sunday night music

another addition to our pretty perfect sunday night.

our teenage choices in music. personally i think mine is more mature... but im not sure if its a song from high school musical or what.... ... can you guess which was whos choice?

we take turns picking songs to listen to .... and one of thses is ALWAYS jultons favorite to go... okay okay its MY turn to choose the song. hes gets a little too excited. really. but its funny.

a sunday night and a poor poor plant

yesterday was a perfect evening.

going in search of fruit salad... almost desperately... and the 3 spots closest to our home all closed... we ironically ended up eating probably the greasiest salami ham cheese and mayonnaise sub ... which is something i never imagined and the exact opposite of what i left the house wanting... but it all somehow turned out to be just right.

we sought out our blender (which we will finally buy... but didnt last night :) )

and spent enough time watching the guys in the skate park fall and complain and get back up and do it all again. (behind one of the malls theres a skate park where lots of teenagers come to show their skills... last night was pretty entertaining) its kind of becoming a tradition to go watch them. im trying to convince julton that we need to buy a pair of skates for ourselves... maybe go tackle the skate park when most of the skater pros kids arent there. so we dont embarrass ourselves tooo much. but more so that we can skate around the huge park that we live beside. the second option is the one that is making me root for the skates. can you imagine julton and i on skates together? i can, and im laughing everytime i picture it. im not that great, and hes never stepped foot in them. but somehow im thinking it could be something awesome. or awesomelly painful. well, at least julton got his medical degree this year... hope hes not the one that breaks his arm, because i wouldnt know what to do.

speaking of not knowing what to do... in our wedding we had these trees... so the idea of the trees were that people could write wishes on them and hang them there. it was a really interesting and difficult thing to do to get these trees in the wedding. first we ewnt through jamesson, hes got a farm, why not? ....he broke his foot. we tried to go through milton (together with julton) .... that.... almost got milton in a lot of trouble with his neighbor.... then finally gillian and the girls solved the problem... by well... going and buying a couple of trees. haha

well as you can see... one has grown and grown and is doing wonderfully... the other... well... i think its obvious. poor thing. we had to take off all of its dead brown leaves and tiny branches last night. it was pretty sad. we decided that it needed more sunlight, since it was on the other side of the room opposite the other plant and windows. but then we looked at the other plant and realized that although it was growing... its leaves are turning yellow... hmmm

for all of you that are asking us "when when when" about kids... i think its pre-tty obvious that its going to be a while. especially if we cant even take care of our poor plants. i can just see us now... its crying... and "what do i do??" .... "i dont know!!!! does it need more sun??" ...."water???" ahhhh jeje... lots of... "but youre the mom!" .... and... "but youre the doctor!"

i really like weddinggawker.

okay okay okay

so im married. yeah we know that. but i really like to look at all of the photos and the ideas that they have. i think its just a great thing. and something i get lost in. i love photography, might not be so good at it myself, but i love seeing whats out there. especially this picture above. which i found from this site (via weddinggawker). its fun to see all of the different ideas and the ways they come together... styles and colors and angles. i like it. plus it helps me to feel like im up to date on whats going on in the states in style. at least the style of the people that get to be photographed. haha

moo

so a cow showed up at school today.

really, a real cow.

and no one knew it was coming.

in the middle of one of my hardest to keep focused classes.... screams and shrills of laughter and giggles... and "theres a baca!!!!!!"

what?

so we took a break to go see the baby cow that was drinking some baby cow milk from a baby cow bottle.

then we went back to class to work happily ever after. not.

it was really strange no one really knew a cow was going to show up at school today. at least the word didnt get passed around. not just to me (which is normal) but to the homeroom teacher where i was either. apparently the 2 year olds are taking a class trip to one of the students homes tomorrow and the family has a farm. but they arent visiting the farm.

so the farm came a day early to all the little kiddies.

avocadoooo

this one is for you Gillian.

