Finality

So I've been back for a bit less than 3 weeks now.  It's been a while since I last posted, nearly a month ago.  Let's see how much I can remember.

I'll base this part off of my photos.  My last week in Peru I didn't go to class.  I went out with friends, enjoyed myself, spent as much time as I could with my favorite people. 

Let's see..the following photos are from a day's visit to Barranco, which included lunch, sightseeing, and some last minute souvenir shopping.

Leche de tigre

Beautiful (but expensive) paintings

Some more photos from my final days:

Feeding pigeons in the center of Lima

One of my favorite views strangely enough

Swinging in the park

It was really fun actually

My cheesecake from my last dinner

My last dinner in Peru

Like shown in the photos above, my last official dinner in Peru was pizza, inca kola, and cheesecake.

On the night of the 27th, we headed out to the airport a little later than expected due to traffic, getting there about 10:30, but it didn't end up making a difference, we had plenty of time.  I checked two large suitcases (at no extra cost despite the half kilo overweight) and had a backpack and duffel bag to carry on.  About 8 other exchange students had also shown up at the airport despite the late hour to say goodbye.  We all sat and talked and ate mcdonalds around a few of the tables in the food court of the airport in my last few hours.  At 11 something (I don't remember what time it was) me and Alexis (another girl leaving that night) decided it was time to say goodbye and go through to security.  I kept it light, gave hugs and "see you soon"s to the students, said goodbye to my family members, and got a nice polaroid of me and my two best exchange friends Connor and Emilie.  I stood with Connor and Emilie while Alexis finished her goodbyes.  She was very teary and I was fairly calm.  I said to my friends "As long as I turn off my brain and don't think and don't remember, it doesn't hurt and I don't cry". Then I ended it pretty swiftly, deciding not to prolong the goodbye, and gave a final wave and walked through the line to get to security.  I blew a final kiss and crossed over to security.  We went through security easily and paid two dollars because of the two days we had overused our visas.  Then Alexis and I said goodbye and went to our separate gates (I was heading to Atlanta and she to Miami).  When I was finally alone (well, surrounded by lots of tourists and airport staff) I felt very strange and felt a few sharp urges to cry but managed to keep myself together.  I felt so, so, so different from all the people around me (I almost felt superior to them, as shallow as that sounds).  For some reason I felt angry at all of them.  These were tourists.  They came for a week or so, took their photos, bought their souvenirs, and then left without leaving much of a trace and without making any ties or bonds.  Leaving didn't hurt them because they hadn't made any connections and weren't really leaving anything behind.  I had a feeling that most of the people sitting at that gate with me couldn't relate to what I had done or how I was feeling.  They didn't know that I had just said goodbye to my old life.  I'm sure there's a word or term for feeling negativity towards people that haven't been what you've been through.  Or maybe it's a really simple word that's used commonly and I just can't think of it.

When they called my section I got up and they did a quick search of the bags (not just to mine, to everyones) and I got on the plane.  And it took off.  The plane finally lifted off the soil and in that second maybe my heart cracked a little (I just started crying as I'm writing this). I left Peruvian soil and felt so strange and a bit hollow.  We were up in the air and it was over.  My exchange was over.  Just like that it was OVER.  I had known this day would come since the very beginning and the countdowns had taken place and my last day had ended and goodbyes had been said and I'd left my friends and my house and yet it didn't seem quite real that it was over.  It seemed sudden despite all the preparation.  I was just sitting on the plane and all of a sudden that thought came to me, that my exchange had ended, and I couldn't believe it, and I don't really know how else to explain it. 

My flight was horribly uncomfortable.  It was an overnight flight, 1:30 AM to 9:00 AM and I would have liked to sleep as much as I could but my genius self couldn't figure out how to recline the seat (and even if I had managed to recline it I don't think it would have made a difference). Despite my pants, boots, shirt, over shirt, and blanket, I was freezing.  It was seriously so cold.  I watched part of a movie (Shawshank Redemption).  Shivered and clutched hopelessly at my blanket.  Attempted to fold/bend/roll myself into comfortable positions so I could sleep and failed miserably.  Probably annoyed the crap out of my seat partner with all my moving and slouching and curling sideways on the seat. 

We finally landed in Atlanta and the sun was shining.  For some reason I had to claim my luggage and recheck it (I've never had to do that before) even though I had a connecting flight.  Maybe that's the norm but it was new to me.  Security staff with drug sniffing dogs circled around us as we waited by the luggage carousel.  I had to get a luggage cart and struggled to get my two massive suitcases onto it.  Then after a short walk I rechecked them.  I went through some confusing security (it's astounding the difference in security between the united states and south america) and finally got through.  At one point a man in security (while looking at my passport) asked me why I'd been in south america.  I said that I'd gone for a year for foreign exchange.  And he said "were you brave?" and I said "yes" and he waved me onward. I lugged my heavy duffel bag and backpack and found the train.  I rode it for a bit until the terminal for my next flight.  A woman on the train commented that she liked my braid. 

Something funny that I noticed while I was walking to my gate was the various southern restaurants that I didn't recognize.  Chickfilet or however the heck you spell it.  One restaurant that sold chicken and biscuits which for some reason I found hilarious.  I could tell I was in America just by the way people dressed, specifically the young people. 

I got to my gate and was confused by the signage and had to ask if this was the gate for Minneapolis.  One lady said she didn't know (my thoughts *why are you sitting at this gate if this isn't your gate and you don't know where it goes*) and then two guys informed me that it indeed was the gate for Minneapolis.

I sat down and waited.  I decided not to get anything to eat, I didn't feel hungry anyway.  I boarded and slept a tad.  I was confused because I thought it was going to be an hour long flight and it turned out to be two (something to do with crossing a time zone, I don't know, I was confused).  After the plane landed in Minneapolis I was became increasingly aware of the fact that within a very short amount of time I'd be with my family after 11 months.

