Wedding Crashers

The bus we bought!

Hugo and I

Look closely, we spell out Peru!!!

Flavia <3 <3 <3

Family! :)

We decided to go to church tonight rather than Sunday morning since the bus leaves for Ica tomorrow morning at 7:30 A.M. We got to the church and I noticed the wedding party standing outside. I figured the ceremony had just finished and they were waiting for their transportation to the reception. However, when I actually looked inside the church I noticed that all the people were elegantly dressed which could only mean one thing, the wedding was yet to begin. Being a “gringa” already makes me stick out like a sore thumb. The other week I went to a friend’s apartment building to go swimming. I was planning on calling her when I got there and she was going to come and let me in. However, when the security guard saw I was a “gringa” he didn’t even have to ask why I was there. There are seven floors to this apartment building and out of the hundreds of people that live there he knew exactly what room I was looking for. But tonight, being a “gringa” at a wedding in which we had no clue who the people were wasn’t enough for us. What made us stick out even more at church was definitely our attire. Myself and the two other Nebraskans that went to church tonight were unaware that we would actually be attending a wedding. Therefore, we simply were dressed in jeans and a nice top. I don’t know if you recall my blog from a couple weeks ago, but when people have a wedding here they go all out! Let’s just say I can’t wait for the bride and groom to watch the video of their wedding and see the three gringos sitting in the front row!

Besides this little incident, I had an AWESOME week! This week the college I go to decided to try something new!!! They set up a Spanish conversation table for us every day after our class to help us practice! It was really beneficial to just be able to have someone correct and to keep acquiring new vocabulary! In addition to this, I met some really awesome people this week! The Peruvians that are donating their time to help us learn are all super duper nice!

I was looking back on my blogs this week and noticed that I don’t write a lot about my classes. I haven’t even actually blogged about my Spanish Literature class yet! Although it might seem like I have been on vacation for the past two months, I actually do attend class Monday-Thursday! Well…I am actually learning a lot in my Peruvian Literature class. Before I came here I remember thinking that I was going to hate this class! Although three hours can be a little much sometimes, I actually find this class interesting. Almost every week our teacher lectures to us about a famous Peruvian author and then our homework is to read an excerpt from one of his/her novels. I never new literature could be so complex! Each author has such a distinct style of writing! For example, Alfredo Bryce Echenique writes about the high social class (I know that is not correct English grammar but I can’t think of how to say it in English!) from Peru. However, even though these people have a lot of money they are always unhappy. On the other hand, Oswaldo Reynoso writes about the low social class, specifically adolescents, who are searching for their true identity.

After class on Thursday we tried our luck at soccer again. I actually scored three goals. But before you are too impressed, I should probably let you know that one was for the other team! Opps! Us Nebraskans definitely lack compared to the Peruvians we play with! Nevertheless, it is tons of fun and the Peruvians are really nice about it and don’t go too hard on us!

Friday afternoon we headed out to the beach for a bonfire! It was soooooooooo much fun! We actually bought out the bus (which is not legal). The time it takes to get to this beach in a car is a good 45 minutes. However, in a bus you would at least have to double that because of all the stops it makes! I don’t actually know how it happened; all I know is that I was really confused as to why we weren’t stopping because when we went by the usual stops people would stick their hand out because they wanted on. I finally asked and someone said we had literally bought the bus. When we got to the beach the males decided to jump in the freezing water! While the boys went off to do their thing, us girls decided we would take some pictures! It was really fun trying to spell out different words or trying to get a shot where all of us were in the air jumping! After our little photo session, we playing volleyball, football and threw around the frisbee. Once it got dark it was time to bring out the smores and hotdogs!

I knew today was going to be a great day just based on the fact of how I was woken up! I heard my door crack open and could hear the giggles and little footsteps of Luciano and Flavia. Then I heard them whisper “Mary, tu estas durmiendo?” Luciano and Flavia are definitely my favorite little alarm clocks! After breakfast the family and I headed out to Asia. It’s about an hour and a half away and we just went to this HUGE and I mean HUGE shopping center. We had fun eating lunch, walking around, and watching Luciano and Coque drive a go-kart!

Tomorrow morning I will be up bright and early at 5:45 A.M. to catch a cab and then a bus to Ica! I think it’s about time I get packing! I’ll be sure to post lots of pictures when I get back!

Thoughts and prayers always,

Mary