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!
Friday, July 1, 2011
Simplicity
Today I decided to try a different approach to tutoring Moises. I pulled up two different articles from the internet, one about Moammad Ghadafii and one about New York legalizing gay marriage (woo!). We read each article and discussed the issues which was really good practice for him. Then, I showed him my blog and read him an example entry. Then, I had him write a blog post of his own. Here it is (i'm so proud)!
My life in Huaycan
By Moises
Hello, my name is Moises. I am sixteen years old and I live in Huaycan Zone “D”. I like living here because my family and friends are here and I think this city isn’t dangerous. Now I live with my mom, my brothers and sister. I work in Lima in my brother’s store. I like playing with my cousins in my free time.
Last Sunday I went out with my friends to the movies on Giron de la Union and we were walking and telling jokes. We watched "The Mute House" which is a horror film. I didn’t like it very much because it wasn’t scary.
He really enjoyed writing and expressing himself so I think I am going to start challenging him more! He's really progressing and it's great to see!
Tuesday was Glady's birthday like I mentioned before. We all went to Lima along with Jason, Miguel, and Roberto (our friends from Huaycan). We met Lara and her boyfriend, Glady's cousins, and my friend Alessandra there. First, we went to a bar in Miraflores called "Media naranja" which made a great Caiprinha. (Yes I went to a Brazilian bar while I was in Peru). I got to practice my portuguese, so I was happy. It was really fun but I have to admit, we all drank a little too much.
The next day, Alessandra's mom took us out to a really nice restaurant called Punto sal I believe. I tried Arroz con mariscos which is Rice with seafood and fried seafood. It was really good for someone who isn't the biggest seafood fan! I ate octopus, calamari, fish, shrimp, and oysters.
Thursday (yesterday) we all went to Las Molinas, a more upscale suburb of Lima in which we tried out an organic fruit salad place (which was delicious). Then we went to a coffee shop that was absolutely adorable. Afterwards, we went to a nearby shanty-town called "Horacio" and met up with some boys that live there that Ellie and Mimo are good friends with. I had met them before, we refer to them as the "Horacio boys". Catchy eh? We drank some beers and then came home. My stomach wasn't feeling so great. Woke up this morning at 8, tutored Moises...then ate lunch. We had Tacu Tacu for lunch. Which made my stomach really start to hurt...which resulted in me puking again. I puked a few more times then had to take the rest of the day off.
Right now, the volunteers are out at Kenko's...the discoteka we usually go to..but I had to stay back because of my damn stomach. I hope to get back into the swing of things tomorrow, but as of now i'm straight posting up in my bed.
Saturday is my biggest teaching day so I really hope I can teach as I had to cancel one of mine today.
My life in Huaycan
By Moises
Hello, my name is Moises. I am sixteen years old and I live in Huaycan Zone “D”. I like living here because my family and friends are here and I think this city isn’t dangerous. Now I live with my mom, my brothers and sister. I work in Lima in my brother’s store. I like playing with my cousins in my free time.
Last Sunday I went out with my friends to the movies on Giron de la Union and we were walking and telling jokes. We watched "The Mute House" which is a horror film. I didn’t like it very much because it wasn’t scary.
He really enjoyed writing and expressing himself so I think I am going to start challenging him more! He's really progressing and it's great to see!
Tuesday was Glady's birthday like I mentioned before. We all went to Lima along with Jason, Miguel, and Roberto (our friends from Huaycan). We met Lara and her boyfriend, Glady's cousins, and my friend Alessandra there. First, we went to a bar in Miraflores called "Media naranja" which made a great Caiprinha. (Yes I went to a Brazilian bar while I was in Peru). I got to practice my portuguese, so I was happy. It was really fun but I have to admit, we all drank a little too much.
The next day, Alessandra's mom took us out to a really nice restaurant called Punto sal I believe. I tried Arroz con mariscos which is Rice with seafood and fried seafood. It was really good for someone who isn't the biggest seafood fan! I ate octopus, calamari, fish, shrimp, and oysters.
Thursday (yesterday) we all went to Las Molinas, a more upscale suburb of Lima in which we tried out an organic fruit salad place (which was delicious). Then we went to a coffee shop that was absolutely adorable. Afterwards, we went to a nearby shanty-town called "Horacio" and met up with some boys that live there that Ellie and Mimo are good friends with. I had met them before, we refer to them as the "Horacio boys". Catchy eh? We drank some beers and then came home. My stomach wasn't feeling so great. Woke up this morning at 8, tutored Moises...then ate lunch. We had Tacu Tacu for lunch. Which made my stomach really start to hurt...which resulted in me puking again. I puked a few more times then had to take the rest of the day off.
Right now, the volunteers are out at Kenko's...the discoteka we usually go to..but I had to stay back because of my damn stomach. I hope to get back into the swing of things tomorrow, but as of now i'm straight posting up in my bed.
Saturday is my biggest teaching day so I really hope I can teach as I had to cancel one of mine today.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
So it's been a good week, up to today. This morning I woke up, threw up three times and felt like shit the rest of the day. At first, I thought I had a stomach virus...but I honestly think it was the slice of coffee cake I ate last night. I bought it from a little Bakery down the street. I'm feeling a lot better today but I slept the majority of the day away. Well that's the only downfall I've experienced so far...so its pretty good that I just had a 24 hour bug type of thing!
Highlights of last week:
1. I saw my first Incan Ruins at Pachacamac (Right outside of Lima)
2. Saw a movie in Larco Mar.
3. Taught my kids how to sing "Miss Mary Mack"
4. Taught a woman how to write her name in Spanish literacy class
Today is my roommate Glady's 23rd birthday! We are all going into Lima to go to a club to celebrate! So excited! Tomorrow her Aunt is making us a big lunch and then we are going to spend the rest of the day in Lima! Yay for days off!
In Huaycan, us gringas constantly get whistled at and cat-called. It's starting to get on my nerves. Just yesterday I was wearing baggy jeans, my usual black beanie and fleece zip up (It was cold out) and I still got whistled at. What is wrong with the world. My self-confidence will be through the roof by the time I get back to the states...but wait, men are respectful there.
Don't have much time! Off to teach! Bye!
Highlights of last week:
1. I saw my first Incan Ruins at Pachacamac (Right outside of Lima)
2. Saw a movie in Larco Mar.
3. Taught my kids how to sing "Miss Mary Mack"
4. Taught a woman how to write her name in Spanish literacy class
Today is my roommate Glady's 23rd birthday! We are all going into Lima to go to a club to celebrate! So excited! Tomorrow her Aunt is making us a big lunch and then we are going to spend the rest of the day in Lima! Yay for days off!
In Huaycan, us gringas constantly get whistled at and cat-called. It's starting to get on my nerves. Just yesterday I was wearing baggy jeans, my usual black beanie and fleece zip up (It was cold out) and I still got whistled at. What is wrong with the world. My self-confidence will be through the roof by the time I get back to the states...but wait, men are respectful there.
Don't have much time! Off to teach! Bye!
No te veo
Hola todos!
Huaycan alto has been the same as always, teaching english on the daily, doing lots of tutoring etc.
Like I wrote to you last time about my student's dad cutting her hair off, it has happened to two more of our students. Apparently, hairdressers are offering 100-150 soles for nice long hair...which is just so sad. They leave the poor little girls looking like little boys with choppy, uneven haircuts. :/
This past Saturday the 6-9 year old groups went on a field trip to Huacapucllana in Lima to see Incan ruins. They absolutely loved it and even got to see the beach (which was a first for most of the kids).
For our volunteer excursion last week, we went to La Punta, a peninsula that is almost completely surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. This coastal city has incredible ceviche (traditional Peruvian raw fish dish). We laid out by the beach for a while and then went to Plaza San Miguel for some amazing Gelato...first time I ate ice cream the entire time I've been abroad believe it or not! After gelato, I met my friend Ale in Ovalo Miraflores (one of Lima's prime tourist spots. We ate dinner at a nice, organic, vegetarian restaurant. We went to a nice park in Miraflores and I went back to Huaycan the next day. It isn't safe to go back to Huaycan at night by yourself...I don't live in the greatest of areas haha.
