Well I havent blogged in a while, this last week hasnt been too interesting. I finished up classes!! Yay. I had to write a final paper which took up Monday and Tuesday, then we studied all day Wednesday for our test that was yesterday. It was hard, a lot harder than the first test! But regardless, I am glad to be done, and our professor gives us a break when she grades :). Yesterday after the test, a small group of us went to the human body exhibit, which they have some places in the US. It is like real human bodies that are stripped down to the muscles and are on display, and they have like real brains, livers, splines, kidneys, etc. Then they had bodies stripped down to the veins, and then lungs and hearts and all that, and the nervous system. It was quite interesting. All the bodies were of Asians, you could still tell on their faces, and they were all men. They even still had fingernails on them, and some you could see their hair! Yesterday was my friend Andrea´s birthday, so we went to her apartment and had Papa Johns and cake! Yes, they have Papa Johns here, and yes, it was delicious! I also had KFC for lunch yesterday and today, I am bad! I miss going to subway for lunch! They dont have any sub places here!!!! Those are my favorite lunch places. Oh well!
So now that brings me to today, waiting for Mom and Jimmy to get here! They are in Miami right now! I am so excited! Everyone else here is leaving on Sunday, I am so anxious to get home but at least now they will be here so it will be lots of fun!
I guess I could blog about some of the food I ate this week. I had my favorite dish yet! It was called locro de zapallo, which translates to something like pumpkin stew. But its not really a stew, it was a yellow sauce sauce with choclo (corn) and potatoes and peas, and pumpkin, with rice, and I loved it! I got the recipe, but I doubt it would taste the same if I made it :(
We also had some sort of chinese chicken that was chicken in a sweet sauce with pineapple and peppers and some kind of Peruvian vegetables, Pilar made it. She always says that she doesnt have recipes, she just mixes random stuff. But it was good! Not as good as the locro though :)
Okay well I guess thats about it, I am going to be busy the next few days showing them around Lima!!!!
Friday, June 26, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Orphanage
Today we went to an orphanage that was home to 670 orphans. They were from little babies to 17 year olds. They are either orphans, abandoned, or their parents didnt have enough money to keep them. How sad. I was with a group of 7-9 year old girls. We brought coloring books, crayons, and nail polish. They loved the disney princess coloring books, and loved the nail polish. A girl ended up painting my nails too, but I already scraped all the polish off, they were blue, haha! But the orphans loved us Americans and the older ones take English classes, so some of the older kids talked to us in English. It was a lot of fun, I want to go back! They were so cute, and it was so sad at the same time but they were happy just to be there and for us to be there. They sold us lunch at the end, trying to raise money for one of the orphans to have a kidney transplant. I had a hot dog. It was fairly similar to one in the US, but with different tasting ketchup of course. We met the guy who started the orphanage and then we all gave him money for the surgery, he was so nice and grateful. What an experience!
I just put up pictures of the orphanage
http://s245.photobucket.com/albums/gg58/rlwheele/Peru/
password rachelinperu
hope you like them!
Last night we had another one of my least favorite meals, which was some sort of cornmeal type stuff covered with spaghetti meat sauce, and parmesan cheese. It is kind of bland, I dont know why she picked my two least favorites to be the first repeating meals! But I think tonights meal will be good, and she already cooked tomorrows meal and it smelled delicious so I am looking forward to that! Tomorrow we dont have anything planned, just homework and starting our final paper.
Last night we went to a casino, and I lost money in blackjack (booo)... but it was fun. This older man sat beside me with a gap hoodie on pulled tight over his head, and he sits down and pulls out a huge huge wad of 100 sol bills and just throws them on the table like they are pennies. So he keeps playing with all these big bills and I start talking to him, because he started talking to me about blackjack in english so I figured he was from the states. So he tells me he is from key west but has lived in that hotel for 8 years (I think it is like a hotel but apartments too), and married 5 times and owns big planes and leases them out, got kicked out of college 4 times, and won 280,000 from the casino in the last month. So it was an interesting story.. and was trying to teach me how to have the right mindset of how to play poker. So thats my casino story. You only have to be 18 to gamble here so thats why we could get in.
I just put up pictures of the orphanage
http://s245.photobucket.com/albums/gg58/rlwheele/Peru/
password rachelinperu
hope you like them!
Last night we had another one of my least favorite meals, which was some sort of cornmeal type stuff covered with spaghetti meat sauce, and parmesan cheese. It is kind of bland, I dont know why she picked my two least favorites to be the first repeating meals! But I think tonights meal will be good, and she already cooked tomorrows meal and it smelled delicious so I am looking forward to that! Tomorrow we dont have anything planned, just homework and starting our final paper.
Last night we went to a casino, and I lost money in blackjack (booo)... but it was fun. This older man sat beside me with a gap hoodie on pulled tight over his head, and he sits down and pulls out a huge huge wad of 100 sol bills and just throws them on the table like they are pennies. So he keeps playing with all these big bills and I start talking to him, because he started talking to me about blackjack in english so I figured he was from the states. So he tells me he is from key west but has lived in that hotel for 8 years (I think it is like a hotel but apartments too), and married 5 times and owns big planes and leases them out, got kicked out of college 4 times, and won 280,000 from the casino in the last month. So it was an interesting story.. and was trying to teach me how to have the right mindset of how to play poker. So thats my casino story. You only have to be 18 to gamble here so thats why we could get in.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Missing home!!
Ah I cant wait to get home! I dont like going to class and learning about poetry in Spanish, when I know its hot and summertime at home!! haha. A week from tomorrow Jimmy and Mom will be here, then I will go home that Wed/Thurs!
