Surprises

Today was an interesting day, to say the least.

First, I went to the Plaza de Armas with Kristen to look for shoes and earrings for my prom that's on Friday. Nothing too special. She also returned a dress that she rented. After no luck we went to Mall Aventura to continue our search. After finding shoes (S/.150) Kristen was taking money out of an ATM. She got her money, but didn't get her card quick enough. The machine sucked it back up and she didn't get it back. After trying to figure out what to do we got some ice cream and went to my house. We ate lunch and then she went home.

Then Michel came a little bit latter. We played Minecraft.

After a few hours, John showed up and we went to the plaza again to meet up with everyone to do a Christmas gift exchange. We shopped around with a S/.5 limit and met back up to exchange what we got. Then we were just walking around when a very obviously whit guy hands us tickets for "Free Pisco Sour" for a restaurant. It was strange when he was talking, because he had very good English.

A bit later he walked after us and asked, "Hey, do you smoke weed?" In a very loud voice. So we said, 'yeah, of course." just for the fun of it. He went on to tell us that he was from Florida and used to be a Marine, and he went to California and handed out bibles. And now he's married to a Peruvian lady that sells cookies in the plaza, while he works at a restaurant, trying to sell white teenagers weed.

Anyways, we happily declined and were on our way. We talked about what his story really was, thinking that he was a cop and did that just to get kids sent to jail. We said that he was a Rotarian, trying to get us sent home, and all sorts of crazy things.

At this point, Tyson wanted to go get his head shaved. We asked around and everyone said that the hair places were probably closed and he should try tomorrow. Instead of listening to them, I offered to do it for him. And surprisingly, he went with it. So Tyson, John, Zoe and I went to my house to get this done.

We gathered razors, water, a towel, and you know, everything we needed to do it. It took us about 2 hours, but we finally got it done. Now, this wasn't a normal shave with a buzz razor in the bathroom. We were using scissors, conditioner, and just a regular razor. We were on my roof, listening to Christmas music. 'Tis the season, right?

After all said and done, today was a good day. Tomorrow I'm going to get my face cleaned for prom. Why I have to do it so much in advance, I don't know. Then I'm probably helping my host mom make cakes, yay!

Random update

Recently, a lot of interesting things have happened. And I'd like to tell short, random stories that aren't related to each other...

First off, I got lost because I took what I thought was the right bus, but it was going the wrong way. I ended up way out of the way, and had no idea where I was. Luckily, there was a shop that a little old lady was working in. I called my mom, explained what happened and asked the lady to tell my mom where I was at. About 30 minutes later my mom and aunt came to get me, and I was very relieved.

Prom is right around the corner, so for the past few weeks I've been looking for a dress and finally found one last weekend. It's pink, long, and sparkly, and I'm probably going to wear it next year too. Now I just need shoes and earrings.

It's starting to be summer here, but the weirdest thing is happening. Instead of getting warm and dry (like it usually is) it's starting to rain, and get colder. Now, if you ask me, that's not summer at all. But I very much like this "rain" that they are having now. All I want to do is just stand out in it, regardless of if I get a cold or not.

With school almost out, I get to think about if I want to go back to La Salle, or try to find a university that I want to go to. Another exchange student is going to go study Portuguese, and I might go with him. Why not learn as much as you can?

My sister and brother are leaving for the US tomorrow, so I guess I'll be an only child again for a while. Not sure if I'll be changing host families or not. I hope not, because I love my family here, and also feel like it would be better if my mom had someone at the house.

The last full day of school was today. It was a sad day for everyone, even me. I love my class at La Salle, and don't want to go back next year because it wouldn't be the same. It really felt like I couldn't have been with a better class. I'm really going to miss them all.

I had a feeling lately that I couldn't quite describe. I tried describing it as "this won't last forever" and "this isn't a dream" to a past exchange student. Luckily, he understood what I was trying to say. We decided that that was the moment that I realized what living in the moment was. When that happened, I was just at home with some other exchange students watching movies. It didn't make too much sense at first, because we weren't doing much. But he said that moments like those are when that happens. "You realize to love the little things just the same as the big" He said.
I love realizing things like that. Although it can be very stressful, it's a great life changing thing that I don't think I would experience if I were anywhere else.



So, there's my update for now. I'll probably do another one around Christmas or New Years. (:

Three Months

I've now been in Peru about three months. The hard part is finally over!

