Thanksgiving

So Thanksgiving was Thursday!  I didn't really feel homesick, I don't think.  I went to school like normal.  There are two students at my school that have lived in the United States, and we wished each other a happy Thanksgiving.  I ended up Skyping with my family that evening (the Pinkerton side of the family was gathered at my house) and after that, my host mom went out of her way to prepare a turkey for dinner!  It was very thoughtful.  The turkey was really delicious (I was surprised) and I ended the day very happy.

On Friday, my day went a bit south when we exchange students at school were informed that we would be expected to come to school an extra week to take final exams.  We were very upset because, initially, we would finish school with quinto (the highest grade) on the 5th or 6th or something, and then would be graduating on the 13th.  But instead, we were told we would have to continue coming to school until the 12th, to take exams...meanwhile, the rest of our class (quinto) would be already out of school, preparing for graduation and prom.  But we would have to come to school and take tests up until the day before our graduation.  We were outraged.  I won't get into it anymore.

So after a disappointing day, I went home and did my usual Netflix routine.  Then my spirits were brightened when my friend Andre invited me and our friend Eduardo to come over to his house.  So we went over to Andre's house and watched Mean Girls and ordered pizza. 

Interesting fact:  I'm not sure if it's all pizza chains, or just Papa Johns, but here, the pizzas come in the box with little packets of Aji, a spicy pepper (in powdered form in the little packet), Oregano packets, a little dish of garlic butter sauce (it tastes good but I almost feel sick eating it just, thinking about how unhealthy it is--it is basically just a dish of grease), and several actual peppers (I don't know what kind, I didn't eat any)

Pretty sure it was these peppers

Here's a good example: there is the garlic dipping sauce in the bottom corner, and the pepper on the top right quadrant of the pizza hahaha

I can't believe I just went into so much detail about pizza haha...anyways, it was a really nice evening that lifted my spirits after the disappointing day I'd had at school.

And today, Saturday, I got out of bed at 11:45 (a bit earlier than I normally rise on the weekends hahaha) had some Froot Loops and Maracuya juice:

That's Maracuya

And watched a movie or two on my laptop.  Then my host mom got home and we had lunch (I actually eat the same thing for lunch, almost every day): chicken, rice, french fries.  Then I talked with my host mom about what had happened at school, about how they were making us go to school for an extra week, and then I got back on my computer and started writing this blog post.  lol

And today, my school is having a "Cine Interactiano".  Interact is a part of Rotary that is for youth.  I don't really know how to explain it that well, we don't have it in my city in the United States.  Anyways, Cine Interactiano = Interact Movie Theater.  So they are going to show two movies and sell pizza and concessions and give the money to PolioPlus or something along those lines... so I'm going to go to that later today, I think.

So that's about it.  Chau!  (They say Chau here, as goodbye, more often than Adios)

Just Things

Today I went shopping to buy my prom dress and shoes.  I went with my best friend Chachi and his mom.  We went to a place called Gamarra, which I know I explained in a post from a while ago, but I'll explain again.  It's an area of Lima, that is blocks and blocks and blocks filled with shops, stands, clothes, shoes, everything, and it's a really busy, crazy place.  It's known to be kind of dangerous there (you can get robbed pretty easily) and it is also known to be reeeally cheap.  We shopped, walked around, and had lunch, all lasting a total of about 4 1/2 hours.  I tried on about 6 dresses I believe, and then finally decided on one.  I don't really know how to explain how it looks...it's a blue/green color (maybe it could be considered a dark teal, I don't know haha)..you'll see what it looks like when I post pictures from prom haha.  After the dress, we looked for shoes.  I will be wearing heels for the first time in my life (maybe I wore little heels as a toddler playing dress up or something, but I don't remember, so it doesn't count), and not just any heels--tall, sparkly, silver heels! hahaha

Comparing the prices to an American prom:  In the US, most people buy their prom dresses for around $200 or $300, right? (I've never actually been to prom, I'm just guessing here) and then shoes for, what, $50?  I don't know exactly... anyways, the point I'm trying to make is that it is expensive, and people go all-out.

Now here's what I paid for my prom items here in Peru:

Dress:  90 soles= approx. $32 US
Heels:  45 soles= approx. $16 US

And they're nice too!  And Chachi's mom lent me a very nice bracelet, so all I have left to buy is earrings I suppose.  Yay!  I'm really looking forward to prom...well, I'm a little nervous, as I've never been to prom before, and it's being held in a really fancy hotel here in Lima, and I can't dance, and everyone here can dance, and it's going to be super embarrassing...but hopefully it will be a good time haha.

In addition to going to prom, I'll also be graduating!  And this is all happening in about 2 weeks...crazy!  I'll be wearing a gown and graduation cap, just like they do in the US.  It will be a much smaller graduation than my school has in the US (the graduating class in my school here has about 28 students I think). I'll make sure to get pictures!

