I have one week left of school. Then two weeks of final exams. I am done with econ and Spanish. So this upcoming week I only have class on Monday from 6-9 where I have to make a presentation and on Wednesday 9-1. So I have a very easy week. I am going to try and visit the last of the museums of Lima and see all the places that I havnt seen in a while or never visited. Basically, I am finishing up Lima haha.
So update on the violence in Peru. The government drove one of the organizers of the protest into refuge, there was huge coverage of his car leaving for the airport. Basically, the government under the leadership of Alan Garcia wants to sell land owned by many native groups to oil companies...I think we would be pissed to. My host mom is convinced Alan Garcia is mentally ill because it makes no sense at all. Many congresspeople are beginning a dialoge that Alan Garcia is avoiding with the groups involved, so there appears some hope of fixing this. The courts are also becomming an option because the federal government has no right to sell land that is under the authority of regional governments. The violence has taken a toll though, busses werent running, trains were stopped, mines shut down. The country exploaded very quickly. In econ, we discussed how Peru has gone from the 6th fastest growing economy to their GDP numbers falling for the first time in over 80 months. The same conficts are appearing from 1980...Lima holds the power of the country, human rights are not respects, there is no political expression of dissent, and the economic opportunities are not equally offered. From 1980-2000, close to 70,000 people died in a long conflict based in communist terrorism...I pray that Peru solves its centries old problems.
So on a more individualistic note...this has changed my travel plans. I will not be going to Cajamarca like I planned. I will not be returning to Cusco and visiting Puno nor entering Bolivia. This upcoming weekend, I am traveling to Huanaco with a Peruvian friend as my guide. (its said to have the best climate in Peru). Then my friend Laura will visit on the 12th of July. We are going to Huaraz and hanging out in Lima. In Huaraz, there are several glaciers that if I see them now, I will be one of the last people to see them in my lifetime due to Global Warming. The glaciers will be completly gone by 2011. Laura leaves on July 20th, which is the same day that I will fly to BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA. I am very excited to visit Buenos Aires. It is about the same size as Chicago in population but very European. At one point around the turn of the centry, Buenos Aires was the richest city in the Americas (yes, more rich than New York). And today, it is a city in decline that has struggled since the 1960s (Peron? dont cry for me?) But, everyone says that hands down it is the best place to be in South America. I will meet up with Peruvian friends from the 20th-24th and then will be flying solo until the 26th when i return to Lima. I will have 10 hours to say good-bye to my host family and catch my flight home.
This is the question I am getting asked a lot...Are u ready to go home? This response is complicated, I am very ready to be done with classes, it was a long semester that went from me not understanding my professors to making jokes with them. A lot of ups and downs, late nights, long projects, group work, and early classes. I am ready for a break. However, do I want to leave Peru? Hell no! I have made this a my home and it feels like I have to leave my home. I have no clue what the transition back to the US will be like, all of you have lived your lives without me as I have you. I am gonna want to tell the stories of my days on convis and the first time I saw a condor and everyone is gonna be like "what the f*** is a convi? why is a condor so cool?" but to me, it is my life. The meaning of the daily convi ride fighting not to get robbed, buying my movies on the bus, having to twist arms for my 20 cent change. How they break down, they transfer you, you get standed in random areas with no taxis, etc. My life. Or how a condor is considers a holy creature, how when you die it carries your soul to God. When you see it tower above your mouth just drops. These things sometimes have a 30 foof wing span. The understanding of the condor in culture, stories, and the feeling of being in the same sphere as one. I am going to return to a fast food culture, where we comute in the comfort of our own cars, air conditioning is normal, u dont have to account for protests in your daily comute, we speak politically correct (and in English), and i am sorry but Robins do not have the same effect. So needless to say, this is going to be interesting...I am already dreading it.
So tonight, I am invited to a Reggae-Hip Hop party. Not sure how this will go not listening to salsa, marange, or regaetone and hearing my favorites from the US...Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Akon, etc. The party starts at 7...Ill get there around 9 (going to be super difficult to be on time in the US...Ill have to join the Miller time crowd) and will go till the convis start up tomorrow morning around 5-6. I am going to miss Peru haha.
I have a lot more time in my remaining days, so I will probably continue to post...however in the case that I run out of time...I tried to sum most things up now. Either way, I will send out my usual email if I post again. Also, have you notices how my English is going downhill? I am not sure if I am happy or sad about that considering I just got a really hight grade on a Spanish paper. (Senora recibí 18/20 en el "Juana la Mujer" escrito que usualmente es impossible para extraneros) Chau todo hasta mas tarde!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Saturday, June 13, 2009
things just got interesting
So I have been informed that American news isnt covering what is going on in Peru...which is sad cause the rest the world is watching. So here is the low-down...
