June 9

I had the best day at work today! I helped teach kids who were 16 and 17 and they were at a level where it was really beneficial to have someone understand English well. It was hard though because I can only tell them what sounds right without actually being able to dictate the exact rule. For instance Eleonora (the teacher I assist) thought that you should say "I have mustache" but I was pretty sure it was "I have a mustache" but I couldn't tell her why!
The kids in the older class. It's hard to get someone to respect you as a teacher when you're their age.
We play volleyball with the kids during breaks. All the girls here play volleyball and all the boys soccer. While we were playing there was a group of younger girls who would deliberately place themselves in danger of getting hit by the ball just so that when the ball came towards them they could run away screaming, only to come right back. So cute!

Playing volleyball!

Alison being mob hugged

The kids try to reach Alison to roll her rs with no success

After lunch at home, me and Alison went to INABIF and we made the mistake of showing one of the kids the snapchat filters on our phone and before we knew it we had mobs of kids following us around asking for our phones and if we gave in the phone would be consumed in a sea of eager hands and curious faces.

I show Alex the "dog" snapchat filter!

They all think it's hilarious, and even the adults find it funny when then kids make them try it! It's funny the things I take for granted that are so fascinating here like having an iPhone, but it's also interesting the things that they take for granted that I find fascinating, like how everyone here is obsessed with relationships! I was talking to two of the adults today, and they kept asking if I had a boyfriend and trying to set me up with the receptionist, a guy about my age. People here are obsessed with relationships, almost everyone has a significant other and they are always talking about their boyfriend or girlfriend and love in general. It's also a very loving culture with a lot of kissing and hugging and hand holding among even older friends. It makes the whole community seem connected and everyone is always so happy to see each other, it's my favorite thing about the Peruvian culture.

Eating Chifa!

For dinner the four volunteers, Nicole, Joyce, Alison and I decided to be adventurous and try chifa, the Peruvian shortening for Chinese food. Chifa sounds similar to the Chinese for eat food (chifan). We sat down at a restaurant and ordered, and the waitresses were mysteriously fascinated by us, even taking pictures of us from across the restaurant. Had they never had a Chinese person (Joyce whose Chinese Canadian) eat their food before? Had no one asked for chopsticks before? Had they drugged the food and were eagerly waiting for a reaction? Then we discovered it couldn't be the first one because there was a Chinese chef. He was the first Chinese person we'd seen in Ayacucho besides Joyce, there is really almost zero diversity in this city.

As we all struggled to finish out gigantic meals, we were all in a giddy mood after a long day of work and even joked that maybe they had drugged the food! We were in such a good mood that we skipped through the plaza to another restaurant to get dessert and then another for tea and then another for wifi, I've never been to so many restaurants before in one day! We all went home happy and tired!

PPK wins the election with a margin of 50.18 to 49.92! To celebrate there was a parade in the plaza with this giant chipmunk. So random.

Alison and I find an old piano in the house from the mid 1800s. It even has candlestick holders! It also sounds like it hasn't been played since then and Rudy told us his brother bought it from someone who brought it into market in a donkey cart from where it was abandoned on a country road.