Feliz Navidad!!!!!

The 24th of December was awesome!!! Christmas here officially starts at 12 o'clock, midnight, the 24th of december. In the morning we went to the market, yet again, to buy food and whatever else we needed. I love to go to the market!! Some parts are disgusting, like where they sell meat, but the fruit section is amazing. There are sooooo many different kinds of fruit and so many colors and smells, it's cooL!!! Going to the market with Tefy's mom is like a sport, because although she's a small woman, she can walk really fast!!! And what Tefy and I try to do is run after her, and that's not as easy as it sounds!!! =) Because I'm the stringest of us 3, I always carry the heavy stuff, whcih makes it even harder to keep up, but it's also very fun. In the afternoon Tefy's (Ricardo) and my boyfriend (Jose Carlos) came to see us, and we gave them our presents ( a teddy bear, and a christamas card, because I call him Teddy =) )
Then later Jose came again and gave me a heart necklace for Christmas --> really pretty!!! =)

My blood related brother Chris called me. When my brother here told me who was calling, I screamed soooo loud, I think they must have thought I had gone crazyyyyy!!!! =) But I was just really happy =)

In the evening, we got ready to go to Catacaos to Papi Lencho's ( the grandpa) house. The 8 of us squezzed into the Volkswagen, which was really fun. =) We walked alround town, then went back to the house, where I met the whole family. At 12 o´clock I hugged everyone, saying " Feliz Navidad", then we ate rice with fruit, turkey, and for desert paneton, which is a specialty for X-mas and Pastell. Everything was soooo tasty, and I ate A LOT. In fact, I ate so much that I wasn't hungry the whole next day. =)

This was my first christmas without my family and without presents, but it was an amazing experience and all I really wanted for Christmas this year was to be with my best friend and a family that really cares about me and my wish was granted!!!! =)

Fiesta de Promocion!!!!!!!

Steve and I

Tefy and Winnie (her best *boy*friend)

Tefy y Ricardo

On Wednesday I moved into Tefy´s house. We don´t have my bed set up yet, so we squeezed into one bed =) In the morning we had to go to school, because Tefy and lots of my other friends from quinto had repeat exams, cause they failed the ones before. I waited for a couple of hours. Yesterday in the afternoon I went shopping for my corsage with Steve, because he´s my pareja for the fiesta. Then in the evening we got ready and everything and first went to school for the graduacion ceremony. We were really late, it was almost over, but we were just in time for the group foto, so we quickly out on the graduacion gound and the hat. Then we went to the fiesta, which was in a really fancy back yard of a huge house. First every student from quinto danced with their mom/dad. This is the part were I just watched, cause I didn't have anyone to dance with. Then we danced walz with our pareja and then just sat around, talked, danced and had a good time. At 3 we were kicked out of the house. All the parents left at 3, and so did Tefy and I, because she had another make-up test the next day. She was really mad at her mom for that, but what can you do, right??

Quinzañero/ Nelly's birthday

On the weekend I went to my first quinza#ero. When a girl turns 15 in Peru they usually have a really big party. I went with two of my friends. It was a little boring, because I didn't know anybody (not even the girl who's party is was :)) but when i got back to the house there was a birthday party from my sister Nelly, who turned 20, so I hung out with her and her friends, which was really fun.

Mail for ME =)

<-- my camera is still broken, so the only pics I can put in my blog are either from other people or the internet ( like this one)