So every day the topic of conversation always drifts to things we miss at home, mostly food. Dont get me wrong, I love all the new food I have been trying and what not, but when you dont have all the same things available, it makes you crave it so much more!! haha.. If you are wondering what foods I miss, I miss... Olive Garden, Red Robin , Noodles & Co, Panera Bread, good milk, chips and salsa, good cereal, going to the grocery store period,100 calorie packs, wheat thins, Mi Pueblito, and there is more but those are just the first that come to mind. I do love the rice and potatoes with every meal here though. and all the bread. and a lot of the new dishes I have tried!
there has not been much going on here, just going to class and hanging out, trying new foods. Yesterday we had some kind of shredded chicken that ended up looking like tuna, but it was really delicious. It kind of had a taste like chicken pot pie. We had potatoes and rice with it. The night before we had a meal kind of like baked beans. She said it was with ¨red beans¨ and she baked them with onions and bacon, topped with an egg. It tasted like baked beans and it was really good! Then tonight we actually repeated a meal for the first time, we had tamales again tonight. They arent my favorite, they are a cornmeal type thing and its kind of plain and dry.
Pilar saw my chips and salsa and asked me what the salsa was, because she had never had it. So yesterday I left the chips on the counter for her to try, but later she said that she didnt know how to eat it! So I had to show her how to eat it, but she liked it a lot. Then today she was asking us what a casserole was because she thought all casseroles were the same recipe, it was chicken and something else. So we explained casseroles to her. Also today I had a really good sandwich, then tried a ¨churro¨. but I think they have those other places but they are popular here. They are long and skinny and look like a fried donut. They are filled with chocolate, vanilla, or caramel, and served warm. The donut part of it is not quite as expected though, as most desserts here and Peru. Thats another thing I miss, is sweet desserts. The ice cream and everything is really good but I dont even try to get cakes or pastries or anything because I know it wont be enough for my sweet tooth !! haha
The other day Kathryn and I were watching ¨the girls next door¨ (the playboy mansion with hugh hefner), because there is not too much good american stuff on tv, and Pilar walks in and looked at the tv, and immediately says ¨kendra! kendra is my favorite!¨.... so apparently she watches it. I thought that was really funny!
One thing I have learned here is that Peruvians are really anal about their sidewalks and driveways. Every morning and day they sweep and mop their sidewalks and drive ways. Weird. and the park outside our classroom, they are seriously raking leaves and doing stuff to the park allll day. Its funny.
For anyone that is wondering, or just assuming that I am fluent, or whatever you may think, I will tell.! I am no where near fluent. Being here makes me realize how far from it I am. Its amazing how many people here know English, all the young people I have met are completely fluent, and a lot of them know German too. Its embarassing how they hardly teach it in the states! Hopefully one day I will be fluent, but I only have one more class to take at State in order to have my minor in Spanish, so I definitely will need to take a lot more classes than that! Or travel a lot more :)
We are going Saturday to help out at an orphanage. I am going to be with the 3-6 year old girls. there are about 700 kids at the orphanage, and 50 of us going. It will be interesting to see and do, I am looking forward to it! Other than that, I have to write a paper that is due for the end of class, and start studying for my final that is on Thursday!
So every day the topic of conversation always drifts to things we miss at home, mostly food. Dont get me wrong, I love all the new food I have been trying and what not, but when you dont have all the same things available, it makes you crave it so much more!! haha.. If you are wondering what foods I miss, I miss... Olive Garden, Red Robin , Noodles & Co, Panera Bread, good milk, chips and salsa, good cereal, going to the grocery store period,100 calorie packs, wheat thins, Mi Pueblito, and there is more but those are just the first that come to mind. I do love the rice and potatoes with every meal here though. and all the bread. and a lot of the new dishes I have tried!
there has not been much going on here, just going to class and hanging out, trying new foods. Yesterday we had some kind of shredded chicken that ended up looking like tuna, but it was really delicious. It kind of had a taste like chicken pot pie. We had potatoes and rice with it. The night before we had a meal kind of like baked beans. She said it was with ¨red beans¨ and she baked them with onions and bacon, topped with an egg. It tasted like baked beans and it was really good! Then tonight we actually repeated a meal for the first time, we had tamales again tonight. They arent my favorite, they are a cornmeal type thing and its kind of plain and dry.
Pilar saw my chips and salsa and asked me what the salsa was, because she had never had it. So yesterday I left the chips on the counter for her to try, but later she said that she didnt know how to eat it! So I had to show her how to eat it, but she liked it a lot. Then today she was asking us what a casserole was because she thought all casseroles were the same recipe, it was chicken and something else. So we explained casseroles to her. Also today I had a really good sandwich, then tried a ¨churro¨. but I think they have those other places but they are popular here. They are long and skinny and look like a fried donut. They are filled with chocolate, vanilla, or caramel, and served warm. The donut part of it is not quite as expected though, as most desserts here and Peru. Thats another thing I miss, is sweet desserts. The ice cream and everything is really good but I dont even try to get cakes or pastries or anything because I know it wont be enough for my sweet tooth !! haha
The other day Kathryn and I were watching ¨the girls next door¨ (the playboy mansion with hugh hefner), because there is not too much good american stuff on tv, and Pilar walks in and looked at the tv, and immediately says ¨kendra! kendra is my favorite!¨.... so apparently she watches it. I thought that was really funny!
One thing I have learned here is that Peruvians are really anal about their sidewalks and driveways. Every morning and day they sweep and mop their sidewalks and drive ways. Weird. and the park outside our classroom, they are seriously raking leaves and doing stuff to the park allll day. Its funny.
