first week finished

Well my first week of life in the favela has come to an end and boy has it been a week of ups and downs. I thought I had settled in relatively easy with Elisa being here to show me round and help me get to grips with life in the community but sometimes I wonder how this experience is going to go. One of the things that is the hardest to get used to here is the fact that there is nothing to do and nowhere to go. If I want to go for a walk it means walking through the favela, by houses, bars and not much else or, I can take the scenic route along the 'canal'...which is basically an open sewer. Yep, that's what is right in front of my house. There is no park, nowhere where you can get some quiet time, nowhere nice to walk to...there is no escape. Everyday I ask myself what the hell people do on a daily basis, no wonder so many are on the streets.

At times this week I have found it all a bit too hard to cope with. The constant noise in the form of shouting, music blaring out from bars, fireworks (or potentially gun shots), planes from the nearby airport is at times unbearable. Teaching went well but not having access to proper materials doesn't help. Trying to cram 13 students into a classroom no bigger than my living room back home in what has been the hottest week of the year (40 degrees in winter) doesn't help. Having a hyperactive child in my class and no way of controlling him because his mother doesn't bother giving him his medication doesn't help.

It's still all a bit surreal in terms of what I see on a daily basis. The amount of guns I have seen this weekend is ridiculous. I asked Neuza if she gets scared when she sees guns or if it has just become one of those things. She said she is there physically, but mentally she goes to another place because she can't believe what she is seeing, it can't possibly be real. I know exactly what she means. We were sat having a beer the other night and a car drove past me with the windows down and in each window was a guy with his gun hanging out. Later at least 3 teenagers walked past with their guns in their hands. It's unbelievable, it really is. The irony of it all is though, is that here is where I am most protected. Here, in theory, no one is going to rob me because I form part of the community - and you don't steal from your own.

I'm hoping to be more positive this week and I am at least starting the week feeling more prepared after a trip to Instituto Cervantes today. I can't even begin to explain how helpful they have been to the volunteers. They have given us free library membership, they let us take books out we wouldn't normally be allowed and they are letting us attend courses for free. Another great thing about the place is the silence in the library. The sweet sound of nothing which I have already come to value.

Tomorrow will tell if I will finally meet the students from class A. I am yet to meet my morning class as for the past week I have been waiting for my students to come and no one has turned up. This is the class that has the lowest attendance. The problem is is that a structured timetable doesn't exist in most houses. Sometimes the mums are already at work and sometimes they just don't bother waking them up which leaves both the volunteers and, on many occasion, the children themselves frustrated.