Now that I am back in the United States, I have been doing lots of reflecting on my past experiences and how much I have learned from the different cultures. Some things I recently appreciate:
1. Being able to throw toilet paper in the toilet
2. Hot water
3. Clean drinking water; as well as ice.
4. My washing machine and dryer
5. Cheese
That's all of the silly little things I can think of but what I really appreciate most of all is how fortunate I am and how many different opportunities have been presented to me in my life. My family loves me very much and I am very lucky to have them.
After reading this blog, if you would like to donate to Light and Leadership Initiative, I would be very grateful. It does go to a great cause and all of the money goes towards bettering our programs in Huaycan. The website is http://www.lightandleadership.org/. I am considering going back and doing more volunteering there and it is a very special organization to me!
I may continue blogging, so check back. I am going to San Francisco this week, summer travels will continue!
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011
Machu Picchu, success.
So I copied and pasted the majority of this blog from my travel companion, David Smerdon which you can find at davidsmerdon.com
Here it goes:
We even made it to Machu Picchu in time for the dawn despite the worry that there would be no tickets left. I have to say, of all the things I’ve seen on my travels, I’ve experienced none more beautiful than watching the sun rise over the colossal tree-covered Peruvian mountains and illuminate the Inca ruins in some sort of beautifully silent and vaguely mystical occasion.
Together with my travel buddy David, still a little shocked by the altitude, and with no idea of whether we could get tickets to Machu Picchu, we touched down in Cusco Monday morning. The best chance Dave and I had identified involved changing flight, train and bus tickets (to the tune of almost a thousand dollars) and hoping that the tickets didn’t get sold out in the meantime. It seemed Karma had all the ingredients to record yet another point in our never-ending blitz match.
But, would you believe, things finally started going our way. The taxi we caught just happened to be the one that Mary, a local tour operator, jumped into to grab a lift back to her Mother’s new hostel. And it just so happened, as we got talking, that her tour had two cancellations and so she had just acquired two spare tickets (rarer than one of Willy Wonka gold in this manic Peruvian Independence week). Not only that, but the tour tickets came with a guided trip to the Sacred Valley, local markets and other ruins, bus tickets everywhere, and personal pick-ups from all our various transport interchanges.
All were quickly snapped up by Dave and I when we stopped by the hostel – which, it turns out, was awesome and dirt cheap. We changed reservations and booked ourselves in, whereupon, overwhelmed by illness, altitude, sleep deprivation and a little bit of touristic relief, I instantly fell asleep for a good five hours.
Cue a montage of hitch-free vacationing, resplendent with clear blue skies and breathtaking scenery, ancient ruins, colourful markets, friendly locals, hilarious guides and enough decorative Incan chessboards to keep me grinning like a politician at a fundraiser.
It wasn’t all serendipitously easy, mind you. Our 6am morning bus tickets to Machu Picchu were forgotten by one of our guides when we arrived in Aguas Calientes (the little town closest to the ruins) at one in the morning. Not only that, but our hostel had mistakenly assumed (as did most of our hospitality services) that Dave and I were a couple, and put us in a double room, ironically called a “matrimonial room” in Spanish. Considering this continent’s generic homophobia, particularly outside of the major cities, trying to convince locals in broken Spanish that we were a man and a woman travelling as amigos was frustratingly difficult – and, at times, hilarious.
Still, it wasn’t much of an inconvenience, as we were up at 3.30am anyway to get in line for bus tickets on the street in the freezing cold (the ticket office doesn’t open until 5.15am). It was all worth it, though, as we managed to get on the first bus and be at the ruins by opening at 6am, before the dawn.
After a lot of pleasantly crowd-free exploring with the obligatory thousand photos, a beautiful sunrise and a two-hour guided tour, I headed back to sleep. Dave was determined to climb up Mount Machu Picchu (no, not the cute hill in the picture at the outset, but the other mountain of twice the height that towers over the ruins and surrounds) was “only a four hour climb.”
