Christmas means Chocolate!!

Every country has traditions at Christmas, and the tradition in Peru is Chocoltada's where you have hot chocolate and Panettone. 

On Thursday 13th December I experienced my first one at Didache, the school I teach English in.  The Hot Chocolate was lovely as it contained cinnamon as well - was not a big fan of the Panettone but have been told it grows on you - and as there will be many opportunities to taste it with all the chocoltada's am sure it will grow on me! We'll see. 

Tables were laid out and the kids sat around the table while the chocolate was given to them with instructions that it was hot and to blow on it first before drinking from it, was so cute watching them all blow into their hot chocolate. Unfortunately some people ended up with the hot chocolate all over the table and them - that was not so cute as it looked sore.

The kids were all given little individual Panettone's as well with the covers featuring different cartoon characters, as usual with kids there was the chorus of I want the one he has not this one, so there was some Panettone swapping done - not that the covers made them taste any different and at the end of the day the covers ended up in the bin anyway!

Blowing on the hot chocolate

With the hot chocolate and Panettone's

It was nice to see the kids enjoy their Chocoltada and experience my first one as well. 

To see more pictures of the kids enjoying their Chocoltada please click here

Maca

Last weekend (15th/16th December) I went to Maca with four others from my church (Daniel, Lidia, Rocio and Marilla) to hold a Chocolatada for the children of Maca.

We set off at 8am on Saturday morning arriving in Maca at 1pm. For me it was a very horrible bus ride as I get travel sick and the roads to Maca were very very bumpy. I have done this route three times before but this time was the worst, must have been the bus or the driver!! I was glad to reach the end.

When we got to Maca, with loads of luggage we had to trail everything through the village to get the church and the place we were staying, this was funny and I felt like a cart horse!

Lidia, Rocio, Marilla and me with the luggage

The Cart Horse!

We got the luggage safely to the church, had lunch (fish with heads on and all), and then proceeded to set up for the evening. We had to clean the place, unpack the clothes we had brought to give to the children, set up the chairs, make the chocolate, practice the drama and set up the tent in which we would be sleeping. We were staying in a little house but we put the tent up inside so as Lidia would not have to sleep with the mice!!. I can you tell it was very cosy in that tent with the five of us, and poor Rocio never got any sleep due to being between Daniel and me who snored very loudly. 

We had told the kids to come at 6pm for the evening activities, but they turned up at 5pm - we were not totally ready for them, but let them in anyway as it was cold outside. Maca is high up in altitude. Roico, Marilla and I painted the nails for the girls while Lidia cut the boys nails for them.  The Mum's soon came looking for their nails to be painted as well.

We started the evening about 6.30pm with Marilla, Lidia, Daniel and I all dressed as clowns. It is the first time I have ever dressed as a clown, and am still not sure what clowns have to do with Christmas, but the kids enjoyed it, so that was alright.

The Clowns -Lidia, Daniel and me

We sang some songs and then did a drama about the importance of Christmas.Lidia was the kid at Christmas, and Marilla, Daniel and I represented things that Christmas was about - presents, food and the Christmas Tree - but then Rocio came in saying no Christmas is not about these things, yes these things happen, but really Christmas is all about the birth of Jesus. It was a good wee drama and the kids all listened, well most of them!

After the drama and the singing, we gave them hot chocolate and Paneton and gave out the clothes as well. For me watching this was heart breaking as they were all clambouring over each other to get clothes and we had told them one item each but some took more and at the end some kids were left with nothing.

Rocio pouring the hot chocolate

Looking for clothes

After that they all went home and we went to bed exhausted at 9.30pm. However we discovered a problem...we had closed the church doors but could not find the keys - they were in the church! So next morning, we had to break a window of the church to get the keys in order to clean the church up and hold a service for the kids as well. 

We had told the kids to come back at 10am on the Sunday morning for the service, but at 7am when we were still in bed, we heard these little voices saying 'senoritas, its 10am'.... Lidia and I both looked at our watches and went 'what?' and back to sleep!!

It was actually 11am before we were able to do the service for the kids. At this there was more singing and another drama... this time telling the story of the birth of Jesus. Lidia again was the little kid asking the questions and Marilla was Mary and Daniel was Joseph, and they together told the story. Afterwards we all got on our knees to pray.

Telling the story from Matthew 1 vs 18-25

We needed to go and get our bus but the kids did not want to go home so Rocio played a couple of games with them while the rest of us tidied up.

Playing Games

After about 20 mins of games and a goodbye prayer, we said goodbye to them, finished tidying up and left to get our bus back to Arequipa at 1pm.

It was a great weekend for me, good to spend time with the others and also to work with the kids and see the smiles on their faces and have chats with them. It is a weekend I will remember for a long time. I came here to Peru to work with disabled young adults but have been able to have different experiences as well, and this was one of them, it has been a great and varied experience. 

