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.