My youthful farewell

On Saturday night I had my despedida (farewell) at the Jovenes (the young people) but everyone from the church was invited - young and old. I would not be lying if I told you that the whole of Saturday I was so nervous and it took Abby (the new strider) to practically drag me there.

Why was I nervous - because Peruvian birthdays and farewells can be a bit too much too handle sometimes but they are fun, however when you are on the goodbye side of it you never know what to expect. But as it turned out it was not so bad.

The evening started with them singing a song to me about friendship, was so lovely and brought tears to my eyes. The games master Lidia brought in the games which meant a lot of running around and then me and others eating cake from a nappy!!

Me eating cake from a nappy

Pastor Abel

I was also designated Queen for the evening as it was my night - so when the crown was placed on my head, I proudly declared myself as the Queen of Ireland... anyone have any objections?

Queen of Ireland

Then came the piece de resistance of the night - a drama about me. I was dreading this but it was hilarious, at the end I could not even breathe because of laughing to much and the tears were running down my face. Airyn and Lidia did the drama with Airyn playing the part of my mentor Ruth Turner and Lidia playing the part of me - she had warned me this was going to happen on New Year's Eve but didn't due to other reasons, so this was the night!

So what aspects of my time in Peru did Lidia make fun of me   - all my illnesses, my lack of Spanish, my always falling over and of course the time on Christmas Day when I ended up with curtain cord around my neck - so so funny. 

Airyn as Ruth, Lidia as me

Lidia as me!!

One question - does Lidia even look anything like me?! Airyn's impression of Ruth was excellent - with the wig etc... when Lidia asked for my Latin Link jumper, never knew it would be used for this!!

The night ended with people saying nice things to me - had tears in my eyes at this time as well. Will miss them all so much, the church have been so good to me and have made some good friends there.

To see more pictures please click here 

Summer School

In December all my work finished and I was wondering how I was going to spend January – but then an opportunity came up – helping out at the summer school for Didache. I enjoyed teaching English here and getting to know the kids, so was excited to be able to help out again and have another opportunity to teach English again. Maybe have caught the teaching bug - the Pastor's wife thinks I would make a fantastic teacher.... 

The summer school started on the 7^th January and runs Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays. It has been a fun time but we have only had seven kids most days which is a shame but it is also good because they are easier to look after in small groups. 

with the Kids and the Pastor's Wife

Summer school is meant to be fun so we have had craft lessons were we have made canastas (for carrying things), key holder and photo frames.

Making the key holders

The key holders  - minus the hooks

We also have had dance and theatre classes led by Airyn which the kids have really enjoyed.

Warming up

Dancing

The fun does not stop there, as well as painting sessions - where in the case of Piero the paint ended up more on his hands than on the sheet. Unfortunately I do not have a picture of this. Sometimes the camera is not there when you need it. 

Valeria painting with her fingers

There is also mini chef where we have made mini penguins using olives, cream cheese and carrots - they are so cute

Christopher and his Penguins

and then the last Friday we made fruit salad kebabs which went down so well with everyone especially the putting of the chocolate sauce on them. Piero loved the chocolate sauce so much that he had it put on his fingers and then that was not enough so we decided to just eat it straight from the bottle!

Making the fruit kebabs

More fruit kebab making

Piero with the chocolate sauce!

And on top of all that, the kids have been learning English taught by yours truly. The first week we learnt the parts of the body using the song Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. The second week was farm animals based on the song Old McDonald Had a Farm and the third week we learnt fruit and colours. Apparently the colour of an orange in Peru is not orange but yellow.... 

Teaching farm animals

It has been a good few weeks working in the summer school and will miss not being there til the end, it finishes on the 7th Feb, Think they might miss me too. 

Off to the beach

In the summer most people in Arequipa go off to the beach which is three hours away on bus. Throughout the year I have wanted to go and experience the Peruvian beaches but have never had a chance, but finally last weekend I got to go. I went with my mentor Ruth Turner for the weekend to Mejia.

To prove I was there!!

Latin Link have a house in Mejia so we went to stay there, and it was so nice, standing on the patio you saw the sea and could even here it from the house... I have missed the sound of the waves. And from the house the beach was only a five minute walk.

The House

What did we do at the beach? Well something I don't normally do - sat on the beach and sunbathed - we did sit under a shelter so we were in the shade, but somehow I still managed to get my legs burnt - stupid me!

Though I don't normally like sitting on the beach not doing much - it was lovely to get down there and relax, sit and read, watch the waves etc - nice to relax before coming back to Arequipa for a week of goodbyes - it helped refresh me. And I had good company in the form of Ruth, though sometimes I think she wished I would stop talking!! 

The rocks and waves

Love watching the waves hit the rocks

The Beach

It was lovely to go and see another part of Peru as well as take in some rays before I go home to the cold cold weather in Northern Ireland.

