Huacachina

Last weekend, Erin and I went to a place called Huacachina, an oasis in a desert!

Population: 200.

The first thing we did after setting up at the hostel was head out in dune buggies- climbing dunes and fishtailing across this vast sea of sand! It was exhilirating as well as terrifying. (my seatbelt was a little less than what I imagine the security standards to be) The guide took care of us, though, and it was AWESOME.

Then they let us out at the top of a tall dune and we played around for a while

until we hit the slopes.

So we were driven up to a peak, then we slid down on our bellies on boards like snowboards... but for sand, haha. Imagine rushing down a hill.. how long should it take to get to the bottom? 5 seconds? 10? It took us about 15 to 20 seconds to get to the bottom of these dunes!! They were really tall! At one point, I drug my feet into the sand behind me to slow me down.. it worked, but my jeans started filling up with sand! By the time i got to the bottom, I couldn't stand up and had to roll over to first massage, then dump the sand out of my jeans, haha. It was as if someone had just poured buckets of sand into them!

We got to play around some more as the sun was setting.

We went back to the hostel and had a BBQ, then that night we went to a club, danced and danced.. afterwards we went out to try to climb a dune along the side of the road to see if we could get an open view of the stars.. but 1) it is SOOO hard to climb a dune! Most decided to stop at 1/8ths of the way. I and two others FINALLY made it to the top to collapse on the other side of the peak at a plateau. It was BEAUTIFUL, but there was quite a bit of fog.. I couldn't see Erin at the spot where they'd stopped, and it covered a lot of the sky. It was still amazing. When I decided to head back down, I started jogging down the dune.. but it's hard to run downhill at a steady pace.. I kept picking up speed, I can't really see where anyone is.. I try to swerve side to side while screaming from excitement and a little afraid at the same time, I see their shadows and I try to do a baseball slide only to go tumbling, haha. I stopped in a heap of sand dust and had to lay there for a minute to take stock of myself.

I had sand in about every part imaginable, but

thankfully I was in one piece!

The next day we pretty much just lazied around by the lake. The weather was perfect, warm and sunny and not humid. We did eventually have to leave to catch the 4 hour bus back to Lima, though.

What a GREAT weekend!!

Classes

Whew! It's been a week since I last wrote and a LOT has happened already!

Wel, I've got my classes set. I'm only going to get one class to transfer to IU as something I need.. so I figured since i have 8 more credits to fill, I'll have some fun here. I'm taking General Theory of Language as the transfer class.... ANNNND i'm taking a Musical Creativity Workshop (right now we have to compose short little ditties- VERY simple and a bit boring), I'm also taking Women's sports and Modern Dance!! I was hoping the last two would give me a bit of a workout. So, on Wednesday I had my first Women's sports class. It went well.. we did a lot of running then a physical fitness test with doing these step up and down things for 5 minutes.. my legs were pretty tired after the class, but it wasn't bad. Afterwards, the teacher asked me what sports I've played in the past.. I told her soccer, basketball, volleyball and high jump. Sooo she led me to some coaches and said, there you go, want to be on the team? haha, i thought this was just a gym class! I didn't realize i'd be playing for some peruvian university's sports team!

So thursday I went into the school (i have no classes thursdays or fridays) and met and trained with the track coach. It was so much fun to do high jump again!! Although I was really really bad in comparison with what I used to do.. but it's been 5 years and i weigh more, so what should I expect? So we talked about how I should get back in shape, etc.. so I did a LOT of running, jump-roping and random other exercises, then he let me go and I went to play volleyball. I warmed up with them (UGHH more running!) and then in the middle of playing, the coach pulled me out and asked if i wanted to go try out soccer, because their practice was about to start. Sooo off i went for more running and warm-ups! Then I scrimmaged for about 30 minutes and started to head home... but i saw the volleyball people were still playing, so i joined them again :)

OOOOOoooooOOOOWwww. Walking home was tough.. moving after I got home was tough, waking up Friday morning OUCH. I stretch and i stretch.. but 5 minutes later, I feel like i have stones in my calves! I head off to the university again for more practice with the high jump coach, but he tells me that he saw me playing soccer and volleyball, so i should take the day off and rest this weekend or else i could pull a muscle or so. So back home I went.

It's Friday night. I just got back from this really cool water park.. it's huge and full of really creative water fountains and water shows. My legs have still been full of rocks all day, my calf muscles grinding within themselves whenever I move, but it's a good feeling, too.. knowing I'm back in sports after so long!!

