Sunday, January 29, 2012

You know you stick out like a sore thumb when...


Being a white, American girl with mediocre Spanish is bound to make me stick out. First, I’ll start with the basics; walking to school. It’s been a hard habit to break but in Nebraska when you pass someone on the street you definitely make eye contact and you usually smile or nod your head. Here, if you do so much as make eye contact it’s like it must mean something. The person will stop and stare. One time I accidentally made eye contact with this man and he literally turned around and watched me walk by. Also, I’ve learned to ignore the honks, whistles, and kisses. Just yesterday while a friend and I were walking, a taxi pulled up to us and in broken English said, “Hey babies, loooovvveee me” If that man thought that was going to make us get into his taxi he was crazy!!! 

Speaking English has also drawn a lot of attention. We have met sooo many people from the US or other English speaking countries simply because they overhear our language. Last week a friend of mine and I were studying in the Starbucks on campus when a man came up to our table and told us he overheard us speaking English and wanted to know where we were from. He was from Idaho and was here visiting a friend. Yesterday, a group of us were in a restaurant when an older couple came to our table and asked where we were from. They live here 6 months out of the year as a retirement get away.

Lastly, the most epic stick out of all was yesterday. All 18 of us had a class field trip in Miraflores. As you can imagine we drew a lot of attention. Eighteen, white, out of place Americans walking around like a herd of cattle. We were all sitting on these steps in El Parque de Amor when all of a sudden this woman comes running up to us and sits in the group with us. Then, we look up and see that her husband is taking pictures of her with all of us like we were a freak show! I asked my professor if he knew them and he told me, “No, I think they are tourists from Columbia” It was soo funny!

You know you stick out like a sore thumb when… random people are more excited to snap a photo of you than the famous park they are standing in.

This weekend, just like the rest, has been a blast. On Friday, I had three friends come to my apartment and we went swimming and did some homework like nerds. Saturday, we had our class field trip in the morning. It was for our Peruvian Literature class and we went to Miraflores and took a tour of all the important parks and learned a lot about the history of those places. We also went to some ruins that are in Miraflores and took a tour. It was fascinating because a lot of the things they told us there overlap with the material we have been covering in our Indigenous Cultures class.  That night Raul and Oscar, two of the guys we met at UPC, took us to Parque de Aguas. It was soo much fun! It’s a park filled with different fountains. When the water shuts off you try to run to the middle before it turns back on. Needless to say, we all failed and were drenched! After walking the whole park we returned to our houses, showered and met at 10:30 to head to some discos. They were great! Oscar, Raul, and Andre tried to teach us to salsa. (When you read that sentence put a lot of emphasis on the TRIED) Salsa is so different from the line dancing we do in Nebraska, they actually move their bodies; especially the hips! So hard!!! However, my goal is to be able to salsa by the end of this trip! 


Parque de aguas

parque de aguas

attempting to salsa

at the club
From left to right: Raul, Oscar, Mary, me

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

My third weekend in Peru

Last weekend marked the third Saturday and Sunday I have spent in Peru! So far, weekends have been great and soo busy and this one was definitely not an exception! On Friday some students we met at UPC took us to the zoo. We had a ball and I think they did too! They were showing us little Nebraskans around and telling us all about the animals that are native to Peru. It was a great way to practice Spanish because so many new words were used in a zoo setting! Also, I did not know there were so many different types of llamas. You've got the llama, the AlPaca, the Vicunas, and the Guanacos. To me they all looked the same but there are subtle differences they spent almost 10 minutes trying to explain! We didn't finish all the exhibits because it was soo huge and the thought of pizza was overwhelming. We hopped in some taxis and headed to a Pizza Hut. The pizza here is exactly the same which is awesome! A little taste of home here and there is always refreshing!

On Saturday, I went with a group of UNK students and one of my friend's host sisters to a club about 20 minutes from our district. One of the local kids we were with is friends with the manager of the club so not only did we get in for free..we got into the SUPER VIP section for free! It was great! We danced allllll day long! We learned a dance to the song "mosa mosa" which is very popular here. It was also interesting to hear all the American songs they play! They even played the "YMCA" and let me tell you, us Nebraskans were rockin' that one! Once that club was coming to an end we walked about 45 minutes to the beach "Punta Hermosa" and walked around in the water for awhile to kill time before another discoteca opened up. We then took a "combi" (a mini bus) to the next disco and danced for just a little bit and headed home for the night after a long day.

