Hey Kids!

Just thought it is time to drop everyone a line and give you a little heads up! Life here in Arequipa has been quite normal. The neat thing is this brain of mine gets a break as the Spanish Institute is having it annual two week vacation! Sooo...you know what that means...I get a vacation too! More like a mental break...but you know what I am finding...I am finding that my I can't speak a lick of Spanish these last three days! Guess my mind needs school!

Peruvian Holiday!
July 28th is Peru's Independence Day! Everywhere there are signs saying "Feliz Fiestas Patrias!" I will stick a picture of my neighborhood here in Arequipa of all the Peru flags flying in the stiff wind we have here!



The last two days I have tagged along with Pedro and Cecila (the family I am living with and also the director of the Spanish Institute) as the family and I have traveled to some "waterfalls" about an hour away and yesterday we even made it to the beach to play volleyball! Mind you it is winter here...and the beach was like 60 degrees and the water even colder...BUT it was a lot of fun!!!

I am flying to Lima tomorrow (7/31) to take care of three to four days of paper work as I complete my resident visa and am able to get my carnet...finally!! School starts back up again on August 11th and I will be making my way to Pucallpa sometime in the beginning of September!