Peru: Day 35 (Fish-filled Flings)

I bought an octopus. A large octopus. Like it weighs almost two pounds, large. And I'm going to eat it. And it's going to be delicious. I was shopping for some groceries. Mary told me to pick up some fish. So I picked up some fish. I bought three trout, whole, for S./ 9.00, which is about $3.00. We had the trout on saturday evening.
But let's backtrack a little. Last I wrote was last Sunday. The week of classes was really good. The kids were well-behaved, one of our more troublesome students was the only one in Jr. High to get a priviledge level 'E', which is the highest level a student can get. (They get priviledge levels based on progress, as well as behavior, from the week prior). So that was very exciting. It was definitely a good thing for him too. I played some basketball Thursday after school against one of the high school students. Which was also good. Friday night after school, we went to a birthday party. It was for one of the students, who turned 15, and she invited the whole school, or at least most of it. We met at her place and took 3 buses out to a restaurant/resort thing where the party was being held. There was a popular Peruvian band playing live, and over a hundred and fifty people there. Pretty crazy. It is somewhat sort of like a 'sweet sixteen' thing here, except for fifteen. This brought on Saturday. I was woken up much too early, 12:30ish. Not to my excitement. Mary needed to exchange some money, and wanted a bodyguard. Me. After getting the money exchanged, I went on the grocery trip I was mentioning previously. The purchase of the octopus was one of great pleasure for me. I asked the seafood man to get me an octopus from the fridge. He came out holding the thing by it's head, and it was hanging almost to his knees. It's pretty big. It was almost 2 pounds, and it only cost me S./ 18.50, or just over six bucks. I'll be making it sometime in the next few days and will try to take some pictures of it, so you can be as excited as I am.
Instead of going to church this morning, we were invited to go with Vanessa D to see... THE HUMAN RACE!!!
It is this race that is held all over the world which hundreds of thousands of people run in. Vanessa's dad was running in it, and running in it well. He ran it in less that 50 minutes. Pretty good for someone who is 52. He told me that I could run with him after I expressed some interest in running a race similar to this. So he offered to run with me and 'train' me. He runs pretty much halfway across town and back every morning. Crazy. I might die. Anyways, he seems like a very sharing guy, cause he's also invited me to learn how to cook Ceviche. (It is fish cooked slightly in lemon juice).
Tonight I am going to Immanuel Church again. Should be good. I'm gonna have to pray some extra tonight I think. I've got to pick up Teresa Berkholtz and Jodi Hummel tonight and don't know exactly how yet. Also, my boss who said they could stay at the school with me isn't around, and her mom who is probably doesn't know that they are allowed to stay. And, there is school tomorrow, which means that they can't sleep in, or come out of my room in the middle of the day. (It just looks bad here. Like they slept over or something...). I have to teach til four, so I won't be able to show them around very well. Pretty much, I'll bring them home to sleep, and then kick them out in the morning. I'm gonna have to take them out to dinner or something. Yikes. I'm excited to see some familiarity though. Definitely going to be a nice treat. I think they are going to be doing the Inca Trail, or at least going to Machu Picchu. So I am feeling a little jealous about that. If anyone is interested though, I will maybe/probably be doing the trail in Febraury. So let me know, and I think I'll be able to set you up with a place to stay and all. Well, I guess it's time for me to go and shower and get ready for church. 5:00 service today.

PS. If you are interested in visiting Lima, or Peru, and need a place to stay, I might be able to hook you up with somewhere. Just give me a call or send me a note. I'll work out something.