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.....