When I got off the plane I came to the realization that I had absolutely no idea where I was meeting up with my family.  I decided to follow the signs and get my luggage and figure it out from there.  I walked down to the baggage area and was a bit embarrassed when I tried to pull a luggage cart out from it's line only to finally look up and see that you had to pay for them.  I was a bit angered at that.  I only had twenties and peruvian money and had no idea how I was going to lug my 50 kilos of luggage plus duffel bag and backpack to wherever it was I had to go.  I was getting only slightly panicked at my point.  I had to get a hold of my mom to figure out where they were and tell them to come meet me.  I pulled out my phone and wasn't surprised that I couldn't make a call (peruvian phone, peruvian service, american soil).  I decided to overcome the awkwardness and ask a gentleman who was standing nearby if I could use his phone.  He handed it over and I turned around and dialed and held it up to my ear and had waited no more than 8 seconds when I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned around and there was my family!  And I hugged my mom and saw my dad and my siblings and they had balloons and they all greeted me and there were a few tears and I handed back the man's phone. 

My family and I made the long drive back to Rice Lake, stopped at the house to drop off my bags and change, and then headed out for lunch at Culver's (I'd been looking forward to that lunch for months).  That night I gave them all their gifts and talked and told stories for a long time, until my throat hurt.

And now I've been back for 3 weeks.  Things have been good.  I have stayed in contact with just a few people.  I feel fine most of the time, things are normal, and to put it bluntly, I'm not as depressed as I thought I'd be.  Well, as long as I don't sit down and close my eyes and reminisce and think about all my beautiful memories, I'm fine.  I think I'm doing pretty well because I'm pretty set on returning.  And by 'pretty set' I actually mean 'it's actually happening and no one's going to stop me'.  I'll be back to visit and I'll be with my friends again (minus my exchange friends..) and I'll do the things I used to do...

I'll sit and pet the cats and coo over the sweet kittens and bask in the sun in Parque Kennedy.
I'll walk from one end of Costa Verde to the other, then do it again while Eduardo pushes me on his skateboard and the wind is whipping through my hair and the second before every crack in the sidewalk I'm scared that I'll fall but I'm grinning from ear to ear.
I'll watch the lights show through the jumping fountains at parque de las aguas and maybe I'll buy some hot chocolate if it's cold.
I'll hop on a combi and fight for a seat and hand over my sol fare and wrench open the window so I can watch the buildings as they go by.
I'll eat lunch in the food court at La Rambla and see a movie in the big theater.
I'll drink Inca Cola and eat choripan dipped in aji, and salchipapa with ketchup and a fried egg, and picarones and alfajores and arroz con leche.
I'll walk around Real Plaza, and Jockey, and Open Plaza, eat ice cream from 4D, and have a ginormous Bembos burger.
I'll sit in the plaza and look at the Presidential Palace and people watch in Plaza Mayor.
I'll swing and play on the play set in the park behind my school even though it's meant for toddlers and I'll have the time of my life while doing it.
I'll eat pollo a la braza from Norky's or Rocky's or maybe I'll pop into Papa John's with Andre to surprise Eduardo while he's working.
I'll sit in 'nuestro lugar' just to bask in the memories and watch people bike by and remember everything that happened there.
I'll go to parties and dance and laugh and sing along to the music (well, to the parts I know).
I'll go to our special booth in McDonalds on Guardia Civil and I'll have some chicken nuggets because that's how it always was.
I'll visit Colegio Santa Rosa de Lima and look at the wall and see that blasted plaque and see GIRGER PINKERTON and I'll laugh even though it still hurts a little.

I'll walk the routes I used to walk and I'll take the buses I used to take and I'll meet up with the people I always used to hang out with and it will all be great again except that it won't ever be exactly the same, something will be different, because I won't be an exchange student anymore and never, ever again will I do any of these things as an exchange student, even if I come back to visit a billion times, I can't ever recreate that.  And that makes me really, really sad (and now I'm crying again).  Even if I hated the curfew, I will still miss leaping off my bus and sprinting down the street to get to my house in time.  Even if school bored me half to death, I'll still miss my plaid skirt and tall socks and laughing with my classmates and I'll especially miss sitting on the hot clay tiles with Emilie and Tami and Victor while we soak up the sun.  Even if I didn't love the food, I'll still miss having most of those dishes on the table (even if I wouldn't eat them it's nice that they're always there to remind me it's Peru) and the true Peruvian feeling of ceviche, picarones, causa, papa a la huancaina, and arroz con leche.  And I know that mostly everyone reading this won't really understand and they won't know the places I'm talking about but it would warm my heart a little bit if someone who read this does know those spots and maybe they'll be there and they'll remember this and they'll remember me and it'll be almost as if I left a trace.  It makes me so sad to think I'll never be in Peru again as an exchange student and it won't be the same, but I just have to think "maybe when I go back it will be even better".  I have to believe that. 

Te amo Peru y te amo Lima y en este momento me siento mas triste que he sentido desde que deje de pisar tierra peruana.  Tengo muchas lagrimas pero se que es porque tengo tantos hermosos recuerdos y por eso debo de ser agradecida por siempre.  Para el resto de mi vida, podre acordarme de mi hermoso ano en Peru, desde el momento que llegue hasta el momento que me fui, tendre miles y miles y miles de recuerdos hermosos para llenarme el corazon y por eso te agradezco Peru, me cambiaste y me diste una nueva vida y hiciste que me crezca el corazon y no se como lo hiciste pero ahora soy diferente y mi corazon esta bien lleno (y mis ojos tambien de lagrimas) y nunca te podre agradecer suficiente.  Estare esperando para el momento cuando estoy en tu tierra de nuevo.  Con todo mi amor, Ginger (o Girger si me conoces asi).

Happenings

A while ago, our Interact club went to 'La Maternidad' which was like a clinic for young mothers to go to to have their babies.  We handed out packages with baby clothes and blankets for each of the mothers' babies.  The youngest girl there was 13 and she had a baby girl.  One girl had twins.  Most of the girls we saw there were 16 or 17 I would say.  Abortion is illegal here in Peru so that's why there were so many young mothers. 

Hmm what else have I been up to...I've been doing a lot of gift shopping for souvenirs to take back to the United States.  I actually have like 4 grocery bags of gifts to give away for when I get back!  Tons of cool Peruvian stuff; little stuff like bracelets and key chains, and a few bigger items for my close family.  I am really excited to give my family their gifts :)

Yesterday I went through my suitcase and threw away any garbage/useless things, and separated some old shoes/clothes that I won't be taking with me.  I have bought a second large suitcase to haul back my accumulated clothing and gifts that I've bought here so I'll be packing that up in just a few days.