This is a picture of the ceviche! :)
That's all for now, but I will try and write Friday after my days off!!
Huaycan alto has been the same as always, teaching english on the daily, doing lots of tutoring etc.
Like I wrote to you last time about my student's dad cutting her hair off, it has happened to two more of our students. Apparently, hairdressers are offering 100-150 soles for nice long hair...which is just so sad. They leave the poor little girls looking like little boys with choppy, uneven haircuts. :/
This past Saturday the 6-9 year old groups went on a field trip to Huacapucllana in Lima to see Incan ruins. They absolutely loved it and even got to see the beach (which was a first for most of the kids).
For our volunteer excursion last week, we went to La Punta, a peninsula that is almost completely surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. This coastal city has incredible ceviche (traditional Peruvian raw fish dish). We laid out by the beach for a while and then went to Plaza San Miguel for some amazing Gelato...first time I ate ice cream the entire time I've been abroad believe it or not! After gelato, I met my friend Ale in Ovalo Miraflores (one of Lima's prime tourist spots. We ate dinner at a nice, organic, vegetarian restaurant. We went to a nice park in Miraflores and I went back to Huaycan the next day. It isn't safe to go back to Huaycan at night by yourself...I don't live in the greatest of areas haha.
This is a picture of the ceviche! :)
That's all for now, but I will try and write Friday after my days off!!
Monday, June 13, 2011
Happy Anniversary LLI!
My apologies for not writing this for a week....it has been pretty busy over here in Huaycan! So many important things to say:
For starters, it was the 2nd anniversary of Light and Leadership Initiative on Sunday(the non-profit i volunteer for). We started set up at 6am (the party was on the canchita in Zona D (basketball court). The real festivities began at 1:30pm after going to the individual zones on a combi (small bus)that we rented. We had different activities that we did...art, face painting, "bowling", bozo buckets, jump rope, hula hoops, bracelet making, and more. It was really fun for the kids! They loved it! We then held the vocabulary bee. The kids were split up in age groups and the winners received a free trip to an interactive museum, kind of like Wannado city. They were all really excited! The day ended with dancing...so much fun! Check out the pictures of this day on facebook!
A few details about my kids: My student Lexi used to have really long gorgeous hair. The other day she came to class with all of her hair cut off. She was wearing a hat...has been wearing a hat since that day. I had spoken with her parents before, I met her Dad, he was drunk and slurring his words. I later found out that her Dad cut all of her hair off and sold it for money. Things like this happen all the time...last week my student Melanie came to class with her ear completely plastered in dried blood...she told me her mother tried to pierce her ear and that's what happened...but I think she was cut badly. Other than this, they are all really happy kids. Yes, they are poverty stricken, but I think they are happiest when they're learning or playing sports. We play jump rope and soccer a lot, those are their favorites.
I private tutor a few people:
Moises: I tutor Moises four times a week...at 8:45 a.m. But it's okay because he's awesome. He's 16...him and his family is moving to Argentina in August though...such a great kid-we sing Justin Beiber and Taylor Swift-it helps to print out lyrics for enlgish songs!
Merleini: She is 29, and is a single mother of twins. She is an english teacher. Yes, I tutor an english teacher. She is still very basic, but I am happy to help the best I can.
Juan:: Juan is 17, he speaks pretty well...he is really funny. I tutor him for 3 hours on Saturday afternoons. We usually go through a cool textbook he has and then take a walk and have normal conversation. We have to break it up or else it gets really long, but he's a funny kid.
I teach a class in Zone Z-The Alamos. It is in the highest point of the city, which means the poorest. The moto-taxis don't have enough power to go up that high so I take something called a combi, a small van, kind of like a VW van. It's public transportation. .90 centimos to go up and .50 centimos to go down. The thing about combi's is that theres 15 seats...but they literally squeeze 35-40 people on at all times. Just the other day I was sitting accross from a woman that had her kid on her lap while she was breast-feeding her baby. On the other side of me was an older woman with a huge assortment of vegetables on her lap. You see all sorts of people on this bus and it is anything but comfortable. If you're claustrophobic...you could never ride on this. Today I met a 15 year old girl who lived in Zona Z, I told her she should come to my english class, but she had to run her family's store so couldn't. :(
Today I taught a spanish literacy class. About 4 older women come to the class. They don't know how to read, let alone the spanish alphabet. But today I was working with one woman and I actually got her to read and pronounce full spanish words-very exciting! I really like the group of women, they are really nice and its great practice for me as well.
I went to Lima on my days off, which was really fun. Friday night we all went out to a place called Kenko's. It's a Regeatton discoteka. There were free drinks for an hour and we all took advantage of that. Needless to say, it was a fun night...and I got a pitcher of beer for 12 sols...like 4 dollars and made friends with lots of Peruvians. So I was happy. I'm not really here to party though, i'm here to volunteer so we cant really go out like we used to in Brazil. It's definitely a different experience, but so much more rewarding than anything I have done in my entire life.
Hope I gave you guys some insight into what my days are like! Love you all!
For starters, it was the 2nd anniversary of Light and Leadership Initiative on Sunday(the non-profit i volunteer for). We started set up at 6am (the party was on the canchita in Zona D (basketball court). The real festivities began at 1:30pm after going to the individual zones on a combi (small bus)that we rented. We had different activities that we did...art, face painting, "bowling", bozo buckets, jump rope, hula hoops, bracelet making, and more. It was really fun for the kids! They loved it! We then held the vocabulary bee. The kids were split up in age groups and the winners received a free trip to an interactive museum, kind of like Wannado city. They were all really excited! The day ended with dancing...so much fun! Check out the pictures of this day on facebook!
A few details about my kids: My student Lexi used to have really long gorgeous hair. The other day she came to class with all of her hair cut off. She was wearing a hat...has been wearing a hat since that day. I had spoken with her parents before, I met her Dad, he was drunk and slurring his words. I later found out that her Dad cut all of her hair off and sold it for money. Things like this happen all the time...last week my student Melanie came to class with her ear completely plastered in dried blood...she told me her mother tried to pierce her ear and that's what happened...but I think she was cut badly. Other than this, they are all really happy kids. Yes, they are poverty stricken, but I think they are happiest when they're learning or playing sports. We play jump rope and soccer a lot, those are their favorites.
I private tutor a few people:
Moises: I tutor Moises four times a week...at 8:45 a.m. But it's okay because he's awesome. He's 16...him and his family is moving to Argentina in August though...such a great kid-we sing Justin Beiber and Taylor Swift-it helps to print out lyrics for enlgish songs!
Merleini: She is 29, and is a single mother of twins. She is an english teacher. Yes, I tutor an english teacher. She is still very basic, but I am happy to help the best I can.
Juan:: Juan is 17, he speaks pretty well...he is really funny. I tutor him for 3 hours on Saturday afternoons. We usually go through a cool textbook he has and then take a walk and have normal conversation. We have to break it up or else it gets really long, but he's a funny kid.
I teach a class in Zone Z-The Alamos. It is in the highest point of the city, which means the poorest. The moto-taxis don't have enough power to go up that high so I take something called a combi, a small van, kind of like a VW van. It's public transportation. .90 centimos to go up and .50 centimos to go down. The thing about combi's is that theres 15 seats...but they literally squeeze 35-40 people on at all times. Just the other day I was sitting accross from a woman that had her kid on her lap while she was breast-feeding her baby. On the other side of me was an older woman with a huge assortment of vegetables on her lap. You see all sorts of people on this bus and it is anything but comfortable. If you're claustrophobic...you could never ride on this. Today I met a 15 year old girl who lived in Zona Z, I told her she should come to my english class, but she had to run her family's store so couldn't. :(
Today I taught a spanish literacy class. About 4 older women come to the class. They don't know how to read, let alone the spanish alphabet. But today I was working with one woman and I actually got her to read and pronounce full spanish words-very exciting! I really like the group of women, they are really nice and its great practice for me as well.
