Sunday, August 31, 2008

One last Reunion..

So my mom is leaving on Wednesday! I am getting so sad. It´s a little scary just thinking about not being close to her. And that I´m going to be in a completly different country, really far away. But I know I´ll be okay. I am surrounded by so many people that love me and will definately be taking care of me!

We all had another little reunion today at tia Nelly´s house. I had stayed with Stefani so Saturday around noon me and Tio Benjamin got on a bus and went to Tia Nelly´s house. I ended up sitting on the front seat of the bus. I slept most of the way and didnt realize my window was open. When we got there my uncle told me he could see all thses sketchy people looking in my window like they wanted to rob my stuff, I had a backpack and my purse. Ahh! Oh well. Lunch was soooooo good! It was a buffet of all kinds of Peruvian dishes! I didn´t eat too much though becauise I have been eating waaaayyyyy too much lately! We had such a great time eating and laughing and some how we always end up singing too. All my uncles sing pretty well especially tio Benjamin he usually always breaks out in song.After we all ate we sat around the table and just laughed and laughed. My uncles told jokes and some dirty ones too and we were all dieing! I have so much fun with my family. I wish I could have had more time with them growing up. We all stayed up talking until late. Then we headed home. Tomorrow we wake up early and go to church then we are going to go see tia Grimalda. She´s the oldest.


my uncles

Friday, August 29, 2008

Parque de las Leyendas

So I´m supposed to be leaving today to go back home to the states, but I am still here! yay!
So today I went to the Parque de las Leyendas (the zoo) with the kids from the school. It was pretty crazy! When I got there and my class saw me they all ran to me and gave me big hugs and kisses. They were so excited to see me. I hadn´t seen them in over a week. I was in charge of watching Nicoll. She was kinda quiet at first and U bought her an ice cream. Well i don´t know how or what happend but we got lost. I could not find our group at all! I thought they had passed us so I was trying to go faster and catch up. My mom came too and she said that they are probably ahead of us. Well I walked so fast and I still couldn´t find them. So I decided to just stop and buy something to eat. I got an empanada and a bottle of water. Well apparently our group wasn´t ahead of us. They were far behind! They had been looking for me too. I felt so dumb. Oh well. After that we had a lunch break. The kids are so crazy! they were all over the place! It was so fun though at first. After lunch we continued through the zoo. I was in charge of watching Lorena and Nicoll now. Well they would not listen to me and were running everywhere and I was really going crazy. I was so tired of walking and chasing after them. I was always relieved when they would actually stop to look at an animal. By the time we got to the end of the zoo I was exhausted! But it wasn´t over yet. They still had an hour to play on the little playground. Ahhhh!!! This whole trip seemed so disorganized and frantic! I was so ready to get home! Well I rode back with the pastor and this american missionary girl named Becky too. We stopped at Starbucks. I never thought I would be drinking coffee from there here in Peru! It was alot cheaper too.



Maria Jesus and Nicoll


Adriana


things are starting to get frantic!




eating some lunch












Adriana. She really wanted to wrap my sweater around our heads for some reason


some bears




I saw this cute little lady and I had to sneak a picture of her!




Nicoll and Lorena




they climbed on everything!


there was this section where there were rurtles, Parrots, rabbits, chickens all in one pen. It was wierd

Fish Head...

Today Tio Ruben invited us all to lunch. He is an excellent cook! He fried some fish and I normally don´t like to eat fish unless it´s ceviche or sushi but it was delicious! He also made Sarza which is lime juice, and onions. I love eating sarza it´s good with everything. Before we ate lunch though they started serving something in mugs I didn´t know what it was and they gave me one. It ended up being fish soup. I don´t really know what I think of it. It´s made from the head of the fish and its just boiled and with other stuff. I didn´t know what all was in it until after I drank it. I guess that was good though. Just thinking about the fish head and eyes kinda grosses me out. Anyways, we had such a great time together,laughing and eating! My uncles are so funny! It´s like non stop laughter when we are all together!


my cousin Nella and her baby. I hadn´t seen her in almost 9 years!


my tios y tias after a wonderful meal


Tia Nelly. she is healing quite well


Tio Isamel, Daniel, Ruben, and Benjamin

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

More Ceviche....

Today Tio Ismael took me, my mom and Tia Mimi to eat some ceviche at this place where he says serves really good food. It seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere. We finally got there and the ceviche was awesome! We also had something else I think it was clam or something I´m not sure, but it was in a shell. My mom didn´t like that very much though.



After lunch we went downtown. We walked around and also found this little Peruvian festival thing and I bought 3 new hats. I can never have enough hats! We also ate some Mazamorra Morada, its a custard type thing that is made from purple corn. I can´t really describe the taste but I´ve heard people say it tastes like bubble gum.

There was so many police around. And everything seemed kinda sketchy. We asked one of the police what was going on and he said that there´s supposed to be a protest or something so they were getting prepared for anything. It sounded exciting to me and I was hoping to see something cool.


