ariquipa and election day well wishs

hello from ariquipa, peru...

i have arrived in the city that i will be doing my volunteer work..and taking spanish classes.

when i arrived, i did not dig it, really at all

the hostel was quiet people wise and loud as any place i have ever laid my head in respect to it´s surroundings...i found out today that the hostel is actually at one of the busiest intersections in downtown.

so in the morning i´m going to pack up and take a taxi over to a new place...it seems wonderful

so for one more night i will endure the outright screaching of taxi horns..for what reason...my god, i have no idea..they have so many reasons for honking..all of them i´m sure make complete sense to them..

i will enjoy my tiny television and watch something on hbo in spanish subtitles. it is remarkably helpful when it comes to figuring out a language..

so, on to the work. the main point in all of this...loud hostel aside

i love it..
i went to the office and met a few of the main players..nice people..
spanish classes will start tomorrow at 10 to 12,...

12 to 145 i will,.... i don´t know..study, eat something..etc...then catch a collectivo to the school...

i went and worked today...
the area is about 45 minutes away..it is on the outskirts of town up against a dry excavated mountain side...little mud block stuctures that are houses but are the size of a shed in an american back yard..and next to them is one complete block structure and three incomplete mud block structures...that is the school...

there was four little tables in the building which is hardly high enough for me to stand up in..tiny little stools for the kids...a dry erase board on the wall with the days of the week in spanish and english on it.

it is funny i am to teach them english but my spanish is so bad that i am teaching my self spanish in turn...i can benifit from the basic stuff that that four year olds are learning...

and little by little the kids started to stream in...little ones, middle sized ones...little ones that bring their snot faced two year old sister with them because they need to be watching them...about 6 dogs that come and sit out side and try and come in and hang out...just awesome...

we worked on body parts today and the clothes that go on those body parts...
so, i ended up at a table full of 4 year olds having them repeat, knee, leg, nose, ears, eyes, mouth, hands, feet, etc...over and over again...it was the bomb...

then we had play time...teach for an hour and then we go to a concrete area with soccer posts...we just all freaked out and played soccer for 45 minutes...me in my sandles...need to wear boots tomorrow...they all can´t say any thing other than teacher over and over again in little peruvian accents...but they sure can school me in soccer...even the tiny ones..

i took a couple pictures and they loved it...i could take 400000000000 pictures of these kids and they would not get enough...as long as i show them the picture of them when i´m done...

there was this one little girl who took to me and just came over and sat on my lap and said all kinds of stuff that i in no way understood...hopefully i can work on that...but she was great...

so that is the story...all is well, the job is good, the hostel is going to get much better and soon i will start taking spanish classes...

and as of tommorow morning, i do not have to listen to litterally the most honking that i have heard at one intersection in my entire life...
so, all is good in ariquipa...

oh, and before i left lima..jess and i got a bunch of hard candy and walked around passing it out on halloween...we eventually ended up in this playground in the middle of downtown miriflores which for the parents out there is a very nice, safe neighborhood...kids in costumes everywhere. and i handed a few kids candy..yelling feliz halloween

then came the onslaught of kids...tiny little peruvian kids all dressed up and yelling feliz halloween...i handed out candy as fast as my hands could pull it of. i felt bad, i wanted jess to be a part..she loved it though..6´4 me being mobbed by hundreds of 3 foot kids in costumes..she just smiled and took pictures...some which i will try to get on the blog someday...

other than that i felt a tiny little earthquake...shook a couple of windows...folks took a minute,...looked around..and went upon their way...i guess it happens pretty often.

that wraps up my side of things..

pick up someone and take them to the polls tomorrow,

to the end of the worst administration in american history..may we stand up and make our voices heard, finally..

not just for us but for the good future of the world as we hope it to be.

may our great country stand for truth and rightousness once again, unfettered by pirates

may we march on to election day,

as we storm the polls, an army with the most poweful weapon at our disposal...to vote

to the united states of america

be well,
marc