Parties and more parties

          Yesterday, we had this big event planned where we would make a big meal. Two German exchange students here, Claudi and Laura, came over and brought ingredients to make a German meal. My sister, Claudi's sister, and Laura's sister planned to make a Peruvian meal, and I was going to make the dessert. At 11:30, Claudi, Laura, and their sisters came over to our house. Immediately we all started making our food. Cladui and Laura had vegetables, potatoes and meat to make their version of Shishkabobs, and Lucía and the other girls were going to make Papas de Huacallina (I think that is how you spell it). It is basically cooked potatoes that you cool down and cover with a spicy chease sauce and a hard-boiled egg. Everyone was cutting up their vegetables and cooking their food. The kitchen was really small, but it was fun.
          I got out my ingredients to make the dessert. I was going to make M&M cookies. I had everything I neede except that the brown sugar was more like sugar in the raw, because we could not find any like the kind we use in the US. The most difficult part was measuring the ingredients with a tea cup band estimating a cup or a cup and a quater. My family did not have any measuring cups. Once it was all mixed up, it looked like the cookie batter that I have made before and it even tasted good, but baking was a whole different story. After converting the oven temperature to celsius, and I had to light the oven with a spark, and then let it heat up. The recipe said that it took about 8-10 minutes to bake, but because of the altitude and the stove being on at the same time it took more like 25 minutes for each batch. But the cookies turned out great. They were flatter than usual, probably because of the brown sugar issue, or the fact that I used self rising flour, but they tasted great.
          Once everyone had the food ready, we sat down to eat. There were 9 of us at a 5 person table, so it was tight, but it was fun to talk with all of the friendly people. The Peruvian dish was really good. It was spicy, but it was nice. Next we had mashed potatoes, carrots and brocolli, and the shishkabobs, that had beef, onions, and peppers. It was really good, but it was a lot of food. Along with all the food we had Chi chi morada, the purple corn drink that I like. I think that that meal was the best I have had. After the meal, we all had shots of wine. Even my 4 year old niece drank some, but she did not like it very much.
          After the meal, we all went into the living room and turned on the sterio. We all danced for about 2 hours and ate cookies and drank Inca-Cola. Afterwards, we played cards (yeah for spoons and go fish) and this game called the blind rooster. Basically one person puts on a blind fold and tries to tag somebody. At around 6:30 we all piled into my dad's 5 passenger car to go to Anel's house. She is the sister of Claudi. We had 8 people in a 5 passenger car. It was really tight.
          At Anel's house, there was even more food. It had been Anel's birthday on Wednesday, so we were all celebrating. Claudi loves strawberries so there wer tons of strawberries there, which is great because I like them too. After eating a little, we turned on the stereo and danced around. There is this really popular song called Gangnam Style. This Korean rapper sings and has this really cool way of dancing. It is really fun. After a while, we all played this game called the cat and the rat. Everyone sits in a circle and there are two ties that are given to two people across from eachother. For the tie with the cat on it, you have to put it over your neck and tie one knot, clap your hands twice and then untied the knot and pass it to the person next to you. For the other tie, you have to tie two knots and clap once, and then pass it. The goal is to not be the person to end up with both ties. You have to do this as fast as possible. There were a lot of people there and at the end we even had a giant chocolate cake. It was the best chocolate I have had from Peru, but it still was very different. The chocolate is not as rich and the cake is harder. They also have this tradition where they smash the head of the birthday person into the cake. It was really funny. Lucía and I left at around 10:00 to go home, because we were really tired.
          At home, I fell straight asleep, after a long and very entertaining day. I only woke up this morning at like 9:00, which is really late here. I think that is the most food I have had in one day.

