Dirty hands

Day 21 (2-1-10)

I woke up around 9ish and cleaned up my room for a bit. Then I relaxed and read for a bit. Eventually I was able to chat with Abbey for a bit. It was nice. She finally gets to ride on a train. I also talked to Kelsey who was trying to convince me to come to North Carolina during my summer. I looked at flights and it was 400 US roundtrip just I don´t know my summer plans so obviously I couldn´t go book it without not knowing my plans. I also looked at the off campus application. I am trying to see if I can do it for financial reasons, then medical then try other. We shall see. Eventually I had to say bye and went to get food.

After food, I walked back to my hostel. There I talked game plan with the people who were in the art class with me for the week. Then we all headed to school. Today was my first day with the art class and the tigres (age 4-6). The art class, we made mobiles. Some kids were naturals at it but others had time focusing. I had to sit down a kid several times. In the circle, I had some of the young girls who were in group playing with my glasses. Then we broke up into our familes.

We told the children that we were going to be Mexico. We made pinatas. They were very messy but fun. The children in this group are a lot nicer. I have several siblings of the kids I had last week. My old kids missed me and were sad that I was not in their group. Eventually we had to say bye for the day.

After the volunteer meeting, Justin, Michele, Natalia and two new volunteers, Richard from London and Niko from Germany and I went out to dinner. We went to a resturant we had been to before. We talked about various things. There were many people who came in asking for money by playing music or singing. We had one kid who sang and when we offered him food instead, he just stared and didn´t know what to do. After a while, we paid the bill went back to the hostel. At the hostel, people are watching New Moon. Most of us are making fun of it.

Playing Cards

Day 20 (1-31-10)

I woke up around 9ish. I tried to edit my blog for publishing. I tried to upload some of the videos from yesterday but it was taking so long due to the internet speed. I then went to breakfast with Justin, Michele and two Americans. We ended up going to a resturant in San Blas. The portions were small, but so were the prices. In the end we decided that it wasn´t worth going to again, despite having a great view of most of the city.

After, we walked around before heading back to the hostel due to the rain. We hung out at the hostel for a bit. Eventually, Michele, Justin, Natalia and I went to get food. We tried searching various resturants but were unsuccessful. We eventually found a place that we got a lot for ten soles. It was pretty decent. It was fun talking about various thing. We then walked around more. We went to a grocery store to get some stuff.

After coming back to the hostel, I had a meeting with the two girls who I will be volunteering this week with. We have the youngest kids (4-5). )I am very excited. We are hoping to be Mexico for the week. We have some cool plans. Then I played card games with Michele, Justin and Natalia. It was a lot of fun. Then I talked to Abbey before watching American Gangster with people in the hostel. Then I pretty much relaxed for the rest of the evening.

A night of Peruvian music

Day 20 (1-30-10)

I woke up around 9ish and finished writing my blog from yesterday before I posted it. I then headed out with Justin, Michele from Quebec and Natalia from Spain. We got breakfast at this cute little resturant near Plaza de Armas. We chatted over scrambled eggs, toast and juice. From there, we window shopped and walked around the city. We tried to figure out plans for tomorrow but couldn´t figure out any at the moment. We had some drinks at a nice vegetarian resturant.

After a while, it started to rain so we headed back to the hostel. There, I read and hung out many of the Argentines in our hostel. After a while, I had a skype date with Abbey though we had some difficulties. While we chatted, I wrote my next article for the Guilfordian. We shall see if it gets in. After an hour or so, we said our goodbyes. I hung out at the hostel watching Into the Wild for a bit. Second beautiful movie I have seen parts of in the last 24 hours. Then the Argentines decided to watch Chocolat. I have been moving photos to my harddrive while watching it from a far.

After that, I hung out with the Argentines in my hostel. We chatted about a lot of different things. Eventually Natalia and Michele and I went to a couple bars. The first one had a reggae band which was entertaining to say the least. But the bar got way too crowded so we only stayed for 20-30 minutes. Then we went to a neighboring bar where we were able to get a table. They had a cover band playing. They did eight minute plus renditions of Stand by Me and No Woman No Cry. The singer was really good and the guitarist was crazy. Then we headed home.

