Where your treasure is there will your heart be also

This is going to be short one, I just wanted to give a few updates and share some pictures (sorry I haven’t uploaded any for a while it takes forever!)

I think I’ve mentioned this previously but I’ll say it again. Packing all 10 seasons of Friends was one of my better decisions; I hadn’t watched since training and I decided to start it up again and I love it; it’s very cathartic. However since I’ve started watching it again thoughts like this have been going through my mind, “Am I like David the Scientist Guy who left and loses the one he loves?” or “Maybe I’m more like Ross who waits and waits to be with the person he loves but eventually he gets the girl.” Could I BE more pathetic?

I’m pretty certain I’m going to get diabetes from being here. I try to avoid sugar but it’s pretty much unavoidable; I’ve discovered these delicious trufas which are basically cake balls- nom nom nom.  A few weeks ago one of my host nieces had a birthday party and I swear it was the gateway party to diabetes. A 5 ft table complete with 8 trays of candy, 2 cakes, 2 trays of jell-O, masamora, and pop. We were all sitting around in a circle listening to the same 3 songs and eating the contents on the table- I still have a small pile of the party candy stashed away in my room ya know…in case of emergencies.

I have recently received two letters in the mail thank you Aunt Kae and Honor Heindl. It was like Christmas.

I’m going to fucking miss Halloween. They celebrate it here but I don't think it'll be like how we do in the states, I'm trying to find out if I can get some pumpkins to carve! 

Remember when I said I was running every day? Scratch that- I’m jogging every day; I realized the difference the other day when I tried to actually run not jog. But still I’m proud of me! Next up: biking!

Enjoy my pics!

my host family making a sugary dessert alfenique

my host sisters making cebiche

a guy in Pimentel was demonstrating some of his artwork, I thought this was  cool lookin

table of diabetes

birthday girl

me and some of the little uns in my host fam

my host mom, one of my brothers and I

isn't she adorable!?

there are like 30 more people in the family but here are some of them

I painted the walls in my room!

I think this is my favorite

"Today you are you that is truer than true, there is no one alive who is youer than you." 

I pretty much spent all Friday doing this, it was really cathartic and I feel like  my room is more mine now, def not done more to follow!

Gringa says what?

I may not look like a gringa but I sure sound like one; people assume before they here me speak that I'm Peruvian until I start speaking and then they are like, "oh where are you from?" That being said communication is probably my biggest challenge here. I am constantly repeating myself-I am more frustrated by not being understood than not understanding others. One of my socios talks very fast and he is impatient-not a good combination for me trying to understand him. He knows a little English so sometimes he tries explain in English but his English is worse than my Spanish so that rarely works.

Also, I think I’m being punished for being late all the time in my United States life.  Hora Peruana-is a term which signifies NOTHING, I mean NOTHING starts at the time it is scheduled. If Hora Peruana was a person I’d punch them in the face; ok maybe that’s a bit harsh but it gets frustrating arriving on time (which honestly isn’t something I really did in the states) and just waiting until things actually start.   I’ll give three examples of three completely different situations so you see what I mean:

1)I was invited to a meeting at the municipality, it was scheuled at 7pm; it didn’t begin until after 8pm. I actually got guffawed at when I arrived at 6:55pm.

2)My host family told me they were going to start selling cebiche at 10 yesterday morning-it started around 11.

3) I was told to be at my colegio at 8:30am one morning for an event; the event didn’t start until about 10:30am.

There are many more examples I could give you but then I don’t want to bitch too much about it. Just vent a bit. Maybe they have it right and us gringos in the states have it wrong being slaves to the clock. Peruvians enjoy the time they have together instead of staring at the clock waiting for the next thing to happen.  Just some food for thought.  

Love you all!!! I'll put pictures up for my next post, I don't have time now it takes like an hour for them to load!