I went to Lima on my days off, which was really fun. Friday night we all went out to a place called Kenko's. It's a Regeatton discoteka. There were free drinks for an hour and we all took advantage of that. Needless to say, it was a fun night...and I got a pitcher of beer for 12 sols...like 4 dollars and made friends with lots of Peruvians. So I was happy. I'm not really here to party though, i'm here to volunteer so we cant really go out like we used to in Brazil. It's definitely a different experience, but so much more rewarding than anything I have done in my entire life.
Hope I gave you guys some insight into what my days are like! Love you all!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
One for one
Life in Huaycan, Peru has been great so far! I am venturing into Lima with the other volunteers tonight. They have a friend that is opening up a hostel and he is letting us stay there for free tonight!
Surprisingly, downtown Huaycan (consisting of one main road) actually has a decent nightlife. We went out last night and got some beers. It is so cheap to get anything in Huaycan so it makes going out really affordable.
Pirated movies are sold on the street for 2 sols each (approximately 70 cents)..so we bought The Social Network and a few Adam Sandler movies.
Another detail: The majority of people in Huaycan are under 5 feet tall here. They all have really tan skin and black hair. It’s a town of midgets. People look at me like I’m some giant…or monster.
For those of you who have not heard about TOM’S shoes, it is a shoe company with a socially responsible mission. For every pair of TOM’s shoes that is purchased, one pair of TOM’s shoes is donated to children in need. I have always thought this was a great program, but I had never seen the positive results in real life. Yesterday, my co-teacher Holli was wearing her pair of TOM’s shoes and 7 year old Mariana came up to her and showed her that they were wearing matching shoes! I thought it was so cool that you could actually see the benefits this little girl got-a pair of shoes for her own!
The people of Huaycan are very stricken with poverty. Just the other day, one of the girls didn’t show up to art class. When we asked the other children why she didn’t come, the response we got was that “she didn’t have any clothes to wear today”.
Yesterday I was helping out with “Collage class” and I was helping one of the little girls with her collage. She was smiling and I realized that all of her baby teeth were rotting away. She had gaping holes in the back of her mouth and I wanted to cry. They are all such happy kids. The kids are always smiling and grateful of the lessons that they get from LLI.
That’s about all for now, but I will try and keep writing as much as possible!
Surprisingly, downtown Huaycan (consisting of one main road) actually has a decent nightlife. We went out last night and got some beers. It is so cheap to get anything in Huaycan so it makes going out really affordable.
Pirated movies are sold on the street for 2 sols each (approximately 70 cents)..so we bought The Social Network and a few Adam Sandler movies.
Another detail: The majority of people in Huaycan are under 5 feet tall here. They all have really tan skin and black hair. It’s a town of midgets. People look at me like I’m some giant…or monster.
For those of you who have not heard about TOM’S shoes, it is a shoe company with a socially responsible mission. For every pair of TOM’s shoes that is purchased, one pair of TOM’s shoes is donated to children in need. I have always thought this was a great program, but I had never seen the positive results in real life. Yesterday, my co-teacher Holli was wearing her pair of TOM’s shoes and 7 year old Mariana came up to her and showed her that they were wearing matching shoes! I thought it was so cool that you could actually see the benefits this little girl got-a pair of shoes for her own!
The people of Huaycan are very stricken with poverty. Just the other day, one of the girls didn’t show up to art class. When we asked the other children why she didn’t come, the response we got was that “she didn’t have any clothes to wear today”.
Yesterday I was helping out with “Collage class” and I was helping one of the little girls with her collage. She was smiling and I realized that all of her baby teeth were rotting away. She had gaping holes in the back of her mouth and I wanted to cry. They are all such happy kids. The kids are always smiling and grateful of the lessons that they get from LLI.
That’s about all for now, but I will try and keep writing as much as possible!
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Peruvian News for you:
Hola todos! I'm here reporting to you from Huaycan, Peru-just 40 minutes outside of Lima. Its pretty dusty over here-a.k.a. i am covered in dirt on the daily. Huaycan is a really poor shanty-town that is surrounded by incan ruins. Theres one main road called "quince" where theres millions of street vendors that sell anything from pirated DVDS for 1 sol each: equivalent to about 30 US cents to soft-serve ice cream, to pig intestines or chicken feet. Its very inexpensive to live here to say the least.
For those of you who don't know what I'm doing here in this little city, I'm volunteering for an organization called LLI which stands for Light and Leadership Initiative. It's a non-profit organization that primarily services the children and women of Huaycan, Peru-they are the underserved part of the peruvian population and suffer because of it. However we also have adult education classes that include men. We hold classes in english, french, mathematics, art, chess, physical education, english conversation, computers, literacy, and private tutoring for free to those in Huaycan. The program is relatively new, we have the two year anniversary in about a week. The kids really love coming and learning-and they are super cute-I will post pictures as soon as I can! Saturday I taught an adolescent english class-there were two 15 year old boys and two girls around my age. Yesterday I taught an english class to 6-9 year olds (we also played soccer outside for an hour) and it was a lot of fun! Later on in the day I taught math to 6-9 year olds as well...just addition and subtraction, i'm no math whiz over here! Last night, we held an adult conversation class that was pretty fun...met a lot of peruvian people around my age, so thats always fun!
I am living in volunteer housing in Huaycan. There are 8 people living in LLI house. Theres the house manager- Sarah, me, my roommates Gladys and Holli, Chris, Mimosa, Ellie, and Lauren. A lot of us are americans but Ellie is from England and Mimosa is Finnish. It's pretty awesome and everyone is really nice and chill!
At first, I had a few difficulties switching so quickly from speaking portuguese everyday to speaking spanish everyday, but I think I have got the hang of it now! A few details about life in Peru: you can't flush your toilet paper down the toilet, so we have to throw it away in the trash can...dont worry, the trash gets taken out daily. You can't drink the tap water-yay for bottles! I live in a dusty desert-like area...so i have dirt on me 24/7.
Food i've tried so far:
Tacu Tacu: A rice and egg mixture thats rolled in a log shape then fried-really good!
Inca Kola: soft drink that tastes like bubble gum
Alfahores: Cookie sandwich that has molasses/caramel in the middle, dusted in powdered sugar-delicious!
Theres so much more to write about, but I am definitely enjoying what I'm doing here, so many adorable little smiling kids!
Hasta luego!
For those of you who don't know what I'm doing here in this little city, I'm volunteering for an organization called LLI which stands for Light and Leadership Initiative. It's a non-profit organization that primarily services the children and women of Huaycan, Peru-they are the underserved part of the peruvian population and suffer because of it. However we also have adult education classes that include men. We hold classes in english, french, mathematics, art, chess, physical education, english conversation, computers, literacy, and private tutoring for free to those in Huaycan. The program is relatively new, we have the two year anniversary in about a week. The kids really love coming and learning-and they are super cute-I will post pictures as soon as I can! Saturday I taught an adolescent english class-there were two 15 year old boys and two girls around my age. Yesterday I taught an english class to 6-9 year olds (we also played soccer outside for an hour) and it was a lot of fun! Later on in the day I taught math to 6-9 year olds as well...just addition and subtraction, i'm no math whiz over here! Last night, we held an adult conversation class that was pretty fun...met a lot of peruvian people around my age, so thats always fun!
I am living in volunteer housing in Huaycan. There are 8 people living in LLI house. Theres the house manager- Sarah, me, my roommates Gladys and Holli, Chris, Mimosa, Ellie, and Lauren. A lot of us are americans but Ellie is from England and Mimosa is Finnish. It's pretty awesome and everyone is really nice and chill!
At first, I had a few difficulties switching so quickly from speaking portuguese everyday to speaking spanish everyday, but I think I have got the hang of it now! A few details about life in Peru: you can't flush your toilet paper down the toilet, so we have to throw it away in the trash can...dont worry, the trash gets taken out daily. You can't drink the tap water-yay for bottles! I live in a dusty desert-like area...so i have dirt on me 24/7.
Food i've tried so far:
Tacu Tacu: A rice and egg mixture thats rolled in a log shape then fried-really good!
Inca Kola: soft drink that tastes like bubble gum
Alfahores: Cookie sandwich that has molasses/caramel in the middle, dusted in powdered sugar-delicious!
