Lately I´ve been super tired! I think the altitude has finally caught up with me. Other than that classes have been going well. Spanish is pretty easy but getting harder so thats good. Yesterday our professor danced salsa and merenge with us in class so that was pretty cool. We ususally joke alot in class and make up interseting stories in spanish to practice more and say different stuff. Photography has been going good as well, we´ve learned about the history of photography, light and aperature. Today we´re going to learn about shutter speed and telephoto lenses. We´re going to San Pedro market to take pictures in class. I´m excited and ready to get out of our freezing cold classroom. June is the coldest month of the year in Cusco. What a brilliant idea it was to move from the summer to winter. But its alot of fun! I´m about to go to a store called topitopi to try to find some long sleeve shirts. I packed a ton but then took them out last minute thinking I wouldn´t need them. WRONG. The days are warm in the sun but as soon as you enter a classroom or out of the sun it gets really cold. My fingers are pretty cold right now, actually. Anyways- this weekend I have lots of posssible plans. Tomorrow we have our first quiz in Spanish and are going out for celebratory Pisco Sours despues. Then there are a couple of other different plans possibly a piñata, but most definatly going out dancing. This has been a REALLY long week. I miss my family and friends alot but am so thankful that I have this opportunity and I´m so thankful that I have internet and can communicate frequently.
I don´t know if any of you have heard about the "state of emergency" that Peru is in right now. There is a fight between the city of Cusco and the surrounding cities on the issue of mining. The city benefits from mining but there are lots of environmental effects of mining to the people. My mom her is an environmental lawyer, so she deals alot with these problems everyday. She showed me yesterday that she rides a bike to work because its more environmentally sound. :) this makes me really happy. She also constantly reminds me that everything we eat is "organica". I do have to hoard pizza pringles, skittles and ritz con queso in my room though. Haha- you do what you have to do. Another possibility for this weekend on Sabado is to be a model for a photography class (wearing peruvian wedding dresses) or going to the ChocoMuseo. Im pretty excited about the chocolate museum and wedding dresses, so we´ll see how it goes. Anyways- not much else going on. Wish me luck on my first quiz! Caio!
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Saturday, May 26, 2012
So heres what I've been up to-
I took my spanish placement test and sucked it up pretty bad and got into basic spanish. But we're going all the way back to the begining- No joke the alphabet. Its just me and one other girl in the class. Our professor is really cool but I've heard he flirts alot with his students. I don't have photography classes on Friday. But am excited to start them on Monday! Tonight I have a meeting with the other 3 people in homestay. Which I'm pretty sure involves more pizza (yum). The other night I had pizza with my family and we had some very interesting conversations- one about marriage. My homestay dad told me to wait as along as possible to get married and advance my career and my mom told me no, to have babies young so my body stays normal. This conversation was made possible by lots and lots of motions and sound effects. And we talked about some other things. They served me argentinian wine. Everything that my mom feeds me she tells me "organica" shes a lawyer for nature as far as I can understand and she loves her job. My dad works for his family business and isn't at work on a regimented schedule which is good because he can usually help me.
My home stay parents are seriously the best parents I've ever witnessed. When Catalina gets grouchy or upset or anything they seriously drop everything and talk to her and play with her and are so patient and caring. They've never lost their patience I don't think. Its an "early childhood education" dream. My mom asked us to go to an exercise dance class with her. It was SOO much fun, very similar to Zumba but alot more booty shaking. After 45 minutes of non stop dancing we did 15 minutes of abs. I definatly feel it today.
Last night we went out for the first time. La plaza de armas is the place to be! There are tons of bars and discotecas. As soon as you get out of the taxi people run up at you and start trying to bring you to their bar. They like beg you and bribe you with free drinks and go crazy. They don't leave you alone until you go into somewhere. They usually say something like "I love you American girl, come with me". Its quite entertaining. We first went into what we thought was called "Mama Africa's" but after ordering our drinks and sitting down we realized it was Mushrooms. It was a really fun, chill bar but we looked like total tourists when we first went it. Its a group of like 10 of us and we were all standing around speaking English to eachother. Hopefully we can assimilate more as we learn the ways and how to not look like total "gringos". There were tons of people in all the bars from other countries- I met some from England and South Africa. After Mushrooms we went upstairs and found "Mama Africas" it was packed! We immediantly started dancing it was so much fun. But we had to be careful because alot of the men were very pushy and kept trying to do a whole lot more than just dance. It was so helpful to have guys in our group cause we could use them to escape most situations. After we left Mama Africas we went to another bar that I don't know the name of. Somehow we immediantly got put up on the bar to dance. It was alot of fun! There were SOOOO many people. The bar tenders kept pulling us down behind the bar and giving us shots. It was very interesting. We stayed here until about 3 am and got a cab home.