Dave powered up in an hour. Not wanting my efforts to go to waste nor for Jessie and the other volunteers to feel they’d missed out, he decided to take an embarrassingly over-dramatic, Crocodile-Hunter-style video en route to document his ‘torment’.
I have to say, until this week I thought the town of Cusco was just a sort of jumping point for tourists heading to Machu Picchu. But after spending a few days there after visiting the ruins, I wish I could have stayed longer. The town is just fantastic, and given my occasional cravings in Huaycan for the old backpacker life, it was a bit of an oasis for the tourist on a budget.
The highlight came on the last night, when we visited the Macondo restaurant, just off the main plaza. If you ever visit Cusco, it’s in my opinion the coolest eatery/bar/music venue around. Uniquely decorated in a bizarrely postmodern style, the cosy little joint sports a menu to match the decor, including Dave’s chosen dish – alpaca steak (much to the disgust of the girls sitting next to us, one of whom was vegetarian).
Of course, Dave being the grandmaster chess champion as he is, as soon as I walked in, he sat down to a respectable game of chess with the owner of the restaurant. Following the chess came the live music, a cool style of Latin music I thoroughly enjoyed. I put it down to the bongos.
The two girls whom I had previously disgusted with my carnivorous, ecstatic alpaca-munching turned out to be two pleasant Californians who were willing to forgive Dave’s culinary transgression, in exchange for us joining them for a bottle of Argentinean Malbec after dinner. Feeling a little homesick, we were happy to head to The Real McCoy, an English-run cafe that is a bit of a haven for homesick gringos in Cusco. The four of us even kicked on to Mama Africa’s, possibly the cheesiest bar I’ve seen since my Amsterdam days, and a quaint little reggae bar that was having a DubStep night (a style of music that essentially takes a normal pop beat and completely destroys it half-way through the song.
And even better, one of the girls, Stephanie, has a far cooler blog than mine on which she’s photographically detailed the evening, saving me having to put in any more effort. There’s even a video of the dinner band. Check it out at http://lostinperu.tumblr.com/post/8272555832/on-peru-s-independence-day-we-decided-to-treat , and click the left arrow at the bottom to cycle through her posts from the night.
Although I’m leaving out tons of details, five days is far too much to document to the T. Dave and I had a pleasantly great vacation away from our well-known shanty town. It’s crazy that I go home tomorrow…I’ll try and write a post about my last few days here.
P.S. I kissed a girl and I liked it. That's all folks.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Feliz cumple Sarah!
The past couple of days have been really fun.
Tuesday me and Lauren had our "end of semester party" with our amazing group of 6-9 year olds. Tuesday night was Ellie's last night, the volunteer from London. A big group of us all got together including Jason, Roberto and the Horacio boys,we had some beers and hung out. Gladys made Arroz con leche for dessert with Masomora (which is this purple sauce made from corn with assorted fruits). Together, they are absolutely heavenly. Random fact: There's more that 3000 types of potatos in Peru. Crazy. I eat a lot of potatos here.
Wednesday was Sarah's 24th birthday! Wednesday and Thursdays are our days off, so we went into Lima. Side-note: I am the youngest one in this house by far. The person closest to my age is Gladys, who is 23. The oldest volunteer is 28right now. For Sarah's birthday, me, Gladys and her woke up at 6 A.M. and went to Via el Salvador which is an old people home which is another non-profit organization in Lima. The people there are very poor and absolutely precios. We got there just in time to serve breakfast for them. There was this one lady named Delia who was deaf and mute. She was so happy though. She hugged me and showed me her photo album and all of her favorite beaded jewelery she had made. I hung out with her for a while. Her mother was with her too, nearing her nineties and did "translations" for Delia. After breakfast, there was bingo. I helped a table that didn't know the numbers in spanish. So the whenever any number was called out, I showed them where to put their bingo marker. After bingo, was prayer time. I listened but I mostly helped the older folk follow along in the book. We then served lunch and many of the "ancianas" put half of their food in a tupperware to save for dinner. All of the people in the dining hall then sang "Feliz cumpleanos" for Sarah and another women in the program that turned 91! Some of the people there only spoke Quechua so it was a little difficult to communicate. Delia gave me a beaded necklace that she made. It was so sweet of her, I will keep it forever!
