Ok. So I know I talk about this a lot but its a HUGE part of every single day here for me...riding the bus. At first, it was really scary. The bus system is really chaotic and you can pretty much get on and off anywhere you want. Its just crazy and you really have to be on your toes and know what is going on...my host brother was telling me the other day that he has had his cell phone stolen out of his pocket twice while riding the bus. I don't think it happens too often, but its still something I kind of worry about when I'm packed in like a sardine and can't really watch my pockets and my purse.
Yesterday was probably the worst ride home I've had so far. We got on the bus and it was REALLY crowded. I was basically smashed in between two women and a man. Every time the bus started or stopped, we would all kind of fall against one another and then have to readjust. It was really uncomfortable. Normally the bus clears out a bit after about 20 min. and you can generally find a seat then. Last night, though, we had to stand the entire hour bus ride home except for about 10 min. at the end. It was a looooong ride. My legs and arms were really tired when I finally got home, from bracing myself against the constant stop-and-go of Lima traffic.
Today was a little better but not by much...I was in a seat right by the door and when they started packing people in, I basically had a bunch of people's butts right in my face and I was pushed so far up against the side of the van, I had to stick my arm out the window. The whole ride home I was worried that I was going to get my arm cut off by some rogue vehicle!!!
Its crazy and dangerous and I have never been involved in so many near-accidents in my life, but I don't know what I'd do without it. It gets me from place to place without having to worry about driving myself in this crazy city! AND it only costs me 50 cents to get to school! As much as I hate riding the bus here sometimes, I guess I really can't complain.
In other news...things have been really busy for me the last few days! MY PARENTS GOT HERE ON SUNDAY! I was so excited to see them! My host mom and brother went with me to the airport to pick them up and we took them to their hotel. The next day I took them around the neighborhood and in the evening they came to see my house and meet my host sister and Bethany and her host parents. It was really odd to have my two families meet! Like two very different worlds colliding. But it was really really cool.
They are in Ica and Paracas right now and are coming back on Thurs. Then on Sat. the three of us are heading to Cusco for a whole week!!! I am really really really excited for that. I love traveling with my parents. My mom is absolutely amazing at planning trips. She always manages to find the coolest places to see and things to do. She really has a talent for it. I don't think we've ever been on a family trip that wasn't fun! And my dad is always reading about the places we are going, which is really cool because he is constantly telling me interesting facts and history about where we are. Basically my parents are great to travel with. :) I love it when they talk about all of their experiences traveling. They've been to so many places. I really hope I can travel as much as they have and be able to share the same kinds of stories with my kids someday.
Oh goodness! I forgot to write about about last week! We went to Mancora for the week and it was positively wonderful. It was a really really great thing to just be able to relax on the beach and not have to go to classes! ;)
The house we rented was GREAT! It was perfect for the nine of us and right on the beach. It was a few minutes away from the town of Mancora if we took mototaxis (which are bascially little mopeds with seats for three people on the backs of them).
Mancora is a really cool town. Its SUPER laid-back and people just kind of hang out all day. There were lots and lots of hippies there! :) It was fun to be in such a relaxed and relaxing place. The food was amazing there, too. We ate at a new place for every meal and pretty much all of them were great. My new favorite food is fried yuca, which I had every single day we were there!
I think my favorite part of the trip was that I was the earliest riser of the group. I would get up at about 8 or a little before, while everyone else slept until 9 or 10. It was so nice and peaceful to have that time to myself every morning. Not that I didn't like spending time with my friends! But I would just walk along the beach or write in my journal or read or just stand and feel the warm ocean water washing over my toes.
It was a great trip to paradise and I really hope I can go back there again!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Lots of Catching Up!
Hey friends and fam! I apologize for majorly neglecting my blog lately...Last week I started having SO much to write about that I kept putting it off even longer because I was kind of overwhelmed thinking about all the things I had to tell you!
But I finally am getting around to it and I'll give you the highlights of the last fourteen days.
