Life and Friends and Stuff

One weekend we all went to eat at a club,...it was nice =)

Another weekend we stayed at home and cooked, ourselves. My cousin from Lima is here, and she helped us. Her names Melissa, or Meli, she's 20, really small and really cute. I speak only Spanish with her.

The food we cooked was delicious!! =)

That same weekend I went to the festival of gimanstics in colegio Santa Ana with my friend Pierina, her cousin Daniela (really nice) and some of her friends. It was awesome. Schools from all over Peru and even a school from Ecuador participated. We talked, watched the performances and had a great time. I went home in a secure taxi with Sofia. She stayed at my house for a while and then her dad got her. It was fun!!

Meli likes to put make-up on people, so one day she put A LOT on me.

One day after school, in the afternoon, two of my best friends AnaLu and Daniela came to my house to work on a presentation for Comunicacion. At first we did, and we finished it, but then we played the guitar and sang, and took lots of crazy pictures. I love them, they are awesome!!

Colan - Class trip to the beach

We got up early on Sunday, mom took me to the store to buy some water ( a huge bottle ) and then to the bus stop, where the others were already waiting in line. We had to wait for a really long time and then finally we got on the bus. I sat next to my friend Lisley and AnaLu sat next to Gianmarco (picture). Unfortunately Daniela couldn't come,...but we still had lots of fun. The busride was about an hour, then we got off and everyone squeezed into a combi (a minibus). And when i say squeezed I really mean it!! We were 21 students+4 teachers+ the driver in one small bus, so believe me when i tell you that it was cr owded!!! We drove for about 15 minutes, and when we got out, everyone was sticky and hot.

We put our stuff our rooms, which were really nice, and then we went to the beach. We walked bare foot in the water for a really long time and it was awesome and so beautiful!!! Then we sat down to eat lunch,...I hadn't brought any, so I just layed in the sand and enjoyed it =) Then I went into the water,...well up to my knees, with my friend,...I splahed him a little and he splahed me a lot (so that I was soaked), so I ran after him and fell on my knees in the sand. My wound, that had just started to heal, was covered with blood, and it was running down my left and into the sand, which looked really disgusting. My friend didn't know what to do to stop the bleeding, so he took his white shirt and whiped up the blood with it. Then he tied his shirt around my knee,....it was quite funny =)

When we got back to our rooms, we changed into our bathing suits and jumped into the cold pool. We splashed around, played various games and it was really fun. After that we just sat around in the hamocks and talked. Then it got really windy and cold, so almost everyone put on long pants and a sweater and we watched an interview of a guy, who was a drug addict for many years. Then we sat in a circle and discussed the video. Everybody had gotten the warm blankets from their rooms and so there were like 2-4 people to on blanket and it looked really funny =) I would have taken a picture but it was freezing cold and I didn't wanna take me hands from the warmth of the blanket =) Finally, at 8:15 we ate dinner. I was starving, because I hadn't eaten any lunch. Then we walked down the road, for a long time until we came to what looked like an old fallen apart building, where only the walls were showing. We explored a little and made a fire, and took a lot of picture, which was FUN(NY)! =)

We walked back spread out. There was a big group of us further ahead, and like 6 of us+ the 4 teachers walked in the back. Then a pick-up truck came and we jumped onto the back. When we passed the others we laughed at them and we were at the hotel like 10 minutes before they were. It was kind of ironic, because at 4 teachers were at the hotel with us, and the rest of the kids were walking alone =) I played the guitar and sang for a while and then we "went to bed".

The next day we were woken at about 7:30. We ate breakfast, then went to another house, also owned by Gianmarco's parents and did some activities. I had a sunburn in my face and on my back from the day before so I put even more sun creme than usual on my body =)

When we got back, we swam a little, then packed and left =( This time we didn't all go in one minibus, but in three different cars. I sat in the back of a car with my friend Jorge.

