Dental Health Day



Last Wednesday, Oct. 3rd, with the help of some great people in Ascope and a volunteer group from Tujillo, a dental heath campaign took place in Ascope. I'm super proud of this one becuase it is one of the first things that I was totally in charge of. I did all of the things that other people usually help me with, like document writing, chasing down the mayor for money (which we never actually got), and overall organization. I'm also really happy with this because it was a great group effort with collaborations from the preschool principal, the school district, the health post, and the volunteer group that came from Trujillo.

 

We had over 100 kids there, ages 3 to 5 and 94 of them received dental evaluations... the rest freaked out and cried or hid from the dentists. The volunteer group put on a puppet show and gave all the kids free toothbrushes, while the local dentists demonstrated healthy tooth care and did the individual evaluations.

 

And it wouldn't be an event without a parade. So of course, we had awesome participation from the mothers and a super sweet parade.

 

As with most things, I think the pictures will give you a better idea of what happened than a babbly blog post. Enjoy :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bridget, that floss he's using is the stuff you sent me ;)

 

Musical Chairs

 

Three Little Pigs Puppet Show

 

 

 

Say "AAHH!"

 

 

 

 

Piere's Birthday: A Timeline

Piere turned 7 on October 2nd. The celebration lasted a week. Allow me to walk you through this step by step.

Monday, October 1st, 8:00pm: Little Man and I have a dance-off in excitement of the birthdays coming up. "Breet, only 16 more hours until it's my birthday!" The math was off, but I couldn't keep up with him. It was a different number all day, with no logic or reason at all.

Tuesday October 2nd, 7:06am: I wake up to give Little Man his gift before he goes to school, as promised. A bowling set. We had been playing with (disgusting) plastic bottles that got dirt and residual soda/ water/ bottle contents all over my room, so I thought he might like a nice set all to himself. Cleaner, cuter, quieter, and overall just more fun. He loved it and has been playing with it ever since. They pins are small enough he has been juggling with them too. Bonus!

 

 

Grandma Betty's 3D Dinosaur Video and Book gift :)

 

October 2nd, Noon: I come home for lunch to find Piere waiting for me to try out the new bowling set with him. He won.

October 2nd, 6:30pm: I make Piere a "Happy Birthday" poster for the party the following day. I lie and tell him it's for someone else until he sees the 'P' and gets so excited he's skipping. Ah, I love birthdays so much.

October 2nd, 9:30pm: Birthday dinner with the fam. Toasts were given, silly ties/ crowns were worn, pollo a la brasa (rotisserie chicken) was purchased for take out, and cake was had. The photos explain it all...

 

 

Wednesday October 3rd, 2:00pm: Party prep! About a dozen of the first graders from Piere's class were invited to celebrate that afternoon. Little Man and I decorated, cleaned, and got excited for a party :)

 

 

October 3rd, 2:30pm: After the decorations are up, Piere comes to my room and says, "Breet, did you really not prepare any games for my party?" Taken aback and kind of offended, I was like, "Was I supposed to?" And he says, "Breet, you are always making games for other kids in your classes, and I thought you'd do that for me for my party." Heart= melted. I asked what games he was thinking of and he said he wanted the donkey game he had seen on TV. About 30 minutes later and the donkey was on the wall. He made the tail. We didn't end up playing it at his party that day, but the donkey got it's moment at my party a week later ;)

October 3rd, 4:30pm: Party is in full swing. I, being 'tall,' am asked to hold the piñata while standing on a chair as the kids take turns beating at it. TERRIFYING.

October 3rd, 7:00pm: Party concludes and the kids return home exhausted. Dinner, snacks, drinks, and candy have been served. Games were played, the piñata destroyed, gifts given... party= success.

October 3rd, 8:00pm: Piere shows me all of the awesome gifts he received. I get jealous. He agrees to let me play with the laser gun and Ben 10 disc-shooting car... tomorrow. I'll take it :p

Thursday, October 4th: We clean the house and eat left over cake. I run 3 miles only to return home to a giant piece of cake on my nightstand waiting to be eaten. Birthday week was getting the best of me at that point.

Friday, October 5th: We have family discussions as to whether or not we should go to the arcade... this was Piere's initial birthday request, but then he ended up getting a party. Somehow Little Man worked his magic again and we ended up doing both the arcade and the party. Don't know how he does it.

Saturday, October 6th: Family day in Trujillo. Mall time, lunch at a restaurant, and finally, Coney Park, the largest and newest arcade in town. He. went. crazy. Please see photos...
 

