Life is grand!

Wow, it seems like an eternity since I have updated! Recap of last weekend: Saturday I checked out a youth group with my friend Lauren and a Nazarene church. It was an interesting experience. I enjoyed the worship songs but was not too fond of the rest of the time (there wasn't really any sort of discussion, we just summarized a story about a church in Cape Verde and memorized a short Bible verse). After the youth group, Lauren and I went to the movies in Miraflores with Blanca (host sister) and Juanka (Blanca's husband) and we met up with Juanka's parents. We saw Enemigos Públicos, or Public Enemies as english-speakers know it. I would definitely say that it is a good movie, although I really do not enjoy movies with such high amounts of shooting. If I were to watch a movie in that genre, I would rather watch the Departed. I was excited to have my first experience in a Peruvian movie theatre though. On Sunday my host parents needed to deliver some invitations for the one-year-old birthday party for their granddaughter, so I went with them on that adventure. We drove up to some districts in the north of Lima and I don't think they actually knew where they were going very well because they had to make several phone calls for us to find one house and they kept discussing directions as we were driving along. It was interesting to see new parts of this giant city, which never seems to end. I felt like I had left the city though because we were in such faraway districts. We had duck for lunch, so I tried it and really it was not bad. Much better than when we had goat, which I could not eat because the meat was soooo strong. Sunday evening I went to Miraflores to hang out with my friend Alix and her boyfriend Fransisco and they showed me a street with some good restaurants (Calle Berlin) and a little shop that sells bubble tea, which I was very excited about since I love bubble tea! They also took me to Jockey Plaza, which is the biggest mall in Peru and so far the only mall that I have been to that resembles an American mall. We satisfied my antojo (craving) for pizza by eating at Pizza Hut, which may not sound very exciting, but I was really missing pizza having not eaten it for three weeks. All in all, it was a good weekend.

This week was my second week of class, which began Monday with me missing both of my classes because I had to register for my classes. All international students had to register at the same time in person and I think there were supposedly 300 of us? In any case I basically waited for 4 hours and the actual registration took about 10 minutes max. But I got into the classes I wanted so now I am all set. Monday night I hung out with Alix again because she was leaving Wednesday to go back to the U.S. in order to pursue her master's in journalism. Tuesday is my long day of classes, but it was a really great day because I ate lunch with two girls that I met in my history class and their friend. I really enjoyed eating with them and I was able to follow their conversation pretty well. They asked me at one point about english slang words and I promptly failed at thinking of any because when I use English slang, I don't really think about the fact that it is slang so I could not think of any off the top of my head. I think I am going to eat with those girls every Tuesday, which is great because Tuesday is the only day that I eat at school and I was worried that I would not have anyone to eat with. Wednesday my friend Franco taught me how to use the library so I could check out a book I needed for my history class. If I have not mentioned it before, it is not very common to buy textbooks here. Instead, teachers generally leave materials at one of the photocopiers around the school and you have to go get copies made of a given chapter or whatnot, which I think is great because I am pretty sure it is cheaper. In the case of my history class, I needed two chapters from this book so I had to check it out and take it to the fotocopiadora so that I could have a copy. Also, I was very disappointed to find that you are not actually allowed to wander through the stacks of books at the library but instead you right down exactly what you are looking for on a special form and they find the book for you! Working at the Glen Ellyn Public Library, I am so used to being the one to find books for people that it seems strange to not be allowed to find my own books! However, I do not really mind because they likely have a different system of organizing their books that would confuse me, so it is probably better that i just write down the information and let them take care of the finding. Also on Wednesday I went to a park with Joe (my host brother-in-law) and his son Diego. I had a lot of fun playing with Diego! It seemed like Peruvian parents do not actually play on the equipment with their children. I think Joe thought I was crazy when I climbed up on the platform and went down the slide with Diego on my lap. Diego loved it though and he was very sad when we had to leave. Playing at the park made me miss being a child because I have so many fond memories of playing at parks with my brother and my parents and of course random children that I would meet. :-)

