A humbling Christmas
So it started to feel a bit festive on the 24th with the calenders finished, the lights up and the Profe gone. Just before he left, Tanya took some loo roll as per normal, and it ended up with an angry Profe knocking on our door saying the roll was absolutely only for the boys and we have to now buy our own... All these new rules just pop up as and when he feels like it. We are already buying clothes soap with our pocket money, despite paying to live there.
We had a lunch of fried fish and a pretty good soup, and then the waiting game for Alcides began. He finally did arrive at 7.30 (in the mean time I did a lot of maths homework with N, and had a shower) armed with polystyrene trays of chicken and chips, and little plastic bags of mayo, mustard and aji (hot Peruvian peanut sauce they eat a lot of here). It was all cold but tasty! Next we had to get into groups of 5 and sing carols. Tanya and I paired up with Anarita and Carmen Rosa to sing one about a man called Miguelito who is searching for God, but we didn't know the tune at all and it was fairly hard to read the lyrics Anarita had kindly written down for us. After this came the presents - soldier sets and light-up aeroplanes for the boys, and a doll each for the girls. Tanya and I were included in this which was nice! Though the dolls are a bit scary...
That night we slept alright, and the next morning began with Paneton (sweet bread with jellied fruits) and hot chocolate. Very sickly by the end of the cup and bread! First a family from Utah came with bags of goodies (again, Tanya and I were included! We now each have a harmonica, a recorder, hair bands, scissors... etc). They were great and really generous to give up their Christmas.
Tany and I decided the time was good to give our presents. There was a lull in the visitors (more were expected) and it was tipping it with rain outside. We gave each of the boys their watch in turn adn they gave us a hug and sat down, which is just normal Azul Wasi procedure. After each had a present, including Anarita (fluffly boa, hawaii skirt and a crown), Carmen Rosa (princess dress), Anastasia (purse and earrings) and Alcides (a huuuuuge fantastic picture of all the boys with smiles that we printed big and framed), it was "abre!". Loads of the boys ran up and gave us another genuine hug! It was so nice! N, H and Ivan were particularly pleased! It was a really great Azul Wasi moment and memory.
The rest of the day went well, bizarrely the internet turned up the day before so we DID manage to speak to our families on skype which was fantastic, but also served to remind us how the boys didn´t which was sad. Two of the boys left for Christmas, and one isn´t going to come back, he has gone back to his mother as the problems have been dealt with which is great news but we will be sad to see him go! We have 9 boys now, which feels a bit ridiculous at times but is also nice and family-ish. As it was getting dark three girls from Wyoming came with footballs, letters from their Spanish classes at their schools, medical stuff, bears and Dallas Cowboys hats. We learnt to play American Football in the dusk whihc was fun!
So the food... was no different to normal which was a bit of a let down. We had a quinoa soup (fine) followed by a tonne of rice and tough beef in a carrot and tomato sauce... There had been promises of cake and chocolate fountains and turkey but Alcides wasn´t even there. It didn´t matter anyway as Tanya and I both managed to up-chuck it later, mine was in the middle of the night in the freezing cold and torrential rain :( somehow we have re-contracted giardia (or possibly salmonella/e-coli, I didn´t want the tests (too much money and not covered by the huge insurance excess) so have anitbiotics as well as the giardia tablets which was cheaper than the tests...), boo, but mine is treated and hopefully Tanya´s will be in the next week or so, but is still bearable currently. I was very ill on boxing day, all shivers, a weepy mess and not able to keep anything down but 27th was a trip to the clinic. We have since read that you have to boil water for longer at higher altitudes, about 3 minutes, so shall try this advice. It seems impossible to live here though without getting ill, which ruins everything.
And this was Christmas!
I hope everyone else had a great time, and a happy new year as well.
- Rach xxx
We had a lunch of fried fish and a pretty good soup, and then the waiting game for Alcides began. He finally did arrive at 7.30 (in the mean time I did a lot of maths homework with N, and had a shower) armed with polystyrene trays of chicken and chips, and little plastic bags of mayo, mustard and aji (hot Peruvian peanut sauce they eat a lot of here). It was all cold but tasty! Next we had to get into groups of 5 and sing carols. Tanya and I paired up with Anarita and Carmen Rosa to sing one about a man called Miguelito who is searching for God, but we didn't know the tune at all and it was fairly hard to read the lyrics Anarita had kindly written down for us. After this came the presents - soldier sets and light-up aeroplanes for the boys, and a doll each for the girls. Tanya and I were included in this which was nice! Though the dolls are a bit scary...
 |
| Carmen Rosa the princesa |
 |
| The dolls, their cheeks light up... |
 |
| CR and Anarita |
 |
| Boy with toys |
 |
| There are aeroplanes whizzing around the table.... |
That night we slept alright, and the next morning began with Paneton (sweet bread with jellied fruits) and hot chocolate. Very sickly by the end of the cup and bread! First a family from Utah came with bags of goodies (again, Tanya and I were included! We now each have a harmonica, a recorder, hair bands, scissors... etc). They were great and really generous to give up their Christmas.
Tany and I decided the time was good to give our presents. There was a lull in the visitors (more were expected) and it was tipping it with rain outside. We gave each of the boys their watch in turn adn they gave us a hug and sat down, which is just normal Azul Wasi procedure. After each had a present, including Anarita (fluffly boa, hawaii skirt and a crown), Carmen Rosa (princess dress), Anastasia (purse and earrings) and Alcides (a huuuuuge fantastic picture of all the boys with smiles that we printed big and framed), it was "abre!". Loads of the boys ran up and gave us another genuine hug! It was so nice! N, H and Ivan were particularly pleased! It was a really great Azul Wasi moment and memory.
The rest of the day went well, bizarrely the internet turned up the day before so we DID manage to speak to our families on skype which was fantastic, but also served to remind us how the boys didn´t which was sad. Two of the boys left for Christmas, and one isn´t going to come back, he has gone back to his mother as the problems have been dealt with which is great news but we will be sad to see him go! We have 9 boys now, which feels a bit ridiculous at times but is also nice and family-ish. As it was getting dark three girls from Wyoming came with footballs, letters from their Spanish classes at their schools, medical stuff, bears and Dallas Cowboys hats. We learnt to play American Football in the dusk whihc was fun!
So the food... was no different to normal which was a bit of a let down. We had a quinoa soup (fine) followed by a tonne of rice and tough beef in a carrot and tomato sauce... There had been promises of cake and chocolate fountains and turkey but Alcides wasn´t even there. It didn´t matter anyway as Tanya and I both managed to up-chuck it later, mine was in the middle of the night in the freezing cold and torrential rain :( somehow we have re-contracted giardia (or possibly salmonella/e-coli, I didn´t want the tests (too much money and not covered by the huge insurance excess) so have anitbiotics as well as the giardia tablets which was cheaper than the tests...), boo, but mine is treated and hopefully Tanya´s will be in the next week or so, but is still bearable currently. I was very ill on boxing day, all shivers, a weepy mess and not able to keep anything down but 27th was a trip to the clinic. We have since read that you have to boil water for longer at higher altitudes, about 3 minutes, so shall try this advice. It seems impossible to live here though without getting ill, which ruins everything.
And this was Christmas!
I hope everyone else had a great time, and a happy new year as well.
- Rach xxx
posted by Rachel at
14:00
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home