I have one week left as of tomorrow.  I leave Friday night, the 27th.  Well, technically I leave Saturday the 28th at 1:00 AM so I'll be heading to the airport late Friday night.  I am really looking forward to the following things:

• Being with my family 
• Hanging out with my siblings
• Having my own room
• Being in a known, comforting environment
• Trust and support from my family (I miss them a lot <3)
• My big bed
• Familiarity
• Foods/restaurants I actually like
• Being able to participate in my old hobbies/sports
• Not being sunburned after 5 minutes of sun exposure in the summer
• A weird/small part of me is looking forward to going back to school and seeing people

I will miss:

• Independence to go places and do things (feeling like I am taking care of myself)
• ^ Being able to go pretty much wherever
• Every store/brand available, big malls, abundant places to shop
• Public transportation (cheap buses, taxis at every turn)
• A few foods (Choripan, salchipapa (I can make that one at home), aji (I'm going to bring some back with me))
• Kioskos (little stands on most streets that sell very cheap snacks and drinks)
• The big city life of Lima
•  Mild winters that don't last more than 6 months (why wisconsin why)

I am both very happy to be going back and very sad to be going back.  That's the weird thing about exchange, it really messes with your head.  On one level you are excited to get back to your old life, to do the things you used to do, and to be with your family and friends, but at the very same time you dread going back because you don't want to leave the new life you made here, your new friends, it's almost like it's a new YOU that you have to leave behind.  All the memories that you've made here, all the places you visited and people you met and interacted with, you have to leave it all behind and from what every exchange student I've ever known has told me is that going back is like waking up from a dream, that it's like you dreamed your whole exchange year.  Being back in the United States will be a difficult adjustment, and it's hard for people to understand.  Luckily my family is awesome and they understand that it will not all be sunshine and roses. 

I've loved my time here, it has not always been fun and happy times, but it's all been a learning experience, and that's the point of exchange. 

Peace out
-Ginga

Earthquake!

I was sitting in Spanish class at University two days ago, just being a diligent and well behaved student (lol) when all of a sudden, everything began to shake!  It went on for about 5 seconds!  For the first couple seconds I didn't have enough time to comprehend what was happening, then I was like "Oh my god! EARTHQUAKE!"  We all jumped out of our chairs and rushed towards the door (someone actually knocked over a table which just increased the panic) but by the time we reached the door, it was already over!  I looked online just now and supposedly the magnitude was 5.2, and the epicenter somewhere on the central coast but I'm not sure.  It didn't seem terribly strong to me, but was strong enough to scare everyone!  I wasn't scared, just had a lot of adrenaline, and for me it was more exciting than anything!  In all my 10 months here, there have been tons of little earthquakes but I had never felt any of them until now!  I would always get home and my host mom would be like "Did you feel the earthquake??" and I'd be like "There was an earthquake?".  And I was actually quite disappointed every time one occured but I didn't feel it!  So, I'm glad I finally had the chance to experience an earthquake haha.  However most people here dread earthquakes and are very afraid of them, and with good reason--in 2007 there was an earthquake here that was 8.0 magnitude!  So everyone here thinks I'm crazy when my response to the earthquake was "That was awesome!"

Sorry I haven't posted!

My gosh I haven't posted in so long!  I'm really sorry, but my days are getting busier and busier.  As of today I have less than a month left in Peru.  It's a horrifying thought.  Did I not just get here?  I remember stepping out of the airport, it was late, around midnight, and I was surprised by how cold it was outside, and I felt a heavy, cold, humidity in the air that left everything wet.  I can't believe that my exchange is nearly over.  It's been quite a ride. 

We had our final rotary trip last week, in a city called Ica.  We went sandboarding on the giant dunes (I was a bit scared to do it but I'm glad I did in the end) and road buggies over the dunes which was awesome and when I eventually come back to Peru, I'd like to do it again.  We also took some boats to go around these islands that had sea lions and penguins.  I felt a little dizzy/seasick from this part of the trip haha. During this trip we also had a big rotary conference.

I got back from that trip a little under a week ago, I think.  Since then I have been compiling a list (and checking things off that list) of things I want to do and places I want to go before I leave.  My days are busy and tiring but I don't want to waste any time now that I'm down to weeks.  I can't believe I'm down to weeks.  I bought a second suitcase a few days ago to haul some of the things I've accumulated over the year (and I'm going to bring back lots of gifts!)

Yesterday we had a Rotary Despedida (going away event for all the exchange students).  I made this video to present: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhw7xEBpyfY
However there were so many acts that the students did (dances, songs) and they took such a long time that we didn't end up having time for my video....bummer.  It's been on youtube for like a day or two and it already has like 140 views.  So that's cool!

Me speaking at the Despedida

Today for lunch I went with a bunch of exchange students to Chili's to say goodbye to a girl named Mandy who is leaving on Sunday.  It was a nice day.

That's all I have for the moment, sorry nothing else comes to mind!
Lots of love
Ginger

Winter's Coming

Hello all, it's been a while since I've updated, sorry about that, I struggle to come up with things to write about sometimes haha.  Here's a few things:

• Last week, both Paul McCartney and One Direction had concerts in Lima.  I didn't go to either of them, I would have liked to go to the One Direction concert but I don't know, I never really got up off my butt to get tickets so yeah..haha.  I did pass by their hotel though!  Unfortunately, I missed when all 5 of them walked out onto the balcony of their room to wave to the crowds of screaming peruvian girls below.  It would have been cool to see them.  
• The 25th was my birthday!  I am now 17!  That's weird haha
• It's is definitely cooling down here!  I think summer has ended, I stopped wearing shorts a few weeks ago.  Now it's cool in the morning and hot (with sun) in the afternoon and then chilly at night.  Soon the sun will stop coming out and it will get damp everywhere and chilly all day and then I'll know for sure that it's winter here.  
• I don't remember when exactly, last week sometime, I saw this movie in the theater:  It's called La Cara del Diablo (The Face of the Devil).  It's a Peruvian made movie, and it was super cool because it was in Spanish and it was so great to understand everything, even the peruvian slang that they used.  And it was really funny because the movie was about this group of friends that take a trip to Tarapoto (a city in the jungle) and that was really funny to me because I went on a school trip to Tarapoto!

