FDR Christmas Party

Our school Christmas party was last night and we had a good time. It is at a nice restaurant in San Isidro and all the teachers and staff go, so there is a huge group of us. It is fun to get dressed up and to see everyone else all decked out. Here are the girls - Anne, me, and Reada.

Tim and Dave were enjoying each other's company last night. They look like a scary Christmas card picture.

Family

My parents were visiting the same time that Dave's mom was here from Texas, so we had to get together for a true family dinner and have our Lima family meet our home family. We took our parents to dinner at a great Peruvian restaurant and had a really nice time. Here is the whole gang: Dave, his mom Janice, Reada, Tim, me, Mom and Dad

Reada's birthday was this past Thursday and since we had family dinner Wednesday night, I decided we needed to start celebrating early. I made a yummy Betty Crocker cake (thanks to the commissary) and I didn't have any candles, so Tim and Dave decided that she should blow out the flame on the lighter I use to light my gas stove.

Lima Tour

Mom and Dad were heading back to Maine on Wednesday, so I took Tuesday off from school and we went on a tour of Central Lima. I haven't been down to Central Lima during the day since right when I first moved here, so it was nice to go back and see it all again in the light of day. We started out in Plaza San Martin, which is just as lovely during the day as it is all lit up at night.

We then went to the Plaza de Armas and did a tour of the cathedral. Francisco Pizarro is buried here in an elaborate tomb with gold covered walls. It is pretty impressive, especially for someone who treated the natives so horribly.


We had a great tour guide in the cathedral who spoke English well and gave us tons of information about the cathedral. I'm not really a huge fan of Catholic art (it just seems like too much most of the time), but the interior of the cathedral in Lima is really gorgeous. There are 8 altars along the sides of the nave and each has a different style and architecture. They are pretty ornate, but I found them fascinating, instead of ostentatious. I can really appreciate the craftsmanship that goes into creating them and it was so interesting to see how different they all are.

We finished the tour by checking out some of the Inca ruins that are in the middle of Lima. These are actually pretty close to where I live. Our tour guide said he used to play in these ruins when he was a kid, before anyone really cared about preserving them. Now they are considered historic sites and are well taken care of. It is amazing to think about the length of Peruvian history. The United States is so young compared to even Lima. It is pretty incredible!

Mirabus Tour

I've become a big fan of the Mirabus Tour in Lima. I went on one for my birthday last year and loved it, and the tour my parents and I went on last week was even better. It is a great way to see Central Lima at night (safely) and all lit up. I'm beginning to believe that Lima really is a beautiful city, at least parts of it. Here is the cathedral in the Plaza de Armas.

San Martin is a great hero in the history of Lima and Peru and this plaza is named after him. It is right around the corner from the Plaza de Armas and, while all the buildings in the Plaza de Armas are this beautiful orange/yellow color, all the ones in Plaza San Martin are white and are very striking.



A new part of the Mirabus tour includes stopping at a water fountain park in the middle of Lima. I didn't even realize it was here!! It was built in July and has become a huge hit. There are 6-8 fountains set up in this park and they are all lit up at night. For 4 soles (a little over $1) you get admission into the park and can walk around, looking at all the fountains. Some of them are even built for you to walk through and get wet. There were tons of Peruvian families at the park the Sunday night we were there, and lots of wet kids running around who had obviously had a great time playing in the fountains. It is just a really cool place. Who knew Lima had such interesting things?? :)

Santiago

My parents and I went to Santiago, Chile for Thanksgiving and had a great time. The weather was amazing - sunny and in the 70s/80s. Santiago is a nice city - very European compared to Lima, so that made me happy. Things just seem more organized and there are lots of beautiful buildings and parks. Every city in South America has a Plaza de Armas, with a church, and Santiago's Plaza de Armas is really beautiful. It isn't a wide open as some others I've seen, but there are lots of trees and it feels very cozy. The cathedral is beautiful and they light it up really nicely at night. And the best part was there were some pedestrian streets leading into the Plaza. I love pedestrian streets!! For some reason, to me they seem to signify a well-developed city. Lima doesn't have any and I wish they did. But the ones in Santiago were great and we walked on them a lot.

There is a beautiful park in Santiago called Santa Lucia and we spent a very happy morning there, wandering around and enjoying the sites. It was built on this hill and every time you go up a little higher, there is something new to see. It is really great!! Here we are in front of the fountain on the first level of the park. It was such a nice morning.

Chile is know for its good wine, so I was determined to go to a vineyard while we were in Santiago. Mom and Dad aren't wine drinkers, but they were willing to check it out (and they both even sampled some wine, though neither one like it - I just don't get it!). We went to Concha y Torro, the largest vineyard in Chile. They produce a lot of different wines that end up in stores around the world. We actually drink one of their wines pretty regularly at family dinner in Lima. We had a great tour of the vineyard and got to sample some nice wines. It was a beautiful day and it was nice to see outside of the city a bit. The vineyard was huge and very impressive.

