HELLO friends and family!!! (: Life is still great here in Lima, Peru. I am having a great time and I am very very blessed to be here! Hmmmm. So I am having a hard time deciding what to tell you first. I guess I'll just start from the oldest thing and work my way to present day.
My sister, Yanela, and I went to a Dimitri Vegas concert. It was sooooooo amazing. We did not have the best seats in the house, but it was awesome!!! I had so much fun. I love being surrounded by music. It's just so loud and overpowering. I want to go to more music festivals and concerts. To me after 3 minutes it's already worth the money. If you have not noticed by this point in my blog now is a good time to inform you that I am obsessed with the pictures with the Peruvian flag. We recently had Peruvian Independence Day. It is a law that every house has a Peruvian flag hung for independence day. I loved that. There was so much red and white in Peru. Way awesome. The picture with the Peruvian flag was taken at the concert too though.
My cousins and aunt and uncle came to Peru!!! That was way cool to have family in Peru. They stayed in a hotel down by the beach. They went on a tour of all of Peru first and then were in Lima for a couple of days. I was able to go visit some ruins with them in Lima. I also visited them in their hotel and we went out for lunch. It was great to see them!!! It makes me excited to be closer to family when I go to college.
All the exchange students left. This is one of my exchange students friends. He just happens to be from the States too. I have friends all over the world. So fun. It was just me and 2 girls from Australia left after all the other exchange students left. This picture was taken in the airport the night that several exchange students left. 2 weeks ago 71 new exchange students from all over the world arrived to Peru though. It will be great to get to know them all.
This is a picture taken from my cousin, Jasmine's, birthday party. She is so cute. One night she spent the night at my house. I have a trundle bed in my room, so she slept on the bottom bed in my room. That night I sang to her in Spanish before going to sleep. We sang I am a Child of God in Spanish. It was a sweet experience and reminded me how much I miss my little brothers.
The world cup experience here in South America is something to be remembered. School would be stopped in order to watch the games. Everyone knew what had happened during the games. You could be assured that EVERY one of your friends was watching every game. It was super fun. I became a soccer lover. It is way more interesting than I ever realized. My host mom became a fan of the United States. My sister, Yanela is a huge Germany fan. She went on a foreign exchange to Germany. When the United States and Germany played it was a huge rivalry in our house. We ended up bringing out the Peru flag for some reason too. Peru was not in the world cup, but enjoy more pictures with the flag.
Airport
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Hardrock Cafe concert
Family picture
Lea and Rebekah
Yanela and Rebekah
Lea came to Peru! Lea is an old exchange student that lived with Yanela before I did. We are one big family. Lea came with a couple other old exchange students for one month. We hung out a lot together. For our hosts dad's birthday we made him a cake with a picture of him and his 3 daughters.
This is one of my best friends, Jasmine. I met her at a party. She goes to my same university! I had no idea. It just happens to work out great!
If you are not aware, let me make you aware real fast. The Lord loves me and gives me whatever I want. I know that sounds maybe vain to say, but it is so true. He is very aware of what I need. I needed money. I also need to be speaking spanish. I am also here to learn the culture of Peru. I had just ended school and would have about a month of vacations before starting University. A lady at my church owns a circus. We were talking one day about what I would do during the holidays. She asked me if I would like to help out in the circus. This is not a normal circus though. This circus is a circus based off of a festival in Cusco, Peru. It is packed with with Peruvian dances and traditions. It also has normal circus things such as acrobatic acts and juggling. It is so fun to be a part of. I was supposed to just be collecting tickets at the door. I ended up getting to be a part of the production though. I am the Virgin Mary and also just someone who goes on stage and acts crazy. Everyday for one month I've had the opportunity to work in this circus. I have made a lot of friends! As you can tell Latin American men love white girls. I decided and will offer this advice to anyone: If you don't have the opportunity to marry in the states or are really ugly and feel the opportunity will never arise for you.. go to south america. I promise you every one will love you and you will have no problem in the dating area.
I took this picture in another city, Trujillo. It is about a 10 hour car drive from where I live. It is a picture at church with two friends I made at the church there. Their CTR rings are in Spanish.
This was taken on Peruvian Independence day in Trujillo. We spent the day of Independence at the beach. Lima weather is crappy, cloudy, and cold right now. It was nice to be in the sun again in Trujillo.
Meet my new host family!!!!! This is Matias (11), Daniela (17) and my host mom and dad. We are in Trujillo in this picture. I went on a trip with them for 1 week 1 day after I had met them. We went for Matias's soccer tournament. They are a great family. Super sweet. I feel like a member of the family. I have been very blessed with the 2 greatest host families in Peru.
Before my Canadian friend, Tami, went back to Canada we went on a nice long walk and took pictures in the center of Lima. We went out to eat with all the exchange students as well. I had a picture of the lunch, but don't know what happened to it. I completely destroyed my iPhone because I dropped it so many times. I know myself though. I regularly back up my phone for that purpose. I know I always loose and or break my phone. Maybe I had forgotten to back up that particular picture to my computer though.
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This was at the welcoming dinner of the 71 exchange students that just arrived. I was able to introduce the American Flag. Every anthem from every country in the world that is here on exchange was sang. It was awesome to hear the American National Anthem in Peru. These pictures are with my host sister, Daniela and my host dad. There is also a new family picture. A new exchange student from Belgium is now with Yanela. There is also a Canadian in the picture. She lived with the family for 2 weeks and might return to the family later on in the year.
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These pictures were taken at a Rotary function. The top picture is a selfie of me and another exchange student from the United States named Brooke. Then it is a picture with me and my first host parents. The last picture is a picture with me and my counselor. I love her to pieces. She is so nice. I am going to miss her when I leave Peru.
Peru is known for llamas. Enjoy this picture of me and Yanela with a llama.