Today I woke up and ate breakfast at like 9 and then went back to sleep until 12. We were supposed to go to lunch with Gustavo's parents and a famous priest? But it got pushed back. While in the car I asked my mom if she liked getting manicures. She said yes and we went to get one right then. hah it was interesting. They took alot of time with my cuticles and I'm pretty sure I wont have anymore for about a year. It was a little painful. But they also give a really long, nice hand massage so it was worth it. All for 15 soles. Which is about 5 us dollars. Then we went to a chicken restaurant to meet with Gustavo's padres and the priest. It was a nice lunch but I couldn't really get in on the converstaion. Now I'm just hanging out in my room about to go to this meeting!
Here are some pictures from the last couple days:
I took my spanish placement test and sucked it up pretty bad and got into basic spanish. But we're going all the way back to the begining- No joke the alphabet. Its just me and one other girl in the class. Our professor is really cool but I've heard he flirts alot with his students. I don't have photography classes on Friday. But am excited to start them on Monday! Tonight I have a meeting with the other 3 people in homestay. Which I'm pretty sure involves more pizza (yum). The other night I had pizza with my family and we had some very interesting conversations- one about marriage. My homestay dad told me to wait as along as possible to get married and advance my career and my mom told me no, to have babies young so my body stays normal. This conversation was made possible by lots and lots of motions and sound effects. And we talked about some other things. They served me argentinian wine. Everything that my mom feeds me she tells me "organica" shes a lawyer for nature as far as I can understand and she loves her job. My dad works for his family business and isn't at work on a regimented schedule which is good because he can usually help me.
My home stay parents are seriously the best parents I've ever witnessed. When Catalina gets grouchy or upset or anything they seriously drop everything and talk to her and play with her and are so patient and caring. They've never lost their patience I don't think. Its an "early childhood education" dream. My mom asked us to go to an exercise dance class with her. It was SOO much fun, very similar to Zumba but alot more booty shaking. After 45 minutes of non stop dancing we did 15 minutes of abs. I definatly feel it today.
Last night we went out for the first time. La plaza de armas is the place to be! There are tons of bars and discotecas. As soon as you get out of the taxi people run up at you and start trying to bring you to their bar. They like beg you and bribe you with free drinks and go crazy. They don't leave you alone until you go into somewhere. They usually say something like "I love you American girl, come with me". Its quite entertaining. We first went into what we thought was called "Mama Africa's" but after ordering our drinks and sitting down we realized it was Mushrooms. It was a really fun, chill bar but we looked like total tourists when we first went it. Its a group of like 10 of us and we were all standing around speaking English to eachother. Hopefully we can assimilate more as we learn the ways and how to not look like total "gringos". There were tons of people in all the bars from other countries- I met some from England and South Africa. After Mushrooms we went upstairs and found "Mama Africas" it was packed! We immediantly started dancing it was so much fun. But we had to be careful because alot of the men were very pushy and kept trying to do a whole lot more than just dance. It was so helpful to have guys in our group cause we could use them to escape most situations. After we left Mama Africas we went to another bar that I don't know the name of. Somehow we immediantly got put up on the bar to dance. It was alot of fun! There were SOOOO many people. The bar tenders kept pulling us down behind the bar and giving us shots. It was very interesting. We stayed here until about 3 am and got a cab home.
Today I woke up and ate breakfast at like 9 and then went back to sleep until 12. We were supposed to go to lunch with Gustavo's parents and a famous priest? But it got pushed back. While in the car I asked my mom if she liked getting manicures. She said yes and we went to get one right then. hah it was interesting. They took alot of time with my cuticles and I'm pretty sure I wont have anymore for about a year. It was a little painful. But they also give a really long, nice hand massage so it was worth it. All for 15 soles. Which is about 5 us dollars. Then we went to a chicken restaurant to meet with Gustavo's padres and the priest. It was a nice lunch but I couldn't really get in on the converstaion. Now I'm just hanging out in my room about to go to this meeting!
Here are some pictures from the last couple days:
Friday, May 25, 2012
Today I:
-Had my first day of Spanish Class
-Had my first pisco sour (really yummy drink)
-Held a baby lamb
-Petted an alpaca
-Bought an alpaca sweater :)
-Spoke some bad spanish and some good spanish
-and am now going to an exersize dance class with my homestay mom and sister
-and then----headed out to my first night out in Peru!!!!!
Pictures to come!
