Joanna's Journal: Last few days before Gira trip...

I’m going to try not to get as behind on the blog thing… but then I’m going to get 9 days behind because we aren’t going to have internet when we go to Puno so I won’t be around. (written before Puno)

Today I worked really hard on getting the last few days recorded, and then we headed out to the Gira meeting. We went over everything craft/activity wise that we are doing each day while in Puno. I’m in charge of teaching a verse on Thursday, explaining and teaching a craft 2 other days, and pre club game 3 days. Yeah… I need to get out those Spanish notes. We are getting really close, and there are so many things to do to get ready, and I think that Rachel is getting a bit stressed out. And she has a reason…she is one busy person. It’s amazing she gets anything done. :-)

We got back, and helped Rachel clean out her car. It needed it, and now the water to cool off the engine if needed is ready, the floor is swept, glove box cleaned out, old bottles taken out, and the chair screwed tighter to the wall. I forget what type of car it is, but it’s a ’89 Toyota Land cruzer I think… It’s old, sturdy, and big. Rachel wanted to go out for lunch to clear her mind, but we ended up eating with the students. We had fish and those giant corn kernals. She gave me a hefty portion of those, and I finished them all. They are huge when they are cooked! The fish was really good today too. I enjoyed it!

We were walking back from lunch, and Randy asked if we wanted to go to the cross with him today. We didn’t really have anything particular until Oansa in the evening, so we took him up on it. Btw, the students I guess are selling shirts, and I got a Sebic Seminary shirt. It’s navy blue with white words, and I really like it! It has the seminary logo and everything!

Ariel, Randy, and I all started out for our hike. He goes pretty quickly, and we were keeping up with him. I think Ariel got tired at some points, but she said it was worth it at the top. He said it takes him 40 min, and a 10 min run down. It took us a bit longer, but we took longer at the top to get pictures etc. I was amazed that at each switchback how much higher we had gotten. When you are at the seminary/street looking up, the mountain looks really big, but we climbed the whole thing! On the way down, I really thought I was going to fall and hit my face. It was so steep, and then the loose gravel/rocks are so easy to slip on. The first bit I was doing a step at a time, but when it got a bit flatter, I was able to jog. It was really beautiful!

We made it back by 4, and then took a really quick change/sink bath to head out for Oansa. It was Red and White night for the Peruvian Independence Day… July 28^th. We don’t have Oansa for the next 3 weeks because of the Gira and then spring break for the students. Alicia and Rachel went out to drop by some stuff by church, and we were going to meet them at the café that we go to on Wednesday nights. Well, first of all, Guess, rachel’s dog starts to follow us. All the way… I’m scared she is going to get hurt or lost or something, and then Rachel is going to blame me… etc. I was just thinking of the worst. Then I couldn’t find the restaurant, then once we got to the restaurant, Rachel wasn’t there… so we go back to church and she was there. Once I knew that she could get us where we needed to go I was good. She got hung up with some things at church. We ate our normal foods (I got the tres leches again) but it was sooo packed in there. The semifinal game of the world cup, Netherlands vs. Argentina, was going on. It was 0-0 and we saw most of the way through the 2^nd overtime. Argentina ended up winning on the penalty kicks. Really close game!

Oansa was fun as usual. I helped a girl named Karol with her verses. She learned them quickly to say back to me, but I tried to make sure she knew them, and could say them a few times before I signed her off on them. She ended up being on green team, so I went with her. It ended up that another girl I helped once, and a girl that lives here on campus (Pilar) were on green too. Jumping up and down shouting verde at the top of your lungs is pretty fun.

Juan taught the lesson and Isabel did the songs. It was rojo y blanco night for the Peruvian Independence Day July 28^th. Everyone wore their red and white, and I put on a white shirt to go under my Oansa shirt. It’s as much as I had. The lesson was on the wordless book but using the colors of the Peruvian flag. (it has all the colors, and a little of brown and blue, but those aren’t main ones.) I might try that with the kids when I get home. :-) I have a Peruvian flag. I really liked it!

After church, we had the 2^nd/3^rd year students “wedding”. The class learned a bunch of different administrative type things in the class, so they did a “funeral”, “baptism”, “Lord’s Supper” etc. Raquel asked me a few weeks before to play the wedding march, and I agreed. I had obviously never played it before, but got some music off of the internet. I hadn’t really practiced because the other time I went to practice some little girls from club were there so I ended up talking to them. They were amazed at my brown hair… it was cute! I came back from Oansa and changed into my dress. I was talking to Raquel, and she was like, “you should wear your dress” and I was like, I only brought one. She said, “yeah, its blue and you should wear that one.” Ok then. She obviously remembered that one. :-)

The girls were so pretty! And you can decorate amazing things with TP and balloons. :-) Originally I was just asked to play the wedding march, but then I was asked to play 2 hymns that I hadn’t heard before. Then I was asked to play the processional whatever… I have never been to a Peruvian wedding in my life and I don’t know how they do it, and I haven’t played for a wedding either. (sigh) Oh well, I did my best! :-) We had cake and habas punch afterwards. (hot of course) Habas are those giant beans that they use for everything. We would see a lot the next week in Puno!

Thursday was the last day of classes for the students and a group was leaving on their Gira after class that day. Milka, a special friend was in that group, so I got to talk to her for a bit. She gave me the sweetest card, and we got a picture. I know that I will see her again! Thursday was a lot of packing! We had very limited space, so I took about 3 outfits with all the layers. I very quickly filled much of my suitcase. I slept in my clothes for the next day except for putting on a skirt, and it worked out pretty well.

Thursday night was church and mostly it was a music concert. The group from the states was still in town, and so they had a bunch of people that could play instruments and sang choir and specials. They did a really great job, and it sounded good. That is one advantage of a group… I’m not doing any solos in front of church! :-) The kids choir sang a few songs, and Bethany and Ausareda sang a special part.

Friday morning I went out to help with PE at the Christian school. When I got there, 5 of the gringo group were there too. I was going to help with the older ones, 7-12, but ended up helping with the younger ones. I enjoyed that a lot, and the ladies at the school were happy for the help. We did our stretches and then she asked if I knew any games that we could play. I explained how to play duck, duck, goose, (pato, pato, ganso) and that went pretty well. I tried to explain Simon says, but it turned out to be more like touch this/do that. We spent the rest of the time on the playground. I got to talk to one girl from the states for a bit, and also the ladies that were in charge of the kids. I walked back with the kids, and the little girls are so adorable! It’s really cute when they practice their English. :-) I got back to the school and helped them wash hands and get their jackets and everything. The older group by then had gotten back and Marco thanked me for helping. We talked for a bit, and I told him that we would be gone for a week on the Gira and such. He said that my Spanish was good! :-) I was excited! I’ve gotten about 4 compliments on my Spanish, and 2 were from guys in my class at the beginning. (They heard my Spanish at the beginning and then now, so they can hopefully hear the improvement. :-)

Friday all in all was a lot of packing and getting ready. We were leaving at 6 the next morning. We were starting out on an adventure of a week, yet God was really going to bless it!!! (More to come!)