Trip Number 2!

Earlier in the month, we had our second Rotary trip of the year. It was an absolutely amazing trip. It included stops in Madre de Dios (the rainforest of Peru), Cusco (the historical capital of the Incas), Machu Picchu (the lost city of the Incas), Puno and Lake Titicaca (the highest navigable lake in the world). We saw so many truly amazing things, but instead of giving a recap of ALL of it (because 10 days jammed full of culture is difficult to explain in such a short time!), I am just going to focus on the two parts of the trip that I consider to be the highlights: Machu Picchu, and the night we spent on Lake Titicaca.

We spent one full day at Machu Picchu, about half way through the trip. We woke up early to take the bus up the zig-zagging path to the ruins. Once we arrived, we made our way up to the top where we had a picture perfect view of the entire city. It took my breath away. I'd obviously seen Machu Picchu in pictures, so going into the day I already had a pretty good idea of what it looked like. I was a bit worried that it wouldn't be as impressive as everyone had built it up to be, but it really was. Being there and learning about all of the history that one site contains gave me such a strange feeling. It almost made me feel small. It's easy to get so caught up in your own life that you forget just how big the world really is. I have been so consumed with my new life and my exchange that I've forgotten about the big picture. But being there, in that lost city full of history and culture, I was reminded.

 

 

The other highlight of the trip for me was the last night. We spent our last night on an island in the middle of Lake Titicaca, where we stayed with ''host families'' who hosted us for the night. It was like a mini exchange, but in a completely different setting and only for one night. My friend Elise (from Belguim) and I were paired up to stay the night with this wonderful woman and her siblings. It was such a good time. They made us lunch and dinner (consisiting of salad, soup, potatoes and rice) and then brought dressed us up in the traditional clothing of the area (like the woman is wearing here) and brought us to a little party for all of the exchange students where we learned some traditional dances of the island. It was such a blast.

 

On this island, their native language is Quechua, the language of the Incas. While Elise and I were sitting at the table eating lunch, our ''host family'' was sitting around having a conversation in Quechua and we could not understand a WORD. That was when it really hit me how much my Spanish has improved throughout these past four months. I remember at the beginning of my exchange when I would sit around the kitchen table with my host family in Lima, feeling that same confusion... Being so lost, because I couldn't follow what they were saying. And now here I am four months later and not only can I understand almost fluently, but I can also be an active part of the conversation. This was such a slow, gradual change, I didn't even notice it happening! I sometimes get upset, or feel self conscious about my Spanish, because I worry that it hasn't improved enough, but being there really helped me realize just how far I've come. It made me feel very proud of myself :)

 

Overall, it was a really amazing trip full of great, new experiences for me!

Bye Bye, Janky Van :(

This week, my parents sold our old mini van, or the "Janky Van" as we called it. It's amazing how connected you can feel to a piece of machinery, and not even fully notice it until it's gone. We bought the Janky Van before my brother was born, over 12 and a half years ago. Every single family road trip we took, every Christmas, every Thanksgiving, every carpool to Hebrew school or just a simple drive to Hunan House, our favorite Chinese restaurant, we took in that car. I went from riding in a booster seat in the back to DRIVING the Janky Van (even though I was always so embarrassed to be seen driving that thing). We've had fights, spills, laughs, sickness, sing along sessions to our favorite radio stations, games of "I Spy" and the license plate game (where you try to see how many states you can find license plates from), and more in that car. It was truly a part of our family, and I can't imagine coming home and it being gone...

All I can do now is hope that our old Windstar van brings its new owner as many laughs and good times as it brought to my family.

You will be missed, Janky Van ❤

Frequently Asked Questions

Just like in my post about my most commonly spoken words, I also find that I am asked a lot of the same questions over and over and over again. Here are a few of the questions people are always dying to get the answer to (translated from Spanish, of course):

1.) What Peruvian dishes have you tried? What are your favorites? - Food is a huge part of the culture here, and Peruvians are very proud of their cuisine. They love hearing how delicious the food is. Also, every dish here has a name!!! It's not like back home where for dinner you just have a bowl of noodles and a salad. There are always legit names for what you're eating, and Peruvians love hearing about which traditional dishes you like.

2.) Have any of your friends had a baby?! - Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant both air here... Thank you MTV for making the rest of the world think we all have children as teenagers.

3.) Have you ever been to New York City or Disney World?!? - People ask me this all the time, and it's made me realize how truly blessed I am, every time I answer that I've been to New York City 4 times and Disney World 3. For them here, both of those places are like dream vacation destinations, like the Eiffel Tower or the Great Wall of China. They think it's amazingly cool that I've been so many places.

4.) The traditional food of the United States is fast food, right? - This isn't even a joke, they all think that we eat fast food for every meal.

5.) Do you like to dance? - Dancing is also a huge part of their culture. They love dancing, and they actually know how to do it. Every time I'm asked this, I have to explain that back in the States, we don't know how to dance. At parties we just jump up and down, if we're even doing that much. Here everyone dances at parties!!! Like, really dances. Like boys ask girls to dance and they actually dance! Like facing each other, holding hands moving your feet and hips and doing spins and what not... It's so cool and fun and waaaay different than dancing at parties back home.

6.) Do you miss your family? - I hate being asked this... Of course I miss my family! I think I would be crazy if I didn't!

7.) Can you sing us a song in English? - Yeah that one's always awkward cause I always do it even though I'm a horrible singer... So yeah, that's always fun...

8.) Is your school back home like Glee? - I've been asked this soo many times... They are all really curious about cliques: cheerleaders, jocks, nerds, etc. I never really know exactly how to answer. One time I convinced a girl that we actually just burst out into song randomly like they do in Glee... I'm still laughing about that one ;)

These are just a few of the most common ones, but there are always sooo many questions! People ask me things about the USA, Peru, my family, everything!!! I guess that's just part of being an exchange student. Everyone's always curious about you!

Weekend Trip to Ica

This weekend I, along with 6 other exchange students, went to Ica, Peru, a city about 4 hours south of Lima. Our Rotary counselors decided it would be fun to take us down for a few days, so we drove the 4 hours and stayed with my counselor's parents who live in the area. It was a ton of fun. Ica is known for its sand dunes, so naturally we took advantage of that and spent an afternoon out sand boarding in the dunes. That was a blast. They put you in these cool cars and drive you really fast through the dunes, like a roller coaster, and then there are places where they let you off at the top of a dune with a board and let you go down. Some people went standing up, but I always went on my stomach instead. It is much easier, and you get a lot more speed. It was the most fun I have had in a very long time. I'm hoping a get a chance to go back and do it again, because it really was an amazing experience! Not only was it a blast, but it was just very cool. I have never been in sand dunes before, so it was a completely new and interesting experience for me. I felt like I was in a movie or something (Aladdin came to mind a few times).

On our way home from Ica on Sunday, our car broke down. That was a fun time. We were stuck on the side of the road for over an hour waiting to find someone who could pull our car! When we finally did, they only pulled us half of the way back to Ica, and from there we had to find ANOTHER car to take us the second half. Once we made it back to Ica, we found out that there wasn't even a bus we could take back to Lima until Monday morning, so we ended up spending another night and catching the bus home on Monday morning. It was a little crazy, and I am exhausted, but it was a great time!