When I got back from Chicayo I got a package from my old home, which was sent to me from Austria!! I was really excited and wanted to open it immediatly, but I had to wait, becuase we went out to eat with Mery, the AFS lady, I´d been staying with and then I switched houses again to where Steve is living, Nancy´s house, who is the president of AFS Piura. I´ll be staying here until they find another family for me.
Today Steve and I sat down to open our mail. He had also gotten 2 boxes with stuff from his family in Switzerland. We took turns opening pur presents. My parents had sent me a " Milka- Adventskalender", some christmas stickers and a letter from my mom. I opened the windows of the Adventskalender up to today, and was eating chocolate while watching Steve unpack his packages, which contained lots of chocolate, and christmas cookies. Then we took turns reading the letters we had gotten to each other, I read Steve´s letters, which was really quite hard because most of them were in "Switzerdeutsch" which is the German they speak in Switzerland, which I think is quite easy to understand but really hard to read and he read the letter I got from mom to me, which was also really hard from him, because he, like so many people, could not read my mom´s handwriting. =)
Mom, Dad, thank you so much for the package and for thinking of me!! I love you and I miss you!!

And of course you too my beloved brother. This may sound weird, but I miss fighting with you. =)

Chiclayo

On Saturday I went to Chiclayo with lots of AFS people. We stayed at a hotel about 2 miutes from the beach, which was awesome. When we left piura it was really HOTTT but in Chiclayo it was windy and kind of cold. We went to the center of Chiclayo and walked around a little and then went back to the hotel to get ready for the party, another "50 years of AFS" party, but this time for Chiclayo. The theme was black and white, and it wasn´t elegant, but casual, so I put on a short white skirt and a black shirt. The party was in a restaurant on the beach, which was really noce. Diddi was there and so was Miriam, which was awesome!! I sang "My Heart Will Go On" again, this time not just with music, but also with Celine, and it was really fun. We ate, talked, danced and then went back to the hotel.
The next day we got up early and went to the beach to walk in the water, which was really cold!! Then Linden, from Austrlia kumped in the water, so i did too, well up to my shoulder, which was a blast!!! Then we went to the center of Chiclayo to find a prom dress for Lisa and we did. We had lunch in Pizza hut, and I also had a really nice conversation with a guy working in Starbucks. Miriam spent the whole day with us, which was really cool!! In the late afternoon we went back to the beach for another quick swim. The waves were ginourmous and the current was strong, but we managed to keep it under control. Afterwards we went to one of the AFS volunteers´house for cake and then to the bus stop. Our bus left at 8:15 and we were back in Piura a little before 11:30.

finally switching family

So, I have had some problems with my family, mostly with my mom, because she has never been happy with me, so today I am switching families for good. I'll be living with a lady from AFS for a couple of days, then on the weekend we're going to Chiclayo for a AFS fiesta, and when we come back, I don't know where I'm gonna live, which pretty much sucks!!!!!!! =(
I really tried everything I could with the Seminario family, but for them I guess it was never good enough......
Right now I don't have a family, I don't have a home, so all I got right now is my friends.....

jose y carlos =D te quieren de verdad

So in the evening my mom brought me to Mery's house with all my stuff. I said goodbye to Charo and Eduardo and mom. My mom told me "te quiero mucho", I cried and they were sad too, but what can you do, right? We decided to be friends and mom promised me that she would make my dress for my fiesta de promocion, which is really nice of her....
So now I just have to wait until AFS finds a new family for me,....then we'll see how that turns out, but hey, nobody should be worried about me, cause I'm fiine, and my friends and the people from AFS are extremly awesome and always there for me!!!

la despedida

So Tefy and I got ready and then another friend Patsy came too. Then like five or six guys from quinto got us and we all walked together to the house where the despedida was. We took lots of pictures with Tefy's camera, which I hope she will send to me sometime soon. We had a good time, ate, drank, danced a lot, and it was really fun.

On Sunday we all went to the church again

at night. I'm quite proud of myself today because I understood pretty much everything the priest said. =)

doing things on my own

During the week I almost never go to the center, and on weekends only sometimes, so when I run out of something I need, I gotta go by taxi to the supermarket. Normally Steve, or one of my peruvian friends goes with me, but on Friday I went to the center, without meeting up with someone, alone, for the first time. I bought the stuff I needed and went back home in taxi. Then there was a science fair in my school, which we were expected to attend wearing our school uniform, and then after that I went to Tefy's house to get ready for the despdida, which is organised by cuarto for the students of quinto.