so i love that on our way home from church we can just make a quick stop and buy something like... an avocado... to complete the meal that we are about to make for lunch. theres always a lady (or man) with a stand selling fruit or veggies or drinks or cookies or newspapers... or just about anything. or someone selling stuff from their doorstep... or a man (usually not a woman) walking down the sidewalk with a wheel barrow selling fruit or veggies... or a man (again usually not a woman.. but sometimes...) riding a bicycle rigged cart announcing fruits or bread or fan parts... wait what? yeah, just about anything. so what im saying is. if you are dreaming about avocado in the sermon that you should be listening to, odds are good that you can walk outside and cash in your dream.

sooo a couple sundays ago julton and i were going to make some food and we decided we wanted some avocado. great idea.

so we were walking... passed by a fruit stand that was too busy and stopped to visit a lady that is ALWAY there, on larco near the university. i never see anyone there buying from her. hmmm

should ahve been a clue.

so we stopped and asked how much the avocados were. un sol joven. ok, perfect, now to look for the perfect one for our lunch.... or at least just one thats ripe enough to eat.

julton picks up an avocado.... starts to look it over anndd.....

"dont pick up the avocodoooos"

Julton: "what?"

"don't pick up all the avocados!!!! (angry) pick one up, and if you dont like it put it back!!!"

Julton looks at me and says uhmm how are we supposed to know if its ripe?

me: good question. i dont know.

Julton: ok gracias señora. y chau.

we bought from someone else. someone that let us touch the avocados.

feliz dia!!!!

happy kindergarten day!!!! well today is the celebration of small child education. aka preschool/kindergarten. so, if you are a teacher of a preschooler or kindergartener... feliz dia from peru!

today all of the 4 and 5 year kids went to.... the movies! i was surprised too. they all took off and spent the day at the movies... yesterday some of the kids were excitingly telling me they were going then came the question.... miss juuulie are you going with us?

no.. no im not.

uhhh....

no i didnt go today, i stayed at the school to get caught up on work. im not a homeroom teacher, i float from class to class.... so i guess... i didnt get added into the numbers of the invitees.

bwah bwah bwah

i want a feliz dia too!!!

but its ok i wont cry. i got to catch up on some work for next week, which is just as much fun right? .. yeah i thought so.

i do think its fun though that they do so many activities and fun things with the kids. i support that.

stew that chicken

Estofado de Pollo. Thats what Julton immediately responded with when I asked him what we should have for our Saturday lunch. My first reaction... okay. great! and where do I start... I've made some Peruvian dishes, but never alone. Well I take that back, I made Aji de Gallina at home for Christmas, but thats a different story. That wasn't for my Peruvian husband. That was for my US family that didn't know what it really tasted like.

So what do you do when you want to know the recipe for something you dont know how to make? Well for one thing when its a Peruvian dish, odds are you dont foodgawker it. Because although I love that site, I havent seen that many peruvian dishes. Lots of asian dishes though. hmm. So I googled. And I found a great simple recipe. I really should have called a friend for the recipe. But i tackled this one. I used all of these ingredients in the photo below: (minus the oranges and bananas.... which im noticing we eat as though the last ones ever to exist were produced last month)

(if you want to make a peruvian dish.... by the way its really "chicken stew" in english. its tasty. here are the ingredients... if not... skip the next several lines until the conclusion)

(from what I used to make enough for the two of us)

4 pieces of chicken (thats a lie i used 3 because i eat one and julton two but just for you lets say keep at a nice even 4)...but the recipe called for 8 (how big? your guess is as good as mine)

flour

oil

a tablespoon of minced and minced more garlic (i always use more garlic)

1 cup chopped up onion

2 tablespoons tomato paste (i used some leftover tomato sauce)

2 tablespoons chili powder

1/2 cup peas (fresh)

1/2 cup sliced up carrots

1/2 cup port wine (we didnt have wine so i added more chicken stock)

4 potatoes halved... chunked...however you like but in larger pieces

1 cup of chicken bouillon (or if you dont use wine 1 and a half)

salt

pepper

and of course you need to eat it with rice(white rice cooked with garlic :) )

and we had corn on the cobb with ours too

the recipe called to flour and salt and pepper up the chicken but i forgot the flour part. (i will fill you in on where i remembered that part later)

1- brown the chicken then set aside.