School and Spanish

          School is starting to pick up tremendously. I have a lot of homework and so much I want to do instead. After my second week of school I can definitely tell which classes I like and which I don't. Also, I can tell which classes are hard out of your mind and which are fun. Trig and Geography are going to be difficult, and the other maths are going to be alot of work. Computers, English, and Gym are going to be fun I believe, and Tutoria and Plan lector are going to be fairly easy. I have to say that Literature is a lot of writing, and Language is difficult because the teacher has me do special things in order to help my Spanish.
          English is a interesting class because the teacher know English, but his pronunciation is not very good. The weird thing is that he has me do everything in Spanish which is directly opposite of what we should be doing. That is the equivelent of me doing all my other classes in english, so find that kind of frustrating. Also, all the other kids ask me a lot of questions about translations and pronunciation, especially right before a test.
          Gym is really fun, because I am good at it. On Friday we had a little test where we had to count how many times we could juggle a soccer ball. I got the third highest in the class with 39, the other two got 40. I also enjoy the games we do. The boys all divide into three teams and play soccer. My team won on Friday. I scored three goals, and had two assists.
          In computers we used this CAD program to build the first story of a house. The program is in english, so I learned it pretty quickly. I really enjoy doing stuff like that on the computer so it was really enjoyable. Geography is really difficult. I have to memorize the countries of Asia with their capitals, population, and bordering countries and oceans. All in two weeks. That will be difficult.
          I actually got some grades back. The maximum is 20 and the minimum is 0, so I don't know how they calculate the grades, but most of the assignments we have had have been ten or twenty problems. In physics I got a 10 on a test that I did not know was a test until he told us to pass it to the person on our right to grade. I had only done three problems out of the ten, so I don't know how I got ten, but maybe some of them were worth more than others. In Lenguage I got a twenty on an assignment about adverbs. I had to fill in the blanks to complete sentences. I also took three more tests last week that I have not gotten grades back on, but I think I did well on them because I knew they were tests. My Spanish is really improving fast, but I keep messing up on the forms of the verbs and the indirect and direct objects. I think I am doing well though. My sister says that I will be fluent in a month and a half, so I hope she is right. She said that I am better than some of the other exchange students in the past years with how they are improving and how much they knew when they first came. So fingers crossed that she is right.

Huatapallana

          I got up at 5:15 on Saturday morning to go to Huatapallana with the other AFS kids in my area. We arrived at a park to get on the bus, and we left at around 7:00 once everyone arrived. We drove a bit and stopped at a little store to buy any snacks that we needed and these large plastic sheets for this to slide down the mountain. I got a gatorade which I was hoping would help with the long hike. Th drive up to the base of the mountain was very narrow and windy, But our driver had down it many times before, so he was very experienced. We saw a lot of beautiful scenery including a bunch of llamas on the mountain.
          Once we arrived at the base of the mountain there was this little hut that we were all going to eat in after the hike. Our tour guide and us started up the mountain and we stopped at this grouping of rocks about 3 minutes up. He told us that we had to do this ritual which I can not really tell about because of the people who might be reading this, but lets just say it involved water, leaves, and smoke. Once we finished this, we continued our hike which was fairly easy at the beginning. We climbed up mountain after mountain and we walking on paths maybe a foot and half wide at parts. We kept walking and walking and walking with multiple stops to wait up the slow ones in the back. There were many parts that were almost straight up and almost tore your legs off. But after about 3 hours we finally got to this section of rocks and ice called Huatapallana. There was ice everywhere, like walls of it, and we stopped to rest. I thought Huancayo was high up, but this was really high up. You had to stop and breath for a bit almost every five minutes at steep parts, because your heart felt like it was beating 10 times to fast.
          At Huatapallana,  we belayed down into this area and walked over this big rocks to this mountain side that was all ice and snow. We climbed up the steep part using a rope and walked another 200 yards up the mountain side on ice and snow. This was really difficult on your eyes because of the sun reflecting off the snow, and also you had to go really slow so you would not fall.We finally got up to the top where we could slide, so we got out the plastic sheets we had bought and slid down. We were able to slide about 100 yards. It was really fun, but tiring walking up the ice and snow to sled again. We did this for about 30 minutes, and then we had to go. Going down the ice and snow was even more difficult. I fell once and slid about 10 feet which was really scary, but eventually we all got down and back to Huatapallana.
          The trip back to the base of the mountain was easier on your lungs, but it was colder and more windy. I had my wool hat wrapped around my head and my hands in my pockets, and just kept putting one step after another. The guide decided to take a shortcut to save an hour which involved going dwn into the valley, and then almost straight up the mountain. I really did not like the ending because we had been walking for 6 hours and now we had to walk up a steep part to finish.
          We finally got back to the base and everyone collapsed. We were all cold, damp, and tired. After waiting for about a half hour, the rest of the crew arrived, and we ate lunch. The food was not very hot because of how cold it was, but it was food. During the meal, we all played games like whisper down the lane and names of ______. This was really fun and it took our mind off of how cold it was. We finally got in the van to leave at around 6:00 and the three Germans were singing german songs for the whole trip down the windy road.
          After we were almost back to the park, we had a flat tire. So all of us had to get out of the van and stand in the back, but we played games and sang songs for the hour and a hlf we had to wait. It was so much fun.
          We finally returned to the park where we were all picked up by our parents, but we were all really tired because of the very long day. I got back to the house at 8:30, and went straight to bed. I only got up this morning at 10:30.
          I have to say, the hike to Huatapallana and back was the most difficult thing I have ever done, but it was the best 20 bucks I have ever spent, even though I would never do it again.

