to say that i was depressed would have been an understatement. no, i was more than depressed. i was annoyed and down-right frustrated. i called michael jackson (who you should all know by now is jeff) while on the bus ride back home, just to cry and let out some of my frustrations - this was before i even knew the electricity and water was out in my town!
luckily, i had something to take my mind off of things the next morning. i woke up to sawing and pounding - they are re-doing our house and working on constructing a large bedroom right outside of my room.
after breakfast, i started cooking my famous spaghetti sauce. this was my birthday gift to my host mom… a beautiful italian lunch. bought all of the ingredients while i was in Chiclayo, and (thank goodness) they stayed fresh throughout the night without having to be put in the refrigerator. (no electricity, remember?) i let my sauce simmer for a few hours, while i prepared for my business class by candle light.
just thinking about how i’m supposed to complete the course in less than a month - and work on a typed business plan with my group, without having electricity - heightened my frustrations to my limit.
my monday classes are at 12:45pm. classes went well - as well as they could go, anyway.
after class, i came home to an empty house. just my host brother and i. i asked where my host mom was (who SAW me - and KNEW i was cooking HER birthday lunch ALL morning). apparently, she went to Santa Cruz for the rest of the day. WHAT?!?!?
ok, fine - i thought. i served up my beautiful italian lunch for my host brother and me. he asked, “what kind of meat is in your delicious sauce?”
“it’s chorizo - chancho (pig),” i said. well, come to find out, he can’t eat pig - he has diabetes. so, i ate my host mom’s beautiful, italian, birthday lunch all by myself. ugh.
my afternoon business class went okay. during class, it started raining. then, i walked back home - in the rain - and in the darkness of no-electricity-Catache. then - for hours - i tried to fall asleep without the use of my fan to block out the random noises of my town.
today was a brand new day. i woke up early, and hiked up to the primaria for my english class. those kids always bring a smile to my face. today, i taught quinto grado (5th graders) the body parts lesson. i even took a video of them singing head, shoulders, knees, and toes.
after lunch, i bought another pack of candles from our tienda (i go through them so quickly without having electricity). well, not more than 5 minutes later - the electricity came on!!! you could here the people of the town shouting with joy in the streets!
my afternoon business classes start at 3pm. i only meet with the 2 students im taking to Lima with me for the competition (cithia - the girl i run with - and a kid named victor), so we can get the business plan done in time.
victor was early, as usual. but, after 3:30pm, still no cinthia. this kind of surprised me. she finally came in about 45 minutes late. i asked her why the heck she was so late??? she said, “i was watching Grupo 5.” (Grupo 5 is an extraordinarily popular band out here. and i have grown to love their music.)
“i love Grupo 5, too - but come on, cinthia,” i said.
“no - no - no - they’re here in Catache! they’re just passing through and stopped here for lunch! everyone is just watching them eat, not saying anything to them.”
“WHAT!?!?!??! oh my goodness!!! we HAVE to go down there and get a picture with them!!! come on - come on - i have my camera!!!” i shouted. then i remembered, without water here, i hadn’t showered since Chiclayo - and i hadn’t so much as looked at myself in the mirror, because without electricity, i had to put on my daily mascara by candlelight… oh well, i thought.
so, the three of us ran out of the colegio, down the street, and there it was - right in front of my house - a tour bus with “Grupo 5” written on the side!!! they were all on the bus, just about to take off. cinthia was so embarrassed that she forced me to do all of the talking. so, i walked right up to the door, and said to the bus driver, “is it possible for us to get a quick picture????” before i could finish asking the question, one of the band members came out and said, “helllooooo! how are you?!?” (IN ENGLISH!) we chatted for a bit - me in spanish, and him in spanglish. then cinthia and i got our picture with him in front of their bus, and they took off. as the bus drove off, all of the other members stuck their heads out their windows, waving and saying, “bye, gringa!”
after we got back to the colegio, it took cinthia and i about a good 15-20 minutes to get our head back into the game. i mean, HOW EXCITING, right?!?
i got home at around 6pm and started typing into their business plan report what we finished writing up in class.
peru lost today (soccer), but i felt that i had won!
we are riding a freaking roller-coaster out here in no-man’s-land. the ups are really UP - but, man, the downs are really down. “somos peru...” we just have to sit back and try to enjoy the ride.
Cithia and I - with Grupo 5:
the tour bus driving off:
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