Friday night I attended a Shakira concert with the girls (from left: Teresa, Me, Stephanie, Maura). We arrived around 6.00 expecting to get right in because we already had our tickets. There was a mass of people on the street-walking and vending and pushing. When we asked a police officer where the entrance to the concert was, he pointed to a line along the road. I probably looked dumbfounded because he said, "What? It's Shakira." Long story short, we waited in line for an hour and a half to get in. It was slow moving but there was a lot of look at and contemplate buying--Shaikira headbands and posters and T-shirts and pins...( I confess, I cracked and bought an ice cream from a street vender with no teeth). The actual concert was really fun-- Train (which we missed), Ziggy Marley and Shakira. 

I had some videos of Shakira dancing as well as Ziggy Marley playing but I'm having trouble uploading them...

Saturday there was a parade in the downtown area. From what I understood, it was a theater group. (Also have video footage which I'm working on uploading...) 

Anyways, the parade was really something to see--the costumes were so vivid. I wish I could describe the way the colors and music moved and swayed and jiggled...The pictures don't really do it justice. The performers walked on stilts, stopping every few blocks to preform a skit in each major square. I sort of followed behind and snapped pictures. My favorite part was a group of four men playing traditional Andean music on panpipes and leather drums.  

Week 1

I feel as if I am finally starting to get a hold on the new life I have tumbled into...The mornings begins around 7:00 AM where volunteers leisurely mosey down for a breakfast (rolls, butter, jelly and warm hardboiled eggs). At 8:00 we pile into a silver van and begin the 25 minute drive from San Borja (where we live) to Villa El Salvador. There is a stark landscape change from our middle class neighborhood to the poor neighborhoods in Villa El Salvador. The roads become broken and jostle us around, the houses begin to look worn, sagged, slanted and decorated with graffitied. Large dogs are walking through the streets rustling through the strewn garbage and all around, people are vending, yelling, honking, speeding, and sweating. Everything is dusty. The houses seem to be built into the hills of dirt and sand and broken brick (Villa El Salvador is in the desert region of Peru). My site is high up on one of these hills. The door is low (or I am tall), so you have to bend to enter. There are always parents and children crowded outside in the mornings and we have to push to get through.

The school is broken into four classrooms each branching off of a large open center space--one dedicated to the three year olds, one to the four year olds and two for the five year olds. The entire school is walled, so even if children "escape" from the classroom (which they do frequently) they are safe inside the school yard.

My first day, Jennifer and I were greeted with the sound of loud music and dancing children. The teachers where dressed in party hats and clown suits (which I found extremely entertaining)--the celebration was meant to be a welcoming party for the children starting school. The teachers don't speak English and Jennifer and I struggle with Spanish, so I ended up laughing and pointing and nodding a lot. I helped blow up balloons (los globos), put up streamers, and hand out candy. The children sat along the wall of the school yard and were called up to play games (musical chairs, a spin-off of hot potato which involved a hat...). In between songs and games, we passed out los dolces (sweets) and drinks. One little girl kept whispering in my ear that she wanted Ole Ole so I hummed the chorus "Ole Ole Ole" several times. I came to realize that she meant the candy Ole Ole (a rich marshmellow candy covered in chocolate). Oops. Lastly the teachers herded everyone into the center of the room. All the kids were waving balloons and jumping up and down, by now moms and dads had gathered to pick up their kids and a few had joined the dancing circle. All of a sudden this white dust started to fall-someone was spraying foam into the crowd and it fell like snow and dissolved. It felt like a scene out of a movie, really a magical sight...

Volunteering at the school is not usually a fiesta though. Everything is chaotic. I am asked to teach English to the children. I wrote down some songs in English on large poster board to try and make the sounds easier. Most kids are shy, but they try really hard. One of my favorite kids is a five year old named Christopher who goes around the class and asks me, "Como dice se [insert object] en inglas?"

Wednesday the teachers had a strike so I helped at the senior center. The abuelos are beautiful people. I visited some in their homes on Thursday, it was a sight to see. The poverty in this country is unbelievable. The people here are strong. I will save my stories on the abuelos for another post.