First week of school

          My first week of school went pretty well. We had a total of 18 different classes throughout the week. After my Trigonometry on Tuesday, I really wanted some easier classes that I could actually learn in. Luckily, my classes on wednesday were really nice.  started out with Physics which was all about megnets. The teacher was really nice, and used a lot of diagrams which were easy to draw in my notebook. Language was next, which was really interesting because there were presentations about verbs. I did not have to do anything, and the teacher is really nice. She helped me with different greetings and slautations for different types of people like teachers, friends, and family. Also, she gave me special homework which will help me with my Spanish. After our lunch break, we had more math, but it stated with Geometry again, which again was really fun and easy, and we finished the day with Arithmetic, which I had never taken before, but was really interesting because it was all about logic and using your brain alot along with formulas.
          Thursday was not much better, but it stated out with English which was really nice. The teacher had me read some of the words so that all the other kids could repeat them. He said that I could pronounce them better then him because I my first language was English. Also, he gave me the choice of helping other kids with English, or translating English to Spanish. That class was really fun and I actually learned more Spanish because when he would say a new word to the kids in English he would give the Spanish equivalent which I often had not heard before. Next was Biology which I really did not like because he had me copy all the homework from the wekk before which I had not learned, and then checked it for a grade, so I do not know how that is learning but oh well. We had our lunch break which was probably the best I have had so far. There was a soccer game between my class and another, so I was excited to play. I sat on the bench to start, but after the other team scored a goal everyone on the siedeline started screaming to get me in the game, and one kid actually pulled a kid off the field and pushed me on. The same thing happened to Claudi, so we both got to play which was pretty awesome. I almost scored a goal too. Our next class was Plan Lector, after the game. In this class we basically read a book the whole time as a class. The teacher even made me read a small section, so that really helped my pronunciation skills even though I was really nervous. The next class was called tutoria which I really don't know what the class is about because we basically talked about goals for the future and what can help and hinder those goals. But the teacher is really nice and wants me to make a powerpoint about my life in the US. We finished up Thursday with Geography which so far is one of my worst favorite classes becuase the teacher muffles his words, and does not write a bunch on the board, but instead has us write what he says, which because of his muffling is very difficult, so I did not get a bunch of notes in that class even though I should have.
          Friday was a short day because Saturday was a holiday called Dia de la Juventud, or Youth Day. We had Biology again, which was not much better then the day before. After that, we had gym which was really fun. We started out doing soccer drills, which the teacher had me help out with because I was good at passing. Then we played a game which I got an assist in. I really like gym class. Angela came and to pick Lucía and I up from school after that.
          My first week of school was really interesting, with ups and downs. I like some classes and did not like others, but either was it was a good week.

Strange Fruits and more School

          I woke up early again today for school. Already getting up early is wearing me out. We had four new classes today. First was Persona, which was like psychology, then we had trigonometry, and after the break, we had Geometry and History. Psychology was basically a whole lot of writing, and Trigonometry was the hardest math I had ever taken, parcially because all my questions were being answered in Spanish. My favorite class so far was Geometry. I was actually good at it, so I was excited to be the first done with the assignment. Everyone in my class is 14 or 15 except for me, but they are doing advanced work for that age, according to our school system. History was also pretty fun, because I knew all about the cold war which is what we talked about today.
          After school, we went home and ate lunch. After lunch, my mom handed me this little green fruit that looked the most like an avocado except it was lighter green, smaller, the skin was softer, and it was white inside I tried a little of this, and it was at first sour, and then it was bitter and sweet at the same time. Also, the texture was a little slimier then most fruits I have had.
          The next fruit I had, was really odd. It was the size and color of an orange, but weighed over half the weight. Also, the shell was harder, so you could crack it instead of tearing it. Once you oppened it up, there was a little sack of seeds coated in a shell of juice, sort of like a pomegranite, except you were supposed to eat the seeds, but not chew them. You were supposed to sort of drink the fruit. This was the weirdest part. The flavor was fairly good, but the texture was horrible, so whenever I would swallow a spoonful, my gag reflex would jump, and it would almost come back up. Anyway, I ended up finishing it because Lucía dared me to.
          I have to say, the last fruit I had was the best. It was about the size of a really small pumpkin or huge grapefruit, and was a tan color with little purple brown stripes. You had to peel it, and then eat the inside. The texture was that of a pear, but it tasted more like a canteloupe or honeydew. Anyway, This was the best, and I was able to eat it without difficulty. I am going to get up a bit later tomorow morning, because I have had plenty of time these last two mornings. It is really weird, because I can feel that my spanish is getting better by the day, and I am so excited for when I am fluent.

