Today...
Today looked like it was going to be one of those days where you just want to crawl back into bed and stay there. Believe me, I nearly did... after having gone to breakfast at 6:30 as usual, only to find that... woohoo! Yet again, they had forgotten to tell me that breakfast was half an hour later today. I totally wasted a half hour that could have been spent between warm sheets!
But yeah, breakfast was at 7 a.m. When I asked Hermana Silvana, she told me, giggling, that "Oh yeah, by the way, there's a bank holiday here in Peru today, so the kids don't have school!" Like I should have known? I don't know the language, and I don't know the bank holidays, how on EARTH was I going to be able to pull that one out of the hat?!
Anyway. After breakfast I went back home, and despite the fact that my body kept telling me to, I did not go back to bed. I did not go to Mass either, however. I sat down, and I looked up and learnt all the verbs I've been struggling with. Examples of words I use very much here in Ciudad de los Niños: to wash, to clean, to shut up, to concentrate, to hurry up, to do, to make, to have, to be, to play, to go, to walk, to run... Typical school vocabulary, and now I know it, at least halfways. It took me hours and hours.
Come 12:45 p.m., and someone rings my doorbell. What the hell, I thought, who would ring the doorbell? Elizabeth and Kathy have keys to the outer door. I open the door, and there's Hermana Yannet, telling me that "Hey, by the way, Hermana Silje, lunch is earlier today as well! 12:30 p.m.!" Again: HOW THE HELL WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW?!
After this, things just got better, actually. This was the point where it turned. During lunch I was talking to Elizabeth about our upcoming bus trip to Trujillo tomorrow night at 10:30 (night bus in Peru...), and that cheered me up a lot. Besides, I just had to laugh about how much I've screwed up already, when it comes to lunch. It's getting silly, I don't think I'll ever understand the meal times in this place! Besides, the lunch was good (stewed peas and rice... gourmet compared to the anchovies...) and they forgot to give me strong coffee with lemon in it, so I was happy.
After lunch, I went back to San Antonio. Turned out, there wasn't much to do. The kids were playing outside, and the hermanas were kind of just hanging around, handing out toilet paper for boys who needed the toilet (they actually do that here...). And so, since we had all the time in the world, Hermana Flor sat down with me, and we chatted for about 45 minutes. About kids here in Ciudad de los Niños, about Arequipa (her hometown), about crime, corruption and terrorism, abortion (illegal in Peru, are you surprised?) and then she told me that I have to be careful when I go to Trujillo, because apparently, all Peruvians are out to take advantage of blondes from Europe.
We are currently missing three boys in San Antonio: Jean Carlos Santa Cruz, Cristian (who pulls out his hair) and Ronald Whuachuawilca (say that fast, three times...). Hermana Flor made an attempt to explain why to me, and what I understood was the following:
It was nice to have a conversation with her. I mean, there are limits to how good my Spanish will be after speaking to only kids that are under 12. They pronounce "necesita" "nesta", for crying out loud. Not to mention that they reduce Our Father to six lines before and after dinner.
During dinner I sat with José, Erick Benjamin (I am no naming my kid this... the kid is adorable, smart and with a beautiful name), Izai (Ee-sa-ee) and Elvis and taught them all what their names would be in English and they would find it amazingly funny that Benjamin in English is Ben-ya-minn and not ben-ha-meen like it is here.
I spent the rest of the evening drawing. These kids have finally discovered that I can draw. The other day I drew a snakes-and-ladders game for two of them, and tonight they were literally queuing to get one. In the end I had to say that they had to share. In the end I began drawing dragons instead. I'm trying to teach them how to use their imaginations. I made them invent their own dragons. Good or bad? Fat or skinny? Small ears or big ears, wings? They thought it was amazingly fun, but the obstacle they found hard to get past, was how to find a name for the poor creatures! In the end we had one called Cincaturon, and one simply called Gordo (fatty).
I have never been blessed as many times as I have during my 6 weeks here in Ciudad de los Niños. They bless us every morning, afternoon and after they come back from dinner. Like that's not enough, I get goodnight kisses. "My" homework table, with Paolo, José, Daniel, Fredy, Roderick and a few others, all line up and give me kisses on the cheek, and some, like Paolo, constantly comes back to give me more. It's adorable. I am becoming so spoilt, I will be expecting this when I come back to Norway!
Anyway, it's freezing, so I'm going to go and crawl up in my cold bed and watch "Moulin Rouge" on my iPod... Bad day became good day indeed, and tomorrow I'm going to Trujillo! Woohoo! Beach, here I come!
But yeah, breakfast was at 7 a.m. When I asked Hermana Silvana, she told me, giggling, that "Oh yeah, by the way, there's a bank holiday here in Peru today, so the kids don't have school!" Like I should have known? I don't know the language, and I don't know the bank holidays, how on EARTH was I going to be able to pull that one out of the hat?!
