Story Time

Well when you lave your back door open and the pigs are loose, pigs come inside the house- lesson close door.

Field Trip

       Generation of Leaders, the school the kids at Casa de Paz attend, took a field trip to Trujillo last Friday. The left early in the morning on buses to visit the Archeological Site of Chan Chan- some pre Inca stuff, then they went to the museum of Chan Chan, followed by lunch on the beach a few minutes away in Huanchaco. 

      I didn't get to go to the site, because I had my own students, but after school I hopped on a micro- well 2- and met them at the museum right before they left to go eat lunch.  On the way to Huanchaco I got the ride in the back of the bus with the cool kids (our older kids and Kevin). It was nice for Kevin to sit in the back because the whole way to Trujillo he sat in the aisle in a plastic chair- very safe (?) in case of an accident not recommended for anyone ever again. 

      Lunch was fun, it would have been excellent if Peruvians were in the habit of cold lunches when packing for field trips. It was still good, but cold rice is 100 times worse than plain hot rice, avoid it if possible haha. It was a good day for the kids to get out and see another part of Peru other than Pacasmayo. The boys especially had a good time running around chasing and being chased by girls on the beach, our girls just kid of sat around, but to each his own. 

Ruth, me and Mary at the beach in Huanchaco

Who doesn't love College?

        I saw a billboard for a college day about a month ago, and thought it would be cool to take our older kids and show them what college is all about. So I got permission to take the kids and registered to go. So the day after our field trip the oldest 6 got an even better field trip. For them it didn't start off so delightful because they had to get up super early to meet Kevin and me in Trujillo, and no teenager likes getting up early ask my mother. 

       Kevin and I actually were slightly late cause the micro we took from my house took for ever. But in the end everyone (we were also meeting our friend Kelly who brought the older 4 from Hogar de Esperanza in Trujillo) made it to the right place around the right time. After waiting outside the gate about 10 minutes they let us in, we got our sweet UPAO (University Prividad Antenor Orrego) bags with free pen included and were directed to go register the kids in the computer. After registration, we waited some more. This time standing in the hot sun, in a line, with some really enthusiastic college folks entertaining us and giving away prizes while we waited for there to be room for our group to go.

     Our kids are pretty shy when it comes to being in public and there are people they don't know around. So I had to get them excited and to shout, cause if you don't shout you don't get free stuff. Having Camp counselor on my resume means I can make myself get excited about nothing real easily, so the kids of course believe I am more insane than their previous assumptions. 

     When our group was finally called we were ushered/herded into a fence off area of campus that had a booth for all 22 career options the University offers. Each booth had representatives who were ready to sell you their career path, and did pretty well. They also handed out more free pens, bookmarks, and a big folded card that had a little information about the degree, and a schedule of all courses required for each cycle. 

      You also had the option to be lead to a classroom and where they had set up a workshop type thing. Some did lectures, others had different things to look at, and others had activities you could participate in that you would do in a course. Kevin and Yhonson went to the Business Administration one where Kevin wowed everyone with his International Business degree, even being asked to speak. Karol went to Law with Kelly- Kelly said boring Karol liked it. I went with 3 of our girls to the Veterinary Medicine one, where we saw baby animals, tapeworms, and diseased organs in formaldehyde, some corn grown on cafeteria trays, and watched a slide show of different skeletons. Our new girl Lucero went by herself to Early Childhood Education and drew a cover for a children's book, and got a free notebook. Then I went with all the girls to the Nurse workshop were we saw full body mannequins that can do everything, even change who they are, and we were taught how to properly wash our hands and get into sterile gear. (I got a free notebook this time- and more pens!)

      After college we took the kids to Pizza Hut and they ate 3 whole Super Family sized pizzas. For a moment Kevin and I believed we may have leftovers then all of a sudden there was no more! When we finished eating Kevin called for our ride to come get us and in our time to spare the teenagers did what they do best at malls, wonder around not buying anything, playing on the escalators and having a good time. For a moment I thought maybe I should go with them, but then I was tired and figured it was good for them to have a bit of freedom.

Karol being asked to introduce our group on stage, she got a prize.

Lucero- middle pink- won a backpack for 3rd best catwalk. It may have happened because I told her go go go, and then screamed super load for her to be awarded the prize- I want my kids to have nice things. 

Azucena surprised me, normally shy and reserved was the first one to jump to answer a trivia question, she got a prize.

Learning how to wash our hands. It takes a long time. Karol later volunteered to wash her hands and got another free notebook.

All of us at pizza hut. 

Betty coming down the escalator like she is in a movie, cause every girl wants their life to be like a movie at some point. 

All the girls with their bags. 

Jewelry

       Bruce, our resident old Canadian-whom we love, had a special treat for the girls this past Saturday.  His sister used to have a store, I don't know why she doesn't anymore, but she some of the pieces she had left to Bruce to give to the children or whatever. So he put some of it in the school store, and then he gave each of the girls a card with a number on it. Then he brought the jewelry to the girl's house and let them in order of number choose which piece they would like. Bruce is silly, and wasn't prepared for how much time it was going to take a few girls to decide on a piece of jewelry and was glad Sam was standing by and willing to be in control, cause he had some manual labor to take care of or something. So, I got to watch the girls choose, it was fun and they enjoyed it, and they all wore their new jewelry to church the next day. 

Can You Make Cinnamon Rolls w/o Cinnamon?

      The answer to that is obviously no. However, Saturday night I did not check the kitchen to see if it's regular stock of cinnamon was there or not. I n case you didn't figure it out it was not. So when I got to the kitchen at 6am with baby and Betsy to start rolling out my wonderfully prepared the night before risen dough, and started to make the filling mixture I realized this unfortunate fact.  My reaction- dang it. So Betsy took care of baby they watched his Old Macdonald video and I went across the street hoping they have ground cinnamon. They didn't. So then I had to catch a moto to the market and there happened to be one man open that had some. So, I took the moto back up and we made cinnamon rolls, that were delicious. But I learned that taking a moto at 6:15 in the morning not something I enjoy, especially when the driver is real chatty.