In Peru!

Hello from Lima, Peru!

We arrived Tuesday morning at 5 am, breezed through customs, and headed to our host family's house. We stayed awake just long enough to learn that the Peruvian plumbing cannot tolerate toilet paper. Right now there are 2 bunkbeds and 4 girls at this house. Monica and I, and two girls from the U.S.

We are staying with a young family who work with the volunteer organization. They have four children younger than 14. They are super cute but hard to understand! (As is everyone around here unfortunately- I'm getting used to being in a constant state of confusion). The parents speak no english and so we play an ongoing game of guessing and a bit of charades mixed in too:)

They feed us our weight in food at every meal. Here the main meal is lunch and it is served anywhere from 1 to 4 in the afternoon. Carolina (our host mom) is a wonderful cook and she dishes out our food for us. It is Peruvian courtesy to eat everything you are served. Yesterday Monica impressed me big time. She ate half an avocado and a banana in one meal (she has refrained from eating both these foods for YEARS).

This morning we took a taxi to our orientation. I don't know why there are seat belts in the taxis unless it's just for decoration! There were six of us so I ended up sitting on Monica's lap. I was concerned that I was blocking the driver's view but I don't think he looked out of the rear view mirror once. The streets sound a little like a band. Drivers honk whenever they want and maybe for no reason at all. There's also lots of yelling and shouting. All the taxis and bus drivers want to attract business to their vehicle.

At the orientation we met about 20 other volunteers from all over the world.

We then paid 1 sol cincuenta centimos for a bus to Pachucutek which is where the schools and baby houses are that we will be helping out in. Keep posted for pictures. We're going back tomorrow. It's beautiful there, but really poor. The buildings and houses are built on tall hills overlooking the sea.

Good days to you!

Shanna

Permanent foreigner

Where we're headed:


(Thanks for the map, Google)

What we're feeling:

:)

:O

=D

:S

>:{ Conjugating verbs is enough to make me want to pull out my hair. All of it. I wonder how I would look bald.

Enjoy your evening (and the balmy 20 degree weather)!

A Maiden Voyage

This is Sherlock!



To celebrate Sherlock's addition to the family, and maybe more importantly to celebrate Monica's standard driving skills, Sterling, Monica, and I headed up to Lake Cowichan for a night and two blissful days.

It felt so nice to leave all the electronics behind(besides the IPOD... but that's different), and become unconnected for a while.

We painted, had tickle wars, dropped our flashlights in the fire, sang, read our books, took turns with the Shamen stick, swam, taught Sterling how to be a man (it involves not borrowing his sister's flip flops when his bare feet hurt), roasted marshmellows, pepperettes, carrots, chocolate, reese's peanut butter cups, pretzels, tomatoes...

~Free Laundry~

So does she do ANYTHING besides change the colours on her blog?

Yes, she does.

Things like:

-Attend my last ever school-related "thing" for this year (!)
-Drive through downtown Victoria and marvel at the number of uniformed Navy personnel (8000 to be exact).
-Thursday night Sidney Market with a hot chocolate in hand

However, I still can't find a background I like.



Here's a shot from a little while ago (back when it was sweater weather). I wonder who was selling their laundry! Seeing as they chose to discard their sign, it must not have been a booming business.

Estoy muy emocionada!

Here's a little list of the things I am counting...

3 days of practicum left

5 days until school is completely done for the summer

21 days until we get to attend a wedding. (Mr. Sun, please come too.)

22 days until the Hanks and Beck clans collide for a momentous family reunion (or "starwatch"). At the first starwatches way back in the day, everyone would bring their sleeping bags and watch the stars:)

24 days until Monica and I leave the country and become suspended in the air for a little while.

25 days until we arrive in Lima, Peru and meet our host family!

27 days until I start teaching english. Oh dear! Any teaching tips?

44 days until we begin our ascent up towards Machu Pichu

50 days until we arrive in Nicaragua! This country sounds so beautiful! I can't wait.


But who's counting?


And just for a side-note... it's a matter of minutes until I will be resuming a Pirates of the Caribbean Marathon, and that's pretty exiting too. (Captain Jack Sparrow= AMAZING)