Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday......

It has been quite an adventuresome few days. I have waited too long to blog and now I have to play catch up. We´re going to take it one day at a time. Here we go..... buckle up.

THURSDAY- Do you want to meet the dead in the cemetery? 

Just like any other day, I was at Centro Tinku learnin some espanol. I had a break and I ended up talking to another teacher about Cusco. There happened to be a fiesta for the Virgen Mary that day and she talked my teacher into taking a little field trip. There is another girl there that studies at the same as me, but Quechua instead of Spanish, so we packed into a taxi and headed over to the party. On the way over, my teacher turns to me and asks me if I want to meet the dead in the cemetery. Of course as any other person would say, I enthusiastically said yes! The fiesta was right next to the cemetary, so they took us on a little tour. When we got there they were having mass outside together for the Virgen Mary in these bright colorful costumes. Instead of joining, we went into the building. It was beautiful. I later learned that the Spaniards built it for a jail. Hah. That´s not too bad, I wouldn´t mind living there. I wonder if anyone committed a crime just to live there? After the jail, we went to the cemetery to meet the dead. I never really thought about how different cultures would have different ways of burying their dead, well in this case it´s not really burying. (see pictures) It was really strange. There was a band singing in the cemetery. Peruvians like to celebrate life, rather than mourn. After the cemetery, we adventured to the food. One of the famous dishes is Peru is this plate full of different types of meat, from all the regions in Peru. I had been planning on trying it, but quickly changed my mind. It wasn´t what was in it (cuy: guinea pig), rather it was how it was prepared. They told me to not eat anything off the streets, so I passed on that one. Maybe I will try it in some restaurant someday..... maybe.

The jail.

For rich families, they have their own plot.

The cemetery. I sat there trying to figure out how you get a body in that small space. Maybe that´s just one of those things everybody wonders about, but you´re not supposed to ask.

FRIDAY- Time for Fiesta Friday

 It was my last day at Centro Tinku. Bittersweet because I´ll miss the people there, but I definitely won´t miss being stuck pounding my head against the table for four hours in a classroom. I come home and Milagros asks me if I want to go to a birthday party for a one year old. I said why not, expecting a little get together with some family where the baby smashes her face into the cake, but boy was I wrong. Picture this: a restaurant (like a nice McDonalds) covered in balloons, balloon arches, balloon animals, balloon flowers, food scattered on every inch of the table, and un paiso (a clown). I happen to detest clowns in the U.S., but this one wasn´t that bad. There must have been 50 people there. Within the first 5 minutes the birthday baby girl ends up crying and has to be taken out for most of the party. I turned to Milagros and asked her if this is kind of production is normal for a baby´s birthday and she told me of course, she´s turning 1! It was a night of dancing, eating, and naturally, more eating. Not only was there a giant cake, but there was treats all over the table, a piñata, and a meal of chicken and french fries at the end. It lasted probably 4 hours. One thing for sure, Peruanos sure know how to party.

Fiesta with Astrid!

SATURDAY- Piquillacta

I was worried. All I knew was that the institute was meeting in front of the hospital somewhere. Too bad I didn´t know anyone. I was determined to find them, so I put on my mormon radar and started searching around the hospital. Luckily, the mormons were spotted. I made friends with the girl that I first talked to, while the other 50 people just stared at me. I´m pretty sure they just thought I was some lost tourist. After the bus ride, I met this guy that had just returned from his mission two days previous from Fresno,CA. He was really excited to talk to me. He said he was having problems with Spanish because he mainly spoke English for two years. We walked around the ruins for two hours. It was amazing! It was built different than other places because they used smaller stones and cement to fill in the extra space. It overlooked a lake, and to the side of the lake were steps going all the way up the mountain. It was truly one of the coolest things I have ever seen. It turns out that I was one of the coolest things that some of the other people in the institute had ever seen too. Several wanted pictures with me, even though I hadn´t even talked to them yet. They´ve probably never seen a girl as tall as me before :) If you ever want to learn a lesson about making new people feel welcome, come down here and learn it from the institute. It was like they all wanted to be my best friend. I don´t think i´ve ever felt so welcome.

They found a new species of animal in Piki. This is rosa and I, she was the first person I talked to.

This was actually a sort of street.

Where´s Waldo?

They thought it was really funny that my wingspan reached all the way across.

SUNDAY- Stick with me we are almost up to date

Sunday wasn´t too much different than the one before, just more people to meet. That night, there was a CES fireside with Elder Oaks. All the YSA met in one chapel to see it via satelite. Let´s just say, that it´s a little different hearing it in Spanish. It was so weird for me because I´m usually there in the building. I kept looking for my friends when they would scan the audience. I tend to forget that everyone else is going on with their life while I´m here in Peru, including BYU. I couldn´t really understand the fireside that well, because there are so many church words I don´t know and the translator was going really fast. I got to talk to a lot of my friends I had made at Piki. They were all trying to talk me into going to multiple days for institute so that I could see everyone. 

MONDAY- San Jose Clinic with the Germans

 I arrived in my white coat and scrubs, really nervous. I was introduced to the doctor once, and never saw him again. It was pretty much what I expected. Not too eventful. My program director told me that I would be in this clinic for two weeks to learn the medical words and procedures and then go to a clinic where they actually need me. There were three other volunteers there. I don´t know how it´s possible, but everyone that I met today, besides the doctors and the nurses, was German. They all speak about 5 different languages, so I could talk with them. I followed the nurse around, helping her move patients, get medication, wash patient´s hair, and run up and down several flights of stairs (there´s seven floors). I guess they don´t really use the elevator, except when moving patients. I´m not too worried about gaining weight anymore. It was enjoyable and I hope I can get into watching a surgery tomorrow.

***Side note: To say that I eat a lot of carbs is an understatement. It´s more than an understatement. I´ll paint you a picture. In the morning, I usually have something with bread, like avacados or eggs. For lunch, there is usually some sort of soup and then rice, potatoes, and chicken. At night, I usually eat bread with some leftovers from lunch. Luckily the girl who is love with carbs came to Peru :)