Valentine's Day in Peru

Valentine’s Day in Peru is probably up there in my top three all times Valentine’s days…possibly top 2 (Ok, so I can’t remember any SUPER great Valentine’s days, but I like to think that I’ve had good experiences with this lovely holiday).

Here’s how it happened:

The morning started beautifully. I got mucho amounts of laundry done and hung out, I did Ab Ripper X and I took a cold shower. So Far so Good!

Also, we got two sets of flowers :) Perfect!

Almost no kids showed up today.. maybe like 40 total, which is a lot less than usual. We made them each Valentine’s with really yummy suckers. Brit took the boys to go play futbol and a lot of the girls ended up going with them. Abby and I were left with just one little girl.

I was pretty tired, so I came upstairs, did some blogging and sacked out for a good 20 or so minutes. When I woke up, it was time to go to into Cajamarca. We had with us Alecksi and Ricardo and were going to meet up with Robert, Jorge and Daniel at the movie  theater in the Mall.

We watched a movie called Los Illusianauts. It was Peruvian made and only in Spanish (no subtitles). Even though I didn’t catch all of the dialogue, I know for a fact that it is a movie I will never have the desire to see again. Pretty much it was a cartoon about a boy with deadly flatulence and his friends. Super gross.

Our Movie theater snacks: We go into the Peruvian store and come out with all things American...lame

After the movies we walked over to Capilla Aueropuerto and met some of Ricardo’s family. We waited there until it was time to walk over to the Capilla Pueblo Libre for our first Peruvain YSA dance.

While waiting for the dance we delivered our Valentines to our friends (we gave them homemade chocolate chip cookies!) We also told them all about American Dancing customs….like how you dance in a big circle to the fast songs as opposed to with one partner and you know…just the other basic American customs: Dancing while combing our hair with forks, dancing on our knees at REALLY elegant dances,(girls wear knee length dresses to these dances, and boys cut off their tux pants at the knees) and the really cool kids dance without shoes. We are so bad.

And the dance began! With an opening prayer, spiritual thought and a hymn.

Latin music, Reggatone, Brasilian Music, Columbian Music and a bit of unedited “I Want to Be a Billionaire..” American music.

It was SO much fun! We pretty much got paired up with one partner for most of the night and they taught us the ways of latin dancing..Salsa, Merengue etc.  I asked my partmer where he learned and he said that pretty much everyone is born just knowing, “It’s in my latin blood”. And that’s when I got jealous because this girl has not an ounce of latin blood and even less rhythm so dancing does not come easily for me!

But our friends were more than willing to teach us and help us learn. The last hour of the dance is called “Hora Loca” and it started with confetti being thrown in our faces, balloons and streamers being thrown and an hour of upbeat music where you aren’t allowed to sit down!

While we dance, people come around offering you small treats on silver platters and if you sit down, you are lazy. Towards the end of the dance, the DJ started playing a slew of popular American music. We of course were rocking out to these songs and singing them at the top of our lungs. The DJ thought it was super hilarious to blast the music and then turn the volume off so that it was just us singing. He did that multiple times. While we were dancing to this English stuff I looked around and found that we were the ONLY ones on the dance floor. Everyone else was sitting and just watching us…laughing of course J But we’re used to that and continued with our interpretive/crazy dancing.

Oh it was sooo fun! We took lots of videos, but alas, they would take forever to upload here, so if you’re curious, find me when I get home and I will show you Stake Dances, Peruvian style.

Also, there is a really formal YSA dance next week…it’s a big deal, and translated into English it’s called Prom!!! And it just so happens that I got asked to it during this dance! At first I didn’t really realize what was going on, but it looks like I’ve got myself a date to the fancy dance!

We came home that night exhausted but happy. It’s how we’ve been ending most of our days recently. I think it means that they day was a grand success!

Hope yours was too!

-Elia

I Shall Never Complain Again

The following is a list of things that I never thought twice about having my whole life. And now that I'm doing without, I have vowed to never take them for granted again.

Washer and Dryer- Have you ever tried to dry your clothes outside in a humid place where it rains EVERY SINGLE DAY? It’s pretty difficult, because your clothes never truly get dry, and they never truly smell the same ever again. It’s unfortunate.  Also, washing clothes in the sink was fun for the first… ohhh 12 or so articles of clothing. Try ringing out a pair of jeans. Followed by two jackets, a blanket and 6 BYU-Idaho T-shirts. It’s a work out.

Clean water- 

Making top ramen? Hot Cocoa? Soup? Brushing your teeth? Anything that you “Just add water” to? No big deal in the States. Big deal in Peru. The water isn’t clean and must be boiled before consumption. This was also kind of fun at the beginning, now it’s kind of a nuisance.

