My new volunteer placement is great! I'm at an elementary school in the poorest neighborhood of Ayacucho. I help the teachers with random tasks, teach songs in English (think the colors and head and shoulders, knees and toes) and play with the kids during their HOUR (yes, you read that right) recess. Its a blast and I actually feel like I'm doing something of worth/kind of making a difference.

However...The hour long recess kind of bothers me, because the kids only attend school from 8:30 (if it starts on time, which is a very rare occasion) to 12:00. Thus recess makes up 1/3 of their total time in school. Apparently this is in contrast to the private schools that have very short or no recesses and are in school until 2:30 or later. Not that quantity is everything, but I feel like the families who have to depend on the government for education here are not receiving as good of an education as those who can afford to buy their kids a top-notch Catholic school education. Perhaps this is why there is a very small upper-class, basically no middle class and a huge lower class in Peru (and pretty much all of the other Latin American countries). I mean seriously, how are these kids supposed to even dream about going to college when they don't even receive a basic education??? That part really frustrates me...sigh.

In terms of randomness going on, I woke up this morning with a slight sinus infection, so this afternoon I headed to the pharmacy and purchased an antibiotic and Rx strength expectorant without ever seeing a doctor and for under $20 (without insurance). I'm sure I'll be back to normal in no time. :-)

Today at school I had to control my laughter as one of the teachers lead the class in a song about the middle finger complete with hand motions. Just imagine a bunch of kindergartners screaming the lyrics at the top of their lungs and holding up their middle finger! haha! Apparently giving someone the middle finger means absolutely nothing in Peru, just like it meant nothing in Spain...