Hi guys!
This morning, I was again at the orphanage next door with the healthy kids. I was in charge of the group with the youngest older kids (if that makes sense)--about 3-4 years old. The main reason that I was with this group was because Diana, the girl from yesterday, grabbed onto my hand as soon as I got there and pulled me up to her room. The entire group of kids was hilariously sweet today--as soon as we walked into their room, they started yelling us in Spanish that we were all beautiful (the group of volunteers here was 3 girls).
There were four kids in the group--Diana, a girl named Nicol, and two boys, Wilson and Juan. Juan was the smallest, probably around three years old, while the other three kids were around four or five. It was definitely an interesting experience.
Before we got there, there was another man volunteering with the orphans--he used to live in the US, but taught English in Ecuador during his young adulthood, and decided to come back for his retirement. Now he spends a few hours a week at the orphanage to give back a bit. It was clear that he cared a lot for the kids--apparently he once led them on a field trip to his house to meet his pet donkey (only in South America), taught the kids how to make paper airplanes, and knew all the children by name. However, for some strange reason, he decided that it would be beneficial to give them coffee. Coffee! For a group of 15 already-hyper very young children. I'm not quite sure why he thought that this would be a good idea, but it definitely made our work more interesting.
Fortunately, the paper airplanes occupied the kids for a while--they would throw them all over their porch, then chase them down. Diana tried to make her own, but she wasn't able to fold it in the right places, so I had to help her a bit.
We had brought a craft to do--paper chain animals--so we tried to teach the kids to make those. Nicol was really the only one who had the patience and coordination to make them. After I showed her how to fold and cut the paper into strips, she folded and glued it into linked loops for quite a while. The other kids just had fun cutting up the paper, and the floor was quite colorful afterwards.
After a while, though, the little boys got tired of cutting up little pieces of paper, and decided to expand their scissor-use horizons. I had to teach Wilson that no, we probably shouldn't set up a barbershop, especially if the one (Juan) getting his hair cut didn't actually desire the service. I think that I managed to get to Wilson before he actually cut any of Juan's hair out. I didn't see any black locks on the floor when I was picking up the pieces of paper, anyway.
Diana, along with being adorable and loving to be held, also has a few tricks up her sleeve. She has learned that the volunteers tend to be somewhat softhearted, and respond quickly to any cries. Whenever she wants attention, she will trip and start crying as if she had just broken every bone in her body. As soon as I (or one of the other volunteers) scoop her up to ensure that she is actually ok, she starts giggling and hugging us.
After, we took all the children out to play in the playground at the orphanage. I rotated between pushing swings, being served imaginary pastries at a tea party in chairs that were definitely not sized for adults, holding someone who was terrified of a caterpillar, picking little kids up who wanted to look over the gate to the chickens next door, and chasing around little boys who just wanted to stretch their legs.
Another family also came to volunteer. It turns out that the parents were Ecuadorean, but had moved to Westchester County, New York, in their twenties. They had their three kids with them, two girls and a boy who were about 16, 20, and 23. It was nice to be able to speak English to someone in the chaos. The parents had grown up about an hour away from Cuenca, and came back every few years. They wanted to visit the OSSO orphanage for kids with special needs as well, but weren't allowed, as you need to get a background check just to get into the gates. They were incredibly kind though, and had actually brought donated clothes for the orphans.
This afternoon, I was back at the OSSO orphanage for our soccer game! We had some bad news, though. The boy who was most excited about the game couldn't play. He had gotten in trouble for losing his temper and breaking something, so the tias punished him by making him stay inside. They said that we couldn't reschedule the game, because then his punishment wouldn't be as powerful. I saw him beforehand, and he looked heartbroken, but they will hopefully have another soccer tournament soon.
But the tournament was so fun. Basically, wheelchair soccer as we played it was just regular soccer while pushing the kids in their wheelchairs. It was usually the volunteers who kicked the ball. We split the volunteers and orphanage workers into 2 teams each (4 teams total), and had volunteer team 1 play against tia team 1, then 2 vs 2. The tias won both of the games, so the final game was tia on tia. It was so fun, for everyone. The kids loved getting in there with the ball and running around, the tias looked like they needed to have a bit of joy (they work incredibly hard), and the volunteers loved to just watch it all.
After that, we had an "all-star" exhibition game of tias vs. volunteers, as an exhibition for the kids. I was goalie, and we actually won! We ended the game at 5-5, but then had a penalty kick contest to determine the actual winner, and they only got 2 penalty kicks in, while we got 3. I'm pretty sure half of the goals I prevented were just due to my instincts of self-preservation--when there's a ball flying at my face, I naturally want to stop it. Also, I've gotten good over the past few days at fending off children who are trying to reach to my face to steal my glasses--maybe those skills helped me as well.
Tonight, we had an adventure. Anytime we leave the orphanages is quite interesting, because the locals feel free to stare at the group of laughing gringas. We certainly stick out a bitThe entire group went out to a traditional Ecuadorean restaurant to try cuy, which is a South American delicacy. Guinea pig. And I actually ate it--it didn't taste much different than any other meat (although it was a bit salty), once you got past what exactly you were eating. I wouldn't ever order it again, but it was good to say that I tried it once. In addition to that, we had essentially an Ecuadorean feast--potato fritter things that reminded me of latkes (although most of the group had never tried them), rice, corn, and chicken, plus a bunch of desserts that we passed around. Some of those were awesome (we had coconut-strawberry flan), and some weren't (apparently cheese chunks in molasses-y honey is a treat). But it was quite the experience.
During dinner, I overheard a funny story. Keenan, one of the volunteer directors, complimented Afton (the girl next to me in the photo) on her phone case. He asked her where she purchased it, and she said Amazon. His response: "In Ecuador or in Peru?" Apparently, he's been here a bit too long.
