trembling earth, classes, horrible weather

i can't believe i forgot to tell all you northerners... I felt a temblor!! which is like a mini earthquake.. when the ground trembles a little bit. HOW AWESOME! :) I thoughtso anyways. it was really no big deal actually, but I had never before experienced one. I don't hope for an earthquake, but if there were a little one that I could feel and know that everything would be fine, It would be cool to experience.. my host sister was explaining to me the other night how she felt the 2007 earthquake.. it lasted for a minute and some people coulnt even walk beacause of how the earth was moving.. I can't imagine.

So classes started today. Our required Spanish course is going to teach me so much! Our professor mumbles her spanish and has a half peruvian/half spanish (spain) accent, but I will learn soooo much in this class. I am very happy about the quality of this spanish class compared to the quality of my ¨honors¨ spanish courses at Temple.

This week is a ¨shopping week¨ for interexchange students, so we get to try out different classes to decide what we would like to sign up for officially for the semester. So my next class was econ... because the description actually sounded really interesting. I got to this class and was waiting outside for like 20 min with 6 peruvians and no prof showed up.. so we went to look at the schedules and we were waiting at room 305, when it was 306... the prof would not let us into the class and was kinda rude about it, considering it was an error somewhere on the website and it was 20min in to a 2hour class on the first day.. so i just left and rolled last class off of my list of options.

To kill time I went to a sociology class (the study of the obvious) with a friend in my program.. this class actually seemed pretty interesting and like it would be a good opportunity to practice conversational spanish in group discussions about topics I feel confidently, despite the language, discussing. The prof was really easy going and funny and easy to understand and the class seems interesting enough to take for a semester, so I am considering it. My hostmom knows the prof, too, because she works at a University where he used to teach, and she is fond of him as a prof, too. Who woulda thought I would ever sign up for soc?...

Next I went to Quechua I.. I really liked the professor and learned some basic Quechua phrases.. It was a 2 hour course but considering I had been sitting in classes all day, it was hard to not feel like I wanted to nap.. But I got to participate in the class on the first day and I didn't screw up, lol, so that was a success.. I also learned how to say some basic greetings/phrases in Quechua :) very cool language.. This class is a backup option for if I cant get into my first choice classes, but I liked it. I was surprised to learn how widely spread the language is still spoken throughout all of South America, I had thought it was mostly concentrated in Peru and Bolivia. Some of the sounds used in Quechua reminded me of Arabic letters I learned in my Arabic class at PhilaU.. also a lot of sounds similar to English sounds..

Finally, for the last 3 hours of my day until 9pm I was in Peruvian Social Reality.... yikes... I really have a great impression of the Prof who is half pakistani and half japanese living in Peru and his spanish was very clear. The class seems like it will be a challenge for me, considering it's a blend of history (which is not my strong subject) and politics (again..), but the topics that are laid out in the syllabus seem half interesting and half painful to me... the end of the course focuses on immigration/religion, but all of the political stuff just tends to go in one ear and out the other for me.. so it will be a challenging class.. He also gave us a story from the 60s in Lima to read and discuss in class.. I underlined a jillion words I didn't understand that I wanted to look up and when we had a class discussion on it I felt like Id understood the story but couldnt convey what I wanted to say before the same 3 people who always do the talking raise their hands.. so it was kind of frustrating because spanish still takes a moment for me to process mentally.

However, overall I am pleased with my 2 required classes and still up in the air with what other 2 courses I will take.. I really want to take at least one business course but most of the ones I could take meet on Saturdays-- NOT happening.. why are sat classes so popular here?? So tomorrow Im going to some upper level business courses to check out, but I dont think I have the proper pre-reqs so Idno how that'll go..

Anyways, I learned more Spanish today in one day than I did in a semester class at school... hopefully it eventually becomes easier to memorize and speak.. because my strength right now is definitely writing.

I think I am going to see Cirque de Soliel in Lima with my host-mom and gma!!! Tickets are only like $50 for me!!!! SOOO excited!!!!!! :)

also, I am sick... like winter cold sick.. because its freezing here!! and i feel like im always outside because even the house is cold and humid!!! i cant get a warm moment.. cold showers, cold bedroom, cold weather, cold everywhere.... i shoulda brought more hoodies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! or more warm clothes to say the least... grrr, i miss pittsburgh weather. i never thought i'd say that. i also thought i'd never say i miss philadelphia transportation, septa, but i do. this whole combi thing is giving me scoliosis. How do people here do it? my bed is like a twin size rock an i am taller than most peruvians so i hunch into the combis for 2 hours everyday. good thing 1hr massages are only $20.. im going to need to see a chiropractor when I come home.

next weekend a few people in my program are thinking of going to the mountains to hike 8 hours from lima, im hoping this plan gets executed because I need to be in the beautiful nature again!!!! im missing the outdoorsy experience....