Supposedly first week of school.

Another week gone by...it's going fast!  This past week was supposed to be the first week of school, and it was in some schools, but not in the one that I am working at!  Apparently, the registration period was extended a week, and many families took that to mean that school would be postponed a week as well.  So, we had very few students each day --- one day only five students!  There are 4 teachers at the school - one is also the director.  Two women and two men.  The women were there every day, the director there only one day, and the other man was there three of the four days we were there.  We did activities with the kids and helped clean the classrooms and wash down the furniture, etc.  We ended up only going until noon the first two days and then until 10:30-11 the other two days and did not have school on Friday.  There are 6 of us volunteers assigned to the school, so we are really hoping for a full turnout this coming week.  Apparently, many of the students we had over summer school are choosing to go to a different school nearby that is a better school.  We'll see who and how many show up on Monday!

One day after school last week, we went to a mineral bath swimming pool.  We thought it would be hot - a hot springs - but it wasn't!  I just sat on the edge and put my feet in, which was refreshing and the three guys all went swimming though.  Might return there another time as it is just down from the school and the water is supposed to be good for arthritis among other ailments.

Since there were so few kids, we didn't do school on Friday, but all the volunteers from my school got togethr for a french toast breakfast at the Casa (that we made) and then we went shopping for school supplies.  Spent quite a bit of money, but we feel we are set for basic school supplies and art activities and won't have to run to the market everyday to get basic supplies if we want to do an art project.  It was fun shopping as two of the volunteers hadn't been to this market before and they were just as thrilled by it as I was the first time I saw it.  Guess I should bring my camera next time to show what it is like!

This was my weekend for cooking!  After the breakfast, I made a potato salad for our weekly bbq.  It was interesting, as the volunteers from the US were happy to have it and the volunteers from Australia and England were suprised that a potato salad had eggs, pickles and onions in it!  It took me a long time to find the pickles at the store and then there was only one type; glad it was dill!  Quite a bit different from last year in Hungary where everything was pickled!  Yesterday then, I made a "typical American" dinner for my family.  I made meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans and a salad.  I found worshtershire sauce for the meatloaf, and Wishbone Italian dressing at the store.  Unfortunatley, no ranch or 1000 island dressing which would have been more "typical".  I used the dressing on the beans when I cooked them and on the salad, and it was a big hit.  Think they will easily use the rest of the bottle!

Last weekend my family made a special breakfast for me, so this was my pay back.  The breakfast was pork adobo soup with bread, followed by tea with anise liquor in it.   Apparently since the pork adobo is so rich, it's traditional to have the anise in the tea to help the digestive system!   LOVED the pork adobo. Isabelle's mother got about around 4am to make it!  Here is my host "dad", Cesar, with little Diego who is about 18-19 months old.

Diego is a lot of fun to have around.  One day this week when I got home, he toddled into the bedroom after me and started playing with my exercise mat.  So, I got him down on the floor with me and had him do some leg lifts. The next day when I got home, he started doing exercises as soon as he saw me!  What a hoot!  So, we have been playing around on the mat and trying to do some yoga poses as well. 

Another evening, my family needed diapers, so off we went to a market.  There is a supermarket close by, but we didn't go there, rather to another huge market with individual stalls.  There was everything that you could think of at this market: electronics, shoes and clothing, household items, school supplies and stationary, etc.  Think of a wal-mart, but rows and rows of booths, with a whole aisle of the same type of items.  Again, will have to get there again and take photos.  Cesar said it was the Peruvian answer to the American mall!

I had spanish classes three times this week and am really tryping to improve.  My focus is on conjugating my verbs for the past tense correctly.  It's good to talk with Isabelle, as she really doesn't know much English, and we have to work hard to communicate, which means I really have to focus on using the correct tense.  It was partially due to my not using the right tense that we had the mix-up about what I already had for lunch and what I wanted for dinner a few weeks ago. 

Think that's it for this week!