Día del Campesino y Más

Wednesday was a giant party in our town. There was no school and everyone got together to celebrate the day of the farmer. Every school marched in a big parade and I marched alongside with my school, Agroindustrial. We also marched with the municipality people and some big flag of Peru. We were introduced again as being young professionals in education from the University of Massachusetts. There were lots of street vendors selling everything from clothes made out of sheep and chicken on a stick (which was quite good with homemade aji, I probably had 4 of them). The best was when Alli and Max had to march with their school. They were given costumes (the same ones that the teachers were wearing) and they had to partake in the dance down the main street in front of everyone in all of the surrounding towns. It was pretty awesome. Little girls would run up to Max later that week and say, "you´re the one that danced!"

Thursday was a mess at school. The festival put a wrench in the pattern of the week and many students and even teachers did not show up on Thursday. We went to first, second, and third grade to try and reevaluate the teachers but it was not enough time for a fair evaluation. That evening I worked out (ran shuttles and kicked the ball against a wall that is meant for some kind of outdoor squash game). Unfortunately, it started raining and I wiped out pretty bad running one of my shuttles and my right hip is still a little sore when I lay on that side.

Friday was also a mess at school because it was our last day at Agroindustrial and also there was a basketball tournament going on so nobody was in class they were just running around watching. I helped one of the sixth grade classrooms for awhile and then we said our goodbyes (kind of, we did not really tell the kids we were leaving because they would have freaked out). We then ate lunch and grabbed a taxi to the closest big town (a rough ride) and then grabbed the bus to Huancayo. There were not seats at first so I sat in the aisle of the bus until a seat opened up. We met up with the Junin group (John, Olivia, etc.) and went to a nice restaurant for dinner. We were all pretty tired and went to bed after chilling in the hotel.

This morning we went to Coqui´s for brunch. The Junin group went there last weekend so they knew it was good. They had a big menu and decent burgers with real ketchup. The best part was the cold, yummy, amazing milkshakes!!! I had a chocalate milkshake that was soooo good that I am getting at least two more before I leave to Paucartambo where there is no real ice cream. We then went to Plaza Vea (the big grocery store/mall) where I stocked up on more hand sanatizer, rubbing alcohol (to clean the computers), pretzels, real ketchup, and best of all, peanut butter! I also bought indoor soccer shoes that are really comfortable so I can wear them to school and play soccer at recess without changing. I have been wearing my turf shoes to school but it is very uncomfortable to walk/play soccer on cement in turf shoes. I also got a card adapter at radioshack for my camera so hopefully there will be more pictures in the future. That is all for now.