Holas!

Hola chicos! I can't believe it has already been 2 months! It feels like the time is already starting to fly by! I want time to slow down! I love every second I spend here! 

Language

I feel like I'm really getting the hang of Spanish! I can understand people so much better! I can speak more fluidly, too! People here say that my Spanish has improved immensely! It feels great to hear that! However, I know I still have a lot of improving to do! 

I have a funny story! A couple weeks ago I was skyping with my mom. I was telling her about the soccer games that have been going on here (you'll read about them later). I was telling her how I visited the stadium where the soccer games will be taking place. However, I could not remember how to stadium in English, only in Spanish ("estadio")! Haha! It was comical! 

School

At school, I got moved up to the 5th grade!!! Yay!! I was switched last Monday half-way through the day! I really like my new class! Just the atmosphere in the room feels great! I'm still the oldest haha, but I get along with everyone! Everyone is so welcoming and nice! My first day in the 5th grade I was asked so many questions! It was just like my first day of school haha! Now, I get to go to "Promocion" ("Prom" for short). Promocion is not the same as the prom dance in the U.S. Promocion is the graduating ceremony and then party for the graduating class. The party is like a dance, but isn't super formal. Girls wear dresses, but just short ones. And you can have a date if you want! Looks like I have to go dress shopping haha! Because I will be graduating high school, I get to go to university for the second half of my stay in Peru! That will be such a great experience! 

Culture

I have learned some interesting things about Peru's culture. For example, when a woman says "no" to a man, the man still takes her response as a "yes." So how do you really say no to a Peruvian man? You have to offend them. You have to give them a serious look of disinterest, to the point where it is offending and then say "no." 

I have also learned that in the mountains of Peru, domestic violence is common and normal. This means that it's ok for a man to hit his wife. In fact, when a woman hits a man, this means she wants to be hit in return! I may think this is crazy, but in the mountains it's just the culture. 

People here seemed to be pretty laid-back, or at least in my host family. But I feel like Peruvian culture in general is relaxed. People never seem to actually get mad about things; they just laugh them off. I'm hoping this is a quality that rubs off on me! 

Here are some popular songs in Peru that I really enjoy:

Ai Se Eu Te Pego

Inténtalo

Danza Kuduro

Como Tu No Hay Dos

Food

About a week ago, my host family and I went out for dinner at a seafood restaurant. Because we live on the coast, seafood is very popular in Lima. Check out what we had to eat!

My plate is the closet one in the picture with just the fish and rice. I'm not a big seafood person. Can you tell? Haha

Sofia's plate! This is spicy ceviche!

This is Rodrigo's plate (Ro is a family friend). His plate consists of Spanish rice with squid (similar to Paella from Spain), calamari, and ceviche.

This is Veronica's plate! It consisted octopus, ceviche, and causa de cangrejo (cangrejo=crab). Causa de cangrejo is a potato stuffed with a crab cream. 

I bet my dad is drooling with jealousy over the meals I get to eat here! He loves seafood! Haha!

Activities I Have Done

A few weekends ago, my grandma took Sofia and I on a tour of the center of Lima. It was beautiful! We got to see where the president lives! Most of the center is still in it's colonial structure, too! 

Sofia and I posing for the Prez! 

A couple of weeks ago I volunteered with San Borja Sur to fundraise money for La Liga Contra el Cáncer. We walked through the streets, rode on the buses, and sang songs to collect donations for cancer patients. I had fun doing it! Here's the crew!

A couple weeks ago Peru played two games to enter the World Cup. The first game was against Venezuela. We won! The second game was against Argentina. We tied! Our next game isn't for a month or so and is again Bolivia in Bolivia. Viva el Perú! My family and our friends all hung out in my mom's room for the games! Before the game against Argentina, Rodrigo took Sofia, Vero, and I to the stadium (in Lima) where Peru would be playing! It was cool! He also got us jerseys to wear for the game! I have my sweatshirt on, but my jersey looks just like the one Sofia is wearing!

Yesterday, I volunteered with San Borja Sur at Policlinico Japon-Peruano! This is a clinic that offers medical service at a very cheap price. This clinic is for the poor in Lima. For example, it only costs 5 sols (that's almost $2) for a pediatric check-up. We volunteered from 9-12. We colored pictures with kids waiting for their check-ups. I even helped doctors in their offices giving kids check-ups. We also donated more wheel chairs to people at this clinic. After the clinic, we went to an orphanage. We volunteered from 12-1 at the orphanage coloring with the kids and serving them snacks. 

