Friday the not-thirteenth

     Okay. So the first guy at the postal office thing said that Nancy could bring the paperwork on Friday and get my package without me, but there was a different guy working, and he said that I need to go as well. So. Now we can't get my package until WEDNESDAY because Monday is a holiday. This is rolling along so rapidly.

     Friday we went to the congreso university thing again and at 4pm I was the only one who showed up at the cathedral so there was no music group. But it's 3 or 4 times a week i think! So next Tuesday! :D And the director wants me to teach violin to two university students who have their own instruments and want to learn. :)

     During the break at University, Jhoselyn and I went to go find her some pantyhose for her dress she was going to wear to the "integration fiesta" thingy after the seminars and everything last night. We went into this one super expensive store that had perfume, shoes, boots, underwear and stuff like that. After looking around a little bit we were gonna leave but the owner of the store started talking to us and he asked us if we wanted to be paid models for his store! Hahahaha so because he thinks we're hot and have good bodies, he asked us to fill out these forms. Not really my thing but Jhoselyn wants to work there. I'm not gonna spend my time working in Peru for 250 soles (divide by three -dollars) a month. Or modelling. How weird is that! Haha but it's not some creepy little shack or anything, they're all professional and  her mom knows of his family and stuff so yeah. But I'll leave that to Jhoselyn hahahahha it was flattering though :P Hahahha

     Then we went dancing and had an amaaaazing awesome crazy energetic time because I love my friends here and I love dancing with them!!!! And it was my first time in heels (the horror!) and I didn't even crash or roll an ankle! And I was normal height, imagine! But my feet hurt sooo bad by the end of the night haha although not as bad as I thought they would. Then today I washed laundry and we cleaned the house.

    

Yes, I know Justin Beiber is Canadian; that does not in any way mean I like him.

     Tuesday. Don't remember Tuesday. I think all I did was some yoga n meditation, washed all my clothes, and read n wrote. Nada mas.

      MIERCOLES! I'm not sure why, but for some reason people here use the word "wednesday" as a swear. Haha. Okaaaay then.. miercoles! Well, miercoles or not, on miercoles, Nancy and I went to el centro to try and collect my package. Many. Problems. Next time please write my full name on the package! Also, although it is the Quezada family, apparently Nancy's name is not Quezada. So, after waiting for an exciting hour and a half in the plain cement post office, we were told that either the father has to go get it another day, or Nancy needs to bring a proof of mariage certificate with the Quezada name on it. Not sure how that's going to work either, seeing as they are separated. Oh boy. I think it's all worked out and we can hopefully get it tomorrow though. But it seems like it's always "oh tomorrow we can." Then "tomorrow." Again and again. But it's only open Mon/Wed/Fri and only from like 9 or 10am- lunchtime! Tomorrow. *crossing my fingers* !! My cell has also stopped working for no reason. I found it black and now it won't turn on no matter how much I try to charge it. Kinda like my beloved IPOD!!! :( Nothing. We're going to try and get that fixed or returned too (cell). But maybe that's what I get for buying a 90 sole cellphone. BUT it's only been like a max 2 weeks !! Not impressed.

       Then we had a lunch of ceviche (Jhosey and her mom) and chiccarones de pescado (me) Mmm. Starting to reaaaally like fish. Then we went to Fran's HUGE, BEAUTIFUL, FULL OF THINGS TO DO colegio. (why did I get stuck in a crappy one?!) and spoke with the music professor, who wants me to play violin with his group of singers and such. I also played a super crappy and out of tune and abused piano for my first time in 2 months! Oh god I'm out of practice. I miss that :( But friday, tomorrow, he wants me to bring my violin to the Cathedral in Plaza Mejor at 4:30 I think to play with an orchestra from Trujillo, the director of which PLAYS CELLO!!!! Finally I've found some musicalness here!! CELLO MY GOD!! I wish I had been put in Trujillo though. Everybody always talks about how musical and artsy fartsy it is as a city, and it has the only dance and music universities and schools in Peru. Why am I in Chimbote! Anyways. Slowly getting closer to the musical scene here. Nancy also said she's going to try and find me some violin sheet music from her home town in another region of Peru, so I can know some native Peruvian folk tunes and such! That'd be so kickass!! :)

       At around 6pm I was dressed up all formally to accompany Jhoselyn y Tonio a su Universidad para un concurso. Basically it was a big seminar type thing, that lasts until Friday. We went and sat with all our other university friends and listened to and learned from speakers talking about marketing and business in Peru. Super exciting, but everyone wants me to participate so that on Friday, after all of it, I can go to some dance party fiesta thingy with them in Habana hahaha! And maybe I'll learn something too, you never know. Not sure why everyone was in tuxes and such though. Muy formal...

       Hoy diaaa... thursday. Today we went to the concurso again and during the break went to el centro (Fabian, Jhoselyn y yo) and ate ice cream by the rocky polluted sea with the creepy old fishing boats. We also saw some "jugadores" de Cristal. Aka.... tallest, buffest, nicest lookin professional soccer players I've ever seen in person! Hahaha. Jhoselyn wanted to ask them for a photo because of their good looks but I figured that was too weird. They gave me a good long stare, as always. Carne blanca. yeah yeah. Then we went back to the concurso, walked around, ate pizza and hungout.

