Enferma (Sick)

Yesterday my stomach decided not to cooperate with me, so this is my second day staying home from the school at Concepcion.  I miss my kids!  I'm hoping all will be well with me by tomorrow.  Send those healthy vibes my way!!!

Yesterday afternoon, James and Fiona joined us.  They are both from England.  I love that all the volunteers are coming from all over the world.  They seem like really nice people and now finally I'm not the oldest.  They are both the same age as me.  This morning they went to help Lauren out at the school in Concepcion.  But only for one day because I am willing myself to be all better by tomorrow.

Now off to get some more rest...

Domingo...Lazy Sunday

This morning after breakfast, we walked down to Plaza Constitucion even though it was raining.  Lauren has been craving a good cup of coffee and Tino told us that the best cup of coffee is at the Coqui Cafe.  She and Emil got coffee, I got lucuma fruit ice cream, and Ylfa got chocolate cake and melon juice.  It was pretty good.  What was funny was that I was looking at a magazine that had been on the table and then realized that it was from 2005.  Talk about flashback.

After that we all went to the Sunday market, but Lauren and I broke off from Ylfa and Emil after a bit.  We went up and down the market like we have the past two weekends.  By the time we left, the sun was coming out and the rain was clearing up.  

The rest of the afternoon, I started writing my postcards and washed some of my clothes up on the roof since there was finally some sun.

Lauren and I went back to La Rustica while Emil and Ylfa went to a pizza place.  We went down to the basement where they have karaoke.  We were the only ones down there for awhile and then a bunch of people came down.  It was different than how karaoke works at home.  They did have songbooks and sign up cards that the waiter brought to our table when I asked, but you write down your table and the song you want to sing on the card.  Pretty much all of the songs were in Spanish.  I guess I was expecting to see more songs in English.  The waiter came and picked it up my song card, and then awhile later he brought the microphones to the table.  I sang Tu, Solo Tu.  Lauren said she wasn't embarrassed to come to karaoke with me since I can sing.  We got the same amazing salad as the last time with some meat.  Both of our meals cost 20 soles together, which is a little more than 6 dollars.  So cheap and good!

This is a picture from last Sunday, but it's the same yummy salad!

Now we're at home, watching a movie and getting ready to do it all over again.  Lauren reminded me that tomorrow is our 3-week mark from when we came to Peru.

Chupaca, Arwaturo, and San Jironomo

This morning after breakfast we went with Mari on a combi to Chupaca.  There was a circle of people around five brightly dressed dancers in the plaza.  It looked like they were a family, a grandmother, mom, dad, daughter and son.  They were really good.  Mari said not to take pictures though because they would charge us.  We walked over to the church and there was a wedding party waiting outside.  Mari led us inside and there was another wedding finishing up.  The bride and groom were coming back down the aisle and we watched as everyone outside threw rice at them.  We took some pictures and then left since the next wedding was going to start.  There was a band playing outside of the church too.

Wedding in Chupaca.

At the bottom of the steps in Arwaturo.

We walked over to the line of taxis to go to Arwaturo.  We drove up into the mountains and they dropped us off near a long stone staircase.  It was a really pretty place in the fields.  There was a big lake nearby and mountains in the distance.  We walked up the staircase with flowers, corn fields and sheep on either side.  At the top of the staircase were archeagogical ruins.  They used to be stone houses of the Huancas.  We walked around, took pictures, and talked with the man who watched over the place, Don Hilario.  He told us that a little further on there were Incan ruins.  I asked him if I could take a picture with him and he said I should be careful because my boyfriend would ask who he was.  He was a charming old man.  Mari had me write something in Don Hilario’s guest book.

On the way up the steps in Arwaturo.

Huancan ruins in Arwaturo.