So there you have it. Little Man is seven and the rest of the family is exhausted. But not so much that we couldn't celebrate my birthday too! More to come :)

September Recap

I'll be honest, September kind of sucked. It wasn't totally awful, just not my favorite month so far this year. This was largely because of the teacher strike and how everything I had planned to do got postponed, but I suppose it worked out in the end. Here's what I have for your September summary...  

-The teacher strike started on September 5th and lasted until October 9th. Some kids have had classes because some teachers are still going to work. The contracted teachers are still working. The ones who are striking are like the equivalent of teachers with tenure (from what I understand of all of this). In a nutshell, this caused most of what I had planned for the month of September to be bumped to October... and I'll be home in the States for a visit for pretty much half of October. Stress. Lots of stress. And disappointment. And worry. That too. Stupid strike. A few nice things came out of it though...

-So as I said, the strike sucked and I was worried a lot about projects and stuff. But after about a week or so, I just stopped worrying and decided to embrace the extra free time I had to prepare for the things that had been postponed on me. This meant a lot of time spent at the UGEL (school district office). Since I couldn't spend my time in the schools, I went there and got to work on things for the future. It's like I have a pretend job there, and I love it. I have my own desk area. I have friends, free internet, a guy who passes through to sell chocolates and comes to find me everyday. It's like a real job, only I don't get paid and I can take as many snack breaks as I want :) Excellent. 

-I kept teaching the English teachers, even though there was a teacher strike. And to my surprise, half of them still showed up every week in spite of the strike. They are great people and dedicated teachers. I love that they trust me with this project and come to class with the open minds and work ethic they do. Working with them has helped me to not generalize, and to not be angry with the teachers for this strike. As with all things, some of them work hard and some of them don't. It's a pleasure to work with some of the good ones and to see their efforts, successes, and curiosity to learn. Inspiring. 

-I planned a dental health day with 3 of the 4 preschools in Ascope. We had local dentists and a volunteer group from Trujillo there with a parade (of course). It happened on October 3rd, so a lot of September was spent getting everything together for it. I'll write a full post on this later, but it took up a lot of my September time and is something I'm really proud of. Definitely one of my favorite things of the stuff I've done so far in Peru. 

-I got my donation from the Sugar Company! Again, I'll give you a full post on this one later but I had to share. Biggest success of September :) 

-Biggest failure of September? Getting the worst sunburn of my life. I was physically ill on account of my own carelessness. Dehydration and heat rashes for a week and a half. Itchy peeling for like 3 weeks. Plus the pain and general discomfort of a sunburn. Stupid move on my part. No bueno. But there is a silver lining- I wore my new jungle hat to the beach that day, so my face was left unscathed. Great investment of 15 soles. 

-It's springtime now! So... winter lasted like 3 months? So strange. I love the spring weather though! Beautiful days and more to come :)

-On account of the epic sunburn and it turning my body into one big prickly itchy heat rash every time I sweat, I couldn't run for awhile. I mean, I did anyway, but not until it calmed down enough so that the rash was only like 25% of my body and not leaving obnoxious red patches that I was afraid might make scars. But I digress. Anyway, one morning around that time, I ran into one of my adorable little old lady neighbors. That morning she was carrying a full load of firewood on her back and looked like she had come from the field. When I said "good morning" to her, she stopped to peer out from her giant straw hat and said, "Amiga, I haven't seen you run in over a week. You have to do your exercises and take care of that body!" Can't really argue with that. Especially from someone carrying half her weight on her back in worn leather sandals and a sweater under the sweltering sun. I have no excuses. 

-My internet remains spotty. Sorry for the sporadic lack of updates and corresponding update purges. Oh, and when I do have internet, it can't really handle photo uploads. Apologies in advance. 

-My recent accumulation of lactose intolerance is getting worse. Attempts to thwart it with yogurt and pizza have been futile. Boo. 

-I'm going home next month!!! YAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!

That's all I've got for you for September. See a lot of you (assuming that only Mom and maybe Bridget are reading this, perhaps all of you ;) very very soon! 

THANK YOU!

I want to take a moment to thank everyone for everything they have sent to me. Your support and kindness means so much to me, but it's also adding something special to my time here and benefitting other people and I wanted to share this with you. 

-The markers you have sent have made birthday posters, have brought more fun to classes, and have amazed kids of all ages. They have also save me money and make me look cool in front of little kids and teenagers. 

-Your Starbucks Via pouches make me human when I would otherwise be a monster. Good coffee does not exist here. 

-The stickers you've sent me are invaluable. I have more leverage with kids and something to motivate them with because of this. And they are fun and adorable. 

-The candy you send is how my host family knows how cool all of you are... that is if the candy makes it to them before I eat it ;) 

-All of the socks have replaced the other socks that I have scrubbed holes through while hand washing them. The dusty desert saturates my socks and turns them brown. Every. Day. 

