3 weeks =D

I don't feel like I have any amazing stories or any real in depth culture analysis's to share right now. But I feel obligated to write a blog today. I've pretty much just been settling in over the last couple of weeks.

At my home, I've been spending a lot of time with my youngest host sister. She basically never lets me out of her slight. She's been very interested in learning to play cards. I've taught her Go Fish, Old Maid, War, Slap Jack, and Crazy 8's. Unfortunately, she's not the best at following the rules and I'm kinda getting bored of the same childish games. Can anyone recommend any other games to me? I'd be veryy grateful.

I also spend a lot of time talking to my host mom. She's the best at figuring out what I'm trying to say in my pidgin Spanish. After dinner, which is in itself a 30 minute affair, we usually sit around talking for at least 20 more minutes.

Also, I started school on 10th of August. That's going alright.

My classmates are all super nice, which is very good since I'm with them the entire day. Here, the students all stay in one classroom, and the teachers come to us. Our schedule is really confusing to me. We have 10 periods of 40 minutes everyday. However, we usually only have 7 or 8 different classes, since we will occasionally have the same class for two hours in a row, or will have it for one hour in the morning and one later in the day.

As for the classes themselves, they're not so bad. Except that there are about 20 of them. I actually have four different math classes (geometry, trig, arithmetic and mathematical reasoning), two different sciences (biology and physics) and myriad communications (literature, linguistics, etc.) and electives.

The teachers at my school are surprisingly lenient. They don't seem to expect me to do anything. So that's nice. Also, most of them don't care what we all do during class. A lot of girls text or even talk on their cell phones during class. A lot of people also spend most of class writing notes or drawing pictures. Everyone here seems to like to draw/design things/write pretty. Every single girl in my class has the exact same handwriting. Exactly the same. And it is, of course, very neat. And everyone keeps their notebooks perfectly organized. All their notes have perfectly re-drawn diagrams and everything. However, their desks and lockers are generally messy. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am exactly the opposite. I have Horrible handwriting, but am very organized otherwise. So, that'll be fun to get used to.

That's about all I have to say for now. I fixed the comments, so you can leave one without being signed up for blogger. So everyone should do that =D.

Also, everybody should get skype. It's this awesome program that you can download for free that lets you talk, as though on a phone, through the internet. Check it out! And add me: ijacqui

mucho amor,

~ Jacqui

One Week Down

First of all, I need to say happy birthday to my dad. And, while I'm at, also to my Uncle Kurt & Cousin Kurt.

I’ve been in Peru for an entire week now, but it still feels a bit surreal. I’m going to be here for about 45 more weeks, so I’m sure it will sink in sooner or later. It’s sort of hard to believe in here, a bjillion miles (give or take) from home.
Things are pretty different here. Everything is in Spanish, obviously. But there are a fair amount of words in English also. There are some words that are the same, like "Laptop," but even that they say differently (Like “La-Toe,” it took me a while to figure that one out).
So far, I’ve mostly just been taking things easy and getting used to the biggest differences in culture. I’ve meet both sides of my host family’s family and some of my host sisters’ friends. I’ve watched a lot of movies in Spanish with my youngest host sister.
I start school on the 10th of August. I was supposed to start yesterday on the 3rd, but the schools are currently closed because of the H1N1 flu. Apparently, it’s pretty bad in some areas down here, but of course all the students are pretty happy because they get an extra week of vacation.

I feel like I don’t have anything more to say, so I’m going to make a couple of lists.

Top things I love about Peru.
4. The People- everyone I've met has been really nice and accepting of my pidgin Spanish
3. Things are so cheap here- especially food.
2. My host family. They're awesome.
1. Just being here.

Top things I miss about the U.S.
4. Knowing where I am. I have no sense of direction in Lima.
3. Driving. Even being driven around is terrifying in this city.
2. Being able to say exactly what I mean and being clearly understood.
1. All my friends and family

I wish I had some pictures to share, but the only ones I’ve taken so far were at the National Museum of some cool pottery and I haven’t put them on my computer yet.

Spanish Word of the Day:
Monton: Tons of...
- Hay un monton de discotecs en Lima.

Lots of Love,

Jacqui

Party and Flight Information

Somebody gave me this card at my party on Saturday, and I have to say that it pretty much defines my life right now. Everything is going by so fast, but I'm loving every minute of it.

