10 Septiembre
Yes I know it’s been a while! I’ve been a bit busy doing this and that to write! I don’t remember what I had last written, so I’ll start with Sunday the 7th. All of my family came and my sister Idis made lunch like she usually does it was delicious! Also, I met my brother Caesar and Peter. Please remember that all of my brothers and sisters are the age of my parents and have kids my age so that’s always funny calling them my family. I also did my laundry in the wonderful washing machine we have! Yes, I am spoiled =) (and thankful!) I feel like I do deserve it though since before I came they didn’t know how to use it properly and now they use it!

Monday wasn’t too bad, I had a meeting with the Regidore Julian about starting business charlas for the youth in my communities. Basically the kind of charla I did during FBT in Cajamarca, except much longer than a week and with more detalles and actividades! Then I headed into town to type some responses to my monton of emails and also to take out some money because that night I was going to a concert. Well, not just any concert, Grupo 5!!! I went with 6 girls from my town, it’s my mancha here at site. (Mancha is another word for gut but they also use to describe a group of friends) Anyway Grupo 5 coincidentally is Peru’s version of the cumbia Nsync and coincidentally I got a photo with their Peruvian Justin Timberlake, I think Dennis told me his name is Tommi! And just because that’s never good enough, I got myself a nice shout out that I filmed for all of you to enjoy and realize yes I am an important person. Sorry you can’t understand it just notice that I’m the person he points too, yes I was in the first 2 rows of the concert. Oh, and I wanted to mention just to let you know how VIP I was, I was the first person through the door. Feeling like I need to appreciate the treatment I received a bit more, I vow to learn more than the 3 songs I know and when I return to their concert in October I get onstage =) Good goals I think! (Wonder if I can put that on my tri-annual??) And fyi going to concerts here is pretty serious considering the fact that it started at 8 and didn’t end till 4. I pulled the party pooper card and got convinced them to leave by 2 because I had a meeting at 9 with the artesana’s in the morning and I was supposed to go to the colegio before hand.

Well, Tuesday morning I was exhausted and decided to shelf my visit to the director till his office hours on Monday and sleep in till 8:15. Then at about 8:30 I get a callfrom Karrie who says that she didn’t get the prices for the Tela yet from the volunteer in Cajamarca so we should prob post-pone the meeting till Wednesday. Well, I couldn’t have agreed more readily! Of course we should post-pone… and I went back to bed. Then at about 11 I headed to the municipality to print some papers out I have to go over with my artesan’s for the fair in October at the embassy. I ate some brunch and then my sister and I headed to the market. Food is expensiiveee here. It was really awkward for me to go to the market with her, because when she was buying things I liked and I thought they were a bit expensive I’d always offer to pay or give her moeny, though technically that is why I pay them monthly, its still another thing when you’re with them in the market. After this we headed back and I did some work on my comp and started knitting a scarf. Then I received a call from Karrie, that she was heading back to site with sanding material because she wanted to sand it this week, prime and paint it. Also, that she was with Dennis who came to say goodbye before he leaves for good on the 18th. So to get out the house for a bit, saying no to playing fútbol with the kids in my town, I went to karrie’s and really got some muscles sore in my arms that I have forgotten about. Ate dinner there and on the way back to my town decided to go into Piura with them to get a nice dessert and hot shower!

Wednesday I got back at about 8:30 for my 9am tutoring session with the math kids. Since, I can’t remember a thing of trig, sorry Mr. Guitar, I said I would help the one kid with English at this time while I help the other girls in angles. Then at 10ish I headed to my counterparts house to head to the meeting at Karrie’s site with the artisan’s. That meeting lasted till about 1:30ish… I put up some of the pics, me determining the prices of tax and whatnot. By the end of the meeting I started to feel pretty sick and then of course I accepted the invite to eat with them. Don’t think mashed pot and rice with some chicken was the best thing for my stomach but you obviously can’t turn it down… When I got home I was doubled over in stomach cramps and have been resting since then with tea and saltines. I really think it’s because I ate out I mean my family is the best. Tuesday, guess what I had for lunch, a salad with tomatoes, onions, carrots and broccoli topped with grilled chicken and the dressing was a fresh squeezed lime!! Could I ask for better?? I swear I’m the luckiest volunteer everrrr. It also helps that my sister wants to learn about American culture and is totally accepting to my habits and what I want to eat and don’t want to eat. Okay well that is all for tonight, I’m going to continue with my email writing for all you people I have promised to write back!

Love you all, chaufis **ekh**