a graduation.

this week life around our apartment has been a little livelier. usually its just julton and i with our schedules and coming and going, his sisters also live in the same building with their own busy schedule between classes and their internship. and we don't really see much of one another. for a while we tried to schedule a weekly dinner, but it didn't really stick, its been difficult to coordinate all of us. but this week... this week has been so different and a refreshing change. this week Julton's sisters graduated!

Although they will finish their internships later this year, they had their formal graduation this week! Both of them are now lawyers and considering what's going to be in their near future. To stay here, to go back home, to move to another city...

But for now, the family is in town :) Their grandmother and grandfather have been here this week along with their father, and their mother will be here later in the week. I have been excited that they are visiting. Especially the grandparents  (i think theres a soft spot in my heart for grandparents :D ) At almost any given hour of the day Julton's granmother or grandfather or both will be standing in the window taking in what's going on in the street outside. And we get a huge smile as we are walking toward home and they recognize us. I'm also loving that when i come home from a morning of teaching, walk in the door considering my options for lunch (often times Julton works later at the clinic and eats out there) and Julton's grandmother sticks her head out the window to tell me to come on in for lunch. Yuuum. Juanes... cecina... bananas... Ants... A dish i'm not sure the name of but quite tasty, ... and Inchicapi (spelling im not sure of) the latter mentioned being probably my favorite peruvian food ever. Its a soup made with peanuts cilantro chicken and cornmeal, we ate it with rice and yuca and of course more bananas and of course ants on the side. everytime i think we must have eaten all the ants that they brought, more come from somewhere... they must have brought a whole suitcase full! But the soup is my most favorite thing. Its delicious. and although i wasn't able to be there to see how its made yesterday, I'm supposed to get a tutorial today :) 

It's been so fun having their family visit. Julton's grandmother is precious. She laughs and laughs at everything and is just a genuinely happy person. Even if no one else is laughing with her, she keeps it up. I'm also excited because this week, it's almost as though we have passed by the awkwardness/newness of "you're new to our family/I'm new to your family" into "a part of the family". 

english inglish ingleesh

i ran across this fun video while looking for some stuff for my classes... hehehe


speaking of my classes.... 


i never really thought about the way i pronounce some words, or if i have a specific accent. actually, i don't really know if my accent is southern, northern, a mix of both or just something in its own. but... i am now very well aware of the way i pronounce dirty. take a second to pronounce that word. and remember how you do it. now... imagine a student of mine... whom i believe is the first i have ever had with such a serious intent on replicating my pronunciation. usually my students listen to me pronounce the word then pronounce it their own way anyway. but... my fantastic student... trying to mimic me pronounce dirty... and with his own accent... said "deerrdee". hehehe. do you pronounce the t or is it more like a d? because for me its a d sound.... and for my student.. well..  its something similar. 


and... i would like to share that i have been officially compared to Princess Diana. I have no idea where that came from but as in another class we were talking about introverts and extroverts, i asked my student to describe me and he responded with... you are more introverted... but kind like the Diana Princess. 


There you have it, I have the manners of a princess. :D

celula update

remember when I talked about our cell group? well, here we are again to talk about how we've changed/grown. 

Our cell groups started meeting around April I believe... and between then and now... we've moved/grown/changed over and over. We meet on Sunday nights and sing/pray/have a study over scripture together/and also a time of fellowship. This past weekend we decided to have a movie night, to boost fellowship and also have an opportunity to invite friends that we have invited in the past but might be more likely to come spend time with us over a movie. It was so much fun. We ate stove popped popcorn and enjoyed the movie the blind side. At first I was a little nervous we were going to loose the kids attention through the movie... but when a football scene came up they were right there with their nose stuck to the (projected onto a wall) screen. We had a great turnout, and are hoping/praying/looking forward to the group growing to that size on a normal basis!

tapestry that wall.

yet another apartment post... but aren't you so glad that i am posting again? i went on a writers/bloggers/somethingoranothers block for a while. im not saying im making a comeback, but i'm working on it :)


since we moved into this apartment ever few days... that turned into weeks.. we talk about how we would like to do this or that or paint this or put that up. well, a lot of it hasnt really happen. i think it probably would if we could narrow down so many of our thoughts about what we would like, and actually do something about it. im excited to put our own touch on the white/cream/blotchy walls. with paint and photos and color. we are getting there little by little. im okay with that too. ive always rushed to fast into things. julton is so good for me in that he helps me to slow down to make decisions, so that i dont do things so rash/hastily. hes good for me like that. :) also, between his work schedule and mine... we don't have a lot of quality together time. so we havent made a lot of progress in the decorum department. sad. but like i said little by little we are getting there. im content with that. its amazing how different a bathroom looks when you put a fabric curtain up instead of having only a sheer plastic one, complete bathroom revolution. 
and speaking of room revolutions....