Activities to Look Forward to...

• I'm going to the Lady Gaga concert in Lima!!!!!! Awwwwww! I'm so excited! It's in November! I have my ticket! All I need now is some glitter lipstick!

• I go on my trip to the south of Peru on Friday! We have so many fun things planned! It will be a ten-day trip! I can't wait to tell you all about it!
• There are many English academies in Lima. I really want to help volunteer at them! Hopefully, I can work this out!
• On October 14, I will be running a 5k to fundraise money to construct La Casa Pasitos, a center of rehabilitation and an orphanage for handicap people.

That's all I have for you for now! Until next time, chaofa!! Besitos! 

Viva el Perú!

It's almost been a month and a half in Peru, and I have fallen in love with this place! I haven't even seen all of Peru yet haha! Lima is amazing though! Everyday brings presents me with new experiences and things to learn about!

Language
I've learned that pronunciation in Spanish for English speakers is difficult because there are hardly any diphthongs in Spanish, unlike in Enlgish. Diphthongs are a group of letters that makes the sound of one letter. For example, in the word play, "ay" makes the "e" sound in Spanish. There are hardly any words like this in Spanish. Every letter in a word is pronounced! This can be hard for a speaker whose native tongue is English.

In Spanish, some "r's" sound like "d's" and others are rolled. Usually, double "r's" (rr) is rolled. A good example are the words pero and perro. The "r" in pero (but) is pronounced like a "d." The "rr" in perro is rolled. In Peru, kids like to roll the "r's" at the end of verb infinitives to practice rolling their "r's."

In Spanish, one word can have so many different meanings! It all depends on the context of the word! Here are some examples:

• Ya = already, stop, yes
• Ya pues = I know
• Todavía = still, no
• Normal = normal, yes
• Entonces = then, so, "like" 
• this is a common "sentence filler"
• Tal vez, quizas, de repente = maybe 

I also learned that luka is slang for the Nuevo Sol (Peru's currency). This is just like how buck is used as slang for the U.S. dollar!

Culture

Remember the paradox I spoke of in my last post? Well, I have another interesting piece to had to the puzzling paradox! Peru is considered a "macho country," meaning it is male-dominant. For example, in the household, the father is the head of the house and has the ultimate say in things. Interestingly though, Mother's Day is a bigger deal than Father's Day! Haha!

Last Thursday, August 30th, was el Día de Santa Rosa. This day celebrates Saint Rose, whose actual name is Isabel. They called her Rose because when she was born she was rosy like the red flower. My host mother tried explaining Saint Rose's life story to me, but I didn't quite get it all. But I did understand that Saint Rose suffered a lot of pain. People say the pain she suffered was for the world. And for that, we are thankful! There was no school last Thursday for this holiday. Traditionally, people go to a well that is located in the city where Saint Rose was born. At this well, people write wishes on a piece of paper and toss it into the well. My host mother said we could do this another day though because it would be full of millions of people on Saint Rose's Day. Another tradition is that the police don't work. That's kind of a scary thing to do in Lima haha! Consequently, the banks are also closed that day!

In Lima, everything is negotiable with street venders! I love it! I can get the prettiest hand-made things for cheaper than they were originally priced. For example, I got a scarf, mittens, and a hat (for my trip to the mountains) for only 25 sols. Originally, it would have been about 35 sols. I am going to become quite the bargainer here! 

The true street venders in Lima are the ones that actually walk in the street, weaving through the cars, asking people stopped at a traffic light if they would like to buy candy, a map, a cell phone charger, etc. People also juggle, do flips, dance, and other cool things in front of the cars. After, they walk to each car asking for money. 

School

At my school, grades are very different. Every week, my teachers set goals for the kids to achieve on the E.T.I. test. These goals are always low, like 50%. I found out why they are so low! Here, getting a 70% is like getting an A. This is because on a test, when you answer a question incorrectly, not only are the points not given to you, a point is taken away from the points you've earned from correct questions. Confused? I was at first haha! For example, let's say we have a 5-question quiz with each question being valued at 4 points. The total points possible are 20. If I got a 4 out of 5 (I incorrectly answered question #5), my score would be 15 out of 20. However, if I would have just left question #5 blank, I would get 16 out of 20. I don't really like this concept. Students get docked points for answering a question incorrectly, but are not docked points for trying at all. I think this discourages students' efforts! It's better to have tried and failed than to not have tried at all! But as you can see, it is hard to achieve a high score. Therefore, low percentages are high goals. 

