Little ups and downs

I knew before I left that this trip would not be the same as others, because 5 months is enough time for normality to balance out the constant excitement of everything being new and unfamiliar. Just over a month seems to have been long enough to start experiencing life as it would flow at me anywhere else on the planet-- with its waves rolling up and down, still wonderful, but not without turbulence.

- Playing fútbol is wonderful, but it's out of character for me to willingly put myself in a situation where I am so easily recognized as below average. Maybe often being the one who doesn't quite "get it" on a conversational level for the last month has helped me get over myself a bit. I still get self-conscious and retreat to trying to laugh it up.

I really need to start liking high fives.

- It's harder to call someone out if I'm offended. I either get nervous that I just misunderstood a language subtlety or that I won't be as effective as I could be with my own words. Because of this I've allowed people I consider friends to objectify me and others in the last couple weeks. It's simple things like demonstrating respect for female-bodied people and for queer folks. I'm afraid that if I let one more thing slide I'l grow to really dislike a few of the people I'm spending time with. But I also have to remember that might be okay too.

Making friendships go deeper is definitely harder with cultural and language barriers. But I still really really enjoy the process 95% of the time, and I do think it will all be worth it.

- I still procrastinate.

But I've gotten much better at not using facebook to do so.

- I still think dancing is a valid excuse to not be doing almost anything and, hence, spend hours and hours with all my furniture pushed to one side of the room. I wish I was in a dance group or class here. I'll keep trying.

- This week we can pick up a card from the university that allows us to ride the combis for half price. Paying 18 cents to ride the (independently-owned) buses seems like an unnecessary discount for me.

- Fer told me yesterday that my Spanish has improved a lot.

It meant THE WORLD to me...

and I'm still floating :o)

- And that's my bedroom, with the windows and doors leading out to the balcony.

I'm really thankful for our balcony.

Roadtrip! para la semana santa

Last weekend I went to Oxapampa with Martín and his family and it was fantastic! The best 8 straight hours in a pick-up truck I've ever had. Though my camera died after we got there, journey was more than worth documenting. We went from the city of Lima to further out into the desert, to la sierra with mountain goats and everything, to the jungle full of giant butterflies. Above is a picture of us at 4,818 meters... so take that, Machu Picchu :o)

We had some sort of lemon candy to help with the altitude.

We passed through a lot of different towns. At one point we stopped for tea and cheese sandwiches. The are we were in was famous for milk and honey products.

The views were breathtaking and the roads winding, sometimes in a way that made me nervous.

Post office.

We saw snow! And were often at the same level or above the clouds. It rained as we drove through them.

Bathroom break (above).

Beauty y basura.

Gas stop.

I really enjoyed spending time with Martín, his brother Daniel and his little cousin, Gabriel. Gabriel was full of jokes and sang us many songs to pass the time, jaja. And his parents were super sweet too... which is good as there were 6 of us in that little camioneta.

We passed a few lakes that were in all sorts of different colors, I guess because of different minerals in the sediment, but they had an impressive amount of variation.

And, for the first time since I've come to Perú, I saw llamas (and cows & sheep).

We played in waterfalls.

And went on many aventuras.

Including: visiting a trucha farm, a sugar cane processing ranch, a cheese factory (!), and a cave where we got to pull ourselves through mud and bat poo while exploring in nearly pitch black.

A giant abeja, that looked more like a little bear with wings.

Lastly, I got back just in time for Easter Sunday at the Cotlear's house. Below, Joaquín and his cousin Julieta are looking for chocolate eggs in the backyard.

And here is Misky: our hairless, purebred, Peruvian watchdog.

Snapshots

First things first: this is our house. It was pink last week, but now it's orange.

This is the street we live on. There was something fancy being filmed on it yesterday.

On the way to school we pass one cluster of motorcycle repair shops, another cluster of casinos, a few night clubs, chifa restaurants (see Oso Panda example), an Inca craft market, and Plaza San Miguel.

Plaza San Miguel is a giant mall with complete with a Tommy Hilfiger, a Billabong, and a Starbucks. It kind of terrifies me, but it's a great landmark for meeting up with people.

There is also a small theme park called Coney Park. I have a goal of stopping there on the way home from a stressful day of school to eat cotton candy.

Below are some pictures from El Centro in Lima. We went to see the catacumbas but they were closed; instead, we walked around la Plaza de Armas and ended the night with meal of lambs heart kabob, gizzards, and beer (though some of us opted for potatoes, salad and coffee ;o).

The changing of the guard took place while we were there, so we got to consume a healthy dose of Peruvian nationalism...

...complete with a marching band.

(Dios - Patria - Ley)

And lastly, we visited (just like todo el mundo) el Parque de Agua to see the fountains. However, our trip was marked by a singe of irony. We went to see these giant displays of water (which are in what used to be a giant public park but is now only open to those who can pay the S/4 entrance fee) right after we went to see a see a free performance called SED -- put on by local community groups to spread awareness about problems with water accessibility and corporatization.

But it was fun regardless, and as usual we learned tons from the wonderful María de los Angeles.

Vergüenza

Yesterday I was running late to get to my first class... surprise, surprise.

...and by late I mean a full 15 minutes late, because 5 minutes late to class often counts as early at la Católica...

But anyway, I was flustered and nervous because it was a class I'd never been to before and only decided to go at the last minute when I realized it would fulfill two UW requirements for me. After a combi stuck in traffic and not being able to find the building I needed on the map, I finally got where I was going. I had to make the most awkward entrance which involved walking in front of the professor and ducking under a computer cord. ¡Imagínate!

