Vlahhh

This week has been our first (and only) full week of classes. And I still ended up not having class on Friday. So I guess the year with no summer at least has a little bit of a break.

On Monday I was beyond tired. The weekend was jam-packed full of fun and travel so all I wanted to do on Monday was sleep. And browse Facebook.

Tuesday I had the sociology portion of my Socio-economic Realities of Perú class. I really like this part of the class. It's right up my ally. The professor talks a lot, but I think that's typical of professors. It's just harder when they are doing it in your second language. We talked a lot about education this week and the distribution of wealth in Perú. In Lima, the difference in monthly salaries from the top socio-economic tier to the bottom is S/.17,000 to S/.890 ($6,204 to $325). There is a huge discrepancy in wealth. As our economics professor often says, there is a lot of money in the hands of only a few people. Anyways, I like that class. It's super interesting to me.

After class we had a little coffee get together with ISA and Universidad del Pacifico. We got free coffee and coke and Inca Kola, and sandwiches and tarts! YUM. There was a trivia time and some people won tshirts and chairs for their cell phones. How exciting. I didn't win anything. If you know anything about my academic challenge days, you know I'm not very fast on the buzzer. And I'm even slower when there is no buzzer.

After coffee, a couple girls and I went to Polvos Azules which is a giant indoor market downtown. They have tons of cheap clothes, shoes, and souvenirs. There are like 1000 little stands the size of cubicles in this huge building and they are jam-packed with clothes. It's super overwhelming but also really awesome and terrible. I'm sure a lot of it is knock-off stuff, but it still works, right? I got some nice, thick leggings, an alpaca sweater, and a scarf. I am planning on wearing all of those things in Cusco. There are a lot of markets like that here since Perú is a main manufacturer of textiles. I know, more economics.

We went to La Baguette for lunch and had no idea what we were supposed to do once we got there. Do we order here and then sit? Do they come to our tables? Is someone going to seat us? We asked and they were like, "Do you want to speak English?" So that was nice. They were accommodating, but it was also slightly uncomfortable. I got a cold Coca-Cola which actually made my day. Most drinks are served room temperature here and it is way more common to drink juice than pop. Also, water is not free. So really the whole drink situation is different.

The first two weeks were really easy, cravings-wise, because I'm used to going on trips that are around two weeks or less of eating different foods. This week has been really rough. I basically just want to eat dessert as my meal. I think I'm going through sugar withdrawal. I also have a cup of coffee most days, but since we are going to Cusco this weekend I have been worried about hydration. So today I stopped drinking coffee for the next week. It has been really hard so far. All I could think about all day was how much I wanted coffee. It was sad. I can't wait to get back from Cusco so I can drink whatever the heck I want.  And I really want Taco Bell. And fudge pops. And popcorn. And a frappuccino.

This afternoon I went with a group from ISA to La Casa de Panchita's program called "Mi Espacio para Crecer" in San Juan de Miraflores (Google image that). It was super fun. It's basically an after-school program in the poorer part of Lima. The kids there don't really have any space to themselves in their homes so they can come to Mi Espacio para Crecer to do their homework and just act like kids. I played with Lego-like blocks with a kid who made the sweetest ship/truck I have ever seen. We also traced pictures and played with one of those mazes with the little silver balls. I had a lot of fun. La Casa de Panchita is where I will be doing my internship, so I'm pretty excited for that. I met some girls that I will be working with and they seem really nice.

Side note: We drove through this one intersection where there were like 18 stores for eyeglasses. We learned that the most popular place to get your eyes checked was just around the corner. Welcome to the Latin American business model. I know, more economics.

Lastly, I have been listening to Gungor on repeat. I just really like "Please Be My Strength." I'm tired and I have to push through this homesick part and the song just makes sense to me right now.

Sorry, one more thought. I'm really blond here. Compared to everyone else, my hair is super light. I stick out like a sore thumb. I thought about dying it darker, but I think I might look like a vampire. You know, the dark hair would make my skin look more pale. Right?