Many of you probably heard of the earthquake that happened in Peru last week. It was felt in Lima, but there wasn't any damage done here. In fact, I didn't even feel it!! Jodie and I were leaving a class at the time, and suddenly the alarm bell went off and everyone was running towards the playground. They take it all very seriously here, but there wasn't anything to worry about, thankfully.
On Saturday morning I went to the opera in the Museo de la Nacion. One of the school music teachers, Jorge, sings with the National Choir, and they were performing an opera of Hansel and Gretel. Jorge gave me two free tickets - brilliant! Ruth Bailey came with me, and we really enjoyed it. It was aimed at a younger audience, so there were lots of children in attendance. Hansel was a mezzosoprano and the witch was a man, but apart from these 'oddities' and the fact that all the singing was in Spanish, I thought it was super. After the opera, the Baileys took me to the Jockey Plaza, a big shopping centre, where we ate at the American restaurant Chili's! One of my favourite restaurants! And, being a creature of habit, I chose the same thing from the menu that I would have chosen in Carlisle! Yummm...
On Monday night I was at another theatre performance, but this time it was a school production. As a kind of counter-Halloween, the school put on an evangelistic play/musical, Celebrando a Jesus. The play and the music was mostly written by the school's own staff, and both students and teachers took part. That was really nice, and its uniqueness made it all the more worth seeing. It was an enjoyable evening at school, and the gospel was presented clearly to many parents and friends who might not necessarily be believers.
Tuesday was a day off school! I can't remember why there was a holiday, but it was great to get a day off. I spent the day relaxing and meeting up with Rachel and Jodie.
Today has been English Day at school. It was a morning of English-teaching activities with an animal theme for the Kinder and 1st grade students. We have spent quite a lot of time this week preparing for it. I was with two Kinder classes first thing in the morning, and we were learning the names of a lion and a parrot. I had made animal masks for them to colour in and wear, and they really enjoyed that. Later in the morning I was working with one of the 1st grade classes, and we made puppets on lollipop sticks and then a mini book with the pictures of mother and baby animals - duck and duckling, dog and puppy, cat and kitten, horse and foal. The kids are adorable; it's great fun interacting with them and getting all those hugs and kisses! :-)
I can't believe it's November already. I arrived here 6 weeks today, and it's just about that amount of time until I return to the States for Christmas. Overall, I am happy to be here in Peru. The difficulties of a culture change are to be expected, and I'm still figuring out many things and getting used to the lifestyle. You can pray that I will be given the strength and grace to overlook the small inconveniences and to remain positive in all the challenges that I face, linguistically and culturally. No one ever said that Lima would be just like Aberdeen or Darlington or Carlisle, so why should I expect it to be like them?!
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