The buildings in central Lima are lit up really beautifully at night. Too bad it is dangerous to walk around there at night.
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
I think when I get back in February, I am going to hire a driver to take me around central Lima at night and stop while I take pictures. The buildings and plazas are really lovely, I just could never go down there by myself.
Reada, Jen, Tim, and the 4 bottles of wine we managed to consume in 2 hours.
The family, being silly.
This is in my room at school. We were about to start a Tri-M meeting. It looks like Nicole and Lucas were the only ones on time.
A beautiful church at Parque Kennedy. This is really near to my apartment. It was nice to have a day in Lima where I felt like the city was kind of beautiful. I haven't felt that very often here, so it was nice to have this breakthrough.
The girls at Parque Kennedy. I've become an expert at taking self-portraits. :)
The beautiful Lima coastline. I never thought I would say that, but it was really picturesque Saturday morning.
Richard experiencing Moore. He didn't really know what to do with himself. It was pretty funny. 
Me and my new bag. It is going to be my carry-on for my trip home.
The girls at Moore - Reada, Jen, me and Linda. Look at all the shoes and bags in the background. This place is incredibly tiny, but packed with some of the best stuff!
Tim, Jen and Dan - it was really fun to see everyone all dressed up, especially the guys.
Richard, Reada and Ben
Me and Jen - we bought fabulous dresses that we were very excited about wearing. We also got to show off our Moore shoes and purses.
Nothing says Christmas like ornaments hanging on a cactus! :)
This is owned by a cool old British lady who has lived in Lima forever and runs a little shop out of this house. She collects really well-made crafts from around Peru and sells them. I have gotten some beautiful things here.
This is Casa Rosada, the official home of the president of Peru. Madonna stood on one of those balconies in "Evita" - I guess I should maybe see that movie now that I have actually been to BA.
We took a city bike tour through BA that was great. We saw lots of the sights and had an adorable Scottish tour guide named Roger who I developed a huge crush on. BA isn't exactly the best city for biking - the traffic is insane and there were times when it felt a little dangerous. I had a minor bike accident involving me and a construction zone that resulted in a bloody elbow, but otherwise I survived. This is me, Jen and Jen getting ready to start the tour.
Jen's friend Jen was visiting from the States and we spent a lot of time in BA with her great aunt, who is Argentinean. This is us on Ailsa's balcony looking over the city. It was gorgeous. Ailsa is this amazing, sophisticated lady who took us to great restaurants and shows and made our weekend in BA.
Ailsa's apartment looks out over the city and the zoo. The view was incredible and we stood out there, drinking good Argentinean wine, forever. It is such a beautiful city!
We went to the cemetery where Eva Peron is buried and visited her grave. It is a big tourist attraction in BA and is actually really beautiful. The cemetery is this maze of huge marble crypts. Evita is buried with her family, instead of her husband, in a fairly simple black marble crypt. This is one of the plaques on the crypt. She is still the hero of so many people in Argentina.
Just figured I would keep you updated on the latest purchases from Moore. I keep saying I will be done, but I don't think it is going to happen...
Here is Largo Mar - very quiet on a Sunday morning at 9. I had the place to myself, until all the runners started coming by. 
Jen, looking like a superstar. She is training for a marathon in Disneyworld in January, so this 10k was a piece of cake for her.
Lillian, Jen and Angie enjoying piscos and blending the dip for the yuccas. Yuccas are potatoes and the Peruvians fry them and dip them into this spicy sauces. They are SO good. Lillian is Jen and Angie's Spanish teacher and she taught us how to make the piscos.
Angie and I and the great piscos we made.
Reada, Jen and I all dolled up - it was a great excuse to break out the little black dress and a pair of Moore shoes. By the way, we did not plan our color coordination at all, I swear. It was completely by chance, but made for a fun picture. 
The inside of the dinner/live auction tent. Yes, this is a tent! It was pretty amazing. We didn't stay for the dinner, dancing and live auction - it was a little out of our league.
Part of the IB curriculum includes studying a prescribed work for the 2 years students are in IB music. The prescribed work for this year's seniors is Bela Bartok "Concerto for Orchestra". Bartok was a 20th century composer from Hungary and this piece of music was commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky, the great conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The piece is amazing and overwhelming. We've been studying it sense the beginning of the year and when we first started, I thought I would never understand it and be able to teach it, let alone actually like the piece. Now I absolutely love it! I've made a practice of listening to it every morning before school starts, while I am doing email or whatever. (I'm actually listening to it right now) It has definitely gotten under my skin and I think it is great! My kids really love it too and we are having a great time analyzing it. This photo is one Nick took in class. The caption he put on it was "Can anyone guess what movement?" (it is the 5th, and last, movement, if anyone cares). I thought it was a great picture and it pretty much sums up my life the past few months. I joke with the kids and call Bartok my boyfriend, since I spend more time with him than I do with anyone else in my life. :)
Alejandro on the piano, playing a composition he wrote
Chris playing guitar and singing "Is This Love" by Bob Marley 
The posters Nick designed for the concert - aren't they great?
The family, all dressed up for Halloween. Reada had just gotten back from the States the day before (where she got engaged!!), so she was sleepy and feeling uncreative. She went as a farmer, minus the cowboy hat that she left in the States. She brought me back scrubs, so I was a doctor, which was very comfortable and easy. Tim was a gift wrapped box with a tag that said "To: Women, From: God" - he was God's gift to women. It was actually very clever and he was pretty proud of himself.
Ben's students said at the beginning of the year that he looked like Mr. Incredible, which sparked the idea for his Halloween costume. He got it made down here and it came out great. We walked to the party together and it was prety funny to see the Peruvian's reactions along the way to this tall gringo in a superhero suit. Troy is Elvis, and a very good one.
The girls - Me, Jen, and Reada. Jen's costume was very clever too. She went as a Twister board. Her costume was super cute and the seamstress made it in 2 days!! It is amazing what you can have done down here. It just blows my mind!
It has been a weekend of cultural experiences for me. Thursday night Reada and I went to the ballet in central Lima. The ballet was "Giselle", which I had never heard of before. It was a traditional Romantic ballet and it was performed by the local Lima dance company, with a 21 year old guy from the States dancing the lead male part. The scenery and costumes were beautiful and the dancing was incredible. It was nice to get out and do something cultural. I feel like I haven't done any of that stuff since I lived in Berlin. This photo is of the lobby of the theater where the ballet was. It is a beautiful old building, but pretty run down, like the rest of Lima. It is sad to see all these old buildings that you can tell used to be really amazing, but are dirty and falling apart now. Everything just has a run down feeling to it. Its very different than Berlin, where everything is so clean and new and where the old buildings are preserved incredibly well.
Today Reada, Cynthia, Tim, his girlfriend Alex, and I went to hear the National Symphony. They perform at the national museum in this 70s era wood paneled hall. There are concerts every Sunday morning at 11:30 and there was a pretty big crowd this morning. The program was a mix of European classical (Weber and Borodin) and Peruvian (2 composers I had never heard of). I wasn't a big fan of the Peruvian classical music, but it was still interesting to hear. The orchestra is doing Mozart, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky next week and I think I might try to go. Here are Alex, Tim, Cynthia and Reada outside the museum.
