Yesterday was the first day I have seen the sun since I have been down here. There is a lot of smog or its just cloudy. It was after it had rained for two days and therefore the smog cleared up so not only could we see the sun, but we could see the mountains as well. The snow capped mountains are a beatiful backdrop for the city and everyone here appreciates the day when they can actually be seen. The other major bonus of the sunshine is that it warms up the air immensely and we all got a nice little break from the cold.
I went to the Aldena yesterday and got to hang out with a bunch of the girls for a few hours which was really fun. It was also really good practice for my spanish as well because we don't speak english once we are inside the walls of the hogar because the Tias become really offended if you do. So for three straight hours - nothing but spanish. It's hard to look at the little girls and know that in their background lies a sad history of abuse or neglect - which is why their there. It's an eye opening experience and I admire a lot of them for how well they turn out and how straight they have their heads on after what they've been through.
Today was 'Liga de Deportes' which is where we get together with a lot of kids from different hogares around Santiago that we work with and play soccer and volleyball. We do workshops with them to teach them skills, we paint faces, make te
ams, eat food, and play ball. It was really fun and eventually I got succored into playing soccer -I knew it would happen- and my foot hurts a mighty lot now. But it was totally worth it.
Today was the last game of the futbol team 'Colo Colo' who happens to be the Chilean favorite and people were everywhere! The metro was out of control with fans cheering, jumping, pounding the walls, etc. It was fun to experience a little bit of that but we actually had to end 'liga de deportes' early today so we could all get home before the game ended so as to avoid any rioting and what not of ravid fans.
I went to the Aldena yesterday and got to hang out with a bunch of the girls for a few hours which was really fun. It was also really good practice for my spanish as well because we don't speak english once we are inside the walls of the hogar because the Tias become really offended if you do. So for three straight hours - nothing but spanish. It's hard to look at the little girls and know that in their background lies a sad history of abuse or neglect - which is why their there. It's an eye opening experience and I admire a lot of them for how well they turn out and how straight they have their heads on after what they've been through.
Today was 'Liga de Deportes' which is where we get together with a lot of kids from different hogares around Santiago that we work with and play soccer and volleyball. We do workshops with them to teach them skills, we paint faces, make te
ams, eat food, and play ball. It was really fun and eventually I got succored into playing soccer -I knew it would happen- and my foot hurts a mighty lot now. But it was totally worth it.Today was the last game of the futbol team 'Colo Colo' who happens to be the Chilean favorite and people were everywhere! The metro was out of control with fans cheering, jumping, pounding the walls, etc. It was fun to experience a little bit of that but we actually had to end 'liga de deportes' early today so we could all get home before the game ended so as to avoid any rioting and what not of ravid fans.
Photo: Liga de deportes
No comments:
Post a Comment