Anyway, I have to go now. Stay wonderful!
This morning, I was again at the orphanage next door with the healthy kids. I was in charge of the group with the youngest older kids (if that makes sense)--about 3-4 years old. The main reason that I was with this group was because Diana, the girl from yesterday, grabbed onto my hand as soon as I got there and pulled me up to her room. The entire group of kids was hilariously sweet today--as soon as we walked into their room, they started yelling us in Spanish that we were all beautiful (the group of volunteers here was 3 girls).
There were four kids in the group--Diana, a girl named Nicol, and two boys, Wilson and Juan. Juan was the smallest, probably around three years old, while the other three kids were around four or five. It was definitely an interesting experience.
Before we got there, there was another man volunteering with the orphans--he used to live in the US, but taught English in Ecuador during his young adulthood, and decided to come back for his retirement. Now he spends a few hours a week at the orphanage to give back a bit. It was clear that he cared a lot for the kids--apparently he once led them on a field trip to his house to meet his pet donkey (only in South America), taught the kids how to make paper airplanes, and knew all the children by name. However, for some strange reason, he decided that it would be beneficial to give them coffee. Coffee! For a group of 15 already-hyper very young children. I'm not quite sure why he thought that this would be a good idea, but it definitely made our work more interesting.
Fortunately, the paper airplanes occupied the kids for a while--they would throw them all over their porch, then chase them down. Diana tried to make her own, but she wasn't able to fold it in the right places, so I had to help her a bit.
We had brought a craft to do--paper chain animals--so we tried to teach the kids to make those. Nicol was really the only one who had the patience and coordination to make them. After I showed her how to fold and cut the paper into strips, she folded and glued it into linked loops for quite a while. The other kids just had fun cutting up the paper, and the floor was quite colorful afterwards.
After a while, though, the little boys got tired of cutting up little pieces of paper, and decided to expand their scissor-use horizons. I had to teach Wilson that no, we probably shouldn't set up a barbershop, especially if the one (Juan) getting his hair cut didn't actually desire the service. I think that I managed to get to Wilson before he actually cut any of Juan's hair out. I didn't see any black locks on the floor when I was picking up the pieces of paper, anyway.
Diana, along with being adorable and loving to be held, also has a few tricks up her sleeve. She has learned that the volunteers tend to be somewhat softhearted, and respond quickly to any cries. Whenever she wants attention, she will trip and start crying as if she had just broken every bone in her body. As soon as I (or one of the other volunteers) scoop her up to ensure that she is actually ok, she starts giggling and hugging us.
After, we took all the children out to play in the playground at the orphanage. I rotated between pushing swings, being served imaginary pastries at a tea party in chairs that were definitely not sized for adults, holding someone who was terrified of a caterpillar, picking little kids up who wanted to look over the gate to the chickens next door, and chasing around little boys who just wanted to stretch their legs.
Another family also came to volunteer. It turns out that the parents were Ecuadorean, but had moved to Westchester County, New York, in their twenties. They had their three kids with them, two girls and a boy who were about 16, 20, and 23. It was nice to be able to speak English to someone in the chaos. The parents had grown up about an hour away from Cuenca, and came back every few years. They wanted to visit the OSSO orphanage for kids with special needs as well, but weren't allowed, as you need to get a background check just to get into the gates. They were incredibly kind though, and had actually brought donated clothes for the orphans.
This afternoon, I was back at the OSSO orphanage for our soccer game! We had some bad news, though. The boy who was most excited about the game couldn't play. He had gotten in trouble for losing his temper and breaking something, so the tias punished him by making him stay inside. They said that we couldn't reschedule the game, because then his punishment wouldn't be as powerful. I saw him beforehand, and he looked heartbroken, but they will hopefully have another soccer tournament soon.
But the tournament was so fun. Basically, wheelchair soccer as we played it was just regular soccer while pushing the kids in their wheelchairs. It was usually the volunteers who kicked the ball. We split the volunteers and orphanage workers into 2 teams each (4 teams total), and had volunteer team 1 play against tia team 1, then 2 vs 2. The tias won both of the games, so the final game was tia on tia. It was so fun, for everyone. The kids loved getting in there with the ball and running around, the tias looked like they needed to have a bit of joy (they work incredibly hard), and the volunteers loved to just watch it all.
After that, we had an "all-star" exhibition game of tias vs. volunteers, as an exhibition for the kids. I was goalie, and we actually won! We ended the game at 5-5, but then had a penalty kick contest to determine the actual winner, and they only got 2 penalty kicks in, while we got 3. I'm pretty sure half of the goals I prevented were just due to my instincts of self-preservation--when there's a ball flying at my face, I naturally want to stop it. Also, I've gotten good over the past few days at fending off children who are trying to reach to my face to steal my glasses--maybe those skills helped me as well.
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| Me sporting my soccer-player face paint |
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| Guinea Pig during the cooking process |
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| Guinea Pig, about to be eaten |
During dinner, I overheard a funny story. Keenan, one of the volunteer directors, complimented Afton (the girl next to me in the photo) on her phone case. He asked her where she purchased it, and she said Amazon. His response: "In Ecuador or in Peru?" Apparently, he's been here a bit too long.
Anyway, I have to go now. Stay wonderful!
That might be the only thing that you have eaten, and I have not. Great job on the soccer skills.
ReplyDeleteThere had to be at least one thing. Apparently it's a delicacy in the Andes.
Deleteguinea pig??? i'll stick to the cookies you made for me, which i JUST finished. when you're finished being the most helpful wonderful person in the world, pls bake some more. :) keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteIt will probably be on a menu when you go to Peru. And as for the cookies, I would make some, but I'm moving in 2 weeks! Maybe Christmas.
Delete