I also went to see a local jazz concert with a fellow volunteer. We sat in the back on barstools, which he said would give me a "true jazz experience." I felt pretty cool. The place was very cozy with warm lights and the music was excellent.

Anyways it is getting dark so I must hurry home. Food!

I miss you guys, feeling a little home sick...
(working on posting some videos too...get psyched!)

Llamas! Need I say More!?!

These are from the zoo. Just in case you didn't know, Llamas are my favorite animal. I nearly peed myself when I stumbled across a whole section of the zoo dedicated to them. For you non-llama lovers (pshh) I included some other animals too.

 Theresa at the zoo.

 Bamboo that people carved their names into... 

For Steve Manly

We visited to the zoo on Wednesday. It was split into different sections which corresponded to the different regions of Peru-desert, forest, mountain etc. All the animals seems pretty lackadaisical...I would never want to be peered at from behind a piece of glass...Still, the animals were beautiful and exotic and wonderfully entertaining. This one is for Steve, my favorite photographer friend (who likes birds)--I thought of you while snapping some of these.

This one was taken from the backyard of the CSS house.


Anyways, apologies for the short post. So much more to come (Hint: Llama Videos!!!!!) The computer is slow and I am late...must get ready for a Shakira Concert (bahaha lalala Shakira Shakira!)

¡Hola!

It is my first day in Peru and I'm sitting in a Starbucks...¿ironic no?

The other volunteers (three of them, all in their early twenties) tell me that Sundays are lazy--we are left to our own devices and means of entertainment. I decided to follow along to the local Starbucks (the closest place with free wi-fi) to surf the web, and do "as the CSS volunteers do." There is ambient jazz playing...we're sitting on an open-deck on the second floor. It is so warm here, and really humid, but today there is a nice breeze moving through. The sound of car horns and ambulance sirens and a general hum is background.

Everything is Peru is low to the ground. The skyline is relatively flat and doesn't stretch much higher then the trees. Most things are walled or gated off...there are beautiful intricacies in the gates though, and the streets are mixes of yellows and blues and greens. There are posters and billboards all over the city, most of them have the presidential candidates smiling. The election is next month.

My flight was long. I think I may have developed a blood clot and a prolonged kink in my back from slouching over the arm rail, trying to find a comfy position. I sat in the very back of the plane, with a Spanish couple. The women was bubbly and round and spoke English well. The man was quiet and gentle and attempted to converse with me, which involved a lot of me looking dumb-struck and laughing nervously. They helped me with a few spanish phrases.

The drive from the airport to the CSS house was a blur. We drove through 4 districts. The drivers here are insane (loco). There seems to be no rules, yet everything flows and moves together--there is a lot of honking, people pulling in front of one another with no more than a millimeter between cars. My foot was in spasm, mock braking. The man that met me at the airport was wonderful. He was so animated and pointed out Lima as we sped through. Our conversations were a game of charades and a dance between my broken Spanish and his broken English. He told me that there was a salsa concert going on near the airport, that the performers were really old, around when he was a boy--he then proceeded to demonstrate by hunching over and holding an imaginary cane. His laugh was infectious-herty and full. "Divertido! gracioso!!"[Funny! Funny!!] he would cried, slapping the stering wheel. I had fun.

I crept into my room around 2:00 AM. It's set up a lot like a college dorm, with two bunk beds and two dressers. The room was sticky and the sound of cars and people outside drifted through the large open window. I don't know when I fell asleep. I only remember looking up at the slats of wood above my head, feeling like I was in a dream. not real.

Go Insane, Go Insane, Throw some Glitter, Make it Rain!

So here it is! The day I have been anxiously awaiting. Peru.
I'm too excited and exhausted to write anything comprehendible so instead I thought I would just post some photos of a "fairytale" I have been madly writing and illustrating for the 3-5 year old children I will be teaching. The story follows Zoe and Max as they try to catch a star (una estrella).