My first week living with my family and working was exhausting, I think I may have been relaxing a little too much prior! Working in the kinder was a lot of fun and in general rather hilarious with myself trying to understand the 3 year olds and the children having just as much trouble understanding my commands. The profesora was lovely and included me in all activities and sometimes handed things over to me which at one point I was a little worried. The beauty in children is that they love you no matter what so even If they didn´t ´get it´ they were smiling. It probably helped that they had never had a volunteer at this particular Kinder before.
I was happy to show them pictures of Australian animals and teach them a few ball games, this was certainly an experience 3,4 and 5 year olds. The school is very very small with varying numbers as the flu has had an impact on many children. Outside is a dusty dirt road with many stray dogs so it is quite dangerous for the children to be outside running around therefore, most activities are in the classroom. I really loved being with the children however, due to the flu all schools closed down 2 weeks early and my week was up!
My week without work gave me plenty of time to study and my friend Leah would spend a couple of hours each day helping me out so all was good. During this week I also had my 30th birthday which was a night out eating, drinking, and dancing with mainly the people from my volunteer organisation and the girls I live with. It was a great night but I certainly missed my family and friends!
My host family took me out for lunch to a chinese restaurant and later that evening we had cake! They bought me a little gift which was lovely and they did all they could to make it special. My family are just great and the girls I live with are also wonderful and friendly so it is a nice house to be in!
I have also had a couple of day trips to Pisac, with a market bigger than Otavalo in Ecuador, Moray, Salinas, and Urubamba. I will admit after Machuu Picchu it is hard to get super excited about other ruins. I can always appreciate the time and effort the Inkas put into constructing their buildings and the landscape that surrounds them is what captivates me the most. Just to be walking in the valleys of the incredible mountain ranges is certainly worth taking some local buses to get yourself out of the busy city once in awhile.
Unfortunately I had some bad news that my ´ED´ passed away I feel very useless but I know my parents will give him a proper burial. For those that don´t know Ed he is my tortoise.
Tomorrow I leave and am heading to Colombia for 5 weeks. I hear so many wonderful things about the country I am very excited!