Theres so much more to write about, but I am definitely enjoying what I'm doing here, so many adorable little smiling kids!
Hasta luego!
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Tchau Brazil, Hola Peru!
Its really sad to say goodbye to such a good experience. I had so much fun and met so many great people.
Wednesday we went to Corcorvado, the huge Jesus Christ statue that can be seen from all over Rio, on the top of the mountain. It was so cloudy unfortunately and we couldnt even get a good picture! After that though, we went to a great lookout point where you can get a panorama of the city. We then ate lunch in Santa Teresa, a really historical part of Rio. It was really interesting because if you looked up you would see a favela, and if you looked to your left, you would see a castle from a noble family in Brazil. Social class segmentation in Brazil is crazy. We also went to a staircase that was completely mosaic(ed) by a brazilian artist. I posted a picture of it, I thought it was absolutely beautiful!
Thursday night was pretty crazy...we went out to a bar in Leblon and met my favorite professora-Jama there. We also met Ana, for the meninos (Blake and Davis) it was their last night in Rio! We drank a lot at this bar...we all had a lot of fun. Me, Blake, Paola, Jessica, and Juan ended up going to Ghavia afterwards and wondering around in the streets because there was a street party.
Friday we woke up early and had a farewell brunch at IBEU, received our final grades, and got our certificates of completion! After this, we all went to the beach and hung out for a little. Soon after, I took the onibus all by myself and met Priscila for lunch. I went home, packed my bag, ate an acai...which is an amazing smoothie type drink they have in Brazil, and ate dinner with my family. I'm going to miss them so much!
I went out to Lapa with Priscila and her cousin friday night. It was really fun, Lapa is unlike anything I have ever experienced. People drink in the street, its actually amazing. I didn't go to sleep. I got back to the apartment at 3:30am and immediately left for the airport to catch my 6am flight. Luckily though, I slept all 5.5 hours on the airplane to Peru, so i'm all rested! I must admit though, I did shed a tear or two when I was saying goodbye to my host family. I loved them!
I really like it here in Peru! I will write a blog post as soon as possible!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Nossa!!!!!!!!
Thursday night, Nini made pasta with Sardines. You all know how i feel about sardines. How many traumatizing sardine experiences must I live through? Dear god...its me Jessie, HELPPP.
Friday we all went to Copacabana and hung out at my friend from the planes apartment (Sandra). We had originally planned to go out after drinking a few beers there but time flew by and it was already really late by the time we were ready to go out!
Saturday morning I woke up at 10:45...so nice to finally sleep in! I took a walk along the beach because everyone in my house was still sleeping. Unfortunately it started raining while I was on my walk so I had to cut it short! I decided to see Hangover 2 in theatres since it was raining. In portuguese, the movie is called "Se beber nao case"...this means- if you drink you dont get married...whats up with that? I met up with Civel, Jessica, and her friend Gabe. Hangover 2 was luckily in english with portuguese subtitles. Needless to say I learned lots of curse words in portuguese during this movie! Later that night I met up with Priscila in Lapa (best nightlife in Rio) and we had pizza and went to a bar/discoteka. The bar was pretty cool, it was a really good mix of people...gay straight etc. I learned how to dance samba this night, so that was really exciting! We stayed at the club until really late!
Sunday Paola came over and met my host-family. Avo (grandpa) picked us up in his car and took us to the yacht club (he has a sail boat). Me, Paola, avo, his girlfriend, and Andrea (minha prima) went for the trip. Unfortunately, the waves were huge (ressaca) and we could not go out on the sail boat. Instead, avo took us on a passeo (sight-seeing). We went to fortaleza de santa cruz de barra; a military naval fort. So cool! After that, we went to lunch at this fish place: I had yet another confrontation with the little fish because as all of you loyal blog followers know, I DO NOT LIKE SARDINES AT ALL, I DO NOT LIKE THEM JESSIE I AM. Anyhow, I ate one and practically made myself puke...well not actually.
After lunch, we went to Niteroi..a really cool helicopter landing lookout point! Theres lots of pictures on facebook! When we came home, me, Paola, and Andrea went to the hippie fair for a little!
Later that night I met up with Priscila and went to a really cool bar called ZeroZero. Theres an indoor and outdoor part. The outdoor part has a sushi bar, drinks bar, lounging areas etc. The inside is a dance floor and another bar. It was pretty cool for a sunday night!
Monday I skipped class...we decided to celebrate memorial day and we all hit up the beach for most of the day! Always a good time.
Tuesday was Blakes 21st birthday so we all went out to Lord Jims Pub to celebrate. We also had a business visit today to Comlurb (the trash service for Rio)...it wasnt very interesting but they definitely do a lot to try and be eco-friendly! Downtown Rio is sweeped 6 times a day...how crazy is that?
Today (Wednesday) we all took our final portuguese exam...we all passed so thats good news! Today we are going to see Corcorvado, the christ statue on a jeep tour, so thats going to be awesome-afterwards Santa Teresa! Im excited to get so many jesus christo pictures, should be a blasty-blast.
Tchau meninos!
Friday we all went to Copacabana and hung out at my friend from the planes apartment (Sandra). We had originally planned to go out after drinking a few beers there but time flew by and it was already really late by the time we were ready to go out!
Saturday morning I woke up at 10:45...so nice to finally sleep in! I took a walk along the beach because everyone in my house was still sleeping. Unfortunately it started raining while I was on my walk so I had to cut it short! I decided to see Hangover 2 in theatres since it was raining. In portuguese, the movie is called "Se beber nao case"...this means- if you drink you dont get married...whats up with that? I met up with Civel, Jessica, and her friend Gabe. Hangover 2 was luckily in english with portuguese subtitles. Needless to say I learned lots of curse words in portuguese during this movie! Later that night I met up with Priscila in Lapa (best nightlife in Rio) and we had pizza and went to a bar/discoteka. The bar was pretty cool, it was a really good mix of people...gay straight etc. I learned how to dance samba this night, so that was really exciting! We stayed at the club until really late!
Sunday Paola came over and met my host-family. Avo (grandpa) picked us up in his car and took us to the yacht club (he has a sail boat). Me, Paola, avo, his girlfriend, and Andrea (minha prima) went for the trip. Unfortunately, the waves were huge (ressaca) and we could not go out on the sail boat. Instead, avo took us on a passeo (sight-seeing). We went to fortaleza de santa cruz de barra; a military naval fort. So cool! After that, we went to lunch at this fish place: I had yet another confrontation with the little fish because as all of you loyal blog followers know, I DO NOT LIKE SARDINES AT ALL, I DO NOT LIKE THEM JESSIE I AM. Anyhow, I ate one and practically made myself puke...well not actually.
After lunch, we went to Niteroi..a really cool helicopter landing lookout point! Theres lots of pictures on facebook! When we came home, me, Paola, and Andrea went to the hippie fair for a little!
Later that night I met up with Priscila and went to a really cool bar called ZeroZero. Theres an indoor and outdoor part. The outdoor part has a sushi bar, drinks bar, lounging areas etc. The inside is a dance floor and another bar. It was pretty cool for a sunday night!
Monday I skipped class...we decided to celebrate memorial day and we all hit up the beach for most of the day! Always a good time.
Tuesday was Blakes 21st birthday so we all went out to Lord Jims Pub to celebrate. We also had a business visit today to Comlurb (the trash service for Rio)...it wasnt very interesting but they definitely do a lot to try and be eco-friendly! Downtown Rio is sweeped 6 times a day...how crazy is that?
Today (Wednesday) we all took our final portuguese exam...we all passed so thats good news! Today we are going to see Corcorvado, the christ statue on a jeep tour, so thats going to be awesome-afterwards Santa Teresa! Im excited to get so many jesus christo pictures, should be a blasty-blast.
Tchau meninos!
Friday, May 27, 2011
Amor no tem edade
This entire week has gone by in a blink of an eye.
Segunda-Monday:
We went to the feira (market,fair) for portuguese class-it happens every Monday. I bought the most delicious morangos (strawberries) of my life. Tried so many cool fruits! Other than that, it was pretty platonic-class, a lecture on venture capital and privatization of companies in Brazil... muito chato (very boring). I slept a lot today because I was so exhausted from going out Sunday night.