-Had my first day of Spanish Class
-Had my first pisco sour (really yummy drink)
-Held a baby lamb
-Petted an alpaca
-Bought an alpaca sweater :)
-Spoke some bad spanish and some good spanish
-and am now going to an exersize dance class with my homestay mom and sister
-and then----headed out to my first night out in Peru!!!!!
Pictures to come!
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Aventuras en Peru
I left Greeville, South Carolina at 12:20pm on Tuesday. For the most part my travels went very smoothly. I made some fast friends along the way- a lady from Brazil, a professional golfer, and some very friendly Peruvians (some were extra friendly). I met up with Kelsey, another student from my university studying in Cusco in Miami. When we got to Lima we checked our bags at the same time. Everyone at the airport spoke English very well, except the guy that checked Kelsey's bag- she got put on a flight that was in 1 hour and he didn't tell her. According to someone on the plane ride, Lima was supposed to be the best airport in South America. Well- I'd have to say I saw it on its worst day. After Kelsey realized her plane was leaving RIGHT THEN I walked around the airport a bit, paid $10 for a bottle of water and sat down at my gate. PS- Lima's policies for departures include no announcements or final boarding calls, releasing gate numbers 20 minutes before departure and keeping people confused so they don't know whats going on. While siting at the gate my flight was leaving from I started looking at the depature screen and noticed that my flight was CANCELED. So I quickly went up to the desk and luckily got a new ticket. It wasn't until 10 minutes later that they started announcing that this flight was cancelled. All the flights were also delayed and the screens were reading the wrong departure gates. I was really frustrated as I was coming up on 24 hours in airports and airplanes. I begged a lady to let me be on standby for an earlier flight and somehow I got it. I arrived in Cusco 1 hour late, but thankfully my ride was still there. On the way into the airport I was stunned by the mountains and scenery. It is so beautiful here. There are no words. No hay palabras. After getting my bag I met Gustavo, my homestay father. He speaks a good bit of English but I prefer using only Spanish. We went to his home- a very nice apartment. Here I met Marina, their helper. She is the same age as I am. Gustavo had to return to work so I talked to Marina for 2 hours or so- my broken Spanish was very hard to understand I'm sure but she helped me understand some customs etc. I was also thankful to have my phone with me that has a spanish dictionary app. I can tell I'll be using this alot. (Gustavo often types in words so he can translate them for me). I feel very at home. Then I met Catalina. Boy is she spicy! She is 3 and knows what shes doing and talking about. She knows some English but is on a mission to teach me Spanish.
After a very delcious lunch of soup, chicken, rice and vegetables I got some sleep. I didn't want to sleep very long because I don't want to be too off of the schedule. I slept until about 5. When I woke up I met Katy, mi madre. She is very beautiful! She doesn't speak as much English as Gustavo, but we were both learning. She is very very sweet and accomidating. She and Catalina were baking a cake. This was alot of fun to watch because Katy let Catalina have a large part in mixing the ingredients. With each new addition Katy told me how fresh and organic the products are in Peru. Catalina liked licking the spoons :) (I have pictures don't worry). While the cake was baking Catalina and I were drawing a castle in her room. And the power went out. I'm not going to lie I was pretty scared. I didn't really know what was going on. Then I found out that their neighbors grandma was stuck in the elevator. I was really thankful for my phone then because it was a good flashlight and none of the candles in the house were working. After about an hour it came back on. We were able to eat the cake also- it was very good! Then I talked to Gustavo and Katy about home and some other things over un Cerveza. And now its time to catch up some much needed sleep!!! Buenos noches. I will add pictures of today shortly.
After a very delcious lunch of soup, chicken, rice and vegetables I got some sleep. I didn't want to sleep very long because I don't want to be too off of the schedule. I slept until about 5. When I woke up I met Katy, mi madre. She is very beautiful! She doesn't speak as much English as Gustavo, but we were both learning. She is very very sweet and accomidating. She and Catalina were baking a cake. This was alot of fun to watch because Katy let Catalina have a large part in mixing the ingredients. With each new addition Katy told me how fresh and organic the products are in Peru. Catalina liked licking the spoons :) (I have pictures don't worry). While the cake was baking Catalina and I were drawing a castle in her room. And the power went out. I'm not going to lie I was pretty scared. I didn't really know what was going on. Then I found out that their neighbors grandma was stuck in the elevator. I was really thankful for my phone then because it was a good flashlight and none of the candles in the house were working. After about an hour it came back on. We were able to eat the cake also- it was very good! Then I talked to Gustavo and Katy about home and some other things over un Cerveza. And now its time to catch up some much needed sleep!!! Buenos noches. I will add pictures of today shortly.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Google Maps on Cusco, Peru
I was told that I would find out who my host family is about 2 weeks out from my trip. I will arrive in Cusco 8 days from today. After a couple days of waiting I emailed my school coordinator asking about my home stay family on Friday. She responded happily that I would be learning that day who my family would be. The excitement and anticipation were killing me. I was working when I got her email. I moved away from what I was doing and opened the file with my families information in it. It felt like it took 185 minutes instead of kilobytes to download. I was so ecstatic to find a picture of my family in this one page document. I didn't have a clue what kind of information they would send me about them. As I was reading the bullet points about each member of my family my excitement was hardly containable.
