A Little Relaxed

Hello everyone!

So as of the last post not too many different things have occurred but I will entertain you anyways. As reported, I have been teaching at an institute close to my home in Miraflores. So far I have about 18 hours a week teaching adults and I am really enjoying it! My students are incredibly enthusiastic and excited about learning, which makes my job much easier. I spent most of my days during the week running home between classes and preparing. The first week I found fairly overwhelming as I didn't feel I had any idea what I was doing. That Monday I had a teacher's meeting with three other teachers at Langrow Institute where I found out that they had all gone through weeks of training before being allowed to pick up only five hours a week until passing a review. On one hand, I was flattered that Langrow was impressed with me enough to make me a teacher without training. On the other hand, I really would have appreciated knowing what the heck I was doing. I still have trouble with the administration part of the classes, such as timesheets and canceling classes, but I'm slowly figuring that out with time. The actual teaching part of my job is fantastic; I have never felt so respected as an intellectual in a working position before. People really listen to me here and are appreciative of the language and where I come from. I wish the hours were a little different (i.e. I do not always enjoy waking up at 6am for a class at 7am) but I love the flexibility. Eighteen hours a week is also enough to pay my bills as well as have a little spending money on the side which is an extra bonus. I enjoy my Speaking and Listening class during Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings the most, as it is a class of about 7 people who just love to chat and gives me a chance to hear English in a casual situation. Also, they all enjoy talking, meaning less preparation on my end :)

This past weekend (July 17th-19th) was fairly lazy. I went out to lunch with Lucia on Friday to San Antonio, a great little place with amazing salads. I dropped off the laundry to be picked up later that day and while I waited for it I walked around the city for almost three hours just discovering parts I had not seen before. There are some amazing bars and clubs walking distance from our house, one of which is a wine bar that we are planning on going to tonight. I haven't been feeling too great lately having a bit of a cough and stuffed nose from the change in the humidity that I am not used to, so I did not teach my Friday night class that day. Unfortunately, the secretaries at Langrow do not speak excellent English so I had Pedro call them for me to let them know I headed to the clinic. People are absolutely terrified of swine flu here, with good reason, so when Pedro told them I was tested for swine flu and was told I was negative, all they heard was the word "swine flu." That single conversation created quite the legend at Langrow over the weekend. When I headed into work on Monday, they had already replaced my morning classes with alternate teachers and everyone who saw me was gasping and covering their mouths while they scurried away. After quite a long meeting with some of the staff it was finally understood that no, I do not have swine flu and yes, I am okay to work. You should have seen me trying to explain to the administrative staff in choppy Spanish mixed with English that I am not possessed with "el gripe de cerdo" and can work that day.

Saturday morning I headed to spinning class and met up with the nutritionalist at the gym to work out my personal training and nutrition schedule they offer as a part of my membership package. Afterwards, I headed home and proceeded to watch as many Harry Potters movies as I could before 11pm that nigth when Pedro and I planned on going to the late show. We made popcorn the old fashioned way, with oil at the bottom of the pan, putting the kernels in and watching them explode over the kitchen until we found the lid. Our fridge is broken, and continues to be broken, so most of the weekend we ate at restaurants. Chifa, or Chinese food, is cheap and good here and arroz chifa, or fried rice, is now a Peruvian staple. We ate Chinese food for dinner and walked around the city and through the parks until about 9:30pm. Parque Kennedy always has interesting shows or art sales going on at all hours of the day, with Saturday being no exception. After arriving home, we passed out before ever making it to the movie at 11pm.

When we woke up super early the next morning and realized we missed the movie, we ran to Jockey Plaza, one of the malls, and caught the 11:30am show. Meh, wasn't missing too much if we didn't see it. We also dropped off my ipod touch at the istore, which wouldn't turn on after a water bottle spilled in my purse on it, before heading to his Uncle Raul and Aunt Lucia's house for an amazing lunch. Their cook is ridiculously good: they sent her to culinary school to learn their favourites so I don't understand how they aren't huge by now. Dessert? Brownies with ice cream, I was in heaven. After lunch, which was really around dinnertime, we headed back to the mall to pick up my ipod and go home. Somehow they were able to turn it on and it worked, but when we brought it home it refused to charge so since then Pedro has brought it back to the store and they have shipped it off to be fixed. It is still under warranty so I am crossing my fingers for a new one! Brand new Ipod Touch 32g... come on, don't fix it!

