So I get on the micro this morning and 15 minutes in this guy gets on to sell some mints. This is normal. What wasn't normal was when he decided to throw the mints at the passengers and start screaming. I think this was a new way to get people to give money. well it worked. i bought mints. i hope you're happy screaming-mint man.

It's getting colder and colder. the sky has officially greyed over. Which means no more sun until summer.yum. yesterday at the breakfast table my host family was talking about how it was so hard to get out of bed because of the bad weather. Then Kika, my host mom(who is the happiest lady on the planet) was like 'you know what i tell myself in the mornings? if the sun wont shine, then I'LL just have to be the light of the day!' I think that phrase changed my life. jaja.

Did you know they don't have frozen foods here? Nope, that means no bagel bites. jaja

So mother's day was this past weekend and my host family had two get togethers. First, all of my family on my host mom's side came over for lunch. We had a BUNCH of food. We set up this long table and set up a pasta lunch, where people brought different kinds of sauces and salads for the pasts. So good. There were about twenty people total. I got to meet most of Kika's siblings and nephews and such, including Enrique, who writes the script for some of the telenovelas in Lima(including the one Alejo watches every evening at 9, jaja) THEN, that night there was a reunion at Alejo's(my host dad) brothers house. And i thought twenty was a lot...there were like 30, 40 people! I was kissing people left and right(except for this one guy who gave me the awkward "oh look, your from the US" handshake) not cool. So people just kinda talked and hung out and ate. I ended up talking with kika and carlos, who is alejos nephew. He is a news anchor in Lima on channel 14!

I love the family dynamic of these people. My family was born and raised in Lima, and all of their family is located in Lima. Which isn't unusual for families here. In the US people move all over the place(like my family). But here, Lima is the hot spot of Peru, economically. So people don't often have to move away, because all the jobs are here. It was so awesome to see family come together and be with each other. And not just some of the family. But the whole dang thing. That's so rare to me.

Also, because of the fact that my family has been here for their whole lives, they have SO many connections with other people. For instance we'll be flipping through the tv channels, and kika will mention that the girl on the tv was her student, or the guy next to her is her nephew. I'll bring home readings from my Spanish class and ask Kika if she has ever read the book. "Of course, and oh yeah, i had lunch with him once" We are talking about really famous latinamerican artists too...Julio cortazar, Jorge Luis Borges..Basically, they just know a lotta people.

If i get fat here, it's not my fault. Promise. They just REALLY like to feed me here. the other day we were at the grocery store checking out and kika leans over and tells me to go grab 8 chocolate bars. I thought 'ok cool, a lil' for the whole family.' Then we get home and kika hands me the bag of chocolate and tells me to go hide them in my room, because they are my own lil' treasures. lol.
Even when i'm sick on my stomach they don't cease to offer me food.
good thing i like food. or maybe not, once my pants stop fitting.

So i got sick last saturday and i was in bed sleeping half the day. When i finally decided to come downstairs, i was all nastified, in my sweat pants, with crazy hair, and a shiny face. and what do you know? there's a handsome lad sitting at the kitchen table. i hope i smelled ok. end of story.

My friend Abby got nipped in the butt by a deer last week. Haha. We were in the grass at school eating fruit. And this deer comes up to us, so i thought "hey, maybe it'll eat this orange peel" Bad decision. After it finished that it wouldn't leave us alone. So i got up and walked away and it started chasing me, but then it stopped and decided to pursue Abby, because she still had an apple. So then it chased her and nipped her butt. jeje. deers are vicious. deer jerky is not.

So overall, life is good. I feel at home here, which says a lot because I haven't heard the same from others. But most of that has to do with my host family. They are fascnating, loving, humorous people and I love spending time with them. I feel like Kika genuinely loves sharing her life with me, which is perfect, that's why i came here. I still wish i could have an intelligent conversation with them, besides my baby babbling, because they have so much to say and I wish i could respond how i wanted, but we'll get there. I have made good friends in my CIEE group. I enjoy them :) a lot. I have also made some good peruvian buddies whom i have already grown to love! So yeah, i'm excited for the relationships here and for whatever more may come.

Ok i'm going to go chill with the fam now. maybe watch some telenovelas :)


pictures of:
deer and me at the PUCP(my school)
Center plaza de Lima
The view of the beach near my house
a micro, from far away