Visiting

As Nuevas Fuerzas finished in December due it being summer holidays in Peru now, I decided in December/January to go and visit a few of them in their houses. 

This has been nice going to their houses, getting to know their families better and also being treated to lunch in a couple of the houses. Love the Peruvian food.

I started off my visiting just after Christmas by visiting Sharon and her family. I was nervous about going out to her house as never been there and am not that good on the combi's here when I don't know where am going - but I found my way so all was good. I arrived at their house at 10.00 and left at 2pm so a good long visit. 

Sharon's mum made me lunch which was lovely and it was nice sharing a meal with the family and talking more to them - they were very interested to learn more about Ireland and we discussed the similarities and differences between the two countries. 

with Sharon

I did not have anymore visits until the second week of January. This time I decided to take the Pastor's wife with me. She is taking over in Nuevas Fuerzas so we both thought it would be a good idea if she came along to get to know the young adults and their families better and also know where they live.

We started off visiting Vanessa on the Monday, then Alejandro on the Tuesday. I am glad I was not on my own going to Alejandro's as we both got lost.... 

We stayed about 5 hours with Alejandro and his mum Julia. Again we had lunch there which was lovely. Julia and Bethsaida talked about Christianity and the church whilst Alejandro and I did jigsaws together and played on a wee computer which does English and Spanish words... he loves the music on it.  

With Alejandro

Then on the Wednesday we visited Kati 2 (there are two Kati's in Nuevas Fuerzas)... thankfully she lives two minutes away from the church so we had no way of getting lost that day. 

On the Friday I went to see Maribel (on my own). I have been visiting her every week since June. This was my last visit and Maribel started to cry. I told her not to cry as I would cry, but she did. I did not cry until I get on the combi home and then cried all the way home - it was so sad saying goodbye to her. We have developed a good friendship over the past 8 months. I will miss our weekly sessions of studying the Bible and playing Uno as well. Who will volunteer to have weekly Uno sessions with me? Or Bible Studies?

With Maribel's Family

Now we reach the second week of January where I just had one visit planned and that was to Laura (again went on my own). Laura is a funny girl  - she was telling me about her 20 boyfriends.  I said I just want one and you have 20 that is not fair, she just smiled at me!

For the third week of January (this week) I had arranged to go and visit Kati 1, but went I went to her house with the Pastor's wife she was not in, so that was sad I did not get to see her. However she phoned me later on in the afternoon so got a wee chat on the phone with her.

I am going to have to find people to visit when I get home, so if you want a visit from me, just let me know...

Its a New Year

I know its a week since New Year's Eve but not too late to update you on my festivities to help bring in the New Year. 

On New Year's Eve my church had a Talent Night which also included a dinner and fireworks as well! As with Christmas, Peru is all about the fireworks on New Years Eve (though think most countries are) so the sky was bright with colours and life was noisy for a while!

I do not have a talent to my name so I did not take part in the talent show, just used my talent of photography in taking photos of those other people with talents! We had many singers, a mime artist, and the pastor read out a poem. It was a fun night and good to see other people's talents.

Pastor Abel

Paul the mime artist

As mentioned we also had a dinner -there were three tables set up - one for the kids, one for the adults and then another one for the young people - I was not sure which table to sit at!!! But opted for the young people's table. Dinner was pork, potatoes and salads and was lovely but eating a big meal at 11.30pm is proving hard for me now am used to my main meal at lunch time - its best at altitude to eat big meals during the day, helps the digestion system. 

The adults table

As well as fireworks being let off all around the city, the young lads in our church also set some off... this was a dangerous business, as one was put in the middle of the road and a car went over it just as it exploded, thankfully they were only tiny fireworks!! The guys are from Cuba and they are crazy!

Putting firework in middle of road

Bit too close!!

To see more photos of the evening please click here

I am an angel!

As well as having a lovely Christmas lunch on Christmas Day, I also attended a service in my church in the evening. As I was meant to be in the drama for the kids, I got down to the church at 5.30 but was the first one there.... and I did not even take part in the kids drama, too much talking for my limited Spanish! 

However, all was not lost, I was drafted into the drama for the jovenes, playing an angel. Ok I am 30 years old and it has taken me this long to be an angel! (ok, ok so am always an angel!!) this year in Peru as seen a lot of firsts (being a clown, being an angel in the nativity etc)

The service was meant to start at 6.30 but by the time we had all stopped practicing our dramas it was 7.30 when the service started. We had some singing, then the kids did their nativity play - so cute. It was based on a mum telling her three kids the story and then acted out with a mixture of wee kids and big kids (not enough wee kids available).... they told the story of the birth of Christ including the shepherds and the wisemen.  And then they sang a little song. 

