Daily Life

Last weekend a few of my American friends through a little Fall party where we had pumpkin bread and apple cider and pumpkin carving and it was a great time! I am definitely missing Fall and lots of things about Fall. Such as candy corn! But this little get together definitely made me feel a little better and was also a great time to catch up with some of the other people in my program who do not go to USIL with me because I do not see them very often! Also, on Tuesday night, I went to Karaoke with some of the same people and had a blast singing old 90s songs in English, and attempting to sing radio hits here in Peru in Spanish!

Speaking of school, I will write a little about my classes here in Peru since I have yet to do that. First, I am taking Introduction to Gastronomy. This class is fairly interesting, although pretty basic, general and it often feels like our professor copy and pastes info from Wikipedia and puts it on slides then continues to make generalizations about food, culture and history. However he is an entertaining guy, and his English is decent which makes the 2 hour class (that usually gets cut to about an hour and 20 minutes) bearable. There is about 12 of us in the classroom, me, Leah and other Peruvian students. All of the classes here are generally small, although this one is particularly small, probably because the first project and test we had were both pretty hard. I cannot even imagine taking this class if English was your second language! I have gastronomy 2 times a week.

On Tuesday s, Wednesdays and Thursdays, I have Advanced Spanish class which is probably the easiest Spanish class I have ever taken. The teacher is an oddball and very nice, but he is just too nice and wastes so much time. Last week, he spent at least 30 minutes trying to get the movie ‘The Incredibles’ in Spanish to play on the projector, while we sat and just talked to each other, most likely in English the whole time, since the class is almost completely composed of American students. There are 3 girls from other countries as well, but their English is pretty darn good. Makes me realize how dumb it is that a can only speak a language and a half while these girls speak at least 3 languages. Darn.

Then, on Wednesday mornings, I have History of Contemporary Peru. I still am unsure about how I feel about this class, because I am interested in the topic, however the readings have generally been dry and the teacher’s English is horrific. Which, is sometimes entertaining, and she flip slops back and forth between Spanish and English or some sort of combination of the two. Again, I am in that class with a large group of American students, but I have made friends with the Peruvians in that class as well. History is probably the class I like the least.

The best, but also busiest day of the week is Thursday, when I have bar tending class, which has turned out to be even more fun than I originally imagined it would be. Every day, a group does set up, squeezing fresh orange or lime juice, cleaning classes, slicing fruit, etc. Then, our professor shows us how to make 4-7 drinks as we take notes, and passes each one around for us to try after he makes them. Then, for the next two hours, we practice making the drinks ourselves! It is very interesting because I am in this class with a lot of Peruvians who are studying hotel management, tourism and gastronomy and many of them plan to own or run their own restaurant or hotel one day, so the skills they are learning in this class are really important. Obviously, it is more just a fun class for me, but I have learned a lot and maybe will be able to get myself at a bar sometime in the future! Is anyone looking to hire a Spanish speaking American bartender in California???

tequila sunrise

bloody mary

Overall, my day to day school schedule is fairly boring but I am trying to make the best of it by making friends with the people in my class, and just enjoying being here as a break from real life school. Part of me is really looking forward to going back to UCSD and working hard and learning a lot, but the other part of me really is enjoying these mind numbing classes.

UPDATE: JUST GOT CANDY CORN IN THE MAIL FROM MY PARENTS. YESSSSSSSSSSSSS

This week at the Hospital del Nino

I work at a children’s hospital 2 or 3 times a week and so far on this trip, these days have been some of my favorite. Today was definitely one of the days I am going to remember. The thing I struggle with the most at the hospital is language. Not in terms of helping the kids with their homework or holding simple conversations, but really being able to express properly how much I care about them. Last week when my mom was here she told me not to worry about it. She said that when she watched me, how I acted, smiled and treated the kids truly showed I cared for them (and I believed her because she doesn’t speak a word of Spanish and therefore understood nothing I said to those children). Today, with that in mind, I turned on some music for the kids and danced with those who were able to. One little boy, Mauricio, was reluctant to dance, he seemed to think he was too cool for school. Mauricio is 8 years old. However, after a few minutes, he runs over to me, grabs my hands and starts dancing. After A few minutes, I had to go do some rounds and check on some other kids, but he did not want me to leave. He wrapped his hands around my waist and would not let go. For the next hour I had little Mauricio wrapped around my waist like a sweatshirt and I could not stop smiling. They know I care about them, and that is really the only goal I need to accomplish.

Parents in Lima

My parents came this weekend and I have been looking forward to it for such a long time, I can't believe it here! This also led me to realize that my trip here is halfway over. Which was extremely sad...but, back to the happy: Parents are here! They arrived late Thursday night so I first met them early Friday morning at their hotel about a 15 minute bus ride/walk from my house. We spent the morning walking around the coast and visiting Larcomar, the upscale mall right near their hotel. Maybe, the Santana Row of Lima? We then walked to meet Leah and Jessa and we all took a cab to La Bistecca, a buffet that Jessa and I ate at with our family a few weeks ago and LOVED. The food is spectacular, with all kinds of stations including a giant meat grill, fresh pastas, a wok, ceviche and pizzas. Do not forget the chocolate fountain for dessert! Needless to say, we were happy and far too full when we left the restaurant 3 hours later...

Jessa and Leah had to take off but mom and I decided to walk around for a while and we ended up walking all the way back to the hotel which ended up being about 3 miles. After that, we went back to my house to drop off some stuff then took a taxi to central Lima to go to the water park and see the fountains! I enjoyed seeing them again and I think they had fun too! It was not as cold as the last time I went, so I was thankful for that! We returned back to the mall, got gelato and headed back to the hotel for the night!

Saturday we woke up and Dad and I went for a run along the coast which was great. I have not had a chance to head down there yet for a run and the air felt significantly better. Afterwards we ate a hotel breakfast and then headed over to visit Huaca Pucllana, which is a pre Incan ruin site in Lima, very close to my house. It was pretty interesting to learn and the weather was great! Lots of sun for the day. I then took my parents on their first Peru bus adventure! It was not all that adventurous, but we took a bus to Parque Kennedy then got off to eat lunch at Astrid and Gaston, one of the world’s top restaurants. I believe it lived up to my expectations. I had a delicious cocktail, I had a delicious meal. I will post pictures later. Eventually… I hope.

Sunday, we met with my Peruvian family for yet another, buffet lunch. We had a nice time, finished around five then went to see a movie! Just me, mom and dad. We saw Friends with Benefits, and it was pretty entertaining, and the most interesting thing was how I completely forgot what country I was in. Sitting in a theater with my parents watching a movie in English… At the end, when we were walking out and I heard people speaking Spanish, I finally remembered where I was…

Afterwards, we went home, my parents got packed, and I said goodbye to them for they took an early flight to Cusco! Speaking of which, I now have to go pack! I am going to meet them there tomorrow! YAY.