Ho Ho Ho.. Merry Christmas. I tried to decorated for Christmas in my cabanja, but it didn't really give me so much christmas-spirit that I had hoped for...It's just to green here, and warm!

Finally we got a playing park for the youngest kids, but it isn't finished yet... But me and Lena can't wait to play there..

the moscitos is trying to kill me. I hate them!!

Not knowing until the last minuet

The last week has really though me something about planing and time, here it dosen’t really exist.
Or it does exist, but they don’t tell you when it’s VERY important that things happens exactly “punto”, and when it’s “later relax”
Let me give you an example:
Late Tuesday evening the leader of the Alalay-village told us; tomorrow everything has to be out of the Cabañas before 7am. Because they are going to spray all the Cabañas with bug toxic. And we had to be out at 7 because then the men would start, so we woke up very early the next day to move out everything, and the bugmen started. But my dear reader not on the inside, no no no, on the outside. Yes of course they started were we had stashed all the clothes. We had three very noisy nights after that with crying kids who were itching from the toxic.
So when we came to the apartment on Friday we were of course very tiered, but then, we had to help moving to the new house. And we had to help packing everything. Because apparently one week wasn’t enough time for the our dear dear contact person to pack down his cloths, so we had to do that too, with him asking us to do everything faster cause the moving truck were coming soon. I can tell you that it was 4 some what angry girls that paced down everything in that apartment…hehe
And then when all was on the moving truck, we had to get on the truck. It was an interesting experience to stand back on the truck with all the things while it was driving through Santa Cruz… so fun and so dangerous...hehe… we are living on the wild side here.
Alalay bought two small houses 20 min from Centrum, they are really cute, but need some work and cleaning… but at least we have space for everybody now…
I can’t believe it is December and soon Christmas, but I look forward to experience Bolivian traditions. However something is very wrong when it’s sun and 30degreec on Christmas Eve, when it should be cold and rain/snow.

Alalalalalalay
A typical day at the Aldea Alalay

• Wakeup at 5.30am and hop in the shower, if there is water that blessed day.
  
• Then 6am you take a walk from the voluntaries’ cabaña to the cabaña for chicos pequinitos that I am in charge of. I have 6 boys from 2-5 years and they are adorable, when they sleep…Hehe … No just kidding I love theme, but they are monkeys and I am their favorite tree to claim on.
  
• From 6-7 it’s all about getting theme dressed and helping theme to wanna make their beds... Sounds so easy… but its not…
  
• Then we are ready for breakfast: 2 small breads and a cup of something disturbingly sweet. They call it tea; I call it sugar with water.
  
• Then its play time, and that means more monkey claiming on me
  
• Then from 9-11 they paint or make something that results in a lot of mess for me and the Educatora,
  
• Apoyo en cocina, that means that I go to the kitchen and help preparing Almuerzo/ lunch
  
• Then more play time until we eat at 2o’cloc; aroz con algun …that signifies rise with something, but the majority is rise. If you are lucky you get a chicken foot in you soup.
  
• PANADERIA; help making bread for the whole village/ La Aldea
  
• TV-time or playing in the cabaña de juego
  
• 6pm “Water splash” or showering of the 6 angels
  
• Cena or dinner is served 7pm and after that they go to bed
  
• Then I take my leave around 8, stumble over to my cabaña and watch 1 or 2 episodes of “The OC” with Lena. We call that ” therapy and relaxing time”…
  
  In between all of this are there a lot of punching, screaming, fighting and the constant calling for Hermana Aggie or Acky or something similar. But they are my boys now, Juan Carlos, Ruben, Brayan, Efraian, Ariel and Javier. And already they have put a mark on my heart.
  The funniest thing that has happened so far is the time we went to a pool with all the kids in Cabaña E and F. 12 kids from 2-7 and 4 adults. On the way back we decided to take a taxi, and me and Lena thought we would take at least to taxis, but way pay for two when apparently you can fit 17 people in a car… yes it is proven you can put 5 adults and 12 kids in one car..
  
