What type of country eats hot yogurt for breakfast. Hot. Yogurt. Hot. Not just left out on the counter warm; im talkin heated up on purpose yogurt. In the microonda.
Kinda delish.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
Se me olvido jajaja
Ayayaiii. Cannot for the life of me remember what happened the day before yesterday. Not much. I'm getting really bored lately. Played violin today. Man i miss it. I need new strings though, because apparently I didn't have my extra set in my case how i thought i did. I also don't have my scales/technique book because I was rushed at home and couldnt find it. And i only brought half of my Mozart in G concerto. And by half i mean 2 out of 7 pages. Uggghhhh
Last night was Louise, another of the AFS students in Chimbote, 's 18th birthday, so that was fun. We all went to her host family's house and ate food and talked and there was an amaaazing cake. I don't usually like fluffy cakes. But this was some gooood torta. Hahaa and I surprised her by playing Feliz Cumpleanos on my violin and then they all made me play some fiddle tunes haha dunno why everyone's so impressed. Something's wrong with my bow too! Uggh and I was emailing the violin teacher in Cuzco, and she said she doesn't know of a single violin player or teacher in Chimbote, and said even if there was one, I'd probably be the one giving lessons. Hahahaha damnit! Pardon my castillano. Forgot this was on the school website now :P
The past three days have been really hard but today was a lot better, because I finally had a bit of alone time, did some yoga n shtuff, and nobody was grabbing my face and leaning on me 24/7. Have no idea where most of my shit is though. Already lost 3 of my fave shirts and my leggings, because they act like my clothes are their clothes. I'm tooootally down for sharing, but it's really weird when they don't ask. And then later in the day I see someone wearing my pants or sweater. It's like "ooohhh do you like my shirt? I love that colour..." o_O Almost cried a few times, and anyone who knows me knows that i just doooo not cry hahaha so yeah. Also haven't been able to eat. Probably from stress or something? It's weird, because for me, the first four or five days was the easiest and most fun part of the exchange, and for others, that's the haaardest part. But now, you'd think I'd be settled and even better! But everyone has their hard days. It's like mine came late because I was pretending everything was okay? Haha
Today was dayuum good. I forget what else happened. Louise and Laetitia came and visited, and it was funny how annoyed they were by Nancy the mom jajajaa at least it's not just me !! I'll writemore tomorrow.
Last night was Louise, another of the AFS students in Chimbote, 's 18th birthday, so that was fun. We all went to her host family's house and ate food and talked and there was an amaaazing cake. I don't usually like fluffy cakes. But this was some gooood torta. Hahaa and I surprised her by playing Feliz Cumpleanos on my violin and then they all made me play some fiddle tunes haha dunno why everyone's so impressed. Something's wrong with my bow too! Uggh and I was emailing the violin teacher in Cuzco, and she said she doesn't know of a single violin player or teacher in Chimbote, and said even if there was one, I'd probably be the one giving lessons. Hahahaha damnit! Pardon my castillano. Forgot this was on the school website now :P
The past three days have been really hard but today was a lot better, because I finally had a bit of alone time, did some yoga n shtuff, and nobody was grabbing my face and leaning on me 24/7. Have no idea where most of my shit is though. Already lost 3 of my fave shirts and my leggings, because they act like my clothes are their clothes. I'm tooootally down for sharing, but it's really weird when they don't ask. And then later in the day I see someone wearing my pants or sweater. It's like "ooohhh do you like my shirt? I love that colour..." o_O Almost cried a few times, and anyone who knows me knows that i just doooo not cry hahaha so yeah. Also haven't been able to eat. Probably from stress or something? It's weird, because for me, the first four or five days was the easiest and most fun part of the exchange, and for others, that's the haaardest part. But now, you'd think I'd be settled and even better! But everyone has their hard days. It's like mine came late because I was pretending everything was okay? Haha
Today was dayuum good. I forget what else happened. Louise and Laetitia came and visited, and it was funny how annoyed they were by Nancy the mom jajajaa at least it's not just me !! I'll writemore tomorrow.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Ceviche. No. Me. Gusta.