Yesterday Diego left for Lima, which is where he's going to be studying from now on. He has preparation classes for a big exam in March to get into a really good military college. We broke up, because long distance relationships are really hard, so I'm pretty sad about that,..... = (

back home

<--this picture of me with guitar was also in the newspaper

I'm back home with my old family. It feels good to sleep in my own bed again =) I switched classes on Friday, from cuarto to quinto, because I'm going to be graduating and going to the "fiesta de promocion" with quinto in december, so my tutor thought it would be good to get to know all of the kids better. My best "girl"friend Tefy is in quinto, so that's cool and I made some new friends too.

This is what I did on the weekend: on friday there was a "50 years AFS Peru- Piura" party, which was awesome. Almost all the AFS students from Chiclayo inculding my friends Diddi (Austria) and Miriam (New Zealand) came and I sang " I don't wanna miss a thing" by Aerosmith and I even had my picture in the newspaper again ( for the third time since I've been here!!! ). I went with my mom, my brother and my boyfriend Diego. It was a lot smaller that the fiesta in Lima, but it was fun as well.

change of house-yet again

Everything was cool, after school I mostly just hung out at home and at night I went out with some friend, just to talk and stuff. My family I'm living with now is going to Trujillo for the weekend, so I'm going to stay in Gonzalo's house with my friend Steve from Switzerland from thursay till Sunday. My mom's in Piura, but she has to take it easy for a couple of days. Steve's house is directly in the center. It's really cool!!!

Lima!!!!

I don't have time to write right now, but stay tuned, cause Lima was awesome and i have a lot to tell you about it!!

So, we left on thursday in the afternoon. It was only Lisa, Steve, Gonzalo ( Steve's 

brother), Nancy ( steve's mom) and me. I sat 

next to Lisa the first part of 

the trip and then next to Gonzalo. I fell asleep listening to my MP3-player, which was under the blanket, under my shirt, but when 

I woke up it was GONE!!!! We searched for it for 

at least half an hour, as did the people sitting in front, behind and next to us, but it was hopeless, my MP3 player with lots of awesome music ( that I can replace), but with all my pictures I took in Peru, which are irreplaceable, was gone =(  15 hours in the bus, looking forward to an awesome couple of days, but that wasn't the way I imagined our trip to Lima to start,...

Well, anyway in Lima, we waited for an hour, for Guillermo ( France) and then we went to our youth hostel, which was really quite nice. Then, we went to eat Chifa ( which is a mixture of Peruvian and Chinese food, and it's really tasty) and then we went shopping in Miraflores I think. I bought a cool Roxy shirt and a Justin Timerlake-style hat. =) Then in the evening we went to eat at KFC and then went to a park with awesome fountains, with special effects =) 

Then we went home, changed and went out. Gonzalo worked in Lima for a couple months this year, so he knows good places to get something to drink and where the music isn't so loud, so you can have a nice conversation. We were introduced to 2 of his friends, who are from Piura, but study in Lima, and we had a really good time.

Then on Saturday we got up, had breakfast in the youth hostel and then just hung out playing ping pong and talking. Then Steve, Lisa, Guillermo and I went to the supermarket to buy some things and then when we got back, all of us went to eat lunch in Pizza Hut. =) We also took a tour bus around Lima and up a hill, with many poorer houses of Lima. Then we went shopping again, and I bought a beautiful black dress. Then we went back to the youth hostel, because there are like 3 or 4 bathrooms, and there were A LOT of people who had to get ready for the party. Then finally we were ready to go. 