Since the weekend I have been pretty relaxed. Almost all of my teaching shifts are cancelled for the next two weeks because of Fiestas Patrias, or the Peruvian Independence Holidays, next week on Monday and Tuesday, the 27th and 28th respectively. It is traditional for people to travel for these holidays and so no one is around for me to teach. We are also travelling this weekend to a place called Huayllay (Why-eye), a little mining town five hours drive from Lima. It is renouned for its 'rock forests', natural rock formations covering miles, and impeccable hiking and rock climbing. There is a big group of us going: me, Pedro, Lucia and a friend, Raul and a couple of friends and Roberto, Pedro's best friend from highschool. I'm pretty excited! We are staying in a mine; how amazing is that?!

I will update when I return. I hope you all are doing well. Sending my love from South America!

Alot Happens in a Week

It has been a very busy week! I am going to try and update this at least weekly if not more.

Let's start with the weather, which has been surprisingly great. I had braced myself for the worst but in this past week it has been sunny half the days that I've been here. It's about 20 degrees but the humidity makes it feel about 15. I don't wear my coat unless it's at night. I've gone about half of Miraflores on my own now, and I'm finally comfortable ordering at restaurants and going shopping without help. A couple of times I've gotten a little tongue-tied but when that happens, usually someone around me just comes over, tells the person what I want in Spanish and then turns to me as says something along the lines of, "It's okay, dear, you'll get the language soon enough" with a pat on the back. It's kind of funny. I call it "Secret English": everyone here speaks it, but nobody knows that everyone else does. Even our doormen possess secret English, two native Peruvian-looking tough guys speak it with me, both of whom have asked me out (to Pedro's dismay). One wanted to give me a "private tour of Miraflores when I get off work at 8" until he found out I wasn't living on my own ;)

I haven't been able to update you wonderful people until now because I've been running all over the place. Thursday was our anniversary, which we celebrated by eating both lunch and dinner at some swanky restaurants. Pedro took me out to lunch to this restaurant called Tanta, owned by a world-famous Peruvian chef named Gaston Asturian. We shared three appetizers which were the sizes of main courses and had a dessert each for $30 canadian. I'm geting fat. For dinner we went to La Rosa Nautica, a Peruvian style restaurant which is situated on this little outcrop that extends into the ocean. Two things I have realized about the food here: I love their fish and I love their corn. Every restaurant I go to I am trying a new type of fish and eating a new type of corn. They have purple corn here that they even make into a drink; how weird is that?! I don't crave chips anymore, I crave fried corn kernels that haven't popped with salt. Dinner was amazing: cebiche, seared tuna, veggies, and pecan pie for dessert. It's a little ridiculous as to how well you can eat here for the price, even when you are on a budget. "Expensive" here is about $40 for two people. The only thing we are having trouble finding for a reasonable price is sushi but I'm willing to pay the little extra when I crave it.

This past week was full of interviews and applications. I had three job interviews and was hired! Langrow, a well-respected business institute in Peru, has given me a couple of classes. My hours are sporatic; I had my first class this morning from 7-8:30am which runs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I have another class Monday-Thursday from 1:30 until 3:00pm. Both classes I have mentioned are private lessons a little way away from my house so unfortunately I have to take a semi-sketchy bus. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I also have evening classes from 8:00 until 9:30pm at the main headquarters (short walk) with 3-4 people in my class. I work 15 hours a week and its enough to cover the bills! Kind of relaxing I must say. This morning I came back from teaching an Operations Manager for an Oil Tools company. He's incredibly enthuiastic about learning which helped me alot considering I had no idea what I was doing there. This afternoon it was a banking exec who is an incredibly fast learner. I'm excited I am finally making some money and feel a little more secure. Soon I can open my own bank account and be a real person.

I also joined a gym, which doesn't seem like a huge venture unless you know me well. I went a couple of times last week but nothing to scream about. The gym itself is huge but really badly ventilated so I end up walking home drenched. Yes, I did say walk, another one of the many perks of my neighbourhood. I also signed up for my first official half marathon so I really need to start training again. We'll see how I survive it, its been incredibly hard getting used to running here because of the elevation.

Friday was Pedro's mother's birthday and there was a huge shindig at her house. About thirty people were there, friends and family, drinking and eating tons of food and some delicious sushi. After having a late and semi-drunk evening the night before Pedro and I stuffed our faces and headed home. We found out the next day that they party continued until 4am that night and felt a little old.

Saturday we relaxed for a bit before heading out to Lima's Chinatown. It is a main strip of Chinese restaurants and stores close to the center of Lima. Pedro took me to a restaurant he used to go to back when he was in highschool with some of his friends, which had amazing Chinese wontons that I definitely consumed at a rapid rate. We then walked around the city center for a bit and went for some late night ice cream at my favourite ice cream parlour in Parque Kennedy. It's an old school parlour where you can get your ice cream made into random designs, like Micky which is two scoops with oreos for ears in a waffle cone cup, or a little skier make out of licorice on top of your ice cream. It's crazy and delicious. Ice cream here is a little different than anywhere I've tasted as it is actually really icy, kind of with little icy pieces in it. Not the consistency that I like the most but yummy nonetheless.

