Friends At Last

We had fake sushi with chicken
in it at a food truck

It was another good week of classes filled with relaxing, swimming, eating, and a little bit of studying.  I got sick on Wednesday and wasn't sure if I would be able to make it to class, but I sucked it up and went even though I just wanted to lay in bed.  All of us have been having stomach aches pretty consistently, and I just hope that our stomachs get used to the food here soon.

I've never had so much free time in my entire life, and I have been spending quite a bit of time in my room or by the pool.  I am very happy to say that this weekend we finally made some Peruvian friends!

On Friday night a few of us went to Pizza Street for dinner.  This is one of the more stressful places to go because there are men standing outside of each restaurant and disco who run up to us and start showing us their menus.  They offer us free drinks to go into their restaurant and try to one-up each other.  We had 3 men surrounding us trying to convince us to go into their restaurant and I just stood there and laughed until one of us made a decision.  We got our free pisco sours and ordered pizza and sangria, all of which were delicious.

Our weekly trip to the cat park

We all got the same handcrafted bracelet
from a man in the park

We also visited the cat park again and I held a cute little kitten, which I am sure had worms, because his poor belly was so bloated.  It breaks my heart a little bit every time we go there, but the cats also make us all happy.  We walked around Kennedy Park for a while and found a big circle cement amphitheater where some people were singing and playing instruments.  There were so many people there dancing to the music and sitting around listening.  When we arrived we were of course the only white people there.  So a few old men came over to us, grabbed our hands, and started dancing with us.  After a few minutes of this, half of the people there were staring at us and many began to take pictures of us.  We are the stars of the show no matter where we go.  It was really fun though and I was laughing the whole time, but it was weird to have so many people watching us.  The old men then asked to take pictures with us so we let them even though it was fairly uncomfortable.  We walked away after the photo shoot and met up with our new friends at one of their houses.  His apartment was up on the top floor so we had a beautiful view of the city.  We spent the evening there and drank more pisco (of course) and I got to try some peruvian rum, which is delicious by the way.  I definitely plan on bringing a bottle back home with me.  One of the guys there taught me how to dance to reggaetone music, which I picked up very quickly, and we all got to practice speaking Spanish even though they were pretty fluent in English.  Overall it was a wonderful night and I am excited to spend more time with them and have them show us around Lima.

The amphitheater where we took over the spotlight

The rest of my weekend has been spent relaxing, eating ceviche (the seafood dish I mentioned in my other post) with my host parents and some of their family, and studying.  I also ate out with a few friends the other day and watched two guys chase after another guy, choke hold him and throw him to the ground.  I have no idea what they were fighting about, but there was a guard standing close to them who just watched instead of stopping the fight so I'm not sure what he gets paid to do exactly.

Cevich my mom made for me.  It
is raw fish, corn, lime juice,
sweet potato, oils, and
different seasonings. 

I mentioned in my previous post that the sidewalks here are slick, but I want to reiterate that they are very slick!  As I was walking out of our gated area on the way to class this week I slid down a ramp and the guard on duty laughed at me and yelled "Cuidado" (careful)  at me.  I then proceeded to slip down some stairs when I got to campus, so overall it was an embarrassing and typical day in the life of Claire.

Some of the things that I am beginning to miss from back home are my mom's cooking (my host mom is a wonderful cook but I miss fattening American meals and dessert, which I have had only once), driving and jamming to country music (although I do enjoy riding on buses and watching everyone around me), and my family and friends.  I could also really go for playing some cards and shooting some pool, which is how I spent my last night in Nebraska.  The lifestyle here is so slow and relaxed that I find myself getting bored once in a while.  People just stand around doing nothing all day and I am just not used to doing absolutely nothing.  I have looked into taking some salsa dancing lessons though so hopefully that can take up some of my free time as well as hanging out with our Peruvian friends.  I've also found a nice park where I can run so that will take up some of my free time as well.

Presentation is everything.  My mom
makes every meal look so yummy.

Different fruits are always
served for dessert.

Some things are getting a lot easier for me.  I can now order food without panicking, walk to and from campus by myself without getting too stressed out from the whistles, and ride taxis and buses without feeling like I am going to die.  I am conquering new fears every day and I am becoming so much more independent already.  I am excited for the next week, which will actually be very busy, and our long weekend beginning Wednesday night.

Missing you all at home!