My lazy thought provoking week

As much as I want to update you on some grand adventures I really haven't had any recently. Last week I was very lethargic and took a lot of time reading, watching movies, and once again analyzing my life.  Every day I think of what I need to do and the fact that homework is never on the list still confuses me. The past few years of my life were homework assignments, random part time or summer jobs, and planning my future after college. Now that I am here I don't know what else to plan so I'm starting to realize that scheduling my future should not be part of my actual plan. I have been starting to take each day as it comes and grow and learn from that.

The lookout point by my house

            Work has been going well. The first couple weeks were quiet and I just came in and out and then would go home but I have started to befriend the other teachers and look forward to building those relationships. I have also enjoyed the connections I am making with my students. The more I work with them the more I get to know their personality and hobbies. On Monday I did have a little boy get a nosebleed.  He also lost his tooth that morning and spilled his cup of water all over the books at the end of the hour, so it was an entertaining morning for the both of us.  

My street at night . . . quiet for once

            I am also considering taking some classes to improve my Spanish. My work schedule is still a little up in the air but hopefully within the next week or two I will be able to find a Spanish class that works with my work schedule as well. Hopefully I can get something going so I can be a bit more conversational with people rather than constantly having a deer in the headlights look. 

Exploring the city with Nina

             I am starting to get into a schedule as well which I rather enjoy. Monday nights my friends and I have decided we will make dinner with wine and watch Girls, the ultimate average woman show. I'm sure the future will bring more traditions and more friendships as well.  But I have been perusing around Peru more seeing what the city has to offer. The old downtown area has a small china town and a shopping area. My friend and I went there and were overwhelmed by all the shops and people but I loved being in an area where Peruvians shop rather than the high class malls made for foreigners. 

Main plaza in downtown 

The pictures on this post are a little random but I just wanted to share some more sights of Lima!

Rafting with 5 Women

Last week was the start of Carnivale. Here they celebrate by throwing people in pools of water or throwing water balloons but the clubs also celebrate it as well. My friend and I joined in on the festivities on Thursday and went to a club named HELP. At midnight they started throwing out confetti and small bottles filled with paint and it turned into a battle on the dance floor. A small marching band of ten people or so were walking through the crowd at the same point. The paint war went on late into the night. I did wash my clothes but now my t-shirt looks like I tie-died it. It was awesome to join in on the festivities and here is a picture to prove that it was very colorful!

After the paint war.

After resting on Friday some of my friends and I went to Lunahuana a small town in the hills for rafting.  There was 5 girls and the guide in the boat so we started off on a bad note with not having enough man power. Everything was going swell until we hit a rock which flipped our boat over. Luckily 4 out of the 6 were able to climb onto the rock and get the boat back over and situated. While this was going on I was floating down the river with my friend Florie fighting the rapids.  Fortunately we had helmets and life vests on. After 7 minutes or so another boat ahead pulled me out of the water and even though I wanted to rest for a second I had to start paddling right away to go get Florie who was still flowing down the river.  It felt like hours because in that moment I was trying to comprehend what just happened but was also being told what to do by these random people in Spanish who also had a little 5 year old in the middle just sitting and staring at me. We were able to get Florie and finally get back to our own boat. As scary as it was we laughed it off right after. I am a little sick from taking in all the river water and Florie has some aches and pains as well but all in all it was a . . . memorable rafting experience. The rest of the weekend we enjoyed the sun and went down to the beach on Sunday for some surf and sun.

Sunrise outside our tent

Lil John say Whhaaaa

So I started work this week but lets be honest the most momentous part of my week has been buying a bike!!!

I still need a name! Any suggestions?

So here I am in Peru now riding my bike everywhere. It's a little different than Chico considering I'm dodging three different types of buses, numerous taxis, other automobiles, potholes, and construction sites that are blocked off with a couple of orange cones.  Using my bike though is much faster than the public transport so I can't complain.

Work has been easy so far. Just starting with 10 hours the first couple weeks because of summer but I have worked with all ages and personalities already.  Today one man I was working with is going to Fashion Week in Vancouver in a month so I told him to bring in some of his pictures and samples and we could help him build a portfolio in English. I am happy to be building relationships with my students in that way.

This past weekend was a whirlwind of partying. Two roommates had birthdays last week so Friday we decided to have a house party that rolled into going out dancing and getting home around 6 a.m. The next day was National Pisco Sour day, which consisted of multiple samples of Pisco Sours in the park.  Sunday was the same. I guess it was a national weekend rather than a day :) Besides the dancing and sampling I met more friends and enjoyed the beaches so can't really complain about too much yet.

Barranco Beaches about 10 minute walk from my house

The best part of my week so far though has been the reaction from a little boy last night after he saw three white people walking in the streets. I am used to the cat calls, whistles, stopping of traffic, kissing sounds, even some growls  (weird, I know!) but this little boy was with his mother and grandmother and turned to look at us and yelled "que! what!" (Picture this said in a high pitch exaggerated/ lil john type of way). This was the highlight of my night and if kept us laughing for some time.  Just the usual while living in Peru I guess.  

Thanks for all the support and positive vibes coming my way. It's awesome to see my life growing here in Peru!

Looking at the city set up on the cliffs