7 weeks from today....

In 7 weeks from today i will be home...not sure how i feel about that either... when i think about leaving all of these people i have met here it literally brings tears to my eyes... i recognize this is only a temporary thing.. but  I AM NOT READY TO LEAVE.. it has been such a great year here and i feel completely rejuvenated... my fear is that when i return to my life in dallas it will be the same monotonous  thing.... but then.. life is what you make of it right?
    yesterday was the first day of the new school year for the kids at SKIP.. i have taken over grupo 4 and there are some turkeys in that class.. i made a comment to julieta that  its only 7 weeks that i will have to deal with them.. she gave me the saddest look ever.. a look of "don't leave me.. and i wish i were leaving then too".. julieta got here in august right before me and is expected to stay until this coming august... as much as don't want to leave.. i don't want to live in this house and in trujillo for four months more...
    when i start to worry about my return and what my life will look like.. i literally have to hand my worries pover to God because ultimately i am not in complete charge of where my life will take me.. i mean i never thought i would be 33 years old living in "fraternity house" in trujillp, peru.. but alas here i am!
   

libros, libros, libros!!

When I took over group 3 the primary coordinator suggested i read about to the kids about a dinosaur and a tree house.. a book series that is apparently very popular with American kids too. So, i didn't really like the fact that I was going to be reading to them and they weren't going to be able to follow along since there was only one book. So what do i do.. I decide to make copies of the book for each student. I think it is essential that are able to follow along as i read and go back into the text when we finish reading it.. Each book only cost 4 soles .. approximately $1.50.. Are you serious.. they get their own book for only $1.50??? Yes Please!!! They were so excited that they were so excited when i told them they could take them home once we finished reading them as a class..  For most of the kids in the class it would be the ONLy book  they would have in their house.. there are no public libraries in El Porvenir.. the only access they get to books is at SKIP and a rare occasion at the this school.

Left to Right: Wilmer, Sindy, Wilian and Jose

     Let's see, I bought the books in October and they asked me every week if they could take the book home that day.. it pained me every time when i had to tell them no.. i knew if i let them take them home i would never see them again... Finally on our last day before Christmas break we finally finished reading.. it was such a good timing..  i don't think i can even use words to describe how happy they were.. the pictures help paint a better picture!!! Enjoy!

Going crazy with excitement!1

  if you want to donate to SKIP so that the kids can have access to more books, you can go www.skipperu.org to donate !!

Long time no see

Yeli drinking her hot chocolate! 

wow.. it  has been a long time since i have written a blog.. don't even know where to start...last time i had written i just got back from the jungle with Zoe and Amy... we immediately began prepping for " La Chocolatada"... the name of the christmas party.. in fact it seems that all christmas parties here are call chocolatada.. i believe it is due to the fact that they make real hot chocolate and eat chocolate panetone... the pane tone is delicious that one afternoon i decided i needed some really bad so i walked down to Metro (the local convenient store 2 blocks from our house)... so as soon as i bought i tore right on into that thing.. self control where food is concerned has never been strong point of mine!! LOL.. anyways.. as soon as i walked back into the house all of the vultures attacked and the paetone was gone in a matter of minutes.... i entertained the thought of carrying some back one with me for christmas but i am so glad i didn't.. Cheryl informed me that panetone can bought at TJ Maxx... ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?!?! of all places TJ Maxx.. that made me laugh something i thought was indigenous to peru can actually be found in TJ Maxx...
    I digress...so the christmas party was to be held on sunday afternoon at IndoAmerican.. i was so looking forward to seeing the kids get their gifts and just having fun... in order to get ready we had to wrap gifts for each of the 300 kids we have .. at one point we had like 200 wrapped bouncy balls in the house... the house was a complete mess with nowhere to sit or walk for that matter but it was totally worth it..
    Another aspect of the christmas party was "the dress"/.... i knew i really wanted red and white striped tights to wear.. i thought oh this shouldn't be hard.. i know in the states you can find those everywhere.. well not quite the case in peru.. so the sol market i went.. of course i wasn't going to buy used tights but i thought at least there would be something i could find.. well as it turns out i did find red and white striped tights.. only they were for kids.. so of course i bought them.. i had to cut them.. they seemed to work.. i believe i wore the craziest outfit that day.. green dress, red and white striped tights, flip flops, red pancho, and green and read striped santa hat! i looked a hot mess and i loved it!
     Nico was the lucky one who got to wear the santa outfit.. at first he was kinda mad he was chosen because in his words  "why is it the fat guy who always has to dress up as santa" our only other option is a guy who is so skinny he probably only weighs 120 pounds.. Nico was a natural choice!  to make things worse he wasn't feeling well that day and since he was santa had to fake it for about 6 hours straight.. not gonna lie.. it brought me great joy to see him in the costume!!
  it was a great day!! thew kids were so happy and everyone looked so festive in their costumes!! i was really proud to say that i was part of such an amazing organization...
   oh, i almost forgot.. when the families came into the school there was a line of us on both sides of the entrance and we literally greeted every single person that came throughout the door.. and when i say  greet i mean kiss and hug everyone.. my cheek was so slobbery at the end of all of it.. but i  loved it.. the families just seemed so appreciative and happy
  WE had arrived around 1 pm and were finally leaving the school at 7 that night.. it was such an exhausting day but so much fun.. side note... when we got to the house we realized that the santa costume had not made it out of the taxi.. oops.. some lucky taxi driver now has a free 500 soles ( $200) Santa Costume.. oops.. we were just all so tired...