Two weeks ago, we had another class period with Carlos Ferrero (the Congressman who we talked to before). This time, we were talking about racism in Peru and it was SO COOL because he brought a guest with him to share her experiences with us. Her name is Paulina Arpasi Velasquez and she was the first indigenous Congressperson to be elected to office in Peru. Now, I think there are 3 or 4 members of Congress who are "indios". It was cool to hear that things are changing enough that there can be a greater diversity among government officials, but Paulina said that there is still a lot of racism that she has to deal with everyday. She talked about a bunch of different times when people have said or done things to her in Congress. The example that I remember most clearly was that she arrived late to a meeting once and went around to greet everyone (I know I've mentioned this...but the way people greet one another here is a kiss on the cheek. And when you arrive somewhere late you have to go around the table/room/whatever and kiss every single person! You can't just wave a general hello like we do in the US!) and after she kissed a fellow Congresswoman on the cheek, the woman wiped off her cheek with the back of her hand. Another time, someone else came late to a meeting and went around greeting everyone and simply skipped over Paulina. It was just really sad to hear these kinds of stories and I really can't fathom what it would be like to have to deal with that kind of stuff everyday...They are little things but all the same...Paulina mentioned that its mostly the gestures (or lack of gestures) that are hard to deal with. She said that she wishes people would say racist things to her instead of using non-verbal ways to express how they feel because then she would have a chance to respond. But if they just use body language, etc. its a lot harder for her to call them out on their behavior.
There was another really interesting element to this whole talk as well. The whole time, Paulina kept saying how much she has appreciated the help of Ferrero because he has really encouraged her and is always reassuring her that she is an equal member of Congress and just as good as everyone else. So, at first I thought that Ferrero must be much more open-minded than the other Congress members. But as the conversation went on, he kept jumping in and interrupting her in the middle of a story to kind of add his own opinions, which was fine, but he did it in a pretty condescending way. And whenever any of us would ask Paulina a question, Carlos would repeat it to her very slowly, just assuming that she couldn't understand it the first time it was asked. It was very subtle but I definitely could feel this undercurrent to their relationship that kind of set Carlos Ferrero up higher, as her mentor-he was kind of steering her towards what he wanted her to do and say and I got the sense that he thought she couldn't handle our questions on her own, even though she ovbiously could. I talked to other people in the class who felt the same way. It was just so interesting talking about the topic of racism and seeing it happen right in front of us.
Last week, we had another talk with Ferrero (just him this time...) about terrorism in Peru. I didn't get as much out of this talk as the others, but it was interesting all the same. Learning about the terrorism that was going on in Peru in the 80's and 90's is kind of intense. Its so difficult to imagine what it would have been like and its super interesting because most of our host parents and professors lived through it. They remember what it was like when curfew was at 9:00 pm and if you broke that you would probably get shot. They remember what it was like to not be able to stop at stoplights when you were driving because you would definitely get robbed. (Someone told me that this is one of the reasons the traffic is so crazy here and there aren't many rules...people got so used to just running redlights and driving crazily during the years of terrorism. Don't know if that is totally true..but its probably a factor.) Its just tragic to think of all of the people who died here and in a lot of other Latin American countries...and we never even learn these things in the US. I had no idea before coming here what a HUGE affect terrorism had on Lima and on Peru in general. If you can, you should look up info on the Sendero Luminoso (the Shining Path), which was the major group leading terrorist activites here. I won't go too far into it, but it was a terrible situation because the SL wanted to recruit campesinos (people from the small rural villages) to help their cause. They kidnapped children and would brainwash them into working for the SL. They would basically kill anyone who wouldn't help them. At the same time, the government army was doing the same thing...they were trying to discover who was a part of the SL and would go to the small villages and kill whoever wouldn't help them. So the campesinos were in a terrible, terrible position because either way, they had a very good chance of being killed.
A few friends and I went to a museum last week and there was a huge exhibit dedicated to terrorism in Peru. There were hundreds of photos of things that went on during that time period and it was a really hard but really fascinating thing to see.
The class we are learning about all of this for is Ethics...I really like this class a lot. It just makes me think a lot and its so so so interesting.
Hmmmm. What else has been going on?
