One Month. :'(

Hookay. Haven’t felt like writing this in a long time. So much effort. Not sure if I’ve actually been busy though.. just lazy. J
           
            2 weeks or something ago was Sunday, and we all went as a family to Fran’s religious confirmation ceremony at her church. Nancy’s crazy and allegre and full of personality Aunt Alessia also came, from Lima, with little ornaments that Fran exchanged with all her friends. It was the day she was accepted into her faith and such and she’d been preparing for it for the past year. It was kinda cool to watch but it was 1000 degrees on those benches, and at first I didn’t really have a clue what was going on.
            Monday was Lala (my Peru dad’s mother)’s birthday (at their house next door). And so we all went over and visited and ate cake and guinea pig and drank wine as I played my violin for various relatives. Families here are huge. I’m pretty sure everybody is related to everybody. So many tios and primos and sobrinos and aah!! But Lala’s brother is a very hilarious guy and was telling some pretty funny jokes. One was about an American who came to Peru and had 3 coches (cars) to sell or something, when he met a Peruvian who wanted to sell his ton of coches and cochera for very cheap. I don’t remember the joke but basically... “coches” here are pigs. So the American ended up with 100 pigs and a farm and the Peruvian got 3 expensive cars haha. Ok. Well how I told it isn’t funny. But he wanted me to tell it to my mom :P And there was  another one about one of the regional presidents here who dies and gets a diplomatic choice whether he wants to go to heaven or to hell. He is told he can visit each place for one day and then choose which one he prefers. He chooses to go to Hell first, and is welcomed with beer and huge parties and fiestas all day and night long and loves it. Then he goes to heaven the next day and finds it way too peaceful and boring. So, he says he would prefer to go to hell. When he returns, it’s awful and  there are no fiestas and everybody is working in chains. He asks what happened and the devil tells him that the other day they were in elections/campaigns. Hawhaw
            I enjoyed conversing with the adults though (after Jhoselyn and Fran ditched me and didn’t say if they were coming back.. so i waited for nothing aha). Adults always understand and want to make use of the exchange part of the intercambio, and that I have to teach them things as well. They often love hearing that my parents don’t buy me many material possessions or new clothes when I can get a job and pay for the things I want, but don’t need, for myself. Kids here are super spoiled.. anyways.

            Tuesday we made homemade soy milk from scratch! Super easy. Soak the soy thingies overnight and then the next day blend them with water or something and then filter it and out comes soy milk. I have a feeling there was another step. But it was the most delicious stuff ever!! Then the next day we got my 2^nd care package (thanks fam!) and devoured one jar of peanut butter in 1.5 days. I even ate spoonfuls of it, which I used to find DISGUSTING. They pretty much loooove it and we ate it on bananas and bread and apples and crackers and omg. So good. Love PB. This is a future xmas present I will be sending them :P Then that night was my best buddy from Swizterland, Mona’s, 16^th birthday and Francheska and I went and danced and celebrated with her. Her Peruvian grandfather gifted her a bottle of wine and her family from Swizterland sent her chocolates and other goodies.

Thursday I got a lovely xmas envelope package from the Shaws! Thank you guys! Xox Gabrielito, the baby, went crazy over the fake snow :P. Then Nancy took me to her friend Marlene's house, who is a classically trained singer. (the only one in Chimbote) She sang BEAUTIFULLY and her husband, a super nice friendly chap, invited us to some sweet yellow wine and mango. We conversed a TON about music and she gave me some scores to copy. We also watched vids of her singing with the Trujillo symphony, which was awesome. Then on the way back we stopped by Jose Luis' casa “por un momento” and ended up being invited to more food and chocolate (bebida). He recently was gifted a new electric piano to learn, and I stumbled my way through songs I haven’t been able to play in 6 months. The horror. I can’t believe how much I’ve forgotten!! And it didn’t have a pedal either, so yeah. Oh and the cheese we had with our pan was sooo REAL AMAZING & DELIGHTFUL and fresh and crazy. More intercultural conversing and exchanging, then I showed them photos of my promocion in Peru and of good times this summer in Canada and yeah. Jose Luis’ little cutie sister Cielo is the cutest 7yr old I have ever met! She is pretty much in love with me now and thinks I’m her prima J She wants me to buy a house in Peru when I’m older so I can have one in Canada and one close to her. (which actually is not a bad idea if i ever get the money!) She couldn’t stop talking and was ecstatic when I put her hair in braids and she showed me all around her cramped, unfinished house with her starving cat and little birdies. She didn’t want me to leave and the first thing she said after goodbye was “ask your mom if you can come tomorrow!” I really love their family though. So rich in happiness that it doesn’t matter about all the possessions they don’t have. What’s weird is that I’ve stopped even noticing when people are poor. Or i’ve become used to a different level of rich a poor. I only notice when I start thinking of Canada.. and sometimes it actually makes me feel sick. Just the amount of EVERYTHING we have back home. It’s gross. I’m not sure how to feel about it. Even this laptop I’m writing on is like. I feel I shouldn’t have it sometimes. OH! And Jose Luis also did a “declaration” for us and it was stunning. (where you act out/read a poem). It was the most passionate and beautiful thing I’ve seen a young person do here. I was stunned and surprised and had goosebumps! I thought I was watching an actor in a movie or something. It was amazing.