For anyone that is wondering, or just assuming that I am fluent, or whatever you may think, I will tell.! I am no where near fluent. Being here makes me realize how far from it I am. Its amazing how many people here know English, all the young people I have met are completely fluent, and a lot of them know German too. Its embarassing how they hardly teach it in the states! Hopefully one day I will be fluent, but I only have one more class to take at State in order to have my minor in Spanish, so I definitely will need to take a lot more classes than that! Or travel a lot more :)
We are going Saturday to help out at an orphanage. I am going to be with the 3-6 year old girls. there are about 700 kids at the orphanage, and 50 of us going. It will be interesting to see and do, I am looking forward to it! Other than that, I have to write a paper that is due for the end of class, and start studying for my final that is on Thursday!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
pics
I put up some pics from Nazca!
http://s245.photobucket.com/albums/gg58/rlwheele/Peru/
password:rachelinperu
there is a picture of me with Pilar so go look! She looked dressed up when we got home from the trip so I figured it was a good opportunity.
I made a mistake.. the llama is an alpaca, and her name is Deena. For some reason last night I said Diana.. she would not have been happy to hear me call her that.
Oh yea Jimmy, why does mom have a Nazca book? we arent going there. Or is it just a Peru book? haha
http://s245.photobucket.com/albums/gg58/rlwheele/Peru/
password:rachelinperu
there is a picture of me with Pilar so go look! She looked dressed up when we got home from the trip so I figured it was a good opportunity.
I made a mistake.. the llama is an alpaca, and her name is Deena. For some reason last night I said Diana.. she would not have been happy to hear me call her that.
Oh yea Jimmy, why does mom have a Nazca book? we arent going there. Or is it just a Peru book? haha
Monday, June 15, 2009
I hate when I forget things
On the way back we stopped at these islands, the Ballestas Islands. We rode a boat out to them.There were sea lions, pengiuns, and 1000s of birds there. The birds there apparently have really good poop because people come out there every so often to collect the poop from the rocks and sell it, then some people on the boat got pooped on and he made jokes and told them not to clean it off because they could sell it. Okay thats all, I figured I would mention that because I have pictures from it.
Aunt Katie, mandarins are oranges, they just always call them mandarins here. I bought 3 today, I cant wait to eat them.
Aunt Dana, tell P&P hi too and I hope you all have a great trip. You have to bring the pics to North Lake!
Aunt Katie, mandarins are oranges, they just always call them mandarins here. I bought 3 today, I cant wait to eat them.
Aunt Dana, tell P&P hi too and I hope you all have a great trip. You have to bring the pics to North Lake!
back from Nazca!
Well Im back from the Nazca trip! It was a lot of fun, the bus ride wasnt too bad, I slept for part of it, stared out the window at all the interesting things, then we watched When Harry met Sally because we realized that we had a tv and a dvd player and dvds. Looking out the window was interesting, we were going through a whole new type of climate and terrain. I was deep in thought and kind of thought I was in Iraq.There was sand everywhere and little huts everywhere, and no on beleived the bus driver when he told us that people live there! But we really were going through some poor places. Anyways we were driving along the coast too but it was just weird because it is the coast but not the beach.. and there were big mountains of sand, it was pretty! We finally got to the hotel, and the hotel was really cool, it was in the middle of nowhere and the middle of a poor town (I have found that there are many nice places hidden among nowhere). But the hotel was one story, and in the backs of our rooms it was a big open garden/field, with benches and a tennis court and a mini soccer field, and a llama names Diana and a white horse. The horse and llama roamed freely, and over the duration of the trip we learned that if you get to close, Diana spits in your face, and she also likes to be where ever people are. Oh I forgot there were 4 peacocks, and some chicken. So there was a nice pool there that we all hung out at the whole weekend. Diana would come by the pool and stand behind all the chairs. Also one day for lunch we ate at tables in the yard and she walked up right beside us for the whole lunch. Anyways, on to activities.
We visited the Nazca lines, via airplanes. for those of you who dont know, the lines are huge immense figures in the desert, of perfect geometrical proportions, that were discovered in the 1900s and they dont know for what reason they were made. you can only see the figures as a whole from an airplane, the figures are formed from rocks that are on the ground in the desert and they have lasted so long because there is hardly any wind or weather there. There is a monkey, a spider, hummingbird, some others, and then shapes like triangles and spirals, etc.
So we flew in a 6 passenger plane over the lines, it was a bit of a bumpy ride, we went in circles around each line so everyone could see, so it made me dizzy and my stomach turned, but I survived all right. I will post pictures sometime this week. Another thing we did was go to a pottery place and make and paint our own pottery, the same way the Nazcas did. Then we got to paint them the next day. I made a bowl and 2 shot glasses. If they turn out good then I will give them to Tab and Lindsey haha. I am not the greatest artist but the people there helped me.
One day we rode dunebuggies, we rode through a couple historical sites on the way to the dunes. We stopped at the ruins of Cahachui, and a cemetary. The cemetary wasnt a regular one, it was just people who had been buried in the sand with no marking, but since then have been dug up because people get the pottery and stuff that they were buried with. So, there were bones and skulls EVERYWHERE and it was kind of creepy but at the same time it seemed fake. When we got to the dunes, we got to sandboard. It is like snowboarding but the boards we had didnt keep your feet in very well so it was hard.. and the hills were short..so it was more fun to go down the really huge hills on your stomach, you went really really fast and it was fun. Our dunebuggy driver was a national champion of Peru last year. The dunebuggy held like 8 of us I think. We would come to the top of the hill and the other side looked like a cliff because it was so steep on the other side, it was like coming to the top of a hill of a roller coaster, then we would go down the other side. I swore every time that it was a cliff and we were going to just fly in the air off the side of the hill. but we didnt, we went down every time and it was so fun.
One night we had some Afro-Peruvian dancers come dance for us. It was interesting and they wore costumes. At the end was a dance where you had a roll of newspaper hanging from your butt and you shook your butt and the other person behind you tried to catch it on fire. It was funny and they let some of us do it, but I didnt. I dont think I could move my butt that fast. haha.
