La parrillada y el cumple

On Tuesday I went to a parrillada with my friend Franco (who I met in my music appreciation class).  A parrillada is like a cook-out . . . basically they grill a whole ton of meat, including sausages, pork, beef, and chicken.  This parrillada was at Franco's sister's house for her birthday.  She turned 33 and is a dentist.  She and her husband live in Las Casuarinas, which is an area in the district of Surco, not at all close to my house.  Las Casuarinas is actually one of the nicest and newest areas of the city.  I though that my house here was pretty nice but this house was super nice.  It was completely modern and perfectly furnished.  It was up on a little mountain and had a sweet patio that allowed a view of a the entire city from above, which was cool at night because everything was lit up.  Almost all of the people at this party looked as though they could have been american and to my disappointment they played american music all evening.  If I have not mentioned this before, Peruvian social engagements tend to start rather late; I believe I got to the party at 10pm and didn't get home until 2am, and it was a school night!  Still, I had a lot of fun though I wish I were not so shy so I could have talked to some of the other guests.  Instead, I spent the whole time talking to Franco, who told me about how he spent a year developing his own cake flavor.  I still have not figure out exactly why he wanted to invent his own cake, but the story was funny all the same.  Thursday was my host grandma's birthday (she turned 83 I think!) so we went over to her apartment in the evening (another social event that began later than the typical american gathering) to celebrate with her.  For some reason or another, I became quite tired while we were there and had extreme difficulty following the conversation, which was rather boisterous.  I could tell that they were joking around a lot because there was a lot of laughter, but I just could not understand what they were saying.  Basically I ate some super delicious turkey, tried some really dry wine, and otherwise spaced out.  :-)

This weekend was exciting because I went on a trip outside Lima with my program.  To summarize: sun, warmth, friends, frenzy of activity.  More to come later because right now I am exhausted!