Earthquakes, Landslides, Floods and Dancing Horses...

I have now been in Peru for 3 weeks, time really does fly by.
In my last post I talked of my time spent at the school and it has since only gotten harder and better. My students are now more comfortable with me which although is a lovely thing as I receive lots of hugs and stickers, but now they also enjoy asking me to translate lots of things from Spanish to English. I have had to explain numerous amount of times that the children's names will not change in English. It can get tiring but I love their joy at hearing what zapatos is in english (it's shoes).


I have no began work at the orphanage and it is honestly such a blessing. These children have so much joy to share and I have enjoyed getting to know them. I have so far worked with four young girls who enjoy hugs, shouting and hiding my stuff from me. Unlike the school where I am known as Miss Abi or Miss Ingles, here I am known as Tia (Aunty).  Although I am not supposed to be maternal towards these girls but rather be a friend it is so hard as they are the so loving and funny. Please keep these girls in your prayers as they grow up with no parents but rather depending on the workers and God.

The desert 

Last week  was also fortunate enough to travel to the desert for a Peruvian wedding. Although it was lovely the car lacked air conditioning which means my hair went wild, as seen here. It was amazing to experience the culture, food and people as well as their traditions.







Here in Peru we are experiencing an El Nino year. This means the weather is crazy. I was on the 6th floor up when the earthquake chose to strike although in reality it was only a tremor and reached 5 on the richter scale. The unusual rain has caused landslides, floods and crazy waves at the beach seen to the right. Unfortunately this has caused many mission teams in our Church to cancel our trips. So instead of traveling to San Pablo on the 2nd of April for 4 days running a kids club, I will now be running a kids club closer to Trujillo.
I will also be flying out to the jungle on the 9th-27th of April to work with the children out there.






As for the dancing horses, I was taken to the Caballo de Paso to experience true peruvian culture. Although I was asked to dance, I did not.




Sorry for so much writing.
But thank you for reading about my time here.
Chau

Mi primera semana...

My first week...
I honestly love it here and although this week has gone so quickly I feel like I have lived here for years, despite not being fluent in Spanish. Yet. 
I will try and keep this short for your sake. I am currently in Trujillo and am attending a Church, seen on the right. People are really friendly and all greet me with a kiss on the cheek, as is normal here. I'm not sure if I will ever get used to that. The sermons and songs are in Spanish which helps with me picking up the language and thankfully I can roughly understand what is going on.

Grade 1 classroom

I have started my work in the local school, here I teach English as they have a lack of teachers. The english lessons are really amazing and my pupils are the best. I have so far received stickers, an apple and grapes, clearly I am the best teacher ever. I teach the children alongside other teachers and use hilarious songs which often get stuck in my head.

Small playground in the school

I have yet to find out my timetable with the orphanage that I will be working with, but I cannot wait to get involved. 
I cannot believe how blessed I am to be in this beautiful country and I thank everyone who helped me get here.
Until next time...
Chau.