OFF TO BRAZIL TO SEE MY DADDY

Woooo The time has finally came where I am going to head off to Brazil to see my Dad. This just proves how quickly time goes, I remember when I was in Miraflores and my Dad told me he MIGHT be coming out and I laughed at him because I didn't believe that he would actually come out.

Im all packed and just hoping that my journey goes along okay so I can be picked up by my dad and my great aunt from the airport when I arrive in rio at around 6am tomorrow.

I am getting a flight from Lima to Panama, then a connecting flight from panama to Rio, all in all its around like 12 hours on a plane i think. 12 hours seems like nothing compared to my 26 hour bus journey to Ecuador.

When I get to Brazil I'll be staying with my Aunt who lives in Rio, I haven't seen her for around 12 years maybe more so it will be nice to see her again, she still thinks of me as the 6 year old child she last saw so will be in shock when she sees a grown Tanya, with a huge tattoo and nose piercing loool.

Since the last time i wrote my blog not much has really happened, everything has been pretty much calm to be honest. Genoveva the Argentinian volunteer has left to go travelling, it was really nice having her around Son risa, it was an extra pair of hands to help me with the stuff I usually get stuck on my own doing! We'll meet up with her in Argentina as she's already offered us her house to stay in when we go there, so that will be really good.

The other night the boys got a big fright, claiming to of seen some sort of ghost with hollowed out eyes etc and a few of the boys started crying and saying that because they didn't pray that night the phantom will come and get them. The older boys started to tell one of the younger ones the ghost was under his bed so he started crying and ran up to me asking to check under his bed for the monster that is supposedly going to kill him in the night. Do you want to know what it was? A pillow case. LOL. It was so cute though, he asked me to stay in his bed and sit with him until he fell asleep to guard off any monsters that might try to hurt him. I was also made to shut all the windows by the other boys and sit with them until they also went to sleep. That was a funny night, for the kids not so much, but for me it was just so amusing. Kids just have these wild imaginations, the whole "checking under the bed for monsters" thing is something I'd only expect from kids programmes or "monsters inc", but this was all real and so funny.

Im going to wrap up the blog now, I literally need to finish cleaning my room and then ZOOM off to BRAZIL....
Speak soon lads
Tanya x

A dull life doesn't exist for a volunteer

Why on earth I choose to write a blog at 11pm on a Sunday night defeats me, after having a weekend off work due to "salida" you would think I would have done it then but meh, thats just me in a nutshell to be honest. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to attack this blog because even though its only been a few weeks since I've updated it so much has happened.

As you know (especially if your a friend/family member of the young family) it was Rach's birthday on the 5th May and the celebrations were never ending! The secretary of CdlN, the hermanas of Ninos Jesus (the  house rachel works in) and myself all worked together to organise a suprise party for Rachel and it actually went to plan! It was amazing we had cakes, crisps, music and a hell of a lot of crazy dancing with the little kids. The secretary Jacky got Rachel out of ciudad for an hour or 2 so that she wouldn't walk in on us organizing the fiesta, Jacky told Rach she had to help her with a translation which was actually only a few lines and she drove Rachel to a starbucks in Surco which is around 15mins drive by car. From what Rachel tells me Jacky done a very good job at decieving Rachel, even acting as though she was unaware it was even her birthday that day. Very funny. When rachel came back carrying a big box she was greeted by singing from the boys and although she may not admit it, she defo had tears in her eyes, and no moment is never complete without a few tears haha. 

The birthday celebrations didn't stop there, in the evening we went to the cinema with some friends and then early afternoon the next day Rach and I hopped on a bus to ICA which is around 5 hours away, we got a cheap bus for s/20 which is around £5. Ica introduced us to yet a new geographical wonder of peru, the desert. We headed off to Huacachina which is 5 mins away for Ica where we found a hostal and booked Sand boarding for the next day. I can't say enough how AMAZING sand boarding is, its also very scary but amazing all the same. One of the funnier moments of the day was when we got to the highest sand dune and this time we were to go on our bellies, the instructor was explaining how to sit on the board properly, how to hold on etc and then was like okay tanya off you go and pushed me off. I seemed like a typical Londoner as I was hurtling down the sand dune screaming "F*CK F*CK F*CK F*CK F*CK" a gazziolian times until my board came to a stop loool, rachel couldn't stop laughing. It was especially funny because we were in a group of around 9 israeli men who couldn't speak hardly any english, yet they seemed to understand that word haha. The views were incredible and I have never visited anywhere quite like Huacachina, and never expected I would have, so a really good trip.

We only stayed in Huacachina for 2 days in total and we headed off back to CdlN, it was quite a calm weekend, more so because we seemed to both get hit with the flu. My flu got really bad in the week, which ended up turning into a throat and ear infection so I was off work for the best part of the week and back on the antibiotics *lets give a round of applause for my immune system on that beauty*. 

