OK, so I am on such a high right now. I don´t think I have been this full of energy since I´ve been here! Jackie, Kira, and I went to the Old Folks Home today because our schools are just too messed up with their schedules. I thought it would be cool to see something different, but I had no idea how amazing it would be. And I probably won´t even be able to express why it was so amazing in words. This place was the cleanest, most beautiful place I have seen in Peru. It is set right off a main, busy, dirty street. But inside it is quiet, peaceful, and clean. It is ran by some of the nicest nuns you could ever meet. For the most part it is segregated by sex. Men ... read more

So I broke the first rule of traveling, I let the outside world affect my trip. I come to these developing countries to balance my life as much as to help the people here. These trips make me put my own life into perspective, and make me realize that the little things that get me down are really no big deal. But somehow yesterday I lost sight of all that. I let the combination of a few events overwhelm my emotions. Events that were really no big deal. I thank everyone for their comments, and the people I spoke with yesterday for listening to me. Thanks for putting me in check! Today, things are much better. I am back in Lima, and will be heading back to Ayacucho in the morning for an extra week of ... read more

Tonight is my last night in Ayacucho. Well, that is IF my flights all go as planned. I ended up having a problem with my return flights being canceled on me, but I think I have it worked out. If anyone ever decides to book travel on Travelocity or Yahoo Travel, please reconsider! So this last week has been exciting, but not very productive. It has been extremely hard to achieve any progress with the students, or with anyone else in the community. Today is their Independence Day, but the celebrations have been going on throughout the week. There was no school today and most businesses were closed. We went down to the main Plaza for the celebrations today and it was pretty out-of-hand. Guns being shot in the air, cannons going off, and police trying ... read more

I had one of the best weekends of my life this weekend, along with some of the worst experiences. And to top it off, I am hurt, and might have to go to the doctor here :-( So I guess I¨ll start from the beginning. We left at 10:00pm on Friday night to drive to Paracas. There were 11 of us, plus a guide, his sister, and the driver. So 14 total, in a tiny van. We all thought it would be smart to take sleeping aids for the 6 hour drive, so we could just fall asleep and wake up at the hotel in Paracas. I even decided a couple glasses of wine with my new friends Jennifer and Eden would help me sleep even better. What we didn´t take into consideration was that this ... read more

So today is Friday, and you could tell by how excited the kids were today. I don´t know why it´s such an exciting thing for them, being that they took yesterday off of school because there was a soccer game in town. Even though they were so excited about the weekend, we still have a great English lesson today. Yesterday I went to a few different placement s (since my kids were at soccer). It was nice to get around the town more and see what the other volunteers were doing. I now walk everywhere, instead of taking the bus. You get to see so much more and interact with the people that way. So, if you can´t tell, I am pretty beat and don´t have a whole lot to say today. But I leave tonight ... read more