coffe and kittens :)

I am SOOOOO happy right now! Why? Because my cat had her kittens at 2 in the morning and I get to keep one!!!!!! I named my little kitten Boo for a few reasons, one, I like the name and think that it is cute, two, because she is black with splotches of orange, just like Halloween. The two babies are so cute, I am so happy that I get to be here to experience that, I just wish that it was not at 2 in the morning.

Anyways, as you all know, I am in a new host family and that I love them! Well, my dailey life has changed quite a bit now. I wake up every morning and go up to the roof to wash my face. Then I get ready for school, I always drink coffe in the morning. Then I am off to school in the taxi with my two sisters and my two cousins. School is the same as alwasy. but after I take a taxi home where we just chil and watch TV and do homework.

My house is very different too. I do not have to go outside to get upstairs or to go to the bathroom anymore, it is much more like the houses in the USA.

My new family also took me to the most beautiful`park in all of Huancayo, La parque de Identidad. It is all a bunch of stones that cover everything, with little houses and winding paths, it is very beautiful and very peaceful, i wish that I could have stayed there forever. I have wanted to go to that park since my first day here.

Chua (bye)

-Lindsey

New host family

As some of you may or may not know, I was having some problems with my old host family, so after about aa month of people telling me that I should change families, I finally did. The day that my best friend Alicia knew for sure that I was changing, she asked her parents if I could live with them. And the best part is, they said yes. So I decided to change on Tueday and I was in her house on Friday!
I now with my mom, dad (who is my language teacher, how great is that!), my cousin who is four, my aunt, and my two sisters, Alicia who is 15 and Leo who is 13. I share a room with Alicia and Leo, which I love cause we can just talk all night. In the past few days, my spanish has gotten so much better and I am about 10000000x happier.
On saturday I went with Leo on a trip for AFS and we had so much fun, it was such a great way to get to know her. And on Friday my family took me shopping to buy things for the room. And on sunday they took me to buy a whole new dresser for all of my stuff, A WHOLE NEW DRESSER! I thought that was really nice!
We also wash all of our clothes m¡by hand here, wich is really really fun. So on Sunday morning, we were out in the morning for about 2 hours washing our clothes, well I was wearing a razor back shirt, and was in the sun. My one friend now calls me Miss Lobster 2009, because I have the worstsunburn of my entire life. Luckily I had on a hat so, my face is ok, utmy back is truely horrible, so much pain. Sleeping is very difficult :)
But my family is taking good care of me and doing everything that they possibly can to keep the pain down, cause it hurts A LOT, all the time. I have learned my lesson.

So yes, I am much happpier and I really think that changing families was my best decision so far.

QUE DIFFERENTE!!!

In Peru, everything is different then in the USA. And I know that I have said that everything is different, but I have not explained how. So now I am going to make a huge long list of everything that is different....

* People here greet each other with a kiss when they say hello and when they say goodbye.
* Public transportation is the main way to get around, barely anyone owns a car.
* After you go inside the fron door of a house, you are usually still outside and are not inside untill you enter a room. Every house has parts out side ( my "backyard" is in the middle of my house)
* The schools here are completely enclosed by walls.
* The only trees are in the parks
* There are stray dogs EVERYWHERE
*In resturants you do not pay at the table, you get a bill and bring it up to the front register to pay.
* Students never change classrooms, it is the teachers that change.
* The only type of paper used in notebooks is graph paper.
*Most shops here are just one little room about 15 by 15 ft sometimes less.
* Most of the houses have tiny little doors that you have to duck to get into
* Kids that are poor can go into resturants and go table to table begging for money.
*There are poor people on every street corner.
* Guys here love to whistle at girls (expecially if they are blond)
* Everyone knows how to prepare rice.
* We eat rice with almost every meal.
* We drink some type of hot water with every meal.
* We do not eat lunch in school
* Breakfast is usually bread
* Every school has a uniform, even the public ones
* The dial tone for telephones is one long beep


There are many more, so I will post another list later with more detail, but right now I have to go to my dance practice :)

XOXOXOXO
Lindsey