First days

Well I'm glad I didn't have time to write this yesterday as it would have made upsetting reading! Turns out that there are going to be no children at the Centre until 2 April. Yesterday, no one could, or would, explain why this was, why I hadn't been told, and what on earth I was supposed to do until they arrived. A couple of the staff members were very edgy with me and even though I tried hard to make conversation I wasn't getting anything back. No one other than the director seemed interested in the fact that I was there or felt that they had any responsibility towards me. I read through lots of files and got to know more about the place and the work they do, but after that they could offer me nothing to do and just left me sitting around for ages. The director came back at the end of the day and went through a few things with me, but most of the activities she suggested or wanted me to do involved the kids and as they weren't there I felt useless.

I went straight to a VE meeting afterwards and everyone else had had a brilliant day and spent lots of time playing with the various groups of children, so I felt pretty upset. I've spent a year and a half imagining that I will be surrounded by kids to play with and support and it seems that everyone has that other than me. I spoke to the VE director and asked him why I had been put in Los Navios and not the special school or somewhere else where my existing experience and skills could be put to better use, and he said it was because of my spanish level (which makes no sense as other speak better than me and one is bilingual) and because they thought I was the best volunteer to deal with the most challenging place. I went home thinking I wished I hadn't filled out my application in spanish or bigged myself up so much. My housemates cheered me up loads when I got back, though, and I'm really glad I'm living with them and not with a family who might not have been so understanding (or stayed up til 2am watching Little Miss Sunshine!). It's nice that I can feel relaxed and in friendly company despite all communication being in a foreign language.

Today I feel a bit more optimistic, though. The psychologist, who pretty much ignored me yesterday, took the time to go through her side of the work there and said she would be happy for me to accompany her on home visits and take part in various workshops for the children and parents. We also had a good conversation at lunch and she really liked my scrapbook. The occupational therapist who works there is nice too, although he's leaving at the end of the month to go live in the US with his wife : the first VE volunteer who worked in Los Navios! So hopefully they will sort out something for me to do, although I haven't been able to get any concrete times or days out of them. After lunch and meeting with her, though, I didn't have anything to do, so I spent an hour sharpening all their pencils! Not v. exciting I know, but it made me realise that I'm just going to have to bring in my own work and ideas and just do stuff whether or not they have asked me to or have mentioned it : they have a little caravan thing which serves as a library so I'm going to clean that up and make lists of all the books, hopefully get some new ones for them (a lot have been stolen). I can also use the time to write some english lesson plans and plan other talleres (workshops).

So although there are no children, and to be honest I'm still pretty annoyed and confused about the fact that I'm not working in the special school or in an institution where I'll have a lot of contact with the children, I'm just going to try and make the most of it. Having my housemates and Maria to spend time with in Spanish makes me feel more positive about things and that I'm not wasting my time : after all, I'm here to study oral Spanish (well, Chilean, it's hardly standard Castillian!) so even if I'm not doing much child-related work, I'm still using my time in a worthwhile way. I'm also going to be working a few hours every fortnight in the Casa de Guaguas (baby/toddler house) which will be lovely, and we have a football tournament on Saturday that all the volunteers are involved in, so there will be some child contact there. Tomorrow I work in the VE office with the PR committee, which I'm really looking forward to, but keep your fingers crossed that I'll find something to do on Friday...

Will do a post about where I'm living, complete with photos (prepare to be jealous ;-) tomorrow.