Reviewing 2012

 

First of all I would like to say Happy New Year 2013 to everyone in this wonderful new year of 2013! I am very happy that I was able to spend New Years Eve doing what I love, singing and playing my violin, and being with the man that I love. We played at Palacio Nazarenas, one of the nicest, if not the nicest hotel in Cusco. There were fire jugglers and dancers at the countdown (which I got to MC!) and we played til 1:30am. I got to see my girl Akhtiara later and at the end of the night (4:30am) Marco and I set off some fireworks. It was super fun!

So here we go. I am going to do a fun re-cap of 2012 like I did for 2011 with hyperlinks so you can read all about the even that happened if I blogged about it.

January: January started off with a trip to Lima for the Suzuki festival. I got certified in book 1 and book 2 for teaching violin and I made a lot of great friends and contacts. It was the first time I met Suzanne, my co-worker this year, and I also got to spend some time with Gabriel and Marco.

February: In February I took on around 8 students because it was still vacation and many of them were out of town. Marco and I celebrated out 1 year anniversary and we also celebrated Gabriel's birthday with ceviche and colored pencils. Oh, I also found a friend in Pepe's bedroom. I also moved in with Marco!

March: This was kind of a depressing month. While I got more students since it was the beginning of the semester at Qantu, Marco's visa was denied. I did, however, start singing and playing more frequently with Claudio and there was a great Suzuki group from Ohio that came to play in Cusco.

April: I spent this month making sure that classes were getting made up before my trip to the States. I did some cooking, sang a decent amount and taught. Not too much happened this month. I did record a fun video of Pepe playing with Marco.

May: This was a fun month. I met up with Ellen and Sarah who are both Camp Echo alums and Ellen, being the amazing person she is, brought me two bags of stuff that my mom packed up for me. I still can't thank her enough! I continued taking spinning classes a Pardo's Gym that I started in April. I was very proud to see some of my students graduate from books 1 and 3. I also made cookies with Suzanne which was super fun. At the end of this month I took a big trip home to Evanston where I was welcomed with big hugs and kisses from friends and family. The traveling ended when I got to camp Echo for family camp weekend.

June: This was a busy month but definitely a lot of fun. I was in charge of training the new trip guides and leading the training trip. I also got to go on an all new Girls Trailblazers trip due to the fire in the north of Michigan. I had a blast but I was more than ready to get home to Marco at the end of the month and a half trip. I had one blog entry this month due to being so busy with work but I did eventually get up entries about my trips.

July: I spent 4th of July on my bike riding around Evanston in 40 degree celsius weather with 98% humidity. It was fantastic! I soaked it all in because I knew I was going home to Cusco where the nights were very cold. We also had our final concerts this month at Qantu and everyone performed splendidly! I am very thankful Katie took over for me while I was gone. She is a friend of Suzanne's and she taught my students while I was in the States.

August: This was a big month for me because I got engaged to Marco and I couldn't have been more excited! We went to Lares and he popped the question. He, being the wonderful gentleman he is, asked my parents first. We also were able to get some down time in while he was on vacation studying for his Escuela de Guerra exam. I also celebrated Independence day in Peru by watching Marco parade in the Plaza de Armas. I also moved out of the house I was living in with Marco because technically I wasn't supposed to be there. I moved into an apartment in Zaguan del Cielo for a month.

September: Marco took his exam and got into la Escuela de Guerra which meant we were going to be moving to Lima in January of 2013! I also celebrated my violin teacher's wedding.

October: Marco and I had a civil wedding this month and we celebrated a little bit of a honeymoon by going to the jungle! It was hot but boy, was it fun!

November: I had some various entries that including ranting about combis and lack of personal face-to-face communication but it was a good month overall. We celebrated Flor's birthday (my director) by going to Huambutio and eating really tasty food. I celebrated my birthday by going out to dinner at Chicha and then going horseback riding on my birthday. It was fantastic and I am super thankful to my hubby who made it so wonderful! I worked on Thanksgiving but I was able to pop into a buffet that Elizabeth and Erik had at their house. I made pumpkin pie and it was all gone when I went by to pick up my pans the next day. I also took care of my old roommate's dog Warmi for a week. Also, I got into writing on a daily basis this month.

December: This month was super crazy and there was a week that was dedicated completely to Qantu concerts. Feel free to check them all out on the side bar if you are interested.  I played a wedding reception in San Jeronimo this month which was quite an interesting experience and gave me some perspective and ideas for my own wedding next year. The ladies of Qantu, Flor, Melissa, Suzanne, and me, made some delicious food at Flor's one Sunday. After all the concerts were over we had a chocolatada at Qantu and I ate lots of paneton and hot chocolate. Finally, for Christmas, Marco and I headed to Larapa where we had a great feast with Claudio and his family including Emily. It was a really great night.

So that is my 2012 in a nutshell. I hope everyone has a wonderful new year and lives up to their resolutions. Mine are to cook more, workout more, and read 30 books! I think I can do all of them pretty easily.