I've been having a cough and just annoying cold.. but after the water park we went to "The street of the pizzas" where we sat and had a bit to eat and drink.. and there I lost my voice. :/ So here I am, sipping tea and hoping my body gets back to normal by Monday!

I should have known better

I thought things were going too well. On Sunday, I made up two different schedules of possible courses to take. I chose one option and started attending the classes and so far, so good. One class I don't really know anything about because the teacher didn't show up either of the two days we had it, but I made a friend while waiting for the class, and he is really nice and says it should be ok and will help me if it's tough. I also went to a history class that I REALLY enjoyed and another class that didn't really spark my interest too much the first day, but the syllabus looked cool, and I've stepped out of my comfort zone to take a dance class and had a great time the first day. Too easy, right? Right.

On Tuesday I got an email from IU saying that my application to enter the School of Education was declined because i didn't have enough courses in my concentration area (Spanish) .. WHHAAT? I didn't freak out because I figured I knew the reason for the problem, which I did.. that my classes from Spain weren't placed on my transcript yet. So I contacted IU and got 7 emails the next day from 3 different advisors (one from the school of Education, one from the overseas study office, and the other from the Spanish Department) .. the first one said the only thing I could do was write a letter asking for temporary/conditional acceptance into the school and show them later that i have enough credits.. to do this, I'd have to have the letter to them by 5pm on Wednesday the 20th.. uh, hello?? that was an hour before I checked my email and only ONE day after I received notification that my application was denied. How do they expect a person to do that?! But then, I read the following emails and my Spain classes were quickly put onto my transcript and that part is taken care of.

Erin's House

Now that the classes are on my transcript, I know now for sure what credits my courses transferred as. That changes everything. Now some of the classes that I've chosen for here are unnecessary. So I need to find other classes that will hopefully transfer as something else I need for my major. Not as easy as it might seem. I've been writing emails and calling IU all day today. There's a course that MIGHT be able to be counted as an Education course, but I was told that the school of Education RARELY transfers study-abroad classes because they and the state are super strict about the education of future teachers. There's a credit that MIGHT be covered by a class I took in Spain that was transferred as a different credit, an unnecessary one. If it's not covered, I need to find a class here that will. The class in which I made the friend but the teacher didn't show up to is "definitely" going to transfer as a different credit that I need.. awesome, now I just hope it's a good class that won't kill me (it's called Theory of Language).

IF I don't need to take an extra class for the spanish credit and IF the education course won't count.. I think i'm just going to take Gym and be done with it. Might as well get a little exercise while I'm here.

All this needs to be done and my classes turned in by tomorrow. Wish me luck!

party party

Erin's surprise party was... great. Really. Erin was thinking that we were all meeting up to go out to eat, she walked in, saw everyone and didn't think a thing about it. Just thought we were getting ready to go. Then i walked her into the dining room where the cake was and said.. "this is the restaurant.. surprise?!" haha.. she says "are you serious? wait.. i told all my friends we were going out to eat.. " me, "erin, that's the point of a surprise party, everyone else has known about it for a while" ... "oooh"

So there were about 35 people at the house.. we were a little sad at first because it had started raining and the charcoal got wet, so we weren't going to be able to have a barbecue, but then a German named Phillip asked me if he could at least try and i'm thinking "goodluck buddy" but give him the lighter.. and he and another girl get it!! so we ended up having barbecue after all.

(this is me and Jackie, a girl from Massachusetts that lives with me)

The piscosour was awesome (i should hope so, what with all the sugar that's in it) and some hours later, we moved the party to erin's hostal and stayed up there talking and having fun until about 4 or so.

Gift-wrapped presents are a must for any birthday party. I got Erin new headphones with a mic so that she can talk to mom and dad online and.. peanut butter because it's kinda hard to find here. :)

--

Today, I get home about 1pm and there's a TON of people at the house! All the relatives (except those in foreign countries) came over for lunch. There was Antonio and Lucy (my host parents), Mana, Rosillo, Javier, Jose, Jose's wife and 2yr old son, mamama (grandma), and someone else- maybe my "aunt"?

