Hot and Happy

Midday Sun

Lucy's delicious soup!

My schedule at the university

Wow time just seems to fly by here in Peru. Today was another hot day in Lima, Peru with clear skies and temperatures maxing out around 84 degrees. While I am enjoying the hot weather of Peru, however, all my friends back at Washington State University are enjoying what looks to be a snowy winter day. Furthermore my friends and family in Alaska are enjoying frigid temperatures in the teens. Either way I am soaking up the sun and enjoying life!

Even though it was a scorcher today I was more than content to eat piping hot soup made by the fabulous Lucy. For those of you that don't know, Lucy is the wonderful lady at my host family's house that cooks meals fit for a king and takes great care of me! While I would normally stray away from hot soups on a day with temperatures in the 80's, Lucy can pretty easily change my mind by sitting me down, putting food in front of me, turning on some tunes, and leaving me to drift off as I enjoy the rich flavors of her delectable cooking. Just to add a bit of a spoiler, I am actually planning some cooking tutorials where I can learn some of Lucy's magic and then share it with you all.

Finally I figured I should share a bit about my classes. I am taking 5 classes in total: 3 classes in Spanish and 2 in English. I am taking Intermediate Spanish, International Business in Spanish, and Culture and Popular Art in Spanish. On the English side I am taking General Administration and Political Science. All in all classes are going pretty great although it is a bit difficult when all the examples for business and politics are based on Peru so I definitely need to start reading the newspapers here! Although I wouldn't say my Spanish skills are amazing, they have definitely been progressing a lot to the point where I actually feel like I am understanding the majority of the things that I hear. That does not mean I can respond in a spoken or written response but I am definitely getting there.

I know everyone back in the states just got done with Spring Break so I would love to hear what people were up to. What did you do for Spring Break? Did you travel anywhere and eat any exotic or amazing foods?

How many types of fruit can you identify?

The cuy is the meat in the upper left of the left plate...what is cuy? Answer in a comment.

This past weekend I enjoyed a very laid back weekend consisting of going to the beach and visiting my host family's relatives! Since I had learned my lesson from the previous weekend at the beach, I made sure to put on sunscreen and surprisingly enough I only ended up with a slight burn on my back after two days at the beach!

Saturday was the first time in about 5 years that I had really been to a nice sandy beach and gone skipping into the ocean, I have to say I missed it a lot! Splashing in the waves and getting the taste of salt water in my mouth sealed the deal to a great day at the beach, not to mention I was with a bunch of friends!

On Sunday I joined my host family as they ventured up north to visit part of the extended family. Before seeing the family, however, we hit the beach for about an hour to soak up some sun and enjoy the relaxing sound of the waves crashing onto the shore. After a short time at the beach we went to the house to see all the family and I was warmly welcomed with kisses all around and a nice hardy snack of choclo (big corn on the cob) and freshly squeezed orange juice! When we finished our snack we headed off to pick up our lunch which consisted of lamb, cuy, ceviche, rice, and an assortment of other foods. Sunday was my first time trying cuy...Who knows what cuy is? If you know comment below with the answer.

To finish off the adventures with the family I got to accompany my host parents to a market where we bought a copious amount of fruits and vegetables. I have to say the market was definitely my favorite part because we were warmly welcomed by mountains of fresh fruits and taste tests all around! Not only was there tons of fruit, which all tasted fantastic, but it was also as cheap as can be! I don't know if I will ever be able to bring myself to purchase fruit from a super market ever again in the United States. Above you will see a picture of just a small part of the market...Who can guess all the types of fruits? Comment below with all the ones you know, I am still trying to try them all!

As the weekend came to a close I packed my bags for school, got some sleep, and started the week off rested and ready for a full week of classes!