Just wanna Say Hey From Peru

I HAVEN'T HAD DIET COKE IN TWO WEEKS!!! But I have had a lot of potatoes and rice. To be more specific, for lunch and dinner every day. Not just one or the other, but rice with potatoes on top. Can you say carb overload? The freshmen 15 is going to become reality at this rate, and I haven't even been to college yet.

A little bit about where I've been working...I've worked in four different places since I've been here, and I think that I have finalized my schedule!

Monday: Semillitos

Tuesday: Pachacutec

Wednesday: San Antonio

Thursday: Pachacutec

Friday: San Antonio

Semillitos is the orphanage for people with special needs. Here, I'm working with the babies (from newborn to about 5 years old). I play with them, take them outside, and help feed them. They are very well taken care of, and loved. It is very tiering though. It completly amazes me that the "mommies" take care of them all day, I'm beat after a few hours!

Pachacutec is shanty town. In one of the schools there, I'm teaching english to five classes, two 5th grade classes, and 3 6th grade classes. Their english is very basic. This week, we will be teaching personal pronouns. Even though the 4th-6th grade classes all learn the same thing, but my 6th graders still do not know the things they've been taught for 3 years. They only get English for 30 minutes once a week, and with volunteers changing frequently, they don't ever get the same person for very long.

San Antonio is the orphanage for normal children. I'm working with the toddlers here, I do the same thing with them, that I do with the kids at San Megito. I love working with the kids here, but it's very hard sometimes. They all just want to be picked up and held, but we're not allowed to hold them. In each room there's usually 12 to 14 babies, and only 1 or 2 "mommies." When we hold them and then leave, they cry, so we can't. I hate the fact that I can't hold them. I was sitting on the floor with one and he climbed into my lap. I decided to let him sit there for a while. He snuggled into my arms and every few minutes he would turn around, look up at me, smile, and give me a huge hug. Then he would just snuggle back in. All he wanted was to be loved. They all need someone to love them. My mission is to get my mom and dad to adopt a baby:)

On a side note, the mayonnaise here is amazing. I have never tasted anything like it. It' rather odd though, because it comes in a packet. I haven't seen a jar of anything yet. The most popular soft drink is Inca Cola. I'm not really a fan of it, because it taste like liquid bubble gum and is neon orange.

The view from the window in my room.

My Room

The terminal that I spent my 7 hour layover in.

Group picture taken by Vincent the photographer.

Goodbye!

I've Got My First Week Under My Belt

I've officially been in Peru for over a week!

I was a little homesick the first day, but I've been fine since. I've been working in a few different places here. Semillitos is one of the orphanages we work in. It is for children with special needs. They have all ages living there, ranging form newborns to the elderly. I've worked with the children and babies as of now. The babies are my favorite. There are three babies with Downs Syndrome that I have fallen in love with. They are all so full of life, and energetic!

On Tuesdays and Thursday, everyone goes to teach English in a shanty town called Pachacutec. I am going to be teaching the 5th graders, and some of the 6th graders. Some of them hardly know their ABCs, so my minimal knowledge of the Spanish language doesn't really matter. Speaking of Spanish, did I mention that I am lacking in Spanish skills. I can understand people sometimes, but I can't really have a conversation with anybody. I'm trying to learn, but it's easier said than done.

There is also an orphanage for normal children that I have only been to once, and hope to go to sometime this week. I was with the babies the one time I went, but I hope I can be with the older kids next time. They love to talk, and want to know the English word for everything (more practice for me!).

During the weekend, all of the volunteers usually travel around Lima and the surrounding area. I went to Pisco, Paracas, and Nazca. Pisco is the home of the famed drink, Pisco (imagine that). This is the preferred drink in Peru. We didn't stay for long though, we just stopped there because it's where the bus station is (traveling by bus is the way to go here, I would rate their enforcement of driving laws at a zero).

We took a taxi from Pisoc to Paraca, where we slept in a hostel. The next morning, we got up and went to tour the Islas Ballestas and the Resvera Nacional de Paracas. There, we saw penguins, fossils, sea lions, and many other creatures. Then we got a bus to Nazca, where we spent the night. We woke up in the morning and walked around the city a little bit, buying avocado sandwiches for breakfast for S1. Then, we got a taxi to the airport to fly over the Nazca lines. These lines were literally dug into the desert between 900 BC and 600 AD, by the Paraca and Nazca cultures. They consist of over 800 straight lines, 300 geometric figures, and 70 animal/plant drawings. The only way to see them is fromthe air. They were beautiful. After a long day out, we hit the road and headed back home!

Pictures are coming soon hopefully. My camera broke as soon as I got here. Once I fix it I'll post some pictures:)

Top 5 Reasons Peruvian Airlines Rock

1. They feed you. On both of my TACA airline flights, I got two choices of food. They weren't half bad either.

2. They come around twice to ask if you want drinks. These are not normal drinks either, they also have juice. Good Juice.

3. They show movies. They show a movie and a TV show, recent ones too, not weird movies from other countries. They also don't blast the movie through the whole plane. Headphones are provided.

4. They give you pillows and blankets. No more using your sweatshirt as a pillow and freezing your butt off.

5. Everyone is super friendly. I have never been on a plane with such a friendly crew.

$225.40!!???

This was our reaction tonight when we got our ticket back for our dinner. $225.40 for five people, thats a lot of money! That worked out to $45 per person, I have never spent this much money one one meal in my life!

Then we took a step back and remembered we were in Peru. Not $ 225.40, but 225.40 Soles! That means there is an exchange rate of about 2.76 soles to the American dollar. Which works out to about $81 for five people, $16 per person. Amazing, especially considering what we ate.

Here is the meal:

5 Pisco Sours

1 Cervezca

5 HUGE sandwiches. Think snadwiches the size of a newborn. (each of which came with a very large side of fries)

5 Churros (1 chocolate filled, 2 with caramel, 1 with vanilla, and 1 plain)

1 ice cream

3 cups of coffee with Baileys

Gotta Love Peru!

Pack, Unpack, Repack, and Repeat

This is the packing process. Pack and feel accomplished. Weigh and find out the suitcase is over the dreaded 50lb. weight limit. Unpack. Repack, strategically switching "lighter" items in one suitcase for "heavier" ones in the other, hoping a equilibrium can be met. Weigh. Feel very accomplished once again, because everything is packed and both suitcases are under 50 lb.. Unpack once again because all toiletries are not in ziplock bags.

I would have skipped the ziplock bag ordeal, but on my last trip, my shampoo opened. Luckily it was in a ziplock bag (kudos to me). It is inevitable that at least one of my more messy bathroom goods will bust with three flights to suffer through. Unpack it its. Repack and repeat. A kind of traveling aerobics if you might. This reminds me of fond emeries at SCA where we did Catholic aerobics. "And kneel and stand and kneel and stand...now walk to communion and walk to communion..." Oh the things you will do in an all girls Dominican high school.

Have I told you of my inability to pack light? If you went on SB '09 with me you will know (or any other multiple night trip for that matter). Picture me pulling up to Teresa's house with a suitcase that is at least twice the size of everyone else's. I guess I just feel the need to outdo everyone else in suitcase size. Bigger is better!

Do you know what packing light for four months means? I don't, thats for sure. For one going on a week long trip, one bag might suffice. OK, if your anybody but me, one bag will suffice. I might now have done any math lately, but one bag per week means I get sixteen bags right?

Hasta luego amigos, tengo que ir de embalaje final!

And yes I had to use google translate for that.