After sitting at table talking for a while, we moved the gathering into the living room, playing with Rodrigo, the 2yr old. Then we got to singing songs.. spanish ones, of course, then Head shoulders knees and toes with rodrigo. Then Jose got the guitar and the went from singing The Bare Necesities to who knows what songs in Spanish! They're still downstairs now.. but i have to get to work on class stuff :/ I feel SOO lucky to be with this family. I always feel included and they're all reallly nice. Not the fake, "oh yeah? that's neat" nice, either.. like genuine interest and we share jokes and .. just great. It's only a week and I'm already sooo very comfortable here.

Work work work.. fun

This week has been CRAZY!! I can't believe tomorrow is my one week mark. We've done sooo much already. I have been, and still am, learning my way around places, i learned how to take a combi and micro (the crazy public transportation), I attended orientation classes at the university, i've made a ton of friends, got a cell phone, bought and sent gifts for birthdays, worked out class schedule options, annnnnd FOUND A JOB!

When Erin came to my house the first time, we talked a ton to my host parents and Erin said how she was looking for a job. My host dad, Antonio, then circled some possible jobs in the newspaper and Erin got an interview for one that advertised: (in english, too) We need 20 English speakers , need to be fluent, have great command of the English language, knowledge of the us culture a must, good grammar, punctuation, good typing skills, must be open to all schedules. Well... not only is Erin American and therefore fits the majority of the requirements.. she's TOTALLY unoccupied and open to any shift.

While Erin was being interviewed downtown, I was also downtown sightseeing with some friends. I get a text message from her that says that they're interested in hiring me, too, if i'm interested. So, i just popped on down there right away and basically got hired on the spot. So, what's the job? There's a company called Tecnique that has a contract with Flatworld (i think). Flatworld then has a contract with us, Advance Contact Center. This is a US operation where certain mobile providers in the US offer the option of one getting all of his/her voice message changed to text messages. That way, they can read their messages instead of listen to them.. maybe they're in meetings all the time, are hard of hearing, or just like getting text messages. So who changes these voice messages to text, you think??

We do.

I've been hired to work in a room full of computers and Peruvians. While the Peruvians are busy transcribing random people's messages, I go around and supervise them, making sure they're not misinterpreting/mistranscribing the message. It's obviously most often very easy for me, but people sure can mumble and trip over their own words a lot. I'm there to fill in words like "Binkie" "Remax" "y'all" and "Schmidt". I was told that they could be very flexible and work around my school schedule, so that's good.. but i'm still worried about having too heavy of a workload with school and everything. and i'm not here just to work. I want to travel, too. I want to speak SPANISH instead of English.

So I was still not sure about taking the job, and i'm still debating off and on about it. My idea now, though, is that I'll work there until i decide it's too much, or until i find a better job! I've already heard through my host sister of a businessman who wants English lessons. That pays better per hour, but is probably only a couple hours a week. It all just depends.. we'll see how it works!

Noooow.. I've spent all day and some of the past couple days organizing a surprise party for Erin. Her birthday is today.. (don't worry, she never reads my blog, we're doing most of this stuff together, anyway, so she doesn't need to). The party was my host mom's idea when i told her it was Erin's birthday. So I invited everyone i know, they're going to bring whatever they want to eat and put it on the barbecue. I just helped my host mom make PiscoSour.. it's a very Peruvian drink that i've just learned of. It has Lime juice, sugar, Pisco (the alcohol) , egg whites, and ice. A little weird sounding with the eggs in there, huh? She also made PassionSour.. it has passion fruit instead of lime and uses the whole egg.

I did tell Erin that we're going out for her birthday, of course.. so she told all the people she lives with, and they're all coming. So i talked to some of them secretely, and told them about the party. So now Erin and friends are walking to my house to supposedly pick me up and we're going out to a restaurant. ha. :) I got in a little bind when Erin asked me what kind of food the restaurant has.. what the name of it is.. and what the address is.. i told her i couldn't remember the address, but knew how to get there from my house.. and that the name is "La Mar" and serves seafood. That place exists at least. We'll go to a club or something afterwards. Soo.. it should be fun!

Ok, so it maybe looks blah and not sunny.. but it's nice, i swear. It's just that it's winter here and so the sky is hazy all the time! At least i'm not getting sunburn. :)

There's a picture of Atila, the dog that lives with me.. or do i live with the dog if he was there first? anyhow, he's great.. really fun to play with. there's a random street that erin and i passed.. figured i'd get a picture of how the streets look.. that's a very common neighborhood. annnd.. that's about it for now :)

Dia 2

Anything kind of funny about this picture?... no? what about that deer stepping off the sidewalk? they're all over the little campus and just look at you as you walk past them, three feet away.