So other than that we laid by the pool a lot, ate a lot, and I think thats it. They served us dessert for lunch and dinner, some of it was good, other wasnt so great. The food was good, we had a lot of soup, salad, chicken, potatoes, and rice. One day we had a pachamaca, which is traditional of peru. They cook the food in an oven underground, and then cover it with leaves and dirt. Then they put flowers and a cross on it. It really looks like a fresh grave. But anyways they cook it all day and we had potatoes, beans, chicken, sweet potatoes, and I think thats it. I thought it was pretty cool!
We had an oral exam over the weekend for one of our classes, it was pretty easy. Then we had our test today that was supposed to be last week. It was pretty easy too! We have 7 more days of class then test day. Then my mom and Jimmy will be here!
I am starting to like Pilar now. She asks us if we want to sit and converse every day.We did today,and she asks us more questions and I think Kathryn and I have figured out more how to just jump into her conversations or just say something random to her. Last night she make us some sort of rice with some sort of bean thing. Today we had -covered rice- is what she called it but it was rice and then meat with onions, raisins, and some kind of sauce. I really liked it but Kathryn didnt so much.
I got some regular milk at the store today,and some cereal so I hope tomorrow when I try it, it will be good because I miss milk so much. It it weird here. Also we went to Chilis for lunch today! (yes, the american chilis)... man it was so good. they had regular ketchup, and the waitress actually served us and paid attention to us, like america! the bottomless chips there were amazing, we must have looked like vultures eating them. Chips and salsa dont really exist here.
Well thats all for now, will blog in a few days once something interesting happens. I have read 2 books and the english selection of books here sucks, but today I found a Nicolas Sparks book by accident and got so excited. I bought it and started to read it already!
We visited the Nazca lines, via airplanes. for those of you who dont know, the lines are huge immense figures in the desert, of perfect geometrical proportions, that were discovered in the 1900s and they dont know for what reason they were made. you can only see the figures as a whole from an airplane, the figures are formed from rocks that are on the ground in the desert and they have lasted so long because there is hardly any wind or weather there. There is a monkey, a spider, hummingbird, some others, and then shapes like triangles and spirals, etc.
So we flew in a 6 passenger plane over the lines, it was a bit of a bumpy ride, we went in circles around each line so everyone could see, so it made me dizzy and my stomach turned, but I survived all right. I will post pictures sometime this week. Another thing we did was go to a pottery place and make and paint our own pottery, the same way the Nazcas did. Then we got to paint them the next day. I made a bowl and 2 shot glasses. If they turn out good then I will give them to Tab and Lindsey haha. I am not the greatest artist but the people there helped me.
One day we rode dunebuggies, we rode through a couple historical sites on the way to the dunes. We stopped at the ruins of Cahachui, and a cemetary. The cemetary wasnt a regular one, it was just people who had been buried in the sand with no marking, but since then have been dug up because people get the pottery and stuff that they were buried with. So, there were bones and skulls EVERYWHERE and it was kind of creepy but at the same time it seemed fake. When we got to the dunes, we got to sandboard. It is like snowboarding but the boards we had didnt keep your feet in very well so it was hard.. and the hills were short..so it was more fun to go down the really huge hills on your stomach, you went really really fast and it was fun. Our dunebuggy driver was a national champion of Peru last year. The dunebuggy held like 8 of us I think. We would come to the top of the hill and the other side looked like a cliff because it was so steep on the other side, it was like coming to the top of a hill of a roller coaster, then we would go down the other side. I swore every time that it was a cliff and we were going to just fly in the air off the side of the hill. but we didnt, we went down every time and it was so fun.
One night we had some Afro-Peruvian dancers come dance for us. It was interesting and they wore costumes. At the end was a dance where you had a roll of newspaper hanging from your butt and you shook your butt and the other person behind you tried to catch it on fire. It was funny and they let some of us do it, but I didnt. I dont think I could move my butt that fast. haha.
So other than that we laid by the pool a lot, ate a lot, and I think thats it. They served us dessert for lunch and dinner, some of it was good, other wasnt so great. The food was good, we had a lot of soup, salad, chicken, potatoes, and rice. One day we had a pachamaca, which is traditional of peru. They cook the food in an oven underground, and then cover it with leaves and dirt. Then they put flowers and a cross on it. It really looks like a fresh grave. But anyways they cook it all day and we had potatoes, beans, chicken, sweet potatoes, and I think thats it. I thought it was pretty cool!
We had an oral exam over the weekend for one of our classes, it was pretty easy. Then we had our test today that was supposed to be last week. It was pretty easy too! We have 7 more days of class then test day. Then my mom and Jimmy will be here!
I am starting to like Pilar now. She asks us if we want to sit and converse every day.We did today,and she asks us more questions and I think Kathryn and I have figured out more how to just jump into her conversations or just say something random to her. Last night she make us some sort of rice with some sort of bean thing. Today we had -covered rice- is what she called it but it was rice and then meat with onions, raisins, and some kind of sauce. I really liked it but Kathryn didnt so much.
I got some regular milk at the store today,and some cereal so I hope tomorrow when I try it, it will be good because I miss milk so much. It it weird here. Also we went to Chilis for lunch today! (yes, the american chilis)... man it was so good. they had regular ketchup, and the waitress actually served us and paid attention to us, like america! the bottomless chips there were amazing, we must have looked like vultures eating them. Chips and salsa dont really exist here.
Well thats all for now, will blog in a few days once something interesting happens. I have read 2 books and the english selection of books here sucks, but today I found a Nicolas Sparks book by accident and got so excited. I bought it and started to read it already!
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
leaving early!
so we are leaving tomorrow to go to Nazca instead of Thursday, because there is supposed to be another strike on Thursday so we are going before the strike because there might be trouble with transportation during it.. so I´m done with class for the week! and no test tomorrow.. so basically that meant we were really bored.. so Kathryn and I went and saw The Accidental Husband at the movies today, it was 9 soles so like 3 dollars. Now we are waiting around for dinner then we are having salsa lessons tonight.. it will be interesting! Then Nazca tomorrow.. they didnt say anything about the internet so we will see if I have access! If not I will have lots of cool things to report on when I get back!
