Huancayo Hotels
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Volunteer life with ELC
Entry 38 of 94 | show all | print this entry |
At La Paz, I waited sleepily for my plane to be called. I remember hearing a German voice say, ´....mochila?´ I turned around and saw him holding my small rucksack. ´What do you think you´re doing?´ I asked. ´A man had started to walk away with it, but I stopped him,´ he replied. Apparently, two, well-dressed Bolivians had sat either side of him and his girlfriend and they had noticed them looking at their bags. Realising they had been sussed, the men had walked off, looking for new opportunities. Seeing me, half-dozing on another bench, had proven a great chance... until the German girlfriend had piped up, ´look, he´s taken that girl´s bag,´and her boyfriend had sprung into action. Walking up to the man who had my bag, he had told him to put it down in Spanish. The man had dropped it and walked away, fast. Then I had turned around....
So I was having a very lucky day, reinforced by the fact that a man working at the airport asked me if I was Emma, and when I said yes, passed me the passport I didn´t realise I had dropped. I met up with Jenna with her new hair extensions and Rennée and chatted to them. I found a well-priced place to stay in Lima and made a new friend called Lupe on the bus to Huancayo the following day. Phew!
Lupe was a lovely introduction to Huancayo and I have found other people here to be just as warm and welcoming. Paula, a girl I stayed with for one night before the programme director, Aldo, decided to move me (with no warning) to another place, was really friendly. She works at the same institutional centre and has outstanding English. I hope to meet up with her at some point, because November and December are really barren months when it comes to volunteering: all the volunteers go home to spend Christmas with their families. Its good to have friends!
On my first full day in Huancayo, Aldo, the Director of Europe Language Centre, took me around the local produce market. Its a huge, bustling place and I think most foreigners would love it. It has so many different types of foods, including about 10 different types of potato that most Europeans wouldn´t have seen before. There are dark purple potatoes, dried bright white potatoes, small pink and white potatoes, plus all your usual sorts. There are live frogs, as these are a typical Andean food, and lots of freshly picked herbs. We went shopping and I stocked up big time.
Aldo has since taken me to see the different types of projects its possible to work with in Huancayo. They include, teaching English to the teenagers and young adults in the ELC institute building itself; teaching ´mental stimulation´ classes to babes and 2-6 year olds in the local orphanage, so that they learn to think and use their minds; teaching English to primary school children and young adults in the orphange, where children stay until they are 17; and teaching English to primary school children in the very urban, poor suburbs where families don´t have running water or many facilities.
I said that I was here to help, and would go anywhere that help was needed. I am now on a schedule to teach English to 14-24 year old students in the ELC centre in the mornings, do some mental stimulation sessions with the 2-6 year olds in the orphanage afterwards and then Spanish classes in the afternoons that will help me work more effectively in the other programmes.
I have only had one full day of this so far, which I enjoyed. I have taught in China before and also had a language exchange hour every week with my Spanish teacher in Britain, Flor. These have helped me pick up the types of problems second language students have, so the first class went pretty smoothly. I was a little unsure of what to do with the babes in the orphange, so have observed Aldo do a class to get the right idea. And Spanish classes with Lazza, my teacher, are fun and stimulating - she is extremely good at explaining things.
Since then, I have had to go to the private clinic as I had a severe infection in my fallopian tubes. The gynocologist I have seen has recommended two full days in bed without moving, and given me copious amounts of pills.
I managed to cope with one day, today, until 7pm tonight when I went stir-crazy! The internet shop is right next door to my house, so I came out to chat to friends and do my blog updates. I´m planning my weekend - I want to go out and meet some new friends, as I feel a little lonely.
Bye for now! Em :)
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