summer in lima

Hey there you! I thought it was about time to make another one of these, just to let you all without Facebook know that I'm very much alive and well!

So the sun is out and shining in Lima (finally, I mean, the grey skies had to end at some point...) and it really can get quite warm here. Also everything always looks better with a blue sky (even Lima!) so everything's looking up - hey there summer, how are you doing?!

Anyway, I've got just over a month left teaching at IVHQ (until I come back after Christmas for a month, I just can't leave!), and it's been awesome so far! Tiring, but awesome. Teaching is really rewarding, and the kids here all seem to really enjoy learning English and appreciate having us here which is great. A couple weeks ago we took some of the kids from the school to the cinema which was a lot of fun - both them and us were really excited! So we have an institute class (which is for people who pay to learn English) and we teach the younger kids in the school. Teaching institute is great, and I have a basic English class so get to practice my Spanish. Our conversation classes with institute students are fun as well, we've had a few interesting conversations with the intermediate class! The kids in the school are fun too, but are a lot more to handle! Trying to teach English to 30 9/10/11 year olds is a big task. When I was 9/10/11 and someone had come into my class to try to teach me Spanish, I would definitely have been the same - distracted and excited. It's fun but does make for some hard work! All the kids are very cute though so it's okay!

Halloween with the teachers

I have met some amazing people over the last few months, from all corners of the world, and am really settling into Lima. I love all the other volunteers so much, we've had some really fun trips and nights in Lima. I went to the fountains again on Friday, which is always entertaining (I got soaked!) and for Halloween we all dressed up (well, my costume was very last minute but yeah...) and had a good night out in Miraflores, which is a more touristy and popular district of Lima. We're also going to have a big Thanksgiving dinner next week, where we're all going to make some food. So that should be a lot of fun too!! I mean, I can't wait to start travelling around again - I'm excited to see some more of South America, but Lima is fun. Also, I think my Spanish has improved quite a lot - it's so so sooo much easy to learn when you have to speak it everyday to people who can't speak English! I know that's the obvious thing to say, but I just didn't realise how easy it would be to improve my Spanish here.

More fountain excitement

So guys, I only have about a month until the family visit for Christmas (SO excited to see them), and then I'm coming back to volunteer here for another month, just so I can sort my life out and decide what I'm actually going to do after I leave Lima. Oh, and of course, I'm starting my dissertation research, although my research will be mainly based in Cusco...so yeah, I need to get over there soon!




Well that's all there is to say for now, I'm having the time of my life over here and so far have made some friends that I will definitely not forget about :)

3 months down, 8 months to go!

Hasta Luego, S.

Institute Classes and the teachers!

Taking the school kids out for the day :)