Mucho Mucho Mucho!

Hi Everyone!!

So it has been a little while, as it has been quite a busy few weeks. I figured I´d share some highlights from what I´ve been up to. In the orphanage, a lot of the girls are learning how to read, so I spend a few hours in the library each day practicing with them, and it´s exciting to see their reading skills take shape. I also spent 2 hours the other day trying to teach Sylvia, an adorable 7 year old, how to multiply. Math doesn´t come easily to her. It took the help of 2 other volunteers, a lot of cut up paper, and the promise of some cookies to drill into her head the idea of multiplication, but eventually she got it, and I must say we all felt quite accomplished. It was my friend Laura´s last day, so Yohannah, Laura, and I baked cookies to bring to the girls. We forgot to follow the instructions for high altitudes baking, so they ended up being paper thing, but quite delicious. Seemed people were extra friendly that day. Hm.

English lessons each day are also a highlight, as the receptionist and house keeping people went from knowing absolutely nothing about three weeks ago, and can now all tell you how much it cost to stay per night, where laundry can be done, how to get to different tourist attractions, and a lot more, all in English. My family is hopefully going to stay at this hotel when they come visit!

Being at the kindergarden 4 hours a day is definitely teaching me to have patience, but it is rewarding. Right now we are preparing for next week´s dance festival, and also making lots of Christmas decorations in class. My name in class varies from ¨English Professor,¨ ¨Abra¨, ¨Teacher,¨ and, my personal favorite, ¨Avrita.¨

I have also been having some fun with my host family. The other night we played a game called ¨Tuti Fruti,¨ which involves writing down different categories at the top of the page, such as first name, last night, fruit, color, object, profession, etc. One person picks out from a bowl a letter from the alphabet, and everyone has to write something from each category that starts with the letter, as fast as they can, and as soon as one person finishes, everyone has to stop, and then the points are added up. Elke, a Belgium woman who is also another volunteer living in my house, and I were on a team, and were able to bring in some major points with our Jewish and Belgium names. We came in 3rd. This game is really funny because all of the calm and kind people become aggressively into the game, and debates come up often. There was a major debate on whether ¨prostitute¨ was a legitimate profession. It passed.

In terms of my weekend adventures, 2 weeks ago, I went with 3 volunteers way south to the desert of Peru to a place called Ica. We stayed at a hostel at the one oasis in the desert. We went dune buggy riding, and the way our driver drove probably wouldn´t be legal in the U.S. The best part was sandboarding. Basically, you get this piece of wood with two pieces of velcro on it for your feet, and you go down these HUGE mountains of sand. You can either go on your stomach, or do it like a snowboard. I did it with my feet, like a snowboarder, and it was SO exhilirating. I can´t wait to try snowboarding! You go down sooo fast down this tall mountain of sand, and then when you wipe out, you just go spinning and sand is flying everywhere.

Last weekend, I decided to stay in Cusco for a ¨calm and quiet¨ weekend. I figured it would be nice to relax for a little. Nope, hehe. I ended up going to my teacher´s house (from the kindergarden) for lunch and singing Michael Jackson karaoke with her and her husband. Then, I went straight to a birthday party. Dani, the receptionist I teach English too, has an adorable boy, Fabian, who was turning 3. The party involved a clown, a pinata, five cakes, and lots of kids dancing. The girls from the orphanage were also at the party and it was fun to see them in a different setting. Straight from there, I went to a special dinner that Colette, a friend of mine from Holland, made. Last weekend was a special day in Holland, known as Sinter Klass, and she cooked traditional Dutch food and handed out presents and we listened to traditional Dutch music. I also met up with a nice Jewish lady named Jo from England. She got my email from the Chabad (I told them they could give it out to people if they are looking for fellow Jews since the Rabbi and Rebinson are in Israel until February). We went shopping for toys and games for the kids at our orphanages. There´s talk of making latkes next week!

I also took some time to check out a center for kids who are deaf and blind, and got to go into the classroom and communicate with the kids. I even learned a little sign language. The kids come from all over Peru and live at the school during the year, and go home for the summer holidays. I met a volunteer there from Spain who is studying special education and is here for the year through a University program, and we met up for dinner and I got to speak a lot of Spanish with her and her friends who are also here. Their accents are quite different from here, but are actually easier for me to understand.

I hope everyone is doing well, don´t hesitate to send me a message! There are also a few pictures up on facebook taken by some friends of mine. I´ll write again soon!

Love,
Avra