Lately I've been feeling very happy about my situation, and more confident in my Spanish. I've been able to make jokes and actually have full conversations. I'm also starting to make more friends at school, and I love being able to talk with my classmates.

We got a new Communications teacher, who at first didn't know that my Spanish was very basic, so after the first test he gave, which i did my best to guess on the multiple choice questions, but then just decided to doodle because I couldn't answer anything else, he told me that he was going to take my test to the school psychiatrist. I told him that I am an exchange student, and then he understood. Now, I'm able to understand his class, and I'm happy that I understand their version of our English class, because I think it will most help me with my Spanish.

So over all, things have been going great lately!

Spring break

Well, this week is spring break here, and it hasn't been very exciting. Instead of my usual three or four hours spent at home alone, it's turned into most of the day. Yay! But, I have been able to go out a couple times. I went shopping with the other Zoe here, and bough a bunch of clothes. We also went to eat at the restaurant that John threw up at, the food was good, and the view of the plaza was very pretty. Earlier that day I went to the post office to pick up a package from my mom, I was there for about 5 hours. That was loads of fun.
Other than those couple great adventures, I spent most of my time in my room trying to entertain myself because I can't go out alone. So I painted my nails, and did some yoga.
My sister, right after skyping with Vanessa, which she shouldn't have been doing, and right before leaving for a class came in and told me that I've been here for two months, and that I'm not trying to be a part of the family. Now, I will tell you, it's very hard to interact with a family who is rarely home. It's also very hard going from being an only child living with just your mom to having siblings and a family that lives right below you. It's a big change, but I'm starting to get used to it.
I also went to Bolivia to renew my visa. And boy, was that a trip. My host mom told me the day that we were going to leave that we were leaving at 10 that night. So, I packed up my things, and we were off soon after that. We got on a bus and headed to Puno, we arrived there at around 4 the next morning. Then we got on another bus that took us tot he Bolivia-Peru border, we got there a couple hours later. After waiting what seemed like hours, we went to go get my visa renewed, but turns out I threw out the paper I needed to get back into the country. Oops. But, a man that was working there helped us out and managed to get me a new one. So we had to walk around Bolivia for an hour or two.
Being super duper tired all day, I hardly ate anything and wanted just to go home. After we got my visa renewed, we went on a bus back to Puno, at this point I had no idea what time it was. We got to the little house that I'm guessing is my host family's, and all I wanted to do is sleep. My host mom made me eat some food, and I found a scale there. It said I was about 53 kilograms, which is about 116 pounds, so I haven't really gained anything here so far.
After that, I turned on the TV and watched some show on Animal Planet about pandas, and fell asleep for a few hours. We left Puno at around 6 that night to head back home. When we got home it was 2 in the morning on Saturday, but i thought it was Sunday. So I was really bummed that I had only one day to rest before school, until I woke up at about 9 that morning to realize that it was in fact Saturday.
Saturday I hardly did anything, and I sure needed the rest. Now it's Sunday night, and everyone is doing their own thing while I'm just here on the computer. I have school tomorrow, which I'm a little excited about because my spring break wasn't as exciting as I wanted it to be.

Lima kids

The last couple days have been very interesting. After we got back from the trip everyone felt sick, myself included. We were told it was from the food. Everyone had something going on.

We went to Tyson's house to exchange pictures from the trip and ate some really gross pizza that made John sick. It could have been because he ate mine.

A couple days later John, Kristen, Zoe and I went to Plaza de Armas. When John and I got there the first thing he did was throw up. On the stairs of a restaurant. The lady by the door said it was going to be five soles to clean the stairs.

Then we walked around the plaza for a while and didn't do much else.

The next day, the exchange kids from Lima showed up, so we went to meet them. It was such a fun night. We met them at the plaza, exchanged stores about walking around and feeling safe, and got serenaded by a mariachi band. Super cool. John and I went back to their hotel with them and them his dad picked us up and took me home.

The same sort of thing happened the next night. At about 4 John and I went to the plaza. I needed to but gifts for people, so we went to do that and then walked to the Lima kids hotel.

That night was a mix of walking around and shopping mostly. After a couple hours we went with them to eat. We talked and tried talking in different accents. At the end of dinner we talked about doing a flash mob at the plaza, and thy didn't work out very well. It just turned into us walking there and standing around.

