Winding down



Nuestra madre! :-)

 Last week in Peru! It is bitter sweet because we have realized that it takes about a month living somewhere to get used to the food, family, and area. I am starting to get really close to my host family, the american girl left which made it a lot easier to bond with the fam. I am learning how to save money by not buying lunch everyday and buying cheap fruit/ making sandwiches instead. I am finding things to do around Lima rather than just sitting in my room all day. Things here have gotten so much better and although I still don't like Lima half as much as Cuzco and Nazca, I feel like I am starting to settle down. The week after Nazca was actually really fun. We didn't have much bad weather and I went shopping and walked around different places after class every day! I actually saw a sunset behind a building one evening and was really excited! The whole group is getting a lot closer as well! We went out a lot this past weekend which was AWESOME and we all bonded a lot. So many funny things happened...for example I got stuck in a mosh pit.  That actually was a little bit terrifying, but I survived.

Last weekend we went to the beach with our family, Hannah  & Hannah's family, Marg's family, and Kaitlin & Eliza's family! It was super legit because we hung out with the dad and uncle all night and talked in Spanish about everything! They were teaching us cuss words (which was pretty hillarious), told us each what actress we looked like (once again, I was Sarah Jessica Parker....I am sorry, but I do NOT see it!), and made us sing our national anthem hahaha (of course I added in 'home of the WOLFPACKK!') which then I had to explain...in spanish :)  We got SO lucky with the weather that next day, it was about 85 and sunny. Perfect weather for the beach. Although it was so nice out, the beach there is pretty gross. There were dead birds all over the place! Buuuut the view of the island right in front of us was pretty sweet not gonna lie.

This past weekend on Father's Day was probably my favorite day in Lima so far. We visited our host mom's deceased husband's extended family for a cookout. It was SO nice! The mother is American and the father is Peruvian. They are like grandparents, I love them they were so adorable. There were tons of cousins, aunts, uncles, and family friends there too. We had delicious steak and grilled potatoes after the appetizer of sausage and mini hot dogs. There was also a salad, but I was allergic! The COOLEST thing ever that we found out at this cookout was that our host uncle (our father who passed away's brother)...his great uncles were the ones who ACTUALLY DISCOVERED MACHU PICCHU! I know, so cool. They were the native Peruvians who knew about it and kept a lot of artifacts and gold to sell and make money. It was not until they met Hiram Bigham (the American who was credited for the discovery), that they gave away their secret! YALL I AM RELATED TO THE FOUNDERS OF MACHU PICCHU! I mean, related is a relative term....but they are my host great great uncles, so I think it is pretty legit. Our mom is going to photo-copy the book where it talks about it for us! I can't wait to have that. I feel like Machu Pichhu is so close to my heart now that I hiked there and to find out something like that makes me SO excited. Haha of course our 14 year old host sister thought it was just hilarious how excited we were getting about this. She is awesome haha I love her!

With all of that said, I am really excited to come home for the amazing summer that is ahead of me! I go straight to the beach with my family from the airport, then I get to see Dan (eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!), then Andrew and Juliana are getting married!, then we are going to the outerbanks with Dan's fam, then I am going home, then the next weekend we are having a cookout for the crew at my house in C-town, then  I am going to georiga for a week to hang out with Dan and then Kristen Nick and Kate are coming, thennn I might be going to visit my aunt and uncle the weekend after and possibly might be going to 6 flags with them! Ah so much going on that I am excited for, but I am not going to wish my last week in Lima away :)

RAPS:
We also made up a song about our maid who our family is not very fond of (this rap along with like 2 others...we get bored), but we told Alejandra the rap (she is our sister) and she was DYING laughing. She made us tell our mom too. haha this is how it goes: "Manuela, what the hella, all you do is watch telanovelas!" (telanovelas are soap operas) It is so funny all she does all day is watch TV and our mom knows it. Soooo needless to say they loved our rap.

Here are some previews to our raps:

CHICKEN AND RICE:

 "Chicken and rice, chicken and rice, all day every day chicken and rice. Chicken and rice, I ate it twice, all day everyday chicken and rice!"

CHA-CHA: (first verse)

 "Cha-cha-chicha-cha-cha-cha-chicha cha!...
CHA CHA is our dog, she also our HOMEDAWG
That girl, she crazy, she also really lazy!
Her dino-claws are long and we take her to the Wong
Oh wait! Thats us! Camilla makes a fuss...
Thats our bird, shes a nerd, and she only screams and turds!
She thinks shes a monkey and cha cha smells funky!
Her spot on the floor smells really really bad
so we kick her out the door and she gets really sad :(
HEY CHA CHA! CHEER UP! You are our favorite pup! :)
...you just smell girl....yeahh you just smell...
Cha Cha Chicha Cha, Cha Cha Chicha Cha...LETS GO!..."

Copyright: Rafo Records 2011, Shout out to our boy Carlos! ....music video coming soon