Moovin' and a Groovin'

Soo, have been a little late on a post, but here I am :)

Since my last post, the basic rundown of my life goes like this:
1. I've taught a billion classes
2. did awesome in my Diploma class,
3. decided to start teaching myself many things (economics, calculus, better Spanish grammar and how to make a webpage...why...good question, but will be explained later)
4. got pretty sick and had my stomach swell to practically pregnant sized proportions (frightening, but went down after I went to a clinic, yay!)
5. started getting into ultimate frisbee (and meeting some pretty cool expats)
6. had my parents and little sister visit for a week and FINALLY
7. move from Alvaro and my apartment back into his parents house (long story, also explained later).

Well, where to begin, I suppose with the move. Alvaro's father is a Peruvian diplomat, and, as such, he gets moved around every couple of years. He has been due for his last salida (assignment out of country) for a while, and we'd heard they would be assigning soon, but didn't know quite when. About 2 months ago he got a call saying that he would be assigned to the consulate in Los Angeles. SWEET! Basically, the following things happen due to this new information: his parents move to Los Angeles (therefore Alvaro and I were asked to move in as nobody would be in the house...free rent!) AND, equally as important, as a dependent Alvaro gets temporary residency to the US. Being that I was planning to move to the US in about a year (hopefully after being accepted to some sort of Master's program), this makes Alvaro coming to visit significantly easier as he will have the visa. Also, being from California, this makes visiting Alvaro (if he stays with his parents in the US at some point) and my family SIGNIFICANTLY easier as they will now not only be in the same hemisphere, but the same country, same state, and same city! So lucky and made me super happy.

Ultimately we had to move out of our apartment which was sad, but it was a nice experience and, c'mon, how can I say no to free rent?

Next on the list, hmm, okay, frisbee. So there's this cool website called ExPatPeru (Ex-Patriots are people who live outside of their homeland, basically as residents of a foreign country) that has updates about events, jobs, housing, and other needs related to ExPat's interests. I check for jobs and events on occasion, and saw something about ultimate frisbee and though "awesome times, I'm on it, yo". I see it's at the American School (Roosevelt) here, so I show up one day and get into the game going on. While I certainly wasn't "on my A game", I've been improving and even got to play at the American Embassy once (SOOO INTENSE, you'd never believe how hardcore 30-50 year olds can play, for reals. I hope I'm that fit in 20 years). Basically, while never intending to mingle with pure gringos during my time here in Lima, it's a cool group of folks and nice to meet people in an athletic setting.

Now, why I am I trying to teach myself Calculus? The one thing I swore to avoid for all eternity? Well, in researching Public Policy programs, I realized that having a background in Calc and Econ will help me significantly as most require you to take them as part of the program. So, not wanting to get left in the dark, I've collected a series of books from the Bayona family and some my family bought me and planned out my self-teach plan for both Calc and Econ. Now, on the end of Spanish grammar and how to make a web page, those, well, are for pure pleasure and personal development. As many of you know, I'm totally technologically inept and want to improve my life-skills as all those young people are so into the techie stuff, I need to keep up with the times!

Now, I've got to run, but I will add my post about my parents and sister's visit when I return from some meetings. ooh, ooh, that's right I'm also volunteering at this sweet place called South American Explorers and we're working on developing a book about Sustainable Travel and responsible volunteering in Peru, so yeah, more about that later. Love!

Okay, I have returned, soo, my family (-Stephen's) visit:
My family was here for a week to visit me in Lima. It was fabulous, extremely busy and tiring, but lots of fun. Aside from the obvious highlights of fun family banter and eating amazingly delicious peruvian goodies (and the consequent result of my gaining far too much weight...), we got to do some touristing around Lima, chill in the hotel, but the semi-stressful part for me was the meeting of the, for lack of a better term, "in-laws". Honestly, all went well, the first day was, as to be expected, a tad awkward and formal, but all in all I think that my parents and Alvaro's parents got along well and that happy times were had by all. yay. The last night was memorable because Lindsey, Alvaro and I went out. Now, I don't go out much, and my sister obviously doesn't because in the US 15 is far to young to go out to smoke filled, alcoholicy type bars and clubs. But, in Lima, age is just a concept and she (after adjusting a few wardrobe issues) hit the town, as they say. Went to a hipstery spot first and came to the conclusion that hipsters are universal in their sense of style, taste in music and dancing abilities (or lack there of depending on how you look at it). We kicked it there for a while, then made our way to a different spot that had a more club-like atmosphere for some dance-age. At about 2:30am my old ass was tired and we took Lindsey back to the hotel before going home. The last day was super relaxed and laden with pedicures, gift shopping and movie watching :) It was nice to have some family time for a little while.

Now, about my volunteering. The place I have been working with is called South American Explorers. It's fairly well known and has 4 offices in South America, one being in Lima. I decided to start looking for some internships in order to get some experience working with NGO's. This one caught my eye, particularly because it offers more than a simple tourist package, but helps people get the information they need to be well informed travellers, not just stomp through a place without having the slightest sense of cultural norms. After a couple meetings, a group of 4 of us (one being the director) are working on putting together a book about sustainable and responsible travel. It's likely going to be a year-long project as we're trying to do extensive background research on NGO's that are dedicated, organized and accessible and have a strong program developed that can take volunteers. Between the 4 of us we can have developed different positions, if you will, and are hoping to tackle it step by step. Our biggest concern is funding as, in order to approve of an org, we decided we need to visit them and, as we are volunteering and don't have a ton of personal funds, we need to find a way to fund the visits to check out our potential orgs. Anyways, I'm excited about working on the project and will keep ya'll updated on how it turns out.

Well, now that this blog has reached epic proportions, I think I shall say farewell for now. Love from afar, keep in touch and come visit Lima!!!