Let's see...what else....well, tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the US!  They don't have it here in Peru.  I think some of the exchange students have plans to have a picnic on Saturday in place of a Thanksgiving dinner, but I already have plans that day (the Interact club at my school is having a 'cine' like a little movie night, showing two movies and selling snacks and pizza and stuff).  I'm planning on Skyping with my family tomorrow, other than that I don't have plans for tomorrow other than to go to school and I'll probably play basketball with Chachi at recess haha.

Also something I wanted to post, just because I think it's kind of cool/funny...differences of names.  Spanish names are cool haha.  Here are some cool names from kids in my school:

Almendra
Diego
Jesus
Renato
Alfredo
Giordano
Giuliana
Rocio
Fabrizio
Pietro
Zezur

Aren't those cool names? ahahaha that was just a little something I wanted to share. lol and while I'm on the subject of school/classmates, I'll add a weird difference that I've come to know here in my Peruvian school.  Hopefully no one is offended by what I'm about to write...I am simply describing a difference that stood out to me here.  They use the word 'nigger' or more specifically 'nigga' quite often here in my school.  When I first heard it, I was shocked to hear them addressing each other as 'mah nigga'.  But they have assured me that, while in the United States it is quite offensive, here it is okay, and they say it to each other with care, if that makes sense ahaha...for example, there are a few students in my class (like 4) that are significantly darker-skinned than the rest of the class, and they will often greet each other 'que tal, nigga' = 'what's up, nigga' or something along those lines.  There is also a girl at my school that says to me every time she sees me 'what's up mah nigga?'... why she calls me that, I have no idea (I am one of the whitest people in the school ahaha) also not sure why she says it to me in English...anyways, that's just something I thought I'd mention...I don't know, it was interesting to me ahaha.

Okay I don't know what else to say sooo...I'll throw in a few pictures.

Chachi and I skyped with my brother and sister

Me at Lake Titicaca

Okay bye!

I'm Back Baby

Back as of the 15th, actually!  That's right, I am finally back in Lima after 10 days of traveling throughout Cusco, Machu Picchu, Puno, Lago Titicaca, and various villages/pueblos I don't remember the names of.  I am going to have a really hard time remembering this one...the trip was a blur of different hotels/buses/and archeological sites.  I'm just going to go through my pictures and write my post based on them, I suppose...

We left on the 7th, I believe...and flew from Lima to Cusco.  Our flight was really early in the morning, like 6 AM...so most of us didn't even end up sleeping at all that night, because most of us had to leave at about 3 AM in order to get to the airport.  That included me (well, I slept for an hour and a half).  So all of us were pretty dead by the time we got to Cusco.  Unfortunately, we wasted no time resting upon arrival, and immediately started touring Cusco.  The photo below is Emilie and I at some place in Cusco that must have been significant hahaha I don't really know (I was a brain dead zombie)

Below is a photo of Tami and I at some archeological site/look out over Cusco.

And below is a photo of several students sliding down some natural slide/grooves in the stone thing at previously mentioned archeological site.

And then at one point (maybe the next day, I don't know) we went to a 'zoo' type thing.  It wasn't really a zoo though, I don't know how to explain...

And below is a picture of how some yarn is colored.

And we stopped at many, many look out points (I'm actually blanking, is that what they're called in English? In spanish it's 'mirador') Below are the students from Australia posing at one of the countless look out points.

Below is one of the archeological sites we visited.  I don't even remember which one this is but it's next up in my photos, so whatever hahaha.

I had to climb up this and was not pleased:

Taken from the top: 

Next up in my photos, Machu Picchu! It was the highlight of the trip.  I think we took a train from Cusco to Machu Picchu Pueblo (a tiny spot underneath Machu Picchu where you take a bus up to Machu Picchu)

Then we had to get up at about 4 AM to board a bus to go up to Machu Picchu.  We probably ended up at Machu Picchu at around 6 or 7 AM I think... and then we had to climb a little bit before seeing the 'famous view' of Machu Picchu.  At first it was completely cloudy, but once it got a little bit later, the sun came out and we had great views of Machu Picchu.

Climbing up!

Very cloudy in the early morning, eventually cleared up

And finally made it to the right spot to get the 'famous view' of Machu Picchu!

Hard to tell because of the clouds (I have better photos with the sun, don't worry)

I really like this picture.  Me and Machu Picchu!

A bit hidden in the clouds

The Famous Belgian Five

One of my best friends Emilie and I

Several decided to 'plank' on Machu Picchu.  For those who don't know what 'planking' is, it's pretty simple; you just lie down like a plank, straight, stiff, and motionless, wherever you want.  It's a fad that passed a while ago hahaha.