To see more photos of the time at Maca please click here

And the teaching comes to an end

Last Friday (14th Dec) was the end of year/Christmas show for Didache, the school I teach English in. I say end of year because December is the end of the school year in Peru as December - February is the summer here and now its time for summer holidays as well as Christmas celebrations.

So on Friday we had celebrations for Christmas including a nativity drama, Christmas songs in Portuguese, Spanish and English. For the past few weeks I have been teaching the kids how to sing Jingle Bells in English (if I ever hear the song again I may scream!), it has been good hearing them sing with enthusiasm, especially the 5 year olds. They sang it in front of their parents - they did it with enthusiasm as usual especially the Jingle Bells part but the line 'On what fun it is to ride In a one horse open sleigh' was a bit hard for them. Think they found the Portuguese song easier (the languages are similar after all). But it was still fun to hear them sing.

Singing Jingle Bells

You can see some of them are dressed in little white costumes, these are the sheep for the nativity play, they were so cute going across the stage on all fours. 

As it was Christmas and my time had come to an end at Didache, I was presented with a present along with the Portuguese teacher who is also leaving this year to go back to Brazil. It was a lovely picture frame with a photo of all the kids, teachers and the pastor and his wife (the school is connected to the church). Another lovely reminder of my time in Peru.

Talitha and me with our cards and gifts

There was also a clown there who did some party games. Then the kids all got their report cards given to them along with a Christmas present (why did that never happen to me, all I got was the bad reports!)..... 

The 5 year olds are going to big school next year so there was a special presentation for them and the three of them did a little dance piece.... Hayley and Julietta both took it in turns to dance with Christopher. 

The 5 year olds

It was lovely to be part of the end of year/Christmas show. I enjoyed teaching English there and getting to know the kids and the teachers and learning a new skill - teaching. Though am not sure I will be changing profession to teacher just yet!! 

To see more photos of the day please click here

So its time to leave...

So my time at Nuevas Fuerzas is coming to an end which  I am very sad about as I have loved working with the young disabled adults there. The last day is not until 18th December, but the focus on this day will be Christmas, so Paul (the boss) decided to hold a goodbye for me last Thursday (13th). This was a nice surprise for me, but something I was actually not wanting to do - say goodbye, there were tears but it was lovely time as well.

There were pizzas for everyone and Ruth (my mentor) even made some traybakes - sticky jimmies (those who don't live in N.Ireland might have to google that) and some Fifteens (my favourite traybake). This was a lovely treat for me as have been missing my fifteen's. Think everyone else enjoyed them, and the mum's even asked for the recipe so that was a good sign. Good to bring a bit of the Irish culture over to Peru.

Paul with the traybakes

There was another surprise for me as well - a lovely present for a photo frame with different photos from my time in Nuevas Fuerzas, something for me to take home, put on my wall and treasure. Some of the young adults gave me presents as well - including a lovely heart shaped photo frame made for me by Kati. So got a photo of me and her to put into that. Was touched she would do that for me.

Me with my present

Kati and me

I had to give a speech as well in Spanish, am hoping I got the words right and did not say anything wrong. Then Hermana Julia (Alenjandro's mum) gave a wee speech which brought more tears and Hermana Rut (a helper) prayed for me. It was all lovely and emotional. 

Hermana Julia and me

Hermana Rut

It was a lovely afternoon, very special and one which I will remember forever. Those people in Nuevas Fuerzas are very special people to me and will always be with me. Will miss them lots.

Everyone

To see more photos of my despedida (goodbye) please click here (warning there are quite a few photos!)

Time for a BBQ

Saturday 8th December was a bank holiday in Peru - it was the Day of the Immaculate Conception. As on other bank holidays, our church had a BBQ or Parrillada as they call it here. The BBQ was held at the drug rehabilitation center which is linked to the church.

We were told to be at the church at 9.30 to get the bus - as usual I arrived at the correct time and was early... I for once was not the first person to be early so that was good. We waited and others arrived and eventually the bus came at 10am to take us.... even in Peru I still run on British time (sometimes I run on Peruvian time - that might happen more when I get home!)

We arrived at the center at 10.30 which is early for a BBQ but someone still managed to eat their BBQ'd food at 11am... way to early for me.

The day was not just about food, it was about getting together as a church with the members of the center, chatting and having fun. Fun was had in the shape of sports - volleyball, football and even rugby..... rugby is not heard of in this country much (the only Latin American team which play rugby to competitive standard is Argentina).

Volleyball

Football

I did not participate in the volleyball and the football was only for men, no fair... but while the football was going on, Lidia, Ely and I started our own game of rugby, it was not a fair game as it was them two against me - but then Marylin took pity on me and joined in to help me - however being rugby and all the game was a bit violent and somehow I ended up on the ground most of the time and more than any one else....

