Hello everyone! Today is the third full day of my second adventure in Peru and to be honest nothing super exciting has happened so far, haha. Sunday was a very chill day. In the morning I distributed the gifts I had brought for all my family members and everyone was excited - they kept joking that they're going to send me home more often so that I'll come back with more gifts :-) For lunch we went to a Chifa restaurant, which I found amusing since I never ate chifa with my family last semester and this semester we went the very first day. If you don't remember, chifa is Peruvian Chinese food, supposedly with a unique Peruvian flavor. Honestly, it seems fairly similar to American Chinese food to me, and in any case tasty. Sunday afternoon I went to a church service at the Iglesia Bíblica Emmanuel which I had attended once before last semester. I had forgotten how long the service was and grew a bit antsy by the end of the two hours. After church I returned to my house feeling a bit dazed - I think the culture shock is hitting me a bit harder this time. When arrived for the first semester everything was so new and exciting and it was fun to discover all the differences, rediscovering the differences is not as exhilarating. On the other hand, it is really satisfying to know where I am going and to understand everyone more or less (definitely more than when I arrived in July hehe). I know that I will soon readjust to my life here and I think starting classes next week will be very helpful with that.
Yesterday I had no plans so I got up and power walked on my street (which is actually long oval) and showered and then finished unpacking all my stuff. My room was rather messy because I was too tired on Saturday night to unpack it all so half my bed was covered in clothes and books and such. In the evening I went to Plaza San Miguel with my friends Ernesto and Juan from my small group here. We went to Bembo's, the Peruvian version of McDonald's or Burger King (but tastier) and I got a chicked sandwich on "pan integral" which is the supposedly the healthy bread. It was really tasty and satisfying since I had not eaten dinner. After eating we walked around the mall for awhile, chatting and catching up. Ernesto spent a month in Dallas with his brother who lives there, so we were discussing the differences between the U.S. and Peru and he complained a lot about how everything is so expensive in the U.S. It was awesome to be out of the house and hanging out with friends - helps a ton with the culture shock! When I got back to my house I skyped with my friend Jazmin to set up a time for us to hang out this week. We're going to go to a movie this afternoon (Alice in Wonderland).
This morning I woke up un poco early to walk to the university because I needed to borrow my friend Laura's phone charger. I cannot find mine. I thought I had left it at my host family's house since I knew I would not be using my Peruvian cell phone in the U.S. but it wasn't with all the other things I had left. This is a bummer because I am quite dependent on having a cell phone so I hope I can track down my charger soon. I am currently sitting in one a Cafetal (the campus coffee shops) charging my phone and working on my Fulbright essays and my resume. The sun is starting to come out. The mornings are actually fairly cool because it is very cloudy. But sometime around midday the sun comes out and then it is HOT, but not really any hotter than Glen Ellyn is during the summer. The only difference being that in Peru we don't have air conditioning, but my host papás put a fan in my room and with the windows open I am usually pretty comfortable.
Things I had forgotten about Peru:
*the noise
*that when you leave a fast food restaurant, you leave your garbage on the table
*that my bed is really hard
*that pedestrians do NOT have the right of way
*that everyone stares at me
*that the babies scream a lot
*that there are a lot of palm trees
I just realized that all these things sound sort of negative. But really I don't mind them, well except the part about being stared at, but other than that the rest is just part of what makes Lima Lima. :-)
Did I mention that I feel very confused about what month it is right now? I know it is March but it feels more like August due to the weather and classes starting next week. And now I must get back to my tasks for the day. Have a great day!
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