We walked back down the steps and then Mari led us over to the nearby lake.  We saw some alpacas, geese, and burros along the way.  We saw another bride and groom getting their pictures taken.  The lake we went to has a lot of myths about it.  One of them has to do with mermaids.  They say that at night you can see them in the water.  You could go on a boat ride in the water in boats that look like swans or had umbrellas on the top.  We didn’t go for a ride since it looked like there was a storm coming in.  Ylfa and Emil took pictures with an alpaca, putting on a little brightly colored poncho and a brightly colored hat.  They looked hysterical.  After that we took a taxi back to Chupaca.

Boats on the lake near Arwaturo.

In Chupaca, there were women from Cusco selling artesenia.  We got some sweaters and then caught a combi back to Huancayo.  We took another combi from there to San Jironomo to get pachamanca.  There was so much food on our plates for so little money.  Lauren and I got sheep, Mari got chicken, and Emil and Ylfa shared a plate with both sheep and chicken.  They also had two potatoes, one sweet potato, big green beans, and this bread type thing that is cooked in corn husks like tomales.  There were stray dogs hovering around us trying to get us to give them some scraps.  We gave them some out on the road after we finished.  The owner of the restaurant gave us some anise liquor after dinner.  It was actually pretty good. 

Me and my pachamanca in San Jironomo.

After lunch, Ylfa and Emil went back to Huancayo and Lauren, Mari, and I went to San Jeronimo to look at silver.  I found some things, but my card wasn’t working with their machine.  I thought I would have to come back, but the woman said she would come with us to Huancayo so I could get money.  I couldn’t believe that she had let me take the jewelry and just followed us to Huancayo...so trusting.  After I paid her, we walked around the mall and looked into a few stores.  Mari left us after awhile and then Lauren and I were about to walk home.  We looked out the doors and it was pouring rain.  We decided to wait a few minutes to see if it would die down a bit.  We got some chocolate cake at a vendor that we always look at when we pass by.  It really hit the spot.  The rain hadn’t died down, but we braved the streets anyway.  It was a little bit scary because the roads were flooding and the lightning was making the streetlights flicker.  A few streets, Lauren and I ran across arm in arm.  We were soaking wet by the time we got back to the house.  I felt so muddy, sweaty, and wet from the rains that I immediately jumped into the shower.

Emil and Ylfa decided to eat dinner at the mall, so it was just Lauren and I for dinner.  We didn’t eat as much as we usually do because the pachamanca had been so filling.  Now we’re just watching Scott Pilgim vs. the World, sipping hot water, and writing in our journals.  And it all starts again tomorrow...

Viernes, finalmente! Friday, Finally!

We're all wiped out after a full week of teaching.  Ylfa is knocked out and it's only 9.  We're trying to get the energy to go out.  I want to sing karaoke and the others want to get a drink.

Right now it's carnival time here.  There are kids on the streets during the day throwing water balloons and we saw some people throwing buckets of water from the top of the house down the street from us.  I think that's why we had so few students our younger classes this morning.  I was thinking that no one was going to come to my class because I was sitting by myself in the classroom until 9:30 before Paola came.  She was the only one there, so she got a private lesson with me.  She wanted to work on numbers, so I was writing the numbers and she was writing out how you say it.  She was doing really well and she was asking for me to give her more numbers to write out for homework.  I was impressed!  After we finished with the numbers, we started reading "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish."  I love rereading all the Dr. Seuss books.

I was looking forward to my older class because I had brought my computer and borrowed Ylfa and Emil's speakers to play a song for them.  Herson had said his favorite song was The Reason by Hoobastank, so I took out some lyrics in the song and we handed them out so that they could try to fill in the missing words.  We went over half of the lyrics before the end of class and then some of the girls saw my picture of Jackson on my desktop from when he was two.  Then they started asking about some of the other pictures on my desktop.  Then everyone came over to see.  And then they wanted to see more pictures, so I showed them a picture of my family and of Blenda and me.  I also showed them some videos I took of Jackson saying words in Italian.  They thought he was really entertaining.  I thought it was funny that not only the girls were interested, but all the boys came over to look also.  They were commenting about how everything was English on my computer.

