Thursday, March 18, 2010

Hey all!

Sorry about the delay, classes started this week and i'm about as lost as a needle in a haystack. Slowly figuring things out, but these first two weeks are going to be rough. I'm getting ahead of myself though, so let's go back to where i left off. My host family: I moved in with the Maldonado family on Sunday, March 7th. I'm still working on getting used to Peruvian time, aka late. Maria Elena was supposed to meet me at 8:30 but never showed up till after 10. When i arrived at the house, only Julianna, the maid was there to greet me. She's really quite incredible and is trying so hard to make everything perfect (especially with my host mom still in spain). I met my brother Ernie (left), who knows everything basically and never turns down a chance to help someone. He's incredible! Then there's Daniel (right). He's amazing as well! He plays soccer for a living (yeah, incredible, i know) and loves to tell stories and laugh. Nate, he reminds me alot of you; and don't worry, he has already started picking on me so i'm sure i won't have a big head by the time i return to the states. Denisse(middle obviously) is so very sweet! She has already helped me with sooo many things and is always ready for a good time. :)










Some random pics of a few of the rooms in my home...


Sunday night, Rita and i met up with Maria Elena again. We are all going to Central Lima to see a dance performance. Dances from all over south and latin america and even a few from Europe. Traditional costumes were absolutely incredible! Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures, but there were some gorgeous dresses! It was really long and the announcer was horrible! haha, but i enjoyed the dancing. It was all fun until about two hours in when i found out that maybe there should have been a rating on the performance. oops. All in all though, i loved the Venezuela performance as well as Haiti! alot of really really talented people!


Monday we met with ISA staff for a safety, dos and don'ts session. Unfortunately, it was in English which was really upsetting. After the three hour meeting, mi padre picked up Becca and I and we went to visit Denisse's university. We hung out in Miraflores for a while, looking in clothing stores and going out to eat. Depending on where you are, of course, the price changes, but shirts here are as cheap as 2-3 dollars. there was an entire store with a wall of shirts for 5 soles- roughly 2 dollars. it was incredible!

Tuesday, we spent at La Catolica; rita and i were slightly bored since we've been here multiple times before. Wednesday, we meet a bunch of Peruvian students. I was basically adopted by this guy. lol. He's really nice, graduated last year (so i'm not sure how he got here... but oh well). He has the most awesome accent ever when he speaks in English. He's fluent in both languages, but he really wanted to practice some English, so we slipped into a sort of Spanglish. Anyway, his name is Alfredo. yeah, when i first met him, all i could think of was pasta. His friend Sergio is amazing too. He's hard-core into salsa and stands in disbelief of the fact that i've never danced with anyone. He's as determined to take me dancing as i am not to go. haha, we'll have to see who wins out. At dusk, we went on a Mirabus tour. The city at night was quite beautiful, but after about 20 minutes, i was bored. The English translation was terrible and the Spanish was not very interesting. Basically, Rita and i amused ourselves by quoting movies and remembering Guate. :)
Iquitos, tonight. Hopefully!

4 comments:

  1. Not sure about this guy thing. Everywhere you turn there seems to be one. Be good. Sounds and looks like your host family is wonderful. Don't get to settled in, we do miss you here. Mom

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  2. Looks and sounds like you are enjoying your time in Peru! Your mom is right, there always seems to be a cute guy around wherever you are :-)

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  3. haha. actually, that assumption is all too true. As invisible as i am in the states, turn it around 100% and that's what i am in Peru. It's soo strange.

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  4. wow rachel! it seems like you are having such an awesome experience! the home and host family are beautiful! as well as the boy with you in the picture. hehe. I hope you are enjoying the tropical weather!

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