que paso?

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!