When I got to Catalina- the three year old little girl in the family my eyes welled up with excited tears. If you don't know me very well- know this- children are my absolute love and passion. I was hoping, wishing and praying that I would have a family with children. And- my wish came true! By the end of reading about my family I was practically dancing around and feeling like I was about to burst. In writing this I still feel that way. After some help from google translate I learned a few more things about my family- including that they enjoy traveling to their "cottage" on the weekends. The Papa is an insurance broker and mama es un abogada. They are a younger couple. I CANNOT WAIT to meet them!
Its getting hard to focus on the day to day things going on here because I keep thinking and wondering what Cusco is going to be like. I have a week and 2 days until I board the plane but next week feels like a lifetime away. Anticipation is one of my favorite things about life. The excitement boiling up from the pit of your stomach that is hardly containable. The more I talk about my travels the more excited I get. While away I'll be missing a lot of things- birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, weddings and bathing suit season. But, I feel like this trip is super important to me and it may be one of the only opportunities like this that I have.
Now- as for the title of this blog. My biggest frustration since finding out my family has been figuring out where they live in relation to school. I have been virtually touring the city of Cusco for about an hour now and by some random act of the Google gods I spotted a park that is near by USIL, (Universidad de San Ignacio de Loyola) my school. The space where my school is is not marked by any name or building, so I'm guessing that it is a new addition to the city. I did, however, spot the "bars nicely located through a beautiful Incan corridor" as my orientation manual states. Maybe Cusco should update Google on their city, just saying. After locating USIL I was able to find Av. Panama. Where my familia lives! Google says its 7 minutes away or 4.0 km, in miles (for us stubborn Americans) that is 2.5 miles. Looks like I'll be taking a cab to class every day, but no worries its $1 or 2.72 Nuevo Sol's.
As for now- still lots of packing and unpacking, learning conversions (fahrenheit to celcius, dollars to nuevo sols and miles to km), buying gifts for while I'm gone and catching up with friends. The good news is that Cusco is only 1 hour behind our time, so talking with people from the US won't be too hard to coordinate.
Adios for now!
La Plaza de Armas- Right behind USIL
When I got to Catalina- the three year old little girl in the family my eyes welled up with excited tears. If you don't know me very well- know this- children are my absolute love and passion. I was hoping, wishing and praying that I would have a family with children. And- my wish came true! By the end of reading about my family I was practically dancing around and feeling like I was about to burst. In writing this I still feel that way. After some help from google translate I learned a few more things about my family- including that they enjoy traveling to their "cottage" on the weekends. The Papa is an insurance broker and mama es un abogada. They are a younger couple. I CANNOT WAIT to meet them!
Its getting hard to focus on the day to day things going on here because I keep thinking and wondering what Cusco is going to be like. I have a week and 2 days until I board the plane but next week feels like a lifetime away. Anticipation is one of my favorite things about life. The excitement boiling up from the pit of your stomach that is hardly containable. The more I talk about my travels the more excited I get. While away I'll be missing a lot of things- birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, weddings and bathing suit season. But, I feel like this trip is super important to me and it may be one of the only opportunities like this that I have.
Now- as for the title of this blog. My biggest frustration since finding out my family has been figuring out where they live in relation to school. I have been virtually touring the city of Cusco for about an hour now and by some random act of the Google gods I spotted a park that is near by USIL, (Universidad de San Ignacio de Loyola) my school. The space where my school is is not marked by any name or building, so I'm guessing that it is a new addition to the city. I did, however, spot the "bars nicely located through a beautiful Incan corridor" as my orientation manual states. Maybe Cusco should update Google on their city, just saying. After locating USIL I was able to find Av. Panama. Where my familia lives! Google says its 7 minutes away or 4.0 km, in miles (for us stubborn Americans) that is 2.5 miles. Looks like I'll be taking a cab to class every day, but no worries its $1 or 2.72 Nuevo Sol's.
As for now- still lots of packing and unpacking, learning conversions (fahrenheit to celcius, dollars to nuevo sols and miles to km), buying gifts for while I'm gone and catching up with friends. The good news is that Cusco is only 1 hour behind our time, so talking with people from the US won't be too hard to coordinate.
Adios for now!
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