Last week, there was a huge march in the jungle for indiginious people's rights. The police decided to open fire on the crowd. 47 people have been reported dead. The protesters decided to fight back, 17 police officers have gone missing since then. There is evidence of burned bodies along roads, and people claim to have witnessed bodies being dropped from helicopters into rivers from the military. There were two huge protests in Lima with tens of thousands of people, they were mostly peaceful. However, the government is denying everything. Alan Garcia (the idiot president of Peru) is claiming no wrongdoing, which he really should be doing.
The entire country is in a state of emergency which was last declared in 1992 during the internal conflict. I probably will not get to Cajamarca considering that is in the North where most the trouble is. Cusco-Puno-Bolivia is still safe right now. It is amazing how in such a short time, a conflict can go from nothing to something huge.
I have spent a lot of time studying the social problems of peru and needless to say cannot sum up a semester in my blog, but would love to talk about them when I get home. But here is the digest on that...from 1980-2000 nearly 70,000 people died in a communist terrorism struggle in peru that ended with a dictator taking power in 1990 by creating a state of fear with military control. The dictatorship fell apart in 2000 and democracy is very young here. The problem lies in that the same issues from 1980 still exist today and the president from 1985-1990 was Alan Garcia (ring a bell).
Peru might very well be on the edge of something big. In any case, I feel very safe. The nation is not falling apart, they just have some huge complications to deal with. They have mastered how to keep people not involved safe. My host mom spent the last week in the heart of it all and returned today, she said that she was fine, the police really know what they are doing (even if they show no mercy for human rights against the minority here).
So nothing to be worried about if American news decides to get on the global bandwagon, but I do ask that you keep the people of Peru in your prayers as they figure out how to reconcile the problems of the past with the realities of now.
Last week, there was a huge march in the jungle for indiginious people's rights. The police decided to open fire on the crowd. 47 people have been reported dead. The protesters decided to fight back, 17 police officers have gone missing since then. There is evidence of burned bodies along roads, and people claim to have witnessed bodies being dropped from helicopters into rivers from the military. There were two huge protests in Lima with tens of thousands of people, they were mostly peaceful. However, the government is denying everything. Alan Garcia (the idiot president of Peru) is claiming no wrongdoing, which he really should be doing.
The entire country is in a state of emergency which was last declared in 1992 during the internal conflict. I probably will not get to Cajamarca considering that is in the North where most the trouble is. Cusco-Puno-Bolivia is still safe right now. It is amazing how in such a short time, a conflict can go from nothing to something huge.
I have spent a lot of time studying the social problems of peru and needless to say cannot sum up a semester in my blog, but would love to talk about them when I get home. But here is the digest on that...from 1980-2000 nearly 70,000 people died in a communist terrorism struggle in peru that ended with a dictator taking power in 1990 by creating a state of fear with military control. The dictatorship fell apart in 2000 and democracy is very young here. The problem lies in that the same issues from 1980 still exist today and the president from 1985-1990 was Alan Garcia (ring a bell).
Peru might very well be on the edge of something big. In any case, I feel very safe. The nation is not falling apart, they just have some huge complications to deal with. They have mastered how to keep people not involved safe. My host mom spent the last week in the heart of it all and returned today, she said that she was fine, the police really know what they are doing (even if they show no mercy for human rights against the minority here).
So nothing to be worried about if American news decides to get on the global bandwagon, but I do ask that you keep the people of Peru in your prayers as they figure out how to reconcile the problems of the past with the realities of now.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
jungle and life
So i posted once on the jungle...it didnt save and i have not had the time/energy to post it again.
Jungle- I went to Iquitos with three other people from the program. Iquitos is the point in the old computer game Amazon Trail that you got to when you won the game...some of you are like OH Yeah and some of you have no clue what i am talking about haha. I spent one day in the city and 3 days in the jungle. I did not get malaria :) so life is good. I got to see anacondas, monkeys, lotsa spiders, and made a friend with a parrot named Pirata...he would wait outside my door waiting for me to play...super cute. I was sad to leave, the beautiful oxygen full smog free air was great. I cant wait to return to the jungle again someday.
So life since the jungle...I am continuing my research of health conditions in the poorer areas of peru. It has been a lot of work and have recently been seeing a lot of pig farms...which smell really bad. But the work i am doing is enabling authorities to improve these areas. My other research is now over and is less serious about a lot of underground life in Peru as part of a Spanish class project.
The end of the semester is coming closer and my final works are all coming to a close. Today I wrote 10 pages over how important a very unimportant movie called "Joan the Woman (1917)" is in the development of film. Needless to say my BS skills do translate into Spanish. One more 10 page paper to write and a lot of final exams left.
