Birthdays and the Beach!

I know, I know, I'm WAY overdue for a new post, so hopefully you haven't completely given up on me by now :) I'm still alive here and doing quite well. These last few weeks of school have been much better than the first few, so that's a huge answer to prayer. It has been an eventful couple of weeks, so I have lots to post about.. birthday fun, staff picnic, and my trip to the beach this weekend, which was basically pure awesomeness :)

So my first birthday in Peru last week was wonderful! It really was a great day.. thank you for all the birthday messages & emails. It was so wonderful to know I was being thought of at home. My friends here and my students made sure it was special for me, which was just awesome. This was definitely my first birthday where I was sung to in 3 different languages! It was the best when my students sang Happy Birthday to me in English, Spanish, and Korean. They knew it was my birthday and made sure they sung to me in almost all of my classes! I loved it. Some of my students gave me cards and ice cream.. it was really special. I just soaked it up all day :)

Rebekah, the 1st grade teacher, and I share the same birthday, so we got to do a double celebration with all the teachers. So we all went out to dinner after school at Siam, which was an amazing Thai restaurant not far from school.  After they brought out Maracuya Creme Brulee (which was a fantastic dessert).. we went over to Rebekah, Laura, & Kyle's apartment for MORE dessert. (Someone must have told them about my sweet tooth..) Here are some pictures of us all digging in!

Hmmm.. this was some sort of fried banana deliciousness :)

The whole group toasting with our lemon-grass lemonade :)

My entree! I forget the Thai name for it, but it was chicken, rice, veggies, and cashews.. SO good!

Lemon-grass lemonade.. sounds gross, but really good

Fun with Rebekah and Megan on our taxi ride home

We also had a second b-day celebration the next day at Yvonne's house.. she cooked for all the August birthdays and made an incredible meal..

This is homemade, which means she's an amazing chef in my book

Me, Rebekah, & Betty

We also had a staff picnic a few weekends ago, and the SUN came out! It was such a treat to be out in the sunshine, which makes a huge difference in the temperature. Since it's winter here, most days are pretty grey and blah, and lately it has been "raining" quite a bit... now let me just explain that this Peruvian "rain" is what I would call "misting" or "spitting", but this past week the ground has actually been wet almost every day. Still no need for an umbrella, but the taxi driver has actually needed his windshield wipers, which is rather unusual for Peru. So anyway, having several warm days where we needed sunglasses was pretty exciting, so we soaked it up and grilled burgers outside at the house where the only 2 single guy teachers live.. Jared, and well, Jared. Yes, both Jareds. As you can see, they're really roughin' it with a mini pool in the backyard and an entrance to a gated park. So this just means their house is declared the party house!

My roomies.. Eden and Amanda

Okay, and now for my trip to Kawai! 

Yesterday I left straight from school with most of the teachers to go to Kawai, which might just be my favorite place in Peru so far (although I still have a TON of places to go!). It's a nice little beach resort about 2 hours south of Lima (past Pucusana, where the orphanage is). We rented out a few bungalows just to get away, stay for the night, and enjoy the beach & the ocean. Even though it wasn't nearly warm enough to be out in bathing suits like you would think of the beach in the States, it was SO nice to be out of the city and just hanging out with so many of the  teachers. It felt like a 24-hour retreat. Last night we just relaxed, got a little wet in the chilly ocean, and made smores around the bonfire :) 

Lindsay, Kathy, & Amanda.. attempting to stay dry, but not really succeeding

Jared finger-roasting a marshmallow.. I barely got this picture before he yanked it away because it burned, so don't be fooled!

The resort

These were the cute bungalows where we stayed. We could walk out the back door to go straight to the beach.. does it get any better?!

haha I love this picture.. Debbie sitting in the drained pool on a mattress

haha Jared being Jared and trying to balance out Eden & Laura on the see-saw

Little Oliver.. the youngest of our 5th grade teacher, Jens, and his wife, Annie

Going for a ride on the beach.. Peruvian style

Horses on the beach!

This morning a bunch of us went about a mile down the beach to hike up a cliff, which was awesome. It was definitely a LOT easier going up (although it gave me a good workout and my legs will probably be sore tomorrow) than it was going down, which was a little scary since heights aren't exactly my favorite thing in the world. We basically had to do a crab walk the entire way down because it was so steep, but it was definitely worth it. Here's the view and some pictures of us hiking..

Megan and I

So here were some Peruvians swimming in the ocean right at the bottom of the cliff. I was excited to take a picture of them when I was at the top, plus they seemed to be having fun in the cold water, but then I zoomed in and realized some of them are in their tighty whities, ha! So you might not want to blow this picture up!

Melinda, our Kindergarten teacher, and I at the top

The Jared's

Great view... and an accurate picture of the haze that likes to plant itself over Peru all winter

Hi Mom :)
The trip down, which was quite difficult, but thankfully at this point I was safe on the ground
Here are 2 Peruvian teenagers helping Juanita down the cliff

haha crazy teachers wrestling.. good blackmail for the students (which is why you don't see me in that picture!)

The whole group :)