No really, it’s true. April in
English and Abril in Spanish…..which is really just april with the “p” flipped
over. What’s a girl to do?
April kicked
off with a bang. And by bang I mean headache, fatigue and dizziness…….but the
views were AMAZING. Plus, now we know that I need to prepare for high altitude
activities. A huge group of us went hiking for our Semana Santa holiday. Since
we were already in Ancash for training we decided to stay-cation around here.
Things didn’t really go according to plan so instead of hiking up and over a
mountain pass we hiked to our first planned camp site and stayed for two
nights. There were a number of us dealing with altitude sickness and the
weather got pretty rough, so it just seemed like the safer choice. I was one of
the sick ones, so I can’t say it was the most relaxing vacation I have ever
taken; but it was BEAUTIFUL and I always have fun hanging out with the other
17-ers. Even altitude sickness and freezing rain can’t change that. After three
days in the mountains we headed back to Huaraz and just generally goofed
around. It was Brice’s birthday so we celebrated that in style, including an
original song written in his honor (Brice you know we love you, Brice you know
we care, but if you get too drunk tonight we’re going to shave of all your
hair……). We also went to a dance party and had a family potluck……not at the
same time, don’t worry. By the time it was all said and done I was about ready
to get back to site. A week of training and then 5 days of vacation really cuts
into the campo sleep schedule I’ve gotten used to; which is lots!
The
rest of April was spent doing two things, getting my after school classes
started and trying to get external hard drive number 2 fixed. The class thing
always takes a little while getting everyone on board, but it finally fell into
place. I have started my Pasos Adelantes class with the 4th and 5th
grade of my secundaria school. PA is a personal health focused class. The idea
is the kids are going to or have already started making adult decisions and we
want to give them all the pertinent information in the hope that those
decisions will be made in an informed manner. (Mejor dicho: safe sex- do it
like the cool kids!) I am also starting back with my English club to give the
kids chances to practice speaking and ask any questions they might have about
their regular English homework. It’s still really early on with both classes
but I have high hopes. I can already see the difference between this school
year and the end of last school year. The kids have had more time to get to
know me.
As
for the hard drive, it crashed. It wasn’t a pretty moment in my Peace Corps
career. I’m not proud of it, but I cried like a little girl when I thought I
had lost all of my photos……like a tiny, little girl. Fortunately three trips to
Huaraz, 5 tech guys and a few hundred soles later all is well. I have all my
documents back, a hard drive the works again (surprisingly) and a new favorite
tech guru.
The
last day of April I went into Huaraz to go to dinner with Ali’s parents! They
had been off traveling around Peru and came back to Huaraz for the last leg of
their trip so a group of us came into town to hang out. Ali’s parents were
wonderful to me and brought down the new hard drive I had ordered when I
thought my other one couldn’t be fixed. Then they topped the whole thing off by
bringing a bag of my favorite potato chips. Thanks so much Mr. and Mrs. Foley!
No comments:
Post a Comment