Mouth

One of the interesting things about today was what I learned about my pronunciation of Spanish. Each time I said the name "Raquel" the 5 year-old girls laughed and pointed to my mouth.....Edith explained that to pronounce Spanish properly the mouth must open only a little bit.....When she said this, I realized that even the toddlers had been staring at my mouth...Now I know why!

 

Christmas Day

Christmas Day - At breakfast, Edith said to us "Today it is our job to do anything we can to make it a special day for the children". We tried hard, and it was very enjoyable to make this effort as a team, and to do it alongside Brother Ignacius, and the Peruvian volunteer Maria, and all of the children's helpers....We had a common goal - an entertaining movie, delicious hot dogs will have lots of memories of Christmas celebrations at PPA, but one of the clearest will be of this feeling of being part of "the Christmas Spirit". I had read about it before, but now I have experienced it....

Christmas Eve

This Christmas Eve was one I will never forget. While there were a few boys who fell asleep during Christmas dinner which was at 10pm, most all of them stayed up and ate, and danced, and waited for the opportunity to shoot off their own fireworks. The moment came at 11 and for an hour the children shot off their own fireworks and for that hour, I could see nothing but signs of happiness on each of their faces. Today is Wednesday and in two short days we will be home. I wish I could live at the PPA. I wish I could give every child who doesn’t have a family, my family.

Family

On Friday I had the privilege to meet one of the fathers of a young girl. Her name is Rose. She was in the hospitalito and I gave her father legos and a coloring book and watched as their bond grew even stronger. Today is Christmas and all we have to do is look at the inundation of smiles to know how important our presence is for the children, especially the ones who do not have a family. We are their family, Today, and everyday. This weekend I left Mira Flores and saw a different part of Peru. It was beautiful and I witnessed first hand how important family is. I had lunch with a family up in the hills and we shared laughs. Today and tomorrow we will get tired, but we musn´t forget how important our presence is to the children and that they are the only thing that matters today and everyday. Feliz Navidad.

Only Worry About Today

At breakfast, Edith gave us a thought-provoking start - a short history lesson including the 3 rules Peruvians live by: No lying, stealing, or being lazy ....

By the time I got to kindergarten, the children were already excited about the Christmas celebration. Soon it started... All the performances were impressive, but some children stood out because of their talent or maybe a very special smile...My favorite was the nativity pageant...especially the little girl who took the doll out of the cradle...
Next I went back to the girls' dormitory where the children had a wonderful time teaching me the naughty word for "butt" in Spanish. We also got a good workout doing exercise to a music video...

But the afternoon ended with my leaving PPA early to take a nap...How could this be?.....On the very same day I had been taught the. Peruvian rule "Do NOT be lazy"! Oh well,, we also learned another lesson at breakfast: Edith said "Only worry about today".........And fortunately, for me, tomorrow is another day!