Soccer and Surf

During the kids vacations I've been busier. Although I do kind of feel like a soccer mom some days. Monday, Wednesday, Friday there is soccer practice for 5 of the boys that I usually take them too in the van. Then Saturdays are the games. Last Saturday we played in San Pedro in someones private field. It was really nice, full of grass, big goals and even a pool for the kids to swim in after the game. The owner of the place gave everyone a free lunch afterwards.

I started surfing this week. A peace corp volunteer and I are giving surfing classes to some kids in the community and a couple from the orphanage. By giving classes I mean supervising and making sure no one drowns while they practice on some boards that an owner of a surf shop is letting us borrow for free. I'm practicing too. Tuesday I stood up on my first wave and it was a blast. Yesterday I got my own board so now I can practice by myself anytime I want. The board is from Maribel, her cousin moved away and left his board so she gave it to me to use. I plan on going out tonight on my own without any kids so I can get some more practice in. I'm planning on going down to the beach around 4:30 so I can be finishing up right around sunset.

We got 5 new kids this last week all 4 brothers and a sister. For the most part they are pretty mellow but one of the new kids is quite a handful. I've already had to break up a couple fights and pull him down from a gate he was trying to climb. The oldest sibling is Carlos, he is the one that goes Surfing with me, he just got up on his first wave yesterday and was really pumped.

Next week there is a 5 day church camp in Trujillo. I got roped in to going and being the adult supervisor for our older kids, so that is going to be an interesting 5 days for me.

About time

Well a lot has happened since I last posted so here’s a long one.

The wedding,

I’ll start with the wedding of Mari Ester. She was our secretary and great friend. I learned that in Peru the ceremony is just about the same, however it is just a lot more laid back (I guess like everything here). First they do a civil wedding the day before the ceremony. They go the city building and have a 10 minute ceremony where a judge has them sign some papers, and then some witnesses sign some papers, then it the judge pronounces them husband and wife. The room it takes place in is fairly large in size and decorated in red and white, the colors of the Peruvian flag. Only a few people go to this part, I was one of the few that were invited. After the ceremony ended when drank some sprite, then the groom took us out to lunch at a really nice restaurant. After we ate and were on the way out, Luis the groom, asked me if I could be his man of honor. So I obliged. I thought it was kind of strange that they would wait for the day before the wedding to ask me, and that they would ask me and not a brother or lifelong friend.

The next day was the actual wedding. It was outside under a white and green canopy. The wedding proceeded as they would in the states. However, it was a little unorganized. Everyone kept getting out of their seats and taking pictures throughout the entire ceremony. I kid you not, someone actually came up and stood next to the preacher and took pictures while he was talking, then they decided just to stay up there and stood next to the maid of honor. Afterwards the reception was in the same place, they just cleared out all the chairs and put out tables.

Kids update –

We had a couple of kids return to their parents and the twins got adopted to Italy. So right now we have 32 kids, the fewest we’ve had in about a year. Supposedly we are getting a family group of 5 within the next couple of days. Just 2 days ago we switched up the houses. Now we have 1 boy house and 1 girl house instead of them living intermixed. So far I think everyone likes it. I was moving beds around for what felt like an eternity. Bunk-beds don’t fit through door frames very well so I had to disassemble and reassemble 5 of them, but everything is in the perfect place now.

I also feel like a soccer mom these days. We have four scholarships for a soccer academy so I am bringing four kids every Monday, Wednesday, Friday for practice and every Saturday for games. I feel real cool pulling up in the mini-van, then giving rides to other kids without transportation to the games on Saturdays.

We got a new boy the day before Christmas. He’s somewhere around 12 or 13, he won’t really tell us anything about him or his parents. I think he must have had a really bad past because he is afraid that if we learn anything about him then we will find his parents and thinks that if we find his parents he’d have to go back with them. It was pretty good timing for him to arrive because as soon as he got here he was given Christmas gifts and Christmas parties.

Random Stuff –

My parents donated money for 3 semi-industrial washing machines so we are replacing them one by one when they break. We just had our one break last week and the first new washer is on the way.

The new pastors of the church got here last week they seem really great and I’m excited to work with them. The husband will also help with administrative duties allowing Avis to travel in the United States more often for fundraising, and the wife will work in the school teaching first grade.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Hola! I know it has been a long time since I posted anything. I had to move over to another location to get sufficient internet. We had an awesome Christmas this year. We had so much local support that wanted to help so we had four different Christmas parties for the kids. All of them had hot chocolate and paneton (fruit bread). They also received a lot of great presents. We had some volunteers come from the U.S. that brought money with them to buy enough specific gifts for each kid.

We had a great time buying the gifts in Trujillo. We took a house mom with us who knew all the kids clothes and shoe sizes. We also had a list of requests from the kids themselves. It took all day, 8 AM - 10 PM, but we got every kid some gifts. The house mom Gina was like a kid in a candy store when we got to a clothes store. She had so much fun picking out outfits for all her kids. Aaron, Emma and Thomas wrapped all the gifts the next day, which was another full day of work.

The actual Christmas party started at the regular Peruvian hour. That regular hour I found out is 12AM Christmas eve night/Christmas morning. We had a huge turkey feast provided by a local Peruvian. Then we opened all the presents that were bought by Aaron, Emma, and Thomas. I apologize for not having pictures of all that. My mom was taking the pictures on her camera and when they were getting ready to go I went to get the pictures off of her card and realized that her card was a different size than what I could put in my computer and we didn't have any of the cables.

The New Year's celebration was similar as well. Except no hot chocolate. We did not burn a big straw doll this year, but we did shoot off some fire works. They have a version of snaps, you know the things you throw on the ground and they go 'pop'. Except that their version is home made dynamite that blows up when you throw it. They are louder than a gun shot when they explode. So...carrying and throwing those things is quite nerve racking...and awesome.

Joel headlining for his grade at the school celebration

Mom passing out some traditional yellow lays(spelling) for the New Years celebration

Kids with the local bank that hosted one of their Chocolotadas.