The cutest Santa and elves I have ever seen!

Welcoming the families

   the day after the party , dec 20th, i was heading home for christmas .. i was so excited to get home and relax...first i had to say goodbye to zoe.. she was heading home to england for good and as good as friends as we had become i knew that that was probably the last time  i would probably see her again..saying goodbye to her was away harder than i thought it was going to be... with as hard as i cried i think it is only a fraction of how sad i am going to be leave here.. this experience has just been so amazing.. i LOVE everyone i work and live with .... i know  its only a a small chapter in my  life book but it has been an amazing chapter.. it has brought back my smile and optimism.. something i had almost lost.. my hope for my future is to continue to seek out adventure, positive people, and to never be ok with mediocrity.....

Tarapoto= Fatality

Our hammocks on the boat up the Amazon River

People waiting to see their goods.

On our way to Yurimaguas.. traffic jam.. Zoe and I playing cards in the middle of the road in the jungle with 20 peruvians watching!

at least thats what the I Phone thinks Tarapoto is when i typed it in.... yikes! Tarapoto was our first destination in our travels to "la selva" (aka the jungle)
   On December 3rd Zoe, amy and I set off for the jungle. We left Trujillo at 3:30 pm and arrived in Tarapoto the next day at 11 am. Officially the longest bus ride i have ever done.. EVER. it actually wasn't even that part.. maybe because i took some drugs to fal asleep and paid more to ride in "first class" aka full cama.. that basically means the seat reclines 30 degrees more than the other seats in the bus. When we arrived in Tarapoto Sunday morning.. we took a mototaxi to the taxi station. once we got there they were like sorry the roads are closed to Yurimaguas.  Ugh..... Yurimaguas is the town where the boats leave to go  to Iquitos/ Jungle on the amazon river....
     so we stayed in tarapoto for the night... there is actually a hostel there named " El Paso Texas" so weird!!! Zoe was on a bit of a budget to we looked of "budget hotels" so each of us paid approximately 7 dollars to stay in this dumpy hostel..i actually called it the miami prison... there were holes in the ceiling and in the walls.. but it did have the be achy jungle feel.. hahaha... and believe it or not.. there was cable television and we were able to watch Project Runway!!!
     The next morning we got uo and left the miami prison at 7 am to head for yurimaguas.. so when we get ti the taxi place.. they are like we have to wait.. we couldn't really understand why but we were getting anxious because it takes 2 hours or more to get to yurimaguas  and we were told our boat was leaving noon... it seems to me though that americans seem to be the only ones in hurry in the entire country of peru.. just seems to me... any who we finally left around 9:30 am...whipping around those mountainous roads through the jungle.. and then BAM .. traffic.. oh gripes.. the roads were still closed from the massive landslides..so we sat.. and sat.. and waited.. and sat.. and finally i was like my stomach is killing me.. maybe fom the malaria pills.. any who. in case you were wondering there are no bathrooms in the middle of the jungle!! so zoe and i decide maybe the charter bus will let us onto use the bathroom.. the one  time i thought  it was good to be a gringa ( they seem to be so fascinated by us they will let us do things that other people can't.. i know bad of me to take advantage of this.. but my stomach was hurting...  NOOOOOPE..
 they wouldn't let us on... so with everyone watching our ever move , at this point there are a ton of cars just sitting.. we had to use the potty in the woods.. not normally an issue for me... i really didn't want so mysterious rash on my bottom!... all went well and no rash appeared.. when we returned to the taxi i was like " i cannot sit in this car any longer.. so we decide to play double speed  .. and where better to play double speed  than on the road in the middle of the jungle... and as i said before people are very fascinated by us.. so at one point while we were playing there at least 20 people surrounding us.. SOO AWKWARD! i have never had such an audience while playing cards! LOL
    After waiting for 3 hours they finally open up the roads.. it was so crazy.. massive red boulders and these trucks of 15 people in the back.. trying to trek up these steep bumpy roads.. we finally arrive in yurpimaguas around 1:30 and rush to the dock to catch the boat... our mototaxi driver had told us it wasn't leaving that day.. but we wanted to see it with our own eyes.. we get there and he says.." see i told you .. we aren't liars in yurimaguas like they are in iquitos" ok..  so i felt bad for not trusting him.. but still... so now we had to find a hotel... now yurimaguas is a MAJOR DUMP..... but we did end up finding a nice clean hotel...