Mom and Dad in Lima

My parents arrived Wednesday night for a 2 week trip to Peru. They got in really, really late Wednesday night, then came to school Thursday afternoon to spend some time with me before my concert. Here they are in my classroom. Aren't they cute? We had a nice afternoon just hanging out at school. My students were all excited to meet my parents, so they all kept stopping in to introduce themselves. They were so great. And my parents loved meeting all of them.

My concert at school was Thursday night and it featured the jazz band, orchestra and symphonic band. Here I am conducting the symphonic band. The concert went really well. I was very pleased with all the performances and it was so nice to have Mom and Dad sitting in the audience again. They sat in the same spot in the auditorium that they always sat in when I conducted in Manchester so it was fun to see them there. There was a decent crowd at the concert and it was nice to be able to introduce my parents to some of the music parents that I have gotten to know.

I had to teach all day Friday, so Mom and Dad spent the day walking along the Malecon and checking out a little bit of Miraflores, the district where I live. I sent them to lunch at the Park Hotel, since it was the one spot where I could guarantee they would have an English menu and a waitress that spoke English. They said it was really good and they had a nice time sitting out on the terrace.

Mom and Dad are off to Cusco and Machu Picchu this morning. I just got a phone call from my driver guy who had taken them to the airport and he said they have boarded the plane, so they are off. I know they were a bit nervous about traveling without me, but hopefully they will be fine. There is a tour guide who will be meeting them at the airport in Cusco and will be with them for their whole time in Cusco/Machu Picchu. I wish I could have gone with them, but I have to teach this week and it would be crazy for them to come to Peru and not get to see Machu Picchu. I really hope they have fun and don't get too stressed. Keep them in your thoughts and hope that they have a good trip. They return to Lima on Tuesday afternoon and we fly to Santiago, Chile on Wednesday night. I haven't been to Santiago and I hear it is really nice, so I figured it would be good for Mom and Dad to have a chance to see somewhere else in South America. I'll let you know how it goes...

Mi Casa

I decided that since I am staying in Lima at least another year and my parents were coming to visit, it was time to do some home improvements. When I moved in, my apartment had been painted an off white, yellow-ish color that was fine, but a little bright. I was ready for a change, so I had my living room and my bedroom painted.

It was interesting to pick out paint colors here in Peru. I went to Ace Hardware and looked through these books that showed the paint colors they have. After much deliberation, and input from Judy and Ben, I decided on a light tan for the living room and a dark green/brown and a darker cream for the bedroom.

Reada's maid's son was hired to paint and over the course of a few days, he had it finished. And the cost for two large rooms to be painted - $80. Sometimes I love Peru! I'm really happy with how it came out. I think it makes my apartment look much more cozy and warm.

Don Juan

I had a really interesting experience last night - my Spanish teacher, Silvia, invited me to a play "Don Juan Tenorio", the story of the famous lover and heartbreaker. They do it every year around the time of Halloween and All Souls Day, since it involves love, betrayal, death, and spirits returning from the grave. And it was held in a cemetery. Yes, a cemetery!! At first I thought it would be kind of creepy, but it ended up being so neat. There is a huge, beautiful cemetery in Central Lima where a lot of famous Peruvians are buried. As a side note, cemeteries in South America are much different than in the US. Lots of people are buried above ground in these elaborate tombs that look like little buildings. And the ones that are buried underground are buried in crypts where you have to go down a set of stairs to get to it, and there is usually an elaborate marble statue or some sort of marker on it above ground. I didn't bring my camera last night and I know my descriptions aren't great, but hopefully you can sort of picture what I am talking about. So this cemetery has tons of these very large, fancy, beautiful tombs and crypts and they use them basically as the staging for this play. The play has 3 parts and each part takes place in a different area of the cemetery. They use some flat tombs as stages and put candles everywhere to light it. It was really incredible. The entire play was in Spanish, of course, but Silvia was there translating for me, and she had given me a printout of the story in English to read ahead of time. I thought I would be freaked out by being in a cemetery at night, but it was really beautiful. The actors were amazing, they wore gorgeous costumes, and it was so cool to see how they used the setting in the play. It was really clever. Definitely an interesting, Lima-only experience.

Looking at Lima through fresh eyes

As most of you know, I very rarely have days when I think "Wow, I am so lucky to live in Lima". I had them all the time in Berlin, but Lima just doesn't have much to make it particularly endearing. I've been feeling sort of anti-Lima lately and wondering why I've decided to stay for another year, so this couldn't have come at a better time. I was walking along the Malecon this morning on my way to book club and I was looking out at the ocean thinking "Wow, I am so lucky to live on the Pacific Ocean. I never imagined I would ever live in a city that sits right on the ocean, particularly the Pacific." Of course, it was gray, hazy and polluted, but it is still the Pacific and I felt pretty good about it this morning. I need these good Lima days to keep me going and it was nice to feel this way today. Things are looking up!

