Wednesday 16 October 2013

better late than never

Oh hey, well, it's been a while! I thought it was about time to write another post to keep you all updated with what's happening here in Peru :)
mama sara's house - miss these girls!

fountain fun!
So, since my last post (or, sorry, Lindsay's last post), I guess a lot has happened! The 6 girls who were living in the volunteer house here have turned into 2 - it's just me and Johannah left, which is fun but we miss the other girls a lot. It's not the same without Shelby, Maca, Ane or Lindsay! When we were all together we went to these fountains in Miraflores, which was amazing. It's like a themepark with fountains - all different colours and you can walk through some and it's amazing at night! I'll definitely be visiting there again. Needless to say hundreds of photos were taken (which are all on facebook although I'll add a few here for you). So I've also made the supermarket (a 5 minute walk away) my new home. The wifi, Dunkin Donuts and juice bar helped with this. Seriously, fresh fruit juice is so hard to come across here, the stuff they sell at the supermarket is full of sugar, and even when you go to the juice bar you have to ask for it without sugar in it. Never thought I'd hate sugar so much!

Oh, but talking of sugar, we also went to the chocolate museum. It may have been my 3rd visit there in a month, don't judge...

me & a cute student!
So teaching is a lot of fun - I have my own classes which I have to plan lessons for, which is challenging but I love it! I also have a new found respect for teachers, it's hard work! My classes are lovely, although the younger kids are normally quite boisterous they all want to learn English and they all also really enjoying playing games - especially when they're rewarded with sweets. The school is cute (DON'T use the bathrooms), but the town Pachacutec is sadly quite a poor place.



pachacutec - the town that the school's in
All the other volunteers who I teach with are lovely! It's cool because we're all doing the same thing so automatically have a common interest. I've met so many interesting people from all over the world! I'm also able to practice my Spanish a lot, because one of the classes that I teach are studying basic English, so I have to explain everything in Spanish. Also, Sara (whose house I'm living in) doesn't speak much English so I'm having to communicate in Spanish which is, erm, interesting! I'm trying though! Sara's lovely, and we live with her and some of her family (including little Gabriel who is extremely cute). She's like a grandma to us and we love her...and her food.

sandboarding with the volunteers!

Oh, and it was my birthday! 21, no less. Thanks to all of you who sent me lovely birthday messages, I loved them all. I had an amazing 21st! We went to a club on the night of my birthday, definitely didn't drink anything...(erm, no, nothing at all...) and only suffered a little bit on the Friday morning! That weekend we went to Huacachina for some more birthday celebrations which was also awesome. This is the place I went a few weeks ago with Steph, the little oasis in the middle of the desert. Once again we went sandboarding (SO much fun!), had some really nice meals and a lot of laughs. Seeing the sun & blue sky was also awesome. We did not want to return to Lima, but sadly we had to, so that's where I am at the moment! I've just got back from work for today and am having a little chill out before marking some exams/planning some more lessons.

So everything's going well here, I've probably forgotten a whole load of stuff, but I've had a long day and haven't had my afternoon nap yet (stop judging....!). So I'll try and post again soon, but this is just a little update on how teaching's going! I'm also getting very excited about the fam coming over for Christmas, I know it's 2 months away but these last two months have flown by so it'll come round soon!

Hasta Luego, S x