Since the weekend I have been keeping myself quite busy! They always said the Latin culture is laid back but with all the things we have to do and see here I hardly have time to breathe...I love it that way! On Monday I had my Indigenous Cultures class which is taught in English. This is always such a relief! On Tuesday morning I helped in an English classroom at UPC. As part of our study abroad program we get to help in English classrooms, and travel to high schools to help with English later this semester. It was so much fun! The students were level 1 and I couldn't believe that the teacher was instructing them in English! I would have been sooo lost taking Spanish 1 in Spanish!

This weekend,  I look forward to more tours with our "tour guides" that we met from UPC. We are planning to go to a museum on Friday and a water light show on Saturday, and possibly mass in La Plaza De Armas on Sunday.

At the zoo

The club

The beach "Punta Hermosa" 

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Me and my host family; Fabricio and Nela

"Crazy Time" 
The beach in Trujillo

Last weekend I got the opportunity to go to Trujillo. I live with Fabricio and Nela and they are both from there. One of Nela's friends from high school was getting married so she invited me to come along. Of course I said yes...a Peruvian wedding?!?!?! Fabricio had to stay in Lima for the weekend so on Friday night Nela and I took a bus that left at 10:30 pm and we arrived in Trujillo at 7 am Saturday morning. We ate breakfast and scurried over to the salon to get our hair done and rushed to the wedding. We were running a little late so we got there just in time to see them exiting the church and we took a taxi with some of her friends to the reception. The reception was held outside at a really nice resort just outside the city. It was like a typical reception; bouquet throwing, dancing, delicious food, etc. But there was one different tradition. As soon as we finished eating and the bride/groom dance was over these guys dressed in crazy, almost clown outfits on stilts came waltzing in and handed everyone a balloon! The music turned from slow to super fast and confetti began to fall. They called this "crazy time" Boy does that describe it! Then, it was salsa till the end of the night. Salsa is sooo hard! I tried but I failed epically! One of Nela's friends tried to teach me and after about 2 minutes of me stumbling over the moves he was like, "uhh have you ever danced before?" hahaha it was hilarious! After the reception, Nela's friends had a party at one of their houses so we went there until 2 am and crashed that night. 

The next day, we went to a beach outside of Trujillo and played sand volleyball. During lunch Nela made a call and then looked at me and said "Nicki, there aren't any more buses for tonight" She said it so matter of factly that I figured there was no way I had translated it right in my head. Plus, I thought we already had tickets to come back! So I clarified with her and yep..no buses. We drove back to Trujillo and went downtown where all the bus stations are and they were all booked. I had class on Monday and we were 8 hours away! ahhh! I e-mailed my professor and crossed my fingers that we'd be able to get a bus for the next night. 

Monday came and we went to La Plaza de Armas in Trujillo and did some shopping and errands for Nela because she was leaving the following Friday for the United States to visit an old friend. We got tickets for a bus back to Lima and it was to leave at 10:45 pm. We were eating dinner that night at 9:30 and I asked Nela what time she had planned to leave for the bus station. She said 10:15 and knowing that the bus station wasn't too far I knew this would be fine. 10:15 rolls around and we're not leaving 10:20, 10:25...all I could think was "NOOOO i can't miss another day of class!!!" Finally at 10:30 we hop in a taxi and make it in just the nick of time. Nela was never once worried about making it...that is definitely one difference I have got to get used to here! In the United States 5 minutes early is on time and here in Peru 5 minutes late is on time. 

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Lost in a city of 9 million!

Yesterday was the first day of classes so Fabricio took me to UPC where I met up with my friends for orientation and WE SPOKE ENGLISH!!! We all had been thrown into the world of Spanish for 2 full days. Doesn't sound like much but boy o boy it was overwhelming! It felt soooo good to talk and not have to think so hard about what others are saying, I've never been soo relieved! As soon as a friend of mine and I saw each other we hugged and said in unison "ENGLISH!!!"