Thursday I woke up with an extremely sore throat which was awful because I had trouble concentrating in class. Thursdays at the university are cultural days which means that there are special cultural activities from 12 to 3 or 4 and I was going to go to something with some friends from my history class, but I decided to go home because I was not feeling well and I forgot to bring money for lunch or making photocopies (I only had 4 soles). Friday I went to the national museum with my program, which was really interesting, but I did not enjoy it as much as I would have liked because I did not feel well. In my two week intensive class when I first got to Peru, we spend a lot of time talking about pre-Incan cultures, so I was excited to see artifacts from those cultures. Also, there was a part of an exhibit dedicated solely to potatoes because Peru has over 3000 types of potatoes and potatoes originated in Peru. It was funny to see a big display of potatoes, so I took a picture, which I will include below. The main attraction of the museum is an exhibit on the top floor that centers on the 20 years of terror that Peru experienced from 1980-2000. The exhibit is filled with pictures and stories collected by the truth and reconciliation committee that was formed at the end of the conflict between the terrorist group Sendero Luminoso and the government. It is a very solemn and often gruesome display of photos but it reveals a very important part of Peru's history.

Friday was also Valentina's birthday, so Juanka's parents, sister, and nieces came over to celebrate with my host family. We had champaigne and cake and sang happy birthday. And to my surprise they actually sing happy birthday in English here, followed by a version in Spanish. When they began to sing in English, I wanted to laugh because happy birthday sounded more like "Hoppy Bearday," and also I was just amused at the influence my own language has in other parts of the world. Saturday was the day of the big party for Valentina, which meant flurry of activity in preparation for the party, followed by the party itself. Rosa's sisters came over to help decorate the house and I was very impressed by all the decorations; the house was completely transformed into a Hello Kitty wonderland. The party was set to start at 5:00 according to what my family told me, but I was curious to see when the party would actually start, knowing that time is very different for social engagements like this in Peru. Indeed, shortly have 5:00 not a single guest had arrived, my host family all still needed to shower and change into their nice clothes, and decorations were still going up. I think most guests began to arrive around 6:00 and anytime there after. There was hired entertainment which consisted of a lady with a microphone who played music and had special activities for all the children, and people dressed in a Barney costume and a Hello Kitty costume. I spent most of the time observing and taking pictures. Valentina looked so precious in her frilly dress. My favorite part of the party was after they finished playing kids' music and put on some sweet Peruvian music and I danced by myself. I was definitely expecting that there would be a lot of dancing at the party, but none of the adults danced at all except me. Something about Peruvian music just really makes me want to dance. I'm pretty sure everyone thought I was either crazy or drunk (and I definitely was NOT drunk) but my family told me that I dance well, which I am not sure I believe. :-) My host father did dance with me for one song, and he tried to get other people to dance with me but no one wanted to, which was fine with me because I think I would have felt more awkward dancing with strange men than dancing all by myself. Haha. All in all it was a fun time, but I do not think I would ever have the willpower to plan such a party for my one-year-old child. Way too much work!

Another observation that I would like to share: the other day I went to the Metro, which is the supermarket near my house and they were having a sale that had a special theme song. I immediately recognized the song as Mambo #5 by Lou Vega and I started laughing because the lyrics had been changed to promote the sale. I never would have expected to here that song in a Peruvian grocery store. "Compras uno y te llevas dos, compras dos y te llevas tres y si compras tres gratís uno más ok!", etc. Yes, I did memorize it because they play it over and over and over. Haha! And now for pictures (remember, if you click on them, they will open in another window and appear much bigger):

Me and my host mom Rosa. She did not realize I was taking the picture. . . she thought I was taking a picture of Mari who was sitting across from us. Haha.

Valentina! Getting read for the big party!

Juanka, Valentina, and Blanca

The living room complete with hello kitty balloons and various other balloon formations!

The entryway

The potato exhibit at the national museum!

Last Sunday when I was out exploring Lima with my host parents, we stopped at the airplane park and my host dad wanted to take a picture of me with a statue of a pilot as you can see. :-)