me amo amor en perú.

the spanish in this title could be incredibley wrong, but what i'm attempting to say is "i love the love in peru." for there is so much love here... or at least in lima, because that is basically all i have experienced so far.

so how is this love shown? in oh so many ways...

1) the fact that i have been extremely overfed is an obvious.
2) the snuggly couples all over. i usually dont like pda, but for some reason i think it is kind of "lindo" (cute) here.
3) kisses for greeting, and leaving, and perhaps in between times, too.
4) the fact that every person in a room is acknowledged before conversation, or perhaps mid conversation, or even after conversation. people are not left out.
5) if your lost, people are more then willing to help, even if they have no idea what you are looking for. which isn't always very good. but at least they want to help...
6) my parents attempting to make conversation with me, even though i can tell it's an exhausting, and slightly painful process for them. they want me to learn. so they just keep trying. they don't give up even if i say "no intiendo" (i don't understand) 7 times in a row.
7) every person i meet is excited to do something with me, show me something, take me somewhere... anything.
8) other host parents are so welcoming in their houses and want to meet all these crazy north american kids who, as one mother put it when one student was calling home to their host mother, "speak like 8 year olds on the phone."
9) even the bus and kambi drivers are gracious, and if you get on the wrong bus, they'll give you back your money and point you in the right direction.
10) and maybe because it is their summer vacation here, but it is so romantic. in my area where i live, there are people walking about everywhere, holding hands, kissing. people stroll the parks at night. it really is beautiful, and romantic. (and if you know me well, then you know i usually don't dig the romantic stuff. but i do here).

alright, so i could go on with those numbers for a while, but i have better stories to tell, that explain those numbers a bit better. so where to begin is the question...?

well. the neighborhood i live in is Lince. my house is 2 blocks from the main road, Arequipa. so, what that basically means is i have a pretty prime location. i'm right beside the neighborhood Miraflores, which is the "rich" neighborhood in Lima, and is where Tambo Goshen, our meeting place, is located. i have figured out that lince is a pretty nice neighborhood, and as my mother put it one morning, it is as nice as miraflores but a lot cheaper. go figure.

but i do absolutely love my neighborhood. there are so many adorable stores and corner markets, hair "salons", ice cream shops, panerias (bread shops... which smell incredible!), and so much more. i went on a walk this evening because i decided i should really explore a bit more, and i needed some fresh air. my mother asked me if i was going to the park, and i said i did not know where the park was, so she told me it was only a few blocks up the street. i walked there and it was the best park i have ever been to! for one, it was absolutely beautiful (or at least at night it is). there were people walking about everywhere. there were volleyball courts, basketball, and many palm trees and cactus (lima is a desert and it never rains. thought i would throw that one out there in case you didn't know). then there was an entire area for children which was far better than any park i have ever seen in the states. in addition to the usual play ground equipment, there were 6 different trampolines for kids to jump on. also bumber cars, motor boats in a rather large pool, blow up jumping things, climbing things... endless amounts of objects that would be in every kid's heaven. or at least they're all in my heaven, so i would imagine they're in kids heavens, too!

but anyway, i can stop going on about the park, because there is so much more to talk about. i just wanted to say a bit about my neighborhood since i hadn't mentioned much.

so, in my last blog i had mentioned the transportation and said i would mention a bit more on that. well, i have discovered that my friend cj wrote an extensive blog entry on the lima transportation system whcih i think would be very valuable for you to read, especially when considering what i'm going to tell you next. here is cjs blog: http://cjinperu.blogspot.com/. i also have his site on my sidebar titled "links."

anyway, story time. so, today i got lost for the first time. to begin with, i always meet my friends, scott and dan, for school because they also live in lince, pretty close to where i live. well, we meet at 8, but today i was about 5 min. late. i waited, and waited, and waited. no one showed up, and it was 8:20 (school begins at 8:30 and it takes 20 min. to a half hour to get there), and i decided i should just go. i was nervous because i had never done the journey alone and i honestly forgot the name where i needed to get off the bus (i just rely on sites, which isn't probably the smartest way to do things). so anyway, i actually ended up making it to school, taking the right bus and getting off at the right stop and everything! dan was apparently sick (everyone is sick. i am sick in the bathroom area... if you catch my drift), and scott just went ahead because he thought dan and i had left without him. ANYWAY. after school, i realized i needed to go home by myself because scott had gone with someone else to a market and dan was still sick. i had never done the journey home, even with other people, because i always went somewhere else after school. and as you read cj's blog, you may come to realize that just beacuse you know how to get somewhere, you may have absolutely no idea how to get home beacuse there aren't consistent routes or buses. so, i knew which direction i needed to go so i just went to a rather large bus stop and waited there. i needed a bus that said "Arequipa" on the side, and i remember dan had told me on the way home we take bus 18 or 29, most likely.

