One Month In

It's been one month now and I still haven't started school. It's actually really annoying because I've never wanted to be at school so much before in my life. It's a strange sensation.
On the other hand, I've had a lot of time to work on my Spanish with my family, and get to know the area that I live a bit better. Good Suggestion: If you can, purchase a map, it's really helpful when your brain goes kapoot on you and you don't remember things.

In this month, what can I look back on?
I'll be honest, my memory is a little blurry because all I've done is eaten cake. Lots and lots of cake. One person has a birthday, we eat cake. Two people share a birthday, we eat cake. One person who lives in a pretty wealthy home has a birthday, we have two cakes and jelly. So much cake, not enough belly! But I think I can recall a few cool things.

Last Saturday I went to the Club Internacional with my family. It's sort of a cross between a Sports Club and a Country Club. My host father was racing in a swimming race, however, my sister and I both slept in and missed it. That didn't stop us from watching the other races. I found it really cool, because believe it or not, the races were INTERNATIONAL. There were people from the frontiers, Bolivia and Chile as well as from different cities in Peru.

After the competiton was complete, we all headed to a Typical Arequipeñian Resturant, from which the name escapes me. I had the option to try Cuy (Guinea Pig), but I think I'll leave that till later on, when I'm feeling more Peruano. This was a really cool event because some of the competitors performed traditional dances; from Perù, Bolivia and Chile. It was a really cool way to see more of the culture of South America, and the music was fantastic!!!

Later on that evening, I went with my sister and her friends to a local concert in one of the parks. It was really fun music, as it was a Reggae band from Peru, and they had incorperated Rock, Reggae and Traditional Peruvian Music all into one, by using local instruments.

Now, my night didn't end there. Six of us piled into a taxi and headed off to El Centro de la Ciudad. We walked around for a bit, then settled in a nice place where they had a live band playing, yet again, Reggae. This time I feel I enjoyed it more as it was in a more isolated atmosphere and one of the guys in the band played the melodica! Woo, Emma you have to learn to play like him!!!

The next day, after arriving home at 3am, we went out to lunch at another resturant. Man, there are some really nice places here. The name of this Resturant was 'Bon Gourmet', and inside there were actually two resturants. This meant people could choose different types of food, which I thought was pretty cool. I ended up eating some Argentino Grilled Chicken, probably some of the best chicken I have ever eaten. Whilst we ate, they had tranditional performances from La Sierra, the mountains (where Arequipa is situated). Yet again simply amazing, and I know now I have to learn to play one of the instruments.

In the evening I went to the fiesta de cumpleaños (birthday party) of Juliette, the other girl here with AFS on her exchange from France. It was really cool to catch up =) and I think she had a really great time. We both found out that we will have to travel abroad because our visa runs out at some point, so Chilè here we come!!! But in January, we think.

That's all for now. Hopefully the next time I make a post, I will have begun school.

Peace out,

Liam in Perù.