-Hot chocolate, koolaid, coffee, Crystal Light, and other stuff is easy to share with the host fam and always well received. Piere says thanks for the hot chocolate with colored marshmallows, Rachel ;)

-The pictures and cards cover my wall and are the first thing I show off to anyone who visits me. I have adorable nieces and nephews :) 

-The Hello Kitty coloring books have been shared, played with, reused, and envied. The coloring books for Piere were finished in a matter of days. 

-The Uno set I received hasn't gotten a break since it arrived in Ascope. Every night at least once Piere and I face off :p 

-The Hello Kitty pencils were sought after BINGO prizes while they lasted. Little girls go crazy for stuff like that. 

-Lisa, the wallet you sent for my birthday last years gets complimented like every day. And the bear mittens surprisingly came in handy this month ;) 

I can't remember the other stuff right now, but there is a pile of it and it is all appreciated. Just wanted to say thank you and let you know how much it means to me. I am spoiled with some wonderful people in my life. Thanks for being awesome. 

A Wonderful Thing

In the aftermath of the worst sunburn of my life (think spotty peeled off disgusting looking skin) and a week's worth of birthday eating (think late dinners, extra meals for parties, soda, tons of cake, piñata candy, etc.) plus a lack of water causing no showers for a 3 day stretch (think stinky), I was/ am naturally feeling quite disgusting and unattractive this week. I mean, I've accepted looking like hell for 2 years, but this was a particular low. Then out of nowhere, an unexpected compliment was dropped on me from a lovely little 6 year old friend of Piere's. Usually, I take comments on my appearance with a grain of salt here. I look different and everyone seems to have something to say about it. But this one was so innocent and sweet that I couldn't just brush it off. 

Her name is Rafaela and she has always been my favorite out of Piere's class. As we were playing during Little Man's birthday party, she looked at me closely and then said this, "Your eyes are green! Have you seen a mirror? You are very beautiful." 

Little kids, as mush as they can be demons, can be pretty wonderful. 

Special Thanks to Katy Perry

Yes, you read that right. I would like to take a moment to thank Katy Perry. 

A few weeks ago I was in a slump. I don't watch movies very much so I swung by the local hole in the wall where you can buy pirated movies. And there it was- the Katy Perry movie. Two soles later and my Friday night was planned. I'd like to say I watched it once and stowed it away. But that was not the case. 

After saturating my weekend with KP and achieving an uplifted mood on account of the overdose of bubblegum pop, I put the disc away and got to work on the weeks' projects. Coincidentally, that week I was planning a class for my English teachers on teaching English with songs. 

Before I had even become obsessed with Katy's movie, I selected the song "Hot N Cold" to use in my English class. It has a lot of good adjectives, pairs of opposites, and a few particle verbs. The lyrics are also delivered slow enough for students to pick out the words, so it was an obvious choice. 

By the time the class rolled around and I was packing up the mochila for the day, I decided to take toss in the Katy Perry movie. Why not? To my surprise, the teachers loved it. 

It's one thing to tell them about Katy Perry and make them dissect one of her songs. It's another thing altogether to show them concert footage in which she changes her outfit about a dozen times. 

So yes, thank you Katy Perry. Not only did you cheer me up, but you also helped me and my teacher friends out with the Ingles. 

Oh and on a sidenote- While they loved Katy Perry, Adele made them cry. Apparently, something about "Someone Like You" even makes the most macho men cry. We had a sad and pensive crowd with one man sniffling to tears and even admitting the song reminded him of an ex-girlfriend who moved away years ago. Wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it myself. But hey, at least that means they understood the song :) More songs next week. Hopefully no more tears... 

Guess Who?

Randomly, I inherited a "Guess Who?" game from a volunteer who finished her service a few months after I started mine. This little gem has been an unexpected treasure and a surprising asset to my service so far. 

As he is with most things I do in my English classes, Piere was my guinea pig with this one, only this time it was an accident. We had been playing "Guess Who?" for awhile before he figured out how to really play, and since we reached that moment, he's been on fire. In the excruciating "figuring it out" process, I realized that this game is great for practicing colors, body parts, and the verb 'have.' So without Piere and his learning curve, I may have never discovered how perfect this game is for my little English beginners. 

I've been taking it to class for awhile now and the kids love it. The first time they saw it they were SO excited. They knew what it was from the commercials they always see for it on TV, but none of them had ever played it. Games and toys are kind of expensive here, so it seems like games like that are a special treat. It's been a slow struggle getting them to speak only in English while playing, but we're getting there. 

I even found some extra character sets online so we can switch between people, pets, monsters, and more. 

Glad this one fell into my lap.