So much Happiness

Last Saturday we had our first CIEE Cultural Excursion. And we went to the BEACH!!! YAY!!

I absolutely LOVE the ocean and I'm so glad that I am still close to it here in Lima, although its a different ocean from back home. But the effect is still the same, a day spent relaxing with friends, enjoying warm weather. A plus about the beaches here in Peru is that you can do some shopping while sitting in the sand. Vendors walk up and down the beach trying to sell you things. And its a wide array of things: bracelets, jewelry, clothing, wraps, ice cream, drinks, books, pirated music and DVDs, sunglasses. Its great, you just sit there relaxing and they come to you. My friends and I decided that its like online shopping, only better because you don't have to pay for shipping and handling. Although it can get a bit annoying when you really don't want to buy anything. If you show any bit of interest in their product, they keep pestering you for a bit. I was told many times by a lady that I was very pretty and that I should buy a pretty bracelet to match my pretty face. While I appreciated the compliment, I wasn't interested in what she was selling.

Being in the water was probably the best part of the day. The water was warm, way warmer than the Atlantic ever gets up in Gloucester during the summer. Usually up at home, I have to wait for my body to go numb so I just can't feel the frigidness of the water. But here, once I adjusted it was quite refreshing and relaxing. The water was wicked salty and I floated easier. There is just something that I really enjoy about swimming in the ocean. Its like being a part of something bigger than yourself, something that is so powerful and that you really have no control of. I like being able to just let go and float with the waves.

Here are some pictures

La playa el Silencio - now even though it looks cloudy, I still got sunburned. =(

A pelican

A fisherman coming back from a day of fishing

Me and my friend Amelia

So that was a SUPER day. Then this week was the second of my two-week intensive Spanish class. We focused this week on other Latin American countries and looked at their music and their literature. Lucky for me, I had already read most of the stories that we were reading in class, so that made homework a whole lot easier this week.

We read some Juan Rulfo, Julio Cortázar, Gabriel García Márquez, and Jorge Luis Borges. Who are really some of the best Latin American authors of all time. Then we checked out some música, Ranchero (Mexico), Tango (Argentina), Bolero (Cuba), Son Cubano (Cuba), Cumbia Colombiano (Colombia), Vallenato (Colombia). Best part of class today, when my prof told us that later on in the semester we would be analyzing some songs from a popular Colombian artist - JUANES. That easily made my day.

Other things that contributed to the overall happiness of the day:

Seeing a man shaving (with an electric razor) while driving today.

Calling home and talking to my Mom and Dad.

Having ice cream for dinner.

Calling and talking with Mrs. Dee.

Finding out that everything is going well at the BBQ.

Having someone today on campus apologize to me because he didn't speak Spanish very well.(Little did he know that I would have understood him if he spoke English)

Finding a really great song on my iTunes: "Melody" by Kate Earl (Check it out)

(This happened a few days ago, but...) My tattoo:

"And I know that I'm never alone

And I know that my heart is my home

And the music within makes me whole

A world that I built on my own"

-Melody by Kate Earl