• I don't remember if I talked about Easter at all, well here there was a lot less commercial influence, by that I mean that I saw no chocolate bunnies, easter baskets, dyed eggs, really nothing that makes me think of Easter in the United States.  No easter candy at all really.  I had a day or two off from University.  That was about it.

I can't think of anything else right now, byeeee people :)
-Ginger

School

Now that I'm living a bit closer to USIL, I've been attending more regularly.  I have class Tuesday-Friday (with Monday, Saturday, and Sunday off, yay).  I have class starting at 9 in the morning, and normally have class until 11 or 1, leaving me with either a 2 hour or 4 hour break before my 3-5 spanish class.  I have only attended 2 days of spanish class so far but I think they will actually be helpful.  An example of something I've learned:

'Do you remember the girl I talked to you about?' Normally I would translate this to "Te acuerdas de la chica de que te hable?' but I learned that the correct translation is "Te acuerdas de la chica de la que te hable?"  Or at least I think that's right lol that'd be embarrassing if that wasn't correct...anyways lol.

And one of these days I will buy the practice book to participate more in the class. 

Like I said, my class starts at 9 so I usually leave at 8 or 7:50 to get there 10 minutes or so early.  Then after my spanish class I head straight home, and normally arrive around 6 or 6:15.  I can't walk very fast because I'm still recovering so that's why I take so long.  Today I have no class because it is some kind of holiday, it's 'semana santa' = holy week, I don't know much about it.  Several of my classes are in English. 

I don't know what elseeeee. 
Bye

Third Host Family

I moved into my third host family 2 days ago.  I'm back in San Borja now, closer to my friends and closer to my university.  My family is nice, and they are from Cuenca, Ecuador, but have lived in Lima 4 years.  I have two host sisters and I share a room with one of them.  Yesterday there was a rotary event that we went to but one of my host sisters had a problem at her university so we left early.  Today I slept in very late (12:30, latest I've slept in a long time) and just a few hours after that we went to a big mall here in Lima called Jockey Plaza.  There's tons of stores and brands, I think me and Emilie will take a shopping trip there this week or maybe next.  Anyways, we walked around there looking at stuff for a while and ate lunch there then returned home and I now I'm just chilling on the couch watching Pocahontas on my laptop haha.  I like my new family, I think everything will go well here.

Summer here seems to be ending--I don't wear shorts anymore.  It's definitely getting cooler, especially in the mornings and evenings.  By cooler I mean it now seems to be like 60s instead of 70s and 80s. 

Hmm what else...my birthday is in two weeks.  Yay.

Recovery update:  I still have a bit of pain, I think I have a pulled muscle in my upper right thigh which makes me limp and is concerning my host family.  Also my feet and ankles hurt when I walk or when I'm standing.  I'm hoooooping it will get better with time.

Bye

Recovery

Hi people, it is day 5 of recovery, and I am officially out of pain pills.  But that's okay because I don't have that much pain anymore.  I am doing a lot better, I walk significantly faster (although the balls of my feet hurt quite a bit from the impact of the jump) and my palms and wrists are a little bruised but they just look terrible and fortunately don't feel terrible.  My physical state is probably better than my mental state at this point (staying home all day gets me down quite a bit) but within a few days I will be a lot better and will hopefully be able to start going out normally again.  Unfortunately that will also mean that I will be expected to return to university (which would be fine if I were in my third host family like I'm supposed to be, and would be only 30 minutes away instead of 1 1/2 hours away).  Anyways, I'm hoping one of these days Chachi will be able to come over so we can order pizza and watch movies.  And hopefully on Eduardo's day off we can go to the movie theater.  And my friend Andre owes me a batch of cookies and said he'd buy a mix so we can make them at my house.  So those are all things to look forward to.  I have to keep those things in my mind to keep me positive. 

What have I been up to during my recovery...I have been watching a ton of movies online, like 6 hours worth of x-men (always makes me happy), this morning watched Wreck it Ralph (great movie), today will be watching part 1 and 2 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  So yeah.  That's it.

Bye

A Series of Unfortunate Events

So two days ago (monday) I made an unwise decision that led to me ending up in the hospital.  I am okay, let me explain.