Terca-Tuesday:
We went on a company visit to a Brazilian Real Estate company called Cyrela. We even got to meet the CEO of the company, which was pretty cool. We talked about Brazilian saving accounts and mortgage systems. To get an apartment in Rio, you need a CPF (like a SSN) and prove you can earn at least 1/3 of the mortgage payment… sucks to live in Brazil, financially…other than that- I’m all in!
I went to the lavanderia today, literally had not done any laundry the entire time I have been here. I walked along the beach while I waited for it to be done. Dad would be so proud at how much I conserved my laundry amount here because I have to go do it myself. When I got home, Alessandra was asking me how Americans like to eat avocados. I explained that we made it into guacamole! In Brazil, the only eat avocado as a fruit, with sugar. The entire family was astonished that guacamole is a mixture of salt, lime, onions, and garlic. Lesley, you would be proud because I made a great batch of guacamole for them to go along with dinner. I’m just so domestic, aren’t I?
Quarta-Wednesday:
My first Brazilian Churrascaria experience! We went to the Churrascaria as a class and let me tell you, I couldn’t eat for the rest of the day basically. Every type of meat, every type of food anyone could ever want in life. So crazy. Right after that, we all hit up the praia (beach) such nice weather! The waves were so intense they knocked me down and practically drowned me. Wednesday night I went out with a girl named Priscila. We ate at a cool noodle place on Farme de Amoeda, I could barely eat though…we then had a couple of drinks at a bar next door and then went to salsa night at Guimo’s pub just like last Wednesday. My friend Sandra from the plane ride was there again and of course our group of people! Too funny, I would make friends on a plane…
Quinta-Thursday:
Today we went on a company visit to H. Stern. If you don’t know this jewelry company, it was started by a jewish guy named Hans Stern who emigrated from Europe to Brazil after the holocaust. The presentation started off with a simple question. The lecturer asked, “does anyone know who the biggest seller of gold is in the world?” Answer: Wal-Mart. He talked a lot about maintaing prestige and the black box that their jewelry comes distinguishes them. The building was absolutely gorgeous. I loved the tour-lots of gems, I tried to get a few of my classmates to propose to me, unsuccessful. They showed us their specialty Alice and Wonderland ring collection which was the craziest things I have ever seen. Diamonds galore.
After the day learning about H. Stern, Paola and I went to get our nails done. We got a mani/pedi at a really small place nearby for 18 reales. This is equivalent to approximately 12 USD. That’s freaking ridiculous, best deal of my life.
Avo (Grandpa) came over for dinner, god is he a crazy guy…he kind of reminds me of Harvey a little bit. He talked about all of his girlfriends (they range between the ages of 45-65) because he said the older ones are better lovers. He asked me, voce vive para amor o ama para vivir (do you live to love or love to live?) Also, he said Brazilian women bicker with you all day…but if you really want to make them cry, all you have to do is say one word: gorda (fat). He is such a funny guy. He invited me on his sailboat on Sunday, so that’s going to be really fun!
I went out to Le Girl tonight…it’s a lesbian club in Rio. It was interesting…Paola and Ximena went with me and we made a friend there actually from Minas. In minas they give three cheek kisses apparently, cariocas (from Rio) give 2 cheek kisses.
Sexta-Friday
Today we all went out to lunch at a kilograma place with our professor, Jama and the director of IBEU, Lorena. Ana met up with us which was awesome because we hadn’t seen her in a while! We had the afternoon off from lecture but it was raining, bummer! Paola and I went to the mall, shopping leblon. We can’t buy anything though because everything in that mall is practically upwards of 100 reales. Jesus Christo its expensive here! We hung out for a while…went into some little shops on Visconde Pirraja and such, fun timess.
Right now, im getting ready to go out for a big Friday night in Rio! Tchau meninos!
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Buzios!!!
The six of us left for Buzios at 10am from downtown at the Estacâo de omnibuses. We had to take two different busses and a metro to get there and we were arrived one minute before departure. Gracias a dios. As good college kids that we are, we started partying early on the bus. There were a group of 6 Israeli’s behind us on the bus and it just so happened they were staying at the same hostel as us! We stayed at Hostel Nomad Buzios. The view was waterfront…absolutely gorgeous. We stayed in a 12 bed room and roomed with a guy from Scotland, a guy from Uraguay, and a girl from University of Georgia. The Israeli’s were right next door to us, and boy were they loud. Friday we explored Buzios and went to a few different beaches in the area. Friday night we all hung out on the pier for a bit and then had a few drinks at the hostel bar. That night we met a group of Brazilians that were there for a surgeon’s conference (so they said).
Saturday we went on a boat ride that we negotiated down to 20 reales (about 12 dollars) it was a booze cruise basically with all you can drink caipirinhas which is an amazing Brazilian drink that is straight cachaca, granulated sugar, and crushed limes. Needless to say it was a fun boat ride and we jumped off the boat and went swimming too! We met a couple from Chile that were on their honeymoon and they actually came out with us that night. Around 10, the hostel put together a bar crawl for us which was all you can drink caipirinhas for the first hour…very intense. Then we went to three different bars where we got a different shot at each bar and we ended up at this intense nightclub called Privelege. It was the fanciest nightclub I have ever been in. There were male and female go-go dancers on the walls of the club and the DJ was crazy. There were about 20 or so people on the bar crawl with us and we stayed out until…late. The next day was super-sunny so we spent the day at the beach and walking around the town a little. It was so beautiful outside. We left Buzios at 6pm, awesome weekend!
When I got back to Rio I met up with a girl named Vanessa from Rio. She doesn’t speak any English so it was really good practice for me...we went to a bar and walked around the beach.
Overall the weekend was really fun and relaxing! Love Brazil!!!!
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Updates!
So I forgot to post this earlier, but here it is! I will try and write about this weekend as soon as possible!
Tuesday night was happy hour at Lord Jim’s Pub. I know, so Brazilian of us. Now that my Portuguese skills have gotten progressively better, it really allows me to put my all in to hitting on the professor, not that it’s going anywhere. Other than that, we visited pao de azucar yesterday (sugar loaf) yesterday, which is a huge mountain range that has a spectacular view of all of Rio basically. You take a lift up and there’s freaking awesome lookout points. Favorite part about it was that we saw wild monkeys; which were really cool-I’ve always had a propinquity for monkeys, so this really fulfilled my expectations. Here's a picture!
Afterwards, we went on a walking tour of the Centro-the downtown historical part of Rio, which was cool (We went into two churches, went to casa de moedas, and an art exhibition). Unfortunately, there was this really screwed up younger guy that kept following our group prodding us for money. He looked really high and he wasn’t wearing any shoes which was so sad. Finally, he left us alone after about 30 minutes of following us…
Around 5pm, me, Paola, Juan, Jessica, Blake, and Davis went to buy our bus tickets to Buzios, Brazil this weekend. It’s a really awesome peninsula with great nightlife. Friday morning (tomorrow) at 10am is the departure date. It’s about a 3 hour bus ride. That’s right, already packed my backpack.
Last night, me and Juan met my friend Sandra (the one I met on the plane) and her friend Jay at a Latin party. The party was in Copacabana and it was free entry for girls until 11 and free beer until 12. The night started out with a salsa lesson- one I needed BADLY. But after the lesson, I was a professional. We learned about 5 moves and then made 10 or so partner rotations. I danced with some weird guys, but whatever-I know how to salsa now! During the lesson, Paola, Gaby, Bonnie, Tony, Civel, and Ximena showed up! We all drank beer and I danced with a lot of guys to practice my newly made salsa moves. It was awesome because I met people from all over the world. (Ok, mostly south America) But still, very cool. I heard some girls speaking English so I started talking to them. They were English teachers in the Favelas that had both just graduated college. We made fast friends. One was Canadian, the other was English. We didn’t leave the club until 2:45 or so because it got that crazy in there.