2- throw the garlic onion chili powder and tomato paste or sauce into the same pan you were just using

3- soften those onions up then add the peas carrots and chicken stock and or wine (this is where i remembered that i forgot the flour, so i added it to the stock so that it would thicken the stew) and let that boil for 5 minutes

4- add the potatoes and the chicken then simmer until potatoes are cooked

small intermission: we like the kool aid gillian! :D

the finished product: i was (am) very excited with how things turned out. i feel like i accomplished a little something today. i love to cook, and its exciting to cook something that i havent before and it.... turn out! although i will admit that if you are going to divide the recipe in half you should do that with all the ingredients instead of just the meat like i absentmindedly did today. weve got leftovers. but no meat there. im thinking its got my name and not jultons on it. oohhhh!!! and i added green onions. because ive apparently been on an "add green onions to everything because it makes eeeeverything better!!!" kick. weird. there. now i think you should go make yourself some peruvian food. and if someone says hey you made chicken stew! you say shut your mouth i made estofado de pollo!!!

pollo entero

we recently started buy chicken.... whole chicken. jultons pretty good at cutting it all up.

i stay out of the kitchen for that part.

looks like we will be having some soups.... if you look at the top left square container that has the feet and heart and all that good stuff in it..... hmmmm

espinaca y ajo

today i think i had one of my new favorite lunches. when Julton and i stopped in Wong last night, (we were on a mission for about three things.. bacon, bananas, and more oranges... what more do you need to make a jungle boy feel better when hes sick than orange juice, meat and bananas?... nope, nothing) when i found myself standing in front of the spinach while the bananas were being priced. i still wish i could get a sweet little bag of baby spinach. but im getting used to the mature stuff. i didnt realize i was staring at the spinach until julton walked over and said... add a fourth... lets get some spinach. you see, he doesnt like it. he doesnt like veggies. so im going to conclude that im the more passive one since weve been eating more meat and less veggies recently. but today. today...

i took some linguine.... (contrary to what a friend who married a peruvian told me before we married that "you cant make pasta everyday" weve been eating a lot of pasta. and i didnt even eat that much before... i guess we are just on a pasta kick for a while)

and i fried some bacon... just long enough to be cooked but not crispy

then i took the bacon out and cut it up while i was melting some butter and garlic on the stove (we eat a lot of garlic... a lot.)

i put the bacon back in then i at the last minute added salt pepper and lots of spinach. just long enough that it didnt wilt too much but well, tasted like garlic :)

and it my friends, was delicious. im pretty proud of it.

and i got to enjoy it with some green tea that Gillian sent. i made a whole pitcher. threw in some honey. and let it be happy in the freezer.

awesome lunch for a long day? yes.

semáforo

kids kids kids....

we started a new activity this week. by we i mean the school psychologist and i started a new project. you see... theres this class... and theres me... the english teacher that seems them for 45 minutes of each of their monday through friday school day. and theres the fact that im pretty passive. and theres the fact that well... ive lost my ability to control their ability to spend the class time in a havoc. and i cant yell. i just cant. i tried... for a week... and my voice/throat/garganta was so exhausted and sore that weekend. and i like to enjoy my weekends.

so we started this project. its called the semáforo. semáforo means traffic light. Julton helped me make this poster... where you will see graphics of superman and i think its mr america... to encourage the kids... to be the champion!!! so each day of the week the kids get a chance to :

1) obey the miss de inglés

2) listen to the miss de inglés

3) just be good kids..

and each day at the end of class we take some time to review. i ask each student how they think they did. i ask the rest of the class. i ask the assistant. and i give my own opinion. and based on all of this... the student gets a red green or yellow light on their semáforo for the day. at the end of the week the kid with the most green winssss.

