Back at work...and the beach!

After one day back at work, my vacation felt like ages ago, but that's always how it goes. However, a couple of good things did happen during the week.

First, I found out that I have the Deputy Head of English position for next year. This means I no longer have Interim status and will be paid a slightly higher salary ($1,000 more per year...after taxes that's about $600 divided into 12 months).



Second, I changed to Spanish lessons one day per week and feel WAY more relaxed as a result.

Third, I drove the entire week to school and now feel really comfortable driving in Lima (seriously, the traffic in NYC is NOTHING compared to Lima).

I even did a very "Peruvian move" which I still do not understand. If you need to switch lanes and no one will let you enter, you just roll down your window and stick your hand out - and the cars let you in! I've seen this work, but felt quite local doing it myself.

Finally (and definitely the most fun), we went to the beach on Saturday. I had to judge debates on Saturday morning, but got back to Miraflores for lunch. After lunch, Arturo had the brilliant idea to go to the beach. We threw a bunch of stuff into the car, drove 40 minutes and were there!

We set up our tent, ate some fruit salad and chocolate pudding, drank some wine, and laid down to watch some fishermen and the sunset. Let me tell you, it was incredibly relaxing. Then, we found out we lost our headlamp so we quickly packed up everything and went back to Lima. We were only gone about 4 hours, but it felt like days.

Then, we grabbed some Mexican food and stopped by Arturo's friend's house for a visit. We ended up staying and talking with Javier and Tamara until 1:00 a.m.

All in all, a perfect Saturday.

Now, it's laundry and grading...followed by a walk along the seacoast to Barranco to go grocery shopping at our favorite store.

Ahh...lovely weekend...