Saturday night we were supposed to have a 'little get together' with some friends which turned into an all-out massive party in our apartment. We had about 20 or so people altogether but moving in and out of the apartment so it worked out okay. A number of vodka shots, vodka rebulls and pisco sours later I ended up a mess at 5am eating sandwichon and fries covered in mayo to mask the spicy ass aji sauce I originally covered them in. The next morning I woke up with a terrible terrible hangover at 9am because we still have no damn curtains and the light just loves staring me in the face. An hour and a bit later I decided I was mad at Pedro for sleeping through the sun so I woke him up and made him go get ceviche and corn with me. Pedro's cousins, Lucia, Raul and Blanca, had invited us to a soccer, ahem futbol game Sunday afternoon between two rivaling Limean teams so right after lunch we headed over to the stadium. To 80,000 screaming Peruvian fans and a private booth to watch the game. It was absolutely mindblowing, terrifying and amazing all at once. I've included some pictures. After that we grabbed a pizza and went home to our discusting apartment. Every single glass was used and all over the place, so gross!

It is now almost 5pm and I am absolutely exhausted from my morning classes and staying up late preparing lesson plans for my classes last night. I am going to nap, so enjoy these pictures and I'll write again soon. Still so much to tell!

Pictures of My Neighbourhood

Some pictures of the walk I took yesterday while applying for schools. The ones close to the ocean are of a sort of boardwalk area that lines the cliffs. In a couple of the pictures you can see Larcomar, a mall that sticks out from the mountains. The ones in the pretty park and the colonial building are Parque Kennedy, the center of the district. The first picture is the sidewalk (in the middle of the street) of Av. Jose Pardo, which connects to our street.

Settling In

So I have arrived in Peru and I miss you all already! The plane ride was awesome, 8 hours and actually good food. Our apartment is fantastic, I love it and now that we're getting all set up it's getting better each day. It is literally, and I'm not kidding, five minute walk to the waterfront, 10 minute walk to the center of the district called Parque Kennedy, and 10 minutes in another direction to every single restaurant you can imagine and 2 grocery stores, one of which is 24hours. Oh, its even 10 minutes walk from the Canadian Embassy!

Thursday I ran a ton of errands with Pedro, who took the day off to get me settled. Somehow I managed to get pounds of sheesha and my hookah across airport security without them even batting an eyelash, but unfortunately one of the tubs spilled in my toiletries bag, so I washed those off as we got our internet and phone installed. We went to two different banks who downright refused to give me the money for my bank draft, so I am literally without money. I have 50 soles in cash, so like a twenty. I've been using my visa everywhere but it kind of sucks because the exchange rate from CAN to SOL is so much more than US to SOL and I have all of my money in a US bank account in Canada. Oh well. My mom is going to wire me my money over these next couple of weeks so I'll live. We did a big grocery trip but still managed to forget to buy salt and pepper (we bought shakers, but not S&P). I think we took two an a half hours there because I made Pedro read every nutritional label for me. My house is a haven of healthy goods :) After that we went to this gigantic Bed, Bath and Beyond sort of place in one of the main malls and bought things for the house we were missing i.e. dish rack, garbage cans, pots and pans, shower curtain and a pen shaped as an eggplant with a magnet for the fridge which I deemed absolutely essential. We need curtains for both the balcony and the bedroom window which I am regretting not purchasing as I have the side of the bed close to the window and that shit is bright at 7am. It's not sunny but its not overcast like it gets in Toronto; its kind of like what the city looks like sometimes when it's covered in mist that is really high up, so like a light grey brightness. It's not depressing at all, which is what I was actually afraid of. After that we headed over to his parents' house to steal, ahem, pick up a few more items and say hello. His parents have been incredibly inviting to me: when I got here Wednesday night there was a little gift wrapped up on my bed from his mom with some cute stuff for the house, and his dad bought me some flowers to say hello. It's nice to know that they already feel a connection with me like I feel with them; they treat me like I'm a part of the family. After that, it was about 10pm and I was feeling the hunger as they had some delicious Chinese dumplings and wine on the table that I somehow withheld from eating, so we went home and I cooked some tilapia we picked up that day. Without salt and pepper. Somehow still delicious! Then passed out. We are an hour behind Toronto here and I was exhausted.

Friday morning we headed to the Peruvian Immigration office (damn early) to get my visa stuff settled. It didn't take very long at all, despite getting a little lost on the way. Pedro having a car is fantastic, and each part of the city is just that much different than the other that I get excited every time we drive through a new roundabout and see some palm trees and statues in the middle of the street, or a massive colonial Spanish building or chapel with a olive tree park in front of it. For my visa, I got a stamp on my passport that gives me until August 30th to get a job. Once I get a contract for the job, I can legally sign it without consequence, bring it to the office, and they give me a Peruvian identification card that says I am a legal worker in Peru. Then I can open my own bank accounts and finally be completely settled.