we added something to the living room (slash dining room)!!! it dawned on me that i have all these tapestries (most of which we are using for curtains) which have been a big part of my life and living situations for several years... and i thought, whyyy not? when i mentioned to julton that we should put it up on the wall. he looked at me... looked at the wall.. looked at me again, and as he looked at the wall again said "our peruvian flag would probably be better" 


buah buah buahh. 


i convinced him. 


and after he saw it up and covering the wall in all its amazingness, he agreed. although we did go through a hassle to get something to put it up with. the walls are concrete and we didnt want to make holes ( i didnt want to make holes in the tapestry). so one day i went off searching in the center for some... double sided tape. some hardcore double sided tape. the first place i asked, the little old man talked like he knew what i was talking about, didnt have it in his store though, and didnt know what to call it either. the next places... which happen to be a string of shops together in an open air market setting.... (very intimidating, maybe just for me, when you walk in and everyone looks at you to wait for your request... yikes) as i asked if they had the tape that is sticky on both sides... they ALL looked at me like i was from another planet and shook their heads no. i even ventured to ask if they knew what it was called (so that i could stop asking for the tape that is sticky on both sides) and they stared at me blankly. fail. 


but alas we did find it in sodimac. a home improvement store like a lowes or home depot. after a scavengerhunt we found it, in its thin cardboard backing and plastic covered front, with the familiar scotch brand. i m content with that little bit of globalism. 


so, we've got a bit more color around here! and julton thinks our apartment is starting to look hindu. i disagreed and told him we were looking like hippies and he didnt seem to like that either. he said i dont want to be... to which i replied.. well, you married a girl with a hippie heart.. sorry ... (he knew that before) :D

a favorite lunch.

cecina, chorizo, (jungle ham and sausage)... eggs, avocado, cabbage (one of jultons favorite vegetables.... scratch that - jultons ONLY favorite vegetable.. haha, fried bananas, rice and a homemade salsa. 

one of our favorite lunches. 

its a good day when we get a package from moyobamba. it usually means the cecina, choirzo, bananas, peanut butter, peanuts, candies, and while in season.. ants! between his sisters apartment and ours... the whole building has smelled jungly quite a lot recently.. for the ants :)

(again.. sorry for the random fork photo invasion. ... i usually take the picture right before we are about to attack it.... as you can probably imagine that leads to a conversation that goes a little like.. " agaaain??... take the picture! lets eat!" "just one more" "ohhh im hungry..." "okay, iknow! ... wait that ones blurry.. " "ohh... hmm.. grr..." 

a sofa? a sofa.

Who needs a sofa or couch when you can make your own "artesianal sofa" with your own blankets/tapestries/pillows? :D

Since we moved from a furnished apartment into a not so furnished apartment... weve been in lack of a couch. And we haven't really been set in high gear getting one either, for several reasons. We don't have a lot of time together at a good time of the day to go look... and we just don't to shell out much money for a couch we arent sure how long we will use. So Julton had an idea for his "artesianal sofa" and pulled out blankets and pillows and my -favorite- i might add, tapestry. It works for us :) 

a e i o u

conquistadores


Tell me, how do you pronounce that word?


Because in a recent class.. I will admit I had trouble. I think the actual spelling is conquistadors (in english) but that word slipped into the article we were reading and as my student pronounced it in spanish (in our english class) then asked me to pronounce it, my first atempt sounded amazingly similar to his! I had to practice myself... 


I remember back in early elementary school years, my year didn't get taught phonics phonics like they teach phonics now. We learned the letters (and songs for each letter I might add) but we didnt learn the phonics so much. I didn't learn much about phonics or proper pronunciation until I started studying spanish. So... when I'm sounding out a word to myself.... it should probably not surprise me that I am more likely to pronounce it in spanish. that just... doesnt come in so handy in an english class where I am the teacher! maybe i should sign up for some english classes of my own...