Well - I am exhausted!!! Kids are so tiring! Absolutely gorgeous too though. Today was our second day and I am now realising I should expect to feel this way at the end of every day. Apart from the heat, it`s just constant play or feeds with the kids and it really tires you out....
Yesterday was my birthday too - yes, I`m now a quarter of a century. Tanya was a great friend, giving me some presents lovingly wrapped in magasine paper in the morning, and then surprised me with vanilla slices and imaginery candles at lunch time! Then last night we all went out to this awesome pizza/buffet restaurant for dinner where you can eat all you want - salald and fruit from the buffet and then the waiters bring fresh hot pizzas out one by one the whole time you`re there and it`s never-ending so you just say yes or no to each one. My goodness - I`ve never eaten so much pizza in my life! So many varieties and hot out of the oven, and the desert ones - YUM! Chocolate and coconut, choc with strawberry, plain choc, fruit and caramel, banana and merangue - YUM!!! We all ate sooo much it was lucky we had a short walk home. It`s also incredibly cheap - $4.50 AUS for the whole thing, exc drinks.
Anyway - more about the place here. Our little house which I first thought was great - was absolutely covered in dust and dirt so I spent nearly all of Sunday cleaning, sweeping, scrubbing, mopping, bleaching the bathroom, etc. I`ve never done that much housework at home! But this was necessary! Now I feel so much better and got a few big kisses from the other girls here who had lost hope!
On Sunday we also spent some time at the local craft markets which are unreal, and that night Tanya and I went to the Catholic church up the road to check out the service (and understood about 4 words) but it was interesting anyway.
Our first day back at school.... wow. The school is a very small primary aged school, but the volunteers we work with mix only with the creche which is called Becario (0-2 1/2 years) and the Maternal class which has kids aged about 3-6. I started off with the babies who are absolutely beautiful. There are a few very timid ones, and one little man called Brian who has a huge belly but walks around like a miniature 50 year old and looks like he owns the place - points and winks at you with a tiny smirk on his face, comes up for cuddles and kisses on cue and is just so cute! They are all beautiful in their own ways and are lovely to be around, except when you`re really tired and they just don`t want to sleep and once they start crying they usually wake up the rest of the crew!
The bigger class require so much more energy. We interact by talking English constantly out loud to them with whatever they are doing, so that they pick up as much as possible. Basically, due to their poor socio-economic status, these kids would never have an opportunity to learn English otherwise. The older kids are naturally rowdier and get very excited at times so it can be a challenge to keep them under control and interactive. There are so many different personalities, and a few little angels who have skin diseases which make them scratch with open wounds so it can be a challenge too not to worry too much and to treat them like all the others. They are the poorest kids, with a mum sick with AIDS, but you`d never know it from their smile.
The most sickening thing I discovered this afternoon is that there is this Portuguese kids` entertainer called Shusha (who used to be a pornstar and is now a reformed kids` entertainer!) who copies ALL the wiggles songs AND moves and even backdrops and dances! Including the Octopus!! How bad is that?! And she`s made a fortune off it. I`m not sure that she would have obtained a licence for that though. But no thinking of work while I`m over here!! I have enough to concentrate on each day! During nap-time we usually all fall asleep too if we have the chance, lying on the floor next to little bodies or prams or wherever is a space. Feeding is a challenge at times too. The lunch consists of rice, beans and usually some other vegetable and despite the simplicity it`s pretty good.
Since a picture tells a thousand words I`ll post some later of the kids as our Portuguese teacher is arriving any minute. Then we`re heading off to a capoiera class in the park. Oops - there`s the door knock now.
Tchao-tchao!
Oh - and you`re all slack for not posting comments on this website :p Those photos took me hours to put up!
And for those who haven`t heard, I now have dreads about 2 inches long grown into my braids (sorry mum!) Am wondering whether it`s good to keep them with the kids and lice but hey, can always shave it :)
Posted by Haley at February 22, 2005 09:13 PM