Ceviche. Google it. Some sort of disgusting spicy but tangy salad-ish weird dish with raw seafood and squid and octopus and shellfish and peppers and crab and eeekk !! I ate some. Even though the smell made me wanna yuckyuck. So far I've taken a bite of everything i've been offered. But this was the first time that I couldn't take a second :P hahahahahha never again! Except the worst part is is that it's like a special treat/delicacy here and every single Peruvian LOVES IT. :S oh man !!! Nancy, the mother, kept insisting that i close my eyes and try again hahaha but i don't think she understands. Trying it 5 times in a row isnt going to make me like it more, eyes closed or not !!! I DID try it. And again. Uggh. hahahaha i think my stomach hurts from all the new foods... lately i haven't really been hungry haha. People here eat too much !! I wish I could put my own food on my plate, because I always feel guilty not eating it all, but they continue to give me soooo much !! And it's rude not to eat it all. But im not gonna force down so much food every day. Getting fat is not one of my goals. No offense to any Peruvians !!! I just dont want to get fat to avoid being rude, there's gotta be another way :P
September 7th? haha
Yesterday I washed all of my clothes by hand. Kinda cool but also kinda embarassing, having the whole world see your underwear flying in the wind hahahaha man. There is no such thing as privacy here :S At first they didn't even understand why I would want to wash my own clothes n undies n such by myself instead of have them help me lol ayyyayaiiii.
Didn't realize how much of a rollercoaster ride this exchange would be! Haha one moment I'm like OMG I WANNA STAY HERE FOREVER!!! and the next I'm like AHH SOMEONE PLEASE GET ME OUT OF HERE I NEED TO BREATHE. hahaha but it's all good. I just constantly feel like they're intruding on my bubble. Actually it's been popped. Hahaha but anyways.
Last night Jhoselyn and I went to the gym and signed up for this spinning class she's in. Worst. Idea. Ever. Was sooo not in the mood for some crazy woman screaming in spanish and flashing lights and blaring distorted music hahaha omg. Never again... but the endorphin high after was pretty sweet.
I'm getting kinda bored. The school still hasn't contacted me yet, so I have no idea what's going on lol. I'm learning spanish super fast though, each day is a big improvement from the last. But it's also starting to get frustrating when I can't express what I want to say, or no one understands. :S ack.
Didn't realize how much of a rollercoaster ride this exchange would be! Haha one moment I'm like OMG I WANNA STAY HERE FOREVER!!! and the next I'm like AHH SOMEONE PLEASE GET ME OUT OF HERE I NEED TO BREATHE. hahaha but it's all good. I just constantly feel like they're intruding on my bubble. Actually it's been popped. Hahaha but anyways.
Last night Jhoselyn and I went to the gym and signed up for this spinning class she's in. Worst. Idea. Ever. Was sooo not in the mood for some crazy woman screaming in spanish and flashing lights and blaring distorted music hahaha omg. Never again... but the endorphin high after was pretty sweet.
I'm getting kinda bored. The school still hasn't contacted me yet, so I have no idea what's going on lol. I'm learning spanish super fast though, each day is a big improvement from the last. But it's also starting to get frustrating when I can't express what I want to say, or no one understands. :S ack.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Mi Amor!
Yesterday was their first day of school. Jhoselyn had university from 7am-2pm and Fran had school until 1pm. Soledad has university from 6pm-11pm, which is weird. Soledad, Gabriel and I went to Fran's school to pick her up and it is HUGE! It's very nice and spacious and clean and organized and huge. There are thousands of students wearing school uniforms. I'm not going to be going to her school but to another one nearby. The principal still hasnt contacted me though so I have no idea when i'm going.
Last night they had a welcome party for me and Louis, another of the AFS students in Chimbote, at the Quezada's house. It was very kind of them, there was a huge cake and Soledad, who is very artistic, made a beautiful welcome sign in fancy letters on their wall. We had little cups of this weird fruity/yogurt/wine cocktail that tasted good but... strange!! Then I played my violin for Jhoselyn's mom, boyfriend and some other friends until Louis and the AFS volunteer in this region arrived. Then we all went around the circle and made a toast in spanish and we all said cheers. The people in Peru are soooo kind and respectful. I was impressed by her guy friends' maturity hahaha anyways, it was fun. Then we just listened to music and socialized the whole night.