Last night Pilar cooked up a storm.. she made some kind of Thai chicken.. it was chicken and rice in some sort of wine sauce with sesame oil, coconut, peanut, onions, and pepper. (are my descriptions really that good Aunt Dana?, haha) It was really good! I was happy that she cooked for us. I told her I like trying all the new things and she said that she trys to have different foods every day when she has students with her. Elizabeth went to the store to get food for tonight so I am excited about it. MY new favorite thing here are mandarins.. they have them on the street everywhere and Pilar always has them.. also the menu of the day at restaurants, most have them and they are like 4 course meals for 10 soles! I had one today.. Okay well I´m going to go..thanks for reading.. !
Last night Pilar cooked up a storm.. she made some kind of Thai chicken.. it was chicken and rice in some sort of wine sauce with sesame oil, coconut, peanut, onions, and pepper. (are my descriptions really that good Aunt Dana?, haha) It was really good! I was happy that she cooked for us. I told her I like trying all the new things and she said that she trys to have different foods every day when she has students with her. Elizabeth went to the store to get food for tonight so I am excited about it. MY new favorite thing here are mandarins.. they have them on the street everywhere and Pilar always has them.. also the menu of the day at restaurants, most have them and they are like 4 course meals for 10 soles! I had one today.. Okay well I´m going to go..thanks for reading.. !
Monday, June 8, 2009
Soccer game, getting ready for Nazca
So I put up pictures on photobucket from the game and of the apartment where we live!
http://s245.photobucket.com/albums/gg58/rlwheele/Peru/ password rachelinperu
I put captions up too so you can see what room is what.
We went to the soccer game yesterday and that was a lot of fun! It was a good game, Peru lost though. We all wore Peru jerseys to the game. I bought one for Jimmy but then I wore it haha. We watched a man in front of us get escorted (more like dragged) out by the police. there were police EVERYWHERE, especially by us because we were sort of near the Ecuador fans, but the game wasnt really very packed and I never felt in danger or scared.. so it was all good.
For lunch we ate at a waffles and crepes place, and I got a waffle. It wasnt that great, I miss the Belgian waffle mix that mom makes at home!!!! Haha. The crepes looked really good though. We had tamales with chicken for dinner with rice. Pilar cooked them! They werent my favorite, kind of bland.. but oh well. I dont know what is for dinner to night. Kathryn and I ate PB and J again for lunch, with doritos and salsa!
I have evaporated milk with my cereal.. thats what Pilar drinks. Weird. I dilute it with water but it tastes weird. I thought that stuff was for cooking? I am going to buy some normal milk from the store though when we get back from our trip to Nazca. It comes in bags here. I really hope it is normal because I am craving a big glass of milk!! Also tostitos chips and salsa. And a Larrys turkey sandwich! and they dont have the kind of gum I like here.. I have 2 packs left of it that I brought from the states, I am trying to ration it out. haha. I am trying to think what else I miss.
I dont know if I have talked about how different we (especially me) look here. But obviously I stick out like a sore thumb. People whistle and yell at us all the time. Lisa´s peruvian friends though said that almost all of us are ¨blonde¨to them, even the people in our group that we consider brunettes. I thought that was funny! Also, gringa or gringo (for a boy) is the word that is used to refer to us, to foreigners, but it isnt always used in a bad way. Pilar calls us gringitas sometimes, the -ita at the end means little.
When we were going into the soccer game, a newspaper took our picture and we were in it today! We all bought them at the newsstand. It was a group of like 10 of us. our caption said something like ¨these northamericans came for the red and white (the peru colors) but they didnt bring any good luck¨. So that was exciting!
I will hopefully get on before we go to Nazca, but I have some dance lessons tomorrow night and then a test on Wednesday, then leaving on Thursday for Nazca, so we will see! Nazca is going to be tons of fun, we are going to see the Nazca lines and sand boarding and riding dune buggies, and staying in a really nice hotel. :)
http://s245.photobucket.com/albums/gg58/rlwheele/Peru/ password rachelinperu
I put captions up too so you can see what room is what.
We went to the soccer game yesterday and that was a lot of fun! It was a good game, Peru lost though. We all wore Peru jerseys to the game. I bought one for Jimmy but then I wore it haha. We watched a man in front of us get escorted (more like dragged) out by the police. there were police EVERYWHERE, especially by us because we were sort of near the Ecuador fans, but the game wasnt really very packed and I never felt in danger or scared.. so it was all good.
For lunch we ate at a waffles and crepes place, and I got a waffle. It wasnt that great, I miss the Belgian waffle mix that mom makes at home!!!! Haha. The crepes looked really good though. We had tamales with chicken for dinner with rice. Pilar cooked them! They werent my favorite, kind of bland.. but oh well. I dont know what is for dinner to night. Kathryn and I ate PB and J again for lunch, with doritos and salsa!
I have evaporated milk with my cereal.. thats what Pilar drinks. Weird. I dilute it with water but it tastes weird. I thought that stuff was for cooking? I am going to buy some normal milk from the store though when we get back from our trip to Nazca. It comes in bags here. I really hope it is normal because I am craving a big glass of milk!! Also tostitos chips and salsa. And a Larrys turkey sandwich! and they dont have the kind of gum I like here.. I have 2 packs left of it that I brought from the states, I am trying to ration it out. haha. I am trying to think what else I miss.
I dont know if I have talked about how different we (especially me) look here. But obviously I stick out like a sore thumb. People whistle and yell at us all the time. Lisa´s peruvian friends though said that almost all of us are ¨blonde¨to them, even the people in our group that we consider brunettes. I thought that was funny! Also, gringa or gringo (for a boy) is the word that is used to refer to us, to foreigners, but it isnt always used in a bad way. Pilar calls us gringitas sometimes, the -ita at the end means little.
