Home Sick

2-8-11

I’ve kept it together this whole time, but last night something broke and I suddenly felt really sad and homesick. It’s the little things I miss. I think part of it is that since I have this blog my friends know about every little thing I do and can conceptualize what my experience is like, while I know absolutely nothing about them. It’s been so long since I’ve talked to most people! I didn’t think that I could use the internet at any time because I have to go upstairs and wake them up in order to use it, but today my host sister (thank god) told me that I can use it anytime. I’ve been wondering lately when I’ll ever get to talk to my sister since our time zones are so far apart. My host mom suggested that one night when I go out and get back at like 2 that I should just stay up and talk to her, which would be about 8 AM. This sounds like a good idea to me. Get prepared Julie. Hope you like early morning weekend skype calls. Before lunch I broke down again and felt really sad and Olivia proposed that we set up a day each week where we all go to the center during lunch and eat lunch together, away from our families. Then if it becomes a regular thing we don’t have to ask permission to miss lunch every time. Good idea!

SIT changed several things about the program for this semester and I’m not sure that they were good changes. It used to be that classes were held in the center of town and you were given a stipend for lunch so you could go eat out with friends instead of being obligated to come all the way home, which was about a 15 minute taxi ride, or 45 minute walk, away. Having class there would mean that you could go explore on your own and enjoy the city, whereas I feel trapped in this little neighborhood a lot of the time. The fact that I’m obviously foreign and thus obviously wealthier than most Peruvians makes me a target and it makes it a lot harder for me to have the freedom to do what I want to do. I do not enjoy that lack of freedom and the feeling of entrapment, nor am I accustomed to it.

After lunch we heard our second lecture, today about precolombian art, specifically the pumaruni (puma man) deity that appears in the art of multiple civilizations over the course of thousands of years. Our lecturer today was Swiss and had a silly accent in Spanish, but she did a good job. I also learned that when my host mom said that she didn’t have a washer it didn’t mean that I have to go find a Laundromat, which I did, but that she would wash my clothes by hand. I don’t know how comfortable I feel about this. I don’t even have my own mother wash my clothes by hand.. I do. But it’s getting dire and I need clean clothes!

After class a bunch of us went to the Plaza de Armas to go explore, which I was happy about. On the way home we were impeded by a large parade for Keiko Fujimori, or just Keiko, a candidate for president in the next election. I hope she doesn’t win. I don’t know her exact politics, but she is the daughter of the former President Fujimori who is currently serving thirty years in prison for human rights abuses etc… I can’t imagine that her politics are so different from her father’s. Anyways, it was nice to get out of Santa Ursula and see the actual city. After lunch in general I started feeling better. I also had a really good dinner with my host parents and we laughed and talked about various things. They wanted to see photos of my family etc., so I showed them. They thought Julie was me! Apparently the hilarious grandparents don’t actually live here, but were just visiting for the baptism. I’m a little sad, but it makes it a little less strange. Apparently other people don’t live with families that are nearly so large! But anyway, we went to the centro and walked around. Casey was on the hunt for an ice cream sandwich, but for the most part we just wandered. We came across some Argentinian street performers on the street with scary mannequins and they were great! But then again, I’m a sucker for most street performers. They definitely didn’t need the money, they were probably going to just go buy a beer afterwards. Alma wanted to stay and talk to them to ask where in Argentina they were from and then they just flirted away! Alma called one guy a Chaullero, or something along those lines, to which he took offense. I think she said it means that he is overly flirtacious or cheesy? Not sure if that’s even how you spell it.

Then I went home to eat dinner (aka dessert), as I said, then went to see Olivia and Allina. We had planned to watch a movie, and so we did! Luckily we all enjoy dumb comedies. Olivia lives with Celia’s old family, so it was strange to go there and think, “Whoa, I know someone who lived here, even though this house is totally foreign to me.” Strange, I know. The day certainly improved and I’m feeling much better than I did earlier today. I don’t think I need to put these limitations on myself. I should, however, do the reading!

Paqarinkama.

xo Claire

ps- Of the two useless languages that I’ve picked up a bit of, Basque and Quechua, I definitely prefer Basque. Sorry Quechua, I’m just never going to excel at speaking or remembering how to pronounce you.