The Bar Harbor Fire, 1947

My mom just sent me a package that included a newspaper article about the devastating fire that destroyed parts of Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island 60 years ago, in October 1947. My dad's parents were living Hulls Cove (a tiny little village just before you reach Bar Harbor) at the time and I remember seeing a book about the fire at my grandparents house and asking them about it. My grandmother told me how the fire went up one side of their house and down the other and she had a picture that was in Life magazine of all of their belongings in a pile in the middle of the town baseball field because they had to evacuate their house.

It is interesting to me that the anniverary of this fire, which is a big deal in the history of Maine, is happening right at the same time as the devastating fires in California. In the Maine fire, over 17,000 acres burned, 10,000 in Acadia National Park alone. The damage was over $23 million, including the loss of many of the summer "cottages" of the rich and famous on the outskirts of Bar Harbor. It took over a month for the fire to be completely put out - it burned out of control for a week, then continued to smolder for another 3 weeks.

I've spent some part of nearly ever summer of my life in Bar Harbor and I've always found this fire fascinating, partly because I know my grandparents lived through it (my dad would be born 2 years later in Bar Harbor) and partly because it dramatically changed the face of Bar Harbor. I can't even begin to imagine what the town looked like in its heyday with all the mansions. The fire also destroyed Jackson Laboratory, a cancer research lab, and years of cancer research were lost. Here is a photo of Bar Harbor now, the way I know and love it, but it is interesting to think about how it looked 60 years ago when the fires were coming down the hills towards the town and the water.

It is incredible how destructive a fire can be. The pictures and stories on the news about the California fires are heartbreaking. It must be so scary to be there right now - in the path of something that people have such little control over. It is interesting to me to see history repeating itself, just on a different side of the country. The combination of the current news and the newspaper article my mom sent me got me to thinking, so those are my thoughts...

Census Day

It is national census day in Peru and I have never seen Lima this quiet. No one is allowed to be outside their homes between the hours of 8am and 6pm, except tourists and emergency personnel. There isn't much advantage to being a tourist though, since nothing is open, and I mean nothing - no stores, no restaurants - and there are no cabs. It was very weird to wake up this morning and not hear anything. Lima is usually a very loud city - honking car horns, people talking very loudly, traffic, car alarms. None of that is happening today. All I hear is the occasional dog barking, and birds - who knew there were birds! And there is not a single soul on the street, at least from what I can see from my window. Even the guard who watches my street isn't there. Maybe they figure the streets should be safe today, since everyone is suppose to be home. It is a very weird experience - looking out onto empty streets and not hearing the usual city noise.

Inspiration

I am in the process of writing a paper on Jewish contributions to American popular music - the final paper for my second to last grad school class (hooray!) - and in my research I came across these great pictures of two of my favorite musicians.

Dave Brubeck - amazing jazz composer and performer. He is in his late 80s now and is still performing occasionally. I love this picture - look how the piano keyboard is reflected in his glasses. Brubeck was in the army in WWII and led an integrated band, the first example of black and white musicians playing together in a group in the military. I saw him in a video (Ken Burns' "Jazz" - amazing, I highly recommend it) and he talks about how difficult it was to come back to the States after the war and still face racial discrimination after all they had fought for in the war and all the time his band had spent touring together as a group in Europe.

How great is this picture? That is Leonard Bernstein conducting, my superhero! I love the little girl standing there, listening in wonder. I think I would have been the same way if I had had a chance to hear Bernstein conducting live. :)

Peruvian Census

So, it looks like I get to participate in the Peruvian census next weekend. Check out this notice we got from the US Embassy about it:

"Sunday, October 21, 2007 is National Census Day in Peru . Peru ’s National Statistics Institute (INEI) will conduct a nationwide census on Sunday, October 21 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Embassy has been informed that all public establishments (markets, supermarkets, convenience stores, restaurants, gas stations, and all commercial establishments) will be closed during census hours. All cultural activities, sporting events, church services, and access to museums and archeological parks will be suspended during census hours. In addition, the sale and/or excessive consumption of alcohol is prohibited during the census hours. The government of Peru has directed that the population of Peru remain in their homes during census hours. U.S. citizens in Peru are subject to Peruvian law and must comply with any legal restrictions imposed by the government."

Crazy, huh? I guess it makes sense to force everyone to stay in their homes to be counted. I've never participated in a national census before, so this should be interesting. That and the fact that the census people will be speaking Spanish and I'll be speaking English. Got to love it! I can give the basics - name, age, job - in Spanish, but there is no guarantee we'll understand each other after that. I'll let you know how it goes. And obviously I'll be home between the hours of 8am and 6pm next Sunday, so feel free to give me a call. :)

Thoughts...

It has been a interesting couple of days - nothing huge, just some random things to tell you about. I am currently on a mini-vacation, which is very nice. We have Monday and Tuesday off from school - Monday is Battle of Angamos Day, a national holiday in Peru. I don't think most people, even Peruvians, actually know what the holiday is for, but according to what I have read, the Battle of Angamos was when a Peruvian ship was surrounded and captured by the Chilean navy. The Peruvian navy was unable to protect the shores and Peru and Bolivia were open to attack by Chile. This all happened during the War of the Pacific in the late 1800s. Isn't it amazing how little we all know about South American history? I'm trying to learn more and more, but it is incredible to me how we learn about European and North American history, but nothing about anyplace in the southern hemisphere. Anyway, I'll take the holiday, whatever it is for. A lot of people are traveling this weekend, but I decided to stay in Lima and get some grad school work done. My current class finishes up in 2 weeks and I have a 20 page paper to write on "Jewish contributions to American popular music" between now and then. I'm hoping to get a lot of research done this weekend and maybe even start writing. I'm also enjoying catching up on some much needed sleep.
I went to a fun event on Friday night - a new bakery tasting. The parent of one of my students is friends with this man who is opening a new bakery and they invited me to come to the opening. It was held in the ballroom of a casino nearby and it was fun to get dressed up and wander around tasting yummy pastries. The owner is Taiwanese and the food is an interesting mix of Asian and Peruvian traditions. It was a fun, random night out.
I just received an email from a friend of mine here at school and she and her husband (both teachers at FDR) are leaving Tuesday to pick up their new adopted Peruvian children! Yes, after a year of paperwork and Peruvian red tape, they are finally going to get their daughters. They decided a while ago to adopt and then, much to their surprise, found out that Angie is pregnant. So, as of February, they will have 3 daughters - a newborn, a 6 year old Peruvian girl, and her 15 year old sister. Can you imagine??? Instant huge family!! I'm really impressed with them that they are committed to adopting these girls. They said all along that they wanted older children and it is nice that the girls are actually biological sisters. The girls are currently in an orphanage in the highlands and my friends will be bringing them back to Lima next weekend. The girls don't speak any English yet, but my friends speak decent Spanish, so I'm sure they will figure out how to communicate. Crazy, huh?
That's all for now. The sun is shining, a little, and I think it is time to get out and enjoy it.

Band Photo

Here is a photo of my band performing at the Nueva Acropolis Music Competition in Lima a few weeks ago. They look pretty small on the enormous stage, but they have a great, full sound and I'm really happy with how they are playing. The tech guy at school is suppose to be putting the recording of our performance up on the school website for people to listen to, so I'll let you know what that happens. And if you check out the following link, you can see photos from the band and orchestra lunch hour performance at school: http://photos.amersol.edu.pe/HSOrchestra_2007

SPRING!

It seems that spring has finally arrived in Lima. It has been sunny, warm, and beautiful the past few days, which is a huge difference from the cold, damp weather we have been suffering through since I got back in July. And the nice weather has come at just the right time. I had a very anti-Lima weekend - lots of little annoyances and frustrations that added up to make me ready to get on the next plane for anywhere but Lima. But now the sun is shining and all of a sudden Lima, and life here, looks better.

It has been a busy month at school: my symphonic band performed at a competition in the city and made it to the finals (I don't really believe in band competitions, but they did really play amazingly well and deserved to get to the finals); the orchestra had their first performance of the year, and my first performance with them as their conductor, at a festival at another school and did well; and both groups played at a lunchtime, outdoor concert at school (I'm trying to build up interest in the performing groups and get more people to come to our concerts). In addition to all the performing committments, my IB music classes have been keeping me busy - my 12th graders are working on a couple of big projects for class that are time and labor intensive, and the 11th graders are working their way through music history and theory. All in all, it has been a great start to the school year and I am so pleased with how everything is going. I've let the school know that I am planning on coming back for next year and it is nice to be able to plan ahead and look forward to another year in this job I love.

Madeleine L'Engle

I had a moment of great sadness today when I read that Madeleine L'Engle passed away yesterday. She was 88 years old and had lived a full, beautiful life, but I was, and still am, a bit devastated. She has been my favorite author for a long as I can remember. I started reading her books 20 years ago and they were essentially THE books of my childhood and young adult life. For years I have tried to read "A Wrinkle in Time" and can never get through it, but I love all her other books. "A Circle of Quiet", "Certain Women", and "A Small Rain" are probably my favorites, but all the other books, including her books of poetry, are amazing.

No, I haven't completely dropped off the planet...

I realized it has been ages since I updated my blog and figured it was time to fill you in on the last month or so. Here are some of the highlights:

* The earthquake, of course. I never thought I would experience an 8.0 earthquake and I hope I never do again. Luckily there was no damage to my apartment and all my friends were safe. The aftershocks lasted for over a week and were not very fun. It has been weeks since the big quake but we are still getting little ones fairly regularly. There was a 5.1 Wednesday morning around 5:55 and my students said they felt one yesterday morning around 7:30. October is supposedly "earthquake season" so I should probably expect to feel the ground shaking a lot more in the next few weeks.

* The start of school. We have been back to school for 5 weeks now and it is going really well. I can't believe I am already in my 2nd year. It is amazing how time flies!! I am still incredibly happy in my job and having a great time with my students. Both my band and orchestra have performances at local music festivals next week so we've been preparing for that since the start of school. My band is playing really well and my orchestra (I wasn't the conductor last year so it is a new group for me) has made great progress. I'm excited to do these performances and then get started on new music for our November concert.

* Babies, babies, babies, though luckily not for me. It seems that every woman at school is pregnant - I swear I think it is something in the water, which kind of freaks me out. My friend Anne had a daughter a few weeks ago, my friend Julie gave birth to a son very prematurely (he was born at 31 weeks but is doing incredibly well and should be home from the hospital in a few weeks) 2 weeks ago, my friend Linda is having a girl at the end of October and my friend Angie is due with a girl at the beginning of February. I've been spending a lot of time and money baby shopping lately, which is fun. It doesn't awaken any maternal urges in me, but it is fun to see other people going through it. And the clothes are really cute.

* Grad school, grrrr. I am enticingly close to finishing my master's degree, but am still slogging through more classes than I would like to. The class I took during the summer was pretty painful, but it ended last week and I think I ended up doing okay. My new class started this past Tuesday and I am already up to my eyeballs in work. But after this 7 week class, I only have one left, then I have to do my thesis project and I am done!!! It looks like I should be finished by the end of February. It will be nice to get my life back and not spend every weekend writing papers.

* The weather. We are currently experiencing the coldest winter Lima has seen in something like 80 years. And when I say cold, I mean cold. No, it is not NH cold, but is freezing for a city that is so close to the equator. Winter here is a very damp cold (kind of strange since Lima is technically in the desert, but we get moisture from the ocean) and it is impossible to get warm. The only time I am warm is when I am conducting band or orchestra rehearsals, waving my arms around and working my butt off. It has been a grey, miserable winter and everyone is desperate for it to be over. Luckily the sun has actually come out the past 2 days - only for a few hours in the afternoon, but that is all it takes for you to feel a little hope - so maybe "spring" is on its way.

I guess that covers the last few weeks. I'll try to be better about updating more often. Now off to write a paper for grad school...

Berlin Reunion

While I was home, we had a mini Berlin Girls Reunion in Boston, which was a lot of fun. Karisti had only been to Boston for the job fairs and had never been to NH, so we made plans for her to visit and I would show her around. We spent 2 days in Boston, hanging out with Karen and Rosemary, then she came to NH for 4 days.

We met up with Karen and Rosemary for drinks Wednesday night after I picked Karisti up at the airport, then went to the North End for dinner. After cocktails and wine, we needed some good, heavy Italian food in our bellies. Rosemary drove us home in her convertible and we loved seeing all the sights of the city with the top down. Karisti and I spent the night at Rosemary's, then did some sightseeing in the morning before meeting up with Karen for the Edward Hopper exhibit at the MFA. We hoped to do some more sightseeing in Boston, but it poured rain all afternoon, so we ended up heading for NH.

I was very excited to show Karisti around NH and southern Maine. I took her to a lot of my favorite restaurants and showed her what I thought were the important things to see. It was "Michelle's Tour of NH/Southern Maine" - Nubble Light, Portsmouth, Kittery, Indian food and the Barley Pub in Dover, and Wanakee, of course. Oh, and don't forget Epping, the center of the universe. Our day at Nubble Light was beautiful and it was fun to spend some time in York. I loved being able to show Karisti all these places she had heard me talk about. I think she enjoyed her first foray into NH. :)

Wanakee

A trip home isn't home without going up to Wanakee. One of the hardest parts about living overseas has been having to miss spending a significant part of the summer up at camp. I went up for the Footnotes concert this year and had a great time hanging out with the Rudolfs and Nick and all my favorite Wanakee people. I've decided I can't stay away from camp any longer, so I am hoping to come back to volunteer for Footnotes for a week next summer. I love visiting camp and in some ways it is nice to not have responsibilities while I am there, but on the other hand, it feels weird to just be hanging out while everyone else is running around being useful. I'm ready to be useful again! :)

Jean and Mike are doing an amazing job as the directors of Wanakee. It makes me so happy to see them there, being so successful. They are both great at doing little things that make a big impact. They have planted flowers all over the place and really spruced up camp. Look how beautiful the farmhouse looks with new paint. It is so nice to see it in its original red, instead of the washed out pinkish red it was for so many years.

I managed to make it up to camp another day to say goodbye to Jean and Lisa. They were busy getting lunch ready for the volunteers, but I was able to distract them long enough for a quick picture. Look how happy we all are to be at camp!

Home

It is always so good to be home and this summer was no exception. The weather was nice (at least warmer than Lima) and it was great to be at the cottage at Hedding. I tried to pack seeing as many people as I could into 4 weeks and I think I did pretty well.

My beautiful, amazing goddaughter Christel was high on my list of people to spend as much time with as possible while I was home. She is a little over 2 years old and just so much fun. I've seen her every time I've been home, but I think after this visit she will really remember who I am. She is very vocal (complete sentences and inquisitive questions) and so smart. And hearing her say "Auntie Shell" all the time did my heart good. We went to Odiorne State Park one day and she came to play and swim at the cottage a couple of times. It was so wonderful to be able to spend time with her and enjoy the incredible little person she has become. I wish she would stay this age forever.

Even though she had just spent a week hiking the Appalachian Trail in Maine, my friend Nicole was still willing to come up to visit me. We have been friends since the 2nd day of first grade when she walked up to me on the playground and asked if I wanted to be her best friend. Of course I said yes and the rest is history. When she visited we spent the night drinking wine and eating pizza at Hedding, then drove through UNH the next day and were amazed with all the changes at our alma mater. And I promised her that our picture would end up on my blog page. :)

One of my favorite days at home was spent taking care of Ralph, my brother's one year old black lab. Ralph is a superstar and I love him to death. He is pretty needy and doesn't like to be left alone, but he is also very loving and loyal. Ralph spent the day with us while Marc and Megan worked and I had a great time taking him on tons of walks around Hedding. He especially loved going down Boy Scout Road where I let him off his leash and he could run and smell to his heart's content. I'll admit I'm a little jealous my brother has found such a great dog.

Being at Hedding means I get to spend a lot of time with the Clark kids, which is always nice. Their cottage is just down the hill and the kids love to ride their bikes up to our cottage and hang out. Ross (the only brother in a family of 4 sisters) rode his bike up most days just to say hi and see what he could scrounge for food. He and I spent a fun afternoon playing Go Fish, which I won, but just barely. Alyssa (in this picture) is the middle Clark child and my parents' godchild, which, according to her, makes her my godsister. She is a sweetie and I think this picture of the godsisters is cute.

Mirabus

For my birthday, Reada and Dave took me on a tour of Lima on the Mirabus. It was so much fun!! I'm a fan of bus tours - you get to see lots of places from a great vantage point and, usually, you get lots of information about the places you are seeing. Of course, all the information here was in Spanish, but it was still fun to see all the sights. It was a 3 hour tour and we went all over the city. It was a great birthday present and a great way to end my first year in Lima. I've been feeling a little anti-Lima lately (too much traffic, gross pollution, and little things that are frustrating about living here) and this tour made me like the city again. It was nice to see it looking so beautiful, especially since beautiful is not a word I would regularly use to describe Lima. It is nice to think I am leaving for break feeling good about the city and looking forward to coming back and exploring more of it.

Reada and I on the bus. We bundled up since it is winter and pretty chilly, but we still wanted to be able to sit on the top, open part of the bus.
This is a museum in Central Lima. All the buildings downtown are lit beautifully. My camera doesn't do well with night shots, but I got a few to come out.
The Plaza de Armas, the main square in Central Lima. There is a church in this square where Francisco Pizzarro is buried. And all the buildings along the square, except the church, are this beautiful dark yellow color, with dark wood balconies. It is gorgeous.
A building in Plaza San Martin, the other major square in Central Lima. We stopped in this square at the Hotel Bolivar to have coffee and sandwiches. It was a nice break in the tour.

Heart

Here is something I really love about my school: We have lots of Peruvian workers who do various job around campus such as bus driver, gardener, janitor, etc. They are some of the nicest, friendliest men I have ever met. Most of them are a little older and have been working here for a long time. They always say hello and are always willing to help. Our school wouldn't function without them and for them, it is a very good job, with health benefits and perks such as being able to send their kids to our school for free. Our administration is very good about acknowledging the workers as an integral part of our school community. The workers are invited to all the parties and most of them attend. The school even offers English classes for workers who want to learn how to speak English. It is just great to see our administration really treat people right. And this afternoon at the despedida was no exception. One of the workers had a stroke last semester and we have been supporting him with money and assistance since then. He has worked hard at recovery and he came to the despedida today. It was the first time we have seen him since his stroke and Carol, our superintendent, made a big deal about it. He received a standing ovation when he came in - it was really sweet. Then Carol acknowledged all the people who have worked at school for 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 and 45 years (can you imagine working in the same school for 45 years?!) and gave them gifts. And she didn't just announce teachers, she announced 2 workers who have worked here for 25 and 30 years. It just does my heart good to see our school treating people right. These workers are great men with big hearts who take incredible care of our grounds, our students, and all the teachers and they work so hard. It makes me happy to see them get the recognition they deserve, especially in a culture where the upper class traditionally looks down on workers and doesn't treat them well. I am proud to work at a place that treats ALL it's employees well and with great heart.

Winter Birthday

I had my first winter birthday yesterday. I am used to my birthday being in the summer and it being warm. But it is currently winter in Lima, so it was a little chilly. Even with the cold, I had a great day. Dave, Reada, Ben and Tim took me out to dinner at La Trattoria, a very yummy restaurant in Lima. We enjoyed some good wine, good food, and amazing desserts. It was a nice way to spend my birthday.

Despedidas and Graduation

It was a busy couple of days in Lima this past weekend. Friday night was the despedida (going away party) for the teachers who are leaving. The despedida is a chance for everyone to say goodbye and for the departing teachers to enjoy mostly good-natured skits about their time in Peru, performed by other teachers. Everyone has warned me to be careful what I do in the company of other teachers, particularly at parties, since it will probably come back to haunt me in my despedida. I think I've done all right so far, at least I hope. The skits were incredibly funny and everyone had a great time. And I don't think there were any hurt feelings.

