Sorry, this post is about a week late. I lacked a little motivation to post, seeing as how I'm now back in the states and if people want to know anything, they can call me.
However, since this also serves as my journal, I'll write about my last day in Peru.
I spent most of the morning packing. It was a longer process than I thought. I had accumulated a lot of stuff in Peru. All my gifts for people, all the stuff for myself, all my papers and books from school. I threw some of my old clothes out and gave a trashbag full of stuff to Raquel (leftover hair products, toothpaste, medicine, etc) but I still had more stuff than I had expected. I got it all stuffed in my bags, though.
At one point during my packing, mom came in and gave me a goodbye gift. It was a beautiful set of earrings and an Andean cross necklace. That was the first time I started bawling that day. Then I gave her the jewelry box that I had painted for her as her goodbye gift.
Rosa prepared a nice lunch for us. It was also Raquel's last day at the house, since her program was over, and ISA doesn't allow students to stay in their houses after the program. So she's moving into an apartment. So it was our goodbye lunch. Mom got out all the nice dishes and glasses, made us a delicious meal with her famous Asian salad that we've been wanting to try, made us all pisco sours, and we had Olga's delicious lemon pie for dessert. It was really nice, and after dinner Raquel and I had a nice long chat with mom.
In the afternoon I just kind of sat around being depressed while I watched Raquel pack. Then my friend Mary came over to say goodbye. She would be leaving the next night. I was doing pretty well at staying in a mental state of denial for most of the day. And then I went into my room to grab my bags and take them downstairs. I realized it was the last time I was going to be in my room, and when Raquel came in to help me, I was bawling, and it was pretty much off and on waterworks saying goodbye to Raquel, Manuel, and the family until Joel came and got me. (Of course, like a true Peruvian he was about 20 minutes late, so the goodbyes that I hate so much got extended.)
I got into the giant kidnapper van that was taking us to the airport and waved goodbye to everyone. We headed off to Kristen's house to pick her up. I got to say goodbye to Carlin, the other girl staying there, and then we drove to Connor's house to pick him up. Then it was off to the airport.
We got in line for the ticket counter where I saw a couple of kids that had been in my Quechua class that were on the same flight as me, and a few other exchange students I recognized from PUCP.
My first little roadbump was at the ticket counter. I was flying from Lima to Houston to Newark to Omaha. But only the flight to Houston was showing up in the computer. After about half an hour she finally figured it out. (I think the only problem was that I was at the Continental counter, and my first flight was Continental, but my next 2 were United. You would think since they merged, they would have worked out those kinks by now, but apparently not.)
Then my bag was overweight. I took a few things out and put them in my other bag, and then she still let a couple of kilos slide, so I didn't have to toss anything.
And then we waited. We still had some time before we had to go through security so we sat in the food court and Joel and I got some supper. I figured I would get a true Peruvian meal, so I went to Pardo's and got some anticuchos (skewered beef heart - much more delicious than it sounds), papas doradas (fried potatoes) and choclo (the giant corn). Then Joel said goodbye, and we went through security.
Of course, since we were flying into America, we had to go through double security. Which meant that when we got to our gate, we had to have our carry-ons inspected, and then go into the tiny walled off waiting area. People outnumbered chairs about 3 to 1, so we were sitting on the floor, until we got to board. And, yay us, there was a 40 minute delay.
Since some thief in Ica is now playing angry birds on my iPod, I was looking forward to having the personal screen on the back of each seat, so I could catch up on the latest movies and watch a few episodes The Office. Because all international flights have those these days, right? Guess not. They did play Parks & Rec on the big screen, but my headset only worked out of one ear. My second headset distorted the sound. After that I gave up.
