Homework with the kids (Chris and Kimball at El Bichito)

Hello Team,

I just wanted to email letting you know we are alive and well. Thanks for helping us get all set up. Obispo Rebasas is awesome! He is one of the nicest men I've ever met. He helped us get set up with la hermana Ruby in Banos he also helped us get our bags that TACA had lost and he also took us to the supermarket el Quinde to get some things.

Today we went to el Bichito and met Feliciana and her sister. We helped with lunch and also introduced ourselves to the kids. We let them know why we are here and asked if any would like to stay after to get homework help. I wasn't expecting much the first day but 7 kids stayed afterwards for help. There were so many, we couldn't help them each individually but Kimball with her awesome tutor math SAT skills combined with my Spanish, we were able to figure it out. Also I helped four kids, Kevin, Rocio, Rosemary, and Mavali with reading. Hermano Rebasas says we should focus a lot more on reading with the kids.

Tomorrow we plan to get with some of the same kids to do a drawing game (and continue with homework). Also, the best experience we had so far was with Feliciana's son, Alvieri, who is only 6. He is soooo motivated to study. We helped him for like an hour and half doing all his homework after the other kids left. By the end he was really understanding his math homework. He loves to draw and is little bit of a perfectionist, he would erase any crayon pencil outside the lines! It was really great to feel we helped him in so little time. We have pics but we´ll send you a more detailed email next week for the blog.

Thanks so much,

Chris and Kimball

This Week (Dan at Aldea)

Hello all!

I wrote this sweet long email that just got completely deleted... AHHHH!

This is probably going to be a quicker version of it. Right now I am in Huanchaco, a smaller beach town just outside Trujillo. (The Aldea where I live is about 30 minutes into the mountains from Trujillo) We stayed last night in a small cheap little hostel with some other gringos, some from the US, Holland and Canada. There are so many more gringos in this town than in Trujillo or near the Aldea. Monday and part of Tuesdays are going to be our weekends normally, where we can go to town and get on the internet. Mondays and Tuesdays are the days when the kids at the Aldea are too busy with homework and school is longer, so we don't have as much time with them. Saturday and Sunday are the days that we have the most time with kids.

Yesterday I ate ceviche for the first time which is mostly raw fish with lemon sauce and other seafood. It's a favorite of many of the kids in the Aldea, and they have it everywhere here in Huanchaco. It is tasty! Probably my favorite thing so far. But then again I love all the seafood.

We had a fiesta on Friday done by a local christian church where they did a bunch of songs and dances and a puppet show. It was great, and the kids, especially the younger ones had a blast. It is still really difficult to manage so many young kids and they do go nuts easily. They're great, just rambunctious. This past week I ate in casa 10, which is full of girls, except little Alfredo. He's 4 years old and his sisters are in the house. The Tia in the house, Gloria is amazing with the kids, and helps me with my Spanish.

I am going to get a star chart for the southern hemisphere because the stars are great but unknown. There is so little light pollution when the skies are clear. We're also going to get a hotplate to cook eggs and stuff on in our own house from time to time. Our stove has no gas to it, and it would be great to have. I am also getting a panflute or a charrango (a peruvian guitar) so that I can play in our newly formed band, "Lost in Aldea." We have already sung a cover of "Hey Ya" by Outkast and a version of "Let it Be" that I changed the words to as a going away for our two English roommates Beth and Georgia who are leaving the Aldea after almost a full year.

more bios (Tanner at Aldea)

Kristell - Kristell is another very energetic 10 year old girl who is always smiling. She said that she loves living in the aldea because of the houses they live in. She said she loves the tias and the other kids in the aldea. Kristell loves to dance and whenever the aldea has a talent show or anything like that she is always in it at least twice doing some sort of dance. She also said that she loved the library because it was a place where she could go to learn. Her favorite subject in school is religion and when she grows up she said that she wants to be a doctor so that she can help the sick and deliver babies.

Luz Marina - At 12 years old, Luz marina is one of the older kids in casa 8 and acts like a mom to the rest of the kids. She is always helping to clean the house and getting the other kids ready for school. She loves all of her classes at school, especially her reliegion class. When she grows up she said that she really wants to have a family. She loves volleyball, music (she is always singing), dancing, and art.

Monica - Monica is 14 years old. She was born in Peru in a city called Huamchaco. She said that she loved to listen to music and sing(she had two solos in the mothers day concert). She said she loved staying in the aldea because of its natural beauty and because the Tias are so kind. Ana Yureca - Ana is 11 years old. She said that she loves all her subjects in school especially communication. She loves to be around the other kids in the aldea. She said that when she grows up she wants to be a teacher because she loves to teach.

more about the kids - Tanner at Aldea

Hi laura!

Manuel - Manuel, a 6 year old boy, is the youngest child staying in a house full of girls. He loves playing with his toy cars which he uses to help teach the volunteers spanish. He'll point to a car and say, "que color es?" and you'll have to tell him what color the car is in spanish. His favorite food to eat is seviche(raw fish). At school his favortie subject is math and his favorite part about school are the swing sets. His favorite part about living in the Aldea is how clean the houses always are.

Lus Mila - Lus Mila is an 11 year old girl. She is always the first one to greet the new volunteers by running up to them and giving them big hugs. Some of her favorite things to do are to play with her toys and to watch the television. She is another one of the kids that is always teaching me/the other volunteers spanish. During mealtimes she will point to objects all over the room say them in spanish and tell you to repeat them.

Brayelyn - Brayelyn is the 11 years old and is the older sister of manuel. She enjoys playing volleyball, listening to music, drawing, painting, and watching scary movies. She loves just about everything about her school but her favorite subject is math. She loves everything about the aldea and said that when she grows up that she wants to be a doctor because she loves to help other people. She can always be found helping the tia around the house by cleaning and taking care of her brother Brayelyn.

