Day 4 + 5 + 6

Blog Friday June 28

Since Wednesday, we have been working according to our schedule. A typical day constitutes of helping out (each in different department) from eight in the morning to five in the evening, with a lunch break from 1h00 to 2h30. In reality, we often finish earlier than one and we have a lot of time to socialize with the patients. Some were more reserved in the beginning but they are getting used to our presence with time, others come to us by themselves and are really interested in our lives. A lot of the guys (patients) flirt with us and one even declared his love to Laura (this beautiful white girl was traumatized and she probably still is, haha). She got so scared that she decided to tell him she had a boyfriend in Canada. I'll let you know if she tells him her pre-made sentence! 

Sometimes, we have to accompany patients to hospitals or rehabilitation centers in different cities because some services are not available in the Hogar itself. In my opinion, this is the scariest of all the jobs we can be asked to do because we are usually alone with the patient and we need to be the leaders although we know almost nothing about the country and the way it works. However, the employees at the Hogar are extremely nice and they make sure to give us written instructions as to where we have to go and what we have to do. Also, some of the patients are conscious and can help us, which makes it much easier. Other tasks are helping out in the kitchen, on the wards (nursing duty), in the pediatrics wing, in the administration, the pharmacy or in the doctor's office. Little by little, we are getting more used to the routine, to the patients and we are getting to know our German roommates, who are actually really nice. While I am writing this blog, the rest of the team is watching Monster's University in Spanish. They are soo cute sitting on the same bed side-by-side all concentrated on the computer screen. I wish you could see them! Actually, you can! Our weekend will be special so come back to see what happens!

Watching a movie!

With Julio, a pediatrics patient!

Day 3

Blog Tuesday 25th

Last day of tourism. Although it usually takes about 1h15 to get to Lima, we had to make a little detour to drop off the cutest of the pediatrics patients of the Hogar. With the traffic, it took us about 3h30 to get to the Children's hospital. Then, we headed in direction of the playa in Miraflores, the EXTREMELY rich part of Lima. Our driver, Señor Mango as Charles call him (his name is Señor MangA), taught us a little Quechua, the indigenous language of Peru. At the beach, Charles decided to get closer to the water, but he almost went swimming with the fish when a wave arrived! On the way to the restaurant, we visited the park of lovers and diverse monumentos historicos.

At the restaurant, Karol ordered the "bisteck a lo pobre", which was ENORMOUSLY HUGE (bifteck, eggs, fried bananas, rice, fried potatoes and salad). Don't ask me why it is called a POOR plate. Then, we walked for HOURS in the city (I think we passed by the same street a hundred times). We also bought tickets for Messi's soccer game on July 2nd: see you there!

After getting to the Parque de Agua, which was closed (see how lucky we are), we went back to the same street. It’s important to understand that it took us about 2 hours of walking to get to that park, so we had to go the bathroom. The only bathroom available was in a police department. The policemen, with AK-47s on their sides, guided us to the back of the detention center to the most AWFUL bathroom we have ever seen. Anyways, we managed to get it done. The way back took us about 4 hours but we sang THE WHOLE  time. Our driver was able to guess Britney Spears' song during our karaoke game! After the rocky, scary ride through the mountains, we finally got to the Hogar at 10h. To top off our unluckiness, as soon as we set foot in the Hogar, the electricity went out! Sophie decided to take a shower in the dark but all the rest of us were too bebe-lala. After our traditional discussions, we went to sleep in the dark. We woke up early in the morning to take showers but the water was FREEZING because of the lack of electricity during the night. Karol was NOT happy. Tomorrow will be our first day of real work, let's hope all goes well!

-Karol

Charles running away from the wave

 

Karol's huge plate... needless to say we didn't need to eat supper!

