Mi Ultima Semana

This is technically the last blog I have to write because classes are over, but I’m going to write one on my upcoming travels. On Friday the 100^th day in Peru was met!! I spent it laying in my bed and drinking tea all day because I decided to get a cold. All weekend while everyone was in Iquitos enjoying the Amazon, I was trying not to die of a cold. My host mom had me gargling lime juice and it actually helped! I didn’t do anything too interesting over the weekend so I’ll skip ahead to Sunday and the rest of the week.

The best group of girls I had the honor of spending 4 months in a foreign country with. 

Sunday was spent at my host dad’s brother’s house. We ate chicken and pork out of this cylinder thing. I’m pretty sure it was basically a smoker. I got to meet more family and practice my Spanish some more. Because of the traveling I have coming up, I had to say good bye to Martin, Jenny, Fabrizio, and Rafaela. I wasn’t expecting it and almost burst into tears in the middle of the nice family gathering. Somehow I held it together and we said our good bye’s.  

On Tuesday we got a taste of what it was like to be famous for a little bit. We thought we were just going to visit a school and observe in the classroom. We were totally wrong. All of the students were gathered in the courtyard of the school in front of a stage. They had a flag ceremony, sang us their national anthem, people danced, we introduced ourselves and sang "The Star Spangled Banner". Then we were bombarded with kids trying to take our pictures and get our autographs. I am not kidding. True story. We went into different classrooms and answered their questions. Some of the students even stood up to ask us a question. We were trying to walk back to the teacher lounge for some food they had prepared for us and the teachers had to body guard the students off of us so we didn’t have to sign as many autographs. It was absolutely crazy and I decided to give up on my dreams of becoming famous. I would not want to deal with that every day. Even though it was kinda fun for one day.

I had to talk in front of all these kids and I my heart was racing
so fast that I probably burned major calories.

These wonderful girls decided to pull me out and make a fool
of myself trying to salsa. Worth it. 

I told Rob he would feel powerful if he did this,
he enjoyed it way more than he let on. 

Last night we celebrated the end of our finals with our professors and our foreign exchange coordinator. We had so much fun... shed some tears, told great stories, taught our teachers how to Wop, and our teachers taught us one more lesson: how to salsa. The night was a legen-wait for it-dary. Legendary.

Monica: our exchange coordinator
and Rob: our grammar and conversation
professor, repping their new UNK gear

Since we celebrated 100 days in Peru, here are 100 things I love about Peru! Just kidding but I have been here 15 weeks so here are 15 things I love about Peru.

15. Something new to experience every day.

14. THE BEACH

13. The guys that ride around on bikes selling bread in the mornings.

12. Fruit. I know this goes with food, but the fruit is unbelievably amazing.

11. The food. Oh the food.

10. How cheap almost everything is!

9. Inca Kola. That yellow drink that tastes like bubble gum really grew on me.

8. Hanging my clothes to dry.

7. The laid back attitudes.

6. Of course I love the culture.

5. Dancing!

4. Greeting people with a kiss on the cheek.

3. The language.

2. The people that are usually very kind.

1. My host family. I would not have been able to make it this far without my amazing host family. From them taking me to the beach, visiting ruins, and talking with me, to welcoming me into their family. Ustedes nunca sabrán cuánto impactaron en mi vida. En inglés no puedo explicar o dar suficiente gracias por todo.

I will only post one more blog I promise! I’m so excited to do some traveling this weekend and tell you all about it!

Classes are over and summer has arrived. Enjoy your weekend,

Mariah

Peru, Nebraska

“Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller." – IBN Battuta

That quote could not be truer. I have been speechless on countless occasions while in Peru and now I have so many stories to tell. I can’t fit them all into my blog, otherwise you would be reading a novel every Thursday. All of those speechless occasions have either shown me a different way to look at the world or brought me closer to God. Or both.

Ministry of Education - Look at the architecture!

I don’t have very many crazy stories for you this week. Last weekend I was given the opportunity to go to the Ministry of Education building and I took it. The building was shaped like books stacked on top of each other and we were able to see many different parts of the building. We were joking a lot that it could have been like the Ministry of Magic from Harry Potter and I’m not going to lie, there were different things in there that could have been Ministry of Magic material (like a hall of elevators that could have been fireplaces). I also met some more Peruvian people my age and one of them taught me how to salsa! Finally! My last month in Peru and somebody finally taught me how to salsa! It is surprisingly close to swing dancing.

I'm so fortunate this girl talked me
into coming to Peru! 

The guy on the far right taught me how to salsa!
Gracias Angelo!