We saw a couple people sitting on a bench playing music and some of us went over. A few of the m started dancing while the rest of us just laughed. Afterwards, they wanted to take pictures with us.

We joined back up with the rest of the group, who were just taking and standing around. Getting to meet them was so fun. I can't wait to visit them in December!

-abrazos y besos de Peru.

Location:Plaza de Armas

Colca Canyon, Puno, Madre de Dios, Cuzco, and Machu Picchu

Day one.
We left Arequipa very early in the morning and started our trip. We spent most of the time on the bus with stops in the way to Colca Canyon. We saw old tombs from pre Inca days with human remains still inside.

We also bought coca leaves. When you have the coca leaves in your mouth it helps with altitude sickness. They also make tea and candy out of coca.

Later we went to a natural hot springs. The water was 39 Celsius. It felt good after walking to the tombs. After that we went to have dinner and watched a show.

By that time everyone was too tired, so everyone wound up just going to bed when we got to the hotel.


Day two.
Again we woke up super early. We ate breakfast and then we drove to Colca canyon which took about an hour and a half. It is beautiful. We were told that it is twice as deep as the grand canyon, although it doesn't look like it. While we were there we saw condors. Condors are huge birds with a wingspan that can be 9 feet across.

Then we went to the little plaza Chivay to buy some movies for the bus ride to Puno. I bought a pair of pants, which are super comfortable. We got on the bus and then watched The Avengers. A little bit later a lot of us had to go to the bathroom. So we stopped at this little restaurant to see if they had one. They did, but it wasn't much of a bathroom. It was a shack made out of rocks with a hole in the middle. It was super hard to go to the bathroom in that. Tyson didn't want to get anything on his pants, so he took them off and had us hold them. That was one of the funniest things. Then about two hours later we arrived in Puno.

We checked into our hotel and then had about an hour before we had to go to dinner. Tyson left his suitcase in our room because he couldn't lock his door, so we took all of his boxers except for one pair. After dinner we just went back to the hotel. We played card games for about an hour then went to sleep.


Day three.
The next morning, we had leftover chicken from dinner and bread. Tyson was the last one up, and the first thing he asked was where we but his boxers. We split them up between a few of us so we each had one pair.

After breakfast we went to Lake Titicaca to see the floating villages.

It was super cool seeing them. Then we went to go to a fish hatchery place to see the types of fish that live in the lake, because the lake was murky. That was pretty boring. But then we went to a fertility temple, and there were penises everywhere.

I even bought a keychain.

After that we went to a place where there were both pre Inca and Inca ruins at the same place.

The Inca ruins were very exact and precise in their design, where the pre Incan's looked more sloppily put together. At the end we had time to just sit and think as the sun was starting to set.

Then we went to dinner. We had pizza in a place that had a very romantic atmosphere. There were even candles on the table. After dinner we went to buy gatorade and snacks. And I bought Dark Shadows. Some locals said that we were "Gringos with black asses." In Spanish though.

We then got on the bus to start our night drive. We watched American Pie and Dark Shadows. At about 1 in the morning they stopped the bus and just about everyone woke up. At that point we were driving in the mountains and were in a cloud. I stuck my hand out to find that it was misting. That made Emily and I very happy.

During the night we ran into a lot of construction. Which meant going on detours off of the already scary road. And at one point we ran into a very large puddle going over the whole road. That was pretty scary.


Day four.
I slept on and off for about 5 hours, trying to find a comfortable way to sleep in a bus seat. Nothing worked very well. I decided to officially wake up when I saw that it was starting to get light. At some point in the night what I'm guessing was a bug landed in my chest, so I picked it up to throw it on the floor, and it kind of bit my finger. That was interesting.

When we got to the next town we got breakfast. No one wanted to eat. Then it rained again, and Emily and I went to stand in it. after that we got on a boat and went to out lodge that was about an hour away.

When we got there, there was three monkeys and two birds. Then we sat around for about an hour and went by boat to a beach. It was really hot, but the water was super nice. The after we got back we ate fried monkey for lunch.

A little while later we went to Monkey island and we didn't see any monkeys. All we saw was butterflies. When the boat came back for us (and it was dark by now) we drove around to look for cayman. We saw a few, and also an ocelot. we went back and ate dinner, then went to bed.


Day five.
We woke up very early (4am, no big deal) and took a walk to a platform to see the canopy that was 40 meters up. I saw a really cool bird, because I was the first one to cross the bridge.

