A day at the beach

I'm afraid I've started to get behind on writing this blog already!  A lot has happened in the last week or so since I last posted so I thought I'd better get jotting it down.  


Firstly, I had the chance to see a little more of Lima last week.  Ruth Bailey offered to take me into the centre of the city.  The photos I took just don't do it justice! The city centre is really very beautiful and quite different to the rest of the city. The buildings are very European looking - a legacy left behind by the spanish conquistadores.  Apparently Lima used to be called 'The City of Kings' (La ciudad de los Reyes) and something of its former luxury is still evident today.  We spent a lovely morning visiting some of the tourist sights and I have to admit it was nice to see other tourists and feel you aren't the only foreigner in the city.  We wandered down to the ocean side at Larcomar for lunch.  I was quite glad to get out of the school for a little while since the heat is unbearable at the moment and zaps sll your energy.

The centre of Lima

On Tuesday the whole school staff were treated to a day trip in Kawai, a christian beach site about 2 hours south of Lima.  We left the school at 7 am and spent the day on the beach enjoying the hot weather and peace and quiet.  It was my first time out of Lima since I arrived so I was really excited at the prospect of seeing a little bit of the real Peru.  Lima is the 2nd biggest desert city in the world so when you get out of the city everything is very dry, dusty and barren.  Pretty much nothing grows unless it is near a little oasis of water of which there are very few!  The landscape was strikingly different to the cityscape I'd got used to.  After spending all day at the beach we headed back to the city again and I began to notice all the places I'd forgotten to put suncream (doh I never learn!) 

Kawai

Desert scenery outside Lima

The biggest event this past week has been the start of the new school year after the Christmas holidays.  On Thursday morning it seemed that the whole of Lima was on the move as thousands of school children, all smartly dressed in their school uniforms, headed towards schools all over the city.  At San Andres we start at 7.30am so at 7.15am I was at the school gates to help with organising the children into classes (no easy task when there's nearly 750 children in the school!)  The school day is a long one - from 7.30 am till 3.15pm and quite exhausting when you're not used to it.  I will be helping out with the youngest primary classes aged between 5-7 yrs and I've already had the chance to meet a lot of the children over the past few days.  The kids are really sweet and very affectionate and many already speak quite good english.  I feel really happy in the school and as if its where God intended me to be.

Sn Andres is a really noisy place, constantly full of activity and there's a lovely friendly atmosphere; the feeling that it is a really happy place.  I think the children think of me as a bit of a foreigner though despite my attempts not to stick out too much.  A little girl asked me yesterday "Miss, why are you so white?".  Well I launched into an explanation of where I'm from and all that but she was not to be put off "But Miss you're really, really white. You must be from somewhere very, very far away!" (as she stared in wonder at my pale and pasty arms) I have to admit I felt a little like I'd just come down in a spaceship from Mars at this point and vowed to myself I'd getting working on my tan soon...For some of these children its the first time they've ever seen a foreigner so different to themselves and I love how inquisitive they are.

In school assembly, which they have everyday here, we sing hymns and psalms as well as the Peruvian anthem and the school anthem.  I was put to shame by 6 year olds today who knew the songs far better than I did and who sung them with such gusto and obvious delight.   I really will have to learn the Peruvian anthem for next week's assemblies! That will be my homework this weekend.

Well, I have so many stories to tell from school but since its only the first few days and I will doubtless have many more to tell, I'll leave it at that just now.  I will add some photos of the school very soon.

Colegio San Andres