7am surprise visit

Woke up dazed and confused at 7 am (after falling asleep around 1 am last night) by my ringing cellphone. I had spoken with my landlord 2 days ago that my water heater was not working and he had told me he would call me today about getting it repaired. Well he did call me, telling me that he was outside my door with the repair guy! Didn't quite expect that at 7 am...
They had to replace my electric motor on the shower head & I guess this new one was a bit more powerful as I got severely zapped when my head got too close to the motor later this morning. The other one used to zap me a little too, since I am a bit too tall to fit underneath, but this time I actually saw a bright light. It was a bit scary, but I learned my lesson to stay LOW!

The girls play volleyball on Wednesday mornings so I had some time to prepare for their class. Today I had them practice questions and answers among themselves and they did so well. Ended up teaching one group with 4, one with 5 and one private at the end. It makes me sad school starts next week and we won't have this much time together anymore. I'll hopefully still be able to help with their English homework.

Birthday celebrations

What an absolutely perfect day I had! I was given permission to take J and a few of his friends out for lunch for his 16th birthday. He picked 3 other boys who also had birthdays in February, which was really nice. We had to sit around and wait for one of the psychologists working at the orphanage to come and escort us, because at this point they don't trust me enough to take them out alone. I am hoping that will change in the future. We walked forever and then some, to get to his favorite restaurant. The psychologist was wearing high heels and one point she took one of the boys and went in a moto the rest of the way. I guess she trusted me enough to leave me a alone for 10 min with the other boys.
We ordered ceviche and a mixed seafood platter and they all ate until they were stuffed. I didn't really like ceviche when I first tried it a few years ago, but now I love it. Afterwards we walked down to the harbor and looked at the boats, fishermen and lots of beautiful birds. Everyone seemed to have a great time. I would have loved to go on a boat ride, but we got a call from the orphanage to hurry back. My boy's grandfather, aunt and cousin had travelled by bus to celebrate him and they brought duck, rice and a birthday cake, so we ate more food. I loved duck, especially the way they had prepared it.
It was so good to see J with his grandfather and he was so happy they had come to surprise him. They were so short and cute and now I know why he is so short even though he is sixteen. I doubt he will grow much taller. His grandfather was 74 years old, the same age as my dad, and he was a farmer, same as my grandfather. After the duck we shared the birthday cake with all the other boys.

I found out many of them and some of the girls had either the flu or food poisoning and 5 of the kids are in the hospital today. The boys who were sick really wanted to eat cake but couldn't. So sad to see their disappointment. I hope they all heal quickly!

Back to business

I am back in Peru again after a short "detour" with a wedding in AK, family time in TX and hours spent clearing out a storage unit. Brought lots of fun, sweet memories with me, but it's good to be back.
I can't believe I slept almost 11 hours even after napping a bit yesterday afternoon and on the bus in the morning too. I guess I was really sleep deprived. Hopefully this means I fully caught up on sleep now.

Had to wait until after lunch to see the kids, so I went to get some money exchanged and bought some things I needed for the household. I have been looking around a bit at furniture and I think I will probably end up getting patio furniture. They will be so much easier to haul upstairs, and I also haven't had much success finding anything comfortable elsewhere. Most of the couches I have tried are very low and very hard. It's like they are stuffed with newspapers. I like a nice comfy feel to a couch. (I K E A, you should move to Peru!) That would just make me a very happy girl.

I went to see the girls first and they were watching a Korean movie in Spanish and I hung out with them for awhile. It was so great to see their little faces again. After not working on my Spanish the 2 weeks I was gone, I did feel a bit rusty. Time to crack open those books again.
After visiting the girls I found out the boys were at the beach so I went down there to surprise them. Loved all the wet, sandy hugs I got!!! I spent a couple of hours there watching them swim in the ocean and catch shrimp and fish among the rocks. They were using pieces of mesh bags as nets and looked like hardcore fishermen. Kodak moment without a camera. The water here is a little cold so it was also fun to watch how they dealt with that. They would swim in the waves until they got too cold, then they would run to the beach and roll around to cover themselves in the top layer of the sand, which is really warm from the sun heating it all day. They would lay there until they stopped shivering and then swim and repeat. Very cute.

Tonight before it got too dark, I ran over to the market to get some gifts for J, who turns 16 tomorrow. I really want to make it a special day for him and I hope they will let me take him out for lunch to his favorite restaurant. I don't want to get my hopes up, because when I asked permission today, they didn't seem too excited about it, so I'll have to have a plan B, just in case.

E N G L I S H

I had a couple of fantastic English classes with the girls today. Last year, I played a lot of hangman after class with the boys who caught onto the alphabet quickly, and today I introduced it to the girls to give them more experience with spelling. I have mostly focused on communication exercises previously, but today they really started paying attention to sounds and spelling. It was so much fun, and they best success of the day was that a very shy girl finally participated with a smile on her face. They never wanted the class to end, but I finally had to pack up when lunch was served. I think we had a big breakthrough with their spelling today!

In the afternoon, I had to study for my online class and I a learning a lot about teaching English as a second language. For every module I finish, I have to write two essays on that particular topic. It is great to already have personal experiences to draw from. My last essays were on classroom arrangement and having multilevel students in my classroom. 

Last week I discovered that one of the 8 year old boys can barely write. I spent some time yesterday having him copy letters and words to improve. I wonder what his story is and why he is so far behind in school. I'll do my best to help him catch up.

Local girl?

A little old Peruvian lady asked me for directions today and because it was around the corner, I could actually help her! It felt so good to be asked and be able to respond. I felt it brought me one step closer to being a local girl. I know I'll never exactly "blend in", but I want to try to at least "fit in" with the people of this town.

At least by now, I am getting familiar to the police officers at the police station, especially after today. The boys had told me they had a game around 9:30 and at 11 at the police station so I got up early to be there for the first game. The police station has a walled in area, perfect for sports practice and during the summer break they have lots of activities for the kids. I think it is a great way for them to get to know the next generation of kids and build relationships with them too. 
When I arrived there were tons of kids practicing Karate, but no sign of any soccer games, so I asked a police officer about it. He informed me to come back at 11 am. Went back around 11 and waited around for about 20 minutes before leaving. This kind of thing happens all the time, so it wasn't a big deal except of course that I didn't get to hang out with the kids today. I am sure I will hear about the change of plans tomorrow. 

I was very surprised when I swept my floors today. Two days after I swept and mopped I had two handfuls of dirt in my dustpan again. I think I need to start closing my windows, to stop all the dust and sand from blowing in. I am surprised the dust can make it up to the 5th floor!