Once we got back, we ate breakfast at 8. It wasn't good. At all. After most of us were done eating, we noticed that there was smoke coming from the lodge. A few of us just thought it was steam from the shower, until we realized the water was cold. Then a girl who went to shower came back and said that one of the rooms was on fire. It was Riana, Zoe (not me, there's another Zoe in our district) and Clarisse's room. Everyone in the dining hall ran out to see what was going on.

The workers took a fire extinguisher to put it out. Riana's suitcase got pretty badly burnt, and Zoe's backpack as well. I took pictures so we could see what was lost. Luckily none of their important papers got lost.

After the fire, everyone recuperated packed up their things. We then walked about 3 kilometers and got on a boat. We paddled around to look for animals, and were out for about 5 hours. The guid of our boat made Tyson help paddle the boat, but he wasn't very good. So Kristen did it instead.

We went to another platform to see the river. When we got to the top we ate lunch. Then we saw some otters across the river. The guide found a fruit that the locals use for was paint, and gave us some marks on our arms. After that we got back on the boat to go. We saw four types of monkeys in the trees, as well as prehistoric birds.

Tyson and Kristen were paddling while the guide ate his lunch. And of course, the wind picked up right when we were in the of the lake, and we started going the wrong way. They tried for a while to turn us around, but it didn't work very well. So after out guide finished his lunch, he took over for Kristen and we started our slow journey back.

We walked back to the lodge, and then left. We got back to the town and ate dinner. I had anticuchos. Then, I got some ice cream that was really good. We got back on the bus, and started our drive to Cusco.


Day seven.
When we got there, we ate bread and jelly for breakfast and put all of our bags in one room and went to take a short tour of the city's museums. Since none of us had much sleep the night before, I don't think anything was really gained from the tour. Then we ate lunch.

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to wait for our rooms. All of our things were in a big room, where we went to wait. While there we took turns taking showers. The showers were hot, and felt really good. Riana got out of the shower and said that "we have a job to do." She had a tick. So we got tweezers and alcohol, and took the tick off. Right as we were about to put it in a bottle, it fell on the ground. We all took our bags and put the on the beds to keep them a little safer, and checked each other for ticks. With luck, we didn't find any.

A little later we were given our rooms, and then we had to leave again. We went to Saqsaywaman, which sounds very close to "sexy woman" when spoken. There, there were more ruins. The walls were made out of limestone with a zigzag pattern. We walked around and saw shapes made out of the rocks like a puma paw a Cuy and a llama.

Then we went to walk through a very small, completely dark cave tunnel. it was actually fun. After that we went to a naturally created slide. I got my pants wet. That wasn't so fun. Then we went through the tunnel again, and went to eat dinner.

After that we went to buy drinks ad snacks for the bus and the next day. Riana went to go buy some clothes, and we all helped her pick things out. Once we got back to the hotel it was getting late. Kristen and I went up to Tyson's room, because the other girl that we were rooming with was having bowel problems. Turns out, she was in the bathroom for about an hour.

Once we decided that we were too tired to stay up anymore we went back to our room so we could get as close to four hours of sleep as possible. Waking up at two in the morning was not something I was looking forward to.

Day eight.
The day started with waking up at two. Not something I was happy about at all. I got dressed and got ready for the super log day to come. We ate breakfast, bread and jam, and got on the bus.

The bus tide took about two hours, and everyone seemed to get sleep, except for me. At one point, we picked up a cop. I'm not sure why, but it was pretty strange.

Then we got to the train station. We walked to go catch the train, which was very nice. I think I manages to sleep for a couple of much needed hours. We got to "Aguascalientes" which translates to "Hot Waters" and ate an actual breakfast that was more like an early lunch.

Then we took a bus to the ruins of Machu Picchu. We walked around for a few hours, learning the history. I didn't understand a lot, but what I did understand was interesting. Serif something so beautiful made by people so long ago is just amazing. There was a lot of different types of architecture that was very interesting.

After we were done walking around there, we took a bus back to Aguascalientes to get lunch. We ate at the same place that we had breakfast at. So, nothing special.

When we were done with lunch, we had until 6 to walk around and shop. There were a lot, it was like a farmers market, but just with clothes and material things. I got a sling bag, a pin with an Incan and a llama, and a sticker for my lap top. I also got a massage for a little less than 10 US dollars.