Lidi and Ely celebrating a try while I am on the ground

Trying to get the ball from me

It got worse later on as Daniel and Jozue joined us and it became girls v boys.... it was very funny and lots of photos were taken, actually during the day I took 133, but most of them are of us playing rugby ... not taken by me obviously. 

Ely trying to catch Jozue

Poor Jozue!!

It was a good day  - I enjoyed playing rugby despite now having a very sore body as I used muscles I had not used in a long time and I wrecked my knee. Yesterday at church, the day after, Lidia, Ely and I were all complaining about sore bodies... women hey!

I also enjoyed getting to know more people from the church and talking to guys from the drug rehabilitation center. Its a great project and the guys are all lovely  - some of them come to church on Sundays so I do see them there as well.  Drugs are a huge problem in Peru, and its great to see these guys coming to the center and wanting to change and its good seeing God work in their lives as well.

To see more pictures please go here and here - do not worry I did not upload all 133...... 

We're going camping now!!!

After spending three weeks with my parents, they left on 31st October, and I was not to have anytime to 'mourn' their leaving as on the 1st November I went off to camp for four days with the young people (Jovenes) in my church. 

This camp was not just for my church but for all the baptist churches around Peru, so I got to meet people from Lima, Cusco and other places as well. I have not been to a youth camp since I was 17 so was bit nervous about going as am not really that into camps, never have been. 

We did not go far, just to a place call La Joya which is an hour outside Arequipa but higher in altitude than Arequipa is. It was a lovely tranquil location which changed dramatically when about 50 of us descended there!

The sleeping arrangements were fun as well  - there were two rooms, one for the boys and one for the girls and in the girls room there were 30 of us... and what made it fun as well was only two toilets and three showers for 30 girls.... leading to many a queue! 

What did we do at camp? Well there various talks from different Baptist pastors, we had worship sessions, did group devotionals, rode horses, played water polo (which ended up in a couple of people being thrown in afterwards fully clothed!! 

Lidia being thrown in

Marylin being thrown in

As well as water polo there were other games including an army style obstacle course, hockey, volleyball, football etc. On day one the boys could not sleep that there were up playing football at 5am. That is dedication to the sport for you - maybe if Newcastle Utd were that dedicated we would have more points by now!!

We also had competitions, dressing up like twins etc. On the Friday night we had to answer questions and if we got the question wrong we got shaving cream pies in the face (this humour travels all around the globe)... I got my question wrong, but instead of getting the pie in my face, I thought it would be funny to put the pie in the face of the person answering the question  - I got an applause for that!

Lidia after the pie in the face!

It was a good few days, but I had to leave early due to ill health - I was completely exhausted after two weeks travelling with my parents, and just needed to go home and sleep. But I enjoyed the time I had there, and wish could have understood more of the talks, but it was great getting to know new people and spend time with the young people from my church. And for once was not the only 'gringa' there as there was another girl from Isle of Man and one of the Pastors (a missionary in Cusco) was from Scotland. So got to speak some English as well.

To see more photos please click here

Footnote: For those of who you do not know what a Gringa/Gringo is - it is someone from outside South America, it came from Mexico when a long time ago the American soldiers in their green uniforms were in Mexico and all the mexicans shouted Go Greens Go and it turned to Gringo and applies to all white people!!  I get called it all the time by one of my friends, so nice!!

Culture Project 5: Senor de los Milagros

Every October in the whole of Peru hundreds and thousands of people celebrate Senor de los Milagros (Lord of Miracles).

What is Senor de los Milagros? Well it is an image painted of Jesus Christ which was painted in an adobe wall located in the main altar of the Shrine of the Nazarene in Peru.  This image was apparently painted by a black slave in the 17^th Century.

The image shows Chris enduring the pain of crucifixion. And above the cross id the Holy Spirit and God the Father.  Below and to the right of Jesus is his mother, the Virgin Mary. She has her heart pierced by a metaphorical sword of sorrow and to her right at the foot of the cross is Mary Magdalene.

This image of Christ got its name, Senor de los Milagros, because in the 18^th Century there was a massive earthquake which destroyed most of Lima, leaving only the mural standing up, which people said was a miracle.

This Catholic festival is the most celebrated in Peru and it takes a month to celebrate it with street processions, decorating streets in purple and even wearing purple dresses (woman) or shirts (men) every day of October.

Purple is used to celebrate the fact the Lord loves us so much he died on the cross for us. In the procession they join the Virgin Mary and St John with pain but with deep gratitude and joy for the salvation and new life given by Jesus. To them this is the greatest miracle. 

When we were in Puno we saw a procession celebrated Senor de los Milagros. Here are some photos: