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.