So since my video blogs are in Spanish I feel like I should update in English =)
Right now I’m entering into almost
10 months of my Peruvian Rotary exchange. I still can’t believe how fast everything has gone by.
I can kind of say that looking back, my first couple months are a blur, I mean I still remmeber being lost in translation and now, obviosuly I can speak Spanish. I'm still striving for fluency..I've yet to catch up with the
"ZOMG! So, you're NOT Peruvian??" kinda perfection with my accent and everything.
Sometimes I find myself ready to come home and see my family and get ready for
college, and then another part of me just wants Time to
back the Hell off and let me stay in Perú longer!
Right now it’s hard for me to imagine not being home in Perú.
Well, one thing I would love to update everyone about was my experience in this place called
Máncora.
(I know, you can almost here the Sounding chorus of Angels and Trumpets just by merely READING the name)
I also went with one of the other exchange students, Lucas and a Rotarian from our district up. What was going on was Lucas and I were given traveler’s visas when we arrived that only gave us 6 months guarantee, when we traveled to Chile back in October, it was extended again at the boarder until about April.
WELL, essentially we had to travel again to another country to get our visas renewed. So we and headed off to another district in northern Perú called Tumbes for a couple days, then Ecuador for our visas, and then Máncora. I think this vacation was near if not actually the best week of my exchange. It´s this huge beautiful beach that being just after Holy Week,
(the week before Easter Sunday when everyone's traveling with their Families)
so there weren’t many people and things were cheaper. Lucas and I spent the week swimming in the ocean, tanning, eating, shopping and exploring. This was your stereotypical island paradise complete with white sand, horse riding on the beach and drinking out of cold coconuts with a straw. It had a relaxed, beach bohemian feel where handmade trinkets and jewelry and other clothing items were sold. Never mind the mobs of savage mosquitoes who decided to make me the chefs special…every night, apparently according to the wise counting of Lucas, I came out with about 300+ mosquito bites by the end of our trip. Plus the whole time I was THE Most UNSEXY life form on this South American beach..I'm sure the sea lions would've looked better in a swimsuit than I did..which really added empahsis to Lucas' phrase of "Heh! You look like a balloon!" A time he attempted to take a picture... -.-
But all totally worth it!
OH YEAH...
I changed to my third Host family about a month and a half ago
☻
Right now I’m living in a new district of Lima called La Molina. I live with my host mom, Queta Rojas; with her daughter, Marisol. Queta is the assisstant to the owner for one of Perú’s biggest political newspapers. (It's like the New York Times of Perú). So..in other words..they do pretty well for themselves
✌
☜Notice my box of Mac n' Cheese in the drawer?
LOL.
Speaking of which, I have been taking college classes that Rotary has set up for all the exchange students with the proper ages to attend university, to a free semester of college to study whatever we’d like. At first, when I was living in Pueble-Libre, I attended the school for International Business. Which I absolutely loved, I made some great friends fairly quickly. But since I changed to La Molina, the part in Lima where this particular school is way too far. So I switched to the School of Tourism to a closer district where I’m learning gourmet Peruvian Cooking, Pastry making, and Bartending.
Also I was asked to choreograph to my old class at
Colegio Santa Rosa, a country line dance that me, Mariah, and Lucas choreographed and taught at the beginning of the year to our Promotion class. It was for a performance for El Dia de la Madre (Mother's Day). Here Lucas and I had a mini-reunion with our old classmates too.
I'm not a dancer. I will never BE a dancer. But I really liked making this line dance up (they wanted somethign stereotyipcal of America..and suggested country...*sigh*)
They did really well at the performance and I thought it was the cutest thing that one kid, Josue, who's usually the quiet and shy one in the class, came to the peformance decked out in his cowboy attire complete with wranglers, red plaid button up shirt, boots, bandana and Hat.
WHERE'S GRINGA?
Now look very closely...no..closer..Can YOU pick out the whitest girl in this picture?
My Dancers.
Mis Bailarines.
SOOOOO Since my regression countdown seems to be going faster and faster, I've been put into the mindset to try to get as much in as POSSIBLE! So my along with my group of exchange student friends always seem to be going out. We've done so much together. (If you've seen my video blogs I talk about the
Beyoncé concert and things like that)
Whether it getting dressed up to go out to the dance clubs
(DISCOTEKAS)
every weekend (or so) ;D
My friends and I actually ended up on TV being interviwed at one of the NightClubs we went too.
Typical Friday/Saturday nights
(Sometimes both)
karaoke nights, Beatles cover band concerts, trips around the city like this HUGE place called Gamarra. Which is famous for it's surplus of cheap clothing. Seriosuly, you can buy dresses and shirts for s./15 soles (about 5 bucks) or other things. It's a paradise for shoppers, barginers, and those who like to barter! ✔or just sitting around for a movie night together; (Never forgetting to eat something, like trying new Indian cuisine). I can definitely say i will miss these girls sooo much!
Kelsey and I at the Beatles cover concert in Barranco! A guy was doing tricks like this in a body ring thing and WE ended up being interviewed on TV..jaja
