Trying new things and taking up old things

I have made my post early this week as I am going galavanting around Ecuador tomorrow with a friend. I will be away for 10 days and when I come back on the Sunday, I will be celebrating my birthday the following day.  Despite the lack of time since my last post, I still have quite a bit to say!

On Saturday, the school celebrated 'Olimpiadas' which basically consisted of very proud parents in the colours of the four houses, including face paint, shouting and screaming in response to their children marching across the field.  I was part of Tagaste (red team) so I obviously expressed my enthusiasm with as much red as I could find (minus the face paint).  It was a lot of fun, even if we didn't win the dance off.  We then went to a market where I bought a little llama keyring (a must for Peru) called Toledo after my family and an alpaca scarf (also a must for Peru).  This was shortly followed by the ever famous Peruvian dish chicken and chips.  It filled me up sufficiently until my meal later than evening.  Our Volunteach coordinator in Chiclayo took me and the other assistant, Sophie, for a meal with her husband.  We went for Chifa which was (of course) wonderful before dropping into my bed at around 11pm.

The following day, I went quad-biking with the family down the beach.  I even had a little go myself of driving, although only briefly because I got scared.  Now, being here, although beautiful to me, does have its letdowns. For example, as it is winter here (winter my arse, they think it is cold and I am nearly ready to get in my bikini and put on my shades) the beach is quite empty and not used as often by the inhabitants. For this reason, anything that comes in from the sea is not moved from the beach until I don't know when.  So I felt a bit sad when I came across two seals and a dolphin washed up on the beach.  This is a sad sight to see and I hope that I don't have to see it again. But unfortunately, these things happen and the time and place of these events means that people don't just wonder upon them to help. But let us move on from that sad bit with a bit of happy news - I did see a seal! He was chilling on the beach when we drove past and I made my family stop the car so that I could literally freak out at seeing a seal in the wild.  It was great! - There you go, a little more happiness to smooth over the sad bit.

I have also now officially tried Ceviche, a traditional Peruvian fish dish.  I am, of course, very happy about this even though it has taken me 2 weeks. B
etter late than never.

The work at the school had been very much the same. Although I have discovered that stickers make you EVEN MORE POPULAR.  This week, the school is celebrating the anniversary of their Saint San Agustin.  So far, I have been a judge for a spelling bee, a play and I have been the referee of a singing contest which consisted of listening to the song and sprinting at my hand to hit it as hard as you can first so that your group could sing the rest of the song and win. Being asked to help in every contest can be tiring so lunch is always welcomed afterwards.  A new addition to my plate this week consisted of a fruit which looks on the inside particularly unappatizing but is surprisingly good! I am afraid I can't remember it's name but apparently it can only be found in Peru - sorry.

I also found my voice again a little this week.  I haven't sang in years and my youngest was practising for a contest so we had a little sing song of 'I'm Yours' which then turned into an hour of finding songs on youtube and singing into a mic on the landing.  It was a lot of fun and reminded me of how much I love it.  Oscar, my second, also tried to teach me guitar - yeah I don't see that working out.

To end,  I won't be writing a post next week unless I find times during my travels.  But I am will have LOTS to discuss when I return, hopefully.

Until then, Chau!

Oh and one more thing, GOOD LUCK TO MY SISTER GETTING HER GCSE RESULTS TOMORROW (24/08/17) you will be amazing - love you longtime x