Dear Peru

Dear Peru,
Remember when you gave me the first blister I have ever had on my cornea?

Remember when you gave me all those tummy aches?

Remember when that little cute random 80 year old man cheered me on when I was jogging that time? Remember 2 weeks when he creeped me out by saying he thinks of me when he eats and sleeps?

Remember when Abby and I had to hike down Colca canyon for 7 hours, 2 of them being in complete darkness? Remember when we hiked back up the canyon on mules?

Remember when I got bit 220 times by ravenous jungle mosquitoes?

Remember when I got to swim with wild pink dolphins in the Amazon river?

Remember when Abby and I discovered we had a bidet in our bathroom in Buenos Aires?
Why was that so funny?

Remember the first day I spent in Peru, and how surreal that was?

Remember when I first met my host family and how surreal that was?

Remember when I ate la abuela’s food for the first time, and how surreal that was?

Remember all those laughs and conversations I had with Paula in the kitchen about random life things?

Remember when I couldn’t speak Spanish?

Remember back in February when I had no idea what I was getting myself into?

Remember when I had my first churro? Asu!

Remember when I thought that my stay here would never come to an end?

Remember when I felt my first lil’ earthquake?

Remember when I got partnered up with the handsome german exchange student in my dance class? And how much harder that made it dance?

Remember when Kike, the dance instructor, called me ‘pan’ because he found that more amusing than my actually last name? Pancito con quesito…

Remember when I never got robbed?

Remember when the guy on the micro started chucking mints at everyone?

Remember when Abby got bit on the butt by a deer on campus?

Remember all those times when Mateo would sing Johnny Cash at the top of his lungs?

Remember all those jokes that Alejo would make and that I never understood?

Remember all those taxi rides with Erick to the airport talking about all the buenazo food I should eat during my travels?

Remember when I got called bonita or preciosa by random people…every day?

Remember when Alejo always called me Julita, so then I started calling him Pancho?

Remember when Alejo always gave me those weird recipes and food mixtures like jello and manjar blanco? Or Beans and sugar? Or Oatmeal with just salt?

Remember when Paula made gum flavored jello?

Remember when Kika got really excited during the World Cup and started crying after a goal was made?

Remember when Mateo became obsessed with making bread? And he made a different bread a day? Even mango bread?

Remember when it would take Alejo a good 7 seconds to successfully communicate with the person on the other end of the phone after answering said phone? Hola…hOla…HOLA…HOLA!!

Remember how I never died on the micros?

Remember when there was a rooster on the bus we took to Puno, and how it kept caw-cawing?

Remember when Alejo would ALWAYS ask me if I had socks on? And if I didn’t I was bound to resfriarme.

Remember when we went to Paula’s house in Villa Maria? And how we lunched on mango, pizza flavored macaroni, and sopa de choclo y frejoles?

Remember when I ran into that glass window my second day of being in the house?

Remember when Jonatan would always use the phrase "Fat Baby" in his little acento? HA!

Remember when we would always play banana grams after CBU meetings?

Remember when we found out Jonatan and Miki were really good dancers?

Remember when I got bit by that monkey?

Love,
Amelia

11 days! say what?!

In exactly 11 days I'll be on a plane flying home to Austin, to stay this time. Everyone has been asking me how I feel about going home and having to say goodbye to Peru. I'm actually not really sure how to answer that.

I'm excited of course. I have missed home. Being gone so long has even given the word home a new meaning.

Home is where my support system is, home is where most of my memories are, home is where the people I'm crazy about are, home is where I feel the most comfortable and free, home is where I've never laughed harder, home is where the little moments are the most valuable, home is where all my favorite foods are, home is where I feel known and feel like I know others.

I'm excited to be back to that :) Being away where you are out of your comfort zone, out of your element, where you are being defined and challenged daily, where you struggle with something so simple as the language, where you've never felt more out of control, where you have no choice but to just trust in God's hand and mercy is...

actually pretty epic.

And I might miss that even more. I've learned a lot here, I've grown a lot here, I've seen a lot here. I've met people who have shown me unconditional love, who have shown me fearlessness and freedom, who have shown me what it looks like to give constant thanks and praise to Christ, who have shown me the beauty of being honest and open and letting someone into your life.

And when I say people, I´m referring to but a handful. And my heart might just break upon having to say goodbye to life with them. It´s not like our relationship is over, of course. But there is a great difference between living life daily with someone and simply keeping up with them in cards or emails.

