Okayyy... Not a frequent blogger.
So- here's an easy-read, bullet point update of what I've been doing here since my last for those interested:
- Summer school ending, holding a great little party for the children with face paints, pass the parcel and water war
- The week after trawling the sandy hills of Alto Trujillo talking to families about our school. Surprised how poor and bleak some areas were, with no water supply, though they have been established for over a decade! Also at how negatively a lot of people responded to the offer of free education for their child- 'there's no point'; 'he doesn't want to go to school...' A lot of shame and embarrassment surrounding the subject.
- Spending a dance filled, paint covered, carneval weekend in the awesome town of Cajamarca, about 3 hours sleep in 3 days
- Leading the mothers group, enjoying chatting and gossiping with them while making recycled crafts- retro wallets from milk cartons, papier mâché jewellery, rag dolls- really cool project to be involved in!
- Going to see the new school, which is a tiny borrowed room with no floor - when we got there we found a man camping out inside and the one table was used to bar the window, with a few buckets full of something yellow im pretty sure belonged to him in the corner. Spent a lovely morning clearing that out!!
- Teaching older children who WANT to learn in school, including a 12 yr old who couldn't read at all, doing one to one with him for a week and watching it FINALLY click!
- EATING- guinea pig, more heart, ceviche, chicharrones, papa reina (inside out Cornish pasty), milanesa, Palta rellena... Pisco sours and jungle juice and drinkable YOGHURT, which I drink so much of, I worked out it would be actually cheaper to have a weed addiction here
- This week and next there are five dentists with us, and I'm translating for them in the hospitals. This is fun and intense, and really interesting, meeting lots of people and learning about caries! And brilliant span practice!
- Being stepped on accidentally on a night out and having my own medical experience- hobbling round the streets if Trujillo on doctor's orders to find an X-Ray centre. The centre was a room under a house with one chair, a table, half a floor, three quarters of a roof, and the nurse didn't leave the room and wore no protective clothes! Erk.
- Not watching a bull running festival because we arrived way too late, beers on the beach instead
- Friends leaving, friends arriving
Ciao X
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