The Daily Grind

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Haven't been on this in a few days. The last post I think was before the weekend. Joe and I were basically begging for something to do on Saturday. We ended up heading to the railroad tracks and played some basketball. Going back to play some basketball, I thought we would find something to do for sure. It was all soccer out there, though. We just popped on the Packer game, which was nice to see, a little return to the land of where we came from. The rest of the day was pretty low-key, a few glasses of rum and coke to pass the time and some netflix movies. It is pretty relaxing to have nothing to do on the weekends though, so don't think I am completely depressed about it.

On Sunday we got our fair share of walking and sight-seeing. We went to a different part of town to grab some chicharonnes, which is some type of pork. We ordered up about 2.2 pounds for the five of us, it was pretty decent and the people here just eat about 5 times the food Americans do, pretty much every one here is a tad on the porky side. I am not talking about what type of food they prefer, more about the shape of their bodies. Arturo and his wife took us to the zoo, it was children's day, which meant that it was overflowing with little gremlins that walk about half the speed of a normal person. I kid you not, you could go about 10 seconds without running into someone. We stayed there for about 5 or 6 hours and got our walking in for the week. We stopped at a mall after, one of the nicest in all of Lima. Filled with stores like Tommy Hilfiger, Kenneth Cole, all big time, expensive stores. Like America all over again! 😊 Eventually I will stop constantly comparing things to America, but for now I will fit the materialistic American stereo-type!

The hospitality of the people from Daniel's family is really great. That is probably the best thing that we have going for us down here. We can rely on them to help us out with anything we need. On Sunday, we went to two nice restaurants and went out for some delicious ice cream after. They always are working to make us feel comfortable with whatever situation. Without them, the trip would be a whole different and probably tip the scales towards it being more negative than positive.

The beginning of this week was a little bit hectic, we are getting all the students ready for the big trimester exams. The school year down here is divided into 3 trimesters. Each trimester consists of 9 weeks, with 1 week after of review, and then 2 weeks of exams. The students don't really pay much attention during the finals week and that is when you need them to be the most focused. So after this one week of hecticness, we have about 2 weeks of light work. Plus, Tuesday is the worst day of the week. I have to keep the 4th graders attention for 3 hours straight, before I have 4 more classes in a row, but it is over and it is all downhill now.

The naps that are taken here after the long Tuesdays are second to none, I am sure my mother would be proud of my napping prowess. This weekend will probably be surfing, something to look forward too! Then there will probably be something to do on Sunday too! I'll write again sometime later this week!

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