The First Week

It's been a week since I first arrived in Lima, and boy has it been an eventful one! Monday was the first days of classes and there was a short orientation before. This was also the first day that I would be reunited with all of the students from UNK. Before the orientation I agreed with a friend to speak Spanish when we saw each other, but that pact went right out the window the second we saw each other. It was a weird feeling to be with only my host family who know very little about American cultural, not see a familiar face, and speak only Spanish for two days. I never knew how comforting it is to speak in your native tongue. I know understand why the international students speak their native tongue instead of English at UNK. After the orientation I had my first class in Peru. This is the only class that is spoken in English.

The next couple of days my classes were all in Spanish, which meant I wasn't speaking/hearing English as much. This is still taking some getting used too! It takes a lot of concentration to make myself pay attention for the three hours of class we have in Spanish. I've found that I have a tendency to zone out during long lectures. It's been a struggle, but it has helped my Spanish immensely.

In addition to the schooling I have also experienced some of the culture. On Tuesday I went to a birthday party with my host family. It was basically the same as it is here, dancing, music, food, people, but it is run differently. I must have misunderstood when my host family asked me if I wanted to go because I thought we would leave by 11 PM, we didn't leave until 12:45! If I had known the customs here I would’ve known that I had indeed misunderstood. I was told that in Peru you don't sing happy birthday, which was sung in English at this party, until 12 AM, so technically the day after your birthday. Also the food isn't served until after you sing happy birthday also.

The following Thursday me and some classmates from UNK played soccer at a sports arena not far from the University with some students from UPC. It was all guys that came to play with us from the Peruvian University and were a little surprised to see girls playing too. In Peru, and many other Hispanic countries, girls don't really play sports. I was surprised to hear that as they were to see girls playing. After the game some of the Peruvians gave me a notebook to write my name on so they could contact me later. When they handed me the notebook I looked at with and turned it from side to side as if I've never seen paper before. It was grid paper and it caught me of guard. In Peru, and many other countries around the world, the use graph paper to write of instead of lined paper. They must have thought I was an idiot.

Friday and Saturday were also full of new experiences. On Friday me and some friends went to a local shopping mall. To get there we had to take the combi, or bus. These are nothing like the busses in the US. They don't run on a schedule and have almost no rules. They'd fit 100 people in a combi built for 15 if they could. Most of the time you have to stand, which is painful considering I don't fit standing. The shopping mall had new adventures also. One of the stores had an escalator for the carts! I think I had a tad too much fun on that for a guy my age.

The next day I went to the beach for the first time. It was awesome, so much sun, sand and people. I knew beforehand that the ocean is salt water, but I never realized how easy it is for water to get into your mouth, it tasted awful and burned on my bruises! The only down side is that I came back redder than a tomato. We were there for 7 hours! After the beach we played Wii at a friend’s house. Almost the whole time I held the remote backwards, right was left and left was right. Finally someone corrected me and I told them I just thought it was different in Peru; they all had a good laugh at that!

El Combi