OH! Well, tomorrow I am leaving for a whole week (!!!!) to go to Mancora, which is a beach area in Northern Peru. It is supposed to be absolutely gorgeous. Everyone I've talked to about it has been really jealous! :)
My friends and I are renting a house (which was actually cheaper than renting rooms in a hotel) and it looks like paradise!!! Here's a link to pictures of the house: http://www.mancoraperulosalgarrobos.com/condo/index.html
There are also some pretty important archeaological sites nearby which I'm definitely planning on visiting. The last weeks have just been so jam-packed...I'm looking forward to relaxing and finally having some time to read a few books and just hang out with people.
Yesterday was a really good day for me...We went to a birthday party for my "grandma". She is turning 81, but doesn't look like it AT ALL. If I had to guess, I would probably say she is in her late 60's! She is really sweet and it was fun to meet all of the extended family. Two of the older girl cousins were SO nice to me...they were just really helpful in explaining things if I seemed lost. I sometimes feel really bad because I just sit there, listening to everyone else talking, my eyes bouncing back and forth between people. When there are large groups of people talking, its all I can do to just follow and understand the conversation...I can't even think about trying to speak as well!!! I wish that sometimes I would be confident enough/have a good enough idea of what is being said that I COULD just jump in to the conversation...I don't want them to think I am boring or don't want to talk to them...
But these two cousins were really really helpful. One of them is studying to be a translator. Other than Spanish, she speaks German, French and English. The other one is a tour guide. She does tours all over Lima and also other places in Peru, but doesn't go too far because she has a little boy. She studied anthropology in school and lent me a book about Peru. She said I should try to read it and then we are going to get together for coffee and discuss it! I was so excited!!! It was like i was meant to meet these two girls!!! I just felt really confident talking to them in Spanish and it was so great because they've both studied things I am really interested in!
Ok. Well...I think that is it for now because I haven't even started packing for Mancora and we leave in about 4 hours!!!!! I'll post pictures, etc when I get back!
But I finally am getting around to it and I'll give you the highlights of the last fourteen days.
Two weeks ago, we had another class period with Carlos Ferrero (the Congressman who we talked to before). This time, we were talking about racism in Peru and it was SO COOL because he brought a guest with him to share her experiences with us. Her name is Paulina Arpasi Velasquez and she was the first indigenous Congressperson to be elected to office in Peru. Now, I think there are 3 or 4 members of Congress who are "indios". It was cool to hear that things are changing enough that there can be a greater diversity among government officials, but Paulina said that there is still a lot of racism that she has to deal with everyday. She talked about a bunch of different times when people have said or done things to her in Congress. The example that I remember most clearly was that she arrived late to a meeting once and went around to greet everyone (I know I've mentioned this...but the way people greet one another here is a kiss on the cheek. And when you arrive somewhere late you have to go around the table/room/whatever and kiss every single person! You can't just wave a general hello like we do in the US!) and after she kissed a fellow Congresswoman on the cheek, the woman wiped off her cheek with the back of her hand. Another time, someone else came late to a meeting and went around greeting everyone and simply skipped over Paulina. It was just really sad to hear these kinds of stories and I really can't fathom what it would be like to have to deal with that kind of stuff everyday...They are little things but all the same...Paulina mentioned that its mostly the gestures (or lack of gestures) that are hard to deal with. She said that she wishes people would say racist things to her instead of using non-verbal ways to express how they feel because then she would have a chance to respond. But if they just use body language, etc. its a lot harder for her to call them out on their behavior.
There was another really interesting element to this whole talk as well. The whole time, Paulina kept saying how much she has appreciated the help of Ferrero because he has really encouraged her and is always reassuring her that she is an equal member of Congress and just as good as everyone else. So, at first I thought that Ferrero must be much more open-minded than the other Congress members. But as the conversation went on, he kept jumping in and interrupting her in the middle of a story to kind of add his own opinions, which was fine, but he did it in a pretty condescending way. And whenever any of us would ask Paulina a question, Carlos would repeat it to her very slowly, just assuming that she couldn't understand it the first time it was asked. It was very subtle but I definitely could feel this undercurrent to their relationship that kind of set Carlos Ferrero up higher, as her mentor-he was kind of steering her towards what he wanted her to do and say and I got the sense that he thought she couldn't handle our questions on her own, even though she ovbiously could. I talked to other people in the class who felt the same way. It was just so interesting talking about the topic of racism and seeing it happen right in front of us.