Lauren and I were happy that we didn't have to stop anywhere after school and lunch was ready by the time we got home.  I finished my Spanish homework and then started to work on buttons for the website and also figuring out a good name for Tino's online art store.  Leslie came down to get me for my Spanish lesson while I was finishing up.  She told me some funny stories about some of the crazy people she's seen in Huancayo.  She said this one man steals people's ice cream cones.  She said she was walking along the street with her ice cream cone and the next minute it was gone.  She said she's seen other people get their ice creams snatched too.  So crazy.  When we were done with my lesson, Ylfa and Emil were out on the roof getting some sun and eating snacks.  I stood out there with them for a bit and that's when we saw the person throwing buckets of water from the window on the top floor of a house down the street.

When I went downstairs Tino asked if I wanted to start weaving and Lauren wanted to go for a walk.  I decided to go for the walk and I went into the room to start my weaving lesson when we got back.  Mari and I just got one spindle wound with white alpaca wool when they called us for dinner.  Tino showed my how to weave after we finished dinner.  I got some finished and then there was a little bit of a problem so Tino told me to stop for tonight.

And so now Lauren, Emil and I are sitting on the couches in the living room watching the Hurt Locker because we ran out of steam to go out.  Oh well, maybe tomorrow night.  Tomorrow during the day, Mari is taking Lauren and I to another town an hour or so away.  It should be fun!  No rest for the wary...  :)

Jueves de nuevo (Thursday again)

Our taxi driver, Tino, was making conversation with Lauren and I today since he had driven us back from Concepcion yesterday by chance.  He said he knew it was us but didn't know our names.  He had no trouble with my name but had more trouble with Lauren's.  He asked what we had seen around Huancayo and when Lauren said she was from Canada, he said that he had watched a movie that had said Franco-Canadiense.  I told him Lauren didn't speak French.  It's always nice to be able to use my Spanish since I don't really with the other volunteers.  Since he learned our names, today he said, "Adios, Amy and Lauren."  :)

Today there were only 3 girls in my younger class.  Last night it rained a lot, and our taxi driver said that sometimes when it rains like that, the canal overflows into the streets in Concepcion.  I was waiting with my students in the hall for someone to open the door to the classroom because a woman who works at the school told me that the man who usually opens the door was helping to clean up the streets after the rains.  She said everyone has to go help clean up the streets after it rains really hard like that.  I think the other students were not there because of the rain.

I'm pretty sure I've already introduced you to Paola and Milagros.  Here is a picture of Marycruz, the third girl who was in class today.  She's a bit of a troublemaker.  She's a good student, but she also is easily distracted.  She and the other girls asked if I was going to come with them on their field trip to Huancha on Saturday.  They really wanted me to go.  I asked Tino what it was.  He said he wasn't exactly sure where it was, but that it would be fun.  There would be games and since it was carnival time, there would be water balloons.  Yikes!  I asked Lauren if she would come with me.  I think we may go.  Ylfa (I keep spelling her name wrong!) is going to a movie for the birthday of one of the girls in her class at the police station.

Marycruz, aka Miss Troublemaker.  :)

Lauren and I gave an exam to our older class today.  We used the first half an hour to go over some of the things that would be covered on the test.  I wasn't really sure how long they would take to finish the test, but they were finished within twenty minutes.  We let them out early, which was nice for both us and the students.  I just graded all of the papers and I knew Sergio was going to do well.  He is so quiet in class, but he is sharp as a tack.  He totally blew everyone else out of the water on the exam!  So proud!

Sergio, quiet but so, so smart!

When Lauren and I were walking across the park to get to the taxis, this woman on a bench asked us where we were from.  I told her and she said that we were very pretty.  :)  Since we were earlier than usual getting back to Huancayo, we walked over to the post office.  I got some postcards and was asking the woman there about sending packages.  I'm so used to having a million choices at the post office in the US and here they only had one box size.  Tino said that otherwise I could ask Mari to look for different-sized boxes at different stores.