All in all Rachels Birthday was amazing, it was such a contrast from my Birthday in Azul Wasi. They really appreciate the work which we do here and it was shown by the birthday celebrations, I'm happy at least one of us was able to be shown what a real Peruvian Fiesta is like, just to add it was even more of a stereotypical latin american birthday as there was a pinata! 

Work has had a lot of ups and downs recently, actually to be completely honest there's been more downs then ups. One of the saddest things was one of the boys I have been closest to from my house has been moved up a house as he is 10/11 years old and the majority of boys in my house are from 7-9 years old. Everyone literally only found out the decision the same day it was decided he would move houses and his little brother diego was in tears. William (i think ive spoken about him in a blog post) is one of the stronger boys who doesn't show emotion and puts on this really tough act around people. I had managed to get out his nice side and always had some pretty in depth convos with him. He was definitely like a little brother to me, and we had a tough love relationship, if he misbehaved/pissed me off I would let him know it and he would always apologise afterwards. Anyway more to the point, we were all talking to william and his brother diego trying to calm him down and we got them to hug which made a new argentian volunteer genoveva start crying, then Marisoll another hermana started crying then I TRIED to fight back the tears but I literally just couldn't stop crying. William got all his bags ready to go and noticed I was crying and came and gave me a hug to which started him off crying as well. He managed to remember "he's a tough boy and tough boys don't cry" so picked up his stuff and left. I was left there crying on the bed like a big baby LOL, so me, genoveva and Marisoll went into their bedroom where we could cry away from the boys lol. I ended up having to go back to my apartment and had to skype call 2 of my bestfriends wendy & eva because I just couldn't stop crying. haha this is such a contrast from the Tanya that left peru, I always fought hard NOT to show emotions, so wendy seemed to find it pretty funny. The funniest thing is though that William is only in the house NEXT DOOR to sonrisa but its just the fact that I spent every day with him from 6am-9pm and now I only see him for a few minutes every day. 

I've been trying to help an 8 year old boy Luis through a very tough time at the moment, as you know the kids in CdlN all have some sort of family connection and so technically are not orphans but are kids from broken homes. Every weekend there is either visiting days for the family members to come to CdlN or salidas where the kids go back home. Every week without fail the grandfather of Luis would turn up for him, literally every week. Last week he didn't turn up, then Luis thought his mum was coming but she didn't turn up, and then he thought he saw his aunt but then she never came to get him. He was crying so much and all I could do was hold him, then decided hey lets go for a walk and I bought him a pack of biscuits, a bottle of fizzy drink and we went to the pig farm. He seemed to calm down by the time we got back which was good. It was in the next few days however when everything went really down hill, his aunt came and told Luis that his grandfather passed away the day before. His grandfather was like a father to him, you could tell he adored Luis and Luis adored him. Recently for obvious reasons Luis hasn't really been himself, he goes through stages of being really really naughty, really clingy or will just want you to hug him to let him cry. It's a very sensitive situation because we can't let Luis misbehave and get away with all that he wants to but at the same time we all understand he is going through a rough patch. 

Things in my pabellion are/were pretty tense for the past month. There has been tension between the hermanas which has meant my working enviroment hasn't been the best one to be in. There has been a lot of conflict of authority etc and has just been getting gradually worse and worse. This weekend however all the tutoras (people who work in the pabellions) all went on a spiritual retreat away from CdlN and my hermanas seem to have reconciled their differences and I hope that this has paved the way for a fresh start in SonRisa and a new happier enviroment to work in!!!!

It hasn't all been sad here though guys, I know this is a pretty deppressing blog post. Monday last week my pabellion and San Antonio which is the one which william has now moved to, we all went on a  field trip to a farm!!! (bare in mind this was before william left) anyways the trip was sooooo fun. We all let our hair down, saw tonnes of cows, literally hundereds and I became a little kid again. Feeding the llamas and the week old calves and having a pony ride looool. I know Im 19 years old now but I am such a kid at heart. I also got a big game of football going Sonrisa vs San Antonio and it was hilarious. It reminded me of when I was in primary school and kids just have no clue of any formations, passing the ball etc, its all for one and one for all and is just like a big mosh pit of legs and arms scrambling for the ball. Unfortunatly Sonrisa lost by 1 goal waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa but it was so fun, on the bus home we were all fast asleep and I was using the boys who I was sitting next to as my pillows haha.

Other than that not much has been going on this month, work tends to be the same day in day out, the routines are the same, the work is the same but as you can see from this blog there can be a few things that shake it up a bit. No matter how stressed I can get in a day I know its all worth it in the end and especially from the small gestures the boys/hermanas show you. Tonight I haven't been feeling to well, i've got a bit of a stomach bug passing through so I've been a bit homesick. My hermana carmen who is definitely like a mother figure to me here (to the point of buying boxes of lactose free milk so I can eat/drink anything/everything she cooks-VERY sweet gesture) just randomly gave me this big strong hug and I almost (yet again) started crying (But didn't might I add) as it made me realise how much I miss my mums hugs, here I am the one giving the hugs to the boys so to recieve a big mummy style hug was lovely. When I was tucking the boys in to bed and kissing them good night, one of the boys henry who I have a very love hate relationship with because he is just SO cheeky, gave me the hugest cuddle and whispered in my ear "Te quiero mucho hermana tanya" which means "I love you so much sister tanya" and that was just what I needed after feeling a bit down today.

