a mixed weekend.

this weekend, as far as spectacular vs. horrible, was a giant mix. but it was still the best i have had so far. and i shall now embelish...

so my parents told me thursday night that i would be going to a wedding friday night and that i could bring one friend along. it ended up that everyone was busy, so i went alone, but it turned out well. it was the wedding of my father's sobrina (neice), so i guess that makes it my cousin's wedding? i had never met her before though.

to begin with, peruvian weddings are the same, yet extremely different, from our typical wedding in the states. for one thing, everyone here wears prom dresses to weddings! i had on a homecoming-ish dress that my mom bought for me on sale at von maur, and i felt extremely underdressed. it was so strange. i also wish i had a pair of heals, because i'm pretty sure i was the only woman there in flats, minus the 80+ year olds. second, they don't have a wedding party. it's just the bride and groom. thrid, they go on forever... much more festivities than what we have (i wish ours were that way). so here is the night:

the wedding was scheduled to begin at 7 in the evening, but we didn't get there until 7:45, and it didn't even matter because it didn't even actually start until about 8:00! so apparently time doesn't matter even for weddings! my parents went to the front because they were family, and 4 of us plus daniela squeezed into an extremely small space. i was very tired, didn't feel the best (still the whole diahrea thing going on), i was thirsty, hungry (they rarely eat dinner here), hot, and i hoenstly thought i was going to pass out. i was practically sitting on my parents laps we were so squished together. i couldn't understand much of what was going on, nor did i have the concentration to attempt to understand what was going on, and all i wanted to do was cry. i was on the edge of tears. it may sound strange to you that i would be like that, but i seriosly nearing a panic attack. i kept thinking, "oh my god, i'm going to ruin my "cousins" wedding by fainting in the middle of it! won't that be great? i'll be the gringa girl who ruined the wedding." so anyway, there was a lot of singing, then the fathers of the bride and groom actually did the whole ceremony part, vows and everything (which i thought was awesome.. why shouldn't family members do the whole wedding? why does some pastor, who you probably don't even have that great of a relationship with, have to do it?) anyway, finally the wedding was over. it was probbaly only 45 min. long, but it felt like eternaty.

so then i really had no idea what we were doing. i got introduced to about 58 different members of the family, and my mom always told everyone that i was a member of the family, too. which was nice... but kind of comical at the same time, because i'm obviously so not part of that family. i mean, i can't even communicate with them! then we went into this big gym type room in the church (fellowship hall?), and the bride and groom sat at the front and their wedding pictures were taken. but it's kind of funny, since they don't have a wedding party, they just take pictures of anyone ever thought of as important. they had a photo with their college professors, a photo with the alva side of the family (that is mine.. and they even wanted to put me in their photo, but i said no because if it was my wedding, idk if i would want someone i had never met in my family photo. i guess it wouldn't matter to me, but still, i felt really weird about it), and they took a ton of pictures with anyone you could think of. and people walked around with all sorts of food on plates (mini sandwiches, chicken on skewers, plus many other items which i was all scared to eat because of my stomach). i still felt pretty horrible at this point. my head was killing me, i was still very light headed, and i just did not even want to attempt to communicate with people. it was pretty hot as well. so, i was thinking, "this must be the reception. they must be mennonite style and not dance or something." because it was really reception-like, with people just standing around and chatting.

but no. about 2 hours later, i was told to get into a taxi. i asked where we were going and my mom said, "the reception. our family likes to dance!" so, we end up in miraflores, and ahead of me i see the most beautiful wedding reception tent i have ever seen in my life (no exaggeration.. it was beautiful). i think i may just have a wedding here. and have my dad do it. and then have an awesome reception. anyway, it was pink and white, but i still thought it was goregous, and they had all these pretty lights, and a giant dance floor, yet it was all outside. and i wish i could describe this in a bit more detail, but i have far too many other things to write about at this point...

so we get to this reception and sit down at a table with some of my dad's brothers and their wives. i ask someone what time it is and they said midnight!!! i was extremely tired, but i thought that was just because i was sick, and i'm always tired here. but no, it was because it was far past my bedtime. and i would think far past everyone else's bedtime, too! i mean, my dad is in his 70s (i think... or at least far upper 60s), and his brothers look even older than him. i know for a fact that MY parents (in the states) couldn't handle a wedding that late! the thing i thought was crazy was that the tables were set for dinner, and i thought, "dinner? at this time?"

the night kept continuing. i was first given some alcoholic fruit drink. then a pisco sour. and then a glass of champagne that was topped up quite a few times. appetizers and such were handed out. and then the first course came, consisting of some pancakey thing, and then a second course, plus red wine, came! i thought my family was pretty straight-edge, being an evangelical pastor and all, but no... apparently they aren't opposed to the alcohol for special events! so it's about 1:15 am, and the dancing begins. all these adorable 60 and 70 year old couples get up and start dancing (latin dancing, of course), shaking their things at 1:30 in the morning! then my sister comes and insists that i go out to the disco tecca with her friends and cousins. at this point i thought it was going to fall over with exhaustion, but i decided i could get my second wind and try out a discotecca after all. it was great to be with young people, especially a few who speak english. my parents said i couldn't go because they knew i was tired, but my sister flipped out on the them and assured them that i would be safe, so they let me go after all.

