Can you call Dog a food?

This last week has seen many things unfold. Today involved my first real step into the helper role that I will play for my coordinator over the coming weeks. It involved waking before 6am, and picking up three new volunteers from the bus station, showing them to their house, and placements for their stay. The only problem? Each of them wanted to start at different times due to jet lag, so I spent most of today running back and forth around the city and trying to get some stuff done at my placement too. Two words, job done.

I have only worked a few days this week due to sharing in the Independence Day celebrations…which last for three days. The national day itself was on Monday, though most things close down for as long as possible it seems. For the week of Independence Day each year, each house must fly the flag within visibility of the road. Failing to do so subjects you to a fine, I guess in an attempt to enforce patriotism…if you can call it that. For the 28th we made our way to a town nearby that had a parade on, in which the men dress up with a black mask on, with a hat, almost to look like the persona from “V for Vendetta” if that helps with imagery at all. The best part was that after the marching was over, the men line the streets and face off in a one on one battle that involves whipping as much as possible and holding a cloth as protection for 10 seconds. If you remain standing, you avoid the shame out of having to wait another year to step into man-hood.

The following day we went to another town called Mira Flores and had a picnic. We found a football field and started a fun game with the girls, and some local boys. Within 10 minutes, myself and our tour guide were challenged to play for money from some locals. Girls? Not allowed to play, and boys, told to go home. We declined the specifics of their offer, though played with them for fun. Would love to say the girls and I dominated, though that would be a lie. It was a good tussle, though they didn’t get the concept of playing for fun, and taking it easy on the girls who have never played before, and the boys who would be less than half their ages.

This follows my three days of sickness. I decided that ‘not drinking the tap water’ was just a myth started by the bottled water companies as a scare tactic to sell their product. Lets just say its not. I got chronically sick, and had to miss a couple of days from the orphanage, and life in general really. What was hilarious though was that I decided to have a half day on my forth day because I was sick of staring at my ceiling for hours on end, though that half day saw the orphanage run out of water, and call in a tanker to fill buckets. Such joy is being the only young male there, surrounded by 73 children that want nothing more than my help lugging buckets to their houses. Remember, still sick. After 2 hours I couldn’t take anymore, and thankfully the tanker was empty, so I left. The following half day I asked one of the mothers if I could help her with anything. She promptly sat me down, and placed an enormous meal on the table in front of me. That’s how I help?? Haha, remember, still sick. Last thing I wanted to see was a plate full of dog. I know, those things that we have back home as pets…yup, just ate one without knowing until after. Lets just say dogs were only ever meant to be pets. When I sought out another mother to again offer assistance after slaving through the meal, you guessed it, more ‘food’. Eventually, and I mean eventually, I beat the beast. I stood, swayed a little, and made my way out of the house only to be hailed from behind. I had forgotten to drink a concoction of things to make me feel better, which tasted as bad as I was feeling. She stood 2 yards from me and made sure I finished every drop. Thankfully, I’m back to full fitness, and feel again on top of the world.

Come Saturday I had scheduled to do some swim teaching. For anyone that has taught swimming before, you know how hard it can be to get people up to confidence. Now lets make some alterations to normal scenarios. Add language barriers, and a people who have never stood in water deeper than the buckets they wash in. Subtract warm water, and teaching utensils. Lets just say I discovered success in simply getting them to take their feet off the ground away from the wall.

I get the feeling I am missing a hundred stories with each entry, though I am intentionally leaving a few out for telling in person, and some hopefully never see the light of day. Even if I don’t get around to writing individually, just know now how much I appreciate hearing anything from home. I don’t even care how unimportant you may think it is… it means the world to know how things are with those I care most about. Thanks for the read! Ttfn, ta ta for now.