Anyway. After breakfast I went back home, and despite the fact that my body kept telling me to, I did not go back to bed. I did not go to Mass either, however. I sat down, and I looked up and learnt all the verbs I've been struggling with. Examples of words I use very much here in Ciudad de los Niños: to wash, to clean, to shut up, to concentrate, to hurry up, to do, to make, to have, to be, to play, to go, to walk, to run... Typical school vocabulary, and now I know it, at least halfways. It took me hours and hours.
Come 12:45 p.m., and someone rings my doorbell. What the hell, I thought, who would ring the doorbell? Elizabeth and Kathy have keys to the outer door. I open the door, and there's Hermana Yannet, telling me that "Hey, by the way, Hermana Silje, lunch is earlier today as well! 12:30 p.m.!" Again: HOW THE HELL WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW?!
After this, things just got better, actually. This was the point where it turned. During lunch I was talking to Elizabeth about our upcoming bus trip to Trujillo tomorrow night at 10:30 (night bus in Peru...), and that cheered me up a lot. Besides, I just had to laugh about how much I've screwed up already, when it comes to lunch. It's getting silly, I don't think I'll ever understand the meal times in this place! Besides, the lunch was good (stewed peas and rice... gourmet compared to the anchovies...) and they forgot to give me strong coffee with lemon in it, so I was happy.
After lunch, I went back to San Antonio. Turned out, there wasn't much to do. The kids were playing outside, and the hermanas were kind of just hanging around, handing out toilet paper for boys who needed the toilet (they actually do that here...). And so, since we had all the time in the world, Hermana Flor sat down with me, and we chatted for about 45 minutes. About kids here in Ciudad de los Niños, about Arequipa (her hometown), about crime, corruption and terrorism, abortion (illegal in Peru, are you surprised?) and then she told me that I have to be careful when I go to Trujillo, because apparently, all Peruvians are out to take advantage of blondes from Europe.
We are currently missing three boys in San Antonio: Jean Carlos Santa Cruz, Cristian (who pulls out his hair) and Ronald Whuachuawilca (say that fast, three times...). Hermana Flor made an attempt to explain why to me, and what I understood was the following:
- Ronald and Jean Carlos have been struggling with headaches.
- They both have perfect eye sight, so it's not because they need glasses.
- Ronald's mother has taken one of her sons out of the Ciudad, but the other one (Cristian Whuachuawilca) is still in San Antonio without his brother.
- Cristian's mother refuses to accept that her son has pulled out his own hair, and refuses to let her son back into Ciudad de los Niños before she's talked to Hermano Hugo.
- Mothers of Jean Carlos and Ronald also refuse to send their kids back before they've talked to Hermano Hugo.
- Hermano Hugo is currently in Quito, Ecuador and will be returning to the Ciudad tomorrow in the afternoon.
- Jean Carlos and Ronald are both in fourth grade, despite being 12 and 13 years old.
It was nice to have a conversation with her. I mean, there are limits to how good my Spanish will be after speaking to only kids that are under 12. They pronounce "necesita" "nesta", for crying out loud. Not to mention that they reduce Our Father to six lines before and after dinner.
During dinner I sat with José, Erick Benjamin (I am no naming my kid this... the kid is adorable, smart and with a beautiful name), Izai (Ee-sa-ee) and Elvis and taught them all what their names would be in English and they would find it amazingly funny that Benjamin in English is Ben-ya-minn and not ben-ha-meen like it is here.
I spent the rest of the evening drawing. These kids have finally discovered that I can draw. The other day I drew a snakes-and-ladders game for two of them, and tonight they were literally queuing to get one. In the end I had to say that they had to share. In the end I began drawing dragons instead. I'm trying to teach them how to use their imaginations. I made them invent their own dragons. Good or bad? Fat or skinny? Small ears or big ears, wings? They thought it was amazingly fun, but the obstacle they found hard to get past, was how to find a name for the poor creatures! In the end we had one called Cincaturon, and one simply called Gordo (fatty).
I have never been blessed as many times as I have during my 6 weeks here in Ciudad de los Niños. They bless us every morning, afternoon and after they come back from dinner. Like that's not enough, I get goodnight kisses. "My" homework table, with Paolo, José, Daniel, Fredy, Roderick and a few others, all line up and give me kisses on the cheek, and some, like Paolo, constantly comes back to give me more. It's adorable. I am becoming so spoilt, I will be expecting this when I come back to Norway!
Anyway, it's freezing, so I'm going to go and crawl up in my cold bed and watch "Moulin Rouge" on my iPod... Bad day became good day indeed, and tomorrow I'm going to Trujillo! Woohoo! Beach, here I come!