last night Julton helped me again (he really likes doing stuff like this.. he says hes a doctor by day and a jardin teacher at night) to make the surprise for the kids that won. i dont think the picture gives them justice. im pretty proud of them. i was going to give some chocolate too. but i decided to just give the medal a try. see how it went over. and as another teacher pointed out,(who happens to be dutch and says they arent allowed to give out candy at the schools and if a child brings candy to school it gets confiscated)... it gives them something to put on their wall or show to their family and remember that that week they won. i agree. so .. heres this weeks winners! with their, awesome i might add, medals that say #1 ! along with a sticker of their choice.

dont move.... "but youre tickling me!!!"

i was really excited about starting this project... since february when we came up with a tentative plan for the year and i had this idea for the "body" lessons. a lesson lasts 3 weeks. the third week is a project week. so my memory took me back to kindergarten when my teacher had us make life size drawings of ourselves. then on the night when the parents visited the school our life size versions were there sitting in our seats as though we were working. well, i forgot that that class size was... a lot smaller than the number of students that i have. and i dont remember the process. all i remember is the final product. i just vaguely remember these cutouts of us taped to chairs.

well, i was excited. until yesterday when the reality that i have a lot of students set in. i created a lot of work for myself. and a lot of work for my knees and leg muscles whom are really screaming at me today. because you see... i spent yesterday and pretty much today... on the floor crawling around squirming kids trying to trace their outline onto paper. the kids waiting werent satisfied with the game i had them playing... and the ones on the paper... just. wouldnt. sit. still!

the ones that started coloring seemed to be having more fun. well.... some of them. it seems like for some of the kids i just cant find anything that gets them excited. im working on that. ive tried lots and lots of things. and... well im still trying.

ps... today is friday!!!!!!

hes a good worker.... hes aaaalways asking "miss like this?? ..... like this??.... miss am i drawing this like i should???...miss like this???"

also a great worker. he likes to draw but he finishes so quick! and he doesnt do a sloppy job. i like this picture because he looks so content with looking at the drawing of himself.

and well... some of the kids just got distracted.

i still think its a good project. the kids are copying themselves then next week we are going to label lots of stuff. im going to let the kids point out where their head is and toes and all that good stuff, then write (or let me help them, or trace) the words.

its just been a lot of work on me the past couple of days. my legs are killllling me. i feel way older than i am. or wait, im older. ... am i old?

random story: one of the teachers noticed that i was having a little bit of trouble getting up and down off the floor today (the second day of it) and she said i looked tired and asked me if i was pregnant (since anything that happens to me the first thing the girls at the jardin ask is "are you pregnant?" she was so serious. and my reaction was so seriously surprised and scared. why??? why do you think so? you just look tired. ohhh i said .... well.... yes i am... with 70 children. :)

ive got hopes for this project. i hope that the kids enjoy it as much as i have hopes for them too.

mini triunfo beach day

katy and i went to the beach the friday of my vacaciones. we went prepared for.... a wintery blustery day at the beach. what were we greeted with? hello sunshine and girls in bikinis. you would have noticed us because we were the ones in sweaters and scarves. it was still a great, great day. i love that girl. and i love spending time with her. we walked allll over huanchaco. through back allies and around streets we probably shouldnt have gone down. but it was fun and we got some good pictures. we knocked on several doors to see apartments that were being rented (just for fun...?) but i think everyone was out to lunch because no one opened the door. that or no one in huanchaco would want to rent to us. we ate some great veggie saltado. we ate too much ice cream (mini triunfos). we sweated. we wanted to just get in the ocean but didnt. we went onto the not so safe areas of the dock where only the serious (?) fishers go. we layed on the beach talking and talking and talking under clouds and sun. then were nearly swept into the ocean when the tide came in. and when i say it came in i mean it came up a small mountain of sand the reach us (we werent sitting right in front of the ocean) and it surrounded us by a few feet... but didnt touch anyone else. so we had to ride back home on the bus in wet clothes anyway. wet sweaters. eh.

still. beautiful day. very beautiful day.

ps. my face was a red as a tomato as julton pointed out to me, when i got home. i completely didnt think about sunscreen. i mean it was so red people in the street stared at me as i waslked past them. at night.

a sickie and a soup.