 After orientation and class I went with 2 friends of mine to see their houses. First we went to Mary's and she lives right across the street from UPC so we had no trouble getting there. Then we decided to go to Derek's house. He had walked with his host mom that morning and was sure he knew the way. We started out and we were walking, and walking, and dodging cars (pedestrians DO NOT have the right away!) he soon realized nothing looked familiar so we asked a man for directions and we tried to take his advice but it definitely didn't help. All the while, I was making fun of him because how could he not know where he lived!? Little did I know I would get lost later, on the way to my house! Still, we walked and walked and could not find his street so eventually we decided to retrace our steps back to UPC. Once we got there, Mary went across the street to her house, Derek called his host dad to come pick him up, and I started to walk home. I got to a roundabout in the road and I took a left. I didn't think I had to pass a park on the way to school but I thought maybe I had been concentrating on my conversation with Fabricio and had just missed the fact that there was this big park. Finally I hit the corner where my apartment building should be and when I looked up, it definitely was not my building and the street sign did not say the correct avenue! So I stayed calm (I'm very proud of myself for this!) and I turned around and went back to the roundabout. I was considering my options. 1. I could try to find Nela's work and tell her I was lost 2. I could go to Mary's and tell her host parents I was lost or 3. I could try a new street. While options 1 and 2 would be intelligent, I chose number 3. So I tried a different street because I recognized a restaurant on the corner and I walked and walked and I began to think I had chosen the wrong street. But, when I got to the corner there was my apartment and the sign said "Encalada Avenida"!!!! Boy did I let out a sigh of relief!

That night, Nela was telling me that the next day I would meet her for lunch at 1 before my class at 2. But, the catch was she would be in a different building than the one I knew for work. She she gave me a hand drawn map. The next morning I left at 12:40 so that I could be early but not have too much time to spare. I got to the roundabout and began looking for the street she had written down. It wasn't on any of the signs! So I asked this nice looking lady where it was and she pointed me in the right direction. Well, she tried to. I took the road she pointed out to me and it did not lead to the street I needed! So, I asked a couple passing by where this street was and they pointed me in the right direction. I got to the street and I needed to get to the 12th block so I walked and walked and when I got there none of the buildings had the correct number on them! So, I really was out of ideas at this point so I just went back to the roundabout and was walking around aimlessly when I heard "NICKI!!!" I turned around and it was Nela! She had seen me and ran after me! Phew! At this time I had been lost for 40 minutes so I didn't have much time to eat. I snarfed my food down and made it to class just in time!

Saturday, January 7, 2012

I made it!!

Phew! What a day yesterday was! I flew out of Omaha at 10:52 am. and everything was going swell, all of our flights were on time, no problems in the airports, etc...Then we were about to land in Lima and they handed out these sheets that we had to fill out to declare what we had and stuff. One spot said we had to say if we had bought anything, what it was, and how much it was. Well, I had bought a bottle of water in the airport at Panama and I thought it was silly to declare this but the last thing I wanted to do was get my butt thrown in a Peruvian jail over a bottle of water. So, I declared it and spread the word. Soon, Derek tells me that he read the small print on the back and it said only declare things over $3,000. My bottle of water was $2.95. But hey, they now know I have a bottle of water! Then, our plane landed and we went to immigrations. Everyone else made it through fine and I stepped up to the man and he asks how long I will be in Peru. I answer "cuatro meses" He then starts freaking a leak and telling me no, no, no, my passport only had 90 days on it and I need 120 for 4 months. (Talk about having my stomach drop!) Some other people from my group come over and show him that they got through immigrations and they also only had 90 days in their passport. We tried to explain we were students but he didn't understand so he shooed everyone else away and raised his voice and said "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?!?!" I again tried to explain that I was just a harmless student but he still did not understand so he called over like 4 guys all dressed in security outfiits and they surrounded me and looked at my passport. All I could think was "Well get ready Nicki, they're going to hand-cuff you and throw you in jail even though you declared that bottle of water!" But they talked in really fast spanish to the man and left. The man then looked at me and calmly said with a smile "All is well, go on" So I get through that, find my bags that weigh 1,000,000,000,000 lbs and head out to where I am supposed to meet my host family.
I live with Nela and Fabricio. I was originally going to live with another UNK student but she was placed with a different family last minute. Anyway, Fabio greeted me with a hug and kiss on the cheek (something I still need to get used to) and handed me a boquet of flowers and off we went. We got to the apartment, I put my stuff down, and we headed out to Fabio's and Nela's friends house until 5am.