Baraka trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYZ8RWqqicQ - The trailer of Baraka, the movie I mentioned yesterday.

The big show

Me and the Big Head
Day 19 (1-29-10)



I woke up and was kind out of it. This was most evident by the fact that the first thing I did was trying to go the bathroom and smacked my head in the doorway. I keep doing that and I am probably going to end up with a major bump on the top of my head. I asked if I could stay a week longer so I am. I then booked flights to Buenos Aires on 13th. There I will stay in the same hotel till the 15th. Then I am probably going to go a hostel till I don´t know when.



I talked to Abbey for a bit before getting lunch. I headed to the big market. They have many people trying to get you to come get food from them. I found one I liked. I ordered lomo saltado and wrote. It was really good. I then headed back to the hostel and hung out. I eventually walked back to the school with my big head in hand.



Today was pretty easy. For the first part I mostly hung out and watched the children play. Then because today was the day of the show, there was no circle time. We had to practice our dance moves. With some minor difficulties, we finally got the kids to practice. Then we headed to the show. I was amazed by some of the information that the children knew for example that Buddha´s real name is Siddartha. I def did not know that when I was their age. Yuri has done an impressive job with this kids.

My "family" was the second to last group to go. Up to the last minute, my group struggled to focus. But when it came time for the performance, they did a pretty good job. I was pleasantly surprised. Yuri called out Justin, Melisa and I for not partcipating so we had to do it just us three. I have both on video that I will post sometime.

After all the performances, the children said their goodbyes to those who are not rerturning. It was sweet to see all the affection the kids had for them. Then all the volunteers for next week had a meeting. This meeting lasted two hours because of discussion. We discussed everything possible, it seemed like at least, related to the project even cocaine and other random things. We finished at 9:30ish. While we were in the meeting, it apparently hailed.

A bunch of us went to the neighboring pizza place because we were really hungry and it was raining. It was a lot of fun. We talked about all ings of things from tv shows to travels etc. Eventually we paid the bill and went back into the hostel. While I waited for the computer, I watched clips from Baraka. It is an amazing movie. I instantly added it to my Amazon wishlist. I didn´t have much time on the computer because they kick us off at 11:30ish. I got off and read and wrote.

Me and My Big Head

Day 18 (1-28-10)

Today I actually got up and headed to the Peru Rail office. There, I was the only person so I walked up to a desk. When I asked if I could move my ticket to the 6th, the guy told me to just get the refund since they have no idea when it will be open. I guess I will wait and see what happens next week. I then headed back to my hostel.



I relaxed, read, watched some tennis and other stuff with the other guests. I talked to Abbey. I then grabbed some food. There was a lot of things going on in Plaza de Armas. So I observed. Most of it was to get people to donate. It seemed like it was worth it. After getting some food, I walked back to my hostel. I hung out for most of the time trying to figure out what to do about my costume.



We all headed to the school. I started to take pictures of the kids. Like at Glenhaven, the children love to be in front of the camera. Eventually I got them to understand that I wanted them to continue what they were doing. I took photos of them playing games, bonding with the volunteers and other stuff. It was a lot of fun. We finally our group to know the dance but they are still out of control. After, I went into the costume room, and couldn´t find anything supermanish. I instead found a big head like from a person at amusment park of a Peruvian boy (hard to explain without seeing it). So I decided to go as a Super Peruvian. I have my Cusco pants on, pan pipes, my head and a pancho.

All the kids loved my costume when I was walking down the street. Adults kind of just stared at me. The dinner was really good food. It was great to see the people´s costumes. We had cheap drinks. We talked and posed for goofy photos. Then we started to play games. It was a lot of fun. We then danced and played limbo. One of the Argentine girls tried to teach me to dance which was a lot of fun. After a couple of hours at the resturant, some of us went to the club. It was an electronic club that brought me back to high school memories. It was a lot of fun. I was even able to check in my big head at the coat check and get it back. It was pretty much amazing. We were there for a few hours and then headed to the hostel. It was a really fun night.

Sad news. J.D. Salinger died.

Howard Zinn R.I.P

After I posted, I saw that Howard Zinn died. What a brilliant man. Defintely one of my heroes. I plan to read all of his books throughout my life. May he rest in peace while his words and wisdom last forever.