Semana Túristica, examenes y más

Hey everybody! I’m back. I really had a lot to do and due to that I didn’t really had the time to write an update for my blog.

Friday (14/10) classes ended already at 10.30 but don’t ask me why. At night I first went to Uchu with Carlos, Nando, Rina, Marylin and some others and afterwards we went to Toñitos. The music was better than in Magno but the atmosphere was less. So we went to Magno. Time passed by because we really had a lot of fun. In the end we needed to hurry up because we were running late.

On Saturday the new girl from Belgium arrived. Ivan called me and asked if I wanted to join them on a tour around the city. The funny thing was that Lieselot, the new one, lives really close from my house. So Ivan asked to take a bit care of her so that she wasn’t to bored in her first week. Carlos, Nando and I tried out UMA. Good music but a bit small and already overcrowded at 11. So back to Magno again, it’s really becoming my second home here. At 2.40 we first went to a little restaurant to eat something and returned home afterwards.

Family photo in 'El Mirador'

We had lunch in ‘El Mirador’ on Sunday. It’s some sort of recreation-area with a restaurant and a swimming pool. We took some family photos, ate, visited the city-center nearby and returned home. After spending half an hour at home I was invited to watch some movies at Domi’s house with the others of AFS.

Lunched at school with Ivan and afterwards we went together to Lieselot’s house to pick her up. We accompanied here to the ‘Aldea Infantil’, an orphanage , the place where she’s going to work as a volunteer. From one side it was really shocking to see all those kids who were living there. A lot of them had lice or couldn’t even write or read their own name. But the life they have there is better than the life they would have got out on the streets because now they are going to school, have a place to live and they know that they can eat each day.

On Wednesday my brother, Nando and I went to the cinema again. We checked out ‘Loco y Estupido Amor’ (Crazy, Stupid, Love). It was a relief to do something after a day of conferences at school. It was some sort of introduction to Semana Túristica. It was really boring! I was happy that I could leave halfway because I needed to accompany Lieselot to the Aldea. She only went there once so she doesn’t know the way to get there and I had a good excuse that way to leave the boring conferences!

Posing with the people of AFS

An exposition of all regions of Lambayeque was held on Thursday. Each aula of Turismo y Negocios picked out a region and needed to present the typical food, traditions and clothes of that particular region. This was also the first day that I was some sort of rock star. Everybody wanted a photo with me or Grego. I’m sure that we posed more than 100 times. My cheeks hurt at the end of the day from smiling all the time. But it was really fun. At night I went to Magno with my brother because there was an electro dj playing and thanks to a friend of my brother we had free VIP-tickets! The dj wasn’t that good but we didn’t need to complain because we got in for free.

Gluttony contest

Since we only returned at 3 I didn’t had a lot of sleep, but who cares? I don’t! The activities took place in ‘El Mirador’ on Friday. We needed to be there at 10 but everything only started at 11 … I’m starting to hate that Peruvian hour! It were contests between each aula of the Turismo y Negocios-career. This resulted in some pretty hilarious moments. I took place I  the gluttony contest. Actually the director picked me out to do it. An egg, an apple, a banana, an orange, 3 glasses of lemonade and a bowl of mazamora. That we needed to eat as fast as possible. The mazamora was the hardest part, as well as the orange because you needed to peel it first. In the afternoon I swam a bit. I was the only one for almost nobody knows how to swim properly. Afterwards we went with a group to Pimentel in the back of a pick-up. Really nice and for free. We had a drink at the seaside and after 2 hours we returned home. On the way back it was really cold in the back of the pick-up but I didn’t need to complain because it was for free again.

Went to Magno on Saturday together with Grego. We were checking out the chicks on the dance floor from the VIP-part. We spotted a group and went down. We didn’t need to do anything because they asked immediately if we wanted to join them. Sometimes it’s really handy to be a gringo.

I had my first partial exam on Monday; Desarollo Personal. I thought it was going to be impossible to do this exam but it went ok, maybe I don’t fail on this one. Nando dropped by at night to watch ‘Malas Enseñanzas’ (Bad Teacher). That’s the nice thing, you can get DVD’s everywhere of movies that are still playing in the cinema.

On Tuesday I had my partial of Logica. It was easy. After the exam Grego and I were drinking something in the cafeteria of the school when a guy called us because the director wanted to speak with us. We needed to come back to school at 4 for a simulation of a presentation that we need to give in November for the visiting days of the school. They could tell us that a bit faster?! We went with Karo to KFC to have lunch. Afterwards we accompanied her to Rustika where she had a photo-shoot. Karo and another model were ok but the other ones were ugly! We went back to school for a boring hour of doing nothing and then back to Rustika.

