28 September 2011

Just like Christmas it comes once a year...SPRING!

(Spring just lasts a lot longer than Christmas)

Bienvendido Primavera

       I love change, which means I absolutely love seasons! (my only drawback on Texas) In Peru, unlike the rest of you, we have entered into Springtime. Which means that today for the first time in a long time when we said what the weather was outside in our morning routine it was no longer cloudy it was sunny! So exciting!!!!
But the important thing is that the kids enjoyed eating them!
        With Spring comes celebration, I mean why not? Most of the schools take a field trip to bring in spring, like to the beach or one of the restaurants that has the playground, pool, and soccer field.  The idea presented itself a little last minute. My only idea was to go to the botanical garden (which is still on my list but we are going to go on the close of our plant unit we just started instead), and then I decided it just wasn't possible yet. So we had a party to welcome spring, more of a day of activities for the parents to come participate and do something fun with their kids.
       So, yesterday the kids and their moms came for a fun day. There were four main events, painting, flower making, bubble blowing, and popsicle eating! On Monday we made some pineapple popsicles by making pineapple juice in the blender, straining out the yuckies, and freezing them in cups. The kids loved eating them. The moms not so much because they are so cold, and if you don't remember me mentioning it before eating or drinking cold things is bad for your health especially your throat.
And little sisters were invited too!
Yobana blowing some pretty sweet bubbles! She got it down the
others not so much they just kept stirring the mix instead of
dipping the wand which meant they only had suds on their wand.
         The bubble blowing was outside. I made bubble wands with the rings from coke, water and yogurt bottles, hot glue and straws (popsicle sticks or something less flimsy would be better but we have an abundance, plethora if you will, of straws). The yogurt bottle rings are better, because they make bigger bubbles. Then I made some bubble mix (which no I did not come up with this one my own, the internet is a wonderful thing) with baby shampoo, warm water, and a lil suga. They are the best bubbles I have ever made!!!! The kids loved them a lot!!!

Neiver beginning with the orange. 



       Inside, where the moms stayed, the kids were able to paint on giant sheets of white paper at a table to themselves. The moms were supposed to paint with them a few joined in but not too many they just watched their kids be wildly creative. And beautiful art they created, and were able to take home with them, which they love getting to take things home.






Kids, Moms, an Aunt, and Wendy making flowers to
celebrate springtime! Being creative isn't always a clean or
orderly process- and that is why my room is never clean :)


      The other inside activity was the one all the moms flocked to. One main reason is because the kids needed a lot of help to do it, hence why Samantha planned it for this day and not one where she was all alone in class with 18 kids... The project was to trace the kid's hands, cut them out, wrap them around a straw, staple it in place, and curl the fingers back and you have a flower. It sound a little painful, but the hand are only made out of paper.  The kids liked the flowers and the moms really liked making them, some of them even cut out like butterflies to attach to their 'toilet paper roll vases'. They all went home with a vase full of brightly colored fresh flowers, that will last longer than the           flowers in the market (unless they are in reach of a baby sibling or a dog...)




A weekend away

       As usual I went to Pacasmayo for the weekend. The two weeks prior I had forgotten to take my camera, and wished I hadn't been so rushed in leaving. So I took the advice of Sintia who told me one weekend, after forgetting to bring promised beads and Skipbo, I packed the night before or at least got certain things in a pile ready to go. So I have just a few pictures to share that is about it. 
This is baby, of course, (with Kevin in the background) showing us how to properly wear the sunglasses I got him.  He always wears mine so I found some cheap baby sized ones at the Mayorista the other day. 