Planking on Machu Picchu

Below is Emilie, me, and Connor from Florida:

And me and Laura (Laura is from my multidistrict, North Star Youth Exchange, so we knew eachother before coming to Peru. She's from Minneapolis)

Clearing up a bit

Once the sun came out, it got fairly hot out.  I wore a baseball cap to keep my face from burning but unfortunately forgot about my poor ears....they ended up peeling :s

And instead of going on a 2 hour, treacherous hike with the majority of the other exchange students, Romy from Germany and I decided to casually walk around some more and take more pictures.

And we came upon a spot with many alpacas, and took photos with them:

It's always a joy

pretty cool shot

After leaving Machu Picchu, we took a bus back down to the Machu Picchu Pueblo, and from there returned to Cusco and had a free day the next day.  We walked around and bought stuff in the artisan markets and had a much needed day of relaxation. 

Later, we visited another archeological site, I believe it was called Moray...

Two of our French girls, Charlene and Nouma

That day we were given a presentation of dying wool and were given lunch there as well. 

Dying wool

Our lunch consisted of the following:

Quinoa soup.  Decent.

Choclo (corn).  It was kind of dry, didn't like it that much.

And the main plate... I don't know what most of it was haha.  I think the whiter meat was chicken, and the dark meat on the right I think they said was Cuy (guinea pig) which is kind of a Peruvian delicacy.  It was ok...there wasn't much meat on it, just a bunch of skinny guinea pig ribs, ick

And we enjoyed taking photos with an adorable little Peruvian girl that was there, Inez (is that how it's spelled in Spanish? I'm not sure)

Inez and Marcel from Belgium

Playing with Inez

And then we visited a church but couldn't take photos inside.

And next in my photos appears to be Puno!  I don't remember what we did here...well, eventually we boarded some boats on Lake Titicaca haha.

Victor and I.  Victor is from Belgium, he is one of the other exchange students in my school and my rotary club here.  He is quite the character haha

And we stopped at an island or two on Lake Titicaca.  Here's a view of Lake Titicaca from one of said islands.

One night, we stayed with families in their homes on an island in Lake Titicaca.  It was an interesting experience.  I and 5 other girls stayed with a family.  The 'house' was very small and....'rustic'.  I unfortunately do not have photos of the house and I'm not sure how to explain...the kitchen had a dirt floor, a fire in the corner (for cooking and for warmth) and a table with 6 chairs for us to sit at when we ate.  The bathroom had a toilet that did not have the ability to flush, and several buckets (apparently you were supposed to pour water into the toilet from the bucket in order to 'flush').  There was no sink, shower, or bath (I wonder about hygiene there...not sure). Our dinner consisted of Quinoa soup (again), a plate of potatoes with a piece of fried cheese, and to drink we could make 'tea' with hot water and some leaves that I guess are good for altitude sickness but I don't remember what they were called (not coca).

It was a very difficult meal for me, due to my dislike of potatoes haha :(

Literally just little potatoes, I don't even know if they were cooked.  The cheese was good though.

That night after dinner, we gathered in a...well, a large room in a building on the island, and everyone was dressed up in the traditional island clothing and was dancing.

Us getting ready and into our outfits

Emilie and I

Marcel from Belgium and Irene from Taiwan, dancing

The next day we left that island, and went to the Floating Islands of Lake Titicaca.  The islands are made of reeds, stacked and layered, and there are boats and houses made of the same reeds.  And they eat the reeds as well. 

Julius from Germany and Marcel from Belgium, eating some reeds

And some dressed up in the island garb:  Marcel, Julius, and Laura

A house on the island

We gave some toys and gifts to the kids that lived on the island (we did the same for the families we stayed with on the previous island) and then we had lunch on another floating island.  It was, again, a difficult meal:

Lake Titicaca fish, tons of bones and tasted like seaweed/gross lake water haha

And then we returned to Puno, I think spent the night there, then the next day went back to Cusco and flew back to Lima.  So I returned to Lima on the 15th (a Friday I think), recuperated over the weekend, and was back at school by Monday.

And this week they are having exams at my school, so we exchange students have some down time during the day to just sit out in the court yard and relax, when we don't have normal classes.

So that is the story of my second Rotary trip, and my visit to one of the 7 world wonders, Machu Picchu!  For those that don't know, Machu Picchu is actually pronounced "Mah-choo Peek-choo".  That first 'c' in Picchu is hard, making it 'peek-choo' but I had only ever heard it pronounced 'mah-choo pee-choo'.  Just thought I'd throw that in there haha.

Things coming up for me:

• Going shopping for prom dresses with some friends on Thursday.  Hopefully I find one.
• Going to get pizza and go to the movie theater on Sunday to see the Hunger Games, Catching Fire
• School will be over for me in early December
• Prom will follow shortly after the end of school 

 Should be awesome! :)

Bye!
-Ginger