My first day of school

          Today was my first day of school. I was really excited this morning. For school, not the uniform. Anyway, the uniform is alright, but I do not really like the pants. I got up at six because we had to leave at like 6:50 to 7:00. I had to get to school early for photos they said. I was ready by 6:30 and had already eaten brakfast, but Kristhel did not want to get up, and she was going with, so her mom finally got her up at 7:00, and after getting ready we only left at 7:11. I was really nervous that we going to be too late, but the others did not seem to notice. We had to walk to find a taxi, and once we got to the school, it was 7:25. Surprisingly, Claudios was still sitting in the lobby, so I was relieved that we were not late. We actually sat their for a while until the bell wrang for the start of school and never got a photo for the school.
          When the bell wrang, all the kids were standing in formation in the school yard. All of them with their uniforms on, so I did not feel so strange looking, even though every single one of the kids had brown hair and darker skin. The main guy in charge walked Claudios and I up and introduced through a microphone. All the kids were whispering to eachother and when he said what room we would be in, the girls who I am guessing were in those rooms all started giggling and laughing with eachother. Claudios and I just stood their watching and smiling, until he asked us to say something. I went up to the mike and told them that my name said "hola, buenos dios, me llamo Cameron, y estoy de los Estados Unidos". All the kids were talking amongst themselves during our introductions. It was really quite interesting. I wanted to know what they were thinking and saying.
          After that we joined our classes in formation to recite the nacional anthem, the nacional song of Peru, and the school's anthem. This was really boring, because it was really long and I did not know any of it. After the anthems, the man in charge dismissed us by class and we went to our rooms. The first teacher finally came in and showed me where to sit. Each day we have only four classes and a break to by lunch and talk with our friends in the middle. Our first class was Civics, which was kind of simple because alot of the words were cognates. Still I had to look up a lot and ask people to explain things. In between classes, we had like two minutes, and everyone would swarm around me and ask me questions like where I was from how to say this in English, and about my school in the US. I felt really important, but I also could not understand 10 people talking at once, so I was a little embaressed I would not answer all of their questions, but I just kept smiling and laughing.
          Our next class was Algebra. Today's topic was Geometric Progressions, which was basically just a list of numbers with a pattern. Still we had to use these theories, and I have to say understanding his voice was difficult, so I was relying on the writing on the board, but he wrote in sloppy cursive and that I could not read, but the kids around me were really nice and let me copy their notes.
          After Algebra, we had a break to walk around and go outside and by something to eat in the school yard. Claudios, Lucía, and I walked around and watched kids play voleibol. I don't feel short here, except compared to Claudios. Besides him, I am one of the tallest kids, so I feel pretty powerful. The break was over quickly, and we went back inside for my next class which was Religion/logic/Philosophy. This class was a mixture of a lot of things. We talked about logic, and Aristotel, and then we read a section of Luke and answered questions. This class was pretty boring, but not as boring as the next class, Literature.
           Literature is a lot of notes. Today we did a review, and obviously I was not here to learn the stuff in the first plcae, so I was stuck copying the whole period. Also, I bet the two girls I worked with don't like me anymore, because I had them repeat themselves about a dozen times. Finally the end of school bell wrang at 2:30, and everyone rushed outside to leave. We went home in another taxi, and got home late for lunch, but Kristhel was really excited to see me.
          After a day of focusing your brain a hundred percent, your head really hurts. It was a relief to get home and nap after lunch. I felt my spanish definitely improved, and I am attempting to teach my sister some English. She is not bad at it, but she does not practice unless she is in class.I hope tomorow's classes are better than today's, but I am excited either way.