I spent a lot of time talking to Louis because her trip so far has been very very hard on her. The first day she was crying because she misses her family and boyfriend so much, and isn't used to the difference in wealth compared to Belgium. She cannot speak very much spanish but because she already knows french, english and dutch, so she can usually understand almost every word of what's being said. She also lives in a host family where all the children are much older than her or already moved out, so she feels very isolated sometimes. Im very lucky to have Jhoselyn, Francheska and Soledad around me most of the time. They're all very close to eachother and now to me. It's starting to get a little bit annoying how much we share everything though. :S I can't say no to anything. Nothing is mine anymore, not even my journal or laptop or clothes or shoes or ipod or headphones or cameras or photos or sunglasses or anything... it'd be nice to at least have one thing that can be mine. Even their mom it feels like intrudes on my privacy a bit much. She had to look through all my things in my backpack and aah it's a lot different here. It's not like there's anything that i don't want them to see, but it still makes me uncomfortable sometimes. However, they also share all of their things with me, so it does go both ways. It's just different I suppose. But still. :S Starting to get a bit uncomfortable a veces. Anyways !
Something super funny. Apparently two of Jhoselyn's friends are "in love" with me. Pepe and Andre. aahh haha. I find it funny but Andre actually bought and gave me a cartoony card with the message:
"Mi amor.. contigo aprendi a vivir,
contigo la vida me enseno a sonar, compartir, esperar.
Contigo conoci la felicidad la comprension y la grandez del amor.
Por todo eso... siempre te amare!"
hahahaha which roughly translates to:
"My love, with you I learned how to live,
with you life you taught me to listen, to share and to wait.
You knew the joy of understanding and the greatness of love.
For that, i'll always love you!"
HAHAHA oh man. it's a cute card. and he's a cute boy. but this is just way too funny for me !!!!! hahaha shiiiiiit. The girls all think its sooo funny and Jhoselyn says it's good it's good haha. It's funny because in Canada, you wouldnt say "i love you" to such a stranger that you've only met a few times, but in Peru it's a bit more relaxed and different. jesus. Anyways. I think it will take a LONG TIME to get used to being a GRINGAAAA. o_O
Last night they had a welcome party for me and Louis, another of the AFS students in Chimbote, at the Quezada's house. It was very kind of them, there was a huge cake and Soledad, who is very artistic, made a beautiful welcome sign in fancy letters on their wall. We had little cups of this weird fruity/yogurt/wine cocktail that tasted good but... strange!! Then I played my violin for Jhoselyn's mom, boyfriend and some other friends until Louis and the AFS volunteer in this region arrived. Then we all went around the circle and made a toast in spanish and we all said cheers. The people in Peru are soooo kind and respectful. I was impressed by her guy friends' maturity hahaha anyways, it was fun. Then we just listened to music and socialized the whole night.
I spent a lot of time talking to Louis because her trip so far has been very very hard on her. The first day she was crying because she misses her family and boyfriend so much, and isn't used to the difference in wealth compared to Belgium. She cannot speak very much spanish but because she already knows french, english and dutch, so she can usually understand almost every word of what's being said. She also lives in a host family where all the children are much older than her or already moved out, so she feels very isolated sometimes. Im very lucky to have Jhoselyn, Francheska and Soledad around me most of the time. They're all very close to eachother and now to me. It's starting to get a little bit annoying how much we share everything though. :S I can't say no to anything. Nothing is mine anymore, not even my journal or laptop or clothes or shoes or ipod or headphones or cameras or photos or sunglasses or anything... it'd be nice to at least have one thing that can be mine. Even their mom it feels like intrudes on my privacy a bit much. She had to look through all my things in my backpack and aah it's a lot different here. It's not like there's anything that i don't want them to see, but it still makes me uncomfortable sometimes. However, they also share all of their things with me, so it does go both ways. It's just different I suppose. But still. :S Starting to get a bit uncomfortable a veces. Anyways !
Something super funny. Apparently two of Jhoselyn's friends are "in love" with me. Pepe and Andre. aahh haha. I find it funny but Andre actually bought and gave me a cartoony card with the message:
"Mi amor.. contigo aprendi a vivir,
contigo la vida me enseno a sonar, compartir, esperar.
Contigo conoci la felicidad la comprension y la grandez del amor.
Por todo eso... siempre te amare!"
hahahaha which roughly translates to:
"My love, with you I learned how to live,
with you life you taught me to listen, to share and to wait.
