Hello to everyone in the good ole' U.S. of A.
Well, I can't believe that I've almost been here in Peru for 2 weeks. It feels like so much longer, to tell you the truth. haha It would be a lie to say that I have enjoyed every second of it, but I have enjoyed most of it.
My adventure got off to a rough start by having my luggage get lost in the Peru airport. This may have not been so frustrating if I had to wait for someone who actually spoke English so they actually understood what I was trying to tell them. However, I did finally get my luggage, even though it ended up being a week later.

Even though it took us three days to actually get to the Aldea, when we finally got there, it was worth it. Again, I'm not going to say that it's been sunshine and rainbows the whole time, but it's been pretty darn close. When we first arrive at the Aldea, the security guard almost wouldn't let us in, because I don't actually think they were expecting us. haha but when he finally did, the kids just basically swarmed us. They started talking and wanting to take our suitcases. The hardest part was at this point not to get frustrated with the fact that I couldn't really understand what they were saying at all. That was pretty difficult.

After talking to Tia Blanca, who is the director of the Aldea, we head to our casa. We unpack a little bit then head out to play with the kids for a bit before dinner that night. We played tag, which is fun in any country because you don't really have to understand what they are saying.

My Madre said that I have to make sure I don't loose to much weight while I'm here, but I can assure you that if anything, I'm going to gain weight. They feed us so much food!! We usually have chicken or fish (which I am learning to like), tons of rice, salad, and a bowl of soup that has rice and vegetables in it. We also tend to have potatoes a lot too. Also I have learned to adjust to is that they just pile everything on top of each other. My Aunt Suzzy would have such a hard time here, because the salad goes on the rice and the chicken/fish goes on top of the rice and if there is some sort of sauce, it's all mixed into the concoction.

My first weekend here in Peru was also fun. We went to the beach with the Castillo's who are a family that have been kind enough to let us stay with them at their house on the weekends. They only live about 30 minutes away from the Aldea in the city of Trujillo so we take what is called a combi. A combi is basically just a van that people ride in and you want to ride early because it gets full at night. For example, last night was so full that people were on top of each other and standing up. It was crazy!!! But the beach was way fun and I don't think I will be able to go back to Utah and no longer have a beach only 10 minutes away...

Also last week, we got the opportunity to go to this sweet action restaurant. It had traditional Peruvian Dancing that we got to watch and a live band that everyone would get up and dance to. It's to bad that people back in the states don't really dance anymore. Another thing I learned is that for birthday's its a tradition to shove cake at people. haha When asked if we do that, I told them no and if we did, it was usually only at weddings. But apparently here, it's custom to start shouting "Bite! Bite!" and for the  person to try to take a bit out of their cake, even though they most likely know that they will get it shoved in their face in the end. 

This week at the Aldea however has also been eventful. A note of advice to anyone: if someone asks you question in a language that you don't understand, don't say yes. I had a girl ask me a question one day and I had absolutely no idea what she was saying, so I just said yes. When her eyes got really wide, I knew that I had done something wrong. I quickly looked up the word that she had used, and come to find out that I had just told her that I knew Justin Bieber. haha I quickly told her that I did not know him. My friend Jayde who is over here with me has convinced the whole Aldea that she is Justin Bieber's ex-girlfriend and that she broke up with him because he was a bad kisser. So, our goal for this weekend is to come up with pictures we can show the kids that have her and Justin together. hehe

Use girls now how to spend our down time....by making bracelets of course!

Another thing that I have learned while here in Peru is that things hardly EVER start on time. It was one of the girl's birthday this week and since she was turning 18, she has to leave the Aldea. So, we threw her a birthday/going away party. This party was suppose to start at 3:00 PM but didn't actually even being to start  until almost 5:00 PM. I was going crazy, but eventually I was told that this is very normal and we don't really even need to actually show up until close to 4:00 PM because there was no point. This makes the phrase "better late than never" have a whole knew meaning.

Sorry it's taken me so long to finally get this blog going. Since I only have internet on the weekends, I will hopefully update on a weekly basis...at least that is the plan. :D How all is well with everyone else and remember that I miss you all!!!!