Katherine- Katherine is 9 years old. She is one of the most energetic and outgoing kids in the Aldea. While I was asking the kids questions and writing down their answers she said that my handwriting wasn't pretty and she took my notebook and started wrtiting everything down for me. Her favortie subject in school is religion, her favorite color is blue and she loves to climb trees and dance. She said that when she grows up that she wants to be a police officer so that she catch criminals and drug dealers and put them in jail.

a few short bios (Dan from Aldea)

Here's a few little bios of some kids for the blog.

Alfredo Hoshua is 4 years old and loves to cuddle. He smiles and gives great hugs. Papas fritas or french fries are his favorite food. He loves to play a game called Kiwi with the other children, a game of tag with some unique variations. His other favorite activities are to play on the swing and watch his favorite show Ben 10. One his secret talents is to draw, but he doesn't care to share his awesome drawings too much.

Estefani Araujo SaaVedra is a seven year old chica who loves to climb and jump on people's shoulders. She has an older sister at the Aldea whose name is Jenifer. Her favorite food is Seviche, a raw fish dish that is absolutely delicious. Kiwi is her favorite game (as it is for many of the children) and she loves to play with dogs. She loves Dora the Explorar and many other cartoons. She is always smiling and is very friendly.

There is a sweet little shy girl in the orphanage named Blanca Tamani Briceno. She is a tiny six year old who smiles a lot once she is comfortable with you. She is the has 3 other siblings at the Aldea including her younger brother Alfredo. She absolutely loves spaghetti with meatballs and with ceviche being a close second. She likes volleyball and singing and dancing, but when she grows up she really wants to be a painter. She loves to have a pencil in her tiny hand. Her favorite movies are princess movies, preferably Barbie princess movies, and the song she loves to dance to is "Chulale." She is a great kid.More will be coming.-Dan

First Update from Dan (Aldea)

Hello everyone!

Just my first update from Peru. It´s for my family mainly, but if you wanted some more information then here it is.

I´m in Trujillo right now at an internet cafe. Trujillo is about a 30-40 minute bus ride from the Aldea Infantil, (we just call it the Aldea).

It has been amazing! I arrived last monday night in Lima and went with Zara Lopez to her home. I spent the next day Tuesday going around Lima a little and spending time with her young son Joshua. That night I spent on a bus to Trujillo where I met up with Carlos´ family and another intern Natalie. Then we went to the Aldea crammed in a small pick up truck. The Aldea has been awesome. There are two other volunteers here from before, from England! They´ve been here for almost a year, Bethany and Georgia who is from Sheffield. They´ve been showing us the ropes and it´s great.

We live in Casa 3 and there are 10 casas in the Aldea. Only some are used, but one of the us gringos eat in each casa for meals. I was in casa 9 last week and now I´m in casa 10. The Tias do the cooking in the casas and organize the kids in their casas. I room with Tanner from Chicago and Preston from Canada/Texas/...

My normal day is waking up around 7, then going for a 30 minute run with Natalie on the main road. Then we spend some time with the few kids who are new to the aldea and don´t go to school yet. We push them on the swing (colombio) and play games, and do lots of arts and crafts stuff in our casa. ¿Quieren pintar ahora? The kids always ask us to push them on the swing. They also like to dance a lot, and Bethany and Georgia have been working for a long time on a big show that we did yesterday, Monday. We sang some songs and danced as well. Beth and Georgia are going home soon so this was a big hurrah for them. I got a lot of video of it.

Back to the day. The niños come back from school around 1 pm and we eat lunch. Then we help with homework or play futbol or an awesome game called kiwi, or learn spanish and teach english. Those books have been great that your sent Mom. It´s tough to keep track of everything because the kids like to snatch anything they can get their hands on. I really to love the kids though. I´m beginning to get all the kids names down, probably at 80% right now. In the evening at 6 or 7, we have dinner and talk more. After that its time for us to chill in our own casa. We all get along really well, and it´s been great. Church on Sunday was great. It costs between 2.50 and 3 soles which is about 1 dollar to take the combio (bus) into Trujillo.

Anyway, it´s been great! There are a ton of bugs, and my legs are covered with mosca bites. We boil our water for drinking and we wash our own clothes by hand. Also, there are no toilet seats, so I only use our toilet because I know it´s clean. Thanks for the adapter, it´s been used a lot by everyone here. I like the sugar cane, and the normal rice and chicken is great. I´m really trying to eat carefully because it´s very easy to gain weight here. (Another reason to run every morning) Breath How is everyone stateside? Mom and Dad, thanks for pushing/nudging me towards this. It is so amazing! Love you all! and please share this with others!

Daniel el travieso(they call me that here as well)

My First Week (Preston at Aldea)

Hey everyone!

My first week here in Peru has been amazing. The kids are so much fun. I'm still working on learning all of their names. It's tough because there are so many kids and I'm terrible with names, but I'm making progress.

This week we put on a little show with all of the kids in the aldea. Pretty much everyone was involved so it was a lot of fun. I'm glad I brought my guitar because we used it a lot in the show.

The children that I have gotten to know the best are Victor, Miriam and Daniel. Victor is extremely active and always ready to play. I can't sit down without him trying to climb on my shoulders for a piggy back ride. Daniel is a lot like Victor in the sense that he is always ready to play. He is very friendly with the interns. I got to know Miriam because she sat next to me at the dinner table in Casa 10. She is a little shy, but has a little spark in her that comes out from time to time.

Anyways, I'm really enjoying my time here. I'm extremely tired at the end of every day, but that's exactly what I wanted.

Have a good week!
Preston