Saturday night was graduation and my band provided the music. We've been working really hard on it and they played so well. I was incredibly pleased with their performance. I think I messed up more than they did! Graduation is held in the gym here at school, which is transformed into this fairly fancy hall. They put up a big tent inside for the stage to be set under and there are huge screens at the front so translations can be beamed up for everyone to see. Most of the ceremony was in Spanish, which was a bit frustrating for me. The common language here at school is English, but the majority of our kids are Peruvian, so they, of course, naturally default to speaking Spanish. And the students chosen to do speeches at graduation, as well as the teacher who was the graduation speaker. were Peruvian, so everything was in Spanish. It made me feel bad for those kids in the graduating class who are English speakers and are fairly new to school - they probably could only understand a fraction of their own graduation ceremony. But other than that, it went well and I'm glad I have experienced one graduation so that I know what to expect next year. And my kids know all the music now, so next year should be a piece of cake! :)

Reada's bridal shower

I hosted a bridal shower for Reada on Saturday night and it was so much fun! There were over 25 women there, all teacher friends from school, and we had a great time eating, drinking and playing games. After some fun at my house, we went bowling, which was great! Reada loves to bowl, so this made her very happy. And it was fun to see everyone showing off their bowling skills.

Here is Reada drinking wine from her special bride glass, courtesy of Celia.

Reada, answering the questions to see who knows her and Dave the best. Anne (in the black striped shirt) and I won, but we decided it wasn't really fair for us to have played since we know Reada so well, so we let someone else take the prize.

winter

Winter has arrived in Lima. The last few weeks it has been getting cool at night, but the days were still sunny and warm. Yesterday all of that changed. It was cloudy, grey and cool all day long, in fact, I think it got colder as the day progressed. So, while those of you in the States were enjoying a beautiful, warm Memorial Day, we were experiencing our first true day of winter. I'm currently bundled up in a sweater and jacket and contemplating putting on my scarf. It is amazing how quickly my body forgets how to deal with winter! Luckily I only have to put up with winter for a few weeks, then I'll be home to enjoy NH summer.

Update

Things have been really busy at school this past month, which is the excuse I am going to go with for not updating my blog in so long. Actually, there really has been a lot going on. My seniors finished classes and just completed their IB exams last week. My concert was a week and a half ago and it went well. The kids played great and I was pleased with all the performances. It feels good to have the concert done - the pressure is off and all we need to worry about now is playing at graduation in a few weeks. We have 5 weeks of school left, then I'll be home for a few weeks, which I am really looking forward to.

I had a new, unique experience in Lima yesterday that I figured I would share with all of you. My friend Angie and I went to Chinatown - who knew there was a Chinatown in Lima?? It is in Central Lima, which is the old part of town. Central Lima is where the city started, but then everyone began moving to the surrounding "suburb" areas, like Miraflores where I live, and now Central Lima is where all the government buildings are, as well as amazing old churches and examples of Spanish architecture, and lots of poor people living in very crowded conditions. The Chinatown area is fairly small, but very cool. We took a cab down there and just wandered through a bunch of markets. We were definitely the only gringa faces I saw all day long. As we walked along, the people around us would do double takes as they heard us chatting away in English. Luckily, Angie's Spanish is pretty good, so she took care of all our negotiations for the day. We both ended up buying some neat things - I got a great skirt and some fun paper lanterns and paper stars to decorate my apartment with for Reada's bridal shower.

Shopping in Lima, especially Central Lima, is a unique experience for someone from the States. Instead of having big stores with everything in them, there are tons of little specialty stores selling the same type of things. And all the stores selling the same things are on the same street. We walked along one street with tons of stores selling only party decorations, and another selling only plastic and styrofoam plates, cups and silverware. We drove past the street where stores sell electronic amplifiers and cords, and the street where they sell construction signs and orange cones. The only other place I have seen things set up like this is in Istanbul, where Kristin and I got lost on kitchen appliance street in our attempt to find the tram station. You would think no one would ever sell anything, with stores selling the exact same thing as you on either side of you and up and down the same street, but I guess the people who shop here must have stores they always go to and the shop owners must really rely on repeat customers. It is just an interesting concept. As for Angie and I, we just went into whatever store caught our eye and bought whatever we needed there, as opposed to shopping around. Every store carries essentially the exact same things and the prices are the same. It is really a weird idea of commerce, but it seems to work for Lima.

Party at the Beach

My friend Giles, who teaches high school science at FDR, has bought a house at the beach about 20 minutes outside of Lima. He invited our newbie group over today and it is an amazing place. It was the first time I have been to the beach in Lima and it was so beautiful. Giles' house is gorgeous and I am so happy for him that he found it. It is literally right on the ocean and it was so nice to sit on the terrace and just hang out for the afternoon and evening. We had a great time!

This is the view of Giles's house from the front. It is really beautiful. The colors make it look like it should be in Greece or someplace on the Mediterranean. The terraces are great. We literally spent the entire day outside and it was so nice.