After Portuguese class today, might I remind you is at 8:30, a few of us went out to an Italian restaurant where I had the best Gnocci (spell check?) of my life! Sorry Jen if you are reading this! It had four different types of cheeses and was baked. Cheese. Yum. After lunch, we went on a company visit to Petrobras, the energy company (oil, gas) here in Brazil. The building was huge and an economist talked to us about what Petrobras was doing here in Rio and around the world. They are looking to start oil production in the Gulf of Mexico and look to double production in the next 10 years. Carlos, the economist said that refineries are not as lucrative as oil discoveries so that is their main focus.
The quote I remember from his presentation was “Life is like a bottle of water. You have to buy a new bottle or discover a new reserve.” Oh wait, in America you can drink tap water.
Leaving for Buzios agorra (that means right now in Portuguese)!
Tuesday night was happy hour at Lord Jim’s Pub. I know, so Brazilian of us. Now that my Portuguese skills have gotten progressively better, it really allows me to put my all in to hitting on the professor, not that it’s going anywhere. Other than that, we visited pao de azucar yesterday (sugar loaf) yesterday, which is a huge mountain range that has a spectacular view of all of Rio basically. You take a lift up and there’s freaking awesome lookout points. Favorite part about it was that we saw wild monkeys; which were really cool-I’ve always had a propinquity for monkeys, so this really fulfilled my expectations. Here's a picture!
Afterwards, we went on a walking tour of the Centro-the downtown historical part of Rio, which was cool (We went into two churches, went to casa de moedas, and an art exhibition). Unfortunately, there was this really screwed up younger guy that kept following our group prodding us for money. He looked really high and he wasn’t wearing any shoes which was so sad. Finally, he left us alone after about 30 minutes of following us…
Around 5pm, me, Paola, Juan, Jessica, Blake, and Davis went to buy our bus tickets to Buzios, Brazil this weekend. It’s a really awesome peninsula with great nightlife. Friday morning (tomorrow) at 10am is the departure date. It’s about a 3 hour bus ride. That’s right, already packed my backpack.
Last night, me and Juan met my friend Sandra (the one I met on the plane) and her friend Jay at a Latin party. The party was in Copacabana and it was free entry for girls until 11 and free beer until 12. The night started out with a salsa lesson- one I needed BADLY. But after the lesson, I was a professional. We learned about 5 moves and then made 10 or so partner rotations. I danced with some weird guys, but whatever-I know how to salsa now! During the lesson, Paola, Gaby, Bonnie, Tony, Civel, and Ximena showed up! We all drank beer and I danced with a lot of guys to practice my newly made salsa moves. It was awesome because I met people from all over the world. (Ok, mostly south America) But still, very cool. I heard some girls speaking English so I started talking to them. They were English teachers in the Favelas that had both just graduated college. We made fast friends. One was Canadian, the other was English. We didn’t leave the club until 2:45 or so because it got that crazy in there.
After Portuguese class today, might I remind you is at 8:30, a few of us went out to an Italian restaurant where I had the best Gnocci (spell check?) of my life! Sorry Jen if you are reading this! It had four different types of cheeses and was baked. Cheese. Yum. After lunch, we went on a company visit to Petrobras, the energy company (oil, gas) here in Brazil. The building was huge and an economist talked to us about what Petrobras was doing here in Rio and around the world. They are looking to start oil production in the Gulf of Mexico and look to double production in the next 10 years. Carlos, the economist said that refineries are not as lucrative as oil discoveries so that is their main focus.
The quote I remember from his presentation was “Life is like a bottle of water. You have to buy a new bottle or discover a new reserve.” Oh wait, in America you can drink tap water.
Leaving for Buzios agorra (that means right now in Portuguese)!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Food, glorious food!
Coffee is very very important here. It's called cafezinho which is a little hot espresso shot (very strong) and people drink it every few hours. They put in a full packet of sugar or a few drops of liquid sweetner (which i think it quite strange).
Fruit is very exotic in Brazil. Papayas, Mangos, Strawberries, Kaki (see picture!), Bananas, Oranges, Pineapples are what I usually eat for breakfast along with some french or arab bread and quiejo minhas (white cheese)also pictured which is fantastic!
For lunch, I usually grab a sandwich and eat on the beach or go to a kilo place (you pay for how much you get).
Dinner is usually the typical Brazilian meal which is rice, black beans, chicken, and a vegetable. Sometimes we have pasta or soup though…depends on the day! They also drink a lot of suco (juice) here! Especially since Rio drinking water is not safe.
On a sidenote, today we visited EBX, which is Eike Batista’s company (the 8th richest man in the world). The presentation was cool and its really awesome how fast they are expanding and hiring so many employees.
Going out for happy hour tonight! Tchau!
Fruit is very exotic in Brazil. Papayas, Mangos, Strawberries, Kaki (see picture!), Bananas, Oranges, Pineapples are what I usually eat for breakfast along with some french or arab bread and quiejo minhas (white cheese)also pictured which is fantastic!
For lunch, I usually grab a sandwich and eat on the beach or go to a kilo place (you pay for how much you get).
Dinner is usually the typical Brazilian meal which is rice, black beans, chicken, and a vegetable. Sometimes we have pasta or soup though…depends on the day! They also drink a lot of suco (juice) here! Especially since Rio drinking water is not safe.
On a sidenote, today we visited EBX, which is Eike Batista’s company (the 8th richest man in the world). The presentation was cool and its really awesome how fast they are expanding and hiring so many employees.
Going out for happy hour tonight! Tchau!
Monday, May 16, 2011
Weekend in Paraty!
Friday we travelled to Paraty, Brazil.. its about 2-3 hours away. The beaches were beautiful and the town was absolutely wonderful. We all took a van there which was quite the bumpy ride. Paraty is located in the mountains and needless to say, we almost killed a cachorro (puppy) on the way there. We were all scared for our lives. We stayed in a beautiful Poussada bed and breakfast type of place called Casa del Sol. Above, I posted a picture of the view we had from our waterfront location. Friday night we all went out to dinner and partied pretty hard at the Poussada, woke up the next morning to go into the town of Paraty. The town is an old historical town on the water. We went on a boat ride for 40 reales (pretty cheap) for eight people and it ended up being an hour and a half! We stopped at an island and did a little exploring, we ate lunch after…it doesn’t stop there. We went to a Distillery called Fazend Murycana and drank a lot of cachaça, and don’t worry, I bought a bottle to bring home! We tried like 8 different flavors each! It was a great day and we went out for dinner when we got back to the possada and did some boozing and pool playing when we got back that night.
Sunday morning Paola and I went on a run on the pier. I could say I kept up, but she runs cross country and showed me up big time. The group went to Angra dos Reis which is also in Paraty, we went on a 5 hour boat ride that stopped at three different islands throughout the trip. The boat was huge and it was a lot of fun! There were a lot of foreigners on the boat. Some guy from Finland was talking to us and when Gaby (my friend) tried talking to him in English he responded, “Sorry I don’t speak Spanish”. Poor girl has a heavy Venezuelan accent! The islands were beautiful though and we got back to Rio about 7pm!
When I got home, me and Andrea (Alessandra’s cousin, 34 yrs old) decided to go out to a bar nearby…she doesn’t speak any English so I got some good practice in! We had a lot of fun, and after 5 beers we came back sufficiently drunk. Oh, and Alessandra told me about this guy she’s seeing who is 26 years old, why do I always get the cougars!?!
Monday we went to the beach for 3 hours in between class. And I’m now officially conversational in Portuguese. That’s all folks!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Quinta-Thursday!
Yesterday was our first business visit (BNDES) Brazilian Development Bank. On our way there, we stopped by the Military base of Cocacabana-we took a few pictures because there was a really good view. BNDES was a huge building in downtown, right across the street from Petrobras! BNDES is the main financing agent for development in Brazil and has played a fundamental role in stimulating the expansion of industry and infrastructure in the country. They promote sustainable and competitive development in the Brazilian economy, generating employment while reducing social and regional inequalities, something that Brazil is stricken with. They are socially and environmentally responsible and even have an Amazon fund to help the Amazonian people live in a sustainable way that does not harm the rainforest. The presentation was pretty interesting so it made it pretty enjoyable.
