Dear First Grade...

Dear 1^st graders,

Thank you so much for your letters. Reading them made me so happy. I also loved your pictures. I can’t wait to show them to all the other volunteers!

My family at the airport with me right before I left Nashville.

I have been in Lima, Peru for 2 months now, and I will be here for 2 more. I will be here for 4 months at all. I got here by traveling on three different planes. The first one went from Nashville to Chicago. The second one went from Chicago to San Salvador, and the third one went from San Salvador to Lima. I have had so much fun here so far! I get to work in four different places here so far. I work in an orphanage for children with special needs on Mondays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I teach the 5^th and 6^th graders in a school in Pachacutec. I also go work with teenage girls on Thursday and Friday afternoons. On Wednesdays and Fridays I work in an orphanage for normal children.

Two girls who go to school in Pachacutec.

This is Pachacutec. The blue building are their school rooms, they do not have any glass in their windows. The pavement is their playground, they do not have any swings or slides to play on.

Some more students.

This type of top is a very popular toy in Peru, all the boys can do tricks with their tops.

I have been lucky enough to be able to travel around Lima on the weekends. One weekend, I went on a boat to see sea lions, went to a farm to milk cows, and flew over the Nazca lines. The Nazca lines are huge pictures drawn in the desert by people thousand of years ago. The only way you can see the pictures are to fly over them! I also went to a city called Canta and went horseback riding to the top of a mountain to see ruins. Ruins are buildings that were built thousands of years ago, and are now falling down because no one lives there now. I have also gone to some really cool museums in Lima.

Horseback riding in Canta.

Learning to milk a cow!

The sea lions.

One of the Nazca lines called the waving man. Look closely…

The weather was very cold when I first got here, but it’s starting to get warm now! The seasons here are opposite than ours at home. When it is summer for you all in Nashville, it is winter here. During Christmas time, when it is very cold for us, it is their summer time so it is hot. Isn’t that cool? They don’t get snow on Christmas, but they can wear shorts outside!

I’m staying in Peruvian family’s house. Their family has a mom, dad, grandmother, aunt, 2 brothers, and a sister. There are also 14 volunteers that are staying in the house. They work in the orphanages with me. All of the volunteers are very nice. Since I have been living in the house, we have had volunteers from Germany, Australia, England, America, Canada, Scotland, and New Zealand! I’ve gotten to meet people form all over the world! I share a room with one other girl. Her name is Katryna. She has the top bunk, and I sleep on the bottom.

This is the view if you look outside my window. The houses are all connected, and people hang the clean laundry on the roof because no one had a dryer.

This is my bedroom. The bottom bunk is mine!

Our house is very nice. We are very lucky to have running hot water. Many people in Peru live in shacks and don’t have running or hot water. All of the kids who are in my 5^th and 6^th grade classes live in shacks without running hot water. They have to buy their water from big trucks.

This is what the houses that my students live in look like.

Our food is very good. In Peru we usually eat potatoes, rice, and meat for lunch and dinner. We have bread, cereal, yogurt, and fruit for breakfast. One of the traditional dishes of Peru is cuy. Cuy is guinea pig. They cook the whole guinea pig, and then bring it out to you to eat with the head still on. It looks really gross, but taste pretty good! They also eat anticuchos, which are traditionally made from cow heart. I really loved these when I tried it!

Anticuchos

My family does not have any pets. But, there are a lot of dogs in peru. Many families have dogs as pets. There are also a ton of stray dogs.

I wear normal clothes here. Most Peruvians dress just like you and me, in jeans and a shirt. There are some Peruvians who dress in traditional dress which is very colorful.

Girls in Cuzco wearing traditional Peruvian clothing.

Thanks you all again for all of your letters. They were so much fun to read! I hope you all enjoyed reading my letter and looking at the pictures! I would love to come talk to your class when I get back and share some of the cool souvenirs I got with you!

Heaps of love from Peru,

Maemie