I didn’t expect a lot of Wednesday’s partial; Turismo. But in the end it didn’t seemed that difficult. After the exam I went with Grego and Giuli to RP to see Jeanine and Lieselot. That way I had to do something then just being at home. In the afternoon I called my parents in Belgium. I was really happy to hear them again as it was a long time that we spoke.

Catédra on Thursday was a disaster, but I expected it in one way. I filled in my name, tried to fill in another question and handed it in after 5 minutes, a new personal record! I was pretty pissed off at the teacher anyway! Nobody knew that the exam only started at 10 so everybody was there at 8. She arrived 20 minutes late and as an extra she ate and drank a bit before giving us the exam? Something like this is impossible in Belgium!

The last partial was Recursos Turisticos on Friday. It went as good or as bad as yesterday. Afterwards I went to RP because Lieselot asked if I wanted to accompany her in her search for a sweater. We didn’t found one but we had a Starbucks so it was ok.

Antiguchos, Mollejas and la Selección

Wednesday I had a hard time because I was feeling a bit ill. But it went better and better as the day passed. After the break someone came to call us and we left classes ‘cause we needed to fill in papers for the university. Afterwards we went to another director. It was my turn to give them some paperwork! There were only 25 min. left so we didn’t return to class and just went home!. In the evening Carlos and I were invited for a dinner for the birthday of the daughter of one of his colleagues. I met everyone from his work, including the Chinese bosses who can’t speak Spanish and almost no English. So without the girl that speaks Chinese-Spanish-English they would be lost.

Mollejas, It tastes better than it looks! 

It was so nice to sleep until 8. Due to that classes really looked short! Now I’m looking forward to each Thursday to sleep a bit longer! I went out with friends of my brother because he had a birthday party. We went to a bar to drink something and they made me taste ‘Mollejas’. It is the gizzard (spiermaag) of a chicken. Really Delicious!!

Antiguchos, really tasty!

On Friday I had ‘Recursos Turisticos’ for the first time. Also the first time that I handed in a test without filling in something. I didn’t know a single answer because it had to do with monuments and touristic places. It was much more interesting than ’Lectura’. At night I went at a friend’s house to watch Peru-Paraguay. It became a real party because Peru won 2-0! That night I also ate ‘Antiguchos’ or heart of a cow (hart van een koe). I never thought that I would say this but I like it!

Like always on Saturday we slept almost until noon. Then we laughed a lot by telling stories about our previous night. In the afternoon we went first to visit some family and then we went to RP. There I went to the movie with Ivan and some other afs-students. We watched ‘Sin Escape’, ’Abduction’ in English. A nice movie. I also had a nice talk with Ivan about a few things that happened. After the movie I quickly went home to take a shower and then go out with Carlos. But due to some circumstances we needed to be at home at 11 pm … How stupid. We bought some chips and watched a movie at home.

Monday we received our test from mathematics. 10 out of 20 for my first test of ‘Logica’, not bad at all! And a lot of persons failed on that test to, so I was really happy!

We had a surprise-meeting at RP for Ivan’s birthday at Wednesday. And also to watch football together. Peru played another time but lost with 4-2 from Chili. Peru had a lot of bad luck and the referee wasn’t in favour of Peru either.  Ellen and Jeanine arrived lather with Ivan’s present, a keyboard! He was really speechless when he saw it. We ate and drank together and had a nice evening.

On Wednesday Gregory and I were invited by Aldahir, a classmate, to have lunch at his house for the birthday of his godfather. I don’t know why we were invited but Aldahir really wanted that we went with him so we had lunch at his house. We had a good time and talked a lot.

I’m really looking forward to the weekend to go out again because last weekend it wasn’t such a good party-weekend :p I can really use a good party know!

Viaje en Motupe, Cuy and more

Het is weer meer dan een week geleden dus tijd om mijn blog eens up te daten. Doordat het de laatste tijd redelijk druk was had ik geen tijd om een stukje te schrijven. Nu komt er dus weer een hele boterham bij. 

But I’m going to do it in English because that way other people from AFS can read it as well. As I was saying, it has been a while since I updated my blog so now it’s going to be a huge update.

For a Friday, the beginning of the (party)weekend, 5 hours of Lectura y Redacción is too much! It’s super boring! So we talked a lot, but really much. That much that the teacher really got irritated! The teacher was even more irritated because I was writing my notes in my manual. It isn’t a problem, but she makes one of it because she wants that I write it down in a notebook. But that’ her problem. I’m not going to buy one for such a boring lesson! At 5 I had a meeting with Charlotte at RP for her Feliz Cumpleaños. Just before we returned to home, I and another mutual friend threw eggs at her. It’s like some tradition between young people. Together with my brother I went to the pub where we go often. But we didn’t stay that long (1 am) because the real parties are on Saturday.