55 Days

      Yesterday, instead of going to a futbol game in the huge stadium near el centro, I had to go to an AFS reunion that I found out about moments before. I won't talk about it much (personal stuff) but we finally got our AFS student card things, which I might be able to use to get my package (instead of my passport, which is in Lima.) But we always go for pizza afterwards (without Jose and the volunteers) and bond over our frustrations hahaha. OH but before the reunion, Nancy took us for almuerzo in el centro and I ate cuye for my first time. Guinea. Pig. First and last time. I didn't really eat much of it because I couldn't look at it's little deep fried feet and head and ugggh !! A few bites. They kept trying to make me eat the hard, dry skin WITH LITTLE FURS STILL STICKING OUT OF IT. D: ! Yeah. I even tried the whole "closing my eyes and takin' a bite" thing. I'll stick to chicken. But there, I tried it! Haha

      Today from 11am-4:30pm I was with Nancy at the house of Mario (the father's) father (Jhosey's abuelo-grandpa) for his 78th cumpleanos. It was kinda fun talking to him because he's a super small, grumpy, pessimistic old man who asks a lot of questions. I thought he was hilarious, but I don't think he was trying to be hahaa. He fell in love with my violin though, and his whole face lit up 1000x brighter when he got a picture with me  and him holding it. (i was terrified.) Haha cute old man. They have the sweetest garden in their backyard. It's a messy jungle of natural cacti and creepy hanging banana plants with deadly purple flowers hanging down. I've never been scared of a flower before, but there were some sketchy looking plants. I kept thinking that they'd open up and swallow me whole or that I'd touch one and have it close on my hand! *shudders* But super delicious n sweet mini bananas! Then for lunch his wife made the most delicious orange pasta noodle things ever! And nuna? Nune? I forget the name, but it's like popcorn from beans, but not popped, just fried and crispy kernel-like. It's soooo addictive.

      Then us AFSers went to el cine again and watched Wall Street. Most exciting movie ever.. and now I'm home n peacin' out. :)

"Trujillo"

     So yesterday was our paseo a Trujillo, which really was to a lugare called Mirador, near Trujillo. Sadly, we didn't really get to see much of the city that I've heard so much about! Anyways. Got to school at 6:30 and our class had to wait another 2 hours because they were short one bus. Oh man. I was so tired I kept accidentally speaking in english and not realizing it ! I also thought my backpack was green. I was staring at it for 15minutes and it was green. But I'm still sick with my fever and headacheyness. Delirious? Haha anyways. I tried taking pictures through the bus window on the 2/3 hour drive, but they all suck pretty bad. I'm going to try resizing some of my photos in the hopes that I can put them up on my blog; maybe it'll work better.
     
      On the way to Trujillo we stopped at two beaches. The sea water was pretty grey and nasty looking though. I was told that you can't even swim in the first playa because it's contaminated. Cool. The next beach was cool but a little dangerous. The waves were fairly big sometimes, and the tide came in very fast. At one point, a little girl got knocked down and was being pulled back into the ocean. She was too scared to do anything and nobody else had moved, so I ran over and pulled her back to higher shore, out of the waves that had been pulling her out. Luckily my camera didn't get wet, but obviously that wasn't the most important thing! Poor thing; she was crying when her parents were helping her take off her clothes and brush the sand off from when she was dragged across it. Later, after having my fun running around being soaked and getting my shoes all disgusting (for some reason the water was very sticky...) my friend Junior came up to me and was smiling and hugging me and kept telling me thank you for pulling his little sister out of the water. During the day a bunch of people kept saying "Mia, you pulled that little girl out of the sea, right? Wow!" as if it was a big deal or heroic act or something! I hadn't even thought about it before or afterwards until people started thanking me. Kinda scary though, glad nothing happened :S

       Then we went to "Mirador", a place with a huuuuuge restaurant, a few small pools, a sad little zoo (no me gustan estos !!), soccer fields and a little train thing for kiddies. Most tender chicken ever! I was kinda disappointed that we hungout there all day, because I'd thought that the trip was going to be to the actual city of Trujillo. Mirador got boring pretty fast, but the little kids loved it. (the colegio includes our equivalent of PURPLE STEW and kindergarten haha even the wee ones went) Afterwards, at around 8:30, (yeah. stuff happens slowly in Peru..) we went to a shopping plaza in Trujillo, but I hadn't known ahead of time so I only had enough money for PIZZA HUT. I know, gross right? But when all the pizza here is subpar anyways, and I haven't eaten anything but rice, duck and potatoes for almost two months, it was delicious! No pizza hut in Chimbote haha

        Yesterday was fairly boring and uneventful. We didn't go to colegio because today they all left on their week long trip to ECUADOR!!! And I can't go because of something to do with my visa, according to Jose. If I leave Peru, I can't get back. It's only between Can/peru or something. That would've been so amazing!! :( Oh well. Then I was told to clean my room, which was already clean (well.. my little corner was. The rest  -not at all haha but I shouldn't have to clean up Jhosey's mess right?) But apparently my clothes weren't folded properly. They have to be folded a certain way. And my pants are only allowed to be in certain drawers and my sweaters in certain places. My camera isn't allowed to be on my shelf with my books, it has to be somewhere else. There's just all these things I can't understand reasons for. "es feo. Feo, mia." The word feo (ugly) is used waaay too much and inappropriately. There's only one way to do things. I just. Can't I fold my clothes how I want? Does it really affect anyone else? K sorry. This is getting personal again. But it's how it is. This is not a Peruvian custom or cultural thing; not something I should have to deal with.

     Then I thought I was going to go to a kickass musical Grupo Gale concert in Habana, because Jhosey said her mom gave us permission, but it turns out, her mom hadn't even heard of it, and Jhosey would rather hangout with her boyfriend. I could have gone with my other friends but by then it was too late. :(

     Hopefully I can pick up my package Monday ! Thanks fam <3