Hey all,
I hope things are going well at home. Peace corps is going well. Today, I basically stay in my community of huascaran all day today. I have language classes at my house, with 4 other volunteers and a teacher, before lunch, and after lunch, myself and two other volunteers have to knock on doors and ask questions about the community. We are doing a survey. We need a map of the community and a weekly schedual from each of them. This way, we can see what is important to different genders and ages, and what people think is important. Its alot more work than it sounds, and take more time than it sounds. It takes about 40 minutes to do both per person. But it will definitely help me with my spanish!

Speaking of which, I can already feel the difference in my language skills. I speak faster, and know more vocab words.

I had my Lima excursion. It was great! We went to the city center where the president lives, the main plaza, the cathedral, and eat near the center. They have this thing they call a "menu" which costs $4 and you eat an appetizer, a full meal, a dessert and a drink all together. Its pretty cheap, and pretty good. I had lamb with beans and rice, a typical peruvian dish. It was pretty good, but the lamb was so tough it was hard to chew, so I actually didnt eat all of it. They never give out steak knives either, so I tried to cut my tough meat with a butter knife. Obviously, that didnt work so well.
We also went to Miraflores, which is very commercial. I saw more white people there than peruvians! This is the first time since arriving at Peru that I was other white people. It was quite the surprise. There are other gringos here besides us! Miraflores has a big plaza, and lots and lots of shopping. I actually bought some trail runners so I can hike mountains finally! I only brought one pair of tennis shoes, and those were definitely going to chew my feet if I did any strenuous activity in them. We also saw the beach, the Pacific ocean, and a shopping mall right next to the beach that looked like it should have been in California. It was pretty cold, and definitely not swimming weather. My family said that it isnt really sunny in Lima, almost never. Mostly because there is so many clouds and smog from the city. I am not sure if its only in the winter and fall that its not sunny, or the entire year. Theres kind of a big lanuage barrier between us. Other people say its sunny in Lima in the summer.
After the beach, we went in search for some drinks to relax a bit. These Friday outings are pretty important to us. We dont really have any time to ourselves. This is a small amount of time in which we can relax and talk to eachother about the week, out expreiences, our families, and what we would eat from the US if we could!

I am putting a few photos of my community on my site today, so you should check them out!!
Happy Travels,
Teigan