Our lunch today was much better than yesterday.  We were so happy to see a lot of fresh veggies.  They usually give us some avocado and cucumber for fresh veggies.  Yum!  Tino was telling us about some of the hikes that we could go on here.  There is a hike to a glacier that is an hour and a half away by taxi.  He said that the glacier is melting and that there are lots of holes in it now.  :(

Tino also asked Lauren and I if we would teach for a longer time in Concepcion.  We told him of course we would.  I hope that we will be able to.  I really like teaching there, especially the older group.

Tino told Ylfa and I that we could start our weaving lessons tonight.  I'm hoping that we do!  I can't wait to start on that.

Ya es Miercoles (It's already Wednesday)

I can't believe that it's already Wednesday night.  Before the time was moving too slow and now it's starting to move faster.  I think it's probably because I'm getting used to things here.  And now, just when I am getting used to the routine, Tino told me that next week is the last week at the school in Concepcion.  I'm so sad!  I really love my students there and I thought I was going to get more time with them.

My younger class went well today.  They were asking me to bring them songs that they could sing tomorrow.

Herson, from my older class.

Herson is one of my best students in the older class.  He was the only one who turned in his homework on time and so I gave him a prize.  I swear, if I was going to school with him, I'd totally have a crush on him.  I paired him up with Yuly for a conversation exercise and it seemed like they might be sweet on each other.  It was really cute.  Usually all the girls sit on one side of the room and the boys sit on the other.  On Monday, he sat on the side where the girls usually sit because I think he was hoping Yuly would sit by him.  Instead, Sergio sat beside him and Yuly sat on the side the guys usually sit on.  Herson said his favorite song was by Hoobastank and today he asked what it meant.  He and Jhonatan also asked what black-eyed peas were because of the musical group.

Yuly, from my older class.

Yuly is a sweet girl, but I was sort of frustrated with her because she never turned in her homework.  She's really shy.  I wish the girls would try a little harder because they are smart.  They are a lot more shy than the boys are.

When Lauren and I got home, lunch was ready for us.  Tino and Angela, his youngest daughter, joined us.  I ended up talking to Tino long after lunch and we also sat down to discuss the website for his art.  After we finished talking, I graded some of the homework and then the others came back from the school.  Mari took Ylva and I to get some yarn for a weaving class with Tino.  We got 100% alpaca yarn.

The place we got our alpaca wool.

Ylva and Emil went on to the Plaza Constitucion and Mari and I went back to the house.  A guy on a bike made kissing noises at us and then some other guys were calling us "amor."  After that she was asking how old I was and if I had a boyfriend.  She thought I was 22 years old.  In reality I'm only five years younger than her.  She's really a sweet woman.

We had dinner early tonight and now I'm watching, "She's the Man" with Lauren, Ylva and Emil.  It's raining really hard right now, thunder and lighning and everything.  I just had to move my chair because the ceiling is leaking water right now.

Almost time for sleep.  Good night everyone!

Adios, Max y Franzi!!!

Yesterday, I was so tired that I ended up going to sleep at 9:45 PM.  I'm not sure what it was that made me so tired...maybe just because it was Monday.   Lauren and I were late because the taxi driver who comes to drive us to Concepcion was twenty minutes late.   When we got there, some of the girls in my class ran out to give me a kiss.  They grabbed onto my arms to walk back up to the classroom together.  I didn't have much prepared for my youngest class, and a lot of them were late because it was raining.  I've been defaulting to reading them books at the end of class because it is a good way to teach and fill up the time.  They really liked the book, "Go, Dogs, Go."  They liked it so much they asked me to read it to them again.

We only had three students in our older class, and only one of them had done the homework I had assigned on Friday.  I was a bit disappointed.  My faith in them was restored when they did really well with the lesson I planned.  I'm making them ask me all questions in English now.  It works quite well.  I've also been trying to speak less in Spanish.  Sometimes I get blank looks, but I tell them to ask me questions.