Meeting more of the family

          Monday morning is coming fast, so I have to go to bed early for school tomorow, so that is why I am making this blog before dinner. We had another busy day full of activities. The normal sunday schedule was thrown off a little because of multiple reasons. First, Charleys was still here, so we spent the morning with him, and then went to meet papa and Lucía at the club. My dad, works at a bank, so today they had this big event with all the banks. There are a lot of different banks here. Anyway, unfortunately I forgot my tennis racket, because they had three clay courts that I could have played on. Angela, my older sister, said that we can come back another day.
          While at the club, mama, Angela, Kristhel, the little girl, and Charleys, went to the market to get supies for the next week's meals. After we watched tennis a bit, papa, Lucía, and I went to meat the rest of the family at the market, and after looking around for a while, we finally found them. We went home and had lunch. After lunch, Charleys and I played chess. He is really good, but I pulled an old six move checkmate on him the first game, but he was ready the second game. He got my queen early, but made a stupid move later on and lost his. It continued downhill from there, and after a couple close calls, I finally checkmated him again. He left soon after that.
          We decided to watch TV, and Jurassic Park was on, but then Kristhel woke up and we had to change to some weird Disney show where flowers, leaves, and fairies were dancing. I literally almost fell asleep. But luckily we were papa interupted the show to go to abuelita's house. She is the mother of mama, and they wanted me to know her. They had a really nice house. It was pretty big, and they had two dogs. Also, mama's brother and sister were there with one of my sister's cousins. I believe she is 14, but she was studying chemistry, so she must be pretty smart. The family also had two dogs that were really cute. The one was sort of friendly, the other was very scared and barked the whole time, but they were at least dogs that weren't strays, so I was happy.
          On the way home, we stopped at a park, that I had not seen before. It was small, but really cool. There were bridges that you could run around on. We then left and stopped at a barber shop because papa needed his hair cut. It is so different then here. He just walked in without an appointment, and walked out in like 15 minutes. Also, it only cost about 5 soles, which is a little more than 2 dollars. So that was pretty awesome. The whole day was pretty good except for the trip home after the barber shop. Kristhel really wanted to get a treat, but we had some at home, so Angela told her no. She then had a temper tantrum in the car right next to me (talk about annoying). Anyway, I have to get up early so I need to go to bed. Hopefully school will go well tomorow.

Busy busy busy

          Today was a big day. I have been with my family for one week now, and it is going great. I had a busy day today. This morning I had an orientation with AFS. To get there, me and my sister, Lucía, had to walk through the town and then take a special taxi to the school. Apparently it always goes to the school. Also, it is not just for the person or group that gets in first, it is for anyone that can fit, as long as they are going to the school. It was pretty cool. At the orientation, there were six other students. Everyone I already knew from the bus ride to Huancayo except for two. Two kids from AFS Germany are not in school here. They are working here. Instead of school everyday, they go to work, which I guess means that they already graduated. I did not know AFS accepted kids who are not going to school, but I guess they do. The orientation was basically about rules and things that are different in Peru. Like manners for school and for at home with your family. Apparently everyone here is starting school on monday, except for the two who are working. Although two other kids are going to a university.
          After the orientation, my sister and I walked around town a bit, we stopped and picked up an ice cream bar for each of us. The ice cream here is way different then in the US. It is less creamy and more icy. Also, vanilla and chocolate flavored ice cream is not like the vanilla and chocolate flavor in the states, but it was not bad. After we took a taxi home to wait. After about three hours, we went out as a family to do some shopping. We picked up a notebook for school, but we had to go to three diferent stores to find one at a good price. We also picked up an x-large bottle of water and Inca-Cola. Inca-Cola is this yellowish clear soda that tastes sweeter than most sodas, but not a sugar kind of sweet, more of a honey kind of sweet. It is really good, they have it everywhere, at restaurants, at bodegas, and just about every house.
          After shopping, we went to the park to walk around, there was a procession for some kind of catholic celebration. My little sister was along, so of course we had to get a treat. There are these little soft serve ice cream dispensers here that are really convenient, so we each got a little ice cream cone. It was the best ice cream I have had here, so I guess that is a plus, even though it does not compare to the kind I get in the US.
          While we were at the park, my older brother showed up for the first time. He lives in Lima for his job, and wanted to visit. We went out to a restaurant with him, and this resaurant had Inca-Cola. This restaurant only served pollo a la braza, which is basically chicken roasted over a fire. This also came with a side salad and french fries, but they were not normal french fries. They were not fried, they were cooked in oil, so they were not really crispy on the ouside, it was the same texture throughout. They were all right, but the highlight of the meal was the drink. Besides Inca-Cola, you could also order a big pitcher of Chichimorado. It was amazing. It might not sound good but it is truly one of the best drinks I have had. It is crushed up purple corn which is dried out before they crush it up, then they add lemon juice, pineapple juice, sugar and cinnamon, and it is awesome. I had three cups, and my four year old sister loves it, too. She drank her glass, and then swapped it with Lucía's full glass (talk about sneaky).
          After the restaurant we drove home. My older brother from Lima, Charleys, is going to stay the night and leave the next afternoon. We had tea when we got home, and some crackers with this caramel honey sauce, that was really good. Despite all this really good food I had today, my stomach was really upset a little earlier, but now it is fine. Tomorow is Sunday, so that means we are going to the market, and relaxing until my first day of school on Monday. I should have gone to bed earlier to get used to getting up at six for school, but oh well, I did a lot today.
          Anyway, I will finish this with a word of advice. One of the best things you can do while you are here is smile and laugh often. Laughter is one of the greatest things, and it is universal. There is no language where laughing is forbidden. Laugh at yourself sometimes. Don't feel upset if you do not know how to say something, laugh about it, and look it up later. It is definitely what has helped me get through this first week and it will definitely help me in the future.

