ISP Progress!

3-14-11

· Hooray! I don’t feel so very behind anymore! This morning we had another successful Spanish class in which we reviewed more easy but useful grammatical aspects of Spanish. Then we talked about the religion of the Inkas and I was, once again, so fascinated by the information our teacher had to share. Luz is five times better at teaching than Janet (my Quechua teacher).

· I have to do a project on Sacsayhuaman, which I’m excited about, because now I have a good reason to go there! I miss learning things and working! Maybe I can go there on Saturday, although I’m going to Tipon with my host mom, my neighbor, and McClain on Sunday. There are some many things I want to do here still!

· Interesting seminar, but it was all over the map. Apparently 1/5 of all the gold in circulation in the world today was taken from the Inkas by the Spaniards. Nuts! We also learned this in cruz del condor, but the coca cola bottle is shaped like the Coca seed and Cola is a sweet tree used medicinally in India. First it was a tonic, then they started bottling it. The red and white of Coca Cola is Peru’s flag. Why does no one know this?

· Trip to Amazon aka Manu might be cancelled due to rain wiping out roads.

· Emailed documentarian! Success! He gave me some ideas and contacts. I should meet up with him in lima when I’m there for ISP. Where to live in Lima?

· SUCCESS with Donaldo! We defined my ISP a lot! I need to research Caretas and 1973, 1985, 1993, and have to be in Lima. At last, something definitive! I’m getting super excited about this, even though I think I’m starting to like Cusco more and more.

· Fun dinner with just the girls. I watched HP 1 in Spanish and played with Sebas. I’m amazed at how many words he’s learned, and how quickly he’s learned, in just the time that I’ve been here.

· Then I emailed my CELS advisor and started writing a cover letter for an internship that I’d really like to get!

· Ate Anticucho for dinner, it is actually quite delicious!

Sorry for the bullet points, but it was the easiest way to organize this at the time.

xoxo,

Claire