Funny Things :]

This post is just going to be funny things that have happened to me....hahaha :] Regardless of where I am, strange, awkward, weird and crazy things always seem to come my way!

Today, I was playing volleyball with my kids at recess. I tried to throw the ball to the other team, but what happens? I break a window! SO AWKWARD. The window shatters everywhere and all the kids started screaming. Like Dennis the Menace, I ran away like nothing happened.

Also today, I kicked a ball and it hit a boy right in his private parts. The boy fell to the ground and wouldn't stop crying. He had to go home.

When I got on the Petra (bus), a man started making phone noises. He kept saying Ring, Ring, Ring. Ringggaaaa. Once I got off the bus, I realized he was hollering to me Gring, Gring Gring. Gringa! (Gringa is an insult to white people in Peru) awesome.

I am a donor in the Bone Marrow National Registry and I got an email saying that I have been accepted as a preliminary match. Obviously, I start freaking out. I am not even in the United States to donate! To make matters worse, the email has pictures of little kids whose lives have been saved because of donors. With the pictures is a quote, "It's not every day that you can sacrifice a small piece of yourself to help someone live. I was given that chance." Turns out I am not a match. Thanks for the great email.

This little boy, Benji, asked me why I can't just move to Peru forever. I told him because I live in America! He said, well you don't have to go home. I told him that I already have my plane ticket home. He asked where my ticket was and I said it was on the internet. He looked at me with the straightest face and said, "Well, then I'll just blow up the internet. Then you'll be stuck here forever." I died laughing :]

I was teaching body parts to the Kindergarteners and one girl asked what "pelo" was in english. I said hair. I helped her make a sentence using the word hair, "I cut my hair." At recess, she came up to me and said, I cut my hair. I was so happy that she remembered the sentence! It took me a while to realize she took scissors and cut a huge chunk of hair from her head. English in Action?

At the Sunday Market, I managed to knock over a whole table full of desserts, bread and other food. It's not like in Ohio where if I knock something over, I can just blend in. My pale skin makes me stand out like a sore thumb here. I offered the woman and her family money for knocking everything over...and I stepped on the old woman's foot while saying sorry. I am still clumsy and I still hate old people. Nothing has changed.

Walking back from school, I slipped down the mountain. Instead of just falling in water, mud or dirt...I have to fall in cow poop. So typical hahaha :] I had to walk the rest of the way home smelling like a farm with poop all over my pants. My family wanted me to wash the pants and wear them again...definitely not happening!

Even though some things are so depressing here and make me want to cry myself to sleep at night, moments like these happen and how can you not laugh?! I think that is such a simple life lesson. Being able to turn a bad situation into a manageable one by laughing is a wonderful gift. Smiling and laughing also brings people together. I may not fully understand their language, but when my whole class laughs...it is contagious. I think I have figured out what living simply is all about. It's not just living with fewer items, but really noticing the little things in life that cause great joy and happiness. A hot shower, warm bed, a plate of food, laughing children, paint handprints, bubbles, letters of support and a journal are things that I would have taken for granted 1 month ago. But now, I am more grateful than I ever have been for the simplest things. No matter how homesick I am or how different this country is...this adventure is unlike anything I have ever experienced. It's hard to believe that 6 months ago, my world was turned upside down and now I am living the life I have always imagined. Love it :]

"Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing."

-Teaner :]