For lunch, the three of us met the rest of the volunteers, Lara, and a new volunteer named Lindsey at the seafood restaurant "Punto Azul". I had fish and pesto pasta, which was delicious. Everyone else had ceviche but I didn't think my stomach could handle it. David discovered he doesn't like ceviche and ate half of my meal. (It was huge). They sung happy birthday to Sarah, again and gave us really cool hats and balloons! After lunch, we all went back to Lara's and had tres leches cake and beer. Tres Leches is a moist cake that is soaked in evaporated milk. Absolutely delicious and creamy. We all went back to Huaycan and said goodbye to Ellie unfortunately. She will be missed lots!
We've all been loving on each other lately because our entire group leaves at the end of July/beginning of august besides the three new volunteers.
Last night, me, Lauren and Gladys had a sleepover and we took the mattresses off our bed and all cuddled for the past 4 nights. It's sad that we'll all have to be in different cities come August.
Thursday Kat and I went to central Lima and met up with the new volunteer, Lindsey. We went to Plaza de las armas and el museo de oro and el museo de literatura peruana...which I must admit was the most boring museum I have been to. Kat and Lindsey tried their first Alfajor (YUM). We went souvenier shopping and saw llamas in the park. It was a great afternoon. That night, we all came back and met up with Miguel and Jason. We played foosball at the carnival and see-sawed in the park like kids. Then we got sports equipment and played a few games of volleyball and a game of soccer. It was really fun and we played until after midnight! Time flies.
Friday was my last day with Los Alamos kids. I bought them some pencils and pencil sharpeners and I played bingo with them and gave out jump ropes i bought. They love jump roping, but they dont have a jump rope, so they were really happy when they got one! It was really sad saying goodbye to them all! Friday night we went to Kenko, as per usual...except I got really sick...thanks stomach ulcer.
Saturday was the "jovenes field trip". The age range for this field trip goes from about 15 to about 27. I loved it because my two tutoring students, Moises and Juan who I tutor 3-4 hours each a week got to go! We went to Circus Shengdu, which was a Chinese Acrobatic show. Everyone enjoyed it! It was really cool! Afterwards, we ate at Pizza Hut. So American. Only thing is, that Pizza Hut in Peru is a billion times nicer than Pizza Hut in the United States. It was seriously a gormet family restaurant. I was pleasantly surprised.
Tomorrow, Monday, I leave for Cusco with David, another volunteer here. We are going to be gone until Saturday so I am so excited for the adventures we are going to have! I can't wait to see Machu Picchu! I'll post pictures as soon as possible!
Tuesday me and Lauren had our "end of semester party" with our amazing group of 6-9 year olds. Tuesday night was Ellie's last night, the volunteer from London. A big group of us all got together including Jason, Roberto and the Horacio boys,we had some beers and hung out. Gladys made Arroz con leche for dessert with Masomora (which is this purple sauce made from corn with assorted fruits). Together, they are absolutely heavenly. Random fact: There's more that 3000 types of potatos in Peru. Crazy. I eat a lot of potatos here.
Wednesday was Sarah's 24th birthday! Wednesday and Thursdays are our days off, so we went into Lima. Side-note: I am the youngest one in this house by far. The person closest to my age is Gladys, who is 23. The oldest volunteer is 28right now. For Sarah's birthday, me, Gladys and her woke up at 6 A.M. and went to Via el Salvador which is an old people home which is another non-profit organization in Lima. The people there are very poor and absolutely precios. We got there just in time to serve breakfast for them. There was this one lady named Delia who was deaf and mute. She was so happy though. She hugged me and showed me her photo album and all of her favorite beaded jewelery she had made. I hung out with her for a while. Her mother was with her too, nearing her nineties and did "translations" for Delia. After breakfast, there was bingo. I helped a table that didn't know the numbers in spanish. So the whenever any number was called out, I showed them where to put their bingo marker. After bingo, was prayer time. I listened but I mostly helped the older folk follow along in the book. We then served lunch and many of the "ancianas" put half of their food in a tupperware to save for dinner. All of the people in the dining hall then sang "Feliz cumpleanos" for Sarah and another women in the program that turned 91! Some of the people there only spoke Quechua so it was a little difficult to communicate. Delia gave me a beaded necklace that she made. It was so sweet of her, I will keep it forever!