  

ou our favorite taxidriver Gustavo. He became our friend in Lima
we had to learn how to do the laundry by hand. It took some time, but I`m glad that I learned it

I`m playing for the children at the center for teenagemothers.

it was relly funny..

Chapter 3 Bolivia

Chapter 3 is now ready to begin.The part of this journey that I have been waiting for since spring time. I had a great time at Hald and here in Lima too, but finally am I were I want to be. In Bolivia, living in Santa Cruz, working in Alalay. Lima has given me a little heads up for what I can come to meet in Santa Cruz. Poverty is something that I never ever will get use to see. I hate it, to see what it dose to people. The humiliation and the struggle that they have to face every single day, and the worst part is that it’s no one who feels responsible for the way the world has become. Lima has so many worlds just in one city. I met people that never traveled to the poor areas and didn’t even know how to get to there. But in a way living in Norway is no different from living in the rich part of Lima, we just don’t travel to poor countries and we are so possessive over “our” oil money. I love living in Norway and I love the opportunities that I have. Life is pretty much great; I just wish that my world could be everybody’s world.
So as I’m sitting here in my bed in the apartment that I and Lena are sharing with other voluntaries from Alalay, listening to really bad regatong music that have been playing since 6am, I just really wants to get started.
We came here to Santa Cruz yesterday, and it was sooooo hot!!!!
Before that we spent 4 days in La Paz, and we got a chance to get to know the Alalay project. I, Lena, Johannes/Juan (El padrino) and Thor Haakon/Tor (El Torro) stayed in the Alalay village Aldea. We met Claudia the fonder of Alalay and we got to know the children there. El padrino/Juan is going to be a volunteer for the boys from 3-8, and El Torro the same for the youngest girls. Lena and I fell in love with theme all; I can only imagine how we will feel for the children here where we are gone stay for the next 6 months.



I am feeling poetic today..hehe
The weather here is surprisingly wet and we haven’t seen the sun yet!
We wake up to music every day and a dog that barks till we nearly go insane!
But we are happy to be here and our spirit is high
Just wish the dog would let us slip for one whole night!

Latest up date
The first week in Lima demands an evaluation, what have i noticed so far. Well the transportation isn’t exactly the same as in Norway, I don’t think the buses here would pass the EU control; one of them did loose a door. You can’t drink water from the sink, sadly but true. And the masculine sex have no respect for women.
Finally I and Helene managed to take the bus/combio all by ourselves, and later we even took a cab, I’m so proud of us. The family we live in is fantastic they have opened their home for us in a way that we never can repay. Claudia the daughter in the family is 20 and she has really used a lot of her time to take me and Helene around in this grand city. We have seen all the important places such as the President Palace and Centro de Lima to all the big shopping centers, and of course Mercado Indio. We have tasted all from the local beer to piscosouer and we had a great time discovering the Peruvian culture!!!
Last Wednesday we all visited the project CEDETEP, it is such a great project that gives teenage mothers a home and a new chance to a better life.
This weekend we all went to a beach house south of Lima it was so nice, just what we needed. We actually got sunburned we are so red now, look like tourists. Today I and Helene couldn’t get to Euro idioma because there were no combios or buses for us to take. All of them were protesting it’s all over the news, people not coming to work because the are too few buses driving today and tomorrow. It’s especially problematic here in Villa Maria. Don’t now if we will get to language class tomorrow, tomorrow only know. So this day we are just watching movies, with spanish language of course..hehe.. We love it. Friends are our new best friend

Wow
So I have now survived my first 24 hours in Lima, but it has not been easy.
We had all been awake since 4 am and after a long time up in the air I was expecting a quick escape to a warm bed. But as I realized that Lima is a very big city I also realized that to drive all over town delivering people in different host families takes hours. And of course I and Helene was the last two to be delivered to our host family, fare fare away on the other side of town. But it was worth waiting for. The family is great. This morning we had to take something called a “cambio”, minibus, that takes a surprisingly high number of people. When you need to get out you just have to shout “baja” and try to get to the door. The really funny thing is that me and Helene have to do it alone, how will we ever get of the bus???? Today we spent the whole day at strømme foundation and we learned a lot about the Peruvian society, it was really interesting. In the lunch break we all went to a chineas restaurant, it was so nice and the food was so good, “muy rico”. We were finished at 5a’clock, but since it is not “Norwegian time” but “African time” whoops I mean “Latino time” we had to wait some time for our new family members to pick us up. And because we had nothing better to do we started to play Norwegian games, I don’t know what the people at strømme thinks of us now, but for us it was just what we needed after a long day. When we finally left the office Helene and I went shopping with our host mum and we traveled all over town, hmm sounds familiar. On the last bus home the door fell of the cambio, yes you read correctly the door fell of and they used some time putting it on again.
My first day in Peru was so different from what I had expected although I shouldn’t have expected anything less than what I have seen and done today. Lima es un poco loco ciudad. Hasta la vista baby

