So we´ve arrived safely in Peru, and though we´ve had a few minor mishaps, we´re okay thus far.  

Today was our first day in La Casa de Panchita and it was great.  On sunday´s both of us (And Emily) are working with the kids project.  Basically La Casa imports about 60 kids from the inner city and we do activities and projects with them for the entire day.  A lot of the other volunteers are university students studying psycology.  For many of them this is similar to an internship.  
I was working with the youngest group, ages 8 to 10.  They were the sweetest, though also very difficult sometimes.  Children, I have gathered, all have the same basic qualities.  The first thing we did was illustrate the rules of La Casa on a big poster.  Each child needed participate in the drawing and it was interesting to see who felt comfortable and who didn´t.  One of the boys I was working with on this was named Max but his name tag said Marx.  He was pretty put out for a while until we realized the mistake and changed it.  After we changed his name on the tag he became a lot more cooperative in the activities.
The other activities had to do with reading, writing, spelling and sewing!  Everyone, even the boys, sewed themselves a little wallet.  I thought at first that the  activities that stimulate learning in different ways - listening, doing, watching etc - was to watch the children and observe how each child learns, but when I asked the guy in charge of my group -Beto- it seemed that either I was off the mark or he just couldn´t understand.  
One thing I noticed was the difference in education that these children, all of the same age, had.  Some of them were reading and writing at or above their age-level but there were also some who were obviously below and one little girl who couldn´t write and could hardly read.  She was new that day and I think I saw the moment when she realized that she couldn´t do something that the rest of the children were doing.  It was heartbreaking.

For the most part, however, the day was great.  The children took to me quickly, perhaps because I was new, and I was bombarded with questions about the United States.  (One of the children pointed out that I spoke a ´Different´ spanish then they do and that led to where I was from)  I was also asked some funny questions about my eyes... ranging from why they are blue to where did I get them.  I answered as best I could, but I felt like they were kind of charged questions that I wasn´t sure how to answer.

Every sunday we are going to be working with children, though there are two groups and they come every other week, but during the week we´ll have different work.  They´ve told us that they want us )Me, Jess and Emily) to write up 24 lesson plans for English classes.  I´m not sure we have the means to do that, but we have a few books that might help us and between the three of us we should be able to throw something together.

So that´s all for tonight - I´ll write again tomorrow!
Emma

Of course, I was nervous at first, but the children and volunteers welcomed me with open arms. A couple of the children assumed that I was from Africa, which I thought was very funny. However, this shows what the Peruvian children think of blacks or African-Americans. They assumed that becuase I was black, I must be from Africa. I think that this was an interesting stereotype.  The children were also very eager to know about my family and America. Next Sunday, I plan on bring my photo album and go into more detail about my family and American customs. So far, I am fascinated by how eager the children are to learn.  They are very smart and motivated kids, especially since they have so little. This truly amazes me!!!! Tomorrow, Emma and I are going on a tour of Lima. I hope to discover more about the culture and people of Peru. I have  already tried many of the traditional dishes like ceviche, which is really good. But now, more on La Casa de Panchita.

Emma and I going to help create English lectures for the English classes and create activities for the children on Sunday. I also want to be more involved with talking and helping some the citizens and domestic workers of Peru, which I hope to do when Emma and I discover more about Lima with some of the volunteers. Also, before Emma and I leave La Casa at the end of January, we plan on putting on a mini performance that previews some of our culture. I think that this is a great idea, and I know that the children will be thrilled. Well, this is all that I have to say for know. I can not wait to write more tomorrow!!!!