I want to travel to Cajamarca in the north. I will travel to Huanaco in the mountains with a Peruvian as my guide. And after my studies are done on the 12th, my friend Laura comes to visit me and we are going to Huaraz. She leaves on the 20th and I will return to Cusco to meet with old friends, bus to Puno and see the highest elevation lake in the world, and then travel to Bolivia and return in time to say good-bye to the host family and friends in Lima before heading home on July 27th. I am kinda dreading returning to the US I will not lie...I have created a life that I like here and hate to give it up. My goal upon returning to create a life that I like in the US and not a life that I have simply inherited or had cast upon me. I have always been unique but in a very beaten path manner...now my life is more of the roughing it though the jungle type without a path in site.
I have heard recently from a few people that they are actually reading this...makes me feel good that I dont just come on here and write to myself. Also, always humbling to put my political opinion out in the open and get the debate back. While heated minds create controversy, open minds create understanding and thats all I have to say about that.
Anyone that has a facebook is much more up to date on my life...I highly recomend that you guys get on that haha.
My level of Spanish...not sure how to say this without sounding arrogant...its good! I can shout my head off if a car almost hits me or get a number at a bar without a struggle. My econ professor likes me and I am one of the best students in the class among a lot of peruvians. My host family jokes with me and treats me like the son theyve always had. I get invited by peruvians to parties and among the loud music still understand the convo. I have no help, few people speak english. I feel like I have gotten to a point few spanish majors ever will with the language and when I get home and definatly going to my school's spanish convo hour every week for the only purpose of having the best white boy spanish in the room. I also speak like a peruvian...i use a french gargle on my "J"s and dont say half my "S"s i call my friends pucha and am not afraid to tell someone to cojate. Its very liberating, I am opened to a world that is closed to people that do not know the language and can move among a much greater part of the world without fear of communication. Speaches from Che have great moral meaning to me, I understand why Castro won the hearts of so many...and I see how Chavez is not the right path for South America. I love this soo much, that I might consider learning another language and placing myself out of my element in the future...french has always been interesting to me, german society is the most evolved in the world...u never know...to be continued haha
Also, the Star Trek movie was great...I bought it on DVD already and I loved it...just want to clarify...I was a Trekkie long before it was cool!
Also, my host mom is gone for the week to the jungle for a huge traditional medicine outting. Not sure if I have mentioned this before. My host mom is now publishing her 3rd book about medicinal plants. She is considered an expert on traditional plants and medical usage and is one of the world's leading experts on the issue...which is really cool that she is my host mom haha. On Friday, she had all of her hippy friends over and we make coca leaf offerings for them to take with her to the jungle...they were singing and dancing in my lil apartment...good times. But now she is gone to the jungle and the hostbro and I are living together for the week alone. He is busy a lot with his new girlfriend, and I am hardly home. We see each other at dinner at 8 and breakfast every morning. He keeps me up to date on soccer haha btw Peru lost to Ecuador tonight. Peru has a horrible team
While nice writing to you all, would love to hear back some news on the family and the lives of all of you guys. Will be home before I can believe it. Chau todo!
Jungle- I went to Iquitos with three other people from the program. Iquitos is the point in the old computer game Amazon Trail that you got to when you won the game...some of you are like OH Yeah and some of you have no clue what i am talking about haha. I spent one day in the city and 3 days in the jungle. I did not get malaria :) so life is good. I got to see anacondas, monkeys, lotsa spiders, and made a friend with a parrot named Pirata...he would wait outside my door waiting for me to play...super cute. I was sad to leave, the beautiful oxygen full smog free air was great. I cant wait to return to the jungle again someday.
So life since the jungle...I am continuing my research of health conditions in the poorer areas of peru. It has been a lot of work and have recently been seeing a lot of pig farms...which smell really bad. But the work i am doing is enabling authorities to improve these areas. My other research is now over and is less serious about a lot of underground life in Peru as part of a Spanish class project.
The end of the semester is coming closer and my final works are all coming to a close. Today I wrote 10 pages over how important a very unimportant movie called "Joan the Woman (1917)" is in the development of film. Needless to say my BS skills do translate into Spanish. One more 10 page paper to write and a lot of final exams left.
I want to travel to Cajamarca in the north. I will travel to Huanaco in the mountains with a Peruvian as my guide. And after my studies are done on the 12th, my friend Laura comes to visit me and we are going to Huaraz. She leaves on the 20th and I will return to Cusco to meet with old friends, bus to Puno and see the highest elevation lake in the world, and then travel to Bolivia and return in time to say good-bye to the host family and friends in Lima before heading home on July 27th. I am kinda dreading returning to the US I will not lie...I have created a life that I like here and hate to give it up. My goal upon returning to create a life that I like in the US and not a life that I have simply inherited or had cast upon me. I have always been unique but in a very beaten path manner...now my life is more of the roughing it though the jungle type without a path in site.
