We have to formally be in our placement a few days before we can take pictures, so I have none yet to post. I have taken a few shots of Surco, the neighborhood in which the house is situated, and of the neighboring mountains. I plan to take some along the route to my placement because I think many people in the US would find it hard to believe this city. It is a dichotomy of everything. Our house is located in a wealthier area directly across the street from a huge shopping mall. Yet, within 15 minutes of leaving the house en route to Villa El Salvador, the surroundings immediately change. As you leave the city center, you cross into more and more desert area.
Villa El Salvador rose out of the desert, in fact. Although it has some paved roads, most of the streets are dirt. Their hospital consists of a series of trailers parked together on the highway median. They do have schools, though. Most of the residents live in houses that extend up into the mountains. They have water trucked to them regularly, and sometimes there is no electricity. There are about 400,000 people living in this region of Lima. Along the way to the Wawi Wasi, we pass dogs everywhere. We also pass houses that do not always have intact windows (which in the winter, as now, makes the houses very cold since they don't have insulation anyway). You see the laundry on clotheslines on the roofs alongside satellite dishes and water tanks for storage. All the while there are campaign posters and ads splattered on every structure possible for the upcoming mayoral and city commission elections.
I love the kids! There are about 11 one to two year olds in the room in which I work. There is one little girl (I'm still trying to figure out the pronunciaton and hence the spelling of her name) who refused to smile at me yesterday and visibly cried when I walked in this morning. Thirty minutes in and I had her hooked today! By the end of my time there today, she and I were good friends. The other girls are so easy to fall in love with - Kiemby (who calls me "Mama"), Yunzu (who is a mix of Asian and Peruvian descent), and Ariana. My all time favorite (right now), though, is Sevastian. He is the oldest child in the class, and he is very smart. He and I have had English-Spanish exchanges, and he has actually corrected my Spanish! I just happen to be teaching him English along the way. In fact, they all loved Ring Around the Rosy today, and Kiemby kept saying, "Ashes, ashes" for half an hour afterwards.
This afternoon I had my first Spanish lesson. Somehow, I tested into the intermediate class. This was such a joke! I'm moving down to beginner on Thursday. I could not understand what she was asking me, and I kept falling into French. The other volunteers laughed at me when I said I enjoy spending my summer being free when I thought I was saying that I enjoy reading. Oh well. I tried at least.
I also got to get out and walk around the neighborhood this afternoon. Rebecca, a Canadian, and I went to visit the University of Lima. The neighborhood has several little gardens that are great to sit in and read (or be free, in my case). The sun even came out for a while, and we could take off our jackets!!
Well, that's about it for today. Quick question: Considering there are only 7 people out of 41 in this house right now over the age of 30, how do these college students afford to spend weeks/months in foreign countries? I myself am still paying for college...Hmm....
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