So I have to say goodbye to Peru soon. It'll be so hard. It's such a strange thing to have to say goodbye to such good friends without guarantee that you will see them again. But the adventure isn't over. One thing I've realized is that Peru isn't my only adventure. Life in general is something that should be seen as crazy, awesome, and one of a kind. So I'm excited for what comes after this. It'll be good :)

Some random photos of life here

These are coca leaves. Here, they have been used to help calm altitude sickness or fight fatigue. This is also where cocaine is derived from. So I can't bring any coca leaves back to the US. Darn. Why must good things like this be abused?
I like to drink coca tea here :)



These are some pieces of ancient pottery from the Lambayeque civilization.
They are so many pretty pieces like this in Peru.



This is also from the Lambayeque civilization. Cool design, no? Nice Lambayeque, nice.



This is Abby and me drinking something called Chicha de jora en poto. It's basically a drink made from fermented corn. Super good! And poto, refers to the bowl that it's drunken from, which is part of a dried and painted squash. Poto also means butt. Just sayin' :)



These are the wonderful people we met on our trip to Chiclayo/Lambayeque. Chiclayo's motto is 'la ciudad de la amistad' or 'the city of friendship' These people really lived up to that slogan. They were so sweet and loving towards us. I'll miss them :)



These are some cute lil' ugly baby birds from Alejo's collection of birdies.



These are one of the adult birds. Aren't they pretty? There are about 60 of them. And they chirp all day. It's beautiful. It adds another element to the environment of the house. Love it!



This is a stand in selling food in the park in Miraflores.



This is what I bought from said stand. It's a dessert here called 'Arroz con leche con mazamorra morada.' It's basically a rice and milk dessert accompanied with fruity goodness. So good! Possibly my favorite Peruvian dessert.



This is beauty in a pie pan. Also known as a pie I made from a pumpkin that I bought, because they don't sell pumpkin puree. My first legit pumpkin pie, and it was epically delicious. I was excited and my host family loved it!



This is a dish called 'Choritos a la chalaca' It's basically mussels, or maybe scallops? covered with lime, spices, tomato, onion, and a bunch of other veggies. Something like that. Since Lima is on the coast, there is a lot of seafood. Mmmm!



Ok look closely. On the statues head there is a small llama. See it? There is a funny story behind this. The sculptor of the statue, while he was in the process of sculpting, was told to put a 'llama' above the head of the statue. In Spanish 'llama' not only means llama, as in the animal, but it also means flame. So the sculptor, instead of interpreting 'llama' as flame, which was the desire of the designer, interpreted it as the animal. So know, in one of the major plazas of Lima, there is a statue with a llama on it's head, instead of a flame. Hehe.



These are churros. Sooo good. They are churros filled with manjar blanco(caramel milky saucy goodness), churros filled with chocolate, and churros filled with pastry cream.



This is one of my host dad's paintings that he sold at his art exhibition. Isn't it beautiful? My room is right beside his art studio, so I get to see him painting a lot. It's neat :)



This is the typical cocktail here, called Pisco sour. It's made from Pisco, which is Peru's typical liquor, lime, sugar and egg whites. I'm not a big fan of Pisco. It's reaaaaallly strong.




These are my beautiful friends from CBU! CBU is a christian group on campus. I've had a lot of fun with them :)



Look at all those potatoes! Did you know that the potato originated in southern Peru? Cool, right? There are sooo many different species of potatoes here, about 300 varieties of them.



I'm crazy about the yogurt here. There are so many flavors! Most of the yogurt here is drinkable, but it's really good!



These are anticuchos! Another awesome Peruvian dish. What are they, you ask? Oh, just pieces of beef hearts on a stick. Super good though, trust me ;)



Palta!! Or Avocado!!! The avocados here are amazing! They are always in season, always huge, and always really yummy. I eat avocado here a lot. yum :)




This is a Peruvian hairless dog. They're kind of cute. Maybe. Sometimes. Not really. Haha. They're neat though. Since they don't have hair, they make up for the lack of protection from the cold by giving off a lot of heat. So a lot of people claim that their heat can ease arthritis pain, if you let the dog sleep in the bed with you.



This is Chancho! He is my host family's dog. Chancho means pig. Haha. He's scared of the camera so I tried to trap him between myaelf and the door, but he still managed to run away. Silly Chanchito.

Buenos Aires and stuff

I´ve been in Peru for awhile now. At this point life here feels quite natural, at least compared to my first couple of months here. The language comes more naturally. I can actually relax and listen calmly to the lecture that my professors are giving this semester, instead of being on the edge of my seat, turning my head and making sure that every piece of hair that was formerly covering my ear is now pushed out of the way so as to allow for optimal sound wave perception.

