My Blog!

September 20 `07
Finally I have got a blog up. Took a while but it is finally here. Things in Peru are alright, getting better all the time. It is very hard to make friends here. Its not just in school, it is Peruvian people in general. They are very groupy. Not that they are unfriendly, its just that instead of the group of friends coming up to you to see where you are from and if you speak spanish and all, it is me having to approach them. Its hard, but happening slowly. My host mom says that I should go to the university. I am going there after the summer, but she thinks that maybe I should go there sooner. There I would be with people my own age, and I would probably learn more too, and have a choice of classes.
Alright, here is some general info. Ill try to post some pictures soon to go along with the info too.
So my host family consists of my mother and father, Olga and Roberto, three host brothers, Manuel, Esteban, and Andres, and a sister, Lorena. Manuel is 18 and is currently in Germany. He did an exchange there last year, and I believe that he is attending university there now. Esteban is 17 and is currently in North Carolina on an exchange. Andres is 16 and is planning on going to France on an exchange. Lorena is 6 years old and attends a school where they teach German. The language learning process is much better here. Every school has a language. The school that I am currently attending, Prescott, teaches English. Lorena´s is German, and the school that Andres attends is a French based school. He speaks bits and pieces of English too. There are a lot of TV programs in other languages here, including Portuguese, Chinese, and English. I think over the years thats where he got most of his English. My family also had a girl here last year, I believe from Oregon.
My house is nice, I have a room to myself with a twin bed and a nice few of one of the various mountain ranges surrounding Arequipa. Im not quite sure how to explain it, but the wall that separates my room and another room is like a folding screen, so instead of closing a door at night I take the handles on each side of my "wall" and slide them together. Just outside my "wall" is a little bathroom with a shower, sink, and laundry bin. Im still not quite sure how the laundry system works here, all I know is that every once in a while the cloths are gone from the bin and a couple days later there are folded and laundered cloths on my bed. Im not quite sure how often the maid does it... ill have to ask soon. Ive encountered the dilemma of wearing a pair of socks a couple of times, or going to school without underwear.
(kidding)
The view of the mountains and of the volcano Misti is amazing from my house. Today and yesterday I went up on the roof with my little sister and took a few pictures of the hills and of the house next to mine. My grandparents live in the house next to me. Its nice having them around. Every once in a while we go over there for dinner or I see him in the street waiting for a taxi. They are very friendly; they always let me know that their house is my house and to come over whenever I like.
When I chose the countries that I wanted to go to months and months ago for rotary, I tried to leave any expectations behind, because all of the country that I chose had large sections that were and still are the epitome of third world. But still, when I learned that I would be in a city images and plans began to formulate in my mind. And, as I thought would happen, I was surprised to see what "city" meant in Peru. Picture New York City. Enormous buildings, bright lights, stores, malls, yellow taxis everywhere, all that stuff. Ok, that is nothing like it is here. City here is a nice center with a nice fountain in the center, lots of small shops, and a bajillion "tico´s" (ridiculously small taxis that cost about a dollar for every 5 minutes you go) nearly running you over every half second. Im pretty sure that they are illegal in about every other country other than Peru. There are a thousand different companies of ticos, which sucks because you have to understand that there a few in that horde that are waiting for the gringo to get in that has had a few beers, waiting to take them somewhere quiet to beat the shit out of them then take their wallet and get back to work. Dont get me wrong, there are many good companies that we are taught to look for, even ones that you call from your house that are guaranteed safe but you have to be careful and be smart.
The streets are alright, because there are in the center, but get steadily worse as you travel from the Plaza de Armas. There are many poor people asking for money, many vendors who only sell candy or chewing gum, and a few people that are scouting for the foreigner. Without a thourough understanding of the language and customs the only way to stay safe is to stay alert and to be with a few other people.
There are no skyscrapers, no bright neon lights, and come to think of it ive probably seen about 2 traffic lights in my nearly 3 week stay here. Traffic is insane. The lines in the rode dont mean anything. If the car in front of you is slow, you pass them, where ever, whenever. The ride to school is actually a little frightening. People use their horns here like you wouldnt believe. If the car in front is going a little slow, beap, if you are coming to an intersection in which you cant see whats coming from the other directions, beap, if you see a person on the side of the road, beap.

Alright, I think that is enough for now. I get tired really early here. I went from sunset at 9 in the States to sunset at 6 every single day here. At about 7 I start feeling ready for bed. Im getting used to it but im still not completely accustomed. Ill try to get some pictures up asap.