Children who speak the same language as you- 

Disciplining children is hard enough as it is. Try disciplining a child in a language you don’t really know. Even if you do find the right words to say, the child is going to say something back and while you’re frantically flipping through your Spanish/English dictionary trying to figure out what they just said, the child has already fled the scene of the crime and is beating up some other kid. Ooof. Help.

How do I get them off of me?!!?

Hot Showers- Last Friday Brittany went on an intense run uphill in the sunshine and finished it off with P90 Ab RipperX. I thought to myself, “ok I am dirty, I am sweaty, my blood is pumping, I’m warm, this is a perfect time to hop in the shower!” So I do, as soon as Tony said that we were done with our 335^th ab exercise, I bolted for the showers thinking that the ICE COLD water wouldn’t phase me as much. False.  I jumped in full force and the breath was literally knocked out of me. It took me a second to realize that the reason I couldn’t breathe was because I had sent my body into shock. Not fun, not fun. Ohhh what I wouldn’t give for the chance to sit in an oversized bathtub filled with scalding water and bubbles for several hours.

 Breathing- Have I ever mentioned that I am living at 9022 ft above sea level? That’s pretty high.. it doubles Rexburg’s altitude.  For the first two weeks, it was kind of hard to breathe…especially when walking up hill or up the stairs. I also got super light headed every single time I stood up.  I still do every once in a while, but it’s not nearly as bad.

Those are just a few that were on my mind today. I definitely have a new found appreciation for MANY things that I have taken for granted for years and years. To think.. just a few months ago, I thought it was such a pain to have to carry all my laundry down the hall to my apartment complexes' laundry room. Or when I complained about it being hard to run in Rexburg because of the altitude. My how things have changed.

-Elia

Once My Pet, Now On My Plate

Have I ever mentioned that Hannah (My little sister) got two sweet little guinea pigs for Christmas? They have names. They have personalities. I loved them before I left them to come to Peru.

Have I also ever mentioned that Peruvians are famous for eating these little rodents?

 Confession: I ate a guinea pig today! Even Bigger Confession: I liked it!

 That’s right. I ate Cuy Frito or Fried Guinea Pig. There wasn’t a whole lot of meat on there and it wasn’t amazing, but it was just fun to experience something crazy. Their little feet and claws were still perfectly in tact and some still had the heads on. I’m not sure if we were supposed to eat the skin or not… so at first I did… and I ate quite a bit of it. Then I realized that none of the natives around me had eaten theirs and then I felt silly. Whoops!

Mis Abuelos

My dear grandparents drove down to Overton today to come say goodbye before I venture out to Peru and ended up spending the day with us. It was so fun to have them!
We even got them in on Sunday Night Sushi! Although Grandma insisted that she eat it with a fork :)
(Also, I said the blessing over the food in Spanish, wahooo!)



Well luckily for me, Grandma and Grandpa served a mission in Peru about 10 or so years ago. So they had all sorts of good advice for me concerning what to do and what not to do. I got out my pen and paper and took the following notes:

Do's

• Wash absolutely everything in Clorox water before you eat it
• Eggs, bananas, cherries everything!
•  Order bottled water when you go to a restaurant, or they'll bring you tap. 
• "Agua purificana por favor!"
• Keep a pocket full of change to flip at the beggars so they don't continue to pester you
• Eat the cherries
• Fall in love with the sweetest people ever (not romantically of course), they have a great love for the Peruvian people
• Get used to being dirty and around dirty people
• Learn to love it
• Ask the Bishop for his phone number, or get some sort of contact that you can have readily available
• I figure that could be good if ever we needed a Priesthood blessing too!

Don't

• Eat ceviche
• I love this stuff and would have scarffed it up at first sight, so I'm glad they warned me
• Eat the strawberries, even the gorgeous ones the size of a softball that seem to beckon at you to eat them
• I'm also glad they warned me of this one, cause I would have been all over that! You can't soak strawberries in Clorox water because they are so porous... so eating them is out of the question
• Go anywhere alone
• Check
• Accidently purchase carbonated bottled water
• They're right next to each other at the store and the carbonated stuff is awful!
• Eat any lettuce or salad or anything raw for that matter
• Brush your teeth with the tap water. 
• Tap water should never get passed your lips, for anything!
•  Wear jewelry, watches or anything that you value while out and about
• You might not come home with it
• Say "No Habla Espanol"
• Espanol offencds them, say Castellano 

Pretty good stuff eh? Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! Feel free to add to the list as you remember more stuff!

