Happy New Year's

I was supposed to go with my host family to Camaná (a beach town about 3 hours from here) but there was a change of plans and now we're staying here. I was kind of bummed, but I'm sure I'll still have a good time here. I hope you all enjoy your New Year's Eve celebrations too.

In other news, we got a new maid. We had a cleaning lady who came in every other Saturday to buffer the floors and stuff like that, but I guess my host mom wanted to take things easy when she returns to work from her surgery. This girls only 11 years old though. I feel like we should be taking care of her, not the other way around. Both her parents are farm hands on one of our family's farms in Lluta.

-Christopher

Learn Spanish: Luz (Loose) (Light)

Bored in the Wake of Christmas

I started browsing Wikipedia about 5pm on Christmas. And I really haven't stopped since. I've become addicted to just browsing random articles. If were any other site I might think it were a bad habit, but with Wikipedia I'm actually learning while I just sit for hours. It's like being your own teacher. I like it.

Last night I went to go see A Good Year with some friends. It was a good movie; I enjoyed it. It made me want to go to France. And while I'm on the topic of movies, I was watching a movie on TV the other day and it had scenes that were just in Italian. And I understood it! Everybody says "Spanish and Italian are so close" but I never realized how close. Now I also want to go to Italy. I might need to do a Eurotrip.

I'm in the process of making my blog more fun. I've added some videos (not the best, but the only ones I have). And I'm trying to add some more features, so if you think of anything you want to see let me know.


-Chris

Learn Spanish: Italiano (Ee tahl ee ahn oh) (Italian)

ADDED: I added a chatterbox on my blog, so people can leave comments without needing to sign up or register for anything. It's located on the right hand side and all you need to do is enter your name and post a comment. Hopefully this boosts the amount of feedback I get.

Christmas Day

In Peru Christmas really starts on Christmas Eve. There's a huge dinner served at 11pm. And then at midnight, everyone goes up on their roofs and lights fireworks. It was one of the most amazing sights I've ever seen. I can see the entire city from my roof and every direction I looked there were rockets going off. It was awesome; I wish I could have caught it on camera, but those kinds of things don't really come out well on film. After the fireworks we all went downstairs. We opened a present each and then I went off to bed.

This morning I called my family and then went down and ate breakfast. I guess that it's common to go to friend's and relative's houses to eat lunch, because just about every member of my family is going someplace different for lunch.

I really don't know what to expect from the rest of the day.


-Chris

Learn Spanish: Fuegos Artificiales (Fway goes Art ee fee see al ays) (Fireworks)

Feliz Navidad

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!

Christmas Early

Yesterday I went out and bought a Playstation with some money my mom sent me for Christmas. I figure if I get attached to it, I won't be out spending money. It's something to do. Which is needed during summer vacation.

This week my host cousins from Georgia are here, and tomorrow they're spending the day in our house. And tomorrow night I have a Christmas dinner with the other exchange students planned. Thursday I have to make a decision to eat dinner with my entire extended family or go to my school's prom. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet. And Friday will be spent Christmas shopping. I guess I procrastinated a little bit with that.


-Chris

Learn Spanish: Primo (Pree Moh) (Cousin)

Prom

Last night was the prom for the International High School, which is where most of the exchange students go. It started around 7 and ended around 4 in the morning. Then we went to a park until finally going home around 6 with plans to meet up for breakfast at 8. It's been a really long day and I still haven't gotten a wink of sleep. I'll probably just stay up now that the day has started.

Picture: My friend Duncan and I posing for our dates before heading off to the prom

-Christopher

Learn Spanish: Cansado (Cahn Sah Doh) (Tired)

I'm back

I just got back from a four day stay in Majes. It's a town two hours away from Arequipa. My family has a farm there. Today I was supposed to go to an English play with some of my friends, but my host mom's in the hospital, so I don't think I can go. She's having surgery, but that's all I know, because when I ask what's wrong people just tell me she's having surgery. So, that's that.

-Christopher

Learn Spanish: Chakra (Chah Crah) (Farm)

Summer and Misti

Saturday and Sunday I spent climbing El Misti, which is a volcanoe right outside Arequipa. It was the hardest thing I've ever done in my entire life. The first day was okay, the air was a little thin and my backpack was heavy, but it wasn't too bad. We hiked for 5 hours the first day to get to our campsite around 4. We stayed in camp until 3am and then we headed out with flashlights to climb the rest of the mountain. This was the hardest part of the whole trip. The air was so thin. I had to stop about every three steps to catch my breath. My heart felt like it was going to pop out of my chest it was beating so hard. We finally reached the top at around 10 am. As soon as we got there I immediately laid down and went to sleep, while part of the group went to go hike into the crater. When they got back we all went to hike another half hour to the highest point. It a very hard half hour. When I finally got to the top, one of the girls behind me past out. So I never got a picture at the top. I had to immediately run down part of the mountain to get help. On my way down I fell and cut my hand open. But on the bright side I was a boyscout and a lifeguard so both the girl and my hand are okay now.

And today is the first day of my Summer vacation. I think I'll be able to enjoy more tomorrow when every part of my body doesn't ache. In January I'm going with Rotary on a trip throughout all of Peru and in February to Lake Titicaca. And in the mean time I get to sit around all day or hang out with my friends.