What's up friends? Life here in Lima has been a little bit more exciting the past couple of days thankfully. I'm already starting to feel readjusted to everything. Have I ever told you that the air quality in Lima is so nasty that my snot has flecks of gray in it usually? That's another thing I had forgotten about - sorry if you snot grosses you out, I promise not to talk about it again. Anywho, Tuesday afternoon I went to see Alice in Wonderland which was definitely fun, although it think it would be much cooler a)in 3D and b) in english. Most movies that I've seen in Peru have been subtitled but Alice is dubbed in all the theatres in Lima except one and it is not the most convenient theatre for me to go to. Seeing it in Spanish was fun just to practice my listening and I pretty much understood everything, but then you miss out on the real actor's voices which are an important part of the film in my opinion. I may see it again when Juanca and Blanquita go...we'll see. The Blind Side is coming to Peru later in March so I may go see it cuz I never saw it when I was at home. After the movie, Jazmin and I went to a restaurant called Mr. Cheese near the University. I had passed the restaurant many times before and its names was rather a turnoff, but I was also curious about it so we thought we'd try it. It was fine; not really anything special. Wednesday I went to la Católica for a lunch meeting with Marion (my program coordinator) and two of the other girls that were here last semester to discuss volunteering for this semester. Marion wants to organize the volunteering system a bit differently this semester so that the students who participate feel like their time is being used for a purpose - last semester many students tried one of the volunteer organization but felt uncomfortable and unsure of what they were supposed to be doing. So I will probably be taking more of a leadership role at my volunteer organization rather than a hands-on role, which basically means that I will be encouraging the students who volunteer at Mundo Libre this semester and helping them figure out what they can do with their time there. After that meeting I ran into my friend Erick from CBU and we sat down to chat for awhile. It was an awesome conversation because I didn't have to stop him once to ask him to repeat anything. What an amazing feeling to hold a normal conversation in Spanish! When he went home for lunch, I went on a quest throught the university to find a piece of fruit since I forgot to bring an apple from home. After checking all the cafeterias, I finally found some apples at a snack stand at a far corner of the univ. :-) Happy to have my fruit, I sat on a bench under a tree and read a book for a short bit while waiting for the other students in my program to get out of their intensive class. Then I met up with my friend Laura (from Hope) so we could catch up and hang out with someone familiar for a bit! We went a little café in Jesus María (a few blocks from my house) to have some juice and chat. It was wonderful to hang out with Laura again since we're both in the same position of returning for our second semester in Peru AND we are from the same college so we have a lot in common. Funny story - we got on a micro (what we call buses) at the Cató (short for la Católica) so that we could go to Jesus María. Well, we just happended to get on a bus whose whole back end was filled with boys (I would guess around 15 maybe? high school age-ish). There was a good 20 of them I would say - a whole gaggle. I got on the bus first and was caught off guard as a group of them tried to stand up fastest to give me their seat, but none of them offered Laura a seat, which I felt bad about (though she told me later she was glad because it would have made her feel uncomfortable). The whole ride, which was only 10 or 15 minutes I had all these boys surrounding me who were talking about me. I took some side glances at them and tried to catch some of what they were saying, and one of them told me I had pretty eyes. The best part though was when Laura and I got off the bus and I turned to the boys and waved and said Chau chicos! And they all started wooping and laughing! It was pretty much one of the funniest situations I have ever been in during my time in Lima and as soon as I was off the bus I started laughing quite hard. Although I found this occasion amusing, in general one of the only reasons I am not glad to be back in Lima is the attention that I receive from Peruvian men (and women who generally just stare but don't make obnoxious comments or noises). It is really quite tiring to constantly stick out so much. Being home for two months felt so nice because I could blend in a lot more which just makes everything a bit more relaxed.
Yesterday I didn't do much during the day - went on a shopping trip to Metro to buy some kleenex, a tupperware so I can take food the university with me, skim milk (my family drinks whole evaporated milk but I found fresh fat free milk :-) ), and sugar free jello. I'm holding off on making the jello though cuz my host mom offered me jello the other day and I turned it down since it wasn't sugar free... I figure I shouldn't turn right around and make my own jello cuz that might seem ungrateful. The evening was the exciting part of my day by far! I met up with Ernesto at the bus stop by the Católica and we hopped a bus to Los Olivos, a not-so-near district toward the north of Lima. Because it was 7 and right in the middle of rush hour it took FOREVER to get to our destination - at least an hour I think. And the bus was super crowded though I eventually got a seat for a short portion of the trip. By back was killing me from standing for so long, but it was worth it. Our destination was a café that my friend Marita opened a couple weeks ago. She was my small group leader last semester (now the small group has split in two because it was too big and Ernesto is my leader). We met up with another girl from the small group, María Luisa and her cousin Estefanía and later another guy joined us named David. What a fun time! The café first of all was super amazing - I wish it were not all the way in Los Olivos so I could go there on a regular basis. It was super cute and modern, with pretty designs on the walls and cute tables and chairs. The menu basically had sandwiches, juices, coffee, and desserts. I got a pita sandwich filled with felafel, lettuce, avocado, and eggplant, and served with a bit of hummus. I didn't know you could find hummus anywhere in Lima, and it was a delicious sandwich. Plus, it only cost 5 soles, which is less than two dollars! How about that for a delicious dinner???!!! Even better was the conversation and bonding with friends. I was actually surprised at how well I understood the conversation and was even able to contribute a couple times, which is generally difficult because I spend all my effort just following what people are saying that I don't have time to form my own responses. We hung out at the café for about three hours (until 11pm) and then took some group pictures out front with the sign. I usually love being in pictures, but I think I look rather ridiculous in most of my pictures with Peruvians because I am so much taller than all of them...oh well. I'll post the pics when I get ahold of them...they were not on my camera unfortunately. :-)
Today has been a laaaazy day - I have not even stepped out of the house and I've been awake for 6 hours! I think I may head to the university soon just to get out of the house and get some exercise. Plus, I'm hoping to meet up with some of the other students on my program to head to out cultural event together. We have the Mirabus tour today, which I went on last semester too but I'm still excited because it will be my first real chance to start building relationships with the other Americans. I like making new friends! Sorry this post is so long. I'm sure they will get shorter as I start classes and have a lot less free time on my hands. Haha.
One more quick thing - a review of people/places:
Abraham = host dad
Rosa = host mom
Blanca (Blanquita) and Evelyn = host sisters
Juanca and Valentina = husband and daughter of Blanca
Joe, Diego, Romina = husband, son, and daughter of Evelyn
Tía Margot = Rosa's sister who stayed with me for a month last semester when my host parents went to the US
Laura = American friend from Hope studying in Peru with me
Jazmin = friend from my history class last semester
CBU = Christian group at the university
La Católica, la Cato, PUCP = my university
Pueblo Libre = district that I live in
Alright y'all, enjoy your weekend! Good luck to those of you at Hope participating in Dance Marathon! Have a blast!
My mom snapped this pic of me while we were videochatting on skype. Since I don't have any other pics yet, I figured I'd at least let you see my smiling face so you can tell that I'm enjoying myself :-) More exciting pics to come!
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