anyway, the night went on, i was introduced to many family members, some of which were young and we could communicate in spanglish, which was nice. also, i met my 19 year old cousin who moved to the u.s. when he was 12 with his mom. this was the first time he had been back in peru since he had moved, so he was incredibly interesting to talk to, seeing as everything was so changed from his 11 year old mind to now. he also spoke both spanish and english which was quite helpful in communicating and understanding, particularily at the disco tecca.

i'm not sure what to all tell of the whole disco tecca experience. it was really fun, but really strange at the same time. the music was entertaining, and fun to dance to, although i had no idea what i was doing. around 4 in the morning they announced, "it's a happy birthday to everyone!" or something strange like that, and all this confetti and a massive amount of balloons fell from the ceiling. everyone went crazy, yelling and such. it was quite loco, but enjoyable. finally around 4:30 we headed home, and i crashed into my empty bed around 5:00 am.

then at about 11:00, i woke up and headed off to miraflores to meet sara, dan, hannah miller, and michael for the beach! quite a fun experience as well. we spent about 3 hours at the beach in miraflores and then went to bembos, a peruvian version of fast food where we actually got hamburgers! they were quite delish. i arrived home, took a nice cold shower, and attempted to sleep. i felt quite horrible at this point in the whole sickness scheme of things, but i had promised my dad i would go to a youth thing at his church that night, so around 8:00 pm we headed off for that. the wholetime i was dreading it, and even considering telling him i needed to turn around and walk home. i felt so terrible with stomach pains, i was exhausted, and i was not in the state to attempt to speak to people. but it somehow turned out okay...

i first rode with my dad, another youth pastor, and this other 20 year old who i could actually understand and we had a semi-decent conversation. or at least as decent as they can get. then i had a pretty great time at the actual event, even though i felt pretty lowsy.

sunday morning i woke up feeling horrible, with quite the cramping stomach. my mother asked me if i wanted to rest or go to church, and i told her i felt extremely sick and would rather stay at home. so that was pretty nice. i had the house to myself for about 4 hours, until 2 in the afternoon, but which time i had stopped running to the bathroom every 20 min. and could actually manage to sit up in my bed. my dad came home from church and asked if i wanted to go out to eat with his family, and i could get some soup for my stomach, so i agreed and went and was with all my fun cousins once again! they're great because they talk slow and actually want to understand me, and i want to understand them. it works for all. and my cousin carlos' mother, who lives in the states as well, talked to me in both english and spanish, and helped me out with a few sentence structure things which came in handy for the rest of the weekend. after the lunch bit, we came back to the house and watched american gangsta which i enjoyed, but it's a bit sad and pretty graphic. good, none-the-less. i thought it was kind of humorous that i can understand everything said, and my cousins and aunts could read everything that was written. we could comprehend the movie in two different forms.

anyway, after that, about 8 of us went out to barranco, a really beautiful part of lima. we went a restaurant on the ocean, which was on a roofed deck with little lights all about - quite cute, and slightly romantic. we ordered anticuchos, which is cow heart, and these little deserts that were quite delicious. i was so excited i was going to be able to try cow's heart, one of peru's typical foods. and it was delicious, too! we were then served pisco sours and my cousin and i bought a beer because since we can't in the states, we thought we should do it here. after the meal we took a little stroll by the beach, and then looked at all the old buildings around. barranco is one of the oldest settlements. and finally, we went back home. it was quite the great ending to a fantastic weekend.

other than that, the past 2 days have been pretty laid back. today i went to the san fransico catatombs which were pretty awesome. i got to see all sorts of bones of dead people burried quite deep under the church. the whole experience was neat.

i must say though, i've been getting cranky for the first time. i think the heat and sickness is getting to me. on top of that, the people are driving me nuts. i'm tired of being told i'm pretty. i'm tired of rubbing up against people everywhere i go. i'm tired of getting up so early in the morning. i'm tried of going everywhere in groups. i'm tired of not understanding. yeah... for the first time, i'm pretty grumpy.

but i'm hoping that will change. i just need to relax a bit, perhaps hang out with a different crowd. go to the beach? and i'll get over this grumpfest in no time.

anyway, i of course have more to write about, but i hear my sister talking and she always wants the internet when she comes home. and since i live in her room (i think) and she pays for the internet, i feel like i should get off. and i have been writing this entry for 3 days now (i always get interrupted before i can finish it), so i feel i should finally just put it out there and move on.

i will say one last thing. i have discovered my favorite spot: our roof. i love it and i can see all of lima. and it is so relaxing. i just sit up there and do my homework. so that is where i am headed off to at this moment.

i hope you are all keeping warm in the bitterly cold weather and i shall make an entry again most likely on sunday. so until then!