julton and i pretty much have the same schedule, as far as leaving work at the same time. its nice. but recently he started work later a few times a week. which is ok, i end up staying at work longer thus being more efficient. because no matter how hard i try once i get home its either sleep eat or internet no matter how many things i have to glue cut or create for the kids.

yesterday was one of those days. i was just getting into the mindset of trucking on through some work when my phone rang.

in a small voice "im sick"

so i gave a raincheck to the whole staying at work later idea and went home. and he was really sick. i walked in the door, sat down next to him. "im sick" is pretty much all i got. oh except for, do you think you can make some of your chicken soup?

now lets stop right there and focus on that for a second. chicken soup.

okay.

now let me take you back through some memories of ... oh the entire time ive known julton. whome has been convinced that when someone from the states gets sick they think that drinking water and eating chicken soup is going to cure them. he thinks that because anytime i have a migraine or am otherwise sick, i stock up on water and usually want soup. actually one of jultons first memories of me is of me (with a migraine mountain in my head) refusing to take pills (i dont like to take them... and im stubborn about it) and downing a 2 liter of water. from the 2 liter bottle. that image stuck with him.

so i just think its funny that now that hes sick hes asking for chicken soup. hmmm.

so i made him some soup. and i squeezed some orange juice. since we dont have an orange squeezer and i just rung the life out of the orange peels with my hands i hope that gets some points somewhere :)

im actually really excited about the soup though. before i moved to peru i had no idea how to make soup. actually i hsould say before i lived with gillian in sonias house i had never made soup. gillian taught me her ways. (usually because i was with migraine and she was making soup for me) and since gillian is in the states and im married... well... shes not around to make the soup. so ive been experimenting. leave the bones? take out the bones? do you really want to use celery? because you know you hate celery even if they say it "adds flavor" is using chicken powder concentrate (is it even chicken?) cheating? what if you use chicken and the chicken packet? well lots of questions like that fly through my mind when im thinking about making soup.

but yesterday was a success. so much a success that we ate it (happily) again today. (as an entrada for lunch)

so basically i threw together chicken (with the bones... ooo) red onion garlic salt and pepper and i did end up using the chicken packet. some kidney beans some chick peas. some corn. some green onion some cabbage. a veggie here thats kind of like pumpkin or squash. and some rice. i think thats all.

and it was great.

and im convinced that it was great because i DIDNT use celery.

so we ate soup.... then like a normal sick day when the tablets he was taking werent working very well.... i hopped on down to the farmacy to get a needle and some liquid injection. julton taught me how to give an injection (ive actually done it once before -sorry gillian) but it was still hard. he didnt tell me that the med in the needle was going to hurt. so after i was giving him the injection and he was saying take it out take it out it hurts it hurts it hurts!!!!!!!! loud enough for our neiighbors to be a part of our experience. i was scared to death that i had put the injection in the wrong place and he was never going to be able to walk again. (yep for some reason my mind jumps that far.. worst case scenario) but he was okay.

doctors dont take medicine very well.

but no worries hes (starting) to feel better today.

parque

i remember parks.

the kind of parks where you can just go lay out in the grass with or without a blanket if you desire and not worry about the thought of dog doody but instead you just sit down without hesitation. you know, the kind of park where there are so many different kinds of people. the runners. the walkers. the passerbyers. the kids throwing rocks bread at the ducks. where there are couples hanging out but not making out. where there are friends making memories. someone getting away to read a book. someone taking pictures. the sun setting. enough grass to run and roll in. and no one really watching you like you are weird for sitting on the grass or doing whatever it is that you are doing. blowing bubbles. playing badminton. eating a packed up lunch of pbandj or pbandnutella...or a burrito from moes.

the parks are one of the things that i miss, and that i feel i can safely/honestly recognize that i miss. sometimes i feel a little shy to admit that i miss something. i dont want to make myself feel like i dont like what i have here. because there are so many things that i love/ cant/wont find in the states.

but parks? i miss em.

