Lesson in Peruvian PATIENCE

The stories continue...
Saturday mid morning I went with a friend to his house to meet his family and have a traditional lunch with them, while Arecely was taking care of some other things. However, unbeknownst to me, it was in the plans to stop off at a ceviche place on the way to partake of a local favorite, "leche de tigre" literally translated to "tiger's milk"... now why it's called this I'm not sure, but let's just say it's basically the leftovers from making Ceviche... like highly acidic lime juice, tons of raw onions, some other spices, and then some marine animal pieces in the bottom that are so sour I quite literally choked them down! Once again much to the amusement to my companion... I'm finding people love being the first one to show me a traditional dish here... just for the shock factor sometimes I think! After asking a few more question after finally finishing my mug of this killer liquid, I also found out it's said to be a hangover cure and aphrodisiac... who knew?! Too bad I wasn't looking for either of those side effects... actually I hadn't even been looking to try it, but once again, my new motto "why not?"
I went dancing on Saturday with Arecely, Luis (from the farm), and another friend... I can salsa! Well, sort of... I might be jumping the gun making that claim, but I got Arecely's approval and at one point everyone had cleared a spot on the floor for Luis and I... we were in the grove and it was SO fun! Thanks mom for the rhythm that I guess I'm finding out I have! :) The truth is, how can you not move to the latin beat? It's impossible to not feel something and to not a least move a little bit! The really good part is I'm finally starting to understand more and more of the lyrics of the songs that are constantly playing around me... although it's really not necessary since seemingly EVERY song here is about love... finding it, losing it, cheating on it, loving it, hating it... it's ALL about love!
Culinary experiences abound here... actually I was reading that Peruvian food is up there in the culinary world and Arequipa is among the best places to sample such cuisine... aren't I lucky??? Well, Sunday evening I thought I was excited to be going to "El Pio Pio" a traditional roasted chicken restaurant with french fries! However, the first course was a rice/noodle chicken broth soup... no problem... until I saw the floating chicken foot!!!! Of course it was fully intact with skin, nails, and all... IN MY SOUP!!! So what did I do? Simply made a comment, of "oh, well having a chicken foot in your soup is certainly different" and continued to finish my bowl of soup! Hahaha!
Monday was my first day from hell here. Now I know God doesn't intend for us to experience hell here on earth, but let's just say that when you spend 2 1/2 hours alone with 10 preschoolers who don't speak your language and don't think you're a real teacher (therefore don't listen to a WORD you say when their teacher is absent)... it's pretty much the image of hell! I won't get to much into my day, cause frankly I don't really want to remember all the details. I remember children screaming and running in and out of the classroom, glue covering an entire table and dripping onto the floor, a two year old being tackled by a five year old, yanking on hula hoop saying "no, no, give it to me... give it to me now" while three giggling preschoolers yanked on the other end, olives being hurled across the room......
Basically think Kindergarden Cop the first day he walks into the classroom and the kids have no teacher. BUT, I just have to tell you the climax that almost had me running away from the entire situation so you can enjoy the humor of not being the one in my shoes! I have to say after the fact, it's a little funny... although at the time I wanted to pull my hair out and cry with my three year olds. So, the last straw was when I walked out of the classroom into the outdoor play area to wrangle some students back in... two little boys had a bucket full of dirt and proceeded to THROW it at me!!! WHAT?! I was frozen in angry and disbelief. It was not long after that incident that I went to get another teacher and let them know that I did not wish to be left alone with that class again! NEVER have I felt so out of control or unable to manage a class in my life!
So... some of you would think that was the lesson in patience I was referring to in my title, but nope. I was referring to my day yesterday. Jaime doesn't think my job at the institute is "good enough" for me, so he set a meeting with a friend of a friend at another local colegio. I agreed to the meeting. Yesterday morning I was in the car with Jamie at quarter to 8 in the morning headed to the school. I can't really explain all the events that led up to me waiting OVER two hours for this woman and then her never showing her face, but that's exactly what happened. As frustrated as I was, I decided to just take it as a loss of time and continue my day. When I arrived back to the house, I had a message from a more pretigious institute that they wanted a meeting with me in the city center. I decided to go to this meeting and see what was up. After two taxis passed me waving their hand that they didn't want to take me, I decided I would just be late and take the combi after all... another thirty minutes. After my meeting (which went well and I am now officially changing institutes), I ran to THE post office (yes, there's only one in all of Arequipa) to collect my very first package from my mama! I was running because I had tried to pick it up on two previous occasions, only to find it impossible to talk to anyone the first time, and the second was able to sign for it but was then told that the office to collect it was only open two hours in the morning and one hour in the afternoon. Now, to say that this system is a joke, is the biggest understatement of the year! Let's just say I waited over an hour yesterday and then had to give it up and go to work and then proceeded to wait almost two hours this morning... just to open the package in front of the dude, tell him it's contents and supposed value... wait about twenty minutes for him to enter all the info in the computer... turn in my forms etc. and go away with my goodies. The word frustration doesn't even begin to cover it!
BUT, THANKS MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As for now, it's thursday night, I made a lot of new friends today, bought a new cell phone charger (cause my is "burned" already), and gave a model lesson at my new institute. I'm looking forward to another fun weekend and ready to get some sleep right about now!
Good night all!
Kate