Schedule finally up and running....

After nearly a week of trying to figure out what our role is here and what Espanol class we are supposed to be in, we had a ¨normal¨ day yesterday. We attended Spanish in the morning and headed out to Orepesa (the small village where Casa Azul is located) in the afternoon. We had some issues getting on the bus, and when we were finally able to catch one it was packed to it´s limit. We had to stand and hold on tight for most of the journey (Todd with his head bent down because he is too tall for Peruvian transport). We arrived 40 minutes behind schedule, but left at 5pm anyway due to our lengthy trip back to Cusco and the setting sun.
We decided would would like to be somewhat more comfortable when we head out there today, so we plan to take a different route in hopes it will not be as crowded. When we arrived, we met Carlos, the administrator of the orphanage. We were greeted with shouts of ¨los gringos!¨ and many hugs from los chicos when we arrived, which broke our hearts to know they do not get regular love and hugs in their lives. The staff at the orphanage seem to be very connected to the kids, however.
Todd began helping create an oven out of adobe and concrete, and proceded to till the soil for the garden. Correne hung out with the chicos, specifically helping one 5 year old with his homework and discussing names of various animal in Spanish and English with an 8 year old. We are having a difficult time communicating with our coworkers/los chicos at the orphanage due to the significant language barrier. It is tough to get a 5 year old to sit down and do his homework when you do not speak the same language!
We had our final spanish class this morning, as we switch to 1 hour of 1-on-1 tutorial with a Peruvian learning English next week.
On Wednesday night we decided it was time for less Peruvian food and more of something we know, so we opted out of the meal at our family house and headed to a pizzeria. The pizza was fabulous - they are very proud of their pizza here and it definitely has its qualities unlike ¨American¨ pizza. (they even serve it with mayo as mayo is a favorite condiment for everything!) It was a nice change of pace, and after our meal the birthday party going on at the table next to us brought over a piece of the most delicious birthday cake we´ve ever tasted to share. We made sure to say ¨muy rico y feliz cumpleaños¨ to our kind dining neighbors on our way out (very delicious and happy birthday). The Peruvian people all seem very kind and generous.
We leave early tomorrow morning for our two day trip to Machu Picchu, and will blog again when we return to share our adventures there! (We´ll try to add pictures then as well since it is much easier to do from the computers at Maximo Nivel.....)
Adios - Hasta luego!
-C & T