I can see the light!

Our practical teaching ended on Friday and damn, I’m glad that’s over. I enjoyed teaching 3 out of the 5 days, but the other two days I just couldn’t get it to work. My teaching methods just aren’t refined enough to teach 4 DAYS OF GRAMMAR IN A ROW. So, on the last day I decided to scrap the curriculum and created a new lesson on listening (we’re allowed to do that once in a while). I pulled the Barenaked Ladies song “If I had a million dollars” and we practiced listening and filling in the blanks over and over again. Then we got into a discussion about what you can and can't buy with a million dollars -- it was great(and I got a good review, too!).

I met up with some of my classmates afterwards and we decided to "house hop." Basically, that meant we bought a ton of booze, headed to Jeff's apartment and went to town. Since I don't drink, my perception of the evening was probably much different than then rest of the gang's. All in all, it was a lot of fun (Alex showed us how to open beer bottles with his teeth, Sierra got a little "closer" with a new friend, Kelly spent a lot of time praying to the porcelain god, etc), but it's about time for the craziness (that was never a part of my life back home) to come to an end for me.

The Friday night gang


Alex, Kelly and Greg


Alex teaching Kelly how to open a bottle with her teeth


Kelly unsuccessfully attempting not to chip her teeth while opening the bottle


Scott appreciating Becca's butt


After Jeff kicked us out, some of us went back to my apartment (because they were too drunk to make it home). I got to bed around 3:30 after putting Kelly in a taxi, Alex to bed on my couch and well, Scott was um, somewhere else. I got up at 7 to meet Nikki at my new place to go furniture shopping at the used furniture market about a 20-minute walk away and supposedly the most dangerous place for a gringo/a. No one wants to kill you -- just mug you -- and they have some pretty lame ways of doing it. I'm not saying that I won't get mugged here, but you have to be on your game to get something past me.

The market was awesome and we got a lot of stuff for very little $$. It's basically thousands of vendors spread out on the streets of this one neighborhood. You can find anything there -- souvenirs, kitchen items, clothes, shoes, cell phones (probably stolen) and it's extremely crowded. Some guy did try to mug me. He walked up to me with a newspaper and put it in front of me and tried to get into my bag. Puhlease. I grabbed his wrist and pushed him backwards. He yelled at me in Spanish and I yelled back in English (I'm sure the F-word was used on both sides). As he briskly walked away, the other vendors yelled "Criminal!!" and various other things -- they were pretty concerned with my well being, which was nice. I was fine.

The afternoon passed with a loooong overdue nap and then we headed out to the TEFL "graduation" party. It's essentially my school's reason to have a party every month. All of the volunteers and foreigners taking Spanish classes are also invited, but the Peruvian students aren't because the building would be overrun. It's unfortunate because they're more fun than the volunteers -- they'll actually dance. A few of them came (they had to be invited by one of us) and they were a blast to hang out with.

Sunday was moving day! I went to San Pedro with a friend for juice and then cafe con leche and pan y queso (bread and cheese) for breakfast. We then went on the hunt for curtains (which I couldn't find) and then a break in one of the many parks around the main square. It was such a beautiful day: the sun was out and there was a slight breeze. Unfortunately, you're not allowed to lay on the grass in these parks -- only sit on the benches. Totally not a comfortable place for a nap. I headed back home for a nap and then dragged my butt out of bed, packed the rest of my stuff and made my way to my new home in San Blas. So happy.