I have heard recently from a few people that they are actually reading this...makes me feel good that I dont just come on here and write to myself. Also, always humbling to put my political opinion out in the open and get the debate back. While heated minds create controversy, open minds create understanding and thats all I have to say about that.
Anyone that has a facebook is much more up to date on my life...I highly recomend that you guys get on that haha.
My level of Spanish...not sure how to say this without sounding arrogant...its good! I can shout my head off if a car almost hits me or get a number at a bar without a struggle. My econ professor likes me and I am one of the best students in the class among a lot of peruvians. My host family jokes with me and treats me like the son theyve always had. I get invited by peruvians to parties and among the loud music still understand the convo. I have no help, few people speak english. I feel like I have gotten to a point few spanish majors ever will with the language and when I get home and definatly going to my school's spanish convo hour every week for the only purpose of having the best white boy spanish in the room. I also speak like a peruvian...i use a french gargle on my "J"s and dont say half my "S"s i call my friends pucha and am not afraid to tell someone to cojate. Its very liberating, I am opened to a world that is closed to people that do not know the language and can move among a much greater part of the world without fear of communication. Speaches from Che have great moral meaning to me, I understand why Castro won the hearts of so many...and I see how Chavez is not the right path for South America. I love this soo much, that I might consider learning another language and placing myself out of my element in the future...french has always been interesting to me, german society is the most evolved in the world...u never know...to be continued haha
Also, the Star Trek movie was great...I bought it on DVD already and I loved it...just want to clarify...I was a Trekkie long before it was cool!
Also, my host mom is gone for the week to the jungle for a huge traditional medicine outting. Not sure if I have mentioned this before. My host mom is now publishing her 3rd book about medicinal plants. She is considered an expert on traditional plants and medical usage and is one of the world's leading experts on the issue...which is really cool that she is my host mom haha. On Friday, she had all of her hippy friends over and we make coca leaf offerings for them to take with her to the jungle...they were singing and dancing in my lil apartment...good times. But now she is gone to the jungle and the hostbro and I are living together for the week alone. He is busy a lot with his new girlfriend, and I am hardly home. We see each other at dinner at 8 and breakfast every morning. He keeps me up to date on soccer haha btw Peru lost to Ecuador tonight. Peru has a horrible team
While nice writing to you all, would love to hear back some news on the family and the lives of all of you guys. Will be home before I can believe it. Chau todo!
Saturday, May 9, 2009
half gone half left
So this week officially marks the end of midterms for me. Which means I am now entering the second half of my studies. I have had a blast thus far and can only imagin the rest of time, now that the language is relatively easy and I have more Peruvian friends and am use to Peruvian academics.
So midterms, they really sucked haha. I had 4. Spanish went really well. Social Peruvian Reality was ok, I studied a lot for it and was well prepared. History of Silent Films was rough but I also was very prepared except there was an essay question out of left field that is going to hurt my grade. Economics was the last one and the one I worried the least about. The test was really long. I think one person in the 40 person class may have finished. Me, the foreigner, got really close. I did not have time to explain my last graphs and will probably lose one point out of 20 because of it unless the teacher changes the standard because no one finished haha. Time will tell. I am just very happy that midterms are over :-)
Next weekend, I travel to the jungle, a lifelong goal. I am going to Iquitos which is the winning point in the old computer game "Amazon Trail." I got my last shots to get cleared to go there and cannot wait. I am going with three other people from the program. The rest of the program went a couple weeks ago but we did not want to deal with the organization and lack of free time that goes with program events. So look forward to my post on the jungle :-)
So the last two weekends have been full of me studying and going out and having fun (usually coordinated with the sun haha). But it has been fun, now I doubt I will be in Lima for the next couple weekends again so back to the road.
I want to talk about the food and how much I love it all. My favorite is aji de gallina. Its a chicken dish that is muy rico! Other are saltado dishes which is like stir fry. I love all of the types of potatoes and the millions of ways of preparing them. I eat rice with every meal and will miss that when I return home. Basically, there is no grease or fat on their food but they eat a lot of carbs. I have lost a lot of weight which I am happy about. I blame the diet cause I am not walking much more than I do at school but at school I gain weight haha. My goal upon returning is to eat like a Peruvian. I am buying a rice steam cooker and going to cut the fats and grease from life which I do well not eating red meat from the US. Speaking of US meat, it has the worst reputation in Peru for the worst quality full of chemicals, antibiotics, and hormones. Most Peruvians know not to eat it and McDonald's advertises that its meat is from Argentina otherwise they would fail. This is what I have been saying people! Our meat is disgusting!!!