Making friends with the police


the dogs wear these crazy muzzles. It made me so sad..


some tank infront of the President´s mansion

We also went to the post office there. It was really cool because you go down some little stairs and theres all these stands where people are selling post cards and other things. They always try to convince you to buy from them. I bought a few post cards and then some kid approached me and had this whole little spiel about helping children or something I dont know, I really have no idea what he said but I gave him money anyways. I think I do that too much..maybe thats why I am getting broke. Oh well.


Post Office

We walked over the the Plaza de Armas and to the cathedral. I really wanted to go inside but there was something going on in there and it cost money to get in. So I just took some pictures of the outside. I saw a perfect opportunity to do a little climbing to. But it wasnt that high plus it probably wasnt so safe either. But I just climbed the side of the cathdral towards a statue. I miss climbing.






Plaza de Armas




climbing with my new hat



So nothing ever came about with that whole protest. After we came back everything had already happend so we missed it. Oh well. Maybe next time

Monday, August 25, 2008

Not coming back...

I´ve been staying with my mom since Sunday. I am getting sadder and sadder about her leaving, since I have decided to stay here. I don´t know for how long or the real reasons why, but I just feel that God wants me here right now. I am so excited to be experiencing this culture and being surrounded by my amazing family! My mom is really sad about me staying. I really haven´t been away from home for such a long period of time since I went off to college when I was 18. So I know it will be hard on her and me as well as the rest of my family back home. But I know I am doing what I need to do right now. There is nothing tieing me down making me go back and now is such a great opportunity and maybe my only chance to follow part of my dreams of traveling. I am so overwhelmed with happiness and joy right now being here.

Saturday night I had so much fun at Stefani´s birthday party. I met alot of cool people and just had a blast. Parties here are so much different but alot funner too. Im happy to have met new people to hang out with. We all plan on hanging out again soon.

Monday me, my mom and tia Mimi went to the market to buy some material so shecould start making some blankets for my nieces and nephews. I love going to the market. There is always so much to see and buy! I was a little nervous though becuase I had my camera in my purse and my mom got money out of the ATM and I had to hide the money in all different places. I had the Visa card in my sock along with some cash then I put another bill in my other pocket and my other sock too. Sometimes it´s scary to think how many bad people there are in this world and how people can get robbed just like that. Then we were standing at this one stand and some man walked by and dropped a coin behind us. Which can also be mistaken for a sign they want to rob us. So I got a little freaked out but I was calm and hurried my mom and went a different way. After all that we bought some stuff and I was starving! I really wanted a smoothie. So we went to this little stand and ordered 3 Batidos Especial. It was so cheap and it´s not like when you go to Smoothie King where they make your drink, fill up your cup and then throw oput whats left over if there is anything left over. They keep filling up glasses until the blender glass thing is empy. We had 6 glasses of that stuff!! I drank 3 since my mom was full and enjoyed every minute of it! It was so delicious!

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Saturday, August 23, 2008

Street Market adventures...

Tia Nelly had her surgery on Tuesday. It went really well. She got out and back into her room around 1 am. The surgery was at 7 pm which to me is kinda wierd being so late, but I guess that´s how they do it here. The next morning she actually had to go back in to surgery becuase something happend with some drainage thing and they had to send her to the ICU. But thankfully she is fine now. She is acting completely normal and laughing and being cute as always. Her room is always full of vistors and we are all so loud and always laughing. I know that encouragement and love really has helped her get through.

Yesterday afternoon we went to go visit Tia Margarita again. She is doing so much better! She is really alert and talking and laughing and cracking jokes. We are all so happy to see that.

Yesterday was Stefani´s birthday! I got to her house and we had some cake and then turned on some music and just danced and danced in the living room. It was so funny. I love the music here. There was only about 5 of us and it was so fun sliding all over the wood floors. After that we all went to eat pollo a la brasa. It was already midnight and I shouldnt be eating this late but it is just too good to refuse! We talked and ate until about 1:30 am. And poor Stefani she has to go to work in the morning! Tonight is her birthday party, I´m really looking foward to it. I know it will be so much fun!

Yesterday morning I went to the laundry mat by myself! I was a little scared at first but then I didnt care. I just have to be aware of all my surroundings and alert. The walk wasn´t too long but I still hadto go towards a busy main street where there are alot of people. I also went to get some chinese food next door to and I tried to talk as little as possible. People here can always tell that I´m not from here because of my accent. Noone seemed to notice. So then my cousin Becky showed up, she was picking up Raquel at the bus stop, and heard I attemped to come by myself and got worried. But I was fine. I think I could get used to this life here. I think I´ll just stay.