Last night, we went out in Leblon, another part of Rio. We first met up at a bar called “Devassa” where we all pre-gamed for about 2 hours and then went to a “funk” discotek called “Melt”. We went with our friend from Rio named Ana. At Melt it was 25 cover for girls and 60 for guys but Ana talked them down for it to be 15 for girls, 25 for guys thank god. Melt was crazy, there was a bachelorette party there, so many beautiful women. I can’t explain to you that every woman in Brazil has a perfectly proportioned body, tan skin, and long hair. It is amazing. Anyways, we made a few friends, one of them named Gabi who says she is going to take us around to all the sights in Rio…people here are so friendly! We left the club around 3:45am, people literally party here until 6am…intense. We didn’t have school this morning so I slept until 12.
Last night, we went out in Leblon, another part of Rio. We first met up at a bar called “Devassa” where we all pre-gamed for about 2 hours and then went to a “funk” discotek called “Melt”. We went with our friend from Rio named Ana. At Melt it was 25 cover for girls and 60 for guys but Ana talked them down for it to be 15 for girls, 25 for guys thank god. Melt was crazy, there was a bachelorette party there, so many beautiful women. I can’t explain to you that every woman in Brazil has a perfectly proportioned body, tan skin, and long hair. It is amazing. Anyways, we made a few friends, one of them named Gabi who says she is going to take us around to all the sights in Rio…people here are so friendly! We left the club around 3:45am, people literally party here until 6am…intense. We didn’t have school this morning so I slept until 12.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Weekend trip!
So the internet in my house was not working today and I wrote a whole post about yesterday! Ill post it sunday if I can!
Basically we all went out hard last night because there was no school today. This weekend we are going away to Paraty, Brazil. Theres really beautiful beaches and I am super excited! Until then, tchau meninos.
Basically we all went out hard last night because there was no school today. This weekend we are going away to Paraty, Brazil. Theres really beautiful beaches and I am super excited! Until then, tchau meninos.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Favelas of Rio
Today we went to the favelas, which are the slums of Brazil. Favelas are located on mountains in the city of Rio and there are some of the best views of the city from there. Favelas are very dangerous, not many tourists visit this area so we had a guide with us. The guide said that you may not see the danger but favelas are known to have highly dangerous military weapons, gangs, grenades, and poverty. The most astounding thing about this place was the kids that live in the filth of the favelas. One street is very rich and wealthy people, and the minute you step into a favela it is like being in a ghetto. The water is unsafe, the wires are loose, theres trash and feces in the street, and theres smiling kids everywhere. It's a very interesting experience. Davis bought a coke while he was there and he asked the Director of PUC where he could throw it out, she replied.. "Really it doesn't matter, you can put it anywhere it all ends up in the street." I thought that was a really sad response for a Brazilian. You would think that Brazilians would want to help out these areas not trash them even more.
To end on a good note, i'm definitely getting better at Portuguese (I think). I can have semi-conversations now!
Tchau my friends :)
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Muito caro
LIVING IN RIO IS EXPENSIVE.
Reale is the currency in brazil ( 1 reale=approx .66 USD) A decent lunch costs anywhere from 20-30 reales in Rio...obviously, things can get pretty costly. A beer is abour 7reales. However, we did find our way around this! At the PUC campus, lunch at the cafeteria is 6 reales, muito barato (very cheap). So we decided we will eat there as much as possible! Dad if you are reading this, I am trying but its really expensive living here!Taxis, buses, food...drinks...it adds up!
Last night a group of us went out to Mud Bar in Copacabana. At night, we have to take taxis everywhere as safety precautions...that's Rio! We all drank Skol, a type of Brazilian beer but I also tried one called Bohemia which was tasted pretty good as well.
In other news, we found out in class today that our professor has a boyfriend-there goes that hope!
It was raining this morning and me and Juan had to walk 7 blocks in the terrential downpour. We ended up being late to class at IBEU because of it. Portuguese classes are 8:30am-11:30 am every day with a 15 minute break...fun stuff.
After class we took the bus over to PUC (Pontificial Catholic University)where we have a business seminar from 2:30-5:30pm three days a week. Its actually a really cool program because we are lectured by a different person about a different business subject every time.BUT THE LECTURES ARE BORING AS HELL. We also go on business visits like to Petrobras etc. Today we have a guest lecture on bringing Starbucks coffee to Brazil, who are said "coffee conossiers". Tomorrow we are visiting a favela (the slums in Brazil).
Going out tonight, Tchau!
Reale is the currency in brazil ( 1 reale=approx .66 USD) A decent lunch costs anywhere from 20-30 reales in Rio...obviously, things can get pretty costly. A beer is abour 7reales. However, we did find our way around this! At the PUC campus, lunch at the cafeteria is 6 reales, muito barato (very cheap). So we decided we will eat there as much as possible! Dad if you are reading this, I am trying but its really expensive living here!Taxis, buses, food...drinks...it adds up!
Last night a group of us went out to Mud Bar in Copacabana. At night, we have to take taxis everywhere as safety precautions...that's Rio! We all drank Skol, a type of Brazilian beer but I also tried one called Bohemia which was tasted pretty good as well.
In other news, we found out in class today that our professor has a boyfriend-there goes that hope!
It was raining this morning and me and Juan had to walk 7 blocks in the terrential downpour. We ended up being late to class at IBEU because of it. Portuguese classes are 8:30am-11:30 am every day with a 15 minute break...fun stuff.
After class we took the bus over to PUC (Pontificial Catholic University)where we have a business seminar from 2:30-5:30pm three days a week. Its actually a really cool program because we are lectured by a different person about a different business subject every time.BUT THE LECTURES ARE BORING AS HELL. We also go on business visits like to Petrobras etc. Today we have a guest lecture on bringing Starbucks coffee to Brazil, who are said "coffee conossiers". Tomorrow we are visiting a favela (the slums in Brazil).
Going out tonight, Tchau!
Monday, May 9, 2011
Portuguese?
Communication issues:Right now I’m the only one home except for the maid. Unfortunately, I tried to talk with her about what time I should eat dinner, but she didn’t understand what I said. I attempted speaking for at least 5 minutes. I feel very stupid after a two hour Portuguese lesson this morning. Last night Bruna had me read her bedtime stories but i couldn't pronounce all of the words right. Good thing the five year old can correct me! We also played barbies last night, long time favorite around the world.
Old lady alert:There are 12 of us, including myself on the “UF in Rio” program. One of my classmates sticks out to all of us however. Her name is Lori, and she speaks Portuguese very well. This could be attributed to the fact that she’s probably nearing SIXTY years old. I really hope she isn’t reading this blog, but I had to tell someone because I just don’t understand who the hell goes on a study abroad program at 50 something years old, aren’t you supposed to be entering a retirement community by then? It just makes things very awkward…like we have a chaperone or something. #STRANGE
Hot topicz:I have a crush on my teacher. Whats new? Her name is Jamaina, and she has the best smile, we all know that won’t happen-she’s thirty, and my teacher…but I can dream.
Fingernails:In Rio, every respectable woman has a nice manicure and pedicure. Last night, Alessandra made me take off my left over nail polish because she said I’m not going to meet a nice boy with nails like that…oh well. She also told me that she had a guy “friend” that cared about no aspect of her except for one thing, her nails. She always had to have them painted red for him, how ridiculous is that? Never would I do something like that!
Going out tonight, Tchau!
Old lady alert:There are 12 of us, including myself on the “UF in Rio” program. One of my classmates sticks out to all of us however. Her name is Lori, and she speaks Portuguese very well. This could be attributed to the fact that she’s probably nearing SIXTY years old. I really hope she isn’t reading this blog, but I had to tell someone because I just don’t understand who the hell goes on a study abroad program at 50 something years old, aren’t you supposed to be entering a retirement community by then? It just makes things very awkward…like we have a chaperone or something. #STRANGE
Hot topicz:I have a crush on my teacher. Whats new? Her name is Jamaina, and she has the best smile, we all know that won’t happen-she’s thirty, and my teacher…but I can dream.
