Surprise!!!!

Happy birthday Marissa! Well, it was really on Wednesday but we had a surprise birthday for her. It was all Humberto's doing and I think she was really excited and happy to get such a loving crowd of people screaming and banging pots and pans for her. I love this picture of her. It was a well deserved party after a hectic crazy day the day before. Marissa is an amazing baker, friend, entrepreneur and person. She deserves all the happiness in the world and I hope that she enjoyed everything on Wednesday! Today we put up a few things in the restaurant and made some peppermint patty pie. We also experimented with donuts which ended up more as cakes. They are delicious and we are going to sell them in the mornings with coffee. If you are around and want a tasty morning treat, stop by!

In other news, I bought my plane tickets to Buenos Aires!!! I am going to take a bus from Cusco to La Paz, spend the night, and then head to Buenos Aires on Wednesday the 29th. I am going to be there for a week to take the suzuku philosophy course, which I believe I mentioned in my last post. I will also have 4 extra days to enjoy the city and meet up with friends! I am so excited. I am also extremely grateful for my father who loaned me some money for the trip. It will make things a lot less stressful. The only thing that makes me nervous is the volcano that erupted in Chile and has spread ash all the way over to Buenos Aires causing plane cancellations. I am going to keep my fingers crossed for my flight in two weeks.

I was expecting to move to our new place today but I found out on Wednesday that we are going to have to wait a little bit longer due to the lease of the previous renter not being up until the 15th. This means another months rent might have to be paid to the current land lady of our place right now. That would not be fun. I am so anxious to move but I'm not stressing because packing for me is easy and I am halfway there since I started before I found out we were going to be waiting a bit longer. All I have to do is throw my toiletries and clothes in my bags and off I go!

I have two new students who start next week. One is around 17 years old and wants to learn to read as well as play. We are going to take a more modified suzuki approach to his lessons since he really wants theory. I am definitely going to be using the book "I can Read Music". It's excellent for rhythm and pitch eventually (after we get his position and posture right of course!) The other student is a 5 year old named Luna who is going to be a private house call student because mom can't afford Qantu right now. I am pumped because in exchange for lessons at a discounted price, I am going to get a monthly massage from her mother Elizabeth. Not a bad deal at all!

I am headed out to see Amaru Pumaq Kuntur tonight at Ukukus with Akhtiara, Marissa, and Julia (an awesome new girl at the restaurant). It should be fun to have a girls night. I haven't had one in so long!

A quick side note, I have put up new pictures and a few videos on the side bar.