I don't care about money, I just want to BE WONDERFUL- Marilyn Monroe: May Recap

Most of my May was spent in Lima, so the "Lima Diaries" post pretty much has my May recap for you, but here's what happened for me in May apart from the Lima trip.

-At the end of April, I started teaching after-school English classes to sophomores and seniors who need extra help with English. This continued through May and will be a project I keep up until the end of the school year in December. I say this with all love and respect possible, but damn, teenagers are difficult.

-The anniversary of the province of Ascope was on May 31st, which means there was a giant parade that day and a huge party the night before that featured a pretty popular cumbia band from the department to our North.

-It's finally starting to cool off here. It's not quite as cold as Lima, but it's cooler here than it has been. That's good news for me.

-I spent a night with my community partner's sister and her family, who live in Trujillo. They have a 17 year old who wanted to practice her English with me so we chilled and spoke some Spanglish. Cool kid.

-Early in the month I had an all-day Saturday meeting with my community partners from the school district and health post to discuss the Red Ambiental. It was pretty productive and I feel good about the changes we are making. Moving up.

-I spent an afternoon with Fany (community partner from the school district) setting up new computers in a small school I hadn't been to yet in a town I had never been to in my province. Between the "One Laptop Per Child" program and the Peruvian government's initiative to give every school in the country a desktop computer, a projector, and a laptop, Fany has been busy installing equipment and training education staff on how to use the new toys. It was fun to tag along and help her one day.

-At the beginning of the month I also met with my other community partner from the school district and 3 of the English teachers to plan the English workshop we had at the end of the month. It's awesome how they treat me equally when it comes to event planning. It feels great having a voice in things and I really appreciate that they trust me enough to give me the authority that they do over these workshops.

-In a totally random turn of events, I got to ride a horse last month. All five of us volunteers from the province of Ascope were invited to take a tour of the Casa Grande sugar factory. When the right permissions to enter the factory were not obtained by our guide/ the guy who invited us, we ended up getting a tour of old buildings and the ranch that the sugar company owns. Because Peruvian Paso horses are a rare and coveted breed, they are worth a lot of money. And because the sugar factory has money, they own/ breed/ raise/ sell these Paso horses. Soooo, what better to do on a Thursday morning than take a smooth ride on a rare and beautiful creature? Oh, and this tour also got us some TV interviews because our guide is a reporter who does PR and community outreach for the sugar factory. We were touring with him because Jake and I have an agreement with the company to teach English in exchange for project support. Later that day I got a call which ended up being a surprise radio interview. Never a dull moment.

-When I came back from Lima at the end of May, the only news in Ascope was that someone tried to steal someone else's cow. He was caught. The cow was returned unharmed. Sounds like something that would happen in Greenwood.

-Upon my arrival in La Libertad after the Lima visit, I discovered a wonderful, beautiful, marvelous package from my mom. She sent cheese in a can. That's amazing. Best idea ever. The delightfully ironic thing about this package is that she sent it because I needed more prescription toothpaste. Along with the toothpaste, though, she sent a whole load of Easter candy. Brilliance. 'Twas the first Tootsie Roll I had eaten in about a year. I love my mom.

-Camp ALMA finally happened in May after months of planning. It was awesome and I think the girls who attended really benefitted from the experience.

-In addition to Piere's falling teeth, he also had a cavity last May. I believe this was his first filling. To comfort him after that traumatic experience, Maggie bought him a bunny balloon. I wish I got a bunny ballon with a cavity filling.

-My neighbor Jake's birthday was on the 29th, so we headed over to Sausal for a birthday lunch. Not a bad time. I'm a fan of Sausal.

So there you have May. It flew by too fast... that keeps happening more and more. Hope the summer sun of Wisco is keeping everyone at home in high summer spirits! Miss you!!!