Quite the lunes

(lunes=Monday)

Breakfast was a delightful banana smoothie, café, cut strawberries and bananas and bread (pan). I love how much fruit I eat here. My family also has the largest papaya I have ever seen and I am pumped to have some. I'll post a picture soon.

There were no tourists today so Rosita and I had two hours to organize the dressing room and fix some costumes. I sewed (yo cocí) elastics onto several pairs of shoes to help changes happen faster. Very sweetly, Rosita made me some café while I sewed. Then spent the last half hour untangling yarn.

10 o'clock is recess and lunch (what they refer to as "recreo"). I enjoyed some homemade pizza (YUM) and lemonade with Rosita and some children. I listened to Rosita while trying to help to stop a couple for kissing under their jacket, then comfort a girl who was jealous and explain to a boy that he can only have one girlfriend at a time.. Many, many couples here (novios).

At 10:20 we had our first group of dancers. I warmed the students up for about 15 minutes and then Rosita and I worked on Cumbia again. The next group at 11 was merely the same.

Then last two classes I was more or less on my own while Rosita finished cleaning the dressing room. These classes were with the more severely disabled, both mentally and physically and was a bit more difficult. Teaching these students is more of spending a few minutes with each student, dancing or moving with them and then moving onto the next. Keeping the students involved is extremely difficult. Many try to run out of the room or refuse to participate. Luckily, I have another volunteer in the room to help me manage. In the second group one very energetic student was dancing quite a bit which was excellent, but she was a little aggressive with her movements and when I held her hands to dance with her...she blew in my face spraying me with spit. Cueing why I called this "Quite the lunes"... It was unpleasant. Thankfully this was near the end of my day at Sinamune...

Once home I enjoyed lunch with my mom and younger sister Adriana. I had tuna, rice, a salad with green beans and some veggies I do not know the names of, guava juice/smoothie, and some delicious chocho beans. These legumes are an ancient staple for the Incans and are considered a superfood, with more protein than quinoa and soy beans with high amounts of fiber, minerals and omega-3s. Muy rico!

I took a short walk to the big supermarket (Supermaxi) for a few essentials, and made a quick stop at a bread shop for a sweet treat. After some studying and reading I helped my mom and Adriana look into colleges in the US for her to study English at. Knowing English is extremely helpful for finding jobs here. In addition, universities are expensive for them here and learning English in the US could be quicker and more effective. Also her mother and sister work in tourism and she may want to as well. She had a community college in mind that she had heard about in Los Angeles so I helped find out if they taught English, took International students, and who to e-mail. I crafted an e-mail in English, with their input (this was great for my Spanish to translate back and forth), that we sent to several professors and the international office. Hoping they reply soon!

Dinner was with the whole family and was steak? or some meat with zucchini, with the same salad from lunch, rice, and a little more café.

After some great catching up with Jacob and then my parents, a nice shower and a little more studying, I am officially ready to call this lunes done.

Besos,
Zoe