Last week, we had another talk with Ferrero (just him this time...) about terrorism in Peru. I didn't get as much out of this talk as the others, but it was interesting all the same. Learning about the terrorism that was going on in Peru in the 80's and 90's is kind of intense. Its so difficult to imagine what it would have been like and its super interesting because most of our host parents and professors lived through it. They remember what it was like when curfew was at 9:00 pm and if you broke that you would probably get shot. They remember what it was like to not be able to stop at stoplights when you were driving because you would definitely get robbed. (Someone told me that this is one of the reasons the traffic is so crazy here and there aren't many rules...people got so used to just running redlights and driving crazily during the years of terrorism. Don't know if that is totally true..but its probably a factor.) Its just tragic to think of all of the people who died here and in a lot of other Latin American countries...and we never even learn these things in the US. I had no idea before coming here what a HUGE affect terrorism had on Lima and on Peru in general. If you can, you should look up info on the Sendero Luminoso (the Shining Path), which was the major group leading terrorist activites here. I won't go too far into it, but it was a terrible situation because the SL wanted to recruit campesinos (people from the small rural villages) to help their cause. They kidnapped children and would brainwash them into working for the SL. They would basically kill anyone who wouldn't help them. At the same time, the government army was doing the same thing...they were trying to discover who was a part of the SL and would go to the small villages and kill whoever wouldn't help them. So the campesinos were in a terrible, terrible position because either way, they had a very good chance of being killed.
A few friends and I went to a museum last week and there was a huge exhibit dedicated to terrorism in Peru. There were hundreds of photos of things that went on during that time period and it was a really hard but really fascinating thing to see.
The class we are learning about all of this for is Ethics...I really like this class a lot. It just makes me think a lot and its so so so interesting.
Hmmmm. What else has been going on?
OH! Well, tomorrow I am leaving for a whole week (!!!!) to go to Mancora, which is a beach area in Northern Peru. It is supposed to be absolutely gorgeous. Everyone I've talked to about it has been really jealous! :)
My friends and I are renting a house (which was actually cheaper than renting rooms in a hotel) and it looks like paradise!!! Here's a link to pictures of the house: http://www.mancoraperulosalgarrobos.com/condo/index.html
There are also some pretty important archeaological sites nearby which I'm definitely planning on visiting. The last weeks have just been so jam-packed...I'm looking forward to relaxing and finally having some time to read a few books and just hang out with people.
Yesterday was a really good day for me...We went to a birthday party for my "grandma". She is turning 81, but doesn't look like it AT ALL. If I had to guess, I would probably say she is in her late 60's! She is really sweet and it was fun to meet all of the extended family. Two of the older girl cousins were SO nice to me...they were just really helpful in explaining things if I seemed lost. I sometimes feel really bad because I just sit there, listening to everyone else talking, my eyes bouncing back and forth between people. When there are large groups of people talking, its all I can do to just follow and understand the conversation...I can't even think about trying to speak as well!!! I wish that sometimes I would be confident enough/have a good enough idea of what is being said that I COULD just jump in to the conversation...I don't want them to think I am boring or don't want to talk to them...
But these two cousins were really really helpful. One of them is studying to be a translator. Other than Spanish, she speaks German, French and English. The other one is a tour guide. She does tours all over Lima and also other places in Peru, but doesn't go too far because she has a little boy. She studied anthropology in school and lent me a book about Peru. She said I should try to read it and then we are going to get together for coffee and discuss it! I was so excited!!! It was like i was meant to meet these two girls!!! I just felt really confident talking to them in Spanish and it was so great because they've both studied things I am really interested in!
Ok. Well...I think that is it for now because I haven't even started packing for Mancora and we leave in about 4 hours!!!!! I'll post pictures, etc when I get back!
Monday, March 9, 2009
Smells
One of the top ten reasons I love to travel:
The smells.
As weird as that sounds, its true. Smells just stick with me. Every place has its own unique smell and I just love it because weeks or months or years afterwards, I'll be somewhere and out of the blue there is a smell that brings me back to that other place. It happens to me a lot with Arizona and Bolivia, for some reason. I can't really describe their specific smells but they just bring back really vivid memories. Its such a weird, yet cool feeling.