At dinner, we ate at the same place again. And after we headed to catch the train back to Cusco. When we got on the train, there were three guys that kept trying to talk to Riana and I. We found out from one of them thy they are from Isriel and are taking a trip all around South America. I started thinking how it was sort of like the movie Taken. Except there is more than just two of us, and we aren't traveling alone. But it was still pretty creepy. Our chaperone told us not to talk to them.

I fell asleep after that with my head on the table and slept for the whole train ride. We got off the train and headed to the bus for another night drive to Cusco.

Day nine.
After having to wake up at seven, we went to a place where women make textiles all by hand. We watched how they die the wool and how they make table runners. All of the money that they get helps to send their kids to school.

After that we went to a very old church that has about 50 weddings a year. Down the hill there were terraces that each had their own type of potato growing. When we left, we went to the Sacred Valley and ate a huge circle of bread. When we got on the bus again "Hey Jude" played on repeat about four times.

Then we went to a place where there were terraces in the shapes of perfect circles. They said that each terrace was thought to be a different climate from one another. Once we were done there, we went to a buffet where little kids that we saw in Aguascalientes wanted to take pictures of us, again.

When we left we went to Ollantaytambo, which looked like a bunch of big stairs. And, it pretty much was a bunch of stairs. At the bottom there was a 'fountain' which is called 'The Bath of the Princess.' Our guide showed us that if you ran your finger through the water stream that it slows the water, and if you push water out it starts going faster. At the top of the terraces was the 'temple of the sun' is the sacred district.

We then went to the Pisaq market. We finally found cheap alpaca string for bracelets. When we got on the bus again, our chaperon was teaching us a tongue twister in Spanish. It is 'Que rico la naranja roja' which is very hard to say. So most of us just kept trying to say 'naranja' over and over.

Then we went to go to a Jesus statue that must have been 30 feet tall, which was pretty cool. We took some pictures and then left to go see a typical Peruvian dance show. there were eight different dances. My favorite ones were 'Malena' and 'Aclamare.'

Then we went to the marketplace next door while we waited for our bus to come. Once it did we went to dinner. A couple people went to go buy cake first, and shared it. They bought 5 pieces. After dinner we went back to the hotel to get our bags, then headed on home.

During the bus ride, I decided to try sleeping on the floor. It was the best idea. We got back to Arequipa at 8:30 in the morning, and I was sure ready to sleep!



-abrazos y besos de Peru.

Location:Peru

One month (well, close enough)

So, it's already been a month, and I feel so at home here. I've decided to make a "list" of things that I've noticed are very different than my average life in the USA.

1. Pedestrians never have the right-of-way. Ever. When walking the streets, people can't just walk into the road and assume that cars will stop. They generally don't.
2. There are a lot of stray dogs here. Which makes me sad. Quite a few of them are very cute.
3. The English that they learn hear is very different than the English that we grew up with as kids. Instead of our 'American English' it's more formal. And our never realize how hard it is to learn your native language until you have to learn it in class.
4. More on streets. There are a lot of taxis and busses that seem to rule the roads. The taxi drivers are very impatient with traffic and overuse their horns. Combis are small busses that are very cheep. They stop wherever they are flagged down, and they cram as many people on them as possible.
5. They always wear some sort of shoes in their house. The freedom of walking around barefoot isn't something they enjoy.
6. It isn't common for girls to wear shorts. Even if it's warm.
7. A lot of the girls don't shave their legs. Maybe because it's 'winter' here and it's cold to them. Tank tops are generally overruled as well, unless they are going out on the weekend.
8. At my house we get fresh bread every day. It's super good.
9. They don't refrigerate their eggs or milk. The eggs taste like fish. The milk I have yet to try by itself.
10. In school, when someone is accepted into a university, it is a tradition for classmates to cut some of their hair off. Because they will get their hair cut before starting at university.
11. They sell what would be common things like toothpaste and shampoo behind counters like they were drugs.
12. Most malls also have a grocery store hooked on, a very smart idea I think.
13. Pandora doesn't work here.
14. They use military time.
15. There is a type of fast food that is shredded chicken, french fries, and hot dogs. Which is one of the best things I've eaten here so far. As well as cow heart.
16. They treat Aeropostale as if it were Holister or Abercrombie and Fitch.
17. Inca Kola is only .57 cents.
18. Everyone wants to know if I have a boyfriend, and what kin of music I listen to. I've decided to make it easy for everyone, I say yes, and that I listen to classical music. So far it's doing a good job.

