Sunday, January 30, 2011

Week 1 at the Aldea

The week starts out with us all getting really sick. yeah so great. We stayed an extra day in Trujillo to get better before we ventured to the Aldea for the first time. It was actually a good thing because the meals we missed was cow intestines, so i'm not too bummed about being gone for that. The Aldea is great!! Our house is nicer than I was expecting and has a big open living room area. Our beds cave in at the middle so I feel like i'm in a taco and we don't have a toilet seat on our toilet...The kids are so cute!! No one speaks English though, so its kind of funny sometimes because we can't understand each other and the kids think we're crazy. I have learned a ton of Spanish already and actually understood a lot of sunday school, congratulations to me. I do have to admit I gave up by relief society though, 2 hours is enough.
It's really relaxed at the Aldea and we just do whatever whenever basically. We are supposed to help with the pools for an hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays and do English class but other than that we just play with them or do whatever we/they feel like doing. We eat in the houses with the kids and have to finish everything (thanksgiving feast at every meal...only its mostly rice with meat). I've have learned the art of pawning off food to the kids when the Tia (the women who stay with the kids, kind of like a mom for them) isn't looking. There are many techniques I've learned. Good skills for life right? We play a lot of futbol with them and they love the frisbee and american football I brought. I love it there! The only part that isn't amazing is the complete dreading of meal times, just because I know how much they are going to put on my plate even if I ask for a little bit and I've got to find some way to get it all into my stomach.
This Friday we had a party for all of the kids with January birthdays. It was so much fun! The kids got all dressed up for it and looked so nice. They had presents for the birthday kids and a piƱata for the rest of them. We had a big dance party where the kids showed off their great skills. Some of them have some pretty good moves they whipped out. Everyone had a great time! We had a big lunch before outside with everyone...we now have 3 sheep wandering around instead of 4.
Friday night we went to a place kind of like a night club to watch Candy's friend Alex and his band. They are really popular here in Trujillo and well known. A lot of people come to see them so the place was packed! Alex plays the piano for their band and asked if any of us played, so I told him I did to which he responded, okay then you'll play tonight. say what?! He didn't have any music so I was supposed to just wing it, they called me over and introduced me then Alex played the first few bars to show me which chords and rhythm then it was all me! It turned out good and was way fun! So, yes, I am now famous. After they thanked me then said some other stuff but I don't know what so it doesn't matter, I just smiled while they were talking and pretended to understand ha. Everyone was already staring at us because we are white first off, and we weren't drinking, and now I was playing in the band...way to blend in, not.
Things are going great and I'm having a blast!!
Here are pictures....there's a lot this time.
When I got sick I had to drink that ENTIRE bottle....I like American medicine.

This is the living room in my house.

LUCHO!! He is so cute! Very chubby, but way cute.

This is Renzo. No need to say more, just look at him.

Victor. Easily one of my favorites. He is a goof, he helps me with my Spanish but teases me a lot. He loves to pose for the camera though so all the pictures of him are funny. He is a great kid!

This is outside my front door. The middle area of the Aldea


Some of the kids. And just for the record i'm not that pasty white anymore....just so you know.....


Flor is adorable. Enough said. 

3 sheep....not 4.......

These are the little boat things they use to go out fishing...
This is one of the views from the roof of the house I stay at. The buildings don't look nice from the outside, but on the inside they look a lot better! Kind of interesting. And none of the houses have roofs, they are all just open.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Trujillo!

These past few days have been spent in Trujillo with my host family the Castillo's. They are the sweetest people ever!! Mama Carolina doesn't speak English so it is hard to communicate with her, but she acts everything out--really funny--so we get a little bit. Mes hermanas Wendy and Candy are very funny! They laugh at everything and are big jokesters. They both speak a little English and Candy speaks french, so I can talk to them. I'm sure you're all wondering how i'm handling the food, since I was fairly picky back home...It is better than I was expecting. I am actually able to eat most of it and even like a lot of it! I just struggle with the portion sizes, they seem to have bottomless pits in their stomachs because they eat enough for 3 people!