I will update my blog after the rainforest, Happy Mother's Day everyone!!!
So midterms, they really sucked haha. I had 4. Spanish went really well. Social Peruvian Reality was ok, I studied a lot for it and was well prepared. History of Silent Films was rough but I also was very prepared except there was an essay question out of left field that is going to hurt my grade. Economics was the last one and the one I worried the least about. The test was really long. I think one person in the 40 person class may have finished. Me, the foreigner, got really close. I did not have time to explain my last graphs and will probably lose one point out of 20 because of it unless the teacher changes the standard because no one finished haha. Time will tell. I am just very happy that midterms are over :-)
Next weekend, I travel to the jungle, a lifelong goal. I am going to Iquitos which is the winning point in the old computer game "Amazon Trail." I got my last shots to get cleared to go there and cannot wait. I am going with three other people from the program. The rest of the program went a couple weeks ago but we did not want to deal with the organization and lack of free time that goes with program events. So look forward to my post on the jungle :-)
So the last two weekends have been full of me studying and going out and having fun (usually coordinated with the sun haha). But it has been fun, now I doubt I will be in Lima for the next couple weekends again so back to the road.
I want to talk about the food and how much I love it all. My favorite is aji de gallina. Its a chicken dish that is muy rico! Other are saltado dishes which is like stir fry. I love all of the types of potatoes and the millions of ways of preparing them. I eat rice with every meal and will miss that when I return home. Basically, there is no grease or fat on their food but they eat a lot of carbs. I have lost a lot of weight which I am happy about. I blame the diet cause I am not walking much more than I do at school but at school I gain weight haha. My goal upon returning is to eat like a Peruvian. I am buying a rice steam cooker and going to cut the fats and grease from life which I do well not eating red meat from the US. Speaking of US meat, it has the worst reputation in Peru for the worst quality full of chemicals, antibiotics, and hormones. Most Peruvians know not to eat it and McDonald's advertises that its meat is from Argentina otherwise they would fail. This is what I have been saying people! Our meat is disgusting!!!
I will update my blog after the rainforest, Happy Mother's Day everyone!!!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
travels, school, and wow my life is changing so fast
ok, this is gonna be quick cause i have a lot of work to do yet tonight, but i want to update this cause i havnt in so long
I have now traveled for three weekends in a row and am very busy cause of it. Next week is midterms so I have some major studying to do. I will start with a summary of each trip...
Cusco- I returned to Cusco and loved it, we left quickly for Machu Picchu and I did not get the opportunity to see my host family nor the school I worked with. I saw a lot more of the city than on my last trip though. I got to climp Huanyu Picchu, which is the mountain behind Machu Picchu in all of the perfect pictures. It was rough but I loved it. Returning to Cusco just made me really happy. It is my favorite place on Earth! I can't wait to go back and visit with my friends there.
Arequipa- I traveled alone cause I planned the trip weeks ago and did not want to wait for my friends in the program to figure out traveling. So the city is known for being "The White City" for two reasons. First, there are a lot of white stone buildings made from volcanic ash and second, the city is historically a city with European decent. It is a very arrogant place to say the least, but they have great chocolate. I went to the Canyon of Colca, which is the largest canyon in the world and saw my first condor which was awesome cause they have over a 15 foot wing span and are endangered. My hostal was great and full of French people which made the trip fun. I went to a reggae party and had a blast and got home just in time to bomb my first quiz in Peru.
Ica- My friend from LA and I were hanging out last Thursday and in 10min we bought a bus ticket 5 hours south to Ica. Very rash but that is what makes life great. We went on a wine and pisco (type of vodka special to Peru) tour and for 20 soles (bout $6) had tried nearly 100 soles worth of drinks. I saw a lot in Ica and had an action packed weekend. It was great to hang out by a pool, go sandboarding (just like snowboarding but on massive sand dunes), went on an ecological tour and saw penguins, dolphins, and sea lions, as well as part of the Nasca lines. Ica is kindof the Dells of Lima and it was a great getaway.
Now I am home in Lima, very busy and tired. I am behind in most of my classes and finding it very difficult to concentrate to get much done. But I am having a blast, for once in my life academics is taking a backseat to my life, I am growing personally in ways I cannot express in words. All I can say is that my life will never be the same after Peru. Now I have a quiz tomorrow morning and two essays to write tonight and it is already 9:30...11.5 hours left to get everything done.
My host family is great, I cannot understand how close I have become to them. I feel like if I stayed here they would just adopt me and that would be it. But dont worry (or worry whatever your opinions of my might be haha) I am still coming home on July 27th and not a second sooner.
I have now traveled for three weekends in a row and am very busy cause of it. Next week is midterms so I have some major studying to do. I will start with a summary of each trip...
