A Realization!

HI! Ok. First I have to catch you up on some cool things that have happened/are happening!
-Yesterday for our Ethics class we had a round table discussion with Carlos Ferrero, who is a Peruvian congressman. He has been involved in the government for a really really long time and he used to be the Prime Minister of Peru. He worked under President Fujimori, but left when he found out about the corruption that was going on. Now he is part of Toledo's party. (Toledo was a president that followed Fujimori..I think. The political system here is quite confusing and we've only learned about it in Spanish so I THINK I have all these details correct...) He was a really charismatic guy and it was fun to talk to him. It was just really interesting to hear the perspective of someone who has been very close to a lot of the corruption that has happened in the government. He definitely didn't approve of the things that were being done, but he also said that he thought there were more important things that needed to be addressed before corruption, like unemployment. I was really happy that we had the chance to hear his opinions and ask him questions. It was kind of scary, though! We were speaking with a really important government official! In Spanish! I was really nervous that he wouldn't be able to understand me or vice versa. But I thought that everyone asked really good questions and the language thing wasn't really a problem. He was very understanding and didn't mind that we sometimes didn't have any clue what was going on. :) I think we are going to be having more discussions with him in the coming weeks.
-Slightly less intellectual event...:) Tonight I am going to the Backstreet Boys concert!!! Hahaha. I never would have gone in the US (I was more of an N'Sync fan, actually...) but the ticket was only about 25 dollars and a lot of my friends wanted to go. It'll definitely be a fun experience.
-Last night I went to dinner at Bethany's house with my whole family. It was really fun because Bethany's real parents from the US are visiting this week, so they were meeting everyone and getting to see where Bethany lives, etc. Seeing them here was weird (even though they aren't my parents!) because it was like two different worlds merging together. It was really cool, though. Luckily both of our Peruvian moms speak English pretty well, but Bethany's host dad doesn't really, so she had to translate a bit. Ok. Now for my Big Realization. I've been feeling a lot lately like I have no idea what is going on and I just have been kind of hard on myself for not being as good at Spanish as I think I should be. But being around people who couldn't communicate with one another more than with just a few words made me realize how much progress I've made since I've been here. It just made me remember that I really DO understand a lot and I know the general idea of what is going on in a conversation.
Anyways, it was lovely to have dinner with all those lovely people. It made me really really excited for when my parents come to visit me, which is going to be on March 29th!!!
Another thing about last night was that I just felt really thankful to have been placed with my host family. They are really great people and I just love them. I really feel like I am a part of the family!! :) And I'm extra lucky because Bethany's host family and mine do lots and lots of things together. I feel like I have two wonderful Peruvian families!!! :) :) Its just really amazing that these people have been brought into my life.