So just got back from the little market over here. I went with Patty and her little boy Alonzo. We walked down all these dirt roads to get there. Then there was this long street with people all over selling stuff. There were little women on the side walks with potatoes, tomatos, carrots all kinds of vegetables all sprawled out on the ground. They had little scales to weigh everything. We bought a whole bunch of stuff form them then we went into the market. We went to this little stand where they make smoothies. All natural. I got a "batido especial" and it had papaya, banana, pineapple, orange, and much more kinds of fruit. And the lady added different kinds of honey and other powdered stuff. It was si delicious! Probably one of the best smoothies ever. After we got done we bought more stuff. The chickens were all hanging from strings and they had the head and feet attached. They don´t waste anything here! I think it´s great. And so much healthier to eat organic meat. I love going to the market it´s alwyas so much fun. We went to this other little stand where this lady was selling little eggs. They are eggs form "codorniz" I don´´t know what that is in english, but I am sure it´s just a small bird of some kind. I was kinda hesitant to try one but they tasted just like regular eggs. Except they are cute and little. Then we went over to this lady that had huge sugar canes and she has this contraption that squeezes out the juice. I had a couple of cups of that it was so sweet and good. I love to chew on sugar cane too. It was so fun to go to the market today. I also bought some fried banana chips! My favorite snack here!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

I love my kids!!

I have been teaching at the school since Monday. I love it! Monday was kinda stressful for me though. I was told that I was just going to observe again and that a lady was going to come and teach the english lesson at 12. I helped Miss Katie throughout the day and the kids weren´t so bad. They are a little crazy but they are just kids. They aren´t bad kids by any means. We had recess and got to play on the playground. It was crazy and fun. I played tag with them and I was exhausted! They never even got tired one bit. I wanted to rest and sit down but they just didn´t want to let me. They are so much fun though. Well after lunch miss Katie went to get the lady that was going to teach the english lesson and well she came back and told me she couldn´t make it and that I would have to do it! Keep in mind that this is just 5 minutes before the lesson was supposed to start. I was just thinking what am I going to even talk about. I don´t even know anything about phonics and vowels and when one is silent and long and short, I mean I don´t even remember much about it much less how to teach a 5 year old about it! The English language is the most confusing and contradicting language there is! I wanted to just get out of there. But somehow I got through it and said whatever and they listened and I think they understood..Oh well. It´s all a learning process I suppose.

Tuesday wasn´t so bad. I taught the Social Studies part of the day. We learned about Israel. All the workbooks and teaching materials are in English. So all I really have to do is interpret it and just say it all in Spanish to them. They don´t really listen because they are so loud and crazy and don´t pay attention but I do my best. I think this is why my throat hurts so much because I have never had to yell so much in my life! They are so loud and I can´t even hear myself when I talk. But I just love them all the more.

Today was kinda crazy. Well actually completely crazy! The other teacher told me she had a meeting and that she would be back around lunchtime. We had recess and after that we were supposed to have P.E. I don´t know why we didn´t. But Braynor, he is this guy that works there too, he came to help me since I was by myself in the classroom. It ended up that the other teacher never came back to finish up the day. I was so happy he came to help because I think I would´ve lost my mind with those kids alone. They were EXTRA hyper and psychotic!! Especially after recess it´s like running around gave them even more energy!! They were throwing food at eachother and pens, and paper. They got the bathroom floor all wet..They threw crayons everywhere and even colored the floor with them. Alittle boy named Piero was jumping on the table and screaming. He is so loud and obnoxious. He actually causes most of the uproar usually. It was utter chaos!!! Me and Braynor really didn´t know what else to do. We just kinda laughed it off. I tried to teach a lesson but that was pointless. They finally did end up calming down and we watched the movie "Cars". Three of them had to sit outide though because they were being punished. But at the end of the day it was all worth it just to see how much they really love me and how they show it. They are such sweet kids. Alot of them just come up to me and hung me for no reason at all. I love working here. I wish I could go everyday. Tonight I am going back with my mom to spend a few days with her. But I miss them already! Next weekwe are taking the kids to the zoo. That should be interesting...

(most of these pictures were taken by a 5 year old so the composition isn´t very good in most of them)

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the classroom

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Maria Jesus. She is the first of all the kids to warm up to me

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Lorena

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Emmanuel and Patrick

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Adriana she is soo adorable but a complete mess!

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Michelle, Susan, Adriana, and Ariana

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Michelle, Karla, me, Ariana, and Adriana

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Michelle and Adriana

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they love to fix my hair!

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Willy, me, Michelle(in the back), Ariana

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Alexia

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Michelle(still fixing my hair) and Nicool
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Nicool, Karla, Ariana, Lorena, Melanie, Braynor (in the middle)

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Franco, Patrick, Ysaias, Piero (green shirt), Adriana, Melanie, Willy (making a face), Susan, Lorena, Karla, Nicool, Braynor, Maria Jesue, Paola

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Franco (he is so cute in his little glasses!), Adriana, Lorena, Nicool

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Adriana, Melanie, Karla, Braynor and me

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my mom came to visit

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on the slide with Melanie and Susan

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Lunch time

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Victor

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trying to get a group picture of the whole class. Not easy. Didn´t happen

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me and Emmanuel