Peru has a very distinct smell. There are definitely disgusting things, like pollution-y smells. And there is kind of an abundance of rotten egg odor. But there are good smells too. Like the eucalyptus trees in the park where I walk every morning. And the mixed-up smell of all the different foods that are being cooked when you walk by restaurants. And the smell of the beach and the ocean.
I'm excited to smell PERU and remember the time I spent here. :)
In other news....in case you didn't know, yesterday was the International Day of Women. It was really weird because I'd never even heard of that before but here people actually say things to you about it. Bethany's host brother said "Congrats on your day!" to the two of us and someone else told me, "Happy Women's Day!" and gave me a kiss on the cheek. So. I know its a day late but...Feliz dia de la mujer to all the lovely women who are reading this! Un beso!
The smells.
As weird as that sounds, its true. Smells just stick with me. Every place has its own unique smell and I just love it because weeks or months or years afterwards, I'll be somewhere and out of the blue there is a smell that brings me back to that other place. It happens to me a lot with Arizona and Bolivia, for some reason. I can't really describe their specific smells but they just bring back really vivid memories. Its such a weird, yet cool feeling.
Peru has a very distinct smell. There are definitely disgusting things, like pollution-y smells. And there is kind of an abundance of rotten egg odor. But there are good smells too. Like the eucalyptus trees in the park where I walk every morning. And the mixed-up smell of all the different foods that are being cooked when you walk by restaurants. And the smell of the beach and the ocean.
I'm excited to smell PERU and remember the time I spent here. :)
In other news....in case you didn't know, yesterday was the International Day of Women. It was really weird because I'd never even heard of that before but here people actually say things to you about it. Bethany's host brother said "Congrats on your day!" to the two of us and someone else told me, "Happy Women's Day!" and gave me a kiss on the cheek. So. I know its a day late but...Feliz dia de la mujer to all the lovely women who are reading this! Un beso!
Friday, March 6, 2009
New Friends and Salsa
I'm sorry my blog posts are less and less frequent. Its just that, having been here for exactly one month and four days, its a little harder to find things to write about. Well, its not hard at all to think of things to say, but a lot of things that were really strange and amazing before have become normal. So I guess what I'm saying is that I'm pretty well adjusted to life here. Its funny because you just get so used to things that used to seem crazy to you.
Anyways, yesterday two really great things happened.
1) We went to a breakfast for all of the international students who are attending our university. (In case I didn't mention this, my classes are all specific to the Luther study abroad program. We have professors from the university but the only people taking our classes are from Luther and we have a different schedule than the normal classes. So, we've already been in class for about a month, but everyone else starts on Mar. 12th. Which is why all of the other international students are arriving now.) Anyways, there are people from all over the place, a pretty big group of girls from China, a few from France, Germany, Poland and I think there were a few others...Its so cool that there are people from so many different places in the world. I'm just SO curious to know what brought each of them to Peru. I talked to the girl from Poland for awhile and she actually went with me and some of my friends to get coffee. It was really cool. I hope we get to hang out again. It was just fascinating hearing her take on Lima and how its different than Poland. She has only been here three days, so she is still in the "Everything is new!" phase. It was fun to think that I was the same way not too long ago...and already I feel like I've been here forever. :) It was just really nice to talk to someone new and feel like I am still making friends! I absolutely love my Luther friends, but we are together SOOOOOO much of the time, I really am feeling the need to branch out and meet some new people.
2) A few of my friends and I took a salsa class. It was a blast. I know Salsa isn't from Peru, or even Latin America at all. I think it originated in New York...(Could be wrong about that...?) but we just all love to dance and wanted to learn and we figured that we are doing so many new things already...might as well add one more new thing to the list! So. We had met this teacher at a free dance class we went to a few weeks ago and he offered to give us private classes. Turns out, though, they weren't really private. We had the lesson in the middle of a sidewalk in a kind of busy park next to the ocean. It was so out-of-the-box for me. At first I was really self-conscious and just felt weird because there were all these people walking by and stopping to watch us. After awhile though, I started to have a lot of fun and was kind of oblivious to the onlookers. We are not by any means good at salsa but we did learn a lot of new steps and its going to be fun to keep practicing.
