So what's going on?

Greetings from sunny London! It's summer here and it's lovely -- this coming from someone who hates summer!

I have already started my volunteer work after a week of "shadowing" other members of the charity. My job is to pretty much hang out with people who have learning disabilities -- some of them have mild disabilities and some of them have severe disabilities. So my job involves taking them out to a museum or a church, doing touristy stuff and whatnot. I'll briefly describe the people I work with:

Cris: He's my roomate and even though he's got cerebral palsy and epilepsy, he's very independent. He does his own cleaning, cooking, shopping, etc. He's planning on moving into an apartment of his own soon. I spend about a couple of hours a day with him talking and hanging out. He was the main person I was gonna work with but it turns out he doesn't really need that much help. So I mainly support the other service users in the area.

Gary: Gary is 25 and a lot of fun. He's got dislexia and stutters a lot. He loves playing pool and going bowling. He just got a CD mixer and he's getting into beat-boxing.

Hymie: He's an older Jewish man who has difficulty communicating. He's a painter and has sold lots of his paintings -- and he makes quite some money!

Peter: Peter has cerebral palsy as well. He's also quite independent but pretty forgetful. He loves museums and he enjoys a boat ride on the Thames.

Sylvia: She's so sweet and loves to talk and visit churches. I'm not sure what her disability is but I have noticed she always repeats what other people say.

All of these folks are great people and they're very aware of who they are, where they are and what's going on around them. HILT (the charity) aims at helping them live on their own, making their own choices with as little help as possible. Your prayers for these people will be eternally appreciated!

I haven't had a major attack of culture shock yet. Things are so different here but I think I'm still in that stage where everything is fun and games. I'm glad I can communicate just fine in English, though. That sure helps a lot! Impressions:

- London is so diverse. More than 200 languages are spoken in this city and there seems to be people from every single country. My neibourhood has lots of Vietanmese and Turkish immigrants, but there are also lots of Polish, Brazilian, Spanish, you name it. There's a wide variety of food also.

- The public transportation system is excellent. Both the buses and the underground/overground are simply fantastic. Everything is very well-organized.

- There is a lot of history here and lots of very old and pretty buildings and churches. London is deft a hot spot for tourism.

I will continue updating as much as I can. Cheers!

In London at last!

After a long 16-hour journey from Lima, I am finally in London! My father came to Lima from Piura to say good-bye and remind me to not take any packages from strangers at the airport and to call Mom as much as I can. I flew Iberia to Madrid, where I had 2 hours to kill before getting on the plane to go to London.

The Heathrow airport is HUMONGOUS! Upon getting off the plane, we had to walk forever before making it to immigrations, where I was grilled. This English lady I met in Lima happened to be on my flight so we were chatting after getting off the plane and neither her nor I realized that there's a line for people from the EU and a different line for people from other countries. I was in the wrong line, but they put me through nonetheless. Not without asking a MILLION questions first. "What are you here for? How long will you stay? How long have you known your friend? Why were you rejected a visa to the UK?" There should be a pill for verbal diarrhea :) The immigration officer said he'd have to check why I was refused a visa before and when he came back he told me to be more careful and get in the right line next time. After that, I had to get some X-rays at the airport (people from 3rd world countries have to pass a medical check-up) and then I had a hard time finding my baggage. I was met by Emma at the airport and then we took the tube and a cab to my place.

I must say I'm utterly impressed with the English transportation system. The tube is amazing (when it's not packed) and the buses only stop where they're supposed to. No need to pay cash upon getting on the bus. Everyone has a bus pass or an oyster card that simply needs to be touched on a yellow pad. I've gotten lost several times but I'm finding it easier to get around. The bus stops have self-explanatory maps of where you are and where each bus will take you, how often the bus comes around and a huge list of which bus to take to go to a certain destination. It's all extremely well-organized. Nothing like the chaos we sadly have in Lima.

I've already made new friends here and I've been adventurous enough to wander off on my own also. I went to Westminster (central London) last night and stumbled upon the Big Ben and the Wheel and the London Eye. My friend and I aslo got to see the Tower Bridge. There are a million places to see here and a year won't be enough! Please pray as I live in a whole different country. I will post here as much as I can and I'll put some pictures up on Facebook as well. Cheers!