Here is everyone looking relaxed and enjoying the afternoon. The weather was perfect and we loved just sitting outside, eating food and drinking beer.

The view from every window and terrace was amazing. It was a relaxing, chilled out day and we had a fabulous time. It was wonderful to be at the ocean and to be away from downtown Lima for a while.

last day of IB class

Today was the last day of my 12th grade IB class. Here are my boys relaxing and listening to the review CD I made. They love being able to lay on the floor to listen to music. I'm sure they can't do that in their other classes! It was sad to see them leave today and know that I won't ever have them in class again. I worked my butt off preparing for their class all year long and I had a great time getting to know these amazing kids.

new bookcases

Check out my new bookcase. I actually had 2 made and I am really happy with them. There is no Ikea down here, much to my dismay, but luckily there are people who will build anything you want. My colleague's husband made these for me and I love them. Now I am looking forward to filling them up with more books!

Rock Opera

I was given free tickets to a rock opera and I took my 11th and 12th graders last night. It was the East Village Opera Company from New York City and they perform pieces from various operas in a rock style with a band and everything. It was quite an experience! It sort of felt like American Idol opera, which isn't really my thing, but my kids and I got a big kick out of it. It kept us entertained for a few hours and gave us lots to talk about on the bus ride back.

Here are my kids and I in my classroom before we left. For me, the best part was getting to spend some time with them outside of school. They are fabulous kids and I really like them a lot.

Lake Titicaca

Reada, Dave and I spent Easter weekend at Lake Titicaca, which sits on the border of Peru and Bolivia. It is the highest elevation lake in the world at 12,500 feet and is absolutely beautiful. We flew into Puno, which sits on the Peruvian side, and spent a night there. We got up early the next morning and took a 3 hour bus ride across the border (we actually had to get out of the bus and walk across the border) into Bolivia and then got on a boat to go to Isla del Sol, the Island of the Sun, which is in the middle of the lake on the Bolivian side. We stayed at a beautiful ecolodge on top of a mountain on Isla del Sol.

We got off the boat on the island and had some confusion about where we needed to go. Someone said we needed to go to the north of the island, a 3 hour walk over mountains, but others said our hotel was on the south side of the island where we were. This young Bolivian boy took it upon himself to get us to our hotel, in exchange for 5 US dollars and a couple of soles to buy notebooks for school. We hiked up an incredibly long path that felt even longer and harder because of the altitude and the fact that we were carrying our own packs. It was rough, but we made it.

As you can see from these pictures, the hike was completely worth it. Our hotel, an ecolodge with cute bungalows, sat on top of a mountain and had incredible views from every direction. We were overwhelmed by beauty every time we stepped outside. It was very quiet and peaceful and just a perfect spot. I think it is the most beautiful place I have been to in South America so far.

After spending the night at our ecolodge, we hiked back to the boat for the trip back to Copacabana where we picked up the bus back to Puno. This picture was taken on the boat back from the island and it shows how beautiful Lake Titicaca is. Everything about it is so dramatic - tall snow-capped mountains, blue, blue water, and picturesque little islands.

tofu

Apparantly it is very difficult to get tofu in Lima. I've been asking Vilma, my wonderful maid who takes great care of me, to make me food with tofu in it for weeks and she always apologizes that she can't find it. Well today, in the middle of my Spanish lesson, Reada's maid Lupe showed up at my apartment with the biggest block of tofu I have ever seen. Lupe and Vilma are friends and, from what I could get of Lupe explaining to me in Spanish, Lupe was able to find some tofu somewhere, but it is very hard to get and she can't get it all the time. So, at least for this week, I will have tofu to my heart's content. I can't wait for Vilma to come on Friday and make me something yummy with it!

lovely weekend

Eric's parents were in town again this weekend and I saw them yesterday afternoon. They had a wonderful trip to Machu Picchu and it was fun to see their pictures and hear all their stories. It made me ready to go to Machu Picchu again, so if you are interested in coming down and checking it out, let me know! :)
We went to lunch at the Park Hotel, which is the swankiest hotel in the city. It was nice to sit out on the terrace and enjoy a little luxury. It is always a fun little break from the craziness of Lima. I only go to the Park Hotel when I have visitors and it is a nice way to show people another side of the city.

We spent the afternoon in the area around my apartment, just walking around, checking things out. I took them to Larcomar and we watched the paragliders for a while. Even though I am afraid of heights, I still think I want to try paragliding while I am here. It would be fun to do it over a city that I actually know well.

After I dropped Mary and Phil off, I met some friends and we went bowling. I haven't been bowling since Karen's birthday party in Berlin and I am pretty bad at it - I can't seem to make the ball go straight!
I'm off to a movie with Reada and Dave this afternoon, then Indian food and Scrabble with some friends tonight. This Indian place just opened up - it is the only one in the city. They only do delivery and they cook everything in their house. You have to place the order hours and hours, or even days, in advance, but the food is as close to good Indian food as I am going to get down here, so it is worth it. Nothing will ever beat Amrit in Berlin, but at least I can finally get some Indian food in Lima.
I hope you are all having a happy weekend!