I was full of vergüenza ("roche" en Perú) for being that gringa, but sat down and was handed a syllabus. After gracelessly shuffling around in my backpack and getting poised with my notebook ready to absorb everything about Economía Política Internacional, I looked up at the powerpoint only to realize I was in a 3 hour long seminar about administration and gestation.

De repente, I was really that gringa.

Considering the trecherous path between my desk and the door, I just gave up and basked in my shame for nearly 2 hours before getting up enough courage to leave during the bathroom break. Then, having missed the class I was supposed to go to, I grabbed some cookies at the comedor and took a nap in the grass.

My life here truly is wonderful.

FAMILY INTRODUCTIONS A LONG TIME COMING

Raighne again,

Apologies for the lateness if this happened to be the one and only blog post you were desperately waiting for :)

The other Sunday (almost a week and a half ago now), our host family threw a back yard barbecue. The guests (cousins, nieces, nephews, and a few whose relations we couldn't quite figure out) were friendly, the pisco plentiful, and the sausages (although not brats or summer sausage), corn on the cob, and watermelon reminded me so much of a beautiful Wisconsin summer that seems like a long long time ago. All this combined, it was a shock to go from winter to idyllic summer scene without even so much as a single day of spring in between.

It was a great summer day with a great sunny food coma nap :)

Anyways, on to some brief introductions of the folks we live with:

Myriam: 60 something mother of the house and boss of it all. Great human being! We found out the other day that her father was born to a Jewish family in what is now present-day Ukraine and immigrated (by way of a series of Latin American countries) to Peru following WWI. I wish I knew more of the history of this region (Eastern Europe AND Latin America that is) and time period. So interesting to me nonetheless, especially considering that my Dad's grandma's first language was German and Myriam shares a similar story as he does of being part of the first generation following immigration unable to speak the language of its ancestors.

Lucía: daughter of Myriam. archeologist (studied and "TA'ed" at the university we now attend). adventurer (recently heard her accounts of helicopter rides through remote jungle canyons above raging rivers). Lucía is a member of the first generation of Peruvian archeologists to capitalize on a law that mandates that any large construction project in Peru must employ a team of archeologists to check for artifacts.

Lidia: The woman who does the cooking and cleaning and lives in the house with us. SO nice. Always willing to show us and explain the variety of fruits and vegetables we've come across so far in Lima (no. small. task.). Her pesto is the best I've ever had. I so so want to get to know her more and am frustrated that this is all I can say so far.

Ryo: Japanese exchange student starting his second of two semesters studying Spanish at PUCP and sharing the third floor of the house with Jean, Tom, and I. Before he left for a week-long trip to Bolivia, we had all just started to get out of the awkward "getting to know your roommates stage." Can't wait til he gets back!

and last but not least.....

Juaquín: son of Lucía. 2.5 years old. super lindo! The first and only 2.5 year old I've ever met who's asked me, "y tú... cómo estás?"



It's a good crowd and I'm very thankful to get to share their home.

Venados, Punta Hermosa y medusas que vuelan

School started this week. The closed campus of la Católica is in a busy part of town between our house and a giant shopping mall. The campus is beautiful, heavily watered, and also full of deer: hanging out, eating grass, having babies. I really want to know whose idea that was.

Our first day of classes was... overwhelming. I still don't know a dead on translation of that word in Spanish. It would come in handy to explain why I sit in class wide-eyed, still totally having a blast even though just being there is kind of stressful, and sometimes feeing incapable of processing all the information that is being thrown at me.

In our last days of summer before school started we went to two orientations on campus, including one about securtity which made it sound like just being in Lima is big game of Russian Roulette. I found out that the unarmed municipality police are called the Serenazgo. We were told to never bother asking for help from the official National Police because they /paraphrased quote/ aren't very good, generally come from a lower class background, are likely to hit on women, and often don't know a lot about the districts they work in. There is also a completly seperate Tourist Police Force in some neighborhoods that speaks English.

I'm still absolutely dying to get the low down on the local politics and opinions of policing.

A lot of the meeting addressed safety precautions that I would never have thought of, which I guess is good. But the lady giving the talk also warned people of "bricheros" and "chorros" with out any social explanation as to why such methods of acquiring money are used in Lima. It was obvious the security meeting had not been delivered as well as it could have been and that students didn't really understand what sort of societal forces are at play that put them at risk when a guy behind me raised his hand and asked, "What do the people who rob look like? How can you identify them when you're walking along a street?"

Before school started we also took a trip to Punta Hermosa, a beach just south of Lima where the top lady surfer from Perú lives. We went with three friends we met at orientation from Bolivia and another from DeKalb, Illinois. The waves were great, I tried some freshly caught fish and enjoyed it, and we had an improptu birthday party with chocolate cake. I'm so thankful to be hanging out with hispanoablantes even though I sometimes feel hella boring when I can't say exactly what I want to say. It's an absolute godsend that everyone we've met has been so patient with us.

This time, I didn't even get a smidge of sunburn :o)

Our combi for an hour and a half ride to Punta Hermosa only cost us 4 soles, about a $1.45.

We went to a cerviche restaurant and there were little bags of water hanging from the ceiling. Apparently this helps keeps mosquitos away. We had fresh squeezed lemonade and maize tostada. I was in heaven. Oh, and this guy was hanging out under the table.