one of my favorite memories from college is from one sunday. i was restless. i got went through the routine. i got in the car and i drove to the church. then i just sat in the parking lot. after sitting there a few minutes... i put the car in reverse and made it back home to grab a blanket. one of my favorites i might add. and i spent the day driving worshipping listening and praying in my car. alone. it was welll, so what i needed. i finished the day at one of the parks with my blanket and my bible. and to this day its still recorded in my memory as one of my best sundays spent.

back to school

yet another event that i dont have pictures for. and the ironc thing is... that i paused momentarily in the doorway, on my way out the door to school this morning. (that sounds weird for me, sounds like i am back in school...) i paused and thought about running back in to get my camera. but then hurried my way out without going back in, thinking that nah, today is just the first day back after vacation... the kids are going to be cranky to be back in class, and i dont really feel like taking pictures of cranky kids today.

so i didnt take it.

but today wasnt just a normal back to school day.

the 13th the catholic church celebrated the virgin mary. according to wikipedia the 13th of may is celebrated because it was the first day of many consecutive that the virgin was seen in Portugal at Fatima. We have a street (and i have a student) named Fatima. there was a celebration there also. But today although the 17th and not the 13th, (because we were all on vacation on the 13th) all of the 4 and 5 year olds took a trip to a local church to pray and sing songs to Mary.

i went along with everyone to see what was going on. i didnt really know to begin with. all i knew was that a couple of my english classes had been cancelled for a trip... so well.. i wanted to go on the trip! so i piled in a taxi with two other teachers and 8 children (thats when you choose your "favorite" class... when you have to get in a cramped taxi with a couple kids on your lap) and we went a few blocks to a small church actually near my house, that i didnt even know existed. they say it used to be a mormon church, i dont really know the story there, but it didnt really look like a catholic church. but we went in, the kids sang songs, told the virgin mary that they wanted to behave better or to bless their parents, laid some flowers by her statue then we filed back into our taxis and went back to school.

i was more an observer since ive never been in a catholic celebration. watching how the kids were acting, and seeing which teachers were really into it and which were just following the motions.

in the end one of the teachers said "blow a kiss to the virgin mary"... pause... then quickly added "and to Jesus"

black cherry kool-aid.

hello small packet of concentrated juice and or hair dye, whichever road you might choose.

Gillian sent us a package and it had kool-aid in it! kool-aid is actually something that i never really thought about missing. but once we had it and we were drinking it for lunch i realized that i did. we don't really have things like that here in peru. its more common to get a natural fresh made juice. which are great, but every now and then its nice to have something so instant. :)

chili

chili?

accomplished.

ive been pretty addicted to food gawker since gillian introduced me to it some time ago. and as i was scanning the recipes the other day i found a chili recipe that caught my eye. since ive been eating meat and cooking a lot of it recently i figured that chili was probably a pretty safe way to go for the husband that doesnt so much as smell very many veggies.

and im pretty content with the success. im always a little nervous to sit down and eat something with julton that new for him and something we eat in the states but is hard to describe to him. he thought we were going to eat some soup :) jeje

i had to change up her recipe a little bit because i dont have the ingredients here. i boiled down some fresh tomatoes instead of finding canned ones. and i used an aji instead of jalepeño. and doubled up on the spices because i dont have hot sauce. but it was great! and julton was content with the soup thats not a soup! :) we ate ours with baby avocados that a friend gave me this week ("theyre like butter" she said) they didnt even have seeds. and i added cilantro but julton snarles at anything green. aaaand we had sour cream!!! thanks to the recipe allen bradford shared with me i finally made some sour cream!

and of course, because we are in Peru... we couldnt skip the rice, so we piled the chili on top. :)

mani

remember how i said that i was going to go this week to visit people that probably thought i was in the states because they hadn't seen me in so long? well, i accomplished my goal.

i went to visit my friend cindy and her family this week. i met cindy because her family owns the jungle food restaurant where i used to go more than frequently to have lunch. over time we just became friends. im not really sure how it happen, but after time i started spending more and more time there with the family instead of just for lunch. if you will remember my experience with the cow tongue? its the same family.

this week cindy and i planned to make some peanut butter cookies and no bake cookies. some cookies i have gifted her and she has been craving them since haha.