Cusco- I returned to Cusco and loved it, we left quickly for Machu Picchu and I did not get the opportunity to see my host family nor the school I worked with. I saw a lot more of the city than on my last trip though. I got to climp Huanyu Picchu, which is the mountain behind Machu Picchu in all of the perfect pictures. It was rough but I loved it. Returning to Cusco just made me really happy. It is my favorite place on Earth! I can't wait to go back and visit with my friends there.
Arequipa- I traveled alone cause I planned the trip weeks ago and did not want to wait for my friends in the program to figure out traveling. So the city is known for being "The White City" for two reasons. First, there are a lot of white stone buildings made from volcanic ash and second, the city is historically a city with European decent. It is a very arrogant place to say the least, but they have great chocolate. I went to the Canyon of Colca, which is the largest canyon in the world and saw my first condor which was awesome cause they have over a 15 foot wing span and are endangered. My hostal was great and full of French people which made the trip fun. I went to a reggae party and had a blast and got home just in time to bomb my first quiz in Peru.
Ica- My friend from LA and I were hanging out last Thursday and in 10min we bought a bus ticket 5 hours south to Ica. Very rash but that is what makes life great. We went on a wine and pisco (type of vodka special to Peru) tour and for 20 soles (bout $6) had tried nearly 100 soles worth of drinks. I saw a lot in Ica and had an action packed weekend. It was great to hang out by a pool, go sandboarding (just like snowboarding but on massive sand dunes), went on an ecological tour and saw penguins, dolphins, and sea lions, as well as part of the Nasca lines. Ica is kindof the Dells of Lima and it was a great getaway.
Now I am home in Lima, very busy and tired. I am behind in most of my classes and finding it very difficult to concentrate to get much done. But I am having a blast, for once in my life academics is taking a backseat to my life, I am growing personally in ways I cannot express in words. All I can say is that my life will never be the same after Peru. Now I have a quiz tomorrow morning and two essays to write tonight and it is already 9:30...11.5 hours left to get everything done.
My host family is great, I cannot understand how close I have become to them. I feel like if I stayed here they would just adopt me and that would be it. But dont worry (or worry whatever your opinions of my might be haha) I am still coming home on July 27th and not a second sooner.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Classes and more
So I realize that it has been two weeks since I have updated my blog. I promise this is only a testament to me being a little busy. I started classes. The first week we got to go to bunch of classes and "shop." Meaning that I went to a lot of classes and only have to pick a couple. I ended up with The History of Motion Pictures I, which is all about silent films (lovin it), Economics, Spanish conversation and writing, and Peruvian Social Reality. My service portion of my study abroad is incorporated into my Peruvian Social Reality class. My service portion has changed a lot. I started with an orphanage, moved to a class, then families, then family's health, and now will be working with an organization called Ciudad Saludable (Healthy City). They work with the Department of Public Health and I will be working in public health for 6 hours a week until I leave.
Classes are a little bit different here in a way that is difficult for me. The students do not share the American self-centered education. It is a group effort to get through the class. They work in groups, study in groups, share notes, and see the class as a community. I am used to having my own notes, studying alone unless it calls for a friend to help, competing against my peers, almost never sharing notes except for close friends cause otherwise you are helping others not do their work. This is different, but not all that bad considering that once students graduate, the world works in groups and Peruvians are very prepared for this. I do not believe that College is more difficult here, but I know for a fact that they are much much more educated when entering college than our failed High School system sends us off to college. The only thing that I really do not like about classes is rather small. In the US, when the teacher has handouts for you. They either email it to everyone, it is availiable online, or they give everyone a copy. Here, they give one copy to one student and everyone else needs to find that student to go make copies for themself. This is difficult for exchange students to get copies...but I will get through it. haha
Some security snuff. I am watching a soccer game between Peru and Chile right now. Peru and Chile have fought wars in the past and pretty much hate each other. I cant leave my house cause the streets could erupt in mad violence. The other concern is that the terrorist group "The Shinning Light" is growing fast once again. They were strong in the 80s and early 90s and almost put the country in anarchy. They fought as nationalists with rich people's money. This time, they are funded by drug money, and have more potential. The good news is that I am not a target for them, grendos mean nothing to them. They are more concerned with the government of Peru and are fighting in the sierra. I am on the coast rather far away.
