dreaming.

ever have those dreams that you wish would never end? those dreams that you wake up from then try to somehow slip back into them because you want to continue? either to see how it ends or just because it's wonderful and comforting?

i had one of those dreams last night. and as i hit the snooze button on my alarm clock this morning i attempted to drift back into the world of my dream, but i just couldn't get back in. in my dream i was back at home with my family and friends after peru. it was so vivid and real that it seems like i actually spent time with my family and friends. which left me in a really good mood all day today.

sometimes i wish that i could choose what i dream about at night. when i was younger i would repeat a word over and over as i lay in my bed to try to force myself to dream about it. i don't think it ever worked. but that would be nice. it that were the case i'd like to dream about my family and friends every night. i'd like to be with them, spending time with them. because then they don't seem so far away from me.

"i think we dream so we don't have to be apart so long. if we're in each other's dreams, we can be together all the time." [calvin and hobbes]

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and in case you were wondering, i've

decided to upload my pictures on a weekly basis.

(sorry mom. you'll just have to wait till the end of the week.)

love.

My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign;
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree;
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

saturday.

[this is how i spent my saturday]:

peacocks in the park

abigaíl

kiara

pushing christian y jorge on the swings for hours and hours

firsts.

our first manicures.

sam's first churro experience.

arte.

so amelia's host father is a famous peruvian paintor - alejandro alayza.

he's pretty legit.

and tonight was the inauguration of his exhibition.

he does amazing work and is a very simple, sweet and loving man.

this is my favorite:

day three.

today is september 21st.

which means two things:

1. i can once again check out books from the library.

2. day three of my photo challenge:

a little bit of skippy for a lot of soles

fish that still have their heads, yuck

choclo

languages and a photo.

I like languages.

are you surprised? probably not.

I’ve been fascinated with foreign languages since fifth grade.

I guess you could say that the reason I am sitting here in lima today started back in a classroom at buker elementary school. fifth grade we took French for half a year and Spanish for the other half in order to choose which one we would want to continue studying in middle school. I decided on Spanish the day that señora cressey asked me if I spoke Spanish at home because my accent was good. (of course being here in peru I realize that she must have been lying or exaggerating a bit because my accent leaves much to be desired) but that was it. I was sold. Spanish quickly became my favorite subject. middle school was just baby stuff. vocab and simple verb conjugations. then after 8^th grade I went to Russia. my world was expanded. a whole different alphabet with sounds that couldn’t be translated. how cool is that? I loved it. I love hearing it and reading it and (attempting) to speak it.

when I came back and started high school I fell in love with more than the Spanish language - I fell in love with everything about Spanish – music, culture, history, food and people. sophomore year I decided to add French. it was amazing how quickly I picked it up. I was finding similarities left and right. before being taught something I was able to guess how it would be because I already knew Spanish. while others struggled with the thought of having a preterit and imperfect tense and a subjunctive mood, I was an old pro at it. senior year was ap Spanish literature. it kicked my butt. but I loved every second of it. the way that the language changed and evolved throughout history. and then there was the beautiful poetry and captivating stories. then I graduated.

I entered gordon being completely confident that I wanted to be a Spanish major. and I still am. although I’ve found another passion along the way: linguistics. I think that up until sophomore year of college I was unaware that such a concept even existed. you mean a class where you just simply learn about languages? you’ve got to be kidding me. it’s just so interesting. things like the phonetic alphabet and morphemes and allomorphs and syntax and trees and derivation and performance and universal grammar and Chomsky and Turkish and the great american vowel shift and sapir-whorf and blocking and traces and train stations. that probably doesn’t mean much to many of you, but at the risk of sounding like the biggest nerd ever, it is just so darn fascinating.

ok so where am I going with all this? good question. today in my amazonian ethnography class we were discussing bilingual education in peru. bottom line is that many Peruvians are being quietly discriminated against because of the language they speak. Peru is a country of many languages – the main three being Spanish, Quechua and Aymara. funny thing is that Spanish is the only one of any real value. kids who grow up bilingual eventually leave the other language and just study Spanish because their mother tongue really has no use. sad fact: a national peruvian bank called BCP has branches in Bolivia as well. and in Bolivia you can be attended to in Spanish, Quechua or Aymara! but here in Peru you must speak Spanish, no other option. how crazy is that? and there are no translation schools here in Peru for indigenous languages, only European languages. what? I was just so surprised and a bit upset by this information.

alright, so day two of my picture challenge went well. is it ok if I share more than one photo? I think so. I do what I want. here you go:

vending machine on campus.

getting a little snacky-snack before class.

deer on campus

the ad that starts out BUSCO - translation:

I'm looking for a boyfriend for my persian cat...

alright javier. i'll let you know.