For lunch, the three of us met the rest of the volunteers, Lara, and a new volunteer named Lindsey at the seafood restaurant "Punto Azul". I had fish and pesto pasta, which was delicious. Everyone else had ceviche but I didn't think my stomach could handle it. David discovered he doesn't like ceviche and ate half of my meal. (It was huge). They sung happy birthday to Sarah, again and gave us really cool hats and balloons! After lunch, we all went back to Lara's and had tres leches cake and beer. Tres Leches is a moist cake that is soaked in evaporated milk. Absolutely delicious and creamy. We all went back to Huaycan and said goodbye to Ellie unfortunately. She will be missed lots!
We've all been loving on each other lately because our entire group leaves at the end of July/beginning of august besides the three new volunteers.
Last night, me, Lauren and Gladys had a sleepover and we took the mattresses off our bed and all cuddled for the past 4 nights. It's sad that we'll all have to be in different cities come August.
Thursday Kat and I went to central Lima and met up with the new volunteer, Lindsey. We went to Plaza de las armas and el museo de oro and el museo de literatura peruana...which I must admit was the most boring museum I have been to. Kat and Lindsey tried their first Alfajor (YUM). We went souvenier shopping and saw llamas in the park. It was a great afternoon. That night, we all came back and met up with Miguel and Jason. We played foosball at the carnival and see-sawed in the park like kids. Then we got sports equipment and played a few games of volleyball and a game of soccer. It was really fun and we played until after midnight! Time flies.
Friday was my last day with Los Alamos kids. I bought them some pencils and pencil sharpeners and I played bingo with them and gave out jump ropes i bought. They love jump roping, but they dont have a jump rope, so they were really happy when they got one! It was really sad saying goodbye to them all! Friday night we went to Kenko, as per usual...except I got really sick...thanks stomach ulcer.
Saturday was the "jovenes field trip". The age range for this field trip goes from about 15 to about 27. I loved it because my two tutoring students, Moises and Juan who I tutor 3-4 hours each a week got to go! We went to Circus Shengdu, which was a Chinese Acrobatic show. Everyone enjoyed it! It was really cool! Afterwards, we ate at Pizza Hut. So American. Only thing is, that Pizza Hut in Peru is a billion times nicer than Pizza Hut in the United States. It was seriously a gormet family restaurant. I was pleasantly surprised.
Tomorrow, Monday, I leave for Cusco with David, another volunteer here. We are going to be gone until Saturday so I am so excited for the adventures we are going to have! I can't wait to see Machu Picchu! I'll post pictures as soon as possible!
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Aniversario de Huaycan y the women's program!
Friday was the 28th (correction) anniversary of the town I live in, Huaycan. The party literally went on ALL DAY and night. We were woken up at 7 A.M. by really loud music and people causing havoc in the street. All of the schools competed in a marching band competition and they were all dressed in the cutest outfits! There were llamas and horses in the streets all dressed up for the festivities too! It was a lot of fun and there were fireworks!
The next day, Saturday, was the women's program field trip. We went to the National Museum which is in Lima. Because Huaycan is a largely 'machismo', a cultural chauvanism, it is not often that women leave their homes or Huaycan in general. Light and Leadership allowed them to have an entire day off from their normal household duties; and they all learned a lot. I wanted the illiterate women from the Spanish Literacy class to fully experience the museum as well so Ellie and I walked through the exhibit with them and read aloud. The pictures spoke to the women more than the words I believe. The sixth floor of the museum is entirely dedicated to the history of the political terrorist group, Shining Path, which started back in the 1980s. Huaycan began its reputation then for housing Peruvian gangs. 69,000 people were slain due to this terrible organisation, many of them being family members of the women on the field trip. One woman, Marina, turned to me and said "Mi padre fue matado por Shining Path". Her father was murdered amongst thousands of other Peruvians and she was not the only one in the group. So many of the women were extremely emotional during the museum tour. It was everyones first time at the exhibit and it affected everyone deeply.
