Monday, July 4, 2011

Happy 4th of July!

Happy fourth everyone! This is Hannah and Katherine C. saying hey from Peru!
There's been a lot of rain here in Piscacucho, making it hard to work but letting us build bonds with awesome people. We have been able to play with the children in the school and get to know our host families better. As a group, we have been determining our leadership styles (Katherine is an idealist, and Hannah is a mix of different styles), and also learning about Andean culture. We got to enjoy a morning off to hang out with our families and then spent the rest of the day hiking. Today, we had our own fourth of July celebration in Ollantaytambo - sauna, hot showers, lunch, dinner, s'mores, and fireworks included.

Hannah: Hi there! So far, Peru has been a blast! I am rooming with Carol and Lauren Barnett and our host family is awesome. Our mom is a little reserved, but extremely nice (she boiled us water so we could wash our hair!). We have two brothers who are 25 and 15, and love to play Uno with us after dinner. Completing the family is a dad who is definitely a talker and extremely interesting. I have learned so much from the way that they live and get along together. This experience has been completely eye-opening for me. Today was a great break, because we got a nice, hot shower and some different food. I can't wait to go to bed tonight and not wake up at 5am with 5 roosters outside of my window. I hope that everyone is doing great back home.. Mom & Dad I love you and miss you! See ya'll soon! Love, Hannah

Katherine: My host family's house is definitely a hike to get to, but it's worth it. I'm rooming with Bella and Lizzy, and we definitely love our family. Our grandmother picked us up from the school on the first day, and she's been so sweet and doesn't even mind whenever I mess up trying to speak Spanish (the whole family makes a joke about the way I keep saying "esta bien, esta bien"). We also have a mother, two daughters, and their cousin Marco came to visit us last week - he's 5 years old and absolutely adorable. I wasn't feeling very well for the last few days and had to skip the group activities, but the whole family pitched in and kept me fed and kept me company until I felt like myself again. Piscacucho is definitely gorgeous, but it was nice to come back to Ollantaytambo today for our first shower in 8 days and our first (sort of) American meal. And it was so sweet of the teachers to arrange for us to celebrate tonight with a special dinner out followed by a bonfire with smores! I hope everyone else had a great 4th of July celebration too. To my parents and definitely everyone else back home in Tennessee, I love you and miss you and can't wait to see you all again in 6 days! Much love, Kat

P.S. Blaire sends a shout out to her family and Cayce sends another shout out to the Raby family



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Katherine, thanks so much for passing along Blaire's message. It is such a joy to hear about everyone's experiences and to know that you all are having such a wonderful time. We miss the entire Ensworth crew! Let Blaire know that Bailey misses her and she can hardly wait to show her the pretty picture she has drawn on her bedroom wall...:-).

michael cooper said...

Hey Han,

Great to hear from you – mom told me I could make a post if I was not too personal or too embarrassing. So, I will give it a try.
Leave it to you to pick a card game in the native tongue – so thoughtful. You mentioned that the brothers are of different ages. If you need a little refresher on some enunciation techniques asking which brother is older, or if you might speak of an Italian film, or quite possibly after today’s hike, make the statement that you can walk no farther….I could probably help. Since I'm not being personal, I am sure that I wouldn’t have listened to the cd you made me, couldn’t make cookies at night, Royal Pains – nope. We were at the lake last weekend with Grammy – definitely a new diva sign: Firework Divas – (boom). Glad you got that hair washed – I was worried sick, and as for the rosters….(mom said I can’t say that). Enjoy the rest of your trip – miss you terribly and love you with all my heart.

Dad

Ps – note the dashes – Myra would love it!

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