There is a sushi place here close to campus called Makimono’s that we love SOOO much. The owners even know who we are and when we walk by. And they make a point to wave and say hello. Other than eating sushi, watching Netflix, studying for some hard tests next week, and hanging out with my friends, I have not done anything too wild.

I forgot to mention that elections were on Sunday for the new president of Peru. They were not allowed to buy or drink alcohol from 8 a.m. on Saturday until 8 a.m. on Monday. Everybody is required to vote here, otherwise they get fined. All of the voting happens on Sunday and they use computers on different Universities or facilities. They voted for 13 candidates, I think, and there was not a clear winner so they have to vote again for the top 3 in June. 

Of all the places I have been in Peru, there is always a conversation that goes like this (in Spanish of course):

Peruvian: “Where are you from?”

Mariah: “Nebraska in the United States. It is right in the middle.”

Peruvian: “Nebraska Peru? Like the commercial?”

Mariah: “Yes except I have never been to Peru, Nebraska.”

Here is the link to a commercial made in Peru, Nebraska. Several famous Peruvians heard about Peru, Nebraska and went there to teach them how to really be Peruvian. Please enjoy! It was a very clever and hilarious idea! I also put the subtitles in English so you can understand the Spanish parts!

Wish me luck on my studying! I hope I can find the motivation to study!

Mariah

4 seconds left, down by 2

Last quarter, 4 seconds left, down by 2, DaMoude shoots from the 3 and… I don’t know what happens next. I still have 3 tests to take, homework to complete, and a 14 hour trip back to the United States to know if I made it or not! I have less than 4 weeks left, and just like in a basketball game, those 4 seconds can go so fast and so slow at the same time. That’s what it feels like right now. If I score that 3 I will have improved my Spanish so much! I think I’ve already scored a few 3 pointers in the game, but it’s the last one that wins or loses it for me! I need to take full advantage of the rest of the time I have here and try to push the limits of my Spanish abilities.

There have been a few injuries along the way (slicing my heel open), times where we were losing (homesickness), times where we were up (Machu Picchu), and a few time outs when we just needed a break (no class on Friday’s and Netflix).

Our group was split up into small groups based on our interests and majors. In these groups we have been attending Peruvian classes on campus. For us education majors, we have to go to another campus that takes about 45 minutes to get there because of traffic (it should really only be about a 15 minute car ride). We have the opportunity to sit in on a bilingual education class. It’s really interesting and I won’t go all teacher geeky on you and bore you with the details, but the professor is awesome and I’m actually learning some cool stuff in there!

A few of us ventured to a place called Polvos Azules to look for some cheap movies last weekend. We were not expecting to find a huge mall full of anything you could imagine. The competition is really intense there too so everything is really cheap. I took full advantage of the movie wing of the building and got 15 movies for $10 (about 75 cents a movie). Some of them are movies that just got out of theaters like a month ago. People pirate movies like crazy in Peru, so they make them really cheap so people don’t do that. We also got lost in the shoe part of the store. There had to have been at least 30 different shoe stores, if not more. I also took full advantage of the souvenir part.

On Sunday, Jenny and Martín took me to Pachacamac. They were ruins of the Incas that lived near Lima. The view of the ocean was absolutely incredible when we got to the highest peak in the ruins. Their niece, Leslie, came with us and she reminded me so much of my cousin Morgan. They are the same age and have the same personality! It actually made me kind of homesick because Morgan has been my best friend since the day she was born and I miss her so much! I got to meet some of Martín’s family after visiting Pachacamac (another niece, his dad, sister, and brother-in-law) and his dad took a picture with me and told me I was his American girlfriend.

One of the girls in our group recently lost her best friend in an accident. It has really been on my mind and I cannot imagine what I would do if something happened to any of you. Please buckle up, no texting or snapchatting while driving, tell somebody you love what they mean to you, but most of all enjoy every second of this amazing life we have been given. God has blessed us to have met each other and to whoever is reading this, thank you so much for being in my life and supporting me on this journey I’ve had over here. Only a few more seconds left and we’ll see if the shot was made.

Con amor,

Mariah

Random Things

• I saw a Herbie car the other day and I laughed so hard when I saw it.

• There have been a few pump trucks driving through town here and every time I see one, I think of my awesome dad!

• They pronounce Google, Googlie, here. It’s so cute!
• Nike is also pronounced differently. Basically they say it like “Mike” but with the N in front. Probably like it should be pronounced according to the rules of the English language. 

My host mom taught me how to make causa
yesterday and I'm so excited to make it in the USA