Finding a place in your family

          It is now Friday night, I have been in Peru for a week now, but with my host family for six days. Fitting in is a big problem for some people. When you go on vacation with someone it is very simple to fit in. You become a friend that they do everything with, and after that week you go your seperate ways and maybe see them at school every once and a while. Even when you are stay with a family for a month, like I did in Argentina last summer, you start to get attached, but in the end, when you leave, you just jump right back into your normal life and maybe contact them once or twice, but that soon fades. The big test is when you are living with the same family for ten months, and for some it is closer to eleven. You are not just a guest at their house who sometimes joins in on the activites of the family. You are part of the family. The kids are your siblings and the parents are your mom and dad. I remember two days ago when I was skyping my brother. I was introducing my family to him and when I got to my host father, he told my brother "Estoy la papa de tu hermano" (which means I am your brother's dad). Right then it hit me. They are not just the family who is taking care of me. They are my second family, and for this year, my primary family.

          My four year old sister here is my sister. She loves to play games with me and is always around me. I go to pick her up from school when I can, and when I walk around town with my family, she always wants to hold my hand. When your family goes out, don't sit in your room on your computer or ipod by yourself, join them. Go to the market with them. You eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner with them. If you are sick, don't call home and ask what to do (even though my parents would want to know when I am sick), ask your host mom or dad, they will want to help you. After all, didn't they volunteer to take care of you for the year?

          The first week or so is always the hardest time, but it is also the most important time. If you choose to isolate yourself during the beginning, you won't be able to find a place in your family later on. You need to work the hardest, and sometimes go out of your comfort zone, to join them in basically all of their family activities. This might seem nosy, but they will apreciate it when you ask to go shopping with them, and in the end, you will appreciate how enjoyable your new life is.

         

Transportation

          Transportation is very different here. Taxis are quite common, but instead of a money counter that counts up as you go, they are all one price as long as you are not going a very long way (about $1.35). This is nice for going middle distances, but if you are not traveling far, walking is a better deal. I have gone in a couple taxis already, but today I used a combis. There are plenty in my area. They are like little buses that can hold about 10 people without getting too crouded. The ones that I have used are like 90 centimos, which is approximately 35 cents in the US. They are like buses in the way that they travel. They do not go anywhere you ask. They keep circling around and pick up people on the way and drop of others. They all have set routes. Also, there is this one person who has their head out the window the whole time screaming words I can not understand (they talk very fast). This gets annoying when you don't want to ride in one, but they drive by and scream at you. I am guessing they are saying "Do you need a ride? We have a ride for you! We go to this place and this place." Anyway, they are really anoying.
          There are also a lot of cars here (too many I think). They drive without really caring about the rules too much. I am glad that AFS has a no driving rule, because that would be really scary. The cars just swerve in and out with the sole purpose of getting to their destination. There are maybe 3 cars side by side on a one lane road. I am surprised I have not seen many accidents yet. About the combis, they just really want to get people in their vans. They will swerve in and out of traffic to be on the curb side of the road so that the annoying person ( I will call they the screamer) can get people to hear them and see them.
          I start school on Monday, so I have to pick up some notebooks and folders. I have my uniform and everything else, but hopefully I can increase my level of Spanish ten fold for school. I heard that teachers talk really fast (fingers crossed that my teachers do not)!

