today was a peruvian military-dedicated holiday, so my host mom and oriana were home today, which i enjoyed. our schedules are often opposite since i'm home all day and have class more in the evenings. so i definitely enjoy spending time with them this morning. we had breakfast and coffee together and ended up having a 2 hour conversation about lots of stuff like peruvian history and sendero luminoso and how my mom remembers Lima during that time (fairly recent!), about the american stereotype, about differences between our countries and lots more..
anyways, something my mom told me that really surprised me is that while Sendero Luminoso was still existent in Lima, they used to surround her university to spy on everyone and so did the government officials to find suspected terrorists. she explained to me how the police and the military were violent forces even against citizens during this time as a means to eliminate the reds.. and how today the right-wing political parties in Perú still accuse the leftists of being senderists. (ironic...) and while the elections for the city mayor were recent, they're being recalculated and carefully re-examined by lawyers for the possibility of having been rigged.. in favor of Lourdes, the right-wing candidate. Anyways, they've estimated 12 more days (as of about 2 days ago) until the winner is announced.. Susana Villarde (i think thats her last name) is the left-wing candidate, more of a socialist... the major difference between Lourdes & Susana is that Lourdes has a focus of more economic development (metro system and improved train systems throughout the country for the most part) while Susana's approach is more in the direction of social development being as important as economic development.. so probably less technological advancement, but more of a social advance. from my perspective, and maybe somewhat biased, i hope Susana wins. If Lourdes does, I think the social gaps that exist here and are terribly evident will only increase.. How can you only think of economic advancement when your country is still constantly impacted by extremist social tensions?
good news, passed my 2nd international relations control (by a hair), but i passed nonetheless.
midterms are coming up, ive got another 6 page paper to write on 2 books im never gonna have time to read in time and of course, more work with my fair trade research.
i met with my tutor today and next week i'll be surveying a sample of customers at the café where we meet and he owns (http://arabicaespressobar.blogspot.com/). it's a quantitative approach to figure out what the general population that go to a fair trade café actually know and think about fair trade.. i like it, and am really excited to see the results.
i also have an interview to schedule next week the the liaison officer of FLO (Fairtrade Labeling Organization International). Pretty awesome the contacts my tutor is helping me get in touch with.
After the survey and my 3rd interview, I'll be working on designing flyers to raise awareness about the fair trade processes and successes that exist in Perú.
what else...
the rest of this weekend is STUDYING.
but there is a seemingly wonderful indian restaurant near my house that i'll be going to tomorrow night with my intercambio group :) very exciteddddd!
next week my host mom and oriana (sister) are going to be in argentina all week to visit my host brother who studies there.. I think while they're gone I want to make a pumpkin pie from scratch to surprise them with for when they come home.. they celebrate halloween here and import pumpkins (despite it's spring here).. but they don't have pumpkin foods here and you don't get much more american than pumpkin pie. unless of course, it's apple pie.
wish me sanity this coming week.. i'll need it.
PS... today is the 1/2way point of my program here... I'll be home in 68 days. (I think it's 68 off hand?)
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