peru

i'm too tired to write about the trip right now, but here are some pics! i'm sure i'll have more later.

mel and me on a train to machu picchu














ahhh!!! these next 2 pics are from a scary mountain that mel and i climbed. maybe we weren't so smart to do this...










































machu picchu











a group at mel's church in el agustino

"work"

i kinda had a scary situation at work today. i sub during nap time for a 2 year old class. today when i went in, the teacher started telling me about one of the kids. she told me that his parents are going through a divorce and that there is a restraining order against the mom. this was not the unusual part because i've had other kids that stay with aunts, uncles or grandparents because there are restraining orders on one or both of their parents. however, for this kid, the teacher told me that it was very possible that the mom could try to come today to get him. she had to tell me what all to do if she came, then she got to what to do if she had a weapon with her. whoa whoa whoa...a weapon? yeah that kinda scared me. the thought of waking up 7 sleeping toddlers and getting them into another classroom was a bit frightening. so anyway, i just kept sitting there watching this kid sleeping so peacefully, thinking about how little he knows about the troubles that are sure to come in his life, even at his young age. it made me very sad for the kid, and scared to think of the responsibility that i had for those kids' safety.

anyway, the pics are some that my roommate took while we were outside with our k-2nd grade kids yesterday. vincent could be a future model, don't you agree?! that's what lizzie & i think anyway.

house-sitting

i'm now finished with my 9 days of house-sitting. the dog became very attached to me. he liked to sit in the bathroom and watch me put on my makeup. i had to take the picture from above cause every time i tried to bend down to take it, he would get excited & run to me so that i would pet him. he is 12 years old so he pretty much just slept the whole time. it was pretty gross at this complex though. it's an expensive one, but right outside my door there was a big pile of diarrhea, another pile of poo, a big box of beer bottles, a dirty stuffed Big Bird, and ..... a dead mouse! such sanitary living conditions. the office lady just laughed when i told her & no one did anything about it until 2 days later. it was disgusting. but by the parking lot there was this nice little pond with lots of ducks & even swans one day. guess it's not too exciting in such small pics. but the baby ones were really cute!














i have war wounds! not really, but work is becoming a little scary. i have a girl with downs syndrome in my class and her behavior is getting worse and worse. at first it was just hitting, kicking, & spitting (in the face - me and the kids). today she also added scratching, pinching, and hair pulling to the list. oh she head buts me too. i'm so worried about her hurting the other kids cause i'm the only teacher in there. i have to watch her every second...and still pay attention to the other kids too & get their snacks & everything. i've gotta try to talk to the director tomorrow, but i'm kinda afraid to cause she doesn't think it's as bad as i say. so pray that i will tell her everything that's going on & not let her ignore the situation or downplay it!

a lil bit of everything

life:
i have a dog for a week! i'm housesitting & taking care of a friend's dog until next monday. kinda scary though, cause the dog has some health issues so i'm just hoping i remember to give him all of his medicine & that nothing happens! this could also be bad cause i now have reliable internet, cable, and a few pools. how am i expected to study under these conditions?!

ohh hahaha. today it had been raining really hard & the roads were kinda flooding. the rain was finally starting to slow down, but i was still driving really slow since the puddles were so big. there were these 2 guys walking on the sidewalk, & right when i got to them, i hit a huge puddle. it definitely soaked them. at first i was kinda shocked that happened & felt sooo bad...but then i looked at them in my rearview mirror & i couldn't stop laughing. i know, i'm a jerk. i don't know what my problem was. but what were they doing walking out in the rain anyway?? so i don't feel so bad.

school:
kirk cameron is speaking in chapel this week. haha it's kinda funny....but i'll be there! i grew up on growing pains. pretty sure i watched it almost every day.

work:
kids - what can i say. i now have many names: miss marissa (what they're supposed to call me), missarissa, miss riss, riss, and rissy. why would 2nd graders think they can call their teacher "rissy?" i've decided that i want to put at least one picture on every post just cause i feel like it...and maybe it will be more interesting. hopefully they'll apply to the posts, but they probably won't every time. soo here are some more kids from work. the girl on the right is obsessed with a guy that i work with. she calls him "hey, handsome!" i had to break the news to her that 26 is just too old for her, but she didn't care.

Crazy Kids

These are some of my 2nd graders from work. On the last day of the summer we decided to have a pajama party. Good idea right? Too good! The other classes hardly had any kids that day cause the parents wanted them to stay home on the last day before school started. The 2nd graders, however, chose to come for the party instead of staying home! So here are some pics from the exciting day...you can see what I got to put up with all summer!



I never knew girls could be so hyper