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