so i waited. and i waited. and i waited... and waited. about a half hour had gone by. there were no buses number 18. or 29. and definitely no arequipas. so finally i turned to a woman beside me, and in my pretty horrible spanish said, "i want a bus to arequipa. will the bus have arequipa on the side, or do i need a different bus?" and the first thing i caught that she said was, "no buses here go to arequipa." and then she rattled off a bunch of spanish which i basically understood none of. then a kambi pulled up (which are basically transportation VANS which you usually have no idea where they are going), and she pulled me on it with her! so here i was, riding a cambi, having no idea where i was heading ina city of 9 million people. for some reason, i actually wasn't panicking too much. then all of a sudden she shouts "baja baja arequipa!" which means, "stop stop for arequipa!" the kambi man who collects money basically threw me off the bus onto a street i had never been on. lima is full of these giant round-abouts where about 8 streets meet and go in different directions (all the roads here are a one way system), and i had been thrown off on this roundabout. so i figured out one of these streets must be arequipa, i just had no idea which. so i walked around a bit and ran into a bus that said "arequipa" on the side. i got on the bus, and as we were riding along the money collector asked me for my sol and asked where i was going. i said, "cuadra veinte dos de arequipa" (block 22 of arequipa). and he said, while giving me back my money, "you're going the wrong way. you need the other road on the other side."

at this point, it had been about an hour and a half since i left school. this whole getting home from school thing should take me a half hour at the most. let's just say i was pretty frustrated and exhausted. so... i crossed about 5 extremely busy high ways where vehicles DO NOT stop for pedestrians, and finally made it to the other side, onto a bus that finally took me home.

and that is my getting lost on public transportation story.

and now, if you can keep reading and haven't grown completely tired of this blog entry yet, i will tell you a few more details of my life.

monday my parents were ever so loving and took me to downtown lima, which is old lima, which means it is where the spainards first built when creating lima as their capital, therefore the buildings are all hundreds of years old and quite beautiful. we had already toured this area one afternoon for school, but going at night was quite different. it was, for one thing, gorgeous. it reminded me a bit of my favotire city Krakow in poland, only not polish, and actually not much like krakow, minus a square in the middle and tons of pedestrians. i suppose it just gave me the same feelings as krakow. everything was very lit up and grand. there were horse carriage rides and many vendors, as well as quite a few ice cream shops, discoteccas, bars, restaurants, etc. we got dinner and walked around quite a lot while my mother pointed out buildings and explained to me what they all were, and said, "very old" about every single one, because that's practically the only thing i would understand from her explanations.

i was so greatful for my parents for taking me down there. they did it all for me! i wish i knew more spanish to express my greatfulness, but it basically consists of me saying "i like it", "how pretty", "how beautiful", "thank you", or "it is good." anyway, we did not get home until quite late, about 11:30, so i was completely exhausted the next day, but it was worth it.

in school we have taken tours of many different things, which is all quite interesting. and it is helpful to go to different parts of lima on the public transportation, because i feel like if i do with a bunch of people, i can later figure it out on my own.

now, back to school, i have spanish class in the mornings from 8:30 to 11:00. then we usually go into the city for our history lesson, or have a lecturer come in and talk to us. wednesday's we go to Tambo Goshen and have worship, take quizes, eat food, discuss things, and hang out together. i really enjoy that time and it's a needed, relaxing afternoon. this wednesday it was scott's birthday so we got cake and ice cream which was QUITE exciting, i must say. his mom sent money to buy ice cream, and we had famous helado imported from the jungle, which i thought was pretty nifty. later that day i went to a bunch of the indian markets on a side street in miraflores. i could not contain myself from already buying a few items! everything is so cheap, and such wonderful quality, and so unique... and it's near impossible to turn something down when the owner is constantly dropping the price for you. (just a side note, about 3 soles = 1 dollar. an example: a bottle of water is 1 sol, aka 33 cents. a ride on the bus is 1 sol, aka 33 cents. a pair of shoes is 10 soles, aka about $3.50). i got a pair of earrings for about $1.50, a money pouch for 2 dollars (everyone here carries their money in these teeny tiny money pouches. it's basically a must if you take public transportation), already a gift for my sister en los estados unidos which i could not resist, and a finger puppet that cost 1 sol for my daniela here in the house (the 3 year old).

i have done so many other things. i have gone out a few times with friends, explored a bit, figured out new things, learned new words...

there is just so much i can't write about it all.

but i will finish with one last thing: my mother said that i am talking so much more and have improved my spanish since last thursday. so, there is hope for me after all!!!!

anyway, if you want to know more, which you probably don't because i truly have written an excessive amount, then you can email me. i do have an embarresing story about, uhhh, it is a "going to the bathroom" story. so, if curious, let me know and i will tell. only by email though.

i hope all are doing well whereever you may be. and next time i will try to update sooner so i don't have such a sporatic blog entry for you.

much love.