When we were going into the soccer game, a newspaper took our picture and we were in it today! We all bought them at the newsstand. It was a group of like 10 of us. our caption said something like ¨these northamericans came for the red and white (the peru colors) but they didnt bring any good luck¨. So that was exciting!
I will hopefully get on before we go to Nazca, but I have some dance lessons tomorrow night and then a test on Wednesday, then leaving on Thursday for Nazca, so we will see! Nazca is going to be tons of fun, we are going to see the Nazca lines and sand boarding and riding dune buggies, and staying in a really nice hotel. :)
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Tour of Lima
Really weird, I thought I posted this the other day.. but it never posted I guess, and not all of it saved.. so I have to try to think what it said! :(
Yesterday (well now that was on Wednesday) we went on a ¨tour¨of Lima.. well more like just a few places that we stopped at. They were all really neat places. Oh well first after class I ate at Pizza Hut in the food court of this shopping center. The pizza tasted about the same as the US, and I dont remember what their bread sticks taste like at home (I usually get cheese sticks but they just had bread sticks here) and then the sauce for the bread sticks was way different, but it was still good. We left at 230 and first went to a museum. It was neater than other museums, it was a lot of pottery and then had a lot of jewelry that the warriors used to wear.. so it was big cool jewlery and nose ornaments and stuff.. and then there was an ¨erotic museum¨ and apparently the Inkas and all those people were pretty perverted. They had all sorts of pottery with people having sex, etc.. haha. So then we went to a church called the ¨convento de San Francisco¨ and it is my favorite church by far. They had catacombs underneath the church so we got to see the bones and all that stuff.. and while we were there, the Latinamerican Amazing Race came through. They had like a checkpoint there and 2 different groups came through and there was like a camera man running after them, it was pretty cool! After the church we went to the main plaza in Lima and it was really pretty, it was just getting dark so all the lights were on, there was a really big pretty church and then a huge mansion that the mayor lives in. Then we walked to eat dinner. Then we went to these fountains, i dont know the name of them, but they are fairly new and are in the guiness book of world records for biggest fountain complex in a public park. so that was neat , there are like 13 fountains I think, one of them is a tunnel so the water goes up and over you, and then one is like coming out of the ground so when the water stops coming out you try to run to the middle of the fountain without getting wet but you never know when the water is going to come out. Then there was a sound and lights and video show at one of the bigger fountains and the fountains went along to the music, it was really neat. So then that was the end of the day.
Then on Thursday.. lets see. Class, then we went to an Italian restaurant for lunch and got the menu of the day for 9.90 soles which is like $3.30. It was potatoes, then chicken potatoes and rice, then dessert. and it was really good. Then we went to this big grocery store called Wong, and got tickets to the Peru vs Ecuador soccer game on Sunday!! After that we did homework and went to the internet then ate dinner, then went to our friends apartment and watched the Changling. (i think thats how you spell it, with Angelina Jolie). It was good. Then we went home and went to bed. Oh I forgot to mention how the sun came out on Thursday, so it was the first time I had seen the sun since I have been in Lima! It was a beautiful afternoon.
Yesterday we went to Starbucks in between classes to get drinks and then in our second class, Kay (the professor) spent 50 minutes talking to us about going to the soccer game this weekend and about our trip to Nazca next week, so we had 25 minutes of class. So a good Friday! After that Kathryn and I went to our apt and had PB&Js, with chips and salsa!!! It is hard to find chips and salsa here, and I eat those like every day at home. I finally found some old el paso brand salsa and some tortilla chips so I was so excited when I did. Then we relaxed and read and watched tv, then went running. We ran down by the beach. The beaches here dont have sand, its just like rocks.. so they arent that pretty, plus it is so foggy you can hardly see far out in the ocean. and the ocean is dirty. But people still surf.. so after we ran we showered and ate dinner. Elizabeth served us soup and then we had a popular poor Peruvian dish, which is a fried egg, fried bananas, and rice. It was an odd combination, but it was good. And of course a mandarin orange for dessert. The bananas were called island bananas or something, they are a melon color once you peel them, and they have a slightly different taste, but they are good.
After dinner we met up with friends and went to another friends house via taxi. Did I mention how the taxi system works here? You do have to be careful because they arent safe, but really you just dont do stupid stuff like a girl take a taxi alone. But anyone can be a taxi driver, so they are everywhere, and if you are walking on the side of the road, they will honk and slow down by you, as to ask¨do you need a taxi?¨ and then you have to tell them no.. so you have to do this like 20 times when you walk somewhere. But when you do need a taxi, you tell them where to go and then they dont have meters, so they give you a price, and you can bargain with them! its funny. so you can turn them down if the price is too high. So anyways, we went to our friends house, which is like a mansion haha. It kind of seemed like a beach house.. and it had like a patio/outside area in the middle of the house, so thats where we hung out. A bunch of girls came over, and apparently what people do here is you can order alcohol and they deliver it to your house. So we ordered some rum and coke and they delivered it in like 10 minutes.. haha funny. We just hung out there for the night and went home.
Today we got up and ran again, and then Pilar fixed us lunch. Well I think that Elizabeth cooked it yesterday and she heated it up today, but regardless it was good. It was rice and then some mixture of meat with potatoes and some vegetable that they have here.. its green I dont know what its called but it was good. Then we went to the market area which isnt too far away and we bought some stuff of course. Then we went to this place called Dove Vai, which I went to before, but they have amazing gelato! Yummm.. so we got gelato now we are here, soon we will go home for dinner. Then we are going to hang out with Lizzie, who is my friend Lisa´s old roommate from NCState. She lives here in Peru so we are going over to her apartment. Then tomorrow is the soccer game!!! I cant wait.. its going to be so fun and crazy. Most of our group is going. It will be an experience. I am pretty sure that there arent assigned seats, because like all the Peru fans sit on the North side then all the Ecuador fans sit on the south.. so its crazy. We were told to sit in the middle though.. to stay out of any of the crazy fans way.