Talent show and Disco =)

On friday there was a talent show in my school. Some kids from my class danced to " We go together" from Grease and I sang " I'm Yours". There were many people and it was really fun. Mama and abuela (grandma) couldn´t come, because they went to a fashion show, but Charo, Salva (her BF) and Edu came, and I think they liked it =)

<--Daniela (one of my best friends)

<-- Jorge and Daniela *lol*



<-- Fiorella, Pierina, Liz, AnaLu y Daniela =)

Gianmarco y yo =)

After the show we went home, Charo straightened my hair, did my make up, her friends and her BF came to our house and then our dad took us to queens. Actually you have to be 18 to get in, but they don't ever check ID, and there are 13-year-olds in there. At first it was a little boring, but then my friend AnaLu came and I went with here to a table, where there were other people we knew from our school ( one year older ). We talked, had fun, and danced,....well,...I tried,....they taught me how to dance reggaeton, and a little salsa and it was extremly fun. I danced with AnaLu and some guys from my school. We went home at 2:30, it was fun =)

The next day I was woken up by someone knocking at my door. It was my brother and he said " tus amigos estan aqua", which means " your friends are here". I jumped out of bed, washed, put on some clothes and went downstairs and there they were,...many of them. They had just come from "colegio Montessori" where there was some kind of event, and they were all wearing their school uniform. We talked a little and then I went with them to Montessori and we walked around a little. Almost everybody left and in the end it was just my two friends Jorge, Carlos and me. They walked me home, we talked a little and then they left. I am SO HAPPY to have such awesome friends!!!!!! They are SO NICE!!!

There's a first time for everything!!!

I finally bought a call phone and I also bought a dress to go to the disco =) Last weekend I went to the movies with some of my friend and my brother and we watched a movie called " Viaje al centro de la tierra". It was all Spanish, and I didn't understand everything, but quite a lot =) It was really fun! Here foreigners are called gringos/gringas. Charo was chatting with her friends and one friend asked her " UNA GRINGA VIVE EN TU CASA?" It was really funny, because I was sitting next to Charo......I have another new friend (the same guy), who was in America for a year and speaks really good English. His name is Junior, but I call him JJ, just like everybody in America did. =) I tried typical peruvian food, which was sea food. It was REALLY salty, but ok.

School

My first day of school was exciting! I was really nervous and scared, and even moreso when my mom just told me to go and look for the principal by myself. A teacher helped me find Miss Charito and she introduced me to her daughter Sofia, who is in my class. She's really nice!! She introduced me to everybody else from our class and showed me around. Everybody, absolutly EVERYBODY stares at me in school. The first couple of days were the worst. I couldn't make a move without everybody noticing....it's kind of weird, because in our class in Austria I'm not theg the center of attention, so I'm not used to it. My English teacher came up to me after class and said,....I know I'm your teacher, but I also want to be your friend. If you have a problem you can come talk to me. Everyday in the first week I was at school we played sports. Soccer, basketball, volleyball, everything, I absolutly LOVE me school, although it gets boring from time to time because I don' understand some things, and I can't write tests or do homework yet, because my spanish isn't good enough. But I still participate in class and my friends help me a lot. =)
When I told my friend that I want to be a singer they immediately handed me a guitar and demanded me to sing =) I sang a couple of songs and when I looked up at my friends they had tears in their eyes. I guess they really liked it =) Then I played the Star Spangled Banner and one guy seriously started crying an everbofy laughed at him.

Every day I can go to school with either my normal uniform (blouse and skirt) or my sports uniform( blue pants, white shirt, grey polo shirt). I only have one of each, and I wash it a couple times a week, but sometimes it isn't dry in the morning,...so one time, in the morning when I checked my pants and they were still really wet, my mom put them in the microwave, took them out and put them back in. She did this about 6 times and then suprise, suprise, my pants were nice and dry =)

Bienvenido Dani!

