Hi! So, I've been off from school for two weeks now. Last week, classes were canceled because 3 cases of AH1N1 were found in 3 schools in Socabaya (the district where Paz y Esperanza is). The following article explains (in Spanish, of course) the decision of the local Board of Education and the Municipality government to cancel classes last week to flow into the two-week vacation time this week and next week:
http://www.larepublica.pe/regionales/10/07/2009/suspenden-clases-en-colegios-de-arequipa-por-gripe-ah1n1
So, I have another week off....kinda mixed feelings about that. As I wrote in a previous post, the kids have not had a structured school schedule since all the drama surrounding the Director (he will always be "the" Director to me) and finding a new Director. Therefore, when classes resume on August 3rd, I will have to review as best I can what the children learned before the break and move quickly into new topics. Hopefully, the class schedule will be somewhat respected and the children will be motivated.
So, during this vacation I was able to take a day trip with the Girls Group. We went horseback riding yesterday and everyone had a great time. The girls had never ridden a horse before or probably ever been upclose with one, so they were afraid and nervous in the beginning. None of them even wanted to get on. I had to mount and dismount all of their horses to show them that it wasn't difficult at all. Our guides were really nice and helped the girls learn how to stop, turn, go faster, and slower...I especially had a great time, because I hadn't ridden in years, since I was a teenager. I definitely wanna go again:)