After our Visa adventure, Pedro dropped me off at home and went to work while I got ready and went for a jog. I ran about 30 seconds to reach the waterfront parks, which are actually a line of parks all connected on the edge of cliffs that overlook the ocean. You can see the beach down at the bottom and all of the Limean coastline as you are running along paths they have made for bikers and runners. It is absolutely breathtaking. They also have a huge running community in Lima; Pedro and I are about to walk down to the Adidas store (about three blocks away) and sign up for the Lima Half-Marathon in a couple of minutes. Having completed my jog, I walked to two different grocery stores and picked up a few things. I wanted to go to the Canadian Embassy and check out any programs or classes they offer for Canadians but for some reason every governmental office in Peru has ridiculous hours and it was closed by one o'clock. Came home, fixed up the house a bit, walked around a bit more and attempted to make dinner. I say attempted because I had put all the ingredients together for a great sheppard's pie when we realized the oven was broken. We called the landlord to come down and fix it but didn't expect him to arrive in half an hour, otherwise we would have waited instead of eating everything. Of course, my not-so-superior cooking skills and Pedro's not-so-superior knowledge of the kitchen meant that we just didn't know how to turn it on. Ha!

I went a little crazy at the duty free in Canada.. two litres of vodka and a litre of coconut rum for 50$. I actually pumped my fist in exhaltation in the grocery store when I saw that 750mL of vodka here is 62soles (20 bucks) and I saved some cash. So last night we definitely had to celebrate this money-saving discovery and took advantage of my purchases.. which I am slightly regretting this morning. We walked to Pedro's favourite bar called Huaringas that specializes in pisco sours, the traditional drink of Peru. It's made with pisco, an incredibly strong liquer distilled from grapes, egg white, a simple syrup, limes and a little cinnamon they sprinkle on top. This place made them in all different flavours - mango, berries, grape, coconut - delicious. Instead of peanuts at the bar they have these huge corn kernels covered in salt and I am absolutely addicted. Bars are open and serve drinks until the last person leaves at night, and grocery stores sell liquer. Fair to say it was a pretty late night.

After a nice hungover breakfast I am now getting ready to walk to a number of gyms in our area and possibly sign up for a membership as I am itching to get back on the fitness routine. I may go to a 4th of July BBQ being thrown by the American and Canadian Association of Peru this afternoon to meet up with some English-speaking expats. Tonight we are going to dinner with Pedro's cousin Miguel and his girlfriend Pia who I met when I was in Peru earlier this year. Hopefully I can get some good Peruvian food as I haven't had the chance yet to go to a restaurant. Sunday we are heading to Pedro's aunt and uncle's house (Tia Lucia and Tio Raul) for some deliciously unhealthy food and good company. People throw huge get-togethers here every weekend it seems, with alot of food and alot of booze. Next week I already have an interview lined up for a school to pick up some hours and today on my walk I will be writing down school names close to me so I can apply to them. Pretty busy!

I'll try and update this weekly. Keep in touch and tell me how you're doing at home!

My Life on a Website

Bridget suggested I start this blog off by mentioning the trips I've taken over the years so the people who don't know about many of them realize me moving to Peru isn't that crazy after all. I agreed with her. My little list, minus the family trips.

Synopsis of my Travelling Career:
March 2002 - Paris, France; Nice, France; Avnignon, France; Milan, Italy
June 2003 - Cayo Coco, Cuba
June - July 2003 - (backpacking) Edinburgh and surrounding areas, Scotland; London, England; Paris, France; Italy
March 2004 - Panama City, Panama; San Jose and surrounding areas, Costa Rica; Bogota, Colombia
July 2004 - Varadero, Cuba
August 2004 - Portland, Maine
February 2005 - Varadero, Cuba
February 2006 - Mont Tremblant, Quebec; Varadero, Cuba
February 2008 - Huatulco, Mexico
April 2009 - Lima, Peru

I think the list is correct but in all honesty I can't remember some of the dates. See, I've got a history of the travel bug! Maybe I'll put up some pictures if I can dig them out of 'the box' containing all evidence of these trips made before the era of digital photography.

Also, since the request has gone out to see my apartment in Peru, here is a picture of the living room from the kitchen. Everything is set up and ready to go, so I cannot wait to move in! I should be scared I guess, I mean I'm moving 6000 miles away from everything I've ever known, but I'm just excited.

I'll miss you all! Keep in touch or I'll hunt you down when I come to visit :)