The next day Marlene and her family invited Nancy and I over for a special lunch of Causa? (dunno how it’s spelt) so i could play my violin for her. We went over and gained 50 pounds after delicious soup and the second plate of causa, which is a type of salted fish that’s then wrapped with yuka and some sort of onion and spicy pepper sauce in banana leaves and cooked in boiling water. It was amazing. I can’t believe I never used to like fish before Peru!!!!

       Then Saturday we randomly decided to go to Trujillo to shop for swimsuits for the girls. (Trujillo has a mall, Chimbote doesn't) haha and I ate my pizza hut again :D We stayed at the house of Louise's Peruvian mum's sister and her family. I met her (the mom's sister's) parents and they were a very welcoming and friendly but very sad old couple. The grandfather is in a wheelchair and has no legs. I really liked him but I had tears in my eyes seeing him roll his wheelchair out to the front step just to sit in the sun and watch the street life go by. What else is there to do? Nancy bought him chocolate and we wanted to take him out for a spin but couldn't. :'(
       The next morning we visited the Plaza de Armas of Trujillo and drove around a bit in a taxi. Trujillo is freaking cool. It's like the Victoria of Peru or something hahaha. Then we took a combi tour that included the ruins of Chanchan and a museum and a big cool labrynth! There was also a group of 6 university students from Argentina (who talked with a lisp or something funny and at first I didn't realize they were speaking Spanish!!) who had just spent their New Years in Cusco and HIKED Macchu Picchu because they were too strapped for cash to take the train. It only took them 7-8 hours, and their photos were postcard perfect amazing. Awesome. They thought I was also in my 2nd year of university or something haha but yeah they were cool. Then the tour ended with 45 min at Hanchaco playa (which was SOO crowded, and I fell in w all my clothes on and Fran and I had a blast in the gross sticky water). Then we went out for dinner with a couple we went from Lima named Victor and Layla who are very cool but very religious and I felt kinda attacked at one point and couldn't defend myself well enough in Spanish. It is kind of frustrating when people ask me why I don't believe in God - well, the way they ask it. Like an interrogation. Anyways. Then we missed the bus to Chimbote and left the next day instead. O_o

     Wednesday Nancy's tia and prima and her 2 kids arrived for a few days to visit. The older one Phil is still here because he is accompanying Junior, who otherwise only has his little baby brother to hangout with most of the time. As well, Philly is teaching him better habits. He is a super mature 14yr old who comes from a much poorer and harder home life. He knows all about respect and doing your chores and duties not because they're chores but because they need to get done and everyone does their part. He's cool. Finally something different from Nancy's children, who, because of their dad and homelife, are used to just getting everything they want. Dad just pays for only the most expensive brands and stuff to compensate for lack of family time with them. :S They're finally opening their eyes a bit the more they hang around Soda Phil so yeah. Whenever I say something, it's just because that's how it is in Canada, but now that Phil is also teaching them they are starting to realize it. Fran knows how lucky she is, but Jhoselyn still only values objects and brand names over all other things in her life. This is a rushed explanation but it's because I'm nearing the end and I've been sitting on the computer too long and I need to shower. But I finally saw Junior do his first chore! Yay Phil!

Uuum i forget. Saturday we all went swimming in El Huerto, which is a swimming pool about 5min walk from la casa, and Mona and Arlette came as well. It wasn't too special but Gabrielito is still the cutest thing ever! Hard to get photos of him though. We're tight. He also comes and lays on me and kisses me and "Miaaa ven!" haha aaw. I'm his big sister too now.

     Sunday we played volleyball in the street at night when it's not so hot that we sweat up a storm, and then rode bikes around Nuevo Chimbote. Maaaan I miss biking!!! Oh and I've been going to the gym more often too. It's only 3 soles for a drop in hour hahhaaha yes. :) Then yesterday I went to the movies with Clemens, who just got back from 2 weeks in ARGENTINA!! (he can travel differently because he's in a different program thingy w AFS) and Louise but the movie was pretty lame. I'm gonna miss my fellow AFSers though. They all live so far away... Europe and New Zealand. o_O But now I just have excuses to travel and places to stay! :P It's really getting harder every day here. Exactly one month left before I fly from Lima to Canadaland. I'm as emotionally unstable and teary as I was my first month here, but it's for completely different reasons. I just can't think about leaving so soon. What happened to my time!! Wasn't it just New years?? I can't explain the love and attachment I feel for the people I've met here. For the second family and home and country I've been living in. It's so hard to think about tearing myself away from it and readjusting to Western culture or whatever.
     
        I mean of course I'm happy to be coming home again; but I'm also so confused and upset and I feel like this is my life. Canada seems so far away in my memories and my mind that... I dunno. What if I feel like a stranger when I come back? I know I've changed. So much has happened here, so much that I haven't been able to write about or tell you but. One month. And it's going to fly by with AFS trips to the beach (tomorrow until Saturday afternoon) and Francheska's birthday and another possible trip ;) and then February 8th the family leaves Chimbote to Lima to see my mumma on the 9th.

      I love you guys. I don't know what else to say or how to say it but maybe it'll be easier to explain everything in person. Falta poco. Los amo. xo