Coming out of Hibernation ;)

Hey guys. I now its been a while right? Anyways I have decided to being updating again after three months and over the next week I'm gonna catch you guys up on everything I have been up to, but just to start things off a bit easier and quicker I am going to post a paper I had sent to Rotary Youth Exchange of North America, to be put in an annual booklet on the volunteer projects I am doing here with Rotary. So Hear it is!

Pamplona Alta

Hi, my name is Jeff Kennes, and I am a Canadian Exchange Student, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Strathroy Ontario, and am currently living in Lima Peru, hosted by San Isidro Rotary Club.

As a Rotary Exchange Student, I like so many others, have been given an opportunity of a life time, not only to learn a different language, become a member of a different culture, and live a totally different life for one year, but also to help change the world. I luckily have had such an opportunity, being an exchange student in a third world country. As we know many of us in North America are blessed to have more than we could ever need, this is a far cry from our neighbours, just south of us. Although Peru is a quickly developing country in South America, the large majority of the population still lacks the basic necessities that we take for granted. The people in some areas even lack water, basic plumbing, food and shelter. Scarily enough many of these place are found right in the City of Lima