Pre-School Education Week

On our last blog post we shared some video (we hope to post the second part of the video soon) from Sarah's Birthday Party and Mothers' Day Presentations. In Peru you never have to wait too long for a reason to celebrate something. This week it is pre-school education week in Peru. At home this would possibly not mean very much but here in Peru it is taken quite seriously. All week there have been activities in the school and other events throughout the town. Yesterday there was a parade of all the pre-school children from the pre-schools through the town centre. Interestingly Sarah's school was one of the few pre-schools not to participate in this event; they had planned a week full of their own events. The program for her school was as follows:

• Monday a drawing competition for the school.
• Tuesday a singing competition.
• Wednesday a dancing competition.

• Thursday a visit to the Collosium to see the opening ceremony of the Junior Olympics.
• Friday a party to celebrate the end of Pre-school Education Week.

It is hard to know how Sarah got on in the drawing competition and how she will enjoy the Olympics tomorrow but she certainly threw herself into the singing. She was torn between singing Jesus Loves Me, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star or I Love You, You Love Me (Barney and Friends) Eventually she decided she would sing in Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Her teacher was impressed that she stood up in front of all the pre-school 3 year olds, 4 year olds and 5 year olds, and of course we were very proud that she rose to the occasion.

Initially we did not recognise the emphasis that other parents would put on their children doing well in all the competitions, however after one of the parents asked us if Sarah would team up with her son for the dancing competition we soon realised how important it was to the parents. Josue came to practise a traditional Peruvian dance with Sarah three times before the real thing. Although the performance was purely an in-school event and we were not allowed to be there we were informed that she performed well, although later she did confess to us " I did the circles too fast!" (News just in: Sarah and her partner won the dance competition - fancy that, a girl from Ballymena winning a dance competition in Peru!)

I must admit that I don't ever remember having as much activity or as much fun at school as Sarah seems to be having, it would almost make me want to go through it all again! On a more serious note all the activity and excitment has been a very good way for us to get to know her teachers and other parents much better. We trust and pray that through Sarah and the people that she brings us in contact with that we will have more opportunities to share Christ with them.

The festivities really don't stop here in Peru, and this weekend is Ilo day (-think American Independence Day and St Patricks Day combined and you are beginning to imagine the scale of things!). Festivities for that will likely start this Friday and run right through the weekend. We have been told that it is virtually impossible to sleep (we need to get used to that again anyhow with the impending arrival of Murphy junior number two!) as there are constant fireworks and bangers throughout the weekend. No doubt Sarah and her classmates will have been practising something to present for Ilo Day! Oh and then of course Father's Day is just around the corner! I guess one thing is for sure - you will never get bored here!

Don't forget to check our blog again soon for the second part of the video from Sarah's Mother's Day performance!