To lighten the mood, we ventured to the first floor for the Machu Picchu exhibit. There were tons of photos and stories of how Machu Picchu was discovered. After leaving the museum, we went to a restaurant called "rustica" where we ate piqueos which included all sords of different foods and meats. It was absolutely delicious and we got home pretty late. Everyone had a great time as did I!
The next day, I helped out Gladys, my roommate with an art class. We made rice shakers and decorated them! It was so fun! Today, Monday, was such a great day. I tutored Moises-we watched youtube videos, read funny articles, and listened to music. Next, I tutored Marleini, we talked about the criminal justice system and learned all the different vocabulary. Lunch was Locro de zapallo-sooo good. It's a potato creamy cheesey chocloey type of stew that goes with rice. In the afternoon, I went to the Alamos and gave out their final exam. They all did really well! We then played an hour or so of volleyball and it was really fun, yet really intense! hahah After that, I went down zone Z to the spanish literacy class where to my surprise, the entire women's group organized a party for us! They made Aji de Gallina (a shredded chicken custard-like dish that goes with rice, boiled egg, and potato. Lots of the women made speeches and thanked us for how much we have positively affected their community and their families. It was really great to hear! It really meant a lot how much work the women put in to making us the food and it was absoluetely delicious. It was Marina's birthday so we all sang happy birthday. Then, one of the women cracked raw eggs on Marina's head! I was in shock! Apparently this is a Peruvian tradition for good luck! Glad my birthday is in September!
Tonight, Gladys, being the art teacher she is, taught all of the volunteers how to woodburn. We all got little squares and picked out a design, traced it, and then burned it on! We all signed the backs of our wood as a little momento from Huaycan. Thanks Gladys, for your artistic two sense!
The next day, Saturday, was the women's program field trip. We went to the National Museum which is in Lima. Because Huaycan is a largely 'machismo', a cultural chauvanism, it is not often that women leave their homes or Huaycan in general. Light and Leadership allowed them to have an entire day off from their normal household duties; and they all learned a lot. I wanted the illiterate women from the Spanish Literacy class to fully experience the museum as well so Ellie and I walked through the exhibit with them and read aloud. The pictures spoke to the women more than the words I believe. The sixth floor of the museum is entirely dedicated to the history of the political terrorist group, Shining Path, which started back in the 1980s. Huaycan began its reputation then for housing Peruvian gangs. 69,000 people were slain due to this terrible organisation, many of them being family members of the women on the field trip. One woman, Marina, turned to me and said "Mi padre fue matado por Shining Path". Her father was murdered amongst thousands of other Peruvians and she was not the only one in the group. So many of the women were extremely emotional during the museum tour. It was everyones first time at the exhibit and it affected everyone deeply.
To lighten the mood, we ventured to the first floor for the Machu Picchu exhibit. There were tons of photos and stories of how Machu Picchu was discovered. After leaving the museum, we went to a restaurant called "rustica" where we ate piqueos which included all sords of different foods and meats. It was absolutely delicious and we got home pretty late. Everyone had a great time as did I!
The next day, I helped out Gladys, my roommate with an art class. We made rice shakers and decorated them! It was so fun! Today, Monday, was such a great day. I tutored Moises-we watched youtube videos, read funny articles, and listened to music. Next, I tutored Marleini, we talked about the criminal justice system and learned all the different vocabulary. Lunch was Locro de zapallo-sooo good. It's a potato creamy cheesey chocloey type of stew that goes with rice. In the afternoon, I went to the Alamos and gave out their final exam. They all did really well! We then played an hour or so of volleyball and it was really fun, yet really intense! hahah After that, I went down zone Z to the spanish literacy class where to my surprise, the entire women's group organized a party for us! They made Aji de Gallina (a shredded chicken custard-like dish that goes with rice, boiled egg, and potato. Lots of the women made speeches and thanked us for how much we have positively affected their community and their families. It was really great to hear! It really meant a lot how much work the women put in to making us the food and it was absoluetely delicious. It was Marina's birthday so we all sang happy birthday. Then, one of the women cracked raw eggs on Marina's head! I was in shock! Apparently this is a Peruvian tradition for good luck! Glad my birthday is in September!