As of tomorrow I am heading off to Colca Canyon, Puno, Cusco, and Madre de Dios for 9 days with the other exchange students. I am very excited, and hopefully will be uploading a lot of pictures from that trip.


-abrazos y besos de Peru.

Questions at Primary school

I started helping with English classes this week, and boy is it fun. Every day I have a different schedule with different classes. So likewise, I get asked a lot of the same questions by so many kids. Most of the time it's "How old are you?" "Where are you from?" "Do you play sports?" It get tiring.

Another thing that comes with little kids is doing ridiculous things. Among others some things I've had to do is sing the Hokey Pokey, listen to Little Red Riding hood, The Three Little Pigs, and Jack and the Bean Stalk about a dozen times, listen to them sing along to ridiculous songs about food and family, asking a whole class of students questions one student at a time. 5 questions, 20 something kids, very boring.

Today I have a super full schedule.
Hour 1: The first class I was in recited a poem about recycling. This is the pronunciation version of it.



Hour 2: The second class wasn't as interesting. I scored homework and then they sang a Michael Jackson song. That's about it. But during the break, a little girl sang for me. It was super cute.

Hour 3: The kids recited a poem about recycling. A different one than the other. It's funny. They also sand the alphabet. It was a little disturbing because 'z' they said as 'zet' a very abrupt end.

Hour 4: A large wave of questions. The most common ones, " Do you have a boyfriend?" and "Do you have a Facebook?"

After, there was a hole in my schedule, so I went to watch an English contest. The little girl was there singing again.

Hour 5: English class with kids about the age of Freshmen. They were learning about comparative and superlative adjectives. Nope, I didn't know what they were, well most of them. When the teacher asked me to write words on the board, I didn't know some of them. It goes to show that when you grow up using a language, you never really think about the rules.

Secondary break: I got to see my classmates during our half hour break. During this, we were showing different ways to tie shoes.


It ended with her shoe laces being tied into a knot.

Ballet class: The girls today had a 'test' over what they've learned so far in the last week. Surprisingly not, only a couple of them did a good job. But unlike any other day, they were relatively quiet.

And there you go. A 'typical' day at La Salle.

-abrazos y besos de Peru.

Birthday

My cousin had his birthday last night. It consisted of poprocks with a lollipop, Inca Cola, and Peru Monopoly, which I'm pretty sure I lost.





-abrazos y besos de Peru.

Gringos at the mall

So today all of the inbounds in my club went to a mall in Arequipa. It was very fun.

I finally got toothpaste that doesn't make me gag. And it was only .96 cents (2.50 soles). So I'm super happy about that, and also getting more shampoo.

When we first got there we did the official pin exchange. And I now have 5 pins from France, and one from Canada! It's become quite and addiction.

After everyone got there we got Starbucks, but we had to wait outside until we drank it all. So we sat in the cold while passerby-ers looked at us weird, because well, we're all super white.

We went in and wandered around pretty randomly. Mostly looking at girls clothes. Two of the girls got matching purple pants, and I ended up with two shirts. And some people bought chocolate.

When we were done and waiting for people to pick us up a little boy came up to us and asked if we had any money, so we gave him one Sole. After he left we talked about how we were a perfect group to ask. 5 white teens, all with shopping bags.

I have to say, today was very fun. And I really enjoy all of the inbounds. Can't wait for the first trip!

-abrazos y besos de Peru.

School

Well I survived my first day of school. It started out a little rough, but got better.
When I first got there, everyone stood in lines according to their class. They played what I assumed was the national anthem of Peru, and someone read a verse from the bible. I wasn't a big fan of standing around forever.
Then we went to class. My class is 5A, 5th grade in secondary school. The teacher that was in there had me introduce myself in English, and then had everyone else do the same. Except, they didn't have to say as much.
After that we had English. Yep. They were learning English. And let me tell you something, learning English is a lot harder than it sounds, I was just as bad as them. We also had religion, physics, some sort of a history class, and math.
Math being the only class I would actually be able to understand, I told myself that I would try. That was before the teacher started writing logarithms on the board. After a while of trying to remember how to do them, I gave up.
My class is very nice, most of them know a good amount of English, too. A couple of them were teaching me what parts of the face are in Spanish. Eyes being the only one I remember.
Today was a long day, and it's only half over. Now it's time for a nap, and then who knows what I'll end up doing.
-abrazos y besos de Peru.