Nå som Eirik "sol" har gitt meg et realt spark i baken, tenkte jeg at det var på tide å skrive litt på bloggen min. I dag hadde Hald ansvaret for gudstjenesten i Mandal kirke. og det gikk knall bra. Det er fantastisk å jobbe sammen med så mange flott og kreative mennesker. Det er skikkelig trist å tenke på at dette er siste uka på Hald før vi alle reiser hvert til vårt i 7 månder. Gleder meg masse til å komme til Peru og Bolivia, men skulle ønske jeg kunne pakka alle med meg i kofferten. Nå har vi akkurat fått en presentasjon av Thailand, vi fikk kle oss i thailanske klær, lære å snakke litt thai også dansa vi sånn som de gjør i Thailand, i thailandske klær seivfølgelig, håper ingen så oss, det var knall gøy. Å nå må vi vente helt til våren før vi kan gjøre det igjen, og det er skikkelig trist å tenke på. Men nå må jeg runde av får denne gang, jeg har nemlig kjøkkentjeneste, noe jeg ikke kommer til å savne så veldig mye..

Blogg2k! Et innlegg for den late.

Fra venstre: Russhild, Eirik, Kristin. Torstein står bak og leker russ.

Hei og hopp!

Det er ikke alltid Ragnhild synes det er så greit å blogge, selv om hun kan logge seg inn på bloggen vha. fingeravtrykket sitt. Da er det godt at Aggie har en så fantastisk venn som Eirik (http://www.eiriksoldal.blogspot.com/) til å blogge for seg. Som takk for hjelpen ber hun meg legge ut et bilde av oss der hun mener jeg ser ut som ei jente. Hun sa det var mest fordi jeg hadde så langt hår. Jeg svarte at hun hadde jo lengre. Da argumenterte Raknold med "Men jeg ER jo jente". Nettopp, svarte jeg. Nå sitter Spillhild og spiller piano. Hun er ganske så flink. Også kan hun spille trombone. Og synge. Men det visste sikkert du, som leser Raggie sin blogg, veldig godt. Noe som kanksje var mer overraskende er at Raggen har utvidet russetida si med en ekstra dag. Vi hadde Norsk aften her på Hald, og da måtte vi trå til og vise fram et av våre mest særegne Norske kulturelementer, som jo russen er, da vi gikk i 9. september-tog. Nå satt Kragnhild foten sin fast i sofaen. Hun spurte meg i stad om det gikk an å redigere/slette innleggene på bloggen. Det kan godt hende hun sletter det jeg nettopp skrev om "foten i sofaen", for det var ganske teit. OHappyDaynhild skal synge i kirka på søndag. Kom og se. Nå forteller Wromnhild en fin anekdote om en telefon hun fikk av søstera si i dag. Hun hadde prestert å låse den eneste nøkkelen til scooteren inne. Kan du gjette hvor? Ja, nettopp! Inne i scooteren! Way to go! Nå har jeg skrevet så masse at Blogghild har fått et skikkelig spark i baken til å skrive mer selv. Romphild liker spark i baken.

PS! Det heter "flaut", ikke "flævt"! sier Språkhild til Inger Johanne.

PS!PS! Kristiansandhild er fra riktig del av landet, og vet hvordan man prater!

PS!PS!PS! Voffhild er klar over at hunden på bildet er søt, og nei, den er ikke hennes!

Hilsen Sol :)