A few life observations:

1. I don't understand Carnaval. It is a seemingly endless celebration that starts in January and lasts through the beginning of March, and for the entire stretch you have to watch out for kids with squirt guns, water balloons, and buckets. I've tried several techniques including intimidation (yelling and running directly at the offenders), the classic Peruvian finger shake that means 'no way,' and even pleading (por favor, soy una pobre gringa), all with very little success. And whatever you do, DON'T sit by an open window in a car or bus, because you will get drenched. And then sometimes the woman next to you will decide to change her entire outfit right there in the back seat of the car where you are squeezed in with 5 other people.

Carnaval is also a festival that involves lots of drunk men trying to raise a full tree in the plaza using ropes and ladders. Then more drunk men with axes cut it down. Highly entertaining, but watch from a safe distance.

2. Crayons are God's gift to teachers everywhere. I made it through 6 weeks of English classes which included students aged 5 through 15, a smattering of baby brothers and sisters, several regular dogs, and even a chicken on one occasion. And who would have guessed it, but the 15-year-old boys love coloring just as much as the 3-year-old.


3. I am currently living every 7-year-old child's dream: I get to eat french fries for dinner all the time!! Just french fries, sometimes with white rice. Whenever I am wishing I could have just a little something green on my plate, I remind myself that as a kid I would have been in heaven.

4. I always planned to spend my golden birthday somewhere really cool. As a first-grader, I was thinking something more like Hawaii, but if you had told me that my 23rd birthday would involve an adobe hut and a pot of chocolate pudding, I think I would have liked that.