Fully recovered after a good sleep I went to eat something with Giuli, the girl from university. We laughed and talked a lot, but nothing more. Maybe a bit stupid, but I’ll have other opportunities. Afterwards I went to Utchutero again with my bro, a friend and 3 girls they knew. 1 was more than ok btw! Then we went to Magno. Carlos and I were in a super party-mood. After the party he said that I could have kissed her if I wanted. Stupid of hem that he only said that after we left. The girls gave me some dance lessons. Due to that my merengue is becoming ok. But my salsa keeps on sucking. We went at home at 4 am. To sleep only 3 hours because I had to wake up at 7 again…

On Sunday there was the trip the Motupe. It was nice, but really tiring. Even more if you take yesterday evening into the count. The bus trip took around 1h30. When we arrived, we took a combi to go to the cross of Motupe. We were dropped at the foot of the hill. From there on it was an hour climbing to the place where the cross was. The view at the top was really astonishing! The chapel and the cave with the cross in it were beautiful as well. If you didn’t wanted to do to climb to watch the chapel and the cave then you needed to do it for the view! Next we visited the city centre. The basilica was beautiful, as well as the city square. We needed to wait an hour for our buss. Not because there weren’t busses, but because there were a lot of people. When I arrived at home I ate, took a shower and went to sleep early after the hard weekend.

Monday was the first time I had Desarollo Personal. Quite boring. After the break the classes of Logica started. Against all expectations it wasn’t boring at all! I understood the mayor part of it and I even helped my friends with understanding it! It was really funny.

Cuy with rice and mashed potatoes

Tuesday, that means 4 hours of Logica. The 3 first hours passed quickly but the last one kept on going. I ate cuy (guinea pig/cavia) for the first time at home. Muy rico! It was really delicious! A lot of work for only a bit of meat but it was really tasty. I called with my dad for his bday en in the evening I went to the centre rent my tuxedo.

On Wednesday during the lessons of tourism I took the time to wrote in my diary, because it was about time that I wrote in it. In the afternoon I bought shoes, a combination of formal and casual so that I could were them with a jeans to. Also bought a tie and a shirt. The search for the shoes almost took me 2 hours but we found them in the last shop we wanted to do.

On Thursday we started with 2 hours of Lectura. What was it boring! The time looked like frozen. Afterwards there was the trip to the Bruning-museum. No classes, that’s always nice, but it was really boring to! In the evening we went to the shop of the tuxedo and changed the rent. Instead of renting, I bought it. Because I would use it more than once.

I wasn’t looking forward to Friday, 4 hours of Lectura … During the recreation Ivan called us. We needed to make pictures for our entrance-pass for university. We told him that it was too boring and asked if we could change. He went with us to the director of our faculty and she said that it was no problem. It was already fixed after 5 minutes. We changed Lectura for Recursos Turisticos. A subject with more culture in it. We went to pick up our bags in the classroom and Ivan said the teacher that we changed Lectura. Her face was epic!!! Gregory and I had a hard time to hide the smile on our face. At 4 pm we went to school again for the Cachimbo-ceremony. A ceremony for all new people in the first grade. We received a pin with the career that we’re following. We started our evening as often in Uchu, then we bought some sacaverdades. You would tell the truth if you would drink it. It missed is effect totally, but it was nice. We ended our evening at a friend’s house, talking and laughing.

Carlos and I recuperated until 6 pm. We did nothing, watched tv, we did some shopping for the house. In RP we met Charlotte. We had a nice chat and back to mi casa. We went to D’Pulpa for a fruit shake. Really good! (Banana-Pineapple, what a delicious combination!) Then to RP for a cocktail, because it was happy hour. 2 for the price of 1. Vodka orange, something else to remember! After a while we went home, still wearing the scares of yesterday.

At noon, we went all together to a Chifa-restaurant. Chifa is a combination between the Peruvian and the Chinese kitchen. The food was nice. It wasn’t the last time that I’ll eat Chifa. From there we went to a peluceria (hairdresser). For only /S. 6 my beard was shortened (+- 1.80 euro). Then we went to Nando’s place to watch a movie. We had a good time and said that we needed to do it more often on Sundays!

During the first 2 hours of university (Desarollo) I didn’t do anything as usual during this class. We had a test of Logica afterwards. I didn’t study for it but it went ok. I think that I’ll have more than some others of my class, but that isn’t difficult I suppose. Because mathematics stays the same, even in another language. We ate at school because in the afternoon we had basketball. Giuli and a girlfriend watched all the time at Gregory and me. It was really fun! After the training we played a bit with them and convinced them to train Wednesday with us. The training is mixed, so boys and girls play together. I like that!

Because it’s taking me too long if I wait this long for updating my blog, I’m going to try to update it more often, so that I don’t need to write whole books!

Hasta luego!!!