One week and 6 days!

This weekend was Peru's independence. On Thursday in lab we had a little party and lots of people brought food and drinks. The food was really great and it was nice to try some new things I had not seen before. The people were dancing and singing and just having a great time. This weekend we went to a place called La Merced. We did some pretty intense climbing and hiking which was really amazing because I never thought I would have been able to do many of the things we did on that hike. Well time is winding down and me and Jess are trying to get in all the things we have not done that we want to do here.

3 and 1/2 more weeks!

So I guess about three more weeks isn't too bad. This weekend was pretty boring I did a whole lot of nothing. Saturday I had to work and I came back to an empty house since all my roommates were gone. It was really weird being here alone, but Rita came back today so it wasn't too bad. I really want some Chicos Tacos right now more than anything. I am so tired of stir fry and spaghetti which is the only thing I seem to cook. This cat will not leave me alone I'm getting pretty annoyed with it right now. People need to come home so they can play with her. I feel really bad but when she starts coming around me my eyes start itching and all that fun stuff. Well I guess I'll go and try to figure out some new things to cook this week.

Fun times

Well this week I have been on a diet plan which has worked very well its called traveler's diarrhea. I think I weigh less than when I first came here which says a lot. Although it has led to some pretty funny situations one of which involved going to the bathroom by candle light. Apart from that I'm pretty sure I also have some sort of upper respiratory infection that probably won't go away until I come home. Enough about that though today we went to barrio chino or china town where according to lonely planet Lima's 200,000 Asian pop. lives. We ate some Chinese food which my stomach apparently was not to fond of hence the bathroom by candle light. After that we went to the Plaza de Armas which was really pretty and went in to one of the churches there. All the churches I have been to in Lima and Cusco are incredibly over the top with statues everywhere. My roommate was able to take some pictures which I will post to the website later. I am very ready to come home if you couldn't tell from previous blogs, although it has definitely been a great experience so far.

Five More Weeks

So I have five more weeks as of tomorrow to go. I really like Peru but I think I am ready to go home. We have a cat here at the apartment which is really cute but I can't help thinking she may be what's helping me stay sick since I'm allergic to cats. Clean non-polluted air would probably help as well. Today my roommates and I are all going to see Kung Fu Panda which should be lots of fun. Every time I go to the movies I feel like I'm back in the U.S. and don't remember I'm not till we leave the theater. Well I guess that's about all for now.

Lunahuana

Well I just got back from a fun weekend in Lunahuana it was a girls weekend. It was me and my two roommates Jess and Rita. We went rafting and on ATVs and also went horseback riding. I'm uploading lots of pictures right now. It was also really nice to get some fresh air since the air here in Lima is pretty bad. So as for lab we ran out of one of our materials and won't be getting it for around two weeks, so these next weeks are going to be pretty slow, but then we'll be pretty busy after that. Well I think thats about it for now.

Half way done

So I'm about half way done with things here in Peru, the first half flew by since I went on vacation for two weeks. I am definitely ready for some good Mexican food, but my roommates here are really great so it helps the time not go by so slowly. Speaking of the vacation it was really fun I think my favorite part might have been the rainforest. Although it was really amazing to see Machu Picchu and all the Incan ruins just to see how advanced their civilizations were. I put up lots of pictures here's the website again

http://picasaweb.google.com/emmadrid45

Well I'm putting work off one more day tomorrow me and Jess, the girl who I came down here with, are going with one of our roommates to follow her around and see the work she does. She's working on a TB project so it should be pretty interesting. Well I think that is about it and I'm going to try and post more often from now on.

Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/emmadrid45/Peru

First Week

I have to write a journal as a requirement for the program I came down to Peru through, so I figured I'd do it on a blog to let everyone at home know what I was up to and how I'm doing, and I would definitely love to hear from you as well.
Well its been about a week now since I've been in Peru and I think I've had an easier time adjusting here than when I went to Seattle last summer. It has been really nice being able to practice my Spanish hopefully it will be much more improved when I come home in August. It also helps that all the people here are great. The people in the apartment and the lab are absolutely wonderful and extremely helpful. This week went by a lot faster than I expected it to, and I'm hoping that's the case for next week. It is kind of hard though without TV since I'm missing the LOST season finale. It's starting to get kind of chilly here I wish I had brought warmer clothes with me. Might have to go the store and look into that. Me and Jess, who came with me from U of A, went to a department store yesterday and all the prices seemed pretty reasonable. So far my experience with the food has been good, I have yet to get sick (knock on wood) and I also have yet to have anything I didn't like. Well tomorrow's another day at work then Dr. Sterling is taking us and another lady who's in charge of field research here to an Italian restaurant that he says has better food than they serve at Italy. He's also taking us salsa dancing afterwards, he told Jess it didn't start till 11 so we might be there till 2am and if we could handle that which i thought was kind of funny. Well there will be more to write later.