Mum and the kids

The wisemen!!!

Mary and Joseph

All singing

Then there was more singing from the congregation and then it was time for the drama for the jovenes, so my five minutes of fame! We also did the nativity scene, but unlike the kids there was no talking - it was done to music and Lidia and Airyn told the story via dance while Mary and Joseph acted their parts with the help of the Shepherd and me, the Angel!! Look at how big my wings were...... nightmare, tell you!

Lidia and Airyn - the dancers

Mary, Joseph and the Angel

All of us.

Ok, so there was a reason I told you about the size of the wings.... it is a funny but yet not funny story. But is this not what blogs are for, to tell stories of my time away and embarrass myself!

My wings were very big and I had trouble getting off the stage through the curtain without hitting things and people, so I thought it would be good idea to jump sideways off the stage, but what I did not know was that the string from the curtain had made itself round my neck, so when I jumped, I ended up with the cord around my neck and bringing the curtain down around me - always said I would bring the curtain down one day!! Ok, so it was very embarrassing for me, but actually instead of laughing straight away people were quite worried about me and someone asked me why I felt like killing myself on Christmas Day.... I could have actually died! but thankfully for you lot, I am still alive. 

Not actually quite a funny story but when you look back on it, it was funny and think its brought an end to my acting days, safer dressing up as a clown. Been in Peru 11 months and already have had 4 chances of showing my acting skills!! Why do we do silly things in Foreign Countries? 

To see more photos of the church service please click here 

Christmas Day

The Peruvians do not do anything special on the 25th December, instead it is a rest day for them (like the 26th is for us), as they have usually been to bed later due to the midnight celebrations. 

So this Christmas I spent the 25th with my fellow Latin Link missionaries in the house of Paul and Ruth Turner. There were 14 of us altogether - 4 from Ireland, 1 from Scotland, 2 from England,  1 from Australia and a English/Peruvian family (Roland and Jenny with their kids, Sammy, Ben, Hilda and Kati - visiting from Cusco).

It was a lovely day, we had the proper Christmas Dinner with crackers (and hats), melon, turkey, potatoes, many different vegetables, stuffing, christmas pudding and even custard (custard is a luxury here, you do not get it, this was brought from England).  We all helped prepare the dinner and it tasted great and the craic around the table was fun.

My Dinner

After the main course we decided to take a break before eating the desert - as we were all very full  - so we had present opening time. As there were so many of us, we did a secret santa which was a good idea. However, we all bought something for the kids, of which there were four of them - and this was fun seeing them all get excited and opening their presents, especially Kati and Hilda.

Kati and Hilda with their presents 

After present time we then sang some carols with Ruth playing the pianos for us. This was nice as we sang them in English - been singing carols in Spanish at church, but was nice to have them in English here. 

Rosemary and Paul singing their carols

It was a lovely day and was a little piece of home away from home. 

To see more pictures of Christmas Day please click here

Its Christmas Eve

In Peru the big day of Christmas is the 24th December  - this is when all families come together to celebrate. The celebrations take place usually by having a turkey dinner at midnight, though some families would just have hot chocolate and panettone. And at midnight fireworks are set off as well.

So this Christmas Eve, I spent the evening with my Peruvian family and friends of theirs. We started the evening at 9.30am with time of singing, reading the bible and praying. To me this was very interesting because I thought back to my Christmasas in Ireland where we just come together to eat and don't do this - however we do go to church Christmas morning. For me it was a special time to sit and think about the true reason of Christmas - the birth of Christ. 

After this time, we then sat down to eat our dinner, which was turkey, rice and different kinds of salads - no starters and ice cream for desert - but for that time of the night what we ate was sufficient - have never eaten my dinner that late at night. 

My Dinner

While we were eating fireworks were going off outside, it was a very loud and colourful display. One thing about the Peruvians, they love their fireworks - always going off for different reasons even during the day, which is weird since you can't see the display just hear the noise.

We finished the meal about 1.30am and were in bed at 2am... I was exhausted but enjoyed the evening. Despite the fact was missing my family back home, it was great to experience Christmas in a different culture and see how they do things here.

Christmas in Peru is very different - they get 24th and 25th off work and then back to work on the 26th.... and some people even have to work on the 24th/25th - not just those in NHS etc, but even those in the mines have to work. And its not all about presents or material things either, its about family and time spent with them - there is no commercial pressure which was nice to see. But the one thing I did miss was Carol Services which they don't have any of here.

Christmas is for kids

I came to Peru to primarily work with disabled young adults, but have also been able to experience other types of work alongside this with my church - for example going to Maca last weekend. Today was another one of these experiences - after the morning service today (Sunday 23rd) I went to a kids home with a few other people from the church for a little Christmas service.