Anyways, yesterday two really great things happened.
1) We went to a breakfast for all of the international students who are attending our university. (In case I didn't mention this, my classes are all specific to the Luther study abroad program. We have professors from the university but the only people taking our classes are from Luther and we have a different schedule than the normal classes. So, we've already been in class for about a month, but everyone else starts on Mar. 12th. Which is why all of the other international students are arriving now.) Anyways, there are people from all over the place, a pretty big group of girls from China, a few from France, Germany, Poland and I think there were a few others...Its so cool that there are people from so many different places in the world. I'm just SO curious to know what brought each of them to Peru. I talked to the girl from Poland for awhile and she actually went with me and some of my friends to get coffee. It was really cool. I hope we get to hang out again. It was just fascinating hearing her take on Lima and how its different than Poland. She has only been here three days, so she is still in the "Everything is new!" phase. It was fun to think that I was the same way not too long ago...and already I feel like I've been here forever. :) It was just really nice to talk to someone new and feel like I am still making friends! I absolutely love my Luther friends, but we are together SOOOOOO much of the time, I really am feeling the need to branch out and meet some new people.
2) A few of my friends and I took a salsa class. It was a blast. I know Salsa isn't from Peru, or even Latin America at all. I think it originated in New York...(Could be wrong about that...?) but we just all love to dance and wanted to learn and we figured that we are doing so many new things already...might as well add one more new thing to the list! So. We had met this teacher at a free dance class we went to a few weeks ago and he offered to give us private classes. Turns out, though, they weren't really private. We had the lesson in the middle of a sidewalk in a kind of busy park next to the ocean. It was so out-of-the-box for me. At first I was really self-conscious and just felt weird because there were all these people walking by and stopping to watch us. After awhile though, I started to have a lot of fun and was kind of oblivious to the onlookers. We are not by any means good at salsa but we did learn a lot of new steps and its going to be fun to keep practicing.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
What's happening to me???!!!
Right now Maruja (my host mom) has an old friend of her husband's visiting from San Francisco. He is a really funny and eccentric guy and his name is Cesar. He has a productions company and a salsa club in SF. Anyways, we went out to eat with Tio Cesar (all of the kids here call adults either Tio or Tia, which means Uncle/Aunt...regardless of whether or not they are actually related.), Tio Loco (yes! That means Crazy Uncle...I don't even know his real name...haha!) and Tio Ponzon. They were Maruja's husband, Jaime's three closest friends. We went to one of the best restaurants in Lima. It was SO GOOD. At first I didn't know what the heck I was going to eat because EVERYTHING on the menu was fish/seafood. Luckily I didn't have to make a decision because we just ordered a bunch of dishes to try...but they were all things that I never would have tried had I not been forced to. And I was forced to. :)
Things I ate:
-Ceviche (raw fish marinated in lime juice with onions and other vegetables)
-Tiradito (raw fish sliced really really thinly in some kind of sauce)
-Oysters
-Shrimp with a spicy concoction of vegetables and sauce
and...(I can't BELIEVE I ate this!!!)...Escargot!!!!!!
Throughout the whole lunch I was thinking to myself, "WHO am I??? I would normally never even try this stuff!!" but it was really delicious and I am really glad they coerced me into tryting everything. (The escargot I could probably have lived without...but everything else was great.)
Anyways, I think that is one of the main things I am gaining from this experience. I'm just much more willing and excited to try things. You kind of have to be when you're in a situation like this.
Things I ate:
-Ceviche (raw fish marinated in lime juice with onions and other vegetables)
-Tiradito (raw fish sliced really really thinly in some kind of sauce)
-Oysters
-Shrimp with a spicy concoction of vegetables and sauce
and...(I can't BELIEVE I ate this!!!)...Escargot!!!!!!
Throughout the whole lunch I was thinking to myself, "WHO am I??? I would normally never even try this stuff!!" but it was really delicious and I am really glad they coerced me into tryting everything. (The escargot I could probably have lived without...but everything else was great.)
Anyways, I think that is one of the main things I am gaining from this experience. I'm just much more willing and excited to try things. You kind of have to be when you're in a situation like this.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