When Lauren and I were in the taxi going back to Huancayo, there were two other guys in the taxi with us.  The man who was sitting next to Lauren started making conversation with us...well I guess with me because Lauren couldn't understand most of what he was saying.  He was delving a little too deep after awhile and I was hoping that he wouldn't follow us after we got out of the taxi.  We went to go try to find the post office, partly because I wanted to go and partly to lose the guy from the taxi.  It was starting to rain pretty heavily, so we gave up on our post office search, went to get our laundry at the mall, and then went home to eat lunch.

There's a new woman who is doing the cooking.  They are trying it out so that Mari has some of the load taken off of her back.  Personally, I think Mari is a better cook, but I'm glad she is getting some stress taken off of her.  Another woman had come to help her with the cleaning, but Mari told me that she left because she said it was too much work.  So crazy!  I had my Spanish lesson and then looked into web design again.  When Lauren came back from the mountain school, we went back out to look for the post office.  It started raining harder while we were walking there.  I got some postcards and some more information while we were there, then we headed back home through the rain.

I prepared some things for my older class and Mari was talking to Max and I at the same time.  Max was keeping his ankle elevated because he had rolled it for the second time playing sports with the kids at the mountain school.  When I finished I wanted to take a shower, but there was no water and Tino and Mari had gone upstairs.  I was so sad that I didn't get to take a proper shower that I dreamt that I was taking a shower.  I got up around 6:30 and there was water, so I took a nice shower.  :)

It was Max and Franzi's last day here, so Lauren and I said goodbye to them after we all had breakfast.  It's going to be strange not having them here.  Now there are just 4 volunteers here.

The same three girls came to greet me when Lauren and I got out of the taxi in Concepcion.  Paola, Milagros, Marycruz, and Jhon (no, that is not a typo) were asking me about my family and where I lived.  They were also asking about Lauren and if she was my sister, when we were both leaving, and lots of other questions.  It was nice because they were engaged, asking me questions in Spanish and I was answering in English.  Because of that, I went over vocabulary of the family.

Jhon is so cute.  He always comes up and says, "Hola, profesora," with a big smile on his face and then gives me a kiss on the cheek.  He's a bit shy which is why I think he looks a bit scared in the picture.  He's really smart, but a lot of times he gets drowned out by some of the girls who are guessing answers.

This is Jhon.  He looks a bit scared here, but when he smiles he is the cutest!

For the older class, more students were back.  Apparently they had gone to some event in Lima.  The boys had done their homework, but the girls hadn't.  I had been planning to go over the homework, but I decided to wait until tomorrow and then have our first exam on Thursday.  Lauren and I were tired, so we let the class out a little bit early.

The taxi driver of the taxi we were going to take was pushing the car up after the first taxi in the lineup left.  I was a little be wary of that, but we still went over to ask the driver about the cost.  He had to open the door up from the inside because there was no handle on the door.  The car looked okay, so I wasn't too worried, but I was definitely happy when we got back to Huancayo.  We stopped at a store to make copies on our way home.  When we got home, some boys were following us and threw two water balloons at us in front of our front door.  I was dry, but Lauren got soaked.  She was not happy about that.  When we went upstairs, lunch was ready for us.  We told Mari what had happened and she looked out the window and said, "Where are those boys?  I'll go and hit them back."  :)

I had my Spanish lesson a little bit late today, so I didn't make it to the mountain school.  Instead I graded the homework that was handed in today and went to look for some other books that I could read to my younger students.  When the others came back, we went into the living room to watch a movie.  Emil was the only one really watching it.  The rest of us were doing other things while we "watched."  Tino brought us some popcorn to eat while we watched.

Then we were called to eat dinner.  Tino ate dinner with us tonight since there were two empty seats.  After dinner we spent a lot of time talking and now, I'm finishing my blog.  I'm ready for a shower and then settling into the fresh sheets on my bed.  :)

Buenas noches!!!