It never ceases to amaze me how something that costs so much can be so shitty. Every aspect of it. Airports are understaffed. The staff is rude. Everything is expensive. There's almost always problems with the computers or your tickets or your baggage. Your flight is almost always delayed. You finally get on the plane and you're uncomfortable. It smells. The flight attendants are rude. You carried on your bags? Good for you, way to save money. Oh, but wait. There is never enough room for everyone to stow their carry on bags. Shove it under your chair. Get yelled at by a stewardess because its sticking out and in an emergency you might trip on it. Plane is delayed more because they have to figure out what to do with everyone's carry-ons. The food tastes bad, if you get any. A can of coke probably costs 50 cents. Your flight was probably about $500. But can they give you the whole can? Oh no, they just give you a cupful. Still thirsty? Wait until you get off the plane, and you can buy your own can in the airport for $5. Maybe you can even get a $12 egg salad sandwich to go with it. Everything about flying sucks balls. And it shouldn't. If you're paying that much for something, it should be awesome.
I apologize for that rant, but I do feel a bit better now.
With the flight delay, I was worried about making it through customs and everything in time for my connecting flight. So I booked it out of that plane and passed everybody to be the first in line in customs. The first in line out of our plane, that is. I arrived to find a rather long line of other people waiting there. Finally I got through without any problems. Went downstairs, got my bags off the carousel, went through the next line, checked my bags again, went upstairs and stood in the super long security line. Finally made it through that with 15 minutes until my plane was supposed to take off. There was no gate on my ticket, and no screens, so I went to the desk where they walkie talkied to someone to find my gate. And then I ran, carrying my 2 heavy backpacks. It was at this moment, more than any other, that I wished I had stayed in better shape during my time in Peru. My run slowed to a jog, I was gasping for air, praying for a moving walkway, but none were in sight. Finally, when I thought I might collapse, I spotted my gate. Made it!
Just in time for the most beautiful flight ever. The plane was practically empty. Every person had 3 empty seats all to themselves, and almost every person, myself included, put the arm rests up, laid down, and slept like a baby.
The flight from Newark to Omaha was not so nice, but finally I made it, and Katie and Jessie took me back to Lincoln.
It's good to be home. Kind of. It's really cold here, and most of my friends are either working, or back home for the holidays. And after living in Rosa's house, where there was constant activity, I could just yell at Raquel from my room and she would yell back, and I could always hear mom shouting obscenities all around the house, my cold empty house is kind of depressing. But it will be better once school starts and I start having a reason to wake up before noon, and regular human contact.
Hope you've enjoyed reading about my adventures! See you next time I decide to move to a foreign country! Will it be Russia, South Korea, Spain? Stay tuned to find out!
Well, I woke up last night at 5 AM and started puking my guts out.
I blame the choclo and queso that we got off the street at Polvos yesterday. When I mentioned that to Rosa, she was basically like Duh! But Carlin and Hannah were fine, so I guess I got the bad chunk of cheese.
I was supposed to go to the school for my last day today, but I still wasn't feeling too great at 6:45, so I went back to sleep and ended up heading there at 10ish. Profesora Delia gave me a lecture about eating street food, too. Oops.
I gave the kids an English exam, and then served them the sweet bread I'd bought for them from Metro yesterday, and gave Prof. Delia a little mug with chocolates in it. Then some of the kids got up and said a few words ("Thank you for sharing your language with us, we hope you have a safe trip home and a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year with your family, etc.") and then they sang me a goodbye song, which was Auld Lang Syne with Spanish words that I couldn't really understand, because the kids didn't really know them. It was really cute though. It was a good last day.
It was definitely bittersweet leaving. Those kids have given me a lot of stress headaches, but at the end of the day, they're sweet kids.
After school, Raquel and I took mom out to lunch. We went to a new Japanese restaurant that just opened a couple of blocks away and had some ramen. Then I went with Raquel to PUCP, because she's enrolling there for next semester and had to turn in some forms. It was obviously the last time I'll ever be on campus, so we took some pics and then headed to Polvos so she could get her phone fixed.
After that, we headed to Hannah's house because she was getting picked up to go to the airport at 8:00. We hung out with her until her cab came. It was so sad! And it's going to be me tomorrow!
Part of me is excited to be home, to see everyone again, to drive my car (on roads where people obey traffic laws), to stop having to stick big bills in my bra and make sure my hand is on my purse at all times. On the other hand, it's below freezing in Lincoln right now. And I'm going to miss everyone here a lot.
