life in Lima

With two weeks of school finished, and almost 3 weeks of being in Lima, I might be beginning to get a little settled.

school: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú

     I’m taking four classes at La Católica: Art History, Andean Archeology, Structure of Language, and Culture of Peace. I have one class with Lauren and I’ve made a friend (Priscilla) in my Culture of Peace class, which is great, because that professor never writes anything on the board! He just talks (yes, in Spanish)! My dad keeps asking me what percentage of my speaking is in Spanish…. I haven’t thought about it enough yet to measure it (it’s not enough), but I know that I’m listening to Spanish much more than I’m speaking it. It’s tiring, but it’s getting better, every day J

     I’m running for the track team at La Católica, which is fun, and not a huge commitment. I was the only girl distance runner until I met a friend named Allison! She’s another exchange student. Turns out we both ran the Marine Corps Marathon last October wearing the same shoes… weird. The coach is nice, but I still haven’t been able to explain to him that I’m currently getting back into shape, because I wasn’t running consistently before I came to Perú. He told me Friday that I need to run faster: más rápido! Haha my excuse for last week was that I had a cold (which I did), so we’ll see how this next week goes.

peeling peaches!

     I’m getting some volunteer time in at Restaurando Vidas, one of the churches that I’ve been able to attend while here. Lauren and I have friends there that are always willing to make us a free meal when we go. The last three times we’ve had the privilege to serve them by peeling potatoes, cutting potatoes, and peeling peaches. Hundreds. We liked peeling the peaches: our hands smelled much better than after working with potatoes, and I even got to eat one as I peeled! One meal at the church that we have not enjoyed: cow lung. Don’t ask why we didn’t ask what we were eating before we started, because I don’t know. We won’t make that mistake again. Ask before, or not at all. Needless to say we haven’t eaten beef for over a week now.



mixing cookie dough!



clean clothes!



     Living with the Rosales family is continuing to get better. My Peruvian dad is going to make homemade ceviche soon, which I’m excited to try! Ceviche is a popular seafood dish here. Lauren and I have enjoyed buying fruits and vegetables at the market, and trying different kinds of fresh bread from the panadería (bread store). Oregano bread is yummy. We even made chocolate chip cookies last night! It was an interesting experience because of the lack of measuring utensils and a working oven, but they turned out alright… our sisters Carmen and Laura like them! I did my first load of laundry yesterday too. I was in need of some clean clothes… and still am because they’re drying outside and it’s winter haha. Lauren and I went in together and bought a modem, so we now have wireless internet in the house, though it can be spotty. We’re still trying to figure out with Momma Carmen (mom and daughter are both Carmen) how to get wireless in our room. It may not happen, but we’re ok with that.