Tilt your head to the left cause there is still no option to rotate this (come on Google, if there is it is too annoying to figure out). But not only is he walking, he is an avid climber, which he may have picked that up from I don't know, maybe me. He climbs on all the chairs and onto the table (which he got a time out from Kevin the other day for doing that), and he loves climbing on the playground. In fact whenever the door is open to the house and you can't seem to find this child it is because he up and left your lazy hinny to go play in the dirt and climb some ladders. He got to the second rung by himself, which then required a spotter. 
Saturday mornings are supposed to be glorious. Well when we walked out of the house on the way to the boys house, we ran into Bruce and Arelio looking at a bunch of dead cockroaches with extreme satisfaction. Up until this point I have seen four roaches the entire time I have been here. But in this pictures all the little brown dots are nasty dead cockroaches, courtesy of Bruce and Arelio who didn't think it was also a good idea to not just kill them but also not bother to sweep them up? But it was a teaching moment for baby, lesson? Roaches should be stomped on if live, he learned the squish a bug technique. Lesson 2 dead or alive roached should never be picked up in your bare hand and put anywhere near your face or handed to Samantha. 

I am on the other end of this teeter totter, yes there are two of them but with one pint sized kid at the other end, the adult does all the work, this way it is fun for both sides, and I convinced Mary (right) to let me take her picture. 

Again tilt the head a little to the left, a bit more, and there you can see Betsy (who also let me take a picture!) with her princess coloring project. That is what we did Saturday, they all wanted to color princesses so that is what we did.






19 September 2011

It is not just a rumor and other short stories

        Well, I have spoken to many and told them my plans to be home in December of this year. Always being asked when my plane ticket was, bu until now I didn't have one. So it is no longer just a rumor and the hopes of m family and friends that I will be comin home because I am actually scheduled to come home! My flight leaves December 14th at 10:15 from Lima. I have to make a breif pit stop in both Miami and Dallas, but at 10:20pm the same day I will be gracing Austin Texas with my presence again. When I talked to people at home I get really excited. I am always asked what do I want to eat first when I get home let me tell you it is a long list. My friend Mandi told me while listening to my list, "It looks like you will be eating for two weeks straight!" I laughed. The one thing guaranteed not to be on that list is rice!
     Some things on it (so my mom is prepared...:) ) :
            - Muffins! blueberry, banana, apple cinnamon, bran, lemon poppy seed, pumpkin chocolate chip
            - BBQ and lots of it
            - Mom's enchilada casserole
            - Mom's BBQ meatballs
            - Waffles
            - Honeynut Cherrios, Fuit Loops, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Peanut butter Captain Crunch, Cinnamon Life....
            - Real milk
            - Banana bread, Vanilla bread, Chocolate bread, Autumn bread, Zucchini bread
            - Steak
            - Whataburger
            - Dr. Pepper
            - Bagels and Cream cheese
            - The list continues but it only make me hungry

Short stories

Sometimes things disappear


    The other night when they were over for the church meeting, they were outback playing with the balls, and unfortunately they lost one to the roof dog, who scares me (cause he almost got my arm the first time a ball went up there). However, by the time the meeting was over and I went to tell Auden the ball had disappeared so no more red ball. Then last week I was "showing" the children how to thrown the boomerang and it went straight into the tree the second time I threw it. And it was really high and near a birds nest so I didn't want to shake the branch or climb the tree in the middle of school. I had every intention of going after it after school, but it happened to be Friday, which is when I travel to Pacasmayo and I was a little rushed, so I completely forgot about it until today when we were playing but it was not in the tree.  
roof dog that scares me

Old McSam (except really I am young)

    Last Friday was a very eventful interesting day for me. Maura (the home owner, and occupier of the second floor) recently went to her land in the country and brought back two really cute piglets- they look like oreos. They have a little hut/cage in the back corner of the back yard. Well, last Friday while we had free play time out back, I was stamping the kids hands with some random circles and a pen to make a funny face, when all of a sudden "¡¡¡¡PROFESORA PROFESORA LOS CANCHO LOS CANCHOS ESTAN AFUERA!!!!" followed by really lowed squealing of little pigs. What is a teacher to do with 16 3-5 yr olds running wild, and 2 poor little piglets being really stressed out running everywhere as well? You have to catch them and put them back in their cage. The first one was easy, the second however was not easily fooled, and it took me 6 minutes to wrangle him and throw him back in their cage. The worst part is when you catch them they are even louder, and if the children moved the pigs freaked out more making the difficulty rise. But I did it, the kids were so proud.
2 little piggies
   Then as the I was waiting for the last kid to be picked up the same day, one of the moms comes by with a bag. She said she was holding a duck for the Pastor and wanted to give it to him now. So in said bag was indeed a live duck. And she handed it to me to hold onto for Auden. One I thought it was funny receiving a duck in a bag, then I wondered what on earth was I going to do with this duck. Well I carried the duck out back and set his bag under the tree, then walked back in my house to see a trail of disgusting duck poop juices from the door all the way through my classroom and to the back. Delightful. So as I was cleaning up Maura came home and I told her about the duck, she laughed and grabbed his wing and put it in one of the empty turkey cages. Eventful afternoon.
duck in a bag