Adjusting to the Culture

          It is now Wednesday night. I have been here for four days. There are difficult times, but I know I am not alone. Others are in the same situation I am. Recently, I have gone to the supermarket, gone to my host sister's school, and drove around town to visit all the parks. The parks are really nice, but you have to be careful with your camera, because theft is not uncommon. I am learning to adjust to the differences here, primarily the climate. It is really cold in the morning and at night, but during the day it is not too cold. The sun actually comes out a bit. Another big difference is the food. There are rice and potatoes for every meal. There are a couple thousand varieties of potatoes here in Peru, so they have plenty to spare and rice is very cheap. My host mother uses a lot of onions and different spices in the food (I really like that).
          We went to visit my school and buy my uniform today. Apparently, a kid from Germany with AFS, Claudios, is in the same school as me, so we got our uniforms together. He is really nice. He did not know much spanish at all before he came here, but he is catching on quickly. I have learned that traffic rules are not enforced very strongly here. People just get from place to place and don't really bother with the rules too much. Also, taxis are very common here, and you can get from place to place very easily and for not many soles (the money here). I can't wait to see what I am going to get to do tomorow, but the altitude makes you a bit tired so sleep is a necesity for me. 

My first morning in Huancayo

          After a rough night, I was anxious to see what a new day would bring. A woke up late sunday morning after sleeping in a bit and went down stairs. My house is three stories with a roof to go on when we need to dry our clothes. Each floor is small with like two rooms on each, so it is not difficult to get from one room to another if you like stairs. Once downstairs my host mom insisted that I sit down. She always says "sientate". She is very insistent.  I sat down and she asked me what type of juice I want. I told her I would like orange juice. So she walked outside and grabbed three oranges from a bag and handmade me orange juice, right in front of me (talk about fresh). It was probably the best I have ever had. I finished breakfast, which was just a piece of bread with jelly and butter and tea.
          After breakfast, my host father told me that every sunday morning they go to the market and asked if I would like to come. Basically because I did not know what I would do if I did not go, I decided it would be best to join them on their weekly routine. We went to three different markets. Each of them had a variety of stuff, but each had the best of a few items. The first had the best fruit, the second had the best vegetables, and the third had the best spices. The markets were big, and loud, and some of them smelled odd at different parts. Once we finished shopping, we drove home. I have got to say that the saddest part of my trip is that there are stray dogs everywhere. On every street corner and crosswalk. I really wish I could help them, but I can not do anything for a hundred dogs.
          My spanish is catching on quickly, and luckily I have a week until I go to school. My family is very forgiving when it comes to how slow I speak at times. It is difficult when I know what they said, and I know what I want to say, but I just can't. It is really upsetting. Anyway I have a year to learn!! (Thumbs up for being optimistic)

First Impresions of Huancayo

          The altitude difference was pretty extreme. Huancayo is 11,000 feet above sea level, so my ears popped the whole ride, but we finally got to Huancayo. I was the first off the bus, and right away, my emotions started jumping. Just inside the station, all five families were waiting there with big signs with each of our names on them. Imediately I spotted my host sister near the back holding a big sign. I walked over and did the customary kiss on the cheek with all the girls in my family, and hugged my host father who put a scarf around my neck and a hat on my head right away. Once we picked up my suitcase, we got in the car and drove through the town to their house. On the way, we stopped at a nearby park and walked through it. The air was cold, but the scarf and knit hat really helped. When we arrived at my host family's house I did not think much of it. I was just really tired. I sat down in front of the TV trying to think of a way to tell my family that I am tired and want to go to bed without them thinking that I am aviding them. I finally decided to just to tell them I was tired, and that worked. they took me up to my room and I slept like a bear. My family is bigger than some of the others. I have a host father and mother, and two host sisters and one host brother who does not live in the house. Also, the oldest daughter has a kid who lives in the same house. I had a lot of thoughts running through my head that night. I was trying to figure out if I was going to like it in Huancayo or if I was going to make friends or if I would fail school, but eventually I decided that I need to sleep and that tomorow would be a better day.