We arrived at about 1.45 but there were no kids there yet, they were at another place, but by 2pm they were all there - about 35 of them. 

What did we do? Well we sang songs, and a drama (the same drama from Maca) however some changes were made, it did not include the kid like last time- we focused on Christmas being about food, papa noel, the tree and presents - and then we were told that that was not what Christmas was about, its all about Jesus. Again we finished it off by singing a song about the importance of Christmas. 

Singing with actions!

The boys singing

Marilla

Then Pastor Abel gave a short talk - again in this talk he emphasised that Christmas might be fun with presents, food etc but that is not what its all about. When we had finished speaking he invited the kids to pray a pray asking Jesus into their lives - which some seemed to do with joy.

Praying

After that we finished with another song and then we said our goodbyes. It was a lovely afternoon. On the way out someone introduced me to a little kid of 12 years old who spoke fantastic English -  I told her that at 12 her English was better than my Spanish....it is easier to learn another language as a child. She learnt it in America. She went to America and visited 24 different states in a few months raising money for herself and the other children in this home.  I must confess I did ask her, her name but my memory is failing me and have already forgotten it. Not good at all. But it was good to have a wee chat with someone in English - even though when I was first introduced to her, I could not think of one single English word to say, how strange!! 

To see more photos please click here 

Christmas in different countries

I left language school in September, but as an ex student I got invited back to their Christmas party today (Friday 21st). Everyone who was going had to bring a dessert which represented their country - I made and took trifle with me as this is a dessert we have every year at Christmas time.

The morning started off with us singing Christmas carols, then we had a short talk about Christmas from Peter, a student from England, who is going to Lima in two weeks time to be a missionary there. Peter and his wife were finishing their three and a half months of language school today. 

Singing

Peter 

After that the current students talked about the different traditions at Christmas time in their country - we heard about America, Switzerland (Santa Claus came out at this time), Norway, Germany, Denmark - but the funniest of all was Great Britain.

Anne (Peter's wife) who is Scottish stood up and started talking about Christmas in Scotland first of all and then the rest of Britain (so N.Ireland, England and Wales! in case you did not know). She talked about how it was tradition for the Queen of England to give a speech every Christmas Day at 3pm - then she said and wait a minute today is Christmas Day and it is 3pm - and in walked the Queen of England!

Queen Elizabeth!! aka Peter!

It was so funny, Peter (the same guy who gave the talk and was all serious, was now the Queen!).... I have never laughed so much at the Queen before in my life. Peter gave the Queen's speech and included bits about the four nations, the commonwealth nations and Peru! Then he said goodbye, made us all stand up and sing God Save the Queen - the English, Scottish and Irish (even me) sang this whole heartily but the Americans mocked it.. not every nice from our 'friends'! Ah well. The whole act was so funny.

We then heard about Christmas in Peru, had some Peruvian food and all shared the desserts from each different country - from the British Isles there was two trifles (one irish, one scottish), mince pies, shortbread and scones with jam.... lovely bit of home.  The plates were all full and there was hardly any food left.

It was good to go back to the school and see everyone especially my teachers. They had a hard job when it came to trying to teach me, but was pleased to be able to understand everything there today and have conversations with my teachers without being nervous. 

For more pictures click here

Its all over....

Last Tuesday (18th December) was the last day of Nuevas Fuerzas for the year which also meant it was my last day of Nuevas Fuerzas as it won't be starting up again til March and by that time I will be in Britain - where in Britain I have no idea, but will be there!!

For the first two hours we watched Madagascar Three.... well I did not see much of it as was doing other things, but everyone who was watching it seemed to enjoy it. 

We did not have many people from the start but more people and parents started to arrive at 3pm as that was when the chocolotada was due to start. During this time, we sang some Christmas songs and Pastor Abel spoke about the importance of Christmas, we gave out Christmas presents to the members of Nuevas Fuerzas, they swapped their secret santa presents, gave presents to helpers, had some hot chocolate and panettone as well. 

Singing

Pastor Abel

Miss Elva getting her present from Kati

Paul giving out Hot Chocolate

Alejandro and Manuel enjoying their Panettone

Diana getting  a hug from her secret santa Alejandro

This is my third chocolotada and as said in previous post apparently panettone grows on you, and I would like to say that it has, actually like it now. Not sure how many more chocolotada's I have left to experience but do not think its too many.

For me it was a bit of emotional day as it was my last day at Nuevas Fuerzas and last day seeing many of the young adults, though will be visiting some of them in January. I mentioned to Hermana Bethsaida (the pastor's wife) that I was sad as it was my last day and she said, do not be sad, be happy that you have had the opportunity to serve here and get to know the young adults and the mum's - she is a very wise person.

To see more photos of the Chocolotada please click here