The Daily Life

July 2^nd, 2006 Santa Eulalia, Peru

The Daily Life

Wow. Those three little letters can mean so much sometime. That word probably is the best descriptor of my time so far. I cannot believe that I have only been here 10 days. For these are not normal days. Each day brings new challenges like ones I have never encountered before.

Language:

This is definitely the best way to learn a language. Every day I make a 10 minute walk to the training center. Here I spend at least 3 to 6 hours in a language class. But this is quite more productive if you actually want to learn to speak. There are only three others in my class besides myself and my profesora. The class revolves around conversation. It is also a lot cooler than any other Spanish class I have ever taken because we take field trips to the plaza where we are forced to converse with people and must return with information from questions asked.

I got placed in the intermediate low level so I am about in the middle of the pack. The basic description of my level is that I can survive adequately to satisfy the majority of my needs. But the desire to express myself more completely with both my host family and those I encounter has served as motivation to learn the language with regular proficiency.

Food

My diet pretty much consist of rice, potatoes and some random meet added. Sometimes it is quite good and other times it is extremely bland. Unfortunately they don’t keep salt and pepper shakers on the table here. Thus, I have to ask for it which could be awkward or offensive. Recently, they have been putting this stuff called “aji” on the table. It is made from a chili pepper and is kind of like Tabasco but much much better. If the food sucks, I just put that junk over it and mask the taste.

The drinks here are what is crazy. First of all, they don’t pour drinks at the beginning of the meal, they wait until about three-fourths of the meal into it and then serve drinks. Although, I have not quite figured out if this is just my family. The array of drinks is even crazier. Most meals are served with either agua de apio or agua de papas. That is celery water or water enhanced with a potato pulp. Definitely different stuff. The Coca-Cola here is tremendous because it is made with real sugar.

My nutrition somewhat lacks because vegetables seem to show up far and in between. This is actually somewhat a point of frustration because the vegetables are actually extremely cheap relative to the prices in the States. I have not figured out whether they are expensive here relative to income or if people just do not incorporate them into their diets because it is not how they traditionally eat.