You knew the joy of understanding and the greatness of love.
For that, i'll always love you!"
HAHAHA oh man. it's a cute card. and he's a cute boy. but this is just way too funny for me !!!!! hahaha shiiiiiit. The girls all think its sooo funny and Jhoselyn says it's good it's good haha. It's funny because in Canada, you wouldnt say "i love you" to such a stranger that you've only met a few times, but in Peru it's a bit more relaxed and different. jesus. Anyways. I think it will take a LONG TIME to get used to being a GRINGAAAA. o_O
Monday, September 6, 2010
PS:
This exchange has been the best, most spontaneous, uneducated, awesome, exciting, new and interesting decision I have EVER made in my life; and I'm so glad I jumped in blindly the way I did !!
Sunday, September 5, 2010
El Domingo (Sunday)
I can't believe how much I'm starting to understand en espanol !! Sometimes it's around 80-90% of what's being said, while other times I have absolutely NO idea what is going on or where we're going or what we're about to do hahaha. Last night I couldn't talk with Jhoselyn's friends very much but today when we hungout with Andre and Luiz I could actually speak and stuff haha. Everyone, especially her father, (who is always always smiling, happy or not) who i met today, is impressed with how fast im learning and speaking. Even since yesterday i've become tons more comfortable with the language and how fast i can understand what's being said. Im also increasingly and VERY comfortable with the people. :) You'd be surprised at how tiring it is though, to be thinking with my brain ALL DAY! O: haha. Sometimes my brain actually hurts. You have to know when to tune it out and when you should be listening to the conversation. Aww it was so cute today was the first time Gabriel, the 2yr old little brother, spoke to me and now he always says MIA MIA MIIIIAAA! I love how spanish people say my name haha.
Today we went to a touristy place/amusement park/zoo thingy. It was like a carnival for younger kids with a bunch of litle rides and stuff and then a lake with boats and many birds (and for some reason penguins??!) The food here is always good but there is always potatoes and/or rice. But so far each time it has been prepared differently so it's all good. I'm told there are 3000 types of potatoes in peru !! Dios mio! Hahaha. Every second food i eat is something new. I've probably tried more new foods in the past five days here than in the last year at home ;P ooops. We also went on a little train ride around the lake, where everybody was feeding the fish popcorn. It's so funny how Im constantly warm and the Peruvians are freezing their butts off. Even at night if it's not windy I can walk around pretty warm in just my t-shirt.
Mom would love how formal some of the occasions are here. We dressed up again tonight just to see Jhoselyn's friends and to visit with the AFS volunteer in this region and another host family at the Quezada's house. It's kind of fun. OH NO IM BEING CONVERTED ! Anyways, i'm getting to be very close with all three sisters. :) We share everything and I share a room with Jhoselyn.
When we went to the store to buy pop for the get-together, we passed the soccer field across from their house and some boys in a moto whistled and were like "vienen aqui vienen aqui! te amo te AMO!!!" Come here come here, i love you. blahblahblah. It's annoying being a GRINGA. The men all love you and the women all glare at you. :S Even the other gringo at the store checked me out. Yuck.. hahaha. AAH here's something embarassing. I accidentally stole a 2L of Pepsi.. and just walked out with it! Sole put one of Pepsi and one of Coke on the counter, and i guess after one of the conversations that i obviously DIDNT understand, they only ended up wanting the Coke, and walked out with the other bags of groceries. I thought i was helping by carrying the Pepsi that i thought they forgot! Then we got to their house and they all started laughing hysterically because he didn't stop me from walking out. I still didnt get it at first, and then was a bit horrified that i'd stolen from someone poorer than me and was going to return it but was too embarassed and the girls just shrugged and laughed it off hahaha. Oh my god. Dios mio. :P
I always think of things to write during the day and then i forget what they were when I start writing! For some reason the internet is SUUUPER slow for uploading things. It took 15minutes or more to upload that one photo to facebook, and everytime i try to upload one on here, it takes forever and then stops trying. I'll keep trying though... maybe i'll have to use their computer instead.
