Last Week

On Sunday I travelled to Chosica with the family once again, this time for the birthday of my host grandmother. Chosica seemed to have become more beautiful between visits which Nelsito (host brother) assurred me was because there was more sunlight this time. More of the extended family showed up for this birthday celebration and a singer had been hired to perform as well. There was a huge variety of food served (including ceviche, cau cau, arroz con pollo, frijoles, cabrito, yucca, camote, a lot of food anyway). There was also a lot of dancing that followed the eating and I´m pretty sure I have never felt so out of place. Nelsito and I decided to take a walk around the town (see the pics to get an idea of what it was like). We visited a fountain with a Christ statue on top of it at one end of the main square. I learned that the Rimac river also runs nearby and we visited that as well (this time we were accompanied by Alfredo, my host cousin, as well). After dark we went out to walk around some more which was very interesting. There were fountains and lights and people just strolling around enjoying the evening. The place next to the river had turned into a lover´s lane (in fact, many places in the square had become this way in the evening). Alfredo and Nelsito explained to me the river´s contamination from mining operations up in the mountains.

Tuesday I travelled to Lomas with my host father, Nelson, to once again teach my English class. On the bus ride up to Lomas a mom and her children boarded, and before long, her son was puking into a plastic bag that she held up for him. I felt really bad for him because as miserable as it can be to ride the bus, doing it while you´re sick would just be awful. The English class went well but I am going to buy a book here to help me (one of the other YAV´s found a good one in Miraflores).

Wednesday I rested for the the first half of the day and was very excited to receive my absentee ballot to vote in the general election! I was also excited just to have received some mail (now I know that the system works)! I got to work on the ballot and spent the rest of the afternoon reading all about the economic disaster going on in the US and around the world. At around 4:00 PM I took the bus with Nelsito to his University here in Lima. I was blown away by the size and beauty of the campus! From the outside it is difficult to tell how large it is. It is a private school and is ranked one of the best (if not the number one) schools in Peru. We passed by a café where I saw some Gringas speaking English (Nelsito and I have this thing going where whenever I see someone who I think looks white enough to be a Gringo/Gringa, I point him or her out and ask his opinion. He almost always responds with a "No! There are people that are from here that are whiter than you!" But this time I got him because they were speaking very American English). I met some of Nelsito´s friends who we met up with so that they could work on a group project together. I tried to keep up but they were speaking pretty fast. At 6 I went with Nelsito to his Labor Law class and sat in with him until it got out at 7:30. It was easier to follow the professor who spoke more slowly and often repeated the ideas he was teaching. He talked about a recent strike that has been going on here with the medical professionals. After class we walked from the University to Plaza San Miguel where we met Tanya (host sister) and Eric (her enomorado). We went to this sandwich place called Pasquale that was deliscious.

Thursday morning Nelson and I stopped by the Red on out way into the office. My site coordinator, Debbie, reminded me that the VP debate would be happening that night which was unfortunate because I would be in Lomas. She said she would tape it for me and I ended up watching some clips the next morning on Youtube as well. I am going to work on a letter this week, that I will send to someone at Westminster, so that those who are unable to follow my blog will have a way of knowing how I am doing here in Peru!