Its time to wrap up this blog I've been babbling a lot and have now realised I've written a long blog which is what I've been trying to avoid lol. I'm literally counting the days down now until I see my dad in Brazil, 9 days and counting. Im so excited but really anxious at the same time lol, its a weird feeling knowing I'm going to see him after not seeing him for 10 months. 

Thanks again for reading the blog, I'll attempt to put on a few pics for you guys and who knows when the next time will be when I write a blog?

Simply signed, simply compas

xxxxx

Gracias Jesus, but why is the time flying by?

Im sorry 2011, but why are you passing by so quickly?

Its been just under a month since I updated my blog and I don't know whether it feels longer or shorter, I just have no concept of time at the moment. Everything just seems to merge together here in Ciudad de los ninos, its like this big bubble where the world just seems to pass by before your eyes. To be honest the only reason I even have time to write this blog is because Im off work today due to my glands in my throat resembling golf balls. So Im just lazing around in bed, dosing up on paracetemol and hoping that Im better tomorrow!

Casa de los locos

So from what I remember the last time I have updated you guys was on my return from my VISA run which feels like ages ago even though its not even been a month. We had an EXTREMELY busy period in CdlN recently it has been Semana Santa which is basically Easter week, the boys had Thursday to monday off of school which meant work was VERY intense and Rachel and I didn't even get a day off because they needed as much help as they could get.

Brian

 As CdlN is a catholic run orphanage Semana santa was HUGE here, every day brought something new, it was really interesting to actually celebrate easter (Pascua in spanish) in church, its the first time that I have actually based easter around God normally my main aim is to stuff my face with as much chocolate as possible with my lactose intolerence lol. I honestly really enjoyed it and church with the boys is always a good fun time where everyone can let their hair down and forget about any of the days problems. There was a few funny moments of the week mainley based around the boys lack of concentration in church, there was one day when each of the pavillions had specific times where we all go to church equally to pray and say thanks to God. As I was attempting to pray every 5 minutes I had a boy telling me "can you take me to the toilet", "he just called me a poo head" or trying to bounce my afro lol. Then there was one service when I was sitting to a boy called Brian who finds it IMPOSSIBLE to sit still, first he was moving his hands so i held his hands, then he started flinging his feet so i also held his feet, he gradually kept moving every body part in a seriously "special" way until I was basicall holding his whole body, so then he just started shaking his head up down left right and his mouth and his tongue looool. I actually couldn't stop laughing, it was such a lost cause thats all i could do, laugh.

Here are some pics which Rach took from the church service

I've been getting to know the boys in my pavillion a hell of a lot better with a lot of them opening up to me about stories of their parents etc and some things that has happened to these boys literally shouldn't ever have to happen to ANYONE!! Its the small things that the boys do that really touch my heart (in the least cheesy way that line could be said), like when they are in bed and Its my home time and a boy called Jesus runs out from his bed in his pyjamas to give me a kiss and question me to make sure that I am coming back and not running back off to England. 

Jesus

Or William who is the "hard nut" of the group who I get on well with, I took him to the lavandaria to help me as he had been asking for weeks for me to take him but the hermanas in my pavillion kept sending someone else. So this time i was adament that I was taking William and they let him come. That night when I left he came and gave me a kiss and hug goodnight, i was SO suprised and it really touched me!

Other than Semana Santa work has been just that work, early mornings and late nights, I count down the minutes until my breaks lol. Dont get me wrong I do love what I do, but I really love my breaks, even though the majority of the time I just sit and relax in my bed with my laptop on my breaks I really cherish them. Watching an episode of Inbetweeners really takes me away and back to London! Im planning on signing up to a gym some time v.soon as I need to do something to get me out of ciudad on my time off and just let off some steam. There's one around a 10 minute walk from the orphanage at very cheap peruvian prices so I'll hopefully go there today or tomorrow to sign up. Rach has been busy training for her 21k race which is on the 15th May, we also need to get our butts into gear and plan her birthday weekend as we are planning on going to Ica which is like a sand desert area to do sand bording and all that jazz, also to Pisco which is where the famous peruvian alcohol was first made so we will be going there for some vineyard tours, wink wink. I also can't believe how soon it is until I go to Brazil to see my Dad either, time literally flies.

I don't really have all that much to write about I don't think, I'll attempt to upload some pics of me and the boys from my pavillion and Rach's pics from Easter. Until then everyone take care and I shall probably update the next blog in the next 2 weeks before I head off to Brazil and after all Rachels birthday madness.

Ciao xx

I also have 1 Random fact to leave you with. The hermanas son Fransisco (panchito) who is mi bebitooooooooooo, has made MY name one of his first ever words. Very proud moment. I have now also taught him to say "Hi". IMMENSE