Either tomorrow or the next day the school im going to is going to contact me or AFS to set up a meeting/interview with the principal. eek! And then im not sure if i'll start school the next day, or next week. Jhoselyn, Andre and Soledad all start university tomorrow from 7am-2pm. Then in december i have to write exams, and then January and February is our 2 month summer vacay :D Man. February is so soon to go home :( I wish the year long exchange ended in May instead so I could still be back for grad and all that jazz but stay in Peru for longer. Jhoselyn might do a university exchange to Canada one year !! They all really want to meet my family and want you guys to come to peru. Daddy... can we come here after i graduate in the summer? :D Everyone says that within the next month I'LL BE FLUENT! This is so amazing for me, because unlike almost all the other AFS students, im not already bilingual. It's a crazy feeling to not even think in english. It sounds almost wrong to speak in english now! I don't often translate it in my head either, it just comes in spanish and goes out spanish.
My stomach hurts because people here eat too much and make me eat too much! Haha tomorrow Jhoselyn and I are going to the gym near her house and we're going to sign up for a spinning class or something hahaha anyways.
Buenos noches !
Today we went to a touristy place/amusement park/zoo thingy. It was like a carnival for younger kids with a bunch of litle rides and stuff and then a lake with boats and many birds (and for some reason penguins??!) The food here is always good but there is always potatoes and/or rice. But so far each time it has been prepared differently so it's all good. I'm told there are 3000 types of potatoes in peru !! Dios mio! Hahaha. Every second food i eat is something new. I've probably tried more new foods in the past five days here than in the last year at home ;P ooops. We also went on a little train ride around the lake, where everybody was feeding the fish popcorn. It's so funny how Im constantly warm and the Peruvians are freezing their butts off. Even at night if it's not windy I can walk around pretty warm in just my t-shirt.
Mom would love how formal some of the occasions are here. We dressed up again tonight just to see Jhoselyn's friends and to visit with the AFS volunteer in this region and another host family at the Quezada's house. It's kind of fun. OH NO IM BEING CONVERTED ! Anyways, i'm getting to be very close with all three sisters. :) We share everything and I share a room with Jhoselyn.
When we went to the store to buy pop for the get-together, we passed the soccer field across from their house and some boys in a moto whistled and were like "vienen aqui vienen aqui! te amo te AMO!!!" Come here come here, i love you. blahblahblah. It's annoying being a GRINGA. The men all love you and the women all glare at you. :S Even the other gringo at the store checked me out. Yuck.. hahaha. AAH here's something embarassing. I accidentally stole a 2L of Pepsi.. and just walked out with it! Sole put one of Pepsi and one of Coke on the counter, and i guess after one of the conversations that i obviously DIDNT understand, they only ended up wanting the Coke, and walked out with the other bags of groceries. I thought i was helping by carrying the Pepsi that i thought they forgot! Then we got to their house and they all started laughing hysterically because he didn't stop me from walking out. I still didnt get it at first, and then was a bit horrified that i'd stolen from someone poorer than me and was going to return it but was too embarassed and the girls just shrugged and laughed it off hahaha. Oh my god. Dios mio. :P
I always think of things to write during the day and then i forget what they were when I start writing! For some reason the internet is SUUUPER slow for uploading things. It took 15minutes or more to upload that one photo to facebook, and everytime i try to upload one on here, it takes forever and then stops trying. I'll keep trying though... maybe i'll have to use their computer instead.
Either tomorrow or the next day the school im going to is going to contact me or AFS to set up a meeting/interview with the principal. eek! And then im not sure if i'll start school the next day, or next week. Jhoselyn, Andre and Soledad all start university tomorrow from 7am-2pm. Then in december i have to write exams, and then January and February is our 2 month summer vacay :D Man. February is so soon to go home :( I wish the year long exchange ended in May instead so I could still be back for grad and all that jazz but stay in Peru for longer. Jhoselyn might do a university exchange to Canada one year !! They all really want to meet my family and want you guys to come to peru. Daddy... can we come here after i graduate in the summer? :D Everyone says that within the next month I'LL BE FLUENT! This is so amazing for me, because unlike almost all the other AFS students, im not already bilingual. It's a crazy feeling to not even think in english. It sounds almost wrong to speak in english now! I don't often translate it in my head either, it just comes in spanish and goes out spanish.
My stomach hurts because people here eat too much and make me eat too much! Haha tomorrow Jhoselyn and I are going to the gym near her house and we're going to sign up for a spinning class or something hahaha anyways.
Buenos noches !
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