Today, after ID photos and security and travel advice.. we met some peruvian students from the university. We met a lot of people, but one really great girl is Fiorella. After talking to her for a long time, we walked (in what we thought was the direction) to Erin's house.. we walked and walked, then realized it was in a different district, which has the same street name. We finally got there and Fiorella helped us find a bit store and buy cell phones! woohoo. Erin and i got phone together so starting tomorrow we'll be able to call eachother for free!

Back at the house, i talked for a long time with Antonio, Lucy and Javier (their son) then had dinner.. spinnach, rice, soup, bread, and arroz con leche(rice and milk?) all was yummy. You know what? when we had lunch at the school today, we had a meal that came with this purple drink. It was called.. chachi? chicha? chucha? something like that and is made out of purple corn. How weird?

Now i just finished unpacking everything and orgainizing.. i'm beat.

Day 1

Sitting on the plane in New York, ready to take off for Lima, the captain tells us a storm is coming in and we have to wait 30 minutes. Later, after finishing my book, he tells us another 30 minutes. Eventually we take off and 7.5 hours later arrive .. at 11pm. Erin and I make our way out and both get *randomly* stopped at the bag check area ( you pushed a button.. if it was green you went through.. red- you step to the side and we both pushed it and both got red) They gave us a hard time because i had two laptops (one in erin's carryon and one in mine) while erin had the rest of the luggage on a cart.. they wanted to know why i was going through with two laptops... duh. We walk out to a huge crowd of people holding up signs with names.. and i hear "Abi, Abi!" We found erin's also and made a quick split/goodbye. I arrived to a garage door set between other similar buildings (different colors, different styles, but same sort of squished into eachother look) and then to two very very friendly people- Antonio and Lucy. Bedtime.

Now, I feel like I've been here for a week already.. I've just had a very full first day!! Class then met program people, walked around a lot, had lunch, met two families of friends, made it home, learned about random streets, a bit of my neighborhood, made it to my sister's house, we got lost (really badly) looking for a supermarket, got lost trying to get back from it, took the CRAZZZZZZY public transportation which are these loco vans that speed along with people stuffed inside of it, holding on for dear life. Back at my house we supper'd then talked for like 2 hours with my crazy fun old host dad, watched host sister teach host brother to dance, and then finally navigated the streets to bring my sister back.
Yep we have internet! My room is twice the size of my spain room (haha, not that that's saying much) we have a big dog that's super cool (Atila) with one of those curly, bushy tails, I'm so tired, and i saw the ocean between buildings today. :)

Good first day.

Off Again

I feel like I've just gotten home, and now I'm following plans that I made a year ago to study another semester abroad-- in Lima, Peru. It's both harder and easier than I imagined. Harder because I don't think that I've really gotten over my Spain trip yet, and here I am going again.. I'm still reeling a bit from it and very hazy about somethings.. like classes and transfer credits. It's not for sure what credits I'll receive from the classes I took in Spain.. and that hugely impacts what classes I should take in Peru. I'm a little worried because I got a C+ in one of my Spain classes .. my first C .. ever :( . If my GPA falls, I could lose my scholarship.. i studied sooo hard for the final in that class. It's really frustrating. That was the only grade in the class, and we were given no idea what it would be over so we had to study everything.

Anyway. in some ways this is easier.. for one, packing is much quicker! I know so much better that I can do without a lot of the stuff that I brought to spain. I'm still in the "flexible" mode, i think.. where I know now that I can be dropped in a random city and survive alright.. so i'm not too nervous about living there. I'm also much more at ease because Erin's coming with me. It doesn't seem like such a huge leap from home if she's coming with me :)

Our flight is on Sunday (in 2 days), but we actually leave home tomorrow.. will stay with Gma and Gpa Schmiesing until my parents' reunion thing is over, then we'll go to Detroit and get a motel. I'm still not packed.. I have one suitcase practically done and everything i need to take is out, i think.. i just have to pack it now. Nothing like waiting till the last minute, i guess.

I hope I'm not missing out on a ton while i'm gone. I have a friend graduating this December. I feel really bad that we won't get to be together another semester. Although I would be at IU anyway, it seems like now that I won't be able to come home and visit, I'll be missing a lot at home too. We'll have internet.. skype.. other than physically, we won't be that far away :)

Well.. i've definitely got a little bit of nervousness setting in now. Excitement.. anxiety... hunger. No, really.. i'm hungry right now.

It's almost time!