Fingernails:In Rio, every respectable woman has a nice manicure and pedicure. Last night, Alessandra made me take off my left over nail polish because she said I’m not going to meet a nice boy with nails like that…oh well. She also told me that she had a guy “friend” that cared about no aspect of her except for one thing, her nails. She always had to have them painted red for him, how ridiculous is that? Never would I do something like that!
Going out tonight, Tchau!
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Dia de Mae
Here's a picture of me and Bruna (my little sister in Brazil!)
Literally, this house is always full of women…it’s actually pretty funny.
Yesterday, Alessandra took me out to a late lunch (around 3pm). We ate at a natural buffet. They have a lot of these in Rio, everything is organic. It was really good and healthy. According to her, all of the cariocas (people from Rio De Janiero) have an obsession of being thin. After eating, we took a walk along the beach.
I napped and went to bed early because I was so exhausted from traveling all day. Camila and Chia (Camila’s mother) were watching novelas when I went to sleep, and they were still here when I woke up this morning. There are always visitors in this house.
For breakfast we ate bread with a white cheese, which Camila said was very good for your figure…and melon. Alessandra said Brazilians eat French bread because of how soft it is.
Today we (Alessandra, Bruna, Chia, and I) walked to the beach, we live 2 streets down from it-so convenient! We walked up and down the strip in Ipanema and there were huge ondas (waves). Alessandra told me I must take pictures because the ocean is never like this.
Since its mother’s day, we had lunch with Alessandra’s mother and aunt came to have lunch. We went out to a nice restaurant (they made me wear a dress) and then we walked around the hippie fest. Every Sunday there is a hippie type fair in Ipanema which is a whole bunch of vendors (jewelry, art, crafts)…don’t worry, I bought some souvenirs for you guys at home.
I uploaded photos from the beach today on facebook! Tchau
Saturday, May 7, 2011
First day!
I am in Brazil! Finally!
I left from Miami yesterday the 6th at 4:30 pm, had a connecting flight in Lima, Peru and arrived in Rio de Janiero, Brazil at 5:30am this morning. I had to wait around in the airport until 10:00 though for the rest of my group to arrive! The alternative was to take a cab, but I really don’t trust myself to be able to do all that in Portuguese yet…so here I am, waiting in the airport.
The airport is such a funny place. Everyone is in transit. I talked to so many people but I’ll probably never see anyone again except I did make one new friend! Her name is Sandra and we sat next to each other on the flight to Brazil. She’s from Columbia (thank god she spoke Spanish) but lives in Rio while she is studying for her doctorate in genetics. We chatted for a while and we drank some vino (wine) on the plane, because I can do that in Brazil! She helped me get through customs and baggage so that was a huge help. She gave me her phone and e-mail so we’ll definitely meet up in Rio which is exciting!
I discovered that I can’t speak Portuguese worth shit. Literally, I went to get some juice from the “Casa de Pao” (A little café in the airport) and I felt like a dumbass. I ordered suco laranja (orange juice) and when the server asked if I wanted jello I drew a blank…I guess jello means ice in Portuguese. Who knew?
I could only hope that I was in the right place because I tried asking for directions but no one understood my half-spanish half-portuguese phrases. I was literally a lost puppy for a good hour and a half wandering around Rio’s airport…it’s huge by the way; I think I walked a few miles.
Something interesting about women in Brazil is that breast-feeding in public is absolutely normal. I’m not complaining at all, trust me…just simply informing y’all of the culture. When I was waiting in the airport there was a group of women standing in a circle chatting with each other, when I glanced their way, I realized that they all had one breast sticking out holding their baby in the other hand to breast feed. Interesting site, completely normal I guess haha.
Leonor met us at the airport and took us to our families! I live in a really hip neighborhood called Ipanamea. It looks like a more health-conscious Key West. When I first got to the apartment a woman name Camila answered the door, she is my host-mom’s cousin. Camila made me breakfast and talked with me for about an hour in PORTUGUESE before my host-mom got home, it was tough, but I did it! This apartment is so freaking awesome. Right now, my “mai” (mom) is blasting the song Tik-Tok throughout the house at a ridiculous volume. Her name is Alessandra Reinoso, she’s 40 and she has a four year old daughter named Bruna, whom I haven’t met yet. This afternoon I ran errands with Alessandra, we walked around the streets and we just happen to be perpendicular to the “gay street” hahahah, lucky me. Alessandra speaks English pretty well, which is good for me because I need lots of translations. Alessandra’s other cousin is living with her now, Andrea; she’s about 35 and she wants to come party with us tonight, so that should be exciting. We’re going to have lunch soon, Tchau!
I left from Miami yesterday the 6th at 4:30 pm, had a connecting flight in Lima, Peru and arrived in Rio de Janiero, Brazil at 5:30am this morning. I had to wait around in the airport until 10:00 though for the rest of my group to arrive! The alternative was to take a cab, but I really don’t trust myself to be able to do all that in Portuguese yet…so here I am, waiting in the airport.
The airport is such a funny place. Everyone is in transit. I talked to so many people but I’ll probably never see anyone again except I did make one new friend! Her name is Sandra and we sat next to each other on the flight to Brazil. She’s from Columbia (thank god she spoke Spanish) but lives in Rio while she is studying for her doctorate in genetics. We chatted for a while and we drank some vino (wine) on the plane, because I can do that in Brazil! She helped me get through customs and baggage so that was a huge help. She gave me her phone and e-mail so we’ll definitely meet up in Rio which is exciting!
I discovered that I can’t speak Portuguese worth shit. Literally, I went to get some juice from the “Casa de Pao” (A little café in the airport) and I felt like a dumbass. I ordered suco laranja (orange juice) and when the server asked if I wanted jello I drew a blank…I guess jello means ice in Portuguese. Who knew?
I could only hope that I was in the right place because I tried asking for directions but no one understood my half-spanish half-portuguese phrases. I was literally a lost puppy for a good hour and a half wandering around Rio’s airport…it’s huge by the way; I think I walked a few miles.
Something interesting about women in Brazil is that breast-feeding in public is absolutely normal. I’m not complaining at all, trust me…just simply informing y’all of the culture. When I was waiting in the airport there was a group of women standing in a circle chatting with each other, when I glanced their way, I realized that they all had one breast sticking out holding their baby in the other hand to breast feed. Interesting site, completely normal I guess haha.
Leonor met us at the airport and took us to our families! I live in a really hip neighborhood called Ipanamea. It looks like a more health-conscious Key West. When I first got to the apartment a woman name Camila answered the door, she is my host-mom’s cousin. Camila made me breakfast and talked with me for about an hour in PORTUGUESE before my host-mom got home, it was tough, but I did it! This apartment is so freaking awesome. Right now, my “mai” (mom) is blasting the song Tik-Tok throughout the house at a ridiculous volume. Her name is Alessandra Reinoso, she’s 40 and she has a four year old daughter named Bruna, whom I haven’t met yet. This afternoon I ran errands with Alessandra, we walked around the streets and we just happen to be perpendicular to the “gay street” hahahah, lucky me. Alessandra speaks English pretty well, which is good for me because I need lots of translations. Alessandra’s other cousin is living with her now, Andrea; she’s about 35 and she wants to come party with us tonight, so that should be exciting. We’re going to have lunch soon, Tchau!
Monday, April 25, 2011
My summer, summed up:
May 6th I am leaving for Rio de Janiero, Brazil where I will participate in a study abroad program called "Business in Brazil". I will be living with a host family. No, I do not know Portuguese, yet.
June 4th I fly from Rio to Lima, Peru. In a city outside of Lima called Huayacan, I will be teaching Enlgish to the children of the pueblo and assisting a women's empowerment program. This is all through a non-profit organization called LLI.
May 6th I am leaving for Rio de Janiero, Brazil where I will participate in a study abroad program called "Business in Brazil". I will be living with a host family. No, I do not know Portuguese, yet.
June 4th I fly from Rio to Lima, Peru. In a city outside of Lima called Huayacan, I will be teaching Enlgish to the children of the pueblo and assisting a women's empowerment program. This is all through a non-profit organization called LLI.
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