A whole month already?!

Today is February 6th which means I have been living in Peru for exactly one month! How crazy is that!? I cannot believe it! If someone told me that just yesterday I was packing my bags and freaking a leak because I was leaving for Peru, I would believe them. It feels as if I have hardly been here! But at the same time when I think about all that I have experienced and all that I have gone through it feels like I have been here my whole life! So many things are different here than in the US it is just crazy! I have learned to adjust, adjust, and adjust some more! Below is a list of things that are either strange or took some getting used to here in my first month.

1. Toilet Paper!!! You cannot flush the toilet paper here..it goes in a trash can. 

2. The milk in the grocery store is not refrigerated...Can't believe they're allowed to call it milk! There is no way that stuff is real! However, it does taste pretty decent! 

3. The voltage for electronics is really high as well. On my first day I tried to use my hair dryer and it started making this crazy sound and smoke started coming out so I quickly shut it off and it has been collecting dust in my drawer ever since! Now whenever I want to dry my bangs to straighten them (which is every day) I open my window and stick my head out and let them dry in the wind while soaking up the scenery.

4.  The cars are like a video game!  My family told me they have driver’s tests here but something tells me not to believe them! Maybe I have doubts because stop signs are only to enhance the scenery, painted lines are invisible, and blinkers either don’t exist or are on as long as the car is.

5. The language was, and still is, obviously a big adjustment! I knew I was going to need to speak Spanish while I was here but it’s hard to even fathom just how many words you do not learn in a classroom setting! Especially at the beginning, I found myself wanting to say things or tell stories but I didn’t have the correct words to do so! I am continually getting better at working my way around words I do not know and finding ways to tell my stories. Also, by the end of this experience, I shall be the champion of charades!  

6. Table manners?! Everyone here is sooo polite at the table it is unreal! Before this trip I would have never put a knife on the table for a bowl of rice with pieces of chicken in it. But, here , by golly, you use a knife with literally everything! Fabricio gave me a lesson on how to use a knife because boy do I struggle! While they are cutting their food so neatly I am over there digging and flinging that thing around trying to pry off a manageable piece of meat. Also, what really through me off guard is that here French fries are not finger food! They eat them with forks!

7. Etc. etc. etc…there were so many adjustments, it would take days to type them all out!  

This past week was great! Classes are going well and I still really enjoy helping in an English classroom. On Thursday, a group of friends and I went to the casino. That’s right folks, I gambled at the mere age of 19! I felt so old sitting there on a stool in front of a slot machine! (I had no idea how to play so I just sat there and aimlessly pressed buttons) But! I won one whole sol! That is equivalent to about 40 cents…better than nothing! On Friday night, we made some French toast for some people we met here because French toast does not exist in Peruvian cuisine. What a shame! On Saturday morning, some friends and I made pancakes for my family, got a pedicure, and had a movie night. And what an adventure Sunday was! Raul took a group of us to the center of Lima to see the catacombs and attend a mass in a gorgeous church. The catacombs were…a little creepy! We went to the basement of the church and walked in tunnels and on the sides of us were huge wells filled with real human bones and skulls. There are over 25,000 skeletons in there. After the catacombs we attended mass and walked around La Plaza de Armas. What a good day to go because there was a festival going on with a parade of traditional dancers. We were able to take photos with many of the groups! We also got a tour of the Municipal Palace in of Lima and did a little shopping.

Gambling tokens!

FRENCH TOAST

posing with a group of dancers

The Municipal Palace of Lima

La Plaza de Armas

This week will be busy as well! We are starting English conversation tables with some UPC students to help them improve their English. I am so excited to get started on this! Also, on Wednesday we have our first oral exam for our conversation class. For this, we have to memorize a tongue twister in Spanish and pronounce it correctly. This is definitely a challenge! I can’t even do tongue twisters in English! I am not sure what the plans for next weekend will be but I am sure it will be packed like the rest have been.