Week One Completed in Arequipa

So we have survived our first week here in Arequipa.

On Sunday morning we bid farewell to Gordon and Tom and the fun
begins.......We experienced our first of many Peruvian Sunday schools and
church services. This was somewhat different from services back at home, the
service lasted around 2 hours which was quite intense with the lack of
Spanish on Shirley and Lynnes part!! However it was a great opportunity to
meet some of the people we will be spending the next 2 months with.

On Monday we had our first day of language school. We have 2 classes every day, an hour and a half of grammar and then an hour an a half of one-to-one conversation class, so there is no place to hide!!!! We didn´t quite realise the intensity of the classes and the homework that follows. However, the teachers are great craic and we are enjoying meeting lots of other foreign students. Shirley and Lynne got a special welcome with another cake and happy birthday being sung in 5 different languages.

In the afternoon we had a birthday lunch and then visited the Juanita the Ice Princess after the recommendation of Gordon. She was an Inca sacrifice who was found frozen at the top of a mountain a number of years ago.

Monday evening was our first Church cell group at Paul and Ruths home. Here we received MORE birthday cake and got a chance to get to know some of the young people from the church.

Tuesday evening was an opportunity to meet the Latin Link Team who are situated in Arequipa. There were 4 generations of Latin Link missionaries present at the meeting and it was great to join with them for a time of prayer and fellowship.

Wednesday was a day full of learning, we attended the Spanish class in the morning and then came home for a special class on 'washing our clothes'. There are apparently a variety of ways to wash your clothes by hand. Simon kindly took time out to show us his very special technique where you fill a sink, put in detergent, wash, rinse, shake then hang on a washing line- all very technical......Thank-you Simon!!

Thursday was a national holiday so no school...yeahhhhh!! We made the most of a free day and headed out to the country with the other Latin Link short termers and Ruth Turner. We visited some sort of mill, it was lovely to get our of the city for a while. We finished up the afternoon with a BBQ.

Thanks again for following our blog.