Tonight, Gladys, being the art teacher she is, taught all of the volunteers how to woodburn. We all got little squares and picked out a design, traced it, and then burned it on! We all signed the backs of our wood as a little momento from Huaycan. Thanks Gladys, for your artistic two sense!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Huacachina
So this past week was really great!
Monday we went about classes as per usual, my friend Lauren found out that she got an awesome job in D.C. as a teacher so we had a few beers to celebrate that night
Tuesday, I went into Lima to get my biopsy results for my ulcer, and everything is looking A Okay. I am really learning my way around Lima. I got there all on my own! Tuesday afternoon, I taught class and then three of us (Me, Ellie, and David) headed for Lima to catch a bus to Huacachina (which is in the Region of Ica) it's about 5 hours away. Huacachina is a small touristy city made up huge sand dunes surrounding an water hole oasis. We went on the bus line Cruz del Sur and I must say it was a pretty smooth ride besides one obvious issue. They showed a horror movie on the bus. Me and Ellie were absolutely freaking out, we both hate horror movies but these damn Peruvians love them some gory movies. I was absolutely dying during the entire film...if any of you all have seen the movie "Frozen"...I don't suggest you watch it. People get stuck on a chairlift in a ski resort and get eaten alive by wolves. Not something you want to watch in your free time. Anyhow, we managed to get to Huacachina safely, without being eaten alive by wolves and we found a shit hostel. Our bathroom stenched of weed, and was flooded. Me and Ellie stayed in one hostel and David had to stay in the nicer one because there weren't enough rooms. The next morning, we went to the nice hostel where we all met up with Chris, Gladys, and Valentin.
Wednesday we all ate breakfast at a place called "Bananas" which made a mean omelette. We then went to the sand dunes and relaxed, got some sun, and took in the view. For lunch, we ate at the restaurant in our hostel. At four o'clock it was time for our sunset sand dune buggy tour which was freaking awesome. We got on a crazy dune buggy and went up and down the steepest hills. There were two guys our age from Holland in our buggy as well, they were really fun! We stopped at some really big cliffs and got out our "sand boards" which are basically like a snow board, just used on sand dunes. The first one we slid down on our stomachs-so flippin' fast-more adreniline rushing than a roller coaster. The second and so on we stood up on the boards...which I wasn't so talented at. I did however, make it successfully down one dune, that's something to be proud of. The afternoon was great and there was a phenomenal sunset. The views were spectacular and the dune buggy, sensational.
That night, we went out for drinks at a place that offered happy hour. After that, we went to a pizza place for dinner which was a very "romantic" place, however, our group of six hooligans basically cleared the place out. We're a loud and inappropriate bunch. After that, we smoked some shisha at a hookah place nearby and played jenga. Everyone got the La turista which wasn't so good, so we all went to bed pretty early.
*Just so you know, I did not consume beverages or smoke shisha due to my condition
The next morning, we ate at bananas again, took a walk around the oasis and bought some souveniers. We caught the bus at 2pm and finally got home after all of the traffic at 8:45pm. It was a long travel day but totally worth it. Plus, there were no horror movies this bus ride, so thats a positive. We all had a great time. Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of Huaycan so I'm really excited to see the festivities! Will write soon!