Day 2

Blog Monday 24th of June

If our first day was an adventure, then our first night was an expedition to the moon in a rocket! First, you guys need to understand that we are 5 girls in the same room, which happens to be as large as the inside of a Toyota Sienna. Charles, being the only alpha male and the “administrator” of the group, gets his own room, which is the same size as ours. Pure injustice. On top of that, we happen to have in our beautiful a somnambulist, a sleep talker and a first class commenter. All of these manifested their qualities the first night. After a singing contest of about 1 hour and a never-tell game for what CLEARLY seemed to be an eternity for Stefy, we went to sleep at 11 only to wake up for the first time at 1h30.  Indeed, Karol woke up randomly to see Sophie sitting on the side of her bar-less top bunk bed swinging her legs unresponsively. Before Karol even had the time to talk, Sophie JUMPED from the bed in the most floppy way ever (floppier than a worm). Fortunately, Karol used her ninja skills and caught her before she seriously injured her head on the floor. As soon as her hands touched Sophie, this last SCREAM FOR MURDER and woke up the rest of the room, except Melanie, sleeping in the bed right underneath. We went back to sleep to be awaken 2 hours later by the train which Laura described in details. We were woken up again at 4h by the train coming and scaring off Sophie, who jumped AGAIN  from the bed and continued running out of the locked room. Karol ran after her and brought her back to sleep. We later realized that Sophie was escaping from the train which was coming into the room apparently. Melanie was STILL sleeping. However, a few hours later, Melanie told Karol, still awake, an incomprehensible story in a foreign dream language. The next time we woke up is at 5h40 when the third train passed. We talked about our “peripeties” and Stefy could not stop laughing for at least 10 minutes until Melanie finally woke up to order us to sleep. The rest of the night was peaceful.

The day, however, was less unexpected. We went on a tour of the Hogar early in the morning. After the mass for Saint-John the Baptist, we left with Hermano Aleo, Mario and Senor Manga (the same driver) to visit all the realizations of the missionaries’ congregation, funded by Pere Menard. Then, we had Juanes for dinner, which is rice in chicken cooked in huge leaves. All of a sudden during the meal, Stefy starts crying extensively while turning red. After she got back feeling in her tongue, she told us that she ate three chili peppers in ONE bite without knowing. Later, we went on a tour of the catholic school and we were cat-called (cruiser) by a lovely 7 YEAR OLD student during his gym class. The whole class later posed for us and went crazy. One of the kids almost got trampled over by the other boys. Later in Lima, all the boys kept staring at Laura, with their mouth wide open drooling, which was awkward. AND SCARY. We were able to escape and went grocery shopping in Chosica. We were more excited than children in Toys’R’Us. We bought enough things to keep a family alive for at least two months. What we did not realize is that we had to carry all the yellow bags including Stefy’s pillows in a microbus (when I say micro, I mean bacteria size – seriously, it was a van) filled with at least 30 people (NOT even exaggerating). The whole way, we got stared at. Maybe it was because we were playing musical chairs? Or was it the French/English yelling? Or the clearly stressed Laura, who we would obviously leave behind? Thank God we had Aleo with us. We got home, made supper (fancy sandwiches), Melanie almost tripped by fear of being assaulted, sang, ... Well, again, the night is still young, especially with our roommates. Stay tuned to discover with us what surprises tonight holds for us!

In the bus! :) 

Day 1 :)

Blog Sunday 23rd June

This is it. Saturday, the big day, the day we leave for five weeks to Peru. What an adventurous day it was! Our first plane was scheduled to leave from Montreal at 17h45. After we boarded all together, we met with one of our classmates, Camila, who was taking the same flight as us! Such a great coincidence, what are the odds? Since we had a lot of time, we decided to go to the airport bar and watch the soccer game. We left the restaurant 20 minutes before boarding time but, as we were walking up, we hear the final call for OUR FLIGHT! WE NEVER RAN THAT FAST IN OUR LIFE (maybe Charles did haha). Fortunately, we got there on time and were able to get to Miami. There, it took us about 40 minutes to get to our gate: we had to walk from one extremity of the huge airport to the other after taking the skytrain. Luckily, we had four hours to transit so we had time to eat at caretta, which means CHÂRETTE. Despite the fact that we did not know that there was an hour difference between Miami and Peru and that the final flying hour felt like a hundred years, we finally got to Lima at around 7h10 in the morning. The administrator of the Hogar, Mario, was there to welcome us. We had breakfast all together in the airport and then took the micro-bus to the Hogar. Sincerely, this was one of the scariest rides I have ever been on. In the short hour drive, we almost killed three children, one dog, one bird, a motorcyclist and a police officer. But we made it. Fortunately, our reaction to the Hogar erased all our fears. In fact, although it is not exactly what we were expecting, we are in the process of adaptation, which should not take much long because the people here are EXTREMELY WELCOMING AND WARM. I mean, they made beautiful cards to welcome us to the Hogar. How much nicer could you be? Also, we LOVE the rooftop terrace and decided to have supper together every night to have the opportunity to share our daily experiences and bond with our housemates from Germany, Felicitas and Rubin. Monday and tuesday we will have the opportunity to visit Lima and the neighboring regions and, knowing us, it will be funny so let's keep in touch! Oh. And. BONNE SAINT JEAN! :)

- Karol Samman 

Us running for the plane :P

Hello everyone!!

This sunday 6 students will be starting an amazing life experience at Hogar San Pedro in Peru through MSAHI (McGill South America Health Initiative)!