La Musica Aydame... Un Poco :)

To kind of sort of help me get better with Spanish, I listen to my music and try and translate it in my head as best I can. I usually have to figure out how to say a certain phrase in a super round about way, and sometimes I just have no idea.

Well, there was one song that has been stuck in my head all week. I decided to type up my best translation of it and then Google Translate it to see just how off  I was.

For those of you who speak Spanish, I'll write what my translation of it was and then for those of you who don't speak Spanish, I'll write what Google translate told me was the translation of what I had written.I'll admit, it's not pretty, but see if you can figure out what song it is from either set :) Good luck.

My translation:

Oigo, que tu estas Siéntense sur
Que tu encontras una nina y eres casarse ahora.
Oigo que , que tu quieres es verdad
Pues, ella te da cosas yo no doy a ti.

Viejo amigo, Por que estas muy reservado?
No es como tu a turno de los luces.

No me gusta vengo en el azul, tu no me quieres
Pero no pude siéntense, yo no pude  oscur lo
Yo quiero tu ver mi cara y que tu remembro\
Que para mi, no es el fin



No es importanta, me encontro alquien como tu.
Quiero nada, pero el mejor para tu tambien
No me olvidas porfavor, porfavor porfavor
Yo remembre tu dices
Aveces es bien en amor, pero aveces lo duele tampoco.

What Google Translate told me I said:

I hear that you're Sit down south
You found a girl and you're married now.
I hear that you want is truth
Well, she gives you things I do not give to you.

Old friend, for you are too quiet?
It's not like you to turn of the lights.

I hate to come in blue, you do not love me
But I could not sit, I could not darkness
I want you to see my face and your remembrance
That to me is not the end

It is not important, I found someone like you.
I want nothing but the best for you too
Please do not forget me, please please
I remembrance you say

Sometimes it is well in love, but sometimes it hurts either.


Oh boy, I've got a lot of work to do :) This is what I'll base my Spanish progression off of. In three months, I will try and translate it again and we'll see how I've improved. I'm determined to learn this language!

Demasiado Dinero??

Who doesn't dream of traveling the world during at least one point in their lives?

Spring 2011 BYU-I Culture Night

It was actually never really a passion or desire of mine until I attended a free event at BYU-Idaho called culture night. It gave me a glimpse at the different cultures all around the world and I knew at that moment that I wanted the opportunity to experience a different culture at least once in my life.

Another factor that increased my desire to travel was when my roommate and dear friend Keri Rich went and toured through Europe. She came back knowing all sorts of neat things. I was in awe of how cultured she had become. So I can definitely see why people dream of traveling. After making the preparations for it, I can also definitely see why people never get around to it. Traveling can get pretty pricey!

Just because I'm curious about how much I've spent on this adventure thus far (and in case you are ever planning on doing something like this) I want to compile all the expenses here and get a guesstimate of about how much I've spent so far.

• $600- Living Expenses 
• The organization I am going through requires $200 a month to cover living expenses and one meal. I will be there for three months

• $145-Passport

• $1,286- Flight
•  Round Trip: Las Vegas->Miami->Lima, Peru... and back

• $279- Shots 
• Yellow Fever, Typhoid and Dr.'s visit for Malaria prescription
• $30- Baggage 
• We get one checked bag and a carry-on free, but I have all sorts of Humanitarian supplies that I'm stuffing into a second check-in bag! 

Grand Total:  Drum Roll Please.....                                                                   
$2340

Those are just some of the basic/necessary expenses thus far. There are lots of little things that you don't really think about, not to mention the money that will actually be spent during my time in Peru.

Just to name a few of the optional expenses I purchased for Peru (and just because I needed them):

$8 Set of Small Scriptures
(I'd had my old ones for the past 13 years and they were falling apart, I'm sooo happy with my new quad, only $8 at the Lost and Found Sale!)

The new ones are on the right. I've always wanted a set of small snap ones1

 $50 Chaco's
Regularly $100, but stinking amazing Abigail got them for me 1/2 at 5am on a Black Friday sale!

For the rugged Peruvian terrain... and sweet Chaco tan lines

$165 Brand New Mini-Lap Top
My other computer broke, so I was in need of a new one, and my 10.1 inch Acer is perfect for travel...and blogging!

Mine is the red one in the front.

Now, seeing the expense, am I regretting my decision?

Not one bit!

$2500ish for complete culture immersion in a brand new city, country and continent for 3 months while doing Humanitarian work and learning Spanish??
Priceless.

One more week and we'll be in Peru! I can't wait!

Con Amor, Noelle