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Paparazzi
This next paragraph took place this past miercoles: Despite my stomach ulcer, I decided it was a smart idea to go on the volunteer excursion to Matucana; a beautiful mountain range just north of the town Chosica (which is a nicer version of Huaycan). The views were amazing but the hike was pretty rigorous! It was a two hour hike up the mountain to the waterfall but we had to stop a few times. A dog we befriended in the city of Matucana came on the hike as well, he stayed with us the whole way, whom we referred to as Mr. McGriddes. Sarah, being the climber she is even attempted to "boulder" on a rock. On the road up, a little old man was trekking all the way up to the waterfall just to sell popsicles. The fresa chupete hit the spot after a long two hour hike, so i was very thankful. At the waterfall, we all took our clothes off (some more than others..Ellie and Chris) and jumped into the freezing cold water. It was so refreshingly brisk I almost caught hypothermia (if that is even possible). Our hike down was surprisingly only thirty minutes down...running. We got to see Aopaca's which is always thrilling. We got home pretty late, but it was a great day...needless to say, my butt was quite sore the next day. We got a new volunteer that night too, his name is David, he's Australian and he's grandmaster chess champion of the world. The best part is that he's coming to Cusco with me! So I don't have to go alone! YAY!
The next day, we all went into Lima and ate at Chili's. We were missing some good ol' American tex-mex. After a delicious meal, we headed over to a tattoo parlor in Miraflores where Ellie got two tattoo's (one is on her ankle that's the LLI symbol)! I got my nose pierced. Unfortunately, the nose piercing was ephemeral...It fell out and closed up two days later. Greak luck I have. That night we all went to Karaoke and we got another new volunteer named Valentin, he's from France!
Friday we all went back to work as per usual. I tutored Moises, taught my Alamos class, and that night we went to Kenko's (the regeatton club) at night. It was really fun, and we got to sit on the VIP couches...not really, but they were white and prestigious looking. Whenever we go out in Huaycan or Santa Clara, a million people want to take pictures with us...it's flattering at first..but it gets old fast. I danced with Roberto a lot, even though he's probably 2 inches shorter than me, not to mention-I was wearing heels. He tried to teach me some new Salsa dancing moves, but I have difficulty following...I always instincively lead when dancing.
Saturday is always my long day- I tutor Moises, play sports with 6-9 year olds and then teach them english. They were so misbehaved! After lunch, I tutor Juan for three hours (see below). I decided to do something different for this tutoring session. Since he really just needs to practice his english, I printed out recipes for him in english and we went to Santa Clara and ran around the grocery store to find all the ingredients. Afterwards, we sat outside in the shopping center, went over his homework, and ate ice cream. It was a really fun, he's a cool kid. That night, I taught my adult class, we just reviewed for their exam next week.
Today, Sunday, there was a cultural festival going on in Huaycan. There were tons of dancers parading in the streets and a band and the whole shabang. It was really awesome to watch. Tonight, we went to a student's birthday party,Areselli- keep in mind she's eight years old... and it was so awesome. Literally, there was this crazy clown that hosted the party and they played Regeatton and all the kids GOT LOW. They all had crazy dance moves. It was super cute and we all had a lot of fun. Afterwards, we went to a diskoteka that plays "JumpStyle" music. It is like electronica underground techno-ish and you do this really weird dance move...I would describe it as somewhat of a half-jumping, breakdancing movements to a step dance. It was really fun, and we all got super sweaty. Again, we posed in various pictures for the locals. PAPARAZZI.
That's all folks!
The next day, we all went into Lima and ate at Chili's. We were missing some good ol' American tex-mex. After a delicious meal, we headed over to a tattoo parlor in Miraflores where Ellie got two tattoo's (one is on her ankle that's the LLI symbol)! I got my nose pierced. Unfortunately, the nose piercing was ephemeral...It fell out and closed up two days later. Greak luck I have. That night we all went to Karaoke and we got another new volunteer named Valentin, he's from France!
Friday we all went back to work as per usual. I tutored Moises, taught my Alamos class, and that night we went to Kenko's (the regeatton club) at night. It was really fun, and we got to sit on the VIP couches...not really, but they were white and prestigious looking. Whenever we go out in Huaycan or Santa Clara, a million people want to take pictures with us...it's flattering at first..but it gets old fast. I danced with Roberto a lot, even though he's probably 2 inches shorter than me, not to mention-I was wearing heels. He tried to teach me some new Salsa dancing moves, but I have difficulty following...I always instincively lead when dancing.
