Dia 3!

Today was a slow day. I woke up at 10:30am because I am a lazy arse, and I left my alarm ringing on snooze for 1.5 hours and never left my bed even though there was a lot of activity going on outside of the house (ie. that dumb dog barking) and people on the phone outside my room. I stayed in bed, and it was soooo good. Hahaha, I don't often get to sleep in for long hours so I savour it when I can.

Didn't do much today other than be lazy. I was talking with Irma, Margarita's sister (I met Catalina, Margarita's other sister yesterday) and Sonia, the cook about schools that offered Spanish courses. I found a school in Miraflores, but I think it'll be too expensive, and there was the Euro Idioma school close to my place, but they didn't offer much except for private classes for Spanish lessons...which is just too expensive for me. So, as it stands so far, my Spanish education will just have to be from living life in Peru. Which I am sure will work and I expect to have a better grasp of the language by the time I leave, but I think the process would just be faster if I took a course.

Walked around Avenida Salvaverry and Javier Prado trying to find the Euro Idioma school. It took me forever and in the end I had to ask some people at this small university for hotel management and tourism (at least that is what I think it said) and then they asked the cops. Haha. Oh geez. Afterwards I went to the grocery store and bought some bottled water and tried to purchase some sweet things to indulge in my recent craving for chocolate, chips, etc. As it is however, things appear quite expensive here! Chocolate was about $6 USD for a small box that wasn't that great of quality. I bought some Peruvian cookies that have a creme center that sort of look like dulce de leche, unfortunately they are kind of disappointing. Oh well. Body lotion is also expensive here so I cheaped out and bought this large, but sketchy bottle of lotion. I'm sure it's fine though.

I forgot to mention a few things that happened yesterday. I remember choosing my taxi driver for the reason that his dash was covered in this blue tasseled blanket and he had some small little trinkets on the dash, like a little sombrero and my favourite, a little stuffed snowman. At a red light he picked up the snowman and was looking at it and I couldn't help but smile at myself. It's nice to see that people don't lose their childishness even when they are older.

Oh and today, walking home I almost stepped on a cockroach. Not just any cockroach, it was HUGE. The size of my index finger!! I freaked out as calmly as one could freak out, and this couple walking by looked at me funny. But seriously...that cockroach was HUGE. I am used to the little, mincey Toronto apartment cockroaches (of which during the summer, Natalie and I had the unfortunate incident of finding one in the bathroom. I did nothing but freak out and Natalie killed it). This cockroach was all big, and shiny, and dark and fast. Ugggh. *shudder*

The funny thing is that the weather doesn't actually seem like it would warrant cockroaches that large! Today, during my walk I was wearing jeans and a sleeveless top. While I still got a bit uncomfortable in my jeans, it was still bearable, whereas in Asia when I wear jeans in the summer - well, let's just put it this way, I don't wear jeans in the summer. I tried once and I made it about 1 block away from my grandparents apartment before I returned to change.

I have a favourite drink here in Peru! It's called 'chicha morado'. It's made from maiz, the one that is in the house is made from purple maiz. When Sonia first told me (or rather showed me because I didn't know what morada meant) I was a little surprised. I'm drinking a drink made from corn?!? Anyway, it's spiced with what tastes like cloves, cinnamon and apples and it is delicious!

From Lima

Sonia con los maizes morado

From Lima

Bebida chicha y las sobras de mi almuerza

From Lima

For my sister

I forgot to mention yesterday, I saw something interesting. It was a gas station embedded IN the road! I wasn't able to catch a photo of it because my taxi driver was driving at neck-breaking speed. Think of it as where in a typical North American vegetated divider in the center of the road...but instead, it was a thin(ish) and linear. It's a good idea, but at the same time, also kind of dangerous. I mean you're just driving along and you realize you need gas, you don't even need to make any turns. You just glide right in...but then again, with the way that people drive in Lima, I would not feel comfortable just standing so close to the edge of the road (and it was a major road), filling up my car.

I have mixed feelings about the planning here. The roads are kind of a series of grids mashed together, you can see how the city progressed building district to district as it continued to sprawl. In central Lima there is a part that is planned in City Beautiful form...I quite like it. The residential neighbourhood that I live in states each block in the road (blocks = cuadra here), it's useful because you'll always know whether or not you're heading in the wrong direction if the block numbers are increasing or decreasing.

I'm still trying to get adjusted to the life in this house. It's a bit weird for me, and I'm worried it's going to be hard. First of all, it's strange to have all of my meals cooked for me. But there is also the language barrier but mostly that I am just not used to this individualistic type of living. I don't really see Kokoro much, and I've only seen the Peruvian resident once or twice...and have never talked to him. I've seen Midori more, but her husband less. I see Irma the most, then Sonia and Margarita (at least it seems this way for now). Midori, her husband, and Kokoro and the Peruvian resident seem quite a bit older than me and they are all coupled. This is also an adjustment for me because in Waterloo, in the last term, I lived in a house that had a really strong sense of community. I sometimes even attribute it to communal living, because sometimes that it was it felt like...like a co-operative. People were always around and talking to one another. Then again, I also had the room adjacent to the kitchen....so of course people were always around! Hahaha.

So far though, I feel good and I am happy here. I am just worried that I will begin to feel lonely if I do not meet people and make friends soon. Of course it is difficult with that language barrier, but slowly and surely. I am excited to start work because it will also keep me busy and I hope to be able to contribute to CEDRO and in the future, to the world. Baby steps.

Anyway...my poor back is hurting from hunching to write this blog entry. So...I is off!! Te hablo pronto!


Saludos,
Renee