Mr. Silver, I´m happy that you are sharing my stories! I guess that means that some of them are good :) I really think that Pilar might have the first stages of alzhiemers! but she remembers our names now!! I´m relieved. Its weird to think that you are still in school.
Mom, I hope we take salsa lessons too! I want to really bad. Jose, our bellman, found another place that teaches the lessons.
Jimmy, I dont know what happened to the Koeze candy.. she gave some to Elizabeth but I dont know about the rest. I need to find it though!
Aunt Dana, have fun in Europe! You are going to Spain right? I didnt hear about them closing Machu Picchu. I think it is closed for a month each year, that might be for the same reason, just for restorations. Im so glad that I got to go and to have that experience!
Aunt Katie, what do you mean you are impressed, didnt you think I could do it? haha. I have never heard about your dog Chico, he must not have been a good dog because I have heard countless stories about Pepper, but never Chico. I hope I learn to salsa and then maybe I will teach it, I think Uncle John will be the best! Did we decide on a date to come? Im excited about it!
Tab and Lindsey, if you read this post, I got you both some pretty shot glasses at the market today! It took me a while to find them, I have been looking this whole trip!
I also forgot to talk about Pilar. We like her more each day. She said that in the past, the students dont talk much and we talk much better than they did, which seems odd to me. I guess they didnt try much. She also said that she always had to repeat what she said like 3 times, once in spanish, once in english, then once again in spanish, for them to understand. But that is odd because she speaks slow enough and clear enough that we pretty much understand her all the time. But she is getting better each time about giving us opportunities to talk. But she still likes to blab about random things.. but its getting better! I will survive :)
Wow my hands hurt from typing. I am going to call and see what mom and Jimmy and Grandpa are up to, they are in DC right now!
Yesterday (well now that was on Wednesday) we went on a ¨tour¨of Lima.. well more like just a few places that we stopped at. They were all really neat places. Oh well first after class I ate at Pizza Hut in the food court of this shopping center. The pizza tasted about the same as the US, and I dont remember what their bread sticks taste like at home (I usually get cheese sticks but they just had bread sticks here) and then the sauce for the bread sticks was way different, but it was still good. We left at 230 and first went to a museum. It was neater than other museums, it was a lot of pottery and then had a lot of jewelry that the warriors used to wear.. so it was big cool jewlery and nose ornaments and stuff.. and then there was an ¨erotic museum¨ and apparently the Inkas and all those people were pretty perverted. They had all sorts of pottery with people having sex, etc.. haha. So then we went to a church called the ¨convento de San Francisco¨ and it is my favorite church by far. They had catacombs underneath the church so we got to see the bones and all that stuff.. and while we were there, the Latinamerican Amazing Race came through. They had like a checkpoint there and 2 different groups came through and there was like a camera man running after them, it was pretty cool! After the church we went to the main plaza in Lima and it was really pretty, it was just getting dark so all the lights were on, there was a really big pretty church and then a huge mansion that the mayor lives in. Then we walked to eat dinner. Then we went to these fountains, i dont know the name of them, but they are fairly new and are in the guiness book of world records for biggest fountain complex in a public park. so that was neat , there are like 13 fountains I think, one of them is a tunnel so the water goes up and over you, and then one is like coming out of the ground so when the water stops coming out you try to run to the middle of the fountain without getting wet but you never know when the water is going to come out. Then there was a sound and lights and video show at one of the bigger fountains and the fountains went along to the music, it was really neat. So then that was the end of the day.
Then on Thursday.. lets see. Class, then we went to an Italian restaurant for lunch and got the menu of the day for 9.90 soles which is like $3.30. It was potatoes, then chicken potatoes and rice, then dessert. and it was really good. Then we went to this big grocery store called Wong, and got tickets to the Peru vs Ecuador soccer game on Sunday!! After that we did homework and went to the internet then ate dinner, then went to our friends apartment and watched the Changling. (i think thats how you spell it, with Angelina Jolie). It was good. Then we went home and went to bed. Oh I forgot to mention how the sun came out on Thursday, so it was the first time I had seen the sun since I have been in Lima! It was a beautiful afternoon.
Yesterday we went to Starbucks in between classes to get drinks and then in our second class, Kay (the professor) spent 50 minutes talking to us about going to the soccer game this weekend and about our trip to Nazca next week, so we had 25 minutes of class. So a good Friday! After that Kathryn and I went to our apt and had PB&Js, with chips and salsa!!! It is hard to find chips and salsa here, and I eat those like every day at home. I finally found some old el paso brand salsa and some tortilla chips so I was so excited when I did. Then we relaxed and read and watched tv, then went running. We ran down by the beach. The beaches here dont have sand, its just like rocks.. so they arent that pretty, plus it is so foggy you can hardly see far out in the ocean. and the ocean is dirty. But people still surf.. so after we ran we showered and ate dinner. Elizabeth served us soup and then we had a popular poor Peruvian dish, which is a fried egg, fried bananas, and rice. It was an odd combination, but it was good. And of course a mandarin orange for dessert. The bananas were called island bananas or something, they are a melon color once you peel them, and they have a slightly different taste, but they are good.
After dinner we met up with friends and went to another friends house via taxi. Did I mention how the taxi system works here? You do have to be careful because they arent safe, but really you just dont do stupid stuff like a girl take a taxi alone. But anyone can be a taxi driver, so they are everywhere, and if you are walking on the side of the road, they will honk and slow down by you, as to ask¨do you need a taxi?¨ and then you have to tell them no.. so you have to do this like 20 times when you walk somewhere. But when you do need a taxi, you tell them where to go and then they dont have meters, so they give you a price, and you can bargain with them! its funny. so you can turn them down if the price is too high. So anyways, we went to our friends house, which is like a mansion haha. It kind of seemed like a beach house.. and it had like a patio/outside area in the middle of the house, so thats where we hung out. A bunch of girls came over, and apparently what people do here is you can order alcohol and they deliver it to your house. So we ordered some rum and coke and they delivered it in like 10 minutes.. haha funny. We just hung out there for the night and went home.