The next day, I got up and took my first peruvian shower = COLD!!!! In my house we have hot water, but we have to turn on a boiler or something and wait for a while for it to warm up. =)

I went to the city with my mom and my mom wanted to buy some chicken, so I thought, ok great, we are going to the supermarket, but no. What we did was stop on the side of the road, then a lady holding a living bird came up the car opened the door, and my mom poked the bird to see how good the meat was. I was seriously shocked. We didn't buy the bird, and as I didn't know the word for bird in spanish, I said " La comida vive", which means " the food lives/ is alive", and my mom said" Si, es normal". =) After lunch, Charo and I went to a house and listened to a priest praying for like 20 minutes. Then we sang some holy songs and stuff and it was really weird. Then she showed me the city center and we took a taxi home. Piura reminds me of New York City, because there are SO MANY taxis everywhere, I like it =)

.....................

In Caracas we waited for two hours and then got on the plane to Lima. In the plane, after I had gotten back from the bathroom I suddenly a kind of panick attack. I wasn't feeling so good, because of the airplane food and then my eyes teared up and I couldn't breathe, so I was hyperventilating. But then I calmed down slowly and everything was fine again. The flight to Lima was about three and a half hours and after going through customs and getting our luggage we changed some dollars for soles,...that was exciting =) Then there was an AFS person waiting for us. He spoke German, but there were two other ladys( one from Trujillo, and one from Piura) who onlz spoke spanish. They brought us to a car and the car brought us to a type of school or something, where we stayed for the next two days. Diddi and I shared a room. The rooms looked like prison cells: there were two beds, a sink and eveyone got a towel, some soap and a role of toilet paper. Then I took a shoed and went to bed....we were really tired.

The next day we got up, ate breakfast and met lots of new people from all over the world. We found out that there were about 20 people from Belgium, 10 from Germany, 2 from Switzerland, 4 from Austria, 4 from Denmark, 3 from France, 1 from New Zealand and 1 from Canada. There was noone from the US or China, but we found out later that there were supposed to be 3 people from China, but they had a problem with their visa, and were going to come to Peru later. I made lots of friend, like Jessie from Switzerland, who spoke perfect German and Miriam from New Zealand, who is really crazy, just like me =) We mostly just hung out and relaxed, because there was noone from AFS there. Noone to tell us what to do,...there was just us,..the kids in Peru from other countries.

The next day, after breakfast an AFS volunteer showed up and we had and introduction in English. Then we got split into groups and a Peruvian talked about Peru in English. He said that Peruvian don't care about being skinny, as long as they can eat, they are happy and if they wanna make you happy, they give you food =) Then we got split into even smaller groups and had to perform certain skits. The rest of the day Miriam and I played cards, and we made a guy from Denmark and Miriam read out German words that I wrote down...that was fun =) Some people had already left for their towns. We ate dinner, got our stuff and got into minivans. The minivans took us to a busstation, we checked in our luggage, and got on the bus. We were on the second floor. It left Lima at 21:30 and we ate dinner on the bus. I couldn't really sleep, although the seats were really comfortable. We were in Chiclayo at 9:45. Diddi, Miriam and some other AFSlers left us and then we continued and were in Piura at 12:30. It was a 15 hours bus ride, I slept about 2 hours and I was tired.

I got off the bus and there was Rosario holding a huge sign that said " Bienvenida Dani". I spoke English with her....then her mom came and she only speaks Sanish, so whenever I didn't understand something Rosario ( a.k.a. Charo ) translated for me. At home they showed me the house and my room+bathroom ( so awesome!! ) and then we got Eduardo ( a.k.a Edu ) from school and went to a Chinese-Peruvian restaurant. It was good. We went back to the house, chillaxed and at 11 o'clock in the evening Charo's dad came home. He's really nice! We talked a little and then I went to bed ( SOOO TIRED....)

Diddi and Jessie (Switzerland)

Dani and Dani =)