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!
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