Happy Tuesday, Dear Readers!

I am feeling quite hopeful that I've made it through the worst of my illness and am on the road to feeling casi normal! I'm currently enjoying the presence of some lovely ladies from the state of Iowa, all of whom are presently being studious in my office. In a few hours, they're going to come over to my apartment, where Laura and I will be rewarding their hard work with some warm brownies. (We're so nice! :-))

The office has been a-bustling lately with new interns, and it's kind of neat to have so much activity in the name of sustainable volunteerism! That said, the internet is rather slow due to the quantity of people online in the office at any one time, and Laura and Eliza and I have lots to do! Today, I got the lovely job of escorting Miss Meredith to Manos Unidas, where she'll be interning for the next month. It was great to see Claire and Mercedes and the students again, and I sort of wish I could go and intern too! Meredith will be working in the adult life skills class, helping kids with everything from handwriting to dancing to cooking. I think she's going to enjoy her experience very much.

Yesterday, in honor of Independence Day, I did the most American thing I could do in Cusco, which was...drumroll please!...to watch the movie "The American." I would like to say that it was not only dismally un-American, but also a pretty bad movie! I had high hopes for George Clooney, and he let me down. Poo.

I also had the lovely joy of getting to chat with my sister Julie today! She just got back from a weekend at the beach, and I know that I'm homesick because even the beach sounds appealing right now! Normally, I am not a fan of such overtly sunny climes due to concerns regarding sunburn and heat exhaustion (we pale people have to be careful!), but the idea of being in Ocean City with my family is appealing at present. (Not as appealing as Friends Lake, but appealing nonetheless!)

I posted some photos of my parents' trip to Peru on facebook today, but for those of you who don't have fb, below is a link to the Google album. Enjoy!

https://picasaweb.google.com/whitmanse/PaulAndEileenInPeru?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCMGBr4yP7dKYywE&feat=directlink

And now, I am off to relax before the craziness of the Iowa ladies enters the house!

Later, friends!