Las Aventuras en Perú: Semana de Examenes

Since I returned from Trujillo two Monday´s ago, September 28th, I´ve been pretty busy with schoolwork preparing for midterms. I had a lot of work to finish up for my photography class, since I had my written exam last week and I also had to prepare a notebook with all of my photos and excercises from the semester. This week I had my exam for Peruvian Social Reality, and this coming week I have my exam for Spanish. It´s nice to be basically done with midterms and I am planning on just relaxing and enjoying my weekend!

Two weeks ago, the week that we returned from Trujillo, the HC girls, our friend Guillermo, and I got together to watch the movie Máncora, which is a fairly recent Peruvian film. It was really cool to see the movie because a lot of the scenes took place in familiar places in Lima and a lot of the scenes portrayed certain things specific to Peruvian culture and language. On that Friday, Meredith and I decided to stay in for the night to finally get some homework done because we knew we would have a busy day on Saturday.

On Saturday, I went into school early to finish up printing some photos for my midterm and then in the afternoon Guillermo´s family invited us over for lunch. All of the Holy Cross girls and all of the girls who live in my house went to his house and his mom cooked us a feast! It included a bunch of my favorite Peruvian foods: causa, ceviche, ají de gallina, and more. When we thought we we couldn´t possibly eat more, his mom brought out deserts and cake! I felt like I had just eaten Thanksgiving dinner but it was all so tasty and it was so nice of his family to have us all over. On Saturday night we all met up with Fernando, Juan Pa, and some other friends to go to a Peña. A Peña is a place that is kind of like a discoteca and a show combined. Everyone gets to dance and in between you go back to your table and watch the show. There is a live band that plays typical música criolla like Afro-peruvian music. In the middle of the show, some of our friend tricked Meredith, Ana Maria, and I into voluteering to go up onto the stage when they asked if there were any foreigners there. We ended up each having to go in the middle of the dance floor alone, answer questions, and then dance by ourselves while everyone was watching! It was one of the most embarrasing things I´ve ever had to do, but it certainly made for an interesting night!

Besides just studying for exams, last week I got to go see a few different performances. On Monday night Meg, Guillermo, and I went to a modern dance show that was recommended by Meg´s Modern Dance class teacher. I have never seen this type of dance, but the show was a very interesting portrayal of feminism. On Wednesday, I went to an improv show which was really funny. I was a little nervous before going that I wouldn´t be able to understand enough of such a fast-speaking comedy, but I understood enough to really enjoy the show which is a good sign! On Friday we went to a show by the Afro-peruvian music group Peru Negro. The performance was a mix of Afro-peruvian singing and dance, and it really amazes me at how the dancers can move their bodies in so many ways! I have been taking an Afro-Peruvian dance class every Thursday and it certainly has been a challenge!

This past Saturday, I invited Meredith and my friend from photography class Karen to come with me to an event at one of my volunteer sights. At the shelter for children with HIV, there was a theater performance that a bunch of the kids that I work with had been planning for a while. It was so cute to see them all perform their little skits and they were all dressed up in costumes. After, Karen, Meredith, and I went back to our favorite Gastronomic Festival to share a wonderful lunch of ceviche, pollo enrollado, and sopa seca. On Saturday night, we went to Meg and Jen´s house for a mini-fiesta because Jen has a friend from the US visiting and after we went out to a discoteca called Drama.

I spent the days Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday preparing for and taking my Peruvian Social Reality and Ecology midterms. I was so happy to finally be finished and to be able to relax on Tuesday. We had another movie night on Tuesday and I went to the movies on Wednesday in Lince. Since the department of General Studies (where I have Ecology and Social Reality) does not have classes this week due to midterms, I was able to go into the hospital to volunteer this morning as well as tomorrow. I absolutely love working at the hospital, and I am going to write more about the hospital in my next entry.

Thats all for now! This weekend should be fun since I don´t have a lot of homework. We are planning on going to the market Gamarra on Saturday which is a huge market with tons of items for very low prices. Of course we will be well-accompanied by our male Peruvian friends, because it´s smart to go to Gamarra with someone who knows what they are doing since it is not in the best area.

Nos vemos!
Michelle

El show de Peru Negro