     so now three days into our travels and we still haven't made it onto the boat... so tuesday morning we get up and get groceries for the boat and anything we might need for three days of isolation on the amazon river!  we bought our hammocks in yurimaguas, needed water, sandwich stuff, fruits, etc... and there isn't even a grocery store in this town either...we took our mototaxi to the dock around 11:30 am to catch the "12:00 PM" boat....as soon as we get to the area these two men jump onto out mototaxi.. i am thinking what the hell are they doing... so when the mototaxi stops they grab our stuff to array it onto the boat.. i didn't want to pay them so i grabbed my two bags, hammock, 3 massive bottles of water, and went on my way....but i was actually glad they came on with us.. because they ended up hanging our hammocks for us.. which i don't think i could have done  on my own...amy wanted mosquito net since she wasn't taking the malaria pills.. so these same men went into town and bought her one! what a deal..  oh and as we were setting our stuff up this man is standing in front of us.. i am thinking.. he looks so familiar.. OOOH he is the hotel owner from where we stayed... he wanted his towels back.. hahaha.. i don't want your towels.. in fact there weren't any towels in the room.... he jut stood there and i kept saying "yo prometo, no quiero tu toallas" (i promise, i don't want your towels).. i mean he tracked us down and searched the boat for us  for his stupid towels that we didn't even have!! poor guy.. i am sure all of the grungy travelers do that though!
   So we wait and wait and wait... and finally set off for iquitos at 6 pm.. 6 hours later than what we had been told.. Peru is all about patience.. wasn't really a big deal either because we hadn't planned any of our trip out before hand which was good considering we had two delays....
   THE BOAT,.. there were two levels on the boat.. the first floor was PACKED.. and mostly all peruvians who look like they have to do this at least once a month.. oh did i mention the only way in and out of iquitos is via boat or plane.... the second floor had more backpackers but also a lot of peruvians as well... the bathrooms weren't near as bad as i thought they would be either... it was interesting though because the water in the toilets come from the river meaning the water in the toilet is diarrhea brown.. yes. i had top paint that picture because it grossed me out to look at it... also, there were shower heads in the bathrooms with the toilets.. and guess where that water comes from.. yep you guessed it.. the Amazon... no ma'am i am not showering in that water.. no maam...it seemed to me that all of the peruvians showered ever day and NONE of the tourist showered.. i know they think we are soo gross.. but i don't care.. i dint shower for three days.
    being on the boat was interesting because there is literally nothing to do.. obviously..so it was like, well i can lay in my hammock or i can sit on a bench, or i can walk the 3o meters around the boat or i can sit in my hammock or i can sit on the bench! i did try to study my spanish a bit too... the first night was kinda long for me because every noise i heard i  was convinced people were stealing our water, clothes, what nots.. i had my valuables with me on the hammock. so i was being a little ridiculous too... at FIVE IN THE MORNING.. i am woken up by a lady with the most irritating voice saying "HAY PINAS.. HAY PINAS.. HAY PINAS" (i have pineapple, i have pineapples, i have pineapples).. i dont know about you. but i don't want a friggin pineapple at 5 in the morning.. i didn't realize it at the time but we had stopped in a town called lagunas to pick up people and drop off others and pick up goods... HAY PINAS.. HAY PINAS.. lol...
    Breakfast was served at 6:30 am.. and in order to get food you had to bring your own container and utensils.. way better for the environment too if you think about it! the food actually wasn't that bad, we ate a lot of rice, beans, and chicken.. kinda felt like all we did was eat out of boredom..
     it was so interesting stopping at these villages because it literally looked like the entire town of 30 people we standing there waiting for the boat to load their goods or to get on the boat and sell their goods to everyone on the boat.. we bought a massive bag of bananas for 30 cents.. and i bought some yuca .. like a potato, empanada.. it was zoo good.. we bought popcorn, guava.. a fruit that looks like a stick then you open it up and it looks like clouds.. mangoes, it was fun trying all sorts of fruits and such.. and surprisingly i didn't get a stomach bug!!!
   SIX days later we finally arrived at our final destination of Iquitos! I was sooo ready to take a shower at the point it wast even funny!  Iquitos is a very interesting city.. very different than trujillo.. and although i know there is a lot of poverty in trujillo it doesnt even compare to the amout of poverty and desperation we saw in iquitos... kids begging for food on the streets.. homeless people waiting  near your table with a bag to take the food you don't want,. i couldn't get over the stark difference.
   Friday morning we went to an area called Belen which is right on a tributary of the amazon.. in the summer months when it rains so much the water rises to the second level of the houses.. of course they plan on that as well.. houses are built on stilts. the mark in belen was phenomenal as well.. they were selling things like piranhas, turtles, herbal medicines and exotic fruits.. by far my favorite market i have even been too. after the market we got in a canoe and went up the canals and wow. these houses look like they could blow over.. ad the toilets were basically outhouses  on a dock in the water... same water they bathe in and drink.. CANNOT EVEN IMAGINE!!...