First week

Well I survived my first week. And the weekend was very relaxing. Last night we played pictionary in Spanish. I wasn't very good. And then tonight we went go cart racing, and bought shoes for school. Which I start tomorrow. I'm nervous, but that's probably expected.


-abrazos y besos de Peru.

Uniform

I just got my school uniform. It looks like a sweat suit.


-abrazos y besos de Peru.

School

So, I went to visit my school today. And it's very big. 3 stories. It is very pretty, too. The director was nice, and he said (from what I understood) that I will be teaching little kids English, and ballet. I think.

I start school on Monday, and luckily there is a girl in the class I will be in that speaks very good english. And there is also a lot of boys. One of them was pointing at the seat next to him and wanted me to sit by him. And after we left, another one jumped up and looked through the window.

I'm super excited. :)


The front of my school.


By the office.


The soccer field (above) and basketball (below)


-abrazos y besos de Peru.

Finally!

I finally got all of my stuff today. I feel so much better now. And I also got to see the plaza and the historic part of Arequipa.

And getting my bag means having clean clothes!! And my peanut butter. I had my family try it, and I don't think they liked it. But that's okay, it just means more for me.

I also got to meet their two year old cousin Mateo. He is super cute, and he can't pronounce my name which makes him more cute.

Anyways, today was a day of firsts for sure, and I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

-abrazos y besos de Peru.

Mi hermanos

I have the best siblings ever. Vanessa is super funny, especially when she tries to speak English. She calls Carlos 'her' and 'sister' all the time. And she tries to do ballet too.
Mariapia is my older sister. She speaks English and helps translate for me. She's at school a lot, and leaves me with Vanessa.
And lastly there's Carlos. He's nice most of the time. But he makes fun of me. He speaks good English too. So I make fun of him. But he reads my posts, so I should probably be nice. Because he is VERY special.




-abrazos y besos de Peru.

Mañana

Today when I woke up, I didn't feel very good. I'm guessing I have a slight case of altitude sickness. So I just laid in bed. I was listening to things going on outside, and I heard, among many other things, dogs barking, and what I'm guessing was pan flute music. It was pretty cool.

Once I did decide to get up, Vanessa made me some eggs. I wasn't too hungry, but I tried to eat anyways. While I was eating, the maid that comes by often was boiling water on the stove. They don't drink just straight tap water. But they store water in containers, under a big basket of fruit.



A little bit later, I wanted to shower. But, there wasn't any water. So we waited, and waited, until finally, it was back. So I took a shower, a short but much needed shower.

After that, Carlos woke up. Nothing special. Then Vanessa and I watched, well, started I watch a movie. It was called Three Meters Above the Ground. Or at least that's what I thin it was called. It was a little strange.

Because the airport said that my bag was going to be here today, we went to the Serpost office to see if it was there. And do you know what they said? Mañana. The same thing that the airport said. So, tomorrow Pia is going to take me to go get it. If it's there.

As Vanessa said, I have mala suerte.

-abrazos y besos de Peru.

Día uno: shopping and stress

Finally in Arequipa, two hours late, without my bag. And I am exhausted. I meet up with my family, and am so happy to finally be with them. We go home. And have lunch, which was a dish with chicken, rice, potato, and egg. It was very good, but a lot of food and I was so worn out I hardly ate. I also had Inca Cola, which is Peru's most popular soda. It tastes a little bit like bubble gum. And it is really good.

After that I decided to go lay down. I managed to make it to my room before having yet again, a breakdown. I was super home sick. So I laid in bed and cried it out, while trying to get some rest. I managed to sleep for a couple of hours, but it didn't help much. So when I woke up, I just laid there, listening to a very annoying ticking clock-that now is without a battery-and cried some more.

When I finally left my bed room, Vanessa, my sister of 17 who knows very little English, was the only other person home. So I joined her in her room and we watched a show about ballet that was on. It's nice to know that she likes watching it. We communicated mostly by using google translate. We then decided to go to the mall.

It was a beautiful, very large mall, with not many stores. Since my bag didn't come with me to Arequipa, I decided that I needed some clothes for tomorrow. So we looked around and after what seemed like forever, I found a shirt I liked, and pants that fit me.


