I’m pretty sure twister should be called “Colorful yoga” because I was working muscles I haven’t worked in awhile just to stay balanced! But both of the boys were in fits of laughter the entire time, and begged to play over and over. All in all both therapy sessions went well, and the kids that tend to be the most trouble actually did well, so I was relieved and incredibly happy with how everything went. Two more to go!

This past weekend was also a lot of fun; I rested a lot (due to my sore muscles from the therapy groups), but also ended up going to a birthday party for a friend, the talent show at the church, and the Pre-Inca Ruins with Esther (my new friend from Switzerland!)

                                           Esther on the energy rock at the ruins

                                       The main temple at the ruins

This week has been a bit more relaxed, since I don’t have the kids, but it has be busy helping the adolescent girls with their art project, while also preparing for my trip to Lima and finding some fun activities to do there. So far on the list is a bike tour through a section of Lima, visiting the zoo, going to see the Hunger Games movie, and searching out food that doesn’t contain rice and potatoes!

 The butterfly project with the girls! Now you can see where all the little hearts I cut out went

Hope this blog finds everyone well! So much love to all!

Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.

Mother Teresa

1,000 Little Hearts

You know you have lived in Peru for 6 months when:

-       Breakfast isn’t breakfast without pancitos (little rolls of bread)

-       Lunch is not complete without a serving of rice and potatoes

-       When someone begins talking to you in English you begin to speak Spanglish which is of course a mix between Spanish and English

-       You argue when the mototaxi driver asks for 2 soles when it usually costs s/. 1.50, even though those .50 centimos is only about 15 cents at home.

Since being back in the office, I have been pretty busy, which is of course a blessing. I jumped right into my next therapy group with the kids. Only this time I was alone, which also meant that I was scared out of my mind! My week was filled with trying to get things prepared and obsessing over every little thing. It actually ended up going quite well. This session was all about nutrition, so we played games in which the kids learned about the food pyramid and which foods are good for you and which aren’t. The kids then got to prepare their own fruit salads. I was scared out of my mind to give each of the kids a knife to cut their own fruit, but my bosses kept telling me is was totally fine, and most of these kids already know how to cook. I understood where they were coming from, but I was also thinking “You are going to leave me alone in a room with 8 kids and all of them have knifes, someone is going to die!” So I ended up only letting 4 cut at a time so I could watch them, and continually repeat, “Con mucho cuidado,” which simply means be very careful! Luckily nobody got hurt, and everything went quite well, but I was completely exhausted after those two sessions.

                                         Coloring in the food pyramid! 

This opportunity has taught me so much about myself. First of all, that my Spanish is so much better than it use to be, and even though I still get scared that I won’t be able to understand the kids, I really haven’t had any problems so far. In fact those kids say the funniest things sometimes, and I’m thrilled that I can understand them. In the last session, one of the boys asked me if we had flying cars and robots in the United States. When I told him that the United States was a lot like Peru, he looked at me and said, “How boring.” I probably laughed for a good five minutes about that one. Second, I have learned that even though I love kids, I do not love teaching them. It stresses me out WAY too much. The constant demanding of attention and stopping of arguments is not my favorite thing is the world. So as much as I love the kids, I do not see Elementary school teacher in my future!

Another project I have been working on is helping with the teenage girls on Saturdays again. Right now the girls are working on an art project, and I get to help prepare materials or just sit there and talk to them while they work. So far the project has been pretty interesting for me, mainly because I tend to prepare ALL the material for the girls, and by all the materials I mean when the girls need 1,000 little hearts cut out, yep, that’s all me. The reason I cut out all of the hearts, and the girls don’t, is because one of the problems that victims of sexual abuse tend to have is lose of hand stability and function. So, yes the girls can cut, but it tends to be uneven and a difficult task. SO, while I have spent the entire weekend and week cutting out little hearts, I thank God daily that I am still able to cut out little hearts.

Now this week, I have been alone in my office because everyone is in Lima for a conference. But I still have been busy putting things together, visiting the shelter, and of course cutting out hearts! Hope everyone is doing well! So much love from Peru!

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” -Howard Thurman

Livin' On A Prayer

I couldn’t have stumbled into March in a better way. Due to it being our halfway of the year point and it being summer vacation, the other YAV’s and I made the 20 hour bus ride from Lima all the way up the coast to Mancora, which is said to be some of the prettiest beaches in Peru (I won’t argue that point). We were completely spoiled with a house 100 yards from a private ocean and a pool in our front yard. Each morning we woke up for a devotional, and then quickly hit the beach or pool, in which we only returned for meals. We all pitched in cooking and cleaning, and were able to prepare some of our favorite American meals that we miss. Some of the highlights were fajitas, spaghetti with grilled chicken, and swordfish with mango salsa. Needless to say it was perfect. The group also got into a few competitive games of Dutch Blitz, our new favorite card game. All in all we had a wonderful, restful week in which we all did a lot of thinking as to how our last 6 months have gone, and how we want our next 5 months to go. 

                                                 Dutch Blitz time!

                                 The pool we had in Mancora, horrible right?

                                                 A view from the house!

When we returned to Lima, I had about half a day to get things settled, organized, and then get on the night bus back to Huánuco. I was luckily able to spend some more time with Laura and her boyfriend Oscar before they left for Colombia. We decided to head out to Callao and take a boat ride around the ocean, and really just explore a new part of Lima. I really enjoyed getting to see them again and spend some time with them. They will be truly missed and forever close to my heart.

Now I’m back in Huánuco: rested, preparing for a busy month, and just excited to see what the future brings. Hope all is well, much love from Peru!

"We're half way there, Livin' on a prayer
Take my hand and we'll make it - I swear
Livin' on a prayer" -Bon Jovi