after going to the store to stock up on what we needed... we realized that tottus didnt have any peanut butter. pucha. if you know anything about those two recipes you know that peanut butter is essential. cindy looked at me and said well... do you know how to make anything else? and i said well... yes.... but... without a recipe? we'd better not. so whats the next logical step?

thank you betty crocker for your prepackaged chocolate chip muffins and for them being in Peru. its convenience won for the day. so we packed up on the bags of instant muffin mix :D and off to huanchaco (where they have a home, i visited before where they make all their delicious juanes) with her mom the nanny and fernanda her beautiful baby girl.

cindy and her baby girl

AND at one mention of peanut butter, her mom pulled out a bag of peanuts and taught me how to make my own peanut butter! that could have been the best part. its so easy i had no idea. cindys mom offered to let me come over whenever i wanted to use the molino to make my own peanut butter. the weird thing? (at first) after we grinded all the peanuts, i found her throwing in some garlic... umm... garlic i asked? "yep, it helps the peanut fat pass through your body" ..."oh.... okay" i was more than curious and a little confused at first... but it didnt change the flavor much at all. it was thicker than what i'm used to but cindys mom eagerly explained that its because the peanut butter i am used to has been blended with oil and thats why its so creamy. hmmm who knew.

the toasting

the grinding

so... looks like there is a molino in our future. what would be funny is if we buy that before we buy a blender. well, i would be happy with either one because either one will grind the bags of coffee that are just looking at me begging to be consumed! (African Bliss)

our lonche for the night. fresh mantequilla de mani and herba luisa tea. fresh from their garden. i went home with a whole bag of goodies from that visit.

payin the lights

when we pay our electricity bill on time, we get a happy face and a thank you. i think more businesses should employ that positive reinforcement :)

"...Because greater is He who is in you

Than he who is in the world"

a flutist

one of our neighbors practices his flute everyday. well what i thought was every afternoon at about 3. because right about that time everyday we could hear the sound of the same song floating up the side of the building through our windows.

today i figured out its not just at 3. since im not at school today, ive heard that its actually quite often throughout the day. and he/she does know more than one song. actually he knows peru's national anthem pretty well.

makes you wonder, how old is he/she? and why do they play a flute ALL day long. and why do they play specific songs at specific hours?

a couple weeks ago giacamo (who is 12) asked us if we knew all the people in our building yet. he asked us like it was the smallest thing in the world to accomplish and why hadn't we done it already? the innocence in the voice of his question kept us both pretty quiet. today im thinking maybe we should be getting to know our neighbors.

happy mothers day!

i love you mommy

today was a day that i wished that i had taken my camera to work. that always happens. i used to say i wanted a fanny pack so that i could safely keep my camera with me at all times. dont laugh- fanny packs are actually quite popular here, and not just with tourists. street vendors keep their money in them and emo kids keep their... well, whatever they keep in them.

well i havent committed to the fanny pack idea yet, and as i was walking out the door i almost caught the thought in the back of my mind about going back inside for my camera. but... since the time was already closing in on 7:30 (the time i need to be in the computer system at work) i decided to keep walking towards the street.

today wasn't a normal day. there was no line of parents or maids dropping off children in line as i went into the building... actually it was quite calm and quiet. today the kids didn't have school, they started their day early for their week of vacation. but today, since its the friday before mothers day, the school arranged a special day for the kids and their moms to participate in at a local business. a local business, which i found out today is actually a scrap booking house. i had no idea scrap booking had made it to Peru. and i had no idea it had arrived right down the street from my house which is where the day was held. the kids and their moms got to make scrap book style stuff, get a lesson in cooking together, and for the girls get face paint, or manicures. it was lots of interesting fun, and lots of fun for us as teachers to be able to watch the kids with their moms instead of being busy keeping everyone in line. we got to take a turn watching the parents do that.

it was really interesting for me to watch how the parents interacted with their kids. which ones gave attention to their child, which worked on a project together with the child and which just said no no theres no time just wait and watch, while they finished it. the parents that had more patience with their kids and worked on projects together are the parents of the children who are more calm and obedient in school. at least thats what ive noticed.