The food is all so familiar. And I've even gotten used to not eating dinner, since the lunches are so big. I consistently see the same groups of people, instead of meeting someone different every day like it used to seem. The transportation even feels simpler. I remember when I got here I thought I would never figure out how to get around this huge, bustling city. And now I feel as if I could go anywhere. Nice!
Things just feel more familiar. I feel like I´m a part of this, whereas last semester I spent a lot of my time feeling like an outsider, intruder or gringa wherever I went.

It's been neat. I still learn things all the time that surprise me though. For instance last week I learned that the president, Alan Garcia slapped some guy in the face for calling him corrupt in the midst of a crowd of people. And that wasn't the first time he had done something like that. Apparently in the past he kicked some guy during a parade. I heard that that act is on youtube. Wow. haha. A little violent there, Alan. But upon hearing things like that the public just kinda shrugs it off. But imagine if something like that happened in the US.
Politics here are so fascinating.

There's a lot that's been going on lately, but of course, I can never blog it all. But one thing that heppened this past weekend was a trip to Buenos Aires that Abby and I got to take with Melvin, our program director. It was great! Buenos Aires is so different from Lima. The architecture is beautiful! It's all very European. Argentina experienced a lot of European, especially Italian, immigration way back when, therefore they eat a lot of Italian food, the people are more European looking, and the rhythm within the way they talk sounds Italian. It's really neat. They also eat a lot of meat. A lot! On the second day we were there, we went out to eat and ordered a meat dish to share. It was overwhelming the amount of meat that we consumed. My tummy wasn't happy. And I don't think I'll mind being vegetarian for the rest of the week.

Another thing we noticed about Buenos Aires was that the city was very quiet compared to Lima. There's no honking! Or cobradores screaming out the micros. Wow..
There's buses, and a subway, and taxis that you don't have to negotiate with for a decent price. Oh, and there was sunshine. Haha. Different from what we are used to by now.

There are also bookstores everywhere. Yay books! There is a bookstore called Ateneo that is located in one of the old theaters of Buenos Aires. So beautiful. So just imagine a giant old, 3 story theater filled with books. And they were all books in Spanish! Cool :)

I also registered for next semester at UT. whoa! I come home in less than a month in a half. Can you believe it? It's going to be ridiculously hard leaving Peru. Peru's been a dream come true. But Austin is home, and it will be good being back :) There really is no place like home.

Learning a few things.

Hey friends!


I thought that I would share with you all some things that I'm learning right now:


I'm learning what it means to share life with others.


I'm learning how important sunshine is for my serotonin levels.


I'm learning what it means to be authentic with others.


I'm learning what it means to respect myself. This has been huge.


I'm learning that jello is still very much in style. Even to the point of making a rainbow cake out of the stuff :O


I'm learning how much I enjoy hugs, and pats on the backs, and snuggling up on the couch to watch a movie. There isn't a lot of that here :/


I'm learning to cherish the ability to communicate, since I've been debilitated in that area here. Simply being able to fluidly and effortlessly communicate is quite nice.


I'm learning how big of a focus point the US is to other countries. I didn't realize before how much others listen to American music, watch American movies, or strive to learn English.


I'm learning the importance of decision making, and the power we have to change the course of the day, or the course of our life. The importance of getting up and taking action instead of waiting on change to mystically come. And the danger in believing in 'destiny'.

I learned that cheese with fried bananas is Fantasic!


I learned that cows can survive in the jungle.
I also learned that there are really big, steep hills in the jungle.
I also also learned that cows like to climb these really big, steep hills.
I also also also learned that sometimes cows trip and fall and die off of these really big, steep hills
:)


I'm learning what that phrase "you have your whole life ahead of you" means.


I'm learning that I don't like Pisco, but I do like beer ;)


I'm learning how important it is to have a sense of humor and lightheartedness


I'm learning to have an interest in my own family history and culture.


I'm learning that the food you grow up with holds a lot of memories and meaning.


I learned to always check print preview before printing. JUST in case you unnecessarily print out 49 power point slides and jam up the printer in a computer lab that has a line of students waiting to use said printer :O


I'm learning how much having an attitude of confidence can change the situation.


I'm learning how much the culture you grew up in affects your habits and view of the world.


I'm learning that exercise is always worth the effort.


I'm learning the importance of having boundaries, and knowing when to say no.


I'm learning that I'm a morning person.


I'm learning to live one moment at a time.


I'm learning the importance of seeking truth and living in reality. In finding the truth about this life and being passionate about it.


