Ups & Downs... And almost possibly having my kidneys stolen, but actually not.

Yesterday marked two months in Peru for me! The time has flown by - it seems like forever ago that I stepped out of the plane onto the tarmac and walked into a crowd of very friendly people, all of whom were speaking very fast Spanish and greeting me with a kiss on the cheek. It feels like I've been living in Tacna, and with my family, for longer than two months. I realized that Tacna really does seem like my home, and my family seems like, well, my actual family. It's been two months of perfection. But that doesn't mean that everything has been easy. The past two weeks have been the hardest two of my exchange.

Since I last posted, some not-so-great stuff has happened. I was sick, pretty seriously sick. I'm all better now, but I had to go to the doctor and buy a lot of medicine, which wiped out most of my money. (I get a monthly allowance from my Rotary club.) However, I also started to learn how to be a model. (Cue laughter...) A few days ago, there was a fashion show that Rotary puts on every year. The exchange students, along with other people from the city, model clothes to raise money for a summer camp Rotary does for underprivileged kids. It's a good cause, but it was really strange to learn how to walk like the people on America's Top Model that I'd made fun of with my friends. The best thing about that week of sickness/modeling was that I joined a soccer team! It's different from teams in America - women's soccer isn't really big so women of all ages play on the same team since there aren't enough for more teams. I'm the youngest, and then there are women who are 30 or so playing as well. Everyone was really nice though, and I was so happy to be playing soccer again. However... (here comes another not-so-great part) one day at practice we were scrimmaging and I got kicked in the knee. There was this loud crack, and I had one thought flash through my mind: that didn't sound good. Then I hit the ground and couldn't stand up for the next few minutes because it hurt so badly. It hurt worse than any injury I've ever experienced while playing soccer, and that includes breaking my nose twice. A few days later my knee was so swollen I couldn't really tell where my kneecap ended and the swelling began. I was starting to worry that there might be a slight problem. That day, last Sunday, my mom, sister, Annalena and I went to a clothing store to meet up with the lady coordinating the modeling, and to pick out outfits for the fashion show. By a lucky chance, a Rotarian was there who specializes in knees. he poked at my knee a little, and with a serious doctorly look told me to come in for an exam the next day. I was really worried that there was something seriously wrong with my knee, as in so wrong that I'd have to have an operation, which could result in me having to go home.

Luckily, that wasn't the case. I just had to get shots for a week to bring down the swelling and rest for 2-3 weeks. I was so relieved! My next adventure was getting my shots. It's VERY different from the way we do it in the US. You take the prescription to one of the many pharmacies, where you buy the medicine in little glass bottles and the syringes. Then you drive to this tiny little door set into the wall of shops that line the street. When you go inside, there's a woman that takes your medicine and brings you farther into the room, which is really just like a small hallway lined with curtained off cots. She tells you to lay on your stomach and wait. At this point I was seriously wondering if I was going to wake up in a few hours without a kidney or some other organ that fetches a good price on the black market. But nope, I just got a shot in my butt instead. Yep, you read that right. Apparently the arm isn't good enough... But oh well! Exchange is all about those new experiences, and that one was definitely a new one!

I spent the past week resting and icing my knee, which got really really boring. Once you've seen a few Power Rangers episodes, you've really seen them all. Even if the fact that they're in Spanish does make them more intense. I didn't miss the 9 hours of school per day, but I did miss getting to see my friends. But these past few days have been worth the days I missed! Friday was the fashion show. While it would have been fun to be in it, as I couldn't really walk for a few days there was no way that would have been possible. But it was fun to see my friends looking so pretty. Afterwards we all went out for a little to celebrate. The next day my family, Annalena, some of our friends, and I all went to a resort. It was gorgeous. A perfect blue sky and an incredibly blue pool, all set in the middle of amazingly colorful flower gardens. Today I'm a little sunburned - even though I used sunscreen, the sun is so much stronger here! But it was so worth it, and so nice to be outside. That evening we went to the movies with some more friends, and we all watched Taken 2, or "Busqueda Implacable dos." It was really fun to go out with my friends. I'd definitely been a bit lonely this past week, what with missing my friends and family from the US, but yesterday made me realize that I'm making good friends here, and that I have a truly amazing family. When I left for exchange I don't think I really realized what I would gain. Another family, awesome friends... And I also have gained a deeper appreciation for who is in my life back home. They say that you never know what you've got until it's gone, and that's at least halfway true. I never truly realized how much my family means to me until I left them all behind. I never truly realized how great my friends are until they kept caring about me, even when I'm in another hemisphere, living a completely different type of life. I really am incredibly blessed.

Today was a lazy day around the house. We slept in, and then ate an amazing lunch. Here in Peru the big meal is lunch. And on Sundays it's even bigger than usual.

I think that's roughly 2 chickens in that pan. And there was sausage too. 

Then we all played wii for a while. In fact, I'm alternating between playing Wii baseball right now and writing this.

That's focus.

I wish I could have posted more pictures of the fashion show and whatnot, but my camera has been having some sort of problems lately and so all the photos are on Annalena's camera. I'll see if I can get them from her and post them some other time though.

This next week is my spring break, but there's still math class for a few hours every morning. I'm definitely not looking forward to math, as it's the subject where I have no idea what's going on. But I'm looking forward to seeing my friends!

Chau for now!
Emily