French Toast, MmmmMmmm

    This past Saturday Kevin and I made the kids French toast at the orphanage. It was fun as it always is cooking for the kids, and of course the kids always come asking for more. The one kid that kept asking for more and more was baby. He got the prime seat in his high chair to my right in the kitchen. The kid had already eaten half of a bread roll cause he can't wait till 830 to eat he needs something at 630 when he woke up. Then he threw the other half for the dogs. But while we were cooking he kept saying "pan" (bread) so I broke up a piece of fresh french toast for him, went back to make more, the kid devoured it. Then I gave him a scrambled egg.  Ate the whole thing. Then he kept saying "Ma  Ma" (in his high pitched voice holding the a really long which means más-more, mama is always whiny) So he ate a second piece of french toast, then when Kevin was making the eggs for us to eat he kept asking for more so the little guy ate a 3rd piece, and about another half egg scrambled, and drank his milk. He took a really good morning nap. 

Pa PA Pos (Zapatos)

     Another baby story cause he is so cute. He loves shoes. And always tries to talk about them, but can't quite sound out the word yet. He also will always bring me my shoes if I am not wearing them. Also he enjoys chewing on sandals, which personally I think is gross, and I stop it when witnessed. A couple weeks ago I brought a new pair of shoes for baby, and left them with Kevin. They were a little big, but they were on sale and so I got him his next size up he would need. They are really cute, they have Lightning McQueen on them. Well the last 2 weeks they have been there in Kevin's suitcase baby has been playing with them (he has this thing about rifling through Kevin's things). So yesterday Kevin wanted to see if Baby would fit in them yet, cause he also liked them and wanted to see him wear them. Well the glass slipper fit, and baby was just so excited. We set him on the floor to try out his new kicks and he walked slowly in them at first then turned around smiled and was out the door. Kevin then wanted to see which Baby actually liked better or wanted, so we took his shoes off Kevin put them about 2 feet apart old and new, and I released the baby. He picked his new shoes, didn't even think about the other ones. 

Kevin scares the little children

     The first time Kevin was at my house (back in June) during school hours was when he and his mom had just gotten back from the states, and they stopped by my house to show her the preschool, etc. Well Segundo, is always my first student to arrive everyday, and that day was no different. He walked in looking like sunshine hole his flowers for me and his agenda in the other hand, gave me my kiss on the cheek, went to put up his backpack and started to cry, and ran back out to his mom. He saw Kevin and apparently Kevin is scary? But his mom eventually made him stay and Kevin stayed out back for a turn, and later they became friends while making letters with playdough.
   Last Wednesday Kevin was finishing up breakfast in the kitchen when the kids started arriving to school. Segundo came in saw him on his way to the bathroom, and just walked back out to his mom, not crying this time at least. he came back to school when from the street corner he saw Kevin leave the school to go make copies. I laughed as did his mom.


   Another funny moment with Kevin as he was in the kitchen, Niler one of my handful students also walked by Kevin on the way to the bathroom. But Kevin had finished eating and was washing dishes, Niler paused, looked at Kevin and asked "What are you doing?! Are you washing dishes?" Kevin replied, "Yes I am washing the dishes", "Are you a woman?", was Niler's follow up question cause I guess he has never witnessed a man washing dishes before.