i am so thankful for clean running water... for  food. even though i  complain about it, for the ability to go to a doctor when i need, and clean clothes..

Thanksgiving Peru Style!

Ghetto Thanksgiving Spread!!

Yumm! A fried turkey head.. kiss it Dona Lita!

well our thanksgiving preparations began  a month or so before thanksgiving ....i started looking in the grocery stores to see if there was stuff we couldn't buy here... so my father carried a massive can of pumpkin all throughout peru to give it to me at the end of his trip..... it was so worth it though.. thanks dad!!!

      so we had our thanksgiving this past sunday.... had to move the date because two of the americans were planning on seeing britney spears in lima..either way... it worked out better having it on a sunday where we could cook all day...

   and cook all day is exactly what we did!! i was actually loving it even though our kitchen is gross and we don't necessarily have all of the cooking supplies we needed but we did our best... for instance.. we were using old t-shirts as pot holder, a blender as vase for the flowers (bought them in the market for only 6 soles.. approximately 2 dollars )..  our oven is so small that we had to ask a bakery to cook our turkey  for us!

    it was so funny.. nico bought the turkey a few days prior... and everyone was so mortified at how much he paid for it.. but really  the price was no different in the states.. its just that they don't really do turkeys here.... anyways on sunday when he went to pick it up.. he took three spanish girls with him.. they were soo cute when they carried it in the house... the turkey was carried in these plastic bins.. you know the ones you put clothes in.. when they opened the bin.. we all screamed!!!! the turkey still had its head..  OMG!!! how can you eat it when you can look at its head.. UGH!!

     i have never seen people more excited about thanksgiving than those three spanish girls!! carmen, nerea and laura.. they were ever taking pictures with the "thanksgiving spread"  it was sooo cute!!

     oh let m e just tell you... fruits and vegetables are soooo cheap here.. i bought enough potatoes for twenty people and it only cost me $3.. awesome!!

     anyways.. i know this blog is a little all over the place.. trying to watch a movie at the same time!

  anyways tomorrow s the real thanksgiving and it is so weird to think that while everyone at home is getting ready for thanksgiving i am here in peru where no one really understands how important it is to us... 

   i have to work in the morning, go get  a vaccination for my trip to the amazon and then grocery shop for our picnic on the beach for the kids in the nursery on friday .. so like i said.. just a normal day tomorrow.... hope everyone has a great holiday!!

my new normal!