The students at my school, like the rest of people in Lima, are very friendly with each other! Although our seats are very uncomfortable, my butt hurts after sitting for 5 minutes, the students insist on sharing seats to talk to each other. People here like be physically close to each other! When people ask me questions they are right next to my face talking to me! This is very different than what I am used to haha! There isn't really personal space here. In fact, as I was writing down these notes for my blog about no personal space, another student came up and started reading my notes over my shoulder haha! Classic Peruvian behavior! 

A week ago (last monday), I got in trouble for having my nails painted. The weekend before school I got manicures with my host mom and sister. When I went to school that Monday, the principal told my host mom that I needed  to take it off. Whoops! 

I found out that calculators are considered cheating here haha! I still pull out my calculator from time to time though! 

I recently found out that I am supposed to be in the 5th grade of secondary school, not the 4th grade. Right now, my host mom and I are trying to make the switch! I would love to be in the 5th grade! This means I would be able to graduate and go to prom! After summer, I would go to university for a semester! That would be cool to experience two different level of education in Peru!

Recent Activities

A couple weeks ago I got the opportunity to visit a Coca Cola factory/company in Lima to take pictures for my host mother's business Es Tiempo de Creer. Her business gave a big presentation to the company. They are trying to get a job with Coca Cola to help its employees! 

A couple weekends ago, I went to Cine Planet with Sofia. We saw Valiente (Brave)! It was all in Spanish, but I understood most of it haha! 

Two weeks ago, I also went to a student congress. At the congress, the exchange students and I helped teach Peruvians English! It was a nice break from all the Spanish haha!

Last week, I went to Miniaturo Mundo (Mini Mundo). Mini Mundo was a small park with a bunch of models of places in Peru and in other countries. I had a fun time with the host family!

This past weekend I started Spanish classes again with Rotary. I now have Spanish class from 9am-1pm twice a month on Saturdays! Fun! This past weekend I spent the night at another exchange student's house, Kate. Kate's host mom is also my counselor! I had a great time! They live in La Moline, so I got to see a different part of Lima! This past Saturday, Kate and I went to Bembos for lunch. Bembos is like a Peruvian MacDonald's, but way better! The burgers are amazing for being fast food burgers! The burgers were pretty healthy too! They weren't fried, but grilled! On Saturday, we also went to El Parque de Aguas! It was so beautiful! The park consisted of large fountains! They even put on a show. There was one fountain that consisted of rings in the ground that sprayed water out vertically. People skip through the rings to the center trying not to get wet. I did this! Unfortunately, I got soaked haha! I had fun doing it though! I didn't have my camera, so unfortunately, I couldn't take pictures. But my host mom wants to bring me another time with Sofia. I'll be sure to bring my camera next time! On Sunday, Kate and I went to Jockey Plaza! That is one big mall! We didn't even get to see all of the place! But the stores there are amazing! I was so tempted to buy everything haha! After shopping, we went to Pizzu Hut for dinner! Pizza Hut is really fancy here haha! 

This past Monday I helped my host Rotary club, San Borja Sur, donate wheel chairs to disabled people in Lima. In Peru, wheelchairs cost about $90, but many people cannot afford to buy them. So, San Borja Sur purchases them and donates them! I helped assemble the wheelchairs and give them to the people. It was such a great experience to be part of! 

Every Wednesday, I go to my host club's meetings. They usually start at 8:30pm and end around 10:30. They consist of socializing and then talking about the projects they are working on. However, this past Wednesday's meeting was different. Our Rotary district's president visited us! He gave all these big presentations about what we have been doing and what we would like to do! All the exchange students stood up, said their name, age, and what we have done this past week. 

Activities to Look Forward to...

• Museo metropolitano de Lima
• Art Museum
• At the end of September, I am taking a trip to the South for ten days with the Rotary exchange students. We are visiting Arequipa, Colca, Arica, and Tacna!
• I might get to go to the Lady Gaga concert in Lima in November!!! I'm working at getting the tickets right now! 

My mom (from the U.S.) has been asking me when she should change my return date for the U.S. The latest I can return is June 30th. I've decided that I want to come back June 30th, or the latest date possible! I love Peru and don't want to leave it! 

Until next time, Chao! Besito!