8-8-2010

We watched La Cenicienta (Cinderella) together on Sunday afternoon.

Our ´family´group: Elvis, Milagros, Ademir and I

Ademir sat in the front of my bike the whole trip as he has yet to learn to ride it.

We just ordered and waited for the fries and pop.

We stopped by the river and took a look at the beautiful scenery.

Yesterday I took another group out for the family outing. But this time, the three kids aren´t related. They don´t have any siblings and family members here, so we grouped them up together including Elvis, Milagros and Ademir. After a short discussion of what they wanted to do, we decided to ride bikes to the village centre. Since Ademir is only 8 and doesn´t know how to ride a bike yet, I took him on mine. As we started, he kept saying, "¡Que bonito!" It was a fairly easy ride as it was going a little downhill and so made it very pleasant, while I had to keep track on the other two staying out of the road. When we reached the centre, we took a look at the river which is actually a very beautiful view. I suggested that we went to get some refreshments, and they just asked for crackers! The only reason that they said it was because that´s pretty much they thought they would get. Seldom did they have fancy (well, in our world, not fancy at all) treats. So I suggested we went to get some French fries, and they were ecstatic! Eventually we had French fries, yucca fries and some coke. After the little snack, we had to make back to the home, and we took the "off-the-beaten-path" road, which is quieter but dustier and rockier. We made it home in time for lunch, and they kept thanking me for everything, even this morning!

In the afternoon, I asked for permission to go to the nearest town and tried to get the iPhone fixed. However, it is too advanced for a little town, so I had to wait til next weekend when I go to Lima and get it fixed. Just before going back home, I went to buy some cartoon DVDs like the Disney´s ones, Barney´s and Sesame Street, all in Spanish! The kinder kids and I watched some of them today after lunch today, and they loved it. They rarely get chances to watch children´s programs, and they are so good for their cognitive development, imaginative skills, memories, positive values, etc., etc. Cristina and I have been letting them watch these programs which are educational, fun and interesting at the same time. This group has been growing in many ways, and they no see us as very important figures in their lives. They now realize they can have something that they never had before, such as attachment with adult figures. At night when we put them to sleep, they now always ask for us to stay in bed with them til they fall asleep. We would tell stories, sing lullabies or simply stay cozy with them quietly in bed. Before, they don´t really know such luxury (well, again, not really luxury in a normal life) existed, and they never knew what to ask for but just slept on their own. So imagine 10 kids and only Cristina and I, and they all want personal attention! We got a lot of screaming like, "Tía Cristina, come!" or "Tío Ryan, stay in my bed!" It is busy work, but it´s so so worth it. Tonight when I stayed with Franklin, he kept reciting to me the story of Cinderella that we saw this afternoon. He was fascinated by the magic and all the characters of the story, and I told him that good things happened to Cinderella because she was a good girl while her sisters weren´t blessed because they were awful and mean. Soon he wrapped his arms around me and fell asleep in a short while.