Zoe and I at our favorite juice lady next to IndoAmericano

Huanchaco, Huanchaco, Huanchaco

it has been brought to my attention that i haven't written on my blog for a while.. thanks dad.... things have become so normal for me i don't see any reason for writing about it my blog.. but i know once i leave it will be like.. oh that was so not normal for me in the united states... so i think i will create of things that have become normal here in peru
men wearing
1. not flushing toilet paper in the toilet.. i never realized that it was a luxury to do such a thing
2. gringita is not a person but rather a color... the kids told me my hair color was gringito... too funny.. for those that don't know.. gringa is a white girl and gringita is a little white person...i prefer to think of it as a term of affection
3. men peeing on the streets.. the smell of urine is so offensive...but i suppose i shouldn't be critical because most of the people in el porvenir don't have running water... the other week one of my  kids in the PE class ran ahead of me and peed in the patio.. i was like NOOO  you can't pe pit side.. when i asked him he understood why he was in trouble he gave me these big brown eyes and was like /nooo... that is probably his norm.. i felt so bad afterwards for making him feel bad.. but he does need to learn that at SKIP we di have toilets!! LOL
4.seeing dirty dogs in the public school and no one doing anything about it
5.  RAT POO... that is unfortunately part of my norm...damn mice are everywhere in the house
6.  riding in the very far back of a taxi and ducking when we drive by police.. yesterday caitlin and i were in the far back and people kept yelling at us "down down , police.. duck" we went down as though someone was shooting at us.. LOL
7.  buying pirated dvd's on the street for an american dollar... its awesome!! i am eagerly awaiting the day "the help" makes the streets of Trujillo.
8.  Fresh orange juice!!  they sell it everywhere here .. people will push carts around with oranges.. and when you order they make it right in front of you.. the serve it to you in a glass so you must drink it right there with the cart person.. Zoe and i order an orange juice every tuesday thursday when we go to Indo.. its awesome.. it is only one sol which is equivalent to $0.35.... the lady even fills our glass up again..
9.  the buses are always an experience.... men hang out of the bus yelling the buses final destination.. for instance "huanchaco huanchaco huanchaco huanchaco huanchaco" over and over and over... and when you get on and off the bus prepared to run to jump on and to get off whilst the bus is still moving!

One man's trash is another man's treasure

wow.. that statement couldn't be ore true here in peru.. where do i even start,..
 On wednesday in my group 3 class, i let a little girl go get water outside our classroom. the water is actually water bottles we fill up at our house from the water bottles we use...there is no running water at the SKIP office..and i would  actually venture to say there isn't running water in most of the houses where our kids live.. so anyways.. i let this girl go get water outside and she is taking a while.. so i peek my head outside to check on her... so what did i catch her doing?  stealing the tops from the water bottles...i am thinking what in the heck is she going to do with those things... of course i make her give them to me.. even though it didn't really matter if she took them.. but of course she has to learn she can't take whatever it is that she wants... so i ask her why she needs them.. i didn't really understand why but i heard the colegio which is her school.. i told her i would collect some from the house. and give them to her tomorrow.. gotta get someone to translate for me.. because i am dying to know why she is hoarding bottle tops...
     at the end of the same day while my kids were playing a bit i was going through some of the games and junk in the classroom.  there is a spider man puzzle but the box is so  old and ruined that it isn't even holding on the pieces. so what do i do? i toss the box... to which one of my kids runs to the trash and picks it up and is like.. i am taking this home with me!!! he was so excited to take an old wrinkled puzzle box home... he even put in the window to see if he could see it on the other side of the window..
    there are two ways i can interpret these situations .. one to feel sorry for the kids i work with because they get excited over what we would consider trash or two.. to feel sorry for americans because we are so wasteful and not thankful for the things we have in our life...think about how much stuff we throw away on a daily basis that could be used for something...my trash plus your trash plus the millions of people in the states..its sickening to think of what we are doing to our environment.. just sickening.. i am not suggesting we hoard bottle tops and hang trash on our walls.. but just think about all of the little things in our lives that we throw away without even thinking about it....