Lima

          After a six hour flight we finally arrived in Lima. The six of us went though immagration and after picking up our lugage went though customs. Once though Customs an AFS lady named Lucía was there to pick us up. Again based on our size we all fit into a small van without much extra room. Unfortunately, as we soon found out, all the other AFS'ers going to Peru had arrived a lot earlier, so we did not get to see any of them. The six of us stayed in a seperate church. We arrived a little after 9:40 at night there time, but after driving to the church, getting our rooms, hearing the rules, waiting for our food to be delivered, and eating our food, we only got to bed at around 1:00 in the morning. There were two of us going to Trujillo, one going to Cajamarca, another to Chimbote, another staying in Lima and me, in Huancayo.
          We had breakfast at 8:30 (way too little sleep for me), and then afterwards, we took our luggage to the orientation room. We had a small orientation and got awesome llama shirts, and then once again piled into the van after a coffee break. We drove to the bus station where four of us got off. Three of us were taking a bus, and one was staying in Lima. The other two kids who stayed in the van were going to Trujillo and were leaving from a different bus station. At the station we were finally able to meet a few other AFS'ers from different countries. Except for one who was staying in Lima, they were all going to Huancayo with me. The rest, who were going to Chimbote and Cajamarca were going to arrive later. There were two from Germany and three from Belgium who spoke Flemish (an awesome language by the way). We had about 40 minutes to wait until the Huancayo bus left, during which the two girls staying in Lima were picked up by their families. After they left, the rest of us just talked and got to know eachother better.

          Our bus finally came and it was pretty cool. It was one of those two story buses. I have never been on one before, so i was pretty excited even though we were only on the first story. The seats were really comfortable, and it was quite enjoyable with all the scenery. It was eight hours of beautiful (with a complimentary meal). I got tons of pictures on the way. I just could not sleep. I was too anxious for Huancayo.

Preparation and my stay in Miami

          My twin brother went to Argentina with AFS and he left two weeks before me, so preparing for my trip, I was very anxious to join the excitement of travel that my brother had already experienced. Packing was much easier for me because I knew what I needed through my brother's emails to home. I had to take two flights to get to Miami. The first flight left on the 6th of September early in the morning from Baltimore to Atlanta, and the second that same morning from Atlanta to the orientation in Miami with a small hour layover. Both of the flights were two hours so there was not too long of a boredom period that I sometimes get when I am on a long flight.  When I got to the Miami airport, I grabbed my suitcase and followed the instuctions I was sent via mail. Once outsite on the curb, I met another student also going to Peru. She was waiting for the bus to the Marriott, also. We waited for a few minutes and another student going to Panama showed up to wait with us. It seemed like forever, but the bus finally came, and we were finally transported to the hotel. We arrived at 1:00 which was earlier than we had to, but we were still not the first. There were two others at the hotel already, both going to Panama. We sat down and got something to eat at the hotel restaurant after taking our stuff up to our rooms. We had until 4:30 to hang out and wait for the others.

          Eventually everyone showed up and we had about an hour to waste before the orientation started. There were six of us going to Peru and eight that were going to Panama from the US. We had the smallest group, and we were also the last group to leave. My stay in Miami was shorter than most because of our size. We had orientations and dinner that night, and in the morning we had more orientations breakfast and Lunch and Peru left for the airport at around 12:30. Panama left an hour or so later. Once at the airport we got through security and we had a 3 hour wait until our flight left at 4:30. We had an amazing time playing cards and bonding. The size of our group was especially helpful to get to know everyone very well. Finally after an hour or so of Hearts, they called our flight. We were finally going to get to go to Lima. We were all so excited to meet the rest of the AFS'ers going to Peru.......or so we thought.

An introduction to me

Hey, I am Cameron. I am from Lebanon, Pennsylvania, in the United States, but for the 2012-2013 year, I am living in Peru through AFS. I am in the large city of Huancayo, the capital of Junín, a province directly to the east of Lima. There are many districts in Huancayo. I am in the district of El Tambo.