Day before our first LIGA

I started my day off today with a run, which ended with me being attacked by 5 dogs. I'm not trying to be dramatic I promise. In Santiago there are stray dogs EVERYWHERE. They run in the streets alone or in packs & snooze in parks or shop doorways. The majority of them are big dogs too. They've never bothered me until now when I was trying to stretch in the grass after my run. One dog started barking at me and then ran towards me, then 4 others joined it! I've never really liked big dogs so needless to say when they all started jumping up on me and barking I was freakin scared. I felt one dogs teeth on my arms and another one actually chomped on my ponytail. All I could yell was OMG! OMG! OMG! whilst the other Chileans frequenting the park were probably laughing at the stupid gringa being attacked by dogs. I finished up my stretch in the living room of my apartment, and wrote in bold letters on my 'things to do' list 'GET LAST RABIES VACCINATION ASAP.'

Next on my agenda was my first Arts & Sports committee meeting. The 14 volunteers have been split up amongst 4 different committees who are in charge of things like implementing VE programmes in institutions, education, fund raising and volunteer relations. Being a part of the Arts and Sports committee means we are in charge of LIGA de Deportes (held once a month) and Festival de Artes (held twice a year). We are having our first LIGA tomorrow so it is great that we have an opportunity to see how it works so soon. We will be collecting children from their institutions around midday then taking them to a gymnasium in Santiago where they are able to play games, sports and dance for the day. We have 4 girls coming from Aldea Maria the institute I work at. We were initially told by the director of Aldea that no girls were allowed to attend LIGA after asking if 6 girls could come. This was partly because we are new volunteers, and also because on previous occasions girls have ran away (getting to the venue involves taking the metro.) After Chris (the director of institutional relations at VE) offered to accompany us, we were given permission to take 4 girls. I am really excited for tomorrow as it will be great to meet kids from the other institutions and experience our first LIGA.

I've enjoyed the last few days I have had at Aldea because I have been able to get to know a few of the girls a little bit better. I know it is going to take a lot of time to build relationships with them, especially because I am limited by my Spanish. The day before yesterday we opened up a room they have at Aldea that is pretty much like a dance studio, I was impressed! It is a large space with a wooden floor that has a mirror along one wall. After hearing how much the girls love to dance here it was great to finally see them in their element. They blasted reggaeton and other pop songs (Justin Beiber is a favourite) and danced away. Initially I didn't really know what we were supposed to do with them because obviously dancing with these girls is completely unlike a structured dance class from back home. The girls are not trained so their style is more free, and there is a variety of ages and abilities to work with. Of course the style they love most is hip hop, which as those of you who know me well would know it is not my strongest style! I feel like there is a divide between the girls, and it is hard to say if some of them actually want to learn something or if they just want to be left alone to do their own thing. For me I found it was nice to sit back some of the time and watch them going for it themselves to get an idea of what they enjoy. They have a routine to one particular song that they did many times which I tried to learn. At another point one of the girls taught me some salsa too!
A few of the girls sat with me on the couch for a bit and were really good about speaking slowly and repeating themselves to me so I could understand them. They ask me if I have a 'Pololo' (a boyfriend) and are shocked when I tell them that I do not want one right now, which I find hilarious. They then proceed to try set me up with Stephen, demanding we dance together. We go along with it for awhile as they giggle hysterically on the couch. Pretty funny.