Day 1

I am so grateful to be working with the LLI as primary Art instructor. Throughout these next two months, I will also be helping with the English classes, and recreational activities: sports and games. The main building located a few steps away from our volunteer house, holds a couple of the classes, including most of the art classes, but I will also be traveling to other zones in Huaycan. Today, my first "job" was to assist in the English class instructed by another volunteer, Lauren (6-9 year olds) in Zone Z.

The ride to Zone Z was interesting, I had never been in a moto-taxi before, or even seen one, but it's basically a motorcycle in a box-shaped car (fits 2, maybe 3). AND... we had to ride that up a dirt road/hill, to get to another higher platform. I've only seen shanty houses stacked along mountainsides through photographs or from a distance, but it was so exciting to actually travel up through winding roads and seeing the amazing views below me (will post pictures soon!) Always accompanied of course, I don't know how long it will take for me to feel comfortable being alone. I still feel that I stick out like a sore thumb, even though I've been told I blend in, at least compared to my wonderful fair-skinned housemates. We are here for a purpose and I think the locals will respect that.

Finally arrived to the classroom, and volunteer Lauren reviews the days of the week, with a song in the tune of the Addams Family theme song: "Days of the week (snap.snap), days of the week (snap.snap)... There's Sunday and there's Monday, there's Tuesday and there's Wednesday... and then there's Saturday!" We also had a caterpillar with 7 circles for the body which the kids received different colored construction paper circles to write each day of the week on each color, and paste it onto the caterpillar's body. Whenever art is integrated into a lesson, the kids LOVE it! After the class, the kids went out to play and the view is just breathtaking. Pictures do not do it justice. It's a different world, peaceful looking, and I appreciate how people live here: just the bare necessities which is literally a roof over their heads.