Consumerism is an idea that Peru seems to struggle with. They do not understand the concept of a tip. This is nice cause you do not tip when you go out to eat, or get a cab (although you negotiate the price), or anywhere else. However, its tips that create good service. When you are at a restraunt, ordering is kind of a formality. You are going to get whatever they decide you want. If you want ice, you will not get it. If you wanted Coke, your gonna get Sprite. If you order a hamburger, your getting a chicken sandwich. When you go to the store, you usually have to buy an item in one place and pick it up in another...if your lucky there is only one step to buying that item. I recently bought a plane ticket online. I had to "buy" it online. Go to the store and pay for it at one register, then go to another register to pick up my receipt, and then go back to the original register to get my debit card. Yep its frustrating to buy things here. The only thing that is efficient is the bus system. It is all private companies competing for your business yelling at you their destinations and times and prices to attract you into their bus. I put a video a couple blog posts down if you want to get a look.
I am loving that no one here has a concept of time. That hole "Miller family time" is standard here. One class ends at 10Am and the next starts at 10Am...but not really. One class can run long and no classes really start until 15mins after they are supposed to. This means I can be late for class and that is considered normal :) There are no clocks in any rooms here. The only clocks are on cell phones, and I have found that asking people for the time is a converstion starter for older people. Cause they usually have no clue what time it is, and they see I am a grengo which sterotypically knows the time and they want to talk with me. This is fine cause it is good for my Spanish and in all honesty I usually know what time it is. Think about this...if anyone asks you the time in the US, can you usually be within 30min of being correct without acually looking at a clock...that means your a grengo haha.
I have learned that my salsa is never gonna be very good. I have accepted that, however, I like the club scene that blends salsa with a faster beat that is easier to dance to. I can do that :-) I am starting to plan my vacations more as well. In two weeks (the 9th-12th) I will be returning to Cusco where I left a piece of my heart back in December. The following weekend, I am going to Arequipa. It is in the south rather close to Chile. I plan on traveling more, but simply need to plan it.
I got sick. A great lesson to always watch not to drink the water, make sure my fruit is washed, not drink ice, not salads at restraunts, ect. It was terrible! I was vomitting for a day and my stomach did not take food for several more days. I have lost weight though. Nearly 5 pounds in one week which is scary cause I basically did not eat for a couple days. I have bounced back, I feel rather good right now. I have determined that I need to avoid hospitals after learning about a procedure where they inject a guinea pig with some of your blood, let it walk all over you, then they dissect it cause it is supposed to mimick your anatomy so they can see what is wrong with you...no hospitals for me.
This week is bound to be busy, so I will email when I update my blog again. Hasta luego todo.
Classes are a little bit different here in a way that is difficult for me. The students do not share the American self-centered education. It is a group effort to get through the class. They work in groups, study in groups, share notes, and see the class as a community. I am used to having my own notes, studying alone unless it calls for a friend to help, competing against my peers, almost never sharing notes except for close friends cause otherwise you are helping others not do their work. This is different, but not all that bad considering that once students graduate, the world works in groups and Peruvians are very prepared for this. I do not believe that College is more difficult here, but I know for a fact that they are much much more educated when entering college than our failed High School system sends us off to college. The only thing that I really do not like about classes is rather small. In the US, when the teacher has handouts for you. They either email it to everyone, it is availiable online, or they give everyone a copy. Here, they give one copy to one student and everyone else needs to find that student to go make copies for themself. This is difficult for exchange students to get copies...but I will get through it. haha
Some security snuff. I am watching a soccer game between Peru and Chile right now. Peru and Chile have fought wars in the past and pretty much hate each other. I cant leave my house cause the streets could erupt in mad violence. The other concern is that the terrorist group "The Shinning Light" is growing fast once again. They were strong in the 80s and early 90s and almost put the country in anarchy. They fought as nationalists with rich people's money. This time, they are funded by drug money, and have more potential. The good news is that I am not a target for them, grendos mean nothing to them. They are more concerned with the government of Peru and are fighting in the sierra. I am on the coast rather far away.
Consumerism is an idea that Peru seems to struggle with. They do not understand the concept of a tip. This is nice cause you do not tip when you go out to eat, or get a cab (although you negotiate the price), or anywhere else. However, its tips that create good service. When you are at a restraunt, ordering is kind of a formality. You are going to get whatever they decide you want. If you want ice, you will not get it. If you wanted Coke, your gonna get Sprite. If you order a hamburger, your getting a chicken sandwich. When you go to the store, you usually have to buy an item in one place and pick it up in another...if your lucky there is only one step to buying that item. I recently bought a plane ticket online. I had to "buy" it online. Go to the store and pay for it at one register, then go to another register to pick up my receipt, and then go back to the original register to get my debit card. Yep its frustrating to buy things here. The only thing that is efficient is the bus system. It is all private companies competing for your business yelling at you their destinations and times and prices to attract you into their bus. I put a video a couple blog posts down if you want to get a look.