Today we got up and ran again, and then Pilar fixed us lunch. Well I think that Elizabeth cooked it yesterday and she heated it up today, but regardless it was good. It was rice and then some mixture of meat with potatoes and some vegetable that they have here.. its green I dont know what its called but it was good. Then we went to the market area which isnt too far away and we bought some stuff of course. Then we went to this place called Dove Vai, which I went to before, but they have amazing gelato! Yummm.. so we got gelato now we are here, soon we will go home for dinner. Then we are going to hang out with Lizzie, who is my friend Lisa´s old roommate from NCState. She lives here in Peru so we are going over to her apartment. Then tomorrow is the soccer game!!! I cant wait.. its going to be so fun and crazy. Most of our group is going. It will be an experience. I am pretty sure that there arent assigned seats, because like all the Peru fans sit on the North side then all the Ecuador fans sit on the south.. so its crazy. We were told to sit in the middle though.. to stay out of any of the crazy fans way.
Mr. Silver, I´m happy that you are sharing my stories! I guess that means that some of them are good :) I really think that Pilar might have the first stages of alzhiemers! but she remembers our names now!! I´m relieved. Its weird to think that you are still in school.
Mom, I hope we take salsa lessons too! I want to really bad. Jose, our bellman, found another place that teaches the lessons.
Jimmy, I dont know what happened to the Koeze candy.. she gave some to Elizabeth but I dont know about the rest. I need to find it though!
Aunt Dana, have fun in Europe! You are going to Spain right? I didnt hear about them closing Machu Picchu. I think it is closed for a month each year, that might be for the same reason, just for restorations. Im so glad that I got to go and to have that experience!
Aunt Katie, what do you mean you are impressed, didnt you think I could do it? haha. I have never heard about your dog Chico, he must not have been a good dog because I have heard countless stories about Pepper, but never Chico. I hope I learn to salsa and then maybe I will teach it, I think Uncle John will be the best! Did we decide on a date to come? Im excited about it!
Tab and Lindsey, if you read this post, I got you both some pretty shot glasses at the market today! It took me a while to find them, I have been looking this whole trip!
I also forgot to talk about Pilar. We like her more each day. She said that in the past, the students dont talk much and we talk much better than they did, which seems odd to me. I guess they didnt try much. She also said that she always had to repeat what she said like 3 times, once in spanish, once in english, then once again in spanish, for them to understand. But that is odd because she speaks slow enough and clear enough that we pretty much understand her all the time. But she is getting better each time about giving us opportunities to talk. But she still likes to blab about random things.. but its getting better! I will survive :)
Wow my hands hurt from typing. I am going to call and see what mom and Jimmy and Grandpa are up to, they are in DC right now!
Monday, June 1, 2009
first day of classes
So today was the first day of classes.. I survived getting up at 7.. it actually wasnt bad because its easy to go to bed early here when you dont have your car and your laptop and cell phone to keep you busy. But my class is at 8 and then at 1040, so I am done by 12. I know everyone in my classes since it is everyone for the trip, so that is fun. This weekend was interesting. I no longer enjoy Pilar.. she hasnt asked us a single question about ourselves.. not a SINGLE one! and yesterday she called me Kristen.. then I was like no, I am Rachel. So then she called Kathryn Kristen. Then today she was trying to introduce me to her cousin, and called me Roxanne. Then she called Kathryn Kristen again. Its really weird. She took us to a chinese restaurant yesterday, here they are called ¨Chifas¨. She got up at 11am, took us there, then took a 3 hour nap. We were supposed to have waffles at 5 for a snack.. but ended up having them at 830. Weird. She is the laziest person I have ever seen in my life.. she eats in bed. We have fresh bread every morning that is delivered by the bread man, but i bought some cereal today because I will probably get sick of it soon. I am excited because Elizabeth the maid comes tomorrow, so she will cook for us :). Maybe she will remember our names.
Next Wednesday we have our first test, and it is the halfway point of the class. Thats quick! only 16 days of class. Then on Thursday we go to Nazca for 5 days, it will be a fun trip. We asked Pilar about taking dance lessons and she said there was a good place to take lessons.. Im going to ask her again tonight so maybe we can take some!
John and Aimee, I cant wait to get back to the US to have some American dessert! Everything here is not nearly as sweet as the US. I have has some awful hot chocolate here, but I found swiss miss at the grocery store today and bought it!! and the oranges are good..but I am more of a black tie mousse cake and double chocolate cookie type of girl. Aimee I cant wait to have your cookies!!
I know I have missed some other stuff but I cant think right now.. but its just been aggravating with the situation.. hopefully it will get better though.
I miss everyone! love you all
Next Wednesday we have our first test, and it is the halfway point of the class. Thats quick! only 16 days of class. Then on Thursday we go to Nazca for 5 days, it will be a fun trip. We asked Pilar about taking dance lessons and she said there was a good place to take lessons.. Im going to ask her again tonight so maybe we can take some!
John and Aimee, I cant wait to get back to the US to have some American dessert! Everything here is not nearly as sweet as the US. I have has some awful hot chocolate here, but I found swiss miss at the grocery store today and bought it!! and the oranges are good..but I am more of a black tie mousse cake and double chocolate cookie type of girl. Aimee I cant wait to have your cookies!!
I know I have missed some other stuff but I cant think right now.. but its just been aggravating with the situation.. hopefully it will get better though.
I miss everyone! love you all
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