Only A Couple of Weeks Left...

Good morning, afternoon, or night- depending on when this finds you. I had written another blog to post a couple of days ago, but seeing as I could make a couple of pages simply from the last few days, I decided to rewrite what I had planned.

For arguements sake, lets start at the beginning so I don’t get confused. Since my last post, I have been to two concerts. The first was the expo rock one I spoke of last time. Although fun, we stood in line for an hour and a half…and the line was moving the whole time! That’s how long it was. Round a few corners, down some streets and past a few neighboring suburbs. That concert was good, though Peru is not well known for its Rock band production, meaning that every person in the crowd simply stood still throughout the concert’s entirety.

The other concert was much better. It was for a group called “Grupo 5” from Peru (Cinco), and a Latin American superstar from Venezuela called Oscar D’Leon. Like I said, this concert was much more enjoyable, and Grupo 5 were great, though when the concert is advertised to start at 7am on all the posters, and the main band not coming on until after 2:30am, it makes it hard to keep dancing right through for the 8 hours.

A couple of days ago we, (being the volunteers) organized an Olympics to mirror that which the children saw was going on at Beijing. The first event was meant to be a game that I have played with some kids back in NZ. The idea? Tie inflated balloons with string your ankle and try and run around and step on others balloons whilst protecting your own. Easy enough. The only problem was the 60 incredibly impatient children who wanted everything done for them, all at once. When one child was ready to go, they either decided they didn’t want the balloon around their ankle any more, or found some way to pop it, before we had the next child was even ready. Eventually, and I mean eventually, we had enough kids set and just let them go. We had planned to split them into teams with colours for their country, have them draw their own flags, and pretty much just get into the overall theme. But no. That was too difficult. We had planned other events as well, though totally had to just go with the flow, and leave things that weren’t working, and try new things to fill in the time. We finished by giving them all lollypops, which they liked.

A story that to this second I am still debating mentioning is of two nights ago. The only reason I will write of it is because though I don’t want everyone knowing, I know there are some of you back home who are concerned with my safety, and the dangers of Peru. I was out walking with a girl to pass some time before dinner, when we decided to take a seat under some trees on the edge of town, a couple of minutes near where we live. At about 6:30pm, three men with rocks and sticks attacked us. Sparing the details, I took a couple of blows to the head trying to protect her, and my head split open quite badly. We got away, Brittany unscathed, though I had to spend a large portion of the night in the hospital. I have stitches, and strong medication for the pain. As I write, the images race through my mind and I feel a little nauseous, so I will not write anymore. I apologise if this makes you worry. I’m just thankful that Brittany is ok, and that my injuries are not worse.

I have decided to leave Huancayo on the 7th of September. The day before I will compete in a regional football tournament, with other workers at Aldea, as well as marching in the parade before hand. Needless to say, I will probably be the only white boy- will definitely be getting some photos for my Facebook page. After then I will travel back to Lima, and head north, as I mentioned in my last blog, for a week or so. I'm looking forward to that, though everyday I am here somebody reminds me how hard it will be for me to leave eventually, because I have been here for the longest. I chose not to see that far ahead.

Dr Phil is still alive and kicking. Still in the realms of malpractice, and last visit I made to a group of people I was asked to check a cyst to see if it was cancerous. Wow. I said I was still in training and couldn’t be sure- which is not so much of a lie.

The volleyball court is coming along nicely too. The court is flat, and we put the poles in the holes I had dug yesterday, all concreted up. Should be finished in a couple of days in time for the volleyball tournament next Sunday, the same time as our football tournament.

Well, well. That’s about all I have to say about that. God bless, and take care.