Settling In

The biggest news of this past week, as some of you may have already heard, is that we got an apartment! And then we signed a six month lease...Love you family! The apartment is barely half a block from the main plaza and a 10 minute walk away from FINCA. Besides the wonderful location, one of my (Sara) favorite parts of our apartment is our wonderful landlords, Miriam, Hugo y their most precious little boy, Pierro. They are one of many new families we have attached ourselves to in South America.

Our only furniture!!!

Just washing some vegetables after work, no big deal.

The first day we moved in they took us to a crazy outdoor market to buy a table and chairs, our first furniture! They are actually working on some things in the apartment as I write this aka showing Lindsay how to properly peel a mango, telling us the best places to eat roast chicky Ayacucho style and how to call a house from a cell phone (it's trickier than you think). We're paying a little more than we had hoped  but the apartment is really safe, pretty nice by Peruvian standards, actually maybe the nicest apartment I will be in for a while and has 24/7 hot water (this is a REALLY big deal here). The two downsides are that the "kitchen" is actually just a sink with some shelving and there's a rooster outside my window, I guess we'll be able to manage.

My room

Lindsay's room

Where we get hot water 24/7

It has been quite a process setting up house here. Since we have two and a half hours for lunch we have been using that time to run errands for the house. Normally this would consist of going to maybe 2 or 3 different stores but here in Ayacucho this means braving the blocks long central market scene. I can't even begin to count how many different stores we've been to in the last week, and there is a specific store for EVERYTHING! Since we wouldn't be proper residents of Ayacucho if we didn't haggle, Lindsay has been taking the role of barterer. She has been doing an incredible job while saving us many a sole (Peruvian currency). Unfortunately a few of our savings have been squandered by our poor decision making in terms of buying the cheapest item possible (not recommended in Ayacucho). We ended up "splurging" for the $7 thermos instead of the $3 thermos and are dreading the impending upgrade to $15 dollar sheets from the $7 polyester ones we bought earlier this week. We now have an electric tea kettle, enough dishes and silverware for four people and some thermoses for our morning tea/coffee. We absolutely cannot wait to start cooking for ourselves and have already had a few salads! This is an exciting week for us!

Our first meal in our new home!

My after dinner scene

Besides the fun and excitement of setting up house here, we are also starting to make some friends!!! I can't even explain how exciting this is for both us, not that we're even close to being tired of each other. The nightlife scene is nowhere near as crazy as Valparaíso but, of course, Lindsay and I managed to find the more happening places. This past weekend we got some solid dancing in and even befriended a few people. We already attended a birthday party, met up with some people in the plaza and have an invitation to a party this weekend! Apparently people aren't already tired of a couple of cute gringas making a home in Ayacucho. There's also nothing like desperation, a little confidence and an outgoing friend like Lindsay to get the friend making process started. We are both channeling our study abroad friend making experiences and are incredibly grateful this isn't the first time either of us have lived abroad. It also helps that everyone here is extremely nice and excited to tell us about Ayacucho. Did I mention that we've already been invited to three different almuerzos in the next few weeks?

Sporting my sweet manta (convenient carrier that almost all the women use here)

The bathroom doubles as our laundry room

Dance parties and after dinner laundry are a norm in our house

As for work, the kids are as entertaining as ever! We are nearing our first week of solo teaching and I actually feel like we will be able to handle it. The woman who took over for the last volunteer has been helping us this week but yesterday we taught our first solo classes! I think it went better than expected and was impressed by how much the kids respected us. However, I'm not quite sure what will happen when our novelty wears off...Although teaching the classes is our primary job my favorite part, by far, is playing with the kids after class. They are all excited to interact with us in whatever capacity possible and LOVE playing games. Today I had the pleasure of receiving some volleyball lessons and then playing an intense game of chase (the only thing that ended the game was my hangover and decreased lung capacity given Ayacucho's elevation). I can't wait to see what kind of games they teach us throughout the next two months!

Despite the ups and downs of daily life in Ayacucho, we are really enjoying ourselves! Even in the short time we've been here, I know I am already a different person than the one who stepped off the airplane in Santiago. Let's hope I feel the same way after our first week of teaching the kids by ourselves!

Sending muchos besos y abrazos from our cozy apartment in Ayaucho,

Sara and Lindsay