(may I add that pants are VERY hard to find in the right size)

Anyways, we went to Starbucks, too. And I won a cookie sandwich thing that had what I assume was caramel in between. It was good. Other than that and dinner, I haven't really eaten anything today, and I hope it doesn't stay like this for a while. Because as much as I like the idea of not gaining weight, I don't want to lose any either.

So now at the end of day one, I am physically, emotionally, and mentally drained. But, things are starting to look up already, and I am hoping that I understand Spanish more in a week or two.

-abrazos y besos de Perú

Location:Arequipa, Peru

Madness in Lima

When we got off the plane at Lima airport, I was a wreck. I didn't get much sleep, and being in a new place, I was pretty freaked out.

I couldn't understand anyone, and forgot to check my bag. So I got all the way to security thinking that something was wrong, and I was right. I had to go back downstairs to find the ticket counter so I could get my boarding pass, and check my bag. The latter didn't happen. By the time I got down there, they said my flight had closed, and there was nothing they could do about it. So I went upstairs to get it shipped to my host family's house. Good thing it only cost 40 dollars.

After that, I assumed that my plane had left and there was nothing I could do about it, so I went to my gate anyways. They gave me a standby ticket, so I waited for the next flight. Of course, I was freaking out by then, in tears and a total wreck. I met a couple from Arizona who was very helpful. Thank God. The lady talked to me about her first time flying alone, and she also wasn't the calmest person in the world. It made me feel a little better.

So then we waited, and waited. And I waited until the flight was boarded, then I waited some more. Then finally they said there was a seat open.


So now here I am, sitting in the very first row of a plane that is four seats across, finally leaving the Lima airport to go to Arequipa where hopefully my host family is still waiting for me.

Not even a full day in and I've already learned that it's hard to be strong in new situations.

-abrazos y besos de Peru.

Location:Lima airport

LAX

When we said our goodbyes to our parents, Emily and I went through security with one thing on our minds. Food. We went to a cafe and got ourselves some breakfast. After, we headed to our gate and got on the first plane to LAX. And now, in the middle of a NINE hour layover, I decided that I have some time to write a post.

So far today we've had quite an adventure, to say the most. Once we got off the plane, realizing how much time we have on our hands, we went and got some ice cream. But not any ice cream, we got Häagen-Dazs.


We go the small one, which was still a fortune.

After that, we went exploring. We went around the terminal looking for shops, but only finding international food restaurants. So we took the shuttle bus randomly around with no luck of finding anything of interest besides a guy with an English accent.

Later when we got in an elevator, six French flight attendants got in and started talking what sounded like gibberish.

Anyways, here we sit (On the ground because there is an outlet here for me to charge my iPod at because all of the ones at tables are being used) waiting for these last two and a half hours to go by before we get on the plane to Lima.


-abrazos y besos de Peru.

Ps.
I would have posted this earlier, but the wifi at the LA airport sucks. :)

At the airport with Emily!



-abrazos y besos de Peru.

My gosh, I leave in one day. Through out the last month or two I have been doing way too much thinking. My realization that it's only a year, and a year isn't too terribly long has eased my stress quite a bit. But it will also be a very long year. I will be learning so much about myself while I'm gone, and I'll be growing up more than I would if I were here.

But I am going to miss my many families here. Of course my real family, but m other adopted families as well that have loved me as if I were one of their own. I want to thank all of the people who have supported me thus far and hope that they will continue to do so. With out all of the help and support I wouldn't be able to be as strong and ready to leave and put my life here on somewhat of 'pause' for a year as I am now. I am very thankful for everyone.

-abrazos y besos de Peru.

Less than a week

With time here in the states slowly running out, I suppose it's time to write something In my blog. I leave Oregon August 19th and arrive in Arequipa, Peru on the 20th. My first host family lives in the center of town in an apartment. I have an older sister names Mariapia who is 21 and a brother named Carlos who is 23. Mariapia speaks very good English, unlike the rest of my family. Vanessa, a girl my age, is their youngest daughter of 17. She will be coming to america and living in McMinnville a couple weeks after I arrive.
So far I know I will be going to a private school, which in most Latin countries in a normal thing. I will have a uniform also.

So with that, I should probably start packing, don't you think?


-abrazos y besos de Peru.

Welcome!

Hello everyone! My name is Zoe, and I am a Rotary exchange student going to Peru for the 2012-2013 school year. So far I know that I will be in the Southern District. I am from District 5100 in Oregon, and I am super excited to leave this coming August.