Raquel and I decided to stay in tonight. We watched American Horror Story on my laptop while I began to pack. I'd say I'm about halfway done. I'm crossing my fingers everything will fit, and it won't be overweight.
Today, Raquel and I got up and met up with Carlin and Hannah to go to Polvos Azules and get some DVDs and CDs before heading back to the U.S.
Afterwards, we wanted to go to Punta Hermosa, a nice beach, but it was a holiday (Immaculate Conception I think) so it was really expensive to get down there, so we thought about going to La Punta de Callao, but by the time we took the bus to the main bus stop at Plaza San Miguel, it was cloudy and windy and cold, so instead we got some gelato in the plaza and headed home. Then we met at Kristen and Carlin's to watch a movie. We watched The King's Speech, then met up with Mary to go to her farewell party. Her host brother blindfolded her, then took us in a taxi to an apartment in Magdelena. It turned out to be a double going-away surprise party for Mary and her American exchange student neighbor at his boyfriend's house. It was really fun, and we hung out there until about midnight. Alot of people headed to Help, but I decided, since it's my last day at the elementary school tomorrow, I don't want to be tired and hungover, so I headed home.
I gave my presentation on Tuesday, and all went well. Then I spent the rest of the day studying.
Yesterday I had my Amazonian Linguistics final at 11. I felt pretty prepared. I was wrong about that. I could not answer the questions. I was completely drawing a blank, and was kind of freaking out. I had gotten good grades on my other stuff, so I knew I would still pass the class even if I bombed the test, but it wouldn't be good for my GPA and it was just disappointing, because I had spent a lot of time studying. So I did my best, and tried to make up some stuff (there were only 2 out of the 5 questions that I actually knew the answers to).
So that was a big bummer, but I stayed on campus to try to finish my Quechua composition and study for the exam. The composition was supposed to be 500 words. I had probably spent a good 4 hours on it, at least, and had gotten to about 370 before I finally gave up. Remember how you can translate like a 10 word sentence in English to like a 2 word sentence in Quechua because they use so many suffixes to add meaning? Yeah. Makes it hard to write 500 words. It also makes it hard when the prof never really focused on constructing sentences throughout the whole semester.
About an hour before the exam I met up with my friend from class, Carly, so we could study in the cafe on campus. As I was sitting there my linguistics professor walked in and told me he had graded the exams. To which I thought, well thats embarrassing because you probably think I'm an idiot. He said he couldn't tell me my grade but that I did fine, and I passed.
Quechua was an oral exam, which really worried me, but it ended up being the easiest exam of my life. First we had to go around and each say why we took Quechua (in Spanish, not Quechua) and then he started writing sentences in Quechua on the board. We just had to raise our hand, pick a sentence, and translate it into Spanish. If we were right, we got an A. So that was a relief.
Then when I got home I checked my email and I had already got my linguistics grade back. I got a 17! (out of 20) Which is a miracle, because judging from the points breakdown on the test and the amount of questions that I am positive that I did not answer right, I should have got like a 12ish. I have a few theories about this.
1) All of us did bad on the test so he decided to grade them easy.
2) I have a cold, so every once in a while my eyes get really watery and it looks like I'm crying. Maybe he saw that, felt bad for making me cry, and gave me a good grade.
I guess I will never know.
But exams are over!!! Woot woot!! I am officially care free for my last few days here!!
To celebrate, a few of us went over to Kristen and Carlin's for some coke floats. :)
On Sunday night, we headed to Hippie Sunday. Hippie Sunday is a gathering of hippies on the beach every Sunday night. They play drums, juggle fire, chant, sell hemp jewelry, lay on hammocks, etc. However, the municipality, and the rich people that live in the fancy apartments next to the beach, decided to shut it down. So when we got there there were like 20 cops and drug dogs, and they said that it could continue, but with no music, no fire, and no drugs. So that kind of took the wind out of Hippie Sunday's sails and everyone started leaving, so we walked over to Larcomar to watch a movie.
Yesterday, I went with Mary and María Elena back to the pueblo joven 3 de Octubre. We went back to the school, because there were kids there this time, and spent a couple of hours in the 3-year-olds room. They were adorable. Like all kids in Perú, they kept trying to give us their food during snack time. One of the girls kept walking over from her table and handing us her animal crackers one at a time. Then the kid next to her left his table and she started handing us his cookies.
