What I've been up to!

"Hola! Como estas? Bien, bien! Yo soy le nueve Professora de Ingles! Much gusto!! Chow!" That there ladies and gentleman is my Spanish vocabulary. Thank you, thank you! Ok, I know like five more words than that, but I'm getting along ok with that. Today I looked outside the school on the posters they have out, and there was my face plastered on an 8X11 piece of paper, with bright colors and balloons saying welcome our new English teacher with a little bio! Wow...Now I'll be famous in Peru!! ;) But let's see, a lot has happened since my last email...three days ago, no? (even though I don't know Spanish, I feel like I'm starting to think in Spanish kind of, like how they would talk) So I went to church on Sunday and it was moui bueno! I helped pass out the programs, which was the perfect job for me because it only required saying "Bueunos Dias, programma?" Oh! And Peruvians ALWAYS give a kiss on the cheek when they say hello. So if when I come home and I do that to you, don't be alarmed! I'm sure it's going to become a habit. I really like it though! It instantly melts any kind of barriers and I automatically feel more comfortable with the person. We do it with the kids at school too. Its cute :) During the announcements they said my name and the counselor motioned to me to stand up, so I did and looked around a little and sat down. No idea what he said about me. I think the talks were good. I couldn’t understand them, but the people who gave them were very animated! I like singing, because you just have to say one syllable at a time pretty much, and it doesn’t require you knowing what you’re saying! As soon as I sat down, the elders motioned me out of the classroom. One of them is American and told me I was going to go to Gospel Principles with them. Ok? We sat down in that class and the teacher asked me (Translated by the Elder) if this was my first time in the church and I said no, I’ve been a member my whole life. Both Elders stared at me and said really? Apparently they introduced me over the pulpit as an investigator. Hahaha!!Some favorites from the day : Tito (man, who speaks un poquito English.), Diego (Sunday School teacher who has lived in the US and went to BYU Idaho before his mission and speaks very good English- hallelujah!) Margaret (sp?) (doesn't speak a lick of English but kept having me sit by her in the meetings, very very nice!) (P.S. I have to hear people's names like three times before I actually remember them, well any name really, its terrible.) and Cyrielle (26-ish woman who is married and has a little girl. She speaks a little English and said she wants to cook me Thanksgiving dinner since I won't be going home :) )(P.S. People in Peru don't really wear wedding rings, I guess because they could get stolen?) Juan Carlos took me out to eat Sunday, and I didn't want to be like oh, no. I don't like to eat at Restaurants on Sunday to a Bishop! SO I figured it was more respectful to just go with the flow. He also ordered take out chicken and fries for dinner, oy! The wife was out of town and just got back yesterday, so maybe that's why? I REALLY REALLY like the wife, Gabrielle! She is SOOO nice!! Love love love her! but I'll get to that later... (p.s. sorry this is so long, skim as you will! It just feels good to talk/type in English and have people actually know what I'm saying without repeating it three times! ;) )
So Monday was my first full day of school and I was in Miss Jenny's ("Mees Yenny") classroom all day. All the teachers a girls, and they are all very nice! Tabatha (ta-bat-a) is the name of one of the girls (she always wears the cutest panda beanie!!) . She loves me, and wanted me to sit by her all day! She’s adorable, but the girl takes ten hours to do anything! At lunch she wasn’t finished with her writing, and she kept saying she was hungry, so I figured she would speed up once she got her food. Oh no. She took forever to eat her lunch too. Tiny little bites five minutes apart. So that meant she didn’t get to run around and play, which wasn’t exactly a problem because it’s not like she had any extra wiggles or anything. At one point in the day, she and danielle were trying to teach me Spanish! It was so cute and fun! I could have done that all day! It was kind of like playing charades, only I didn’t even know how to say the words they wanted me to guess. But still fun. In the morning the class went to “robotics” which is a class where they build stuff with legos I guess. It was pretty much sheer pandemonium though. Kids screaming, throwing legos, the teacher yelling to get their attention. Crazy. Good idea in theory, even though the teacher went around and pretty much built every group’s car. When lunch time came around, I began to wonder if Juan Carlos (dad) was going to come get me and take me home for lunch or if he forgot about me. Miss Jenny asked if I had a lunch, and I told her I didn’t so she gave me a piece of cake for lunch! SOOOO nice of her! Later, Miss Sylvia brought me a lunch, which I downed half of and got back to class. I also used the bathroom at the school for the first time. I guess the adults just use the same one as the kids, but again, I’m like a foot taller than the stalls, so I was like ducking while I went to the bathroom. I’m not sure if this is a Peruvian school thing, or just this school, but you have to get the toilet paper before you go into the stall- luckily I remembered before I went in! However, I did go into the boys bathroom first. I’d say that was a successful experience!

After Gabrielle (the mom) got home, some arrangements were made for dinner, which I didn’t quite understand.( I wish I understood Spanish, have I said that recently?) However, it entailed Juan Carlos dropping Clara (Gabrielle's mom) and I off at a restaurant (Lalena- I remembered a name finally!!), leaving me, just me, to eat while he went and took an exam, and Clara and I walk home when I finished. I wish I could have intervened! I would have been perfectly content to eat at home!! But, out we went, Clara and I sitting there, neither of us completely understanding each other. But I had fettuccini alfredo with chicha morada. The drink made of black corn. While I was eating I just had to laugh at the situation. I never would have imagined it in my wildest dreams- in Peru eating Italian food with a 70 year old Peruvian (well technically Colombian, but whatever) woman.

Today, tuesday, was another full day of school in Miss Jenny's class. The first half of the day was ok, but I felt like I was just kind of in the way. But the second half of the day I was helping kids right and left ( "Mees Kayte Mees Kayt!") and I even taught a segment of the class (English!)! The kids are also putting on a play in English so I helped them memorize their lines and then we went up on the roof and practiced. Some of the kids learned a dance too, and I laughed out loud. Literally, when the music they turned on was from the sister act. Like straight from the soundtrack! hahahahahahaha! It seriously made my day!!
This is the song the kids are dancing to, in case you were wondering! :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3ZbdgDKfbI
The script is in broken English, but its so cute to hear the kids say their lines, most of which are unintelligible. (They are in first grade and don't know as much English as the older kids) One little boy, Jose Ignacio, was obssessed with my watch today and was always running around the classroom and misbehaving and then calling for me. Oy! He's a trouble maker for sure. Oh, and Tuesday is Karate and Ballet day. All the boys go to Karate for an hour, and all the girls go to ballet. ("ball- et" :) ) I went upstairs (there are four stories! talk about stairs!!) and watched the girls for a bit and they all came to the window and would wave at me, even the ones who never talk to me in class, but they are still so excited to see me! They are SOSOSOSO cute! I could eat them up! They all changed into their leotards and tutu's behind the teacher's desk, and all the boys sat at the other end of the class room :) A lot of the things they do here would never fly in U.S. schools but I like it. Like you can be way more affectionate with the kids- giving them hugs and such here! And at the end of the day, they brush all of the kids' hair (with the same brush...) and redo their hair so they're more presentable I guess. I go back and forth every day, every hourr really, on whether I would want to teach as my profession. We'll have to see what three months of this does to me :) When I got home from school I asked Gabrielle if they had wireless internet and she said yes!! So hopefully I'll be able to keep a better corespondence now!!