So I was home alone, getting ready to go out, and for the life of me could not find my keys.  I searched upstairs and downstairs and in my bag and couldn't find them.  Never before had I not been able to find my keys.  I could not find another set of keys.  I found the gate outside to be locked.  That was when I made the unwise decision to jump over the edge of the balcony to the ground below.  I'm not quite sure how to explain the layout of my house...I live in like, weird condominium/apartment type buildings.  To get to my 'house' I go up some stairs and go through a metal gate and pass someone else's 'house' and then there's my 'house'.  So after you pass through the metal gate, there's like a walk way with a halfheight wall, and leaning over that half-wall thing, you can see the ground below.  I didn't think it was that tall.  I did not think through my options.  I did not think 'I'll wait a few hours until my host siblings get home from school and can unlock the gate.'  I did not think 'These converse have no traction what so ever, and the sidewalk down there is slippery.'  And so I hoisted myself up and let myself drop down.  I think my feet hit the ground but then immediately went out from under me and I hit the cement hard on my butt, so my feet took some of the blow and my butt/waist for the rest.  I was kind of shocked for a moment there, sitting on the sidewalk below.  I was barely there for a few seconds, or at least it seemed like a very short amount of time, and almost immediately a lady came out her door (right next to where I had landed) because she had heard something hit the ground.  She called serenazgo (kind of like police here, they're like neighborhood watch people kind of) and within a few minutes there were like 4 of them surrounding me.  They told me not to move, I stayed seated on the ground.  I don't really remember the pain from that point.  I remember not really being able to move my right leg and my waist and lower back.  My right side hurt more, I hit harder on that side I guess.  I got very, very scared.  I thought 'oh god what have I done, I've paralyzed myself, I've ruined the rest of my exchange, I'll be in a wheelchair' and I had to explain to the serenazgo through my crying that I was home alone, that I was not even from Peru, that I was an exchange student and had no family here.  My host mom's cell phone wasn't working so I couldn't contact her.  I called my old host mom and got no answer.  I called my rotary contact to find that the number in my phone was wrong.  I called about 6 exchange students to get the correct number from said contact.  After each 'leave your message' voicemail response, I panicked more and cried harder.  Finally an exchange student from Germany answered and gave me the number and the serenazgo called the rotary contact and said they'd be taking me to a clinic called Good Hope.  An ambulance arrived, they lifted me in one of those flat things that I am completely forgetting the name of.  A neighbor lady had to come with me in the ambulance, I didn't even know who she was.  I called my best friend Chachi and told him I'd hurt myself and was going to the clinic and he left right away with his mom to meet us there.  In the ambulance I think I may have had some sort of panic attack because my hands went numb and stiff and only once I started breathing better did they return to normal.  We arrived at the clinic pretty fast, and they wheeled me in on the flat thing that, again, I don't know the name of.  And I remember not really understanding because they wheeled me in and left me in the wheely thing against the wall and I was lying there, crying, wondering why people were passing me and not doing anything, why no one was helping me.  I don't know.  I was so scared, I'd ever been in a situation like that before.  A rotary man arrived and soon after, Chachi and his mom arrived and Chachi stood by me for a while, and I remember crying and saying 'oh chachi I'm so stupid, I feel like such an idiot, I think I broke my ankle' because what was hurting me the most was my right ankle, right wrist, and right hip.  Spoiler alert= turns out nothing was broken.  And I remember a man coming up to me, he spoke to me in English, he told me "I'm not your doctor, but I wanted to ask how you're doing" and I said something like "I'm okay" and I told him "your english is so good" and he said "I lived in Chicago" and I said "I'm from wisconsin" and he laughed and said "the green bay packers always beat the bears" and I laughed and it kind of hurt to laugh haha.  A little while later I got wheeled into a different room to get an xray.  It was really painful because I had been laying down the whole time and couldn't even really move.  But I had to stand up to get the xray of my waist to make sure my hip wasn't fractured or something.  And so the two xray technician people had to help me out of the wheely thing and I could barely stand there holding onto the xray machine, I'm sure those xrays were hardly readable, I was shaking and crying quite a bit haha.  Anyways, after that, I laid back down in the wheely thing and they wheeled me into a different room to wait until the xray could be read.  And I was there waiting for a long time.  I think I slept a little bit.  I couldn't really move without a lot of pain.  Eventually they told us that nothing was broken.  They gave me an injection for the pain above my right hip (in my back).  It helped quite a bit but I panicked a bit before they gave it to me (I was scared of the needle).  Then I was eased into a wheelchair and wheeled out into waiting room where everyone was waiting for me.  In total, I think I was at the hospital for like 3 or 4 hours maybe, I don't remember.  I got helped into the car and they took me to my third host family because they couldn't get ahold of my host mom until later that evening.  I spent the night at my third host family's house and in the morning returned to my second host family.  I don't know if you guys remember from my last post, but I had said that 'supposedly' we would be changing on Monday.  Yeah, turned out that one of the families was going on a trip and so that was really not coordinated well haha so it was changed to the 11th.  So I'll be here till the 11th.  Anyways, it was the worst day ever.  I feel terrible (not only because of the pain) but because I caused a lot of worry and issues (apparently, through word of mouth or I don't know, people came to think that I had fallen from the second floor of a building).  I feel completely embarrassed and occasionally miserable after this, I don't want to live in this house anymore because I leave and the neighbors are watching me, and all I see in these buildings now is the spot in the balcony where I jumped off.  And I am reaaaaally not in a good spot with my rotary club now and am dreading the chewing out I'm going to get from them, I've already heard from enough people 'you shouldn't have done that' as if I didn't already know that!  Them telling me that changes NOTHING, all it does is make me feel worse.  I cannot go back in time.  I cannot undo what I did.  I was not trying to hurt myself.  I was not trying to hurt anyone else.  I made a mistake.  I regret the decision I made that.  And no one can say they have never made a decision that they regret, no one can say they haven't done something they wish they hadn't have done.

Anyways, they gave me pain pills and already I am doing better, that day I couldn't walk without some assistance, yesterday I was walking as slowly as a 95 year old, today maybe I'm up to the speed of a 70 year old, and you should see the struggle it is to get up off the couch...but nothing is broken, my body is bruised and my ego is bruised but I'll be fine.  As for the pain, I just compare it to this:  You know when you are a complete lazy bum and you do no exercise whatsoever for a reaaally long time and then one day you do TONS of really tough exercises and you over do it?  And then the next day you are so sore that you can barely bend yourself, if you drop the remote control you have to ask someone to pick it up, getting out of bed is painful, sitting down on the toilet is difficult, all that jazz.  Yeah, that's kind of how it is, a strong version of that haha.  But each day is less painful and I am estimating that I'll be back to normal by around Sunday. 

The second part of bad news is that yesterday there was a VERY strong earthquake in a northern city in Chile called Iquique and the earthquake was felt in southern Peru as well.  The earthquake was 8 point something, I don't remember...that's really strong.  Now there are tsunami warnings.  I don't think it will affect us, but it's kind of scary to think about it.  I don't mean to worry you guys.  Everything will be okay.

Okay so that's all my terrible news. On a lighter note, yesterday Chachi visited me in the afternoon so that was nice and cheered me up a bit. 

I can't think of anything else.

Here's to a hopefully good rest of my week!
-Ginger

Macaroni and Cheese

A few days ago I had a rotary dinner at a chicken restaurant called Dallas.  Me and Emilie (and Chachi for a few moments) took a bunch of selfies.

That day, Chachi found out he is going to go to Michigan for his exchange!  We're both excited that he isn't placed too far away and so maybe we'll be able to see eachother.