My party on Saturday was awesome. Thank you so much to everyone who came, it means a lot to me. It was so nice to get to see everyone at least once more before I leave.

The day after my party was also exciting. I finally received my flight information! I'll be leaving from Ohare at 8:35 a.m. on Tuesday July 28th. 6 days from when I'm writing this!

I should be packing.
<3 Jacqui

Rotary Summer Conference

Grand Rapids, Michigan. Home of... Well, some interesting things I am sure. But more importantly, it is the site of Rotary's annual Summer Conference for exchange students.
The conference encompasses all of the Central States Rotary Youth Exchangees. The Central States district is made up of Rotary districts in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota and Ontario, Canada. There were about 1,400 people there! About 700 of those were actual exchange students (Outbounds, Inbounds, Rebounds and Rotex), and the rest were parents and Rotary officials.

Here's what we did:
Thursday
My district (6270) arrived after a 6 hour bus ride at around 5. The only planned event we were supposed to go to was a little session in a chapel where some Rotary official went over all the rules a couple of dozen times. Afterwards there was a "DJ and sandwich" party. Yes. There was just music and sandwiches. I found it amusing.

Friday
The best part of the entire schedule was that from 1:00-7:00am we all had "Personal Meditation." I don't know what anyone else was doing during that time, but I for one was sleeping, not meditating. The Opening Ceremonies were held that afternoon. It largely consisted of standing up, sitting back down, clapping and listening to people sing national anthems. A bit after that was the part I was most looking forward to, meeting other Peruvians at the country discussion groups. I was super excited to hear all about Peru and Ecuador (since not many are going to either, they were combined) from Inbounds and Rebounds. I also met the other outbounds! Three (out of five) of us are going to be in the same club, and one is even going to the same school as I am!
After dinner there was a "DJ and Pizza Party." Although that sounded a bit more promising than the sandwich party, I opted to go to the Olympic sized swimming pool with some other people from district 6270.

Saturday
We had more "Personal Meditation" again until 7. We then went to a meeting presented by the travel agency that's supposed to be arranging our flights. Most of us feel asleep, except for the parents who were shouting questions left, right and center. Afterwards, most of us just went back to the dorms to chill until the next thing we technically had to go to, which was a meeting with our "Area Correspondent." Thankfully, that was the last time we had to sit and get talked at.
One of the most exciting events of the weekend was after that, the soccer game. Soccer is pretty popular around the world, so most countries had a decent showing. However, one kinda stood way above the rest- Brazil. So much in fact, that the game is called "Brazil against the World." Guess who won? Brazil. It ended in a shoot-out though, which was reportedly better than the World had done in some time.
After that, a mass of students clustered onto the lawns in front of the dining hall, with the intent of trading pins. Pins are part of the rotary tradition- everyone is expected to find about 200 pins that represent who they are and where they are from. They then trade these pins with other exchangees, and put the pins they receive onto their navy blue rotary blazers. Among my favorite things to receive were: a koala bear keychain from Australia, a blinking brazil heart-shaped flag, a thai doll and a canadaian playing card.
The last major event of the weekend was the Variety Show. There was a lot of typical dancing, singing and the like. My favorite part was the guys who did "glowsticking." I was unaware of this growing fad, but it was pretty cool. They turned off the lights so that basically all you could see were the glowsticks (which were tied to a length of string) swinging about. Hard to describe, but totally awesome.

Sunday
We left at 8 in the morning and almost everyone slept all the way to where we were stopping for lunch. After lunch we took pictures in front of the bus. It was then that it hit most of us that this was going to be our last thing together in the states. It hit the Inbounds hardest of all, since most of them are leaving this week. The rest of the bus ride was full of words of goodbye and good luck.

Vocabulary Lesson of the Day:
Outbound: An exchange student who is about to go somewhere
Inbound: An exchange student who is currently on exchange somewhere
Rebound: An exchange student who has already completed their exchange and is back in their home country
Rotex: The Alumni of the Rotary Youth Exchange. They often help plan events for inbounds in their district.

First Obligatory Ramble

So.
This is going down in History as the first post on my blog. It is a very minor event in history, but it is exciting for me. I've always wanted to be a blogger, and now I am. It really wasn't too difficult to start; I recommend everyone try.