Monday

This morning after breakfast, I went up to the roof to do my laundry while the weather was still nice.  I figured that by the time lunch rolled around my clothes would be dry if the sunny weather kept up.  I've gotten a lot better at washing my clothes by hand now.

I finished my laundry by the time I was supposed to start teaching dance class.  Angela was getting fitted for her school uniform, so we had to start a little bit later this morning.  I was really proud of them today. I taught them something that I thought might be a little bit hard, and they picked it up right away!  I've also been making them do some exercises with a book on their head so they work on their posture and stop looking at their feet.  It's been helping a lot.  I really love teaching them.  This is the last week though since they are going to be attending school starting next week.

After our class, I went up and asked Mari if it was okay if I took them to buy their backpacks.  She was a little nervous sending Angela out with me and told me to watch out for her with the traffic.  Pilar and I both held her hand all the way to Plaza Vea.  We looked at one store and then ended up going to Plaza Vea.  They both got their backpacks there.  They were so happy, Pilar even gave me a kiss on the cheek when we were at the checkout counter.  When we got home though, we realized that Angela's still had the security tags on it.  They didn't stop us when the alarm went off because there was another customer in the way who had bought a refrigerator.  I was planning to go back to get them to remove them, but Tino ended up doing it himself.  Mari was really happy as well and gave me a hug and a kiss for getting them such nice backpacks.  I was just happy that I could help them out since they do so much for us and the children at the school at the expense of their family.

After lunch, Lauren and I went out for a walk.  We were going to go to the Casa de Artesenia, but it closes between 1 and 4, so we decided we would go back before dinner.  Instead we walked through the open market and I took a bunch of pictures.  The guinea pigs were out and I asked the woman if I could take a picture of them.  She said it was okay, but that they were so ugly, why would I want a picture of them.  When I turned my camera to take a picture at a different angle, she thought I was trying to take a picture of her and she ran away.  She said she didn't want to have her picture taken with the ugly guinea pigs.  She asked if I wanted to buy them or if maybe I didn't eat guinea pig.  She was funny.  I also took pictures of all the chicken and meat hanging around.  Lauren says she always has the urge to tell them to put it in the refrigerator.  :)  They have really good fruit, tons of different types of grains, and every type of potato imaginable.  Here are just some of the sights you can see there.

A stand selling chicken.

Chicken in the background, cheese in the center, and fruit in the foreground.

The stand selling meat of all sorts.

Grains in big sacks.

The guinea pigs in all their glory.

Other animal parts...do you think those are goat or sheep heads???  I didn't ask.

There are always people selling cotton candy like this around town.

Potatoes!!!

This is my favorite fruit stand to buy fruit from.  :)

After they got back from the school, Lauren and I went back out to La Casa de Artesenia.  We looked around a bit and we had to walk back home in the rain.  We were thankful to put on dry clothes and be served dinner shortly after.  Now I'm getting ready to teach class and then do some weaving before I go to sleep.

Have a good week, everyone!!!