I am loving that no one here has a concept of time. That hole "Miller family time" is standard here. One class ends at 10Am and the next starts at 10Am...but not really. One class can run long and no classes really start until 15mins after they are supposed to. This means I can be late for class and that is considered normal :) There are no clocks in any rooms here. The only clocks are on cell phones, and I have found that asking people for the time is a converstion starter for older people. Cause they usually have no clue what time it is, and they see I am a grengo which sterotypically knows the time and they want to talk with me. This is fine cause it is good for my Spanish and in all honesty I usually know what time it is. Think about this...if anyone asks you the time in the US, can you usually be within 30min of being correct without acually looking at a clock...that means your a grengo haha.
I have learned that my salsa is never gonna be very good. I have accepted that, however, I like the club scene that blends salsa with a faster beat that is easier to dance to. I can do that :-) I am starting to plan my vacations more as well. In two weeks (the 9th-12th) I will be returning to Cusco where I left a piece of my heart back in December. The following weekend, I am going to Arequipa. It is in the south rather close to Chile. I plan on traveling more, but simply need to plan it.
I got sick. A great lesson to always watch not to drink the water, make sure my fruit is washed, not drink ice, not salads at restraunts, ect. It was terrible! I was vomitting for a day and my stomach did not take food for several more days. I have lost weight though. Nearly 5 pounds in one week which is scary cause I basically did not eat for a couple days. I have bounced back, I feel rather good right now. I have determined that I need to avoid hospitals after learning about a procedure where they inject a guinea pig with some of your blood, let it walk all over you, then they dissect it cause it is supposed to mimick your anatomy so they can see what is wrong with you...no hospitals for me.
This week is bound to be busy, so I will email when I update my blog again. Hasta luego todo.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
After 3 weeks...
Hola!
So, I is Saturday night, and I am exhausted. I am done with all orientation and submersion classes. Thank god. I have figured out the bus system and life is going rather smothly. I begin real classes on Monday and look forward to seeing how that goes. Last weekend was very busy. The group went out to Barranco (different part of Lima) on Friday night and Saturday night my family took me to their beach house where I went to a soccer game. The soccer game proved to be quiet a cultural experience. This week, we watched two Peruvian movies, the first was rather good about the struggles of an Incan woman. It was called Madeinusa (Made in USA...get it?). The second was terrible and I will never speak of it again cause the premise of it was that a woman was growing a potato in her vagina. We have visited two ruins sites. One was Pre-Incan Limans and the other was Incan. I am enjoying going out to dicsotecas and have found social life here to be great :) Tonight, I am resting cause it was a long night/day/evening. So far I prefer many things here opposed to the States including the food. However, I miss customer service at restraunts, and I hate it that people are rather racist against my skin color here. However, it is a great life lesson for how many people are treated back home. I have many a couple Peruvian friends and hope to expand that so that I can blend better. Never in my life could I have dreamed that I would be able to speak Spanish as well as I do now and it is only going to get better with more time. Today, however, on the bus home, I had my first real scare for my life. Ahead of the bus was a fight between people with a Chilean flag and the policia. There was a bomb that went off and shaked the bus and a significant amount of gunfire, we all ducked on the bus, closed the windows, and the clouds cleared in seconds. Scary, but I am safe and overall that is not normal. Hope all is well in the States. I hope to update you all soon on my classes next week.
So, I is Saturday night, and I am exhausted. I am done with all orientation and submersion classes. Thank god. I have figured out the bus system and life is going rather smothly. I begin real classes on Monday and look forward to seeing how that goes. Last weekend was very busy. The group went out to Barranco (different part of Lima) on Friday night and Saturday night my family took me to their beach house where I went to a soccer game. The soccer game proved to be quiet a cultural experience. This week, we watched two Peruvian movies, the first was rather good about the struggles of an Incan woman. It was called Madeinusa (Made in USA...get it?). The second was terrible and I will never speak of it again cause the premise of it was that a woman was growing a potato in her vagina. We have visited two ruins sites. One was Pre-Incan Limans and the other was Incan. I am enjoying going out to dicsotecas and have found social life here to be great :) Tonight, I am resting cause it was a long night/day/evening. So far I prefer many things here opposed to the States including the food. However, I miss customer service at restraunts, and I hate it that people are rather racist against my skin color here. However, it is a great life lesson for how many people are treated back home. I have many a couple Peruvian friends and hope to expand that so that I can blend better. Never in my life could I have dreamed that I would be able to speak Spanish as well as I do now and it is only going to get better with more time. Today, however, on the bus home, I had my first real scare for my life. Ahead of the bus was a fight between people with a Chilean flag and the policia. There was a bomb that went off and shaked the bus and a significant amount of gunfire, we all ducked on the bus, closed the windows, and the clouds cleared in seconds. Scary, but I am safe and overall that is not normal. Hope all is well in the States. I hope to update you all soon on my classes next week.
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