Vacaciones Utiles

The main reason Natalya and Liaia have come out now is because January and February are the school holidays and so allows volunteers more of a chance to get to know the kids and their parents. As I mentioned in a previous blog I had been thinking of giving the kids some English classes, perhaps on the weekend with the help of my friend at the English school. I was a little surprised then to turn up at the kitchen one day and find a full rota of English classes for the next week stuck on the outside of the building!

Not that I’m particularly averse to teaching English (although it wasn’t the reason I came here) it was a little surprising to see that I was supposedly teaching the next day and didn’t have anything prepared. I’ve never taught young kids before and hardly had any idea where to start. Fortunately I was able to call in a few favours.


When I started teaching at the school in the centre I thought that it might give me somewhere to get help and resources from if I ever was called in to teaching at La Mansion. My friend Samantha who had offered to help previously unfortunately was unable to help me teach classes in the week but had a few materials such as books and flash cards that I have been able to use.

Also, although I didn’t have any personal experience of teaching English to primary aged kids I had some friends who had. When I taught in Japan several of my friends taught kids of a similar age and so I sent out a facebook spam asking for ideas and several people wrote back sending links and ideas which I’ve somehow managed to fashion crudely into the semblance of a class.

The lessons have been going well. The kids love the games (or at least the sweets i had out if they win) and seem to be increasing their vocabulary. Some of the kids are really bright but unfortunately many (especially the boys) find it difficult to focus. Still, the games bring attention and enjoyment to the kids, something that sadly they often lack, and so I am glad that I can have some positive impact here. Even if I didn’t come here to teach...

Natalya & Laia

For most of the time I have been out here I’ve been the only volunteer. We had a group from Germany come out for about a week in October and there were a couple of Spanish girls who I met briefly before that, but for the majority of my time here I’ve been the only one staying in the volunteer accommodation above the families house. From the start of February however I had some company.

Natalya arrived in the first week of January and Laia (whose name I’ve almost certainly misspelt) arrive a week or so after that. Both are from Spain, Natalya is a 30-something chef from Valencia and Liaia has just finished her psychology degree in Barcelona. Neither speaks much in the way of English which means my Spanish has certainly had a work out this last month!

It’s been a little strange sharing my room with two other people (especially as they are girls) after having the run of the place for the last four months but it’s been nice to have some company. Part of my role here supposedly was to help volunteers get settled into the city and so I’ve been showing them some of the different places in Arequipa and feeling like a bit of a tour guide.

Another good thing about having other people here is I’ve had an opportunity to get to know some of the bars a bit better and see some of the night life in the city. Not really things you can do quite so easily when you’re by yourself.

Christmas In Arequipa

One of the hardest things about doing voluntary work overseas for a prolonged period of time is that you inevitably miss a fair amount of events like birthdays, weddings and Christmas’s. This wasn’t my first Christmas away from home but it was the first year when I spent the whole period in a warm country. It’s a very strange feeling to know that back home the nights are drawing in, everyone is getting ready for Christmas and snow, yes snow, is actually falling *before* Christmas.

While everyone in the UK was enjoying (or enduring) the heaviest downfall in the last twenty years I was forced to console myself sipping cold beer on an outside roof terrace in a short sleeved t-shirt applying sun cream every few hours. Ah the things I suffer!

Christmas lights were hung around the city and on many of the houses although in the house where I was staying there were no signs of Christmas. I wasn’t sure if the family celebrated Christmas or didn’t have enough disposable income to take it too seriously. Nevertheless it left me with a bit of a conundrum as to whether I should buy presents or not.

If I didn’t buy them anything but they bought me something it could be embarrassing, however it could be equally uncomfortable if I bought them something when they had not got anything for me. I was not expecting anything, and given their income it was unlikely but I felt I should at least get them something just incase.

In the end I opted to get gifts that the whole family (including myself) could share. I bought some Christmas cookies, a bottle of wine, and a type of cake called ´Panaton´ that is very popular at Christmas in Peru. I wrapped all these up and placed them on the kitchen take late on Christmas Eve.

In the morning I was glad to see I’d made the right choice. The family hadn’t gotten me anything (and I would not have expected them too) but the gifts I had chosen hit the right level. Also the fact that I was able to share them too was a plus!