Saturday is always my long day- I tutor Moises, play sports with 6-9 year olds and then teach them english. They were so misbehaved! After lunch, I tutor Juan for three hours (see below). I decided to do something different for this tutoring session. Since he really just needs to practice his english, I printed out recipes for him in english and we went to Santa Clara and ran around the grocery store to find all the ingredients. Afterwards, we sat outside in the shopping center, went over his homework, and ate ice cream. It was a really fun, he's a cool kid. That night, I taught my adult class, we just reviewed for their exam next week.
Today, Sunday, there was a cultural festival going on in Huaycan. There were tons of dancers parading in the streets and a band and the whole shabang. It was really awesome to watch. Tonight, we went to a student's birthday party,Areselli- keep in mind she's eight years old... and it was so awesome. Literally, there was this crazy clown that hosted the party and they played Regeatton and all the kids GOT LOW. They all had crazy dance moves. It was super cute and we all had a lot of fun. Afterwards, we went to a diskoteka that plays "JumpStyle" music. It is like electronica underground techno-ish and you do this really weird dance move...I would describe it as somewhat of a half-jumping, breakdancing movements to a step dance. It was really fun, and we all got super sweaty. Again, we posed in various pictures for the locals. PAPARAZZI.
That's all folks!
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Ulceras de estomago
Sunday was my first experience in a Peruvian hospital, San Miguel. The night before I vomited blood in the middle of the night, so I figured it was a good idea I see the medico...and everything I ate, came back up. So, Lara (the founder of LLI)met me at the Clinico de San Miguel. They told me that I had to go to another clinic of theirs 45 minutes away because of the blood vomiting (greattt), so I was transferred over. The minute we got there I was hooked up to an IV and given medicine that made me knock out for a while. After that, me and the IV became best friends, I had the IV in me for the rest of the day. After being re-hydrated and so on, I got a sonogram...good news, I'm NOT pregnant! Wooo! After that I peed in a cup, had blood drawn from me and passed out for a few hours in the hospital. Apparently a doctor came to talk to me but I was in and out of sleep. They wanted to keep me for the night! No way was that happening! Then the nurse wheeled me to the endoscopy room..ut she couldn't find the right floor, and she proceeded to take me up and down the elevator 3-4 times...the entire time I was saying "comida" (I was so hungry it was 3pm already and I hadn't eaten the whole day...not to mention my stomach was completely empty). I had my first endoscopy..they sprayed something in the back of my throat, gave me some general anestesia and I was out. Next thing I remember is them rolling my back on to my hospital bed. Apparently, I tried talking..which is always amusing under anestesia. The doctor was so kind and even gave me a souvenier (the video of my endoscopy)...so thrilling! They took a biopsy of a piece of my stomach. From all of this craziness, the doctor finally told me I have a stomach ulcer.
Stomach ulcer means:
-I'm on four different kinds of meds
-I'm not allowed to eat any kind of greasy food
-Can't eat lactose
-Can't drink gaseous anything...including alcohol
-No acids
This is very sad because I love eating...but I will have to put my tastes on hold for a while to heal my stomach.
I got a new roommate the day before the hospitalization, her name is Kat...she probably thought I was a crazy person the first day she met me jajaja. Oh, and I showed her the DVD of my insides.
Good news is that i'm feeling a lot better and I won't die. besos!
Stomach ulcer means:
-I'm on four different kinds of meds
-I'm not allowed to eat any kind of greasy food
-Can't eat lactose
-Can't drink gaseous anything...including alcohol
-No acids
This is very sad because I love eating...but I will have to put my tastes on hold for a while to heal my stomach.
I got a new roommate the day before the hospitalization, her name is Kat...she probably thought I was a crazy person the first day she met me jajaja. Oh, and I showed her the DVD of my insides.
Good news is that i'm feeling a lot better and I won't die. besos!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)