Friday we went and played sports with their equivalent of a singles ward. It was SO much fun!!!! Some of them spoke a little bit of English but mostly we were trying to communicate in Spanish. It was funny trying to talk to each other because we didn't understand each other much. I was actually able to have conversations with some of them! Obviously not very complex ones, but still a conversation. After playing we went and got drinks and just talked. It was a blast!

Saturday we went to Huanchaco, a popular beach just 15 minutes or so from their house. If you have 6 white girls at the beach you will get a lot of attention...fact. The weather was wonderful! We ate at a restaurant there and got hair wraps. It was a lot of fun and really relaxing. I love how relaxed everything is here!

Now for the pictures, the part you all want...
Huanchaco Beach

All of us at the restaurant in Huanchaco. Very delicious!

This is what I had at the restaurant. It is beef and rice and other stuff...It was way good. And shock to all, I actually finished all of that!
I thought Dad would appreciate these. They are everywhere!


This is my hair wrap

This is why we are supposed to wear bug spray at the Aldea...poor Carrie!

All of us at the beach. From left to right...Julia, Izzy, Ally (2 interns from Holland and England), Candy, Wendy (mes hermanas), Katie, Carrie, and me.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Day in Lima

Josue! He was the cutest boy! We played futbol with him and played with his toys while he jabbered on in Spanish laughing when we tried to talk to him. He was way funny! My name was chica blanca (because my shirt not my skin!)
This is right outside my window in Lima. The birds are way sweet and fun to watch. It was very pretty in her yard! 

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Naturally...

So I'm here!! Only 20 hours in an airport/plane and I made it! It was an interesting day...good in all, but full of little adventures. Being that our first layover was only 1 hour, our first flight to Denver was delayed 1 hour. Naturally we got of at terminal B71 and our next one was B15...the very last one on each end of one long strip of airport. We barely made it to our next flight and were one of the last ones to board. I was seated in the window seat by 2 grandmas who were very fragile, so naturally I got the sudden urge to have to go to the bathroom during take off. I wasn't about to ask them to let me out in their conditions so needless to say I was not so excited to see how long it was taking for people to get off when we finally landed. No I did not wet my pants, but yes it was a close call. We board for the final flight from Houston to Lima and take our seats. I am surrounded my a bunch of old men speaking really fast, I felt doomed! there was no way I was going to be able to understand that! But then I realized that even though I don't speak Spanish, I knew they weren't either, so I kept listening and found out they were all Japanese. Spanish is one thing to try and catch onto, Japanese is a hopeless cause. The one sitting next to me spoke very minimal English but wanted to show me everything is companion had made. It was all quite impressive actually. One of his other companions got out a video camera and was sweeping over all of them and when it got to me he stopped and they all started chuckling so I waved and said 'Konichiwah' (I have no stinking idea how to spell that, just sound it out!) and they all got a big kick out of that! They had me say a few other things in Japanese and were having a great time listening to me sounding like a fool. That was an interesting flight to say the least ha. Julia was sitting my a couple who was traveling to Peru to go bird watching. *not a joke. A few of you might understand why I almost died when she told me that...But anyways, that flight ended I said goodbye to my new Japanese friends and we went to get our luggage. Only problem was, it was there. Our luggage was no were to be found, so we spent an additional hour trying to get the proper forms filled out before we met up with Katie. Then we all had to go talk to the agents for a while so they could get the information to send it to us. We are only in Lima for 24 hours, so naturally it will take about 25 hours to get it to us. They arranged for it to be sent to Trujillo but wanted an address, naturally the family they would send it to is on vacation. We will just end up picking it up from the airport when it comes...cross your fingers that it comes soon!! We were finally able to leave the airport at around 2 a.m. and come to her house. I love it here!!!! It is so warm and beautiful! They have a lot of birds right outside that are way cool and the houses are all way sweet! Pictures will come shortly, I promise!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

CHECK IT OUT!!

Considering the amount of requests i've received from a wide variety of people for updates during my trip I decided it would be easier to just put them all on my blog and everyone can check it as they please. Ideally I will update it at least once a week...but no promises!