well i didn't take my camera, which i should have done. but i do have a video from a class practicing their song. "i love you mommy" which they practiced and practiced for two weeks amongst other mothers day activities and crafts so that they could present their songs to the mothers today. sorry if the video isnt very clear!

so, happy happy friday to everyone. and happy beginning of vacation to meee!

kenedy gets a jacket

literally.

kenedy is a good friend of ours that moved to trujillo this year from moyobamba to study to be a dentist. hes a good kid. i say kid because hes 16. they start em young here. (in college)

a couple nights ago was his... well i dont know the word for it but let me explain it for you. dentists and doctors, and probably anyone medical that eventually wears a white coat, has a ceremony where they receive their jacket. and they have the tradition that the father/mother presents the jacket and literally puts it on the student. kenedy asked julton to come to the ceremony, since his dad is in moyobamba.

proud "parents"

julton and kenedy... usually dont smile for pictures.

...except for when you get them laughing hysterically at something then get them both to magically look at the camera and voila!

they looked at that picture and worriedly said "but theres too much teeth!"

eh. boys.

celulas

our church has been having meetings every wednesday for... well im not sure how long but sufficiently long enough to say long :) preparing potential leaders to open up cell groups in the homes of different people from the church in different areas of the city. three sundays ago we had our official first sunday meeting. in six different houses in trujillo a group gets together to talk about God, read the Bible, and get to know each other better. hopefully with time the groups will grow and include neighborhood friends too. this is our group, minus two. julton is helping to lead the group along with another leader, through song and discussion. and our group has been meeting in our apartment. its been fun having it at our house and im really happy that we have something we can offer. we felt really blessed to be able to have the apartment we are in, and now its more of a blessing that the cell group can meet there with us!

you just might be asking yourself right now the question: what is that? why is Julie posting sandwiches on her blog?

no, i'm not opening a deli.

that my friends is my photographic expression of what i have been dreaming of this week. my dream became my reality for lunch today. oh so so good.

B L T...A

i suppose this is my proof that i still eat/want to eat meat even when im not eating with Julton. I've been giving him a hard time that I havent eaten enough vegetables since we got married because hes mr carnivore. well, theres bacon but there are also three more vegetables on that plate than i normally eat. if you call avocado a vegetable. i can completely and honestly say that my working at the jardin all day inspired hunger was satisfied by this sandwich in a big sigh of contentment from the first bite.

im also officially apologizing for taking so long to post again. its been awhile. ive been busy.. had fun too but been very busy with my work. my work has been a rollercoaster on my emotions lately. i had to send more notes home. its really only two classes that stress me out. i try to tell myself that they are just kids, and just let it go if you dont get the lesson done. but yesterday we only got through the first 5 minutes, in a 45 minute class. and i was ready to cry by the time i left. but im working on my stern look and my serious voice and the psychologist is helping me (and the teacher of their class thats with them all the time) to work out a strategy to get them to behave better. updates soon. but not for a while because the week coming is vacation week!!!

i plan to celebrate by visiting friends (some that live only a few blocks away) whom probably think that julton and i packed up and went to the states because they havent heard from us. im pretty excited!!!

we also just recently celebrated two birthdays from the family of the padrinos of our wedding. well, we didnt get to stay long enough to see the show of mateos one year celebration. but we were there long enough to see all the colorful decorations and see lots of grinning kids, and a smiling mateo. they said he was laughing dancing and running around everywhere with his presents. then a few days later we went to celebrate ronalds birthday with them. when i asked him how he felt. he said "old"! im so busy with 8 jobs, 4 kids, a busy life. but im so happy. im so blessed. the serranos are awesome an i am positive that there is no one on this earth that would tell you otherwise. im pretty stoked that we are neighbors!

elsie... is one of my awesome three year students... and was the flower girl in our wedding.

and mateo? mateo was walking at 11 months. and taking down a trampoline at 12.

and thats just two of their kids. need i say more?