Getting Settled In

My New Campus!!!!

My host sister Aida and one of her children, Alessia!

 

 

 

Well, it's been 5 days since I arrived here in Lima. This past Monday we had orientation. I was facebook chatting with one of my friends from UNK that is studying here with me here in Lima before orientation and we both agreed that when we saw each other in person we needed to talk Spanish in order to completely immerse ourselves in the language. The first thing words that came out of my mouth when I saw my friend where all in English. Wow, you don't know how refreshing it is to talk in your native language after going so long without it (And by long, I mean 3 days). I have a brand new appreciation for the English language and for a lot of what we do in America. I remember walking around campus at UNK and I would hear the Japanese students or other students that were at UNK studying abroad talking in their native language. I always thought to myself that it definitely wasn't helping them improve their English. You do not even realize how refreshing it is to talk in your native language after going without it for 3 days. And for me, I wasn't even completely without it. My host sister, Aida, speaks very good English but we try to talk as often as we can in Spanish. I need the practice and also her husband and 3 children know very little English and we want to include them in the conversation so we talk as much Spanish as possible although it can be really challenging at times. And I have it good. Just think of all the Japanese students at UNK. At least people here know some English but I cannot think of a single person in Kearney that speaks Japanese besides the exchange students.

Since I last blogged, my host mom, Aida, arrived in Peru from vacationing in Ecuador. She knows no English. I actually think this is great because then I am not even tempted to talk in English. However, as I mentioned above it can be a bit challenging. For example, today we were talking about how the whole dating system works in America. I misunderstood her and thought she told me that in Peru you fall in love first, then date, and then get married. I told her I thought that was odd and tried to explain how it works in America. Unfortunately, I didn't know the word for engaged so I was trying to act out the whole scene. I told her that first you become boyfriend/girlfriend, and then I tried explaining that after awhile you get engaged. I got down on my knee and told her the man asks the woman if she will marry him and puts a ring on her finger. I thought we both understood how everything works in our cultures. Then my host mom's daughter walked in who speaks English and both of us were completed wrong about what we had understood!!!

I had my first class on Monday with the professor here form UNK. He sent us an e-mail today describing two different options we have to do for his class. We can either by an assistant to an English class at UPC helping with activities or we could hold an office hour in which students would come and we would help them with papers they have written or whatever they need. I am really really excited about this. On Tuesday I had my Peruvian Literature class. Peruvian Literature is definitely nothing like English Lit. Our professor had us read what he called a "simple" story about a Peruvian myth. After giving us ample time to read it he began asking us questions about the story. Unfortunately, no one new any of the answers. He then asked us how much of the story we understood and after a brief silence one of my brave classmates raised her hand and said "Nosotros no entendimos nada," (We understood nothing). Luckily, our professor was very nice and helped us a lot. He uses a lot of gestures and does a really good job of explaining what is going on. Today I had my Conversation and Culture class. Our professor is a riot. I wish all of you could come and observe our class. It is the perfect balance of learning new words mixed with laughter and fun. Something I am really looking forward to are all the field trips associated with my classes. In February we will be going to Cusco and touring Macchu Piccu. During my class today we all voted to go see a play one night which I cannot wait for (Lauren I will be sure to fill you in all about this later!) We will also be going to a cometary and another town surrounding Peru!!!

Something I found very humorous that I thought I would share is how everyone here constantly talks about the Peru College Commercial in Nebraska. My host family asked me if I had seen it the day I arrived, my professor asked us about it today in class, and if you get in a taxi and they figure out you are from Nebraska they are bound to ask you if you have seen the commercial. The commercial is actually played on T.V.s here in Peru!!!

I feel like I am beginning to get settled in here. I have more of a schedule and I already feel like my Spanish is rapidly improving!!! I hope all is well for all of you reading this right now!!! Thank you for the many encouraging words and prayers!

Mary