I'm learning that Peru has a time warp that always sucks me in!


I'm learning that I miss Austin and all of it's wackiness :P


I'm learning that I miss my friends from Texas and all of their wackiness :P


I'm learning how much of a blessing it is that I get to live life here in Lima, Peru :)

hmm

Life is full of difficult decisions.
Let's take the following for instance:

A couple of nights ago I woke up suddenly. This is rare. Once I'm out, I'm usually out cold. But anywho, I woke up. Yet while still half asleep, I realized that my bed was shaking, along with the rest of my room. "Hmmm, what does this mean?" I asked my sleepy self. Angry monster living under the bed? Someone's doing jumping jacks on the roof? Earthquake?
Earthquake!
Well, earth tremble.
My first thought was cool! But then I remembered how we are supposed to leave the house if that happens...Right?
Then i sat there for a good 7 seconds deciding if I should go downstairs or not.
But it's cold...
But there's like a thousand steps to go down...
But I'm so sleepy..

And then the trembling ended. And i went back to sleep.
The end.

I now sleep with my contact lens case next to the bed...ever since I lost my glasses. In case I ever do have to race out of the house, at least I'll leave with my vision.

I also think It would be more effective to install a parachute system in the case of an earthquake. I could just parachute out of the house. I think that would be safer then going down nteenth flights of stairs.

Open to suggestions.

;)

Ok. So I just want to tell you about my day. Here it goes.

Day starting at 12 am.

I went to a Beatles concert in Lima. No, they are not dead/dying. They just moved to Lima. The anthropology department at my school hosted a concert/party in Miraflores last night and the featured band does cover music for the Beatles. People here love the Beatles. During the whole concert, every single person was singing away. They know more words to the songs than I do. Nice.

I left around 2:30ish, which is considered quite early based on Peruvian party time. I then came to realize that the micros were no longer running. Dang it. I suppose they go to sleep sometime after midnight. I stood there contemplating on whether I should take a street taxi or call a taxi seguro(safe taxi). There were no micros, but a bajillion street taxis. BUT apparently the assault rate from street taxis has gone up in the past couple of month, and my superhero skills to fight off the bad guys were all pooped out from the concert, soooo taxi seguro it was.

Then i got up at 8! And guess what! The sun was out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is big news you guys. The sun has been taken captive by the giant gray cloud of Lima for quite a while. So yay sun!

This morning was going to be the first visit to see an artisan that I am researching. He has a workshop in the center of Lima where he makes embroidered items for festivals and celebrations. In one of my classes we are studying artisanship within the city of Lima as opposed to the rural areas of peru, since they are very distinctive. So we get to visit an artasin throughout the semester and get to know his work, and my group picked embroideries. Sweet!! I feel like such an anthropologist.

But guess what. After being in a micro AND taxi for a total of 1.5 hours, he wasn't there. Lima traffic is a life ruiner, lemme tell ya. And to top it off, my micro ride back to my house(after finding out he wasn't there) was another 1.5 hours.
But don't worry my friends. I've gotten used to it. I still really enjoy micro rides. There is always something that happens...whether a clown man gets on trying to sell vitamin candy, or a baby starts to have a non verbal conversation with you, or a lady gets dragged off the micro and robbed.

Finally i got home to Barranco. Yay Barranco :) Alejo and Paula were just finishing up lunch so i ate with them. Today's meal was....drum roll please....cau cau!
Cau cau is basically a mix of potatos, aji, and cow stomach. Yum ;) I tasted the mondongo(cow stomach) and it was grooosssss and slimy! sldfkjslfj So I ate cau cau with chicken instead. yum!

Lunch was fun, I got to vent to Alejo and Paula about my unnecessary morning micro trips. I love this family :) I've noticed lately that my Spanish is legit. I think I'm fluent. I mean, maybe? I can talk without much of a problem. yesss! And there are moments when I find my self blabbering away. I'm also in a creative writing class this semester, and I love it!! It's so fun! I also think my creative juices work better when i think in Spanish. So maybe I'll become a famous gringa author who writes novels in Spanish. Alright! Another life option.

After lunch i went to take a nappy nap before my next mission of the day: A trip to a Brasilian Pentacostal Church in Lima that I am studying for another anthropology class. This particular church is found throughout a lot of South America, and they are known for being VEERRYY charismatic. O mejor dicho, un poco loco...yo diría.
BUT, that was cancelled because some of my group members couldn't make it.

Learning to live life flexibly...and patiently.

Ok. That was my day.
Now I have a headache, and am quite casada.
night :)