They acted out The Three Little Pigs for us, and at noon, we left and went to the house of one of the leaders of 3 de Octubre so I could interview him for my Anthro class final project.
It was really interesting. We sat in his garage and he told us about how he came there during the "invasion" in 1968, and his house started out being made of straw matting. Today it's a nice 3 floor cement house. He talked about how when they came everything was sand, and you couldn't drive on the roads because your wheels got stuck. You could barely walk because your feet sunk in the sand so much. People had to carry water tanks up the hill, and dig outhouses behind their houses because there was no plumbing. After 8 years, they got recognition as a pueblo joven, which means the government helped them a little with the construction of basic services. Now, he lives in a 3 story house made of cement, and nicely painted. And it all started out as a shack made of straw matting.
Afterwards, Mary and I went to Parque Kennedy in Miraflores to grab a sandwich and a lúcuma shake at La Lucha (best sandwiches ever). Then I headed home to study.
On Thursday I went to the school in the morning and was asked by Profesora Delia if I would be able to watch the class alone for awhile on Friday while she went to a teacher's meeting. I figured I should have something prepared to keep them busy, so in the afternoon I walked around the craft stores in Jesús María and got some supplies.
Since it was the first day of December, I thought it was fitting to get in the Christmas spirit, so I decided to do a Christmas art project. I got some hot chocolate, found a Christmas radio station from Detroit that was streaming online, and got to work cutting out trees and snowflakes and snowmen for the kids.
The next day, Delia left during the last hour of class. I actually kept them pretty well under control for about the first half hour, but it slowly unraveled, as usual. However, all the kids were in one piece when the bell rang, so I guess you could call it a success.
Next Thursday is a holiday, so I will only have one more day at the school with them. It's definitely bittersweet.
After class yesterday, Mary and Alana came over and we got some craft supplies to make gifts for people. We sat in my room, listened to music, drank wine and crafted. Then at night the 3 of us went out with Hannah to the Peña del Carajo. A peña is a bar or restaurant that plays traditional criollo or folklore music. This peña is actually in the same bar as Help, but it's a very different vibe. The crowd is a lot older, but it was a lot of fun. They had a live band playing and it was sort of like a mix with a comedy show. Hannah got a free beer for being the tallest girl in the room, and Mary and Alana got some free beers for participating in the foreigner's dance competition. We ended up going home around 2:30, and so far today I've just been trying to stay on task with my homework.
This morning I went back to the Colegio Salesiano to observe 4th Grade C again. It was cute, because I really haven't done anything there except sit and watch them from the back of the class and tell them the English word for camel (I'm not sure why all of them were asking me that, but I'm assuming it is the nickname of one of their friends and they want to tease him in English). But even though I've just been sitting there doing nothing, before they went out for P.E., Profesor Jorge said that a few of them wanted to say a few words. So they stood up at the front of class and told me that they hoped that I had enjoyed my time with them, and they were glad to have me. They wish me all the best and hope that I will return soon. One of them even made a card on the computer and printed it out to give to me along with a card with San Juan Bosco on it, the saint of the school. It was pretty adorable.
I watched them have P.E. for awhile, and then I headed out to go to class. My last class! Now I just have a few exams next week, a paper to email in, a Quechua composition to write, and a presentation to make. When I say it like that it kind of makes me nervous.
After class I met up with Hugo, Toni, Jessica, and Jorge to go to the Parque de las Leyendas (Park of the Legends) which is the zoo. It's right next to campus, and thats where the deer on campus came from. I guess they got loose one time and ended up just populating the campus. The zoo was pretty cool. We got to see some bears, penguins, a croc, a giraffe, zebras, and of course lots of llamas and their relatives. I saw on the news the other morning that there was a fresh baby goat there, but we didn't see him :( We did see some pretty cute monkeys though.
After the zoo I went with Mary to the market at 28 de Julio to do a little souvenir shopping. Then we stopped at a really nice bakery called Nova for some cake, and headed home.