My first impression when we got to the place was WOW, because it was extremly beautiful. We paid 100 Soles, which is about 25 Euros, for this dinner, so I knew it was going to be a magical night, and it sure turned out to be. As soon as we stepped inside, there was already a waiter waiting to give us a glass of pisco sour ( speciality of Peru). I sat at a table with some of my friends, some people from Trujillo and the president of AFS Lima. We were on the upper deck, so we had a perfect view of the little ponf and the orchestra and the person with the microphone. I was told that I was going to perform with a guitar, but then Nancy said, there was no guitar there, and that I should pick a song and the orchestra would accompany me. I had to think fast, so I just said I would sing " My heart will go on" from Celine Dion. I was really nervous, because I didn't know in what key the song was and how many times to sing the chorus and all that lind of stuff and there was no time left to practice, so when they announced my name, I was a little nervous. There were like 200-300 people there. The music started and I sang, and it was incredible, like seriously amazing ( and I don't mean my singing, but the feeling i had when I was singing ) I was standing there in front of a little pond with a pretty dress that I had borrowed from my sister, and all the people were staring at me. I think there wasn't a single person talking and one thing I always wanted to know is what musicians think while they are performing, so I'll tell you my crazy thoughts while I was singing: ok, here we go,.....every night in my dreams,...mhm,....the music is pretty,.....I feel you,..... hey, I can see my friends, mm, just keep singing,.....once more, you open the door,...wow this is really fun,.......near far, wherever you are,.....hey, look at them all, they're staring at me, did I sing that part correctly?,.....love can touch us one time,......( my friends Lisaand Steve gave me the thumbs up)they are such good friends, gosh I love them,.....my heart will go on and on,..........(applaus) I LOVE PERU!!!!!!!!

After that we celebrated and I was really happy. I felt like in a movie, because everything was so unreal. There were waiters standing around waiting to be called and given "an order" and when they were holding a tray with drinks you could just go and take as many as you wanted to, and when you got up and there was a waiter close to you he would pull the chair back for you and everyting was just really awesome!! Daniel from Austria, from Trujillo was there too and we talked a little and then everybody danced  =)  I can't remember at what time we left, but all I know is that this "50 years of AFS PERU"-party, was the best party I've ever been to. 

Changing family

On Thursay, the 30th I packed my bags and was moved to another family, because my mom is going to Lima for 15 days, because she has a tumor in her neck and has to get an operation in January. Charo and Edu are going to stay with their grandparents. Two AFS volunteers brought me to the family, which lives really far from my house and school. I have a mom and dad, who are both doctors, but my mom works at home, a 28-year-old sister called Ana-Sofia, whom I share a room with and a 17-year-old brother called Miguel. They are all really nice!!
On Friday in the evening we went to a Halloween party with some of the AFS people. My sister didn't get a ticket, because they were sold out, so I went with my friends. I dressed up as a crazy girl,....but I don't really have to dress up for that, I'm crazy as it is =) I wore a short blue dress, black shorts, black tights and Converse, it looked awesome and crazy =)
Yesterday my family took me out to eat to a place where they play Peruvian music and dance typical dances, it was really nice and the food was delicious!! Then in the evening I went with Miguel to the movies. Both his and my friends didn't come, so we went to visit his cousins and then they went with us to see "High School Musical 3" and then we hung out and talked and stuff.

I have some pictures, I'll try to transfer them to the PC tomorrow!!

Newest update on life

Lots of kids from our school performer in the theater on Thursady. The costumes were awesome, and so were the actors. Even the little ones, like 3-year-olds performed. =) The theater was in the evening, so we had the next day off.
After that I went to my friends house, and then we went to my friend Gianmarco's birthday party.

It was really fun!

Then on Saturday my friend Lisa (from Germany), her friends and I went to a thing called "almuerzo de ingeneria", which was hosted by the university. There are people of all ages there, and you basically just stand around, talk and meet new people,...and I met lots of new people, plus almost all the AFS kids were there =)

Then one time 2 of my friend came over to talk, play the guitar, sing and act like niños on the playground =)

to be continued,...my brother is kicking me off the computer, AGAIN!!....=)