And today I went over to my friend Andre's house and me, Andre, and Eduardo enjoyed an american lunch that I prepared.  We had Kraft Mac and cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, grape soda, bugles (those cone shaped chips) and I made cookie dough from a mix before we found out the oven didn't work.  We actually spent like 30 minutes going through the kitchen trying to find something flat and metal we could use as a cookie sheet before we figured out the oven didn't work, oops (people don't make cookies here). So we ate a bit of the raw cookie dough afterwards haha. 

Andre and Eduardo

Look Mom, I cooked!

haha

Then after we ate we were all sleepy haha.

Also Eduardo got me a cool new t-shirt:

Caution: Llama Crossing

Also I tried this thing where you put photos on top of each other (in this case I just used two photos) and they aren't lined up completely right but I like how it looks:

Tomorrow I am changing to my third host family.  Supposedly.  I say supposedly because the plans have been jumbled and somehow not known by both parties (and by that I mean that the family I'm going to tomorrow did not know I would be coming tomorrow until I called them tonight).  I thought I'd be changing earlier in the month but then it never happened and a few days ago I found out I'd be changing tomorrow.  So I packed up my stuff yesterday.  I'm happy because I'll be moving back into the general area where I used to live (kind of) close to my old school and where my friends live.  And I'll be living closer to my university (35 minutes compared to 90 minutes). 

Oh yeah, speaking of university, I actually went to my first class a few days ago and was surprised (and confused) to find out that it was in English!  The class was Introduccion a las ciencias sociales = Introduction to Social Sciences.  And the teacher spoke and taught in english and the peruvian students in the class discussed and answered questions in english and everything on the board was english.  I did not understand why it was taught in english but I was pretty impressed by the students' ability to discuss topics in english and that everyone pretty much understood.  And it turns out another one of my classes (Marketing de Alimentos y Bebidas = Marketing of Foods and Drinks) is also taught in English!  I do not know why rotary has put us in classes that are in English...we had to take a spanish test to be placed in the university and now we are attending classes that are taught in English.  Where is the logic in that? Oh well. 

And speaking of that spanish test, I think I mentioned taking it but I don't think I ever talked about the results.  Out of all the students in Lima (30 ish I think) I am one of the 6 that was placed in the Advanced spanish level!  So I'm happy about that :)

Oh and another quick thing!  I rode on the train for the first time here a few days ago.  Here they have a train but it's not very extensive, it's just one route and doesn't go that far.  I'd only ever used the buses here before but then a few days ago Eduardo and I took the train to go to a market.  I think it was kind of like a subway train but it was above ground, it was on an elevated concrete track thing that actually goes above the streets, kind of hard to explain.  Anyways, it was really nice because it's air conditioned and it arrives WAY quicker than going by car or bus because there is no traffic whatsoever.  And it's only slightly more expensive than taking the bus (for the train it's 1.50 soles no matter how far you go, which is still dirt cheap when looked at in american dollars = 53 cents USD).  I enjoyed taking the train, it seemed like a miracle to have arrived in such quick time.  I've gotten used to spending 2-3 hours a day on the bus.

Let me see....anything else I can talk about...hmm a few days ago I went to the movie theater with Eduardo, and we saw this weird creepy terror movie that was preeeeetty scary.

That's the cover...so as you can imagine, it was horrifying hahaha.  It was about this lady who got pregnant on her honeymoon and on the last night of her honeymoon the natives did this ceremony thing to her and I think her baby was demented or turned into the devil or something and the lady got demented too..anyways, the movie ended with her killing her sister and cutting open her own stomach to let out the baby and it was creeeeepy.

So far here in Peru, I have seen the following movies in theater:

• Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters (I think)(it was the very beginning of the year and it was in spanish with no subtitles so I didn't understand very much)
• Instructions not Included (in spanish the title is No Se Aceptan Devoluciones) which was a super cute movie which I suggest seeing.

• Carrie (a horror movie which wasn't very scary)(later found out that it's been remade throughout the years like 3 times)
• We're the Millers (pretty funny)
• Devil's Due (weird)
• Paranormal Activity 5 (it was really good! the best of the paranormal activity movies)

I think that's all of them...I think I'll go to the movies tomorrow too!

Okay that's everything I can think of haha :)
Bye!
-Ginger

Party

It's been a while since I've posted. It's weird, I'm really busy and go out pretty much every day, but then I sit down to write a blog post and can't remember a darn thing I did before today.  It's hard enough remembering yesterday!  I do remember that a few days ago, I went out to dinner with a bunch of exchange students, a few peruvians, and Connor's family (real family) who had come to visit him from Florida.  We had pollo a la brasa.  

And a few days ago I got invited to a party (well, my friends got invited and were told I could come hahaha) and I wanted to go but it was a bit far from where I live so I wasn't sure how I would get home afterwards.  So I ended up staying the night at Chachi's house! hahaha.  So yesterday late afternoon I got all my stuff together and took my normal bus route and then walked to Chachi's house.  A little later we headed off to the party with another girl that we went to school with.  We ended up getting there around 10 I think.  At first I was a bit bored but later in the night, a bunch of our friends from school came and even another exchange student came and it was a lot more fun after that.  So me and my friends from school (Me, Chachi, Andre, Vannia, Eduardo, Ian, Yllen, maybe some others I'm forgetting) were sitting around in a chair circle just laughing and having a good time, it was nice.  I didn't know anyone else at the party really, because it was thrown by a friend of a friend haha.  Teenagers here seem to be more social smokers than anything.  I don't know any teen here (none that I've met at least) that smokes regularly, but a lot of my friends do smoke at parties.  A few choose not to smoke at all, however.  I have not indulged in any smoking or drinking, just throwing that out there lol.  At 2 the party started to end and they started cleaning up, we were hanging outside until about 2:30 and left around then.  I stayed the night at Chachi's house (this was confirmed beforehand up by my host mother and Chachi's mom just so that's clear lol)(and in different rooms (different floors of the house actually)) and so we ended up going to bed around 3.  Then if you can believe it, we got up at 7 (they were a comfortable 4 hours of sleep) to get ready to go to a rotary event at my old school, Colegio Santa Rosa de Lima.  The event was to inform all of the peruvian students here in Lima that will be going on exchange at the end of this summer about exchange and about the countries they'd be going to.  So each country group had a table set up with decorations, flags, some food, music, and info about their countries.  I haven't gotten the photos off my camera yet so I'll talk more about that and add the pictures in my next post.

Byeeeee
-Ginga

University!

16 and already off to college, I must be a genius.  Or a Rotary exchange student in Lima hehe.  I had my first day of 'college' on Monday.  I only found out which university I'd be attending about 3 days beforehand.  The night before my first day, I finally discovered where the university was located.  Understandably, I was a bit nervous about how to get there, because my college, which will now be referred to as USIL (University San Ignacio de Loyola) is located in La Molina, a district of Lima quite far from where I live.  Here's a map to show you the route:

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Universidad+San+Ignacio+De+Loyola,+Av+La+Fontana,+Lima,+Peru/Residencial+Santa+Cruz,+Lima,+Peru/@-12.0438718,-77.0357733,12z/data=!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x9105c6fadcaf64a7:0x91a8066253ed53de!2m2!1d-76.951703!2d-12.073026!1m5!1m1!1s0x9105c849a55992c7:0xe993eedaa15fe83c!2m2!1d-77.048171!2d-12.1062661

Maybe it doesn't look that long, but keep in mind, Lima is BIG.  It takes a looong time to get places, especially when there's traffic (pretty much always).  The first day my host mom and I took one route to get there and yesterday we took a different route and got there faster (by like 20 minutes maybe haha).
Here's my routine to get to university:

Let's say class starts at 9:

1. Get up at 6:15
2. Get all my stuff together and eat breakfast
3. Leave house at 7:30
4. Walk to Ejercito (a street about 3 blocks from my house)
5. Wait a few minutes for a blue bus that says ATE ATE on the front.
6. Board bus, ride bus for about 50 minutes, get off bus at the intersection of Javier Prado and Aviacion.
7. Walk less than a block to the nearest bus stop on Javier Prado.
8. Wait a few minutes for a bus that says CIENEGUILLA.
9. Board bus, ride for about 30 minutes, get off bus at Av. La Fontana or around there.
10. Walk 3 blocks to arrive at University.
11. You have reached your final destination.

 So, leaving my house at 7:30, I end up arriving at about 8:50.  That's right.  It takes me 1 1/2 to get to my college.  ONE WAY.  This means I'll be spending at least 3 hours a day traveling to and from college (or most days, I don't know if I'll have class every day).  I haven't got my schedule yet, or any information on classes at all really (the organization here is ridiculous) but god forbid I get scheduled with some nonsense like one class in the morning and one at night/late afternoon.  I will not let that happen hahaha.

Anyways, our first day was Monday and we were supposed to be there at 9.  Most of us got there a bit before 9 or around 9.  Nothing started until around 10.  That's Peru for ya.  That day was like an orientation day with presentations and stuff.  It was very pointless for us and here's why:

Along with the rotary students, there are many college exchange students from universities in other countries who recently arrived in Peru and will be studying at USIL and actually gaining credit and stuff.  So this day was more for them than for us.  The presentations covered topics such as culture shock, information about Lima, safety tips, tourist destinations in Peru, etc.  All of it was information was had already learned and already experienced.  It was good info for these new students who had just arrived, but for us (having been in Peru 7 months already) it was a waste of time.

When we were released (after about 5 hours of repetitive information and lots of wasted time) me, Emilie, Connor (from Florida), and Ian (also from Wisconsin!) went and had lunch at this sandwich shop.  And I had a chicken sandwich and I was at the counter directing the dude what I wanted on it.  Here's the conversation translated to English:

Me: I'd like some aji* on that please.
Him: Are you sure?
Me: Yes.
Him: .....why don't you try it first.
Me: Okay.
Him: *hands me little plastic spoon of aji*
Me: *stupidly* sticks whole spoon in mouth.
Me: *dying from extremely spicy and hot aji*
Him: *laughing* *hands me cup of water*
Me: Oh my god.  Emilie, how red is my face?
Emilie: Like a tomato.

Aji* = spicy chili pepper that comes in many forms (salsa, powder, creams/sauces, etc) some versions are milder than others.

After that we went to Starbucks and did a little practice for our spanish test the next day.

Tuesday (yesterday) was our second day.  This day we would be taking a spanish test (written and oral).  We were, again, directed to arrive at 9.  I arrived about 20 minutes early (but only with a bit of luck, because I'd decided to take a different route that day to see if it was quicker) and at 9:00 on the dot, we were ushered into a classroom to take the test.  By we I mean the 7 of us out of 22 that had shown up by that point.  And so we were in this classroom taking the test (which was actually kind of challenging, I didn't know some stuff and I'm one of the few exchange students who was placed in the advanced spanish group when we arrived in Peru...so I had to imagine it was kind of difficult for those who had no spanish knowledge when they arrived).  And at about 15 minutes in, a group of about 7 other exchange students arrived at the door and the teacher was like "you're late" and they're like "we've been here since 9 but we didn't know which classroom to go to" and so she let them in.  And then about 20 minutes in some more came in, and about a half hour in, the last student came in.  And we only had until 10 so those that came in late didn't have enough time to finish the test.  I myself barely finished and I'd had the whole hour.  I think it was a little unfair/misleading of them to tell us one day to come at 9 but then keep us sitting around and not start until after 10, and then the next day say 9 and of course everyone thinks 'well yesterday they didn't start until late so if I'm a little late it'll be okay' but actually start at 9...anyways, that's how it went.  Then after the oral section of the test, we were allowed to go.

These last couple of days I've been very tired from having to get up at 6 AM to go to college and from spending 3+ hours a day on the bus, so last night I slept pretty hard and woke up today at around 10:30.  I ate breakfast, and today I am planning on doing laundry, finishing this blog post, aaaaaaand I don't know what else. 

Goodbyeeeee :)

Random Things

• It rained here today for the first time in months (I don't remember the last time I saw rain!)
• School began again for the majority of Lima's youth on Monday (here their summer break is mid-December to end of February) and I've been seeing lots of kids walking home from school in their uniforms.
• Now that it's summer, I see tons of cockroaches in the streets and sidewalks, and mostly at night.  They are so disgusting and huge.  I'd never seen one before coming to Lima.
• I have now been in 4 countries: USA, Peru, Chile, and Ecuador.
• In Ecuador they use the US dollar; and when I visited, I learned they use Sacajawea (not sure if I spelled that right) dollar coins and those big 50 cent pieces.
• I'm still learning jerga (slang)! 
• Tono = fiesta = party
• Gilear = coqueatear = to flirt
• Taffin = poser (that ones hard to explain...my friend explained it to me like this:  you see a guy wearing skate shoes, skate apparel, and carrying a skate board.  But he doesn't know how to skate.  That's 'taffin')
• Jato = casa = house
• Jatear = dormir = to sleep 
• Calet/caleta= secret
• I feel very mature because yesterday I went grocery shopping and to the bank.  At the bank I paid for my cell phone for the month.  Then I went and bought the following:
• Shampoo
• Soap
• Apple flavored iced tea
• Haribo gummy peaches
• A large package of cookies
• I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but in Lima there is a very well-known (and very tourist/gringo filled) park called Parque Kennedy.  This park is known for being filled with cats.  Literally, there are just a ton of cats and kittens hanging around.  It's really cool.  I've been there a ton of times but have never brought my camera with.
• My host mom and host sister recently went on a trip to Pucallpa (a city in the jungle).  They brought back a suit case filled with jungle bananas.  We have been eating fried bananas everyday.  They're delicious.
• I started drawing again a few weeks ago (just before I went on my trip).  I finished my first drawing (I'm pretty proud of it):

Left: Photo I took.  Right:  Drawing of photo I took

Back in Limaaaa

So I am finally back from our Rotary trip to Northern Peru and Ecuador!  It was a good time with lots of heat and beaches.

We traveled to the following cities (and maybe others that I don't remember): Trujillo, Chiclayo, Tumbes, Guayaquil (Ecuador), Las Salinas (Ecuador), and Piura .

Enjoying the pool in our first hotel

We saw lots of ruins/archeological sites.  These tours were terrible with the heat and sun.

There were like tombs and from what I understood, when someone of royalty died (naturally) they killed his favorite servants and wives (and occasionally pets/animals) and placed them around him in the tomb so that he would have people to serve him in the next life.

Some artifacts in a museum

City plaza in Tumbes

Don't remember if this was in Ecuador or Peru...pretty place we took a boat ride, there were tons of birds.

On an island there was like...a crocodile reserve/farm/I don't really know hahaha

In Guayaquil, Ecuador

In this park/plaza in Guayaquil, there were tons of iguanas like this one.

A street in Guayaquil

I really liked Guayaquil; it was cleaner and better looking than Lima.  But I'm still happy to be in Lima.

And there was a spot in Guayaquil where they had some Galapagos tortoises (turtles) not exactly sure about the correct name haha

Came across dollar coins and 50 Cent coins.

In Ecuador they use American dollars (a fact that I knew deep down but for some reason it didn't get through my head that my peruvian soles would be useless there--I had little money to spend in Ecuador haha).  But with a few exceptions: the dollar coins in my picture above, I also got a 50 cent piece (really large) and some of the coins said Republica de Ecuador on them.  In Ecuador prices were cheaper than in the United States, but more expensive than in Peru.  Go Peru!!

Here was a nice beach we visited in Ecuador

At this beach, a bunch of people got cuts from like, we don't really know what they were, little sharp fish? haha there were also jellyfish and some people stepped on urchins and stuff like that. 

Add caption

Some of the students going on a banana boat

boat with the ecuadorian flag

Our last hotel was in a great location right by the beach!

The sky one evening at a previous hotel

Emilie and I at one of the many beach stops

Jump shots on the beach

And we visited an ostrich/emu farm at one point

Dead jellyfish on the beach.  Apparently sometimes they can still sting you after they're dead (thats what someone told me)

And I don't know what this was but it looked cool hahaha

At one particularly cloudy, boring day on the beach, some students had the idea to draw a large circle in the sand and have sumo wrestling matches. Hahahahaha so many people gathered around to watch, tons of Peruvians even!

So yeah, that was our trip!  My favorite parts: 

• I really liked visiting Guayaquil, it was a very nice city.  I guess I can't really fairly compare it to Lima because Lima is a capital city with a much larger population, but Guayaquil did seem nicer and cleaner.
• In our last hotel we were essentially ON the beach, so the two nights we stayed there we had bonfires and it was pretty nice.

We had a bit of bad luck on this trip.  Bad things that happened:

•  At one point we visited an ostrich/emu farm.  While we were inside the gates of this farm (which was just kind of out in the country, very little traffic on the road that passed by it) the tour bus was left outside, most of our belongings left inside it (because we had always been told we could leave our things on the bus, unless we were changing buses).  Anyways, when we got back, we were just about to pull out when we came to the realization that 3 backpacks were missing.  Everyone panicked and began checking their things, everyone was thinking 'The bus was broken into!' but wait a second, if the bus had been broken into, why would they have only taken 3 bags?  Also, the bus driver was in the front of the bus (sleeping, but still present haha)...so it hadn't been broken into...What seems to have happened is this:  Unfortunately, the students in the back row of seats (which were higher up than the rest of the seats, and were nearly level with the windows) had left a side window open.  Someone looking for some stuff to steal probably came by, and not only saw the open window but saw three backpacks sitting in plain sight on the seat, just within reachable distance.  And so that is how those three students lost their cell phones, all their money, and for two of them, their passports.
• One student received a phone call one morning with news that her mother, who had been fighting with cancer for over a year, had passed away.  She will return to her home country today.
• One day on the beach, some play-fighting (aka a large boy attempting to push/throw a girl into the water) resulted in a broken foot.
• Lots of people got sick.  I was stomach sick for just a day.  Many people got diarrhea or were throwing up at some point during the trip.

I think that's all the major bad stuff haha.

So we got back to Lima at night on the 28th.  Last night I had dinner with my friend Andre and we went to Papa Johns, where our friend Eduardo works.  It was so great, this picture makes me laugh so hard.

And this morning I woke up and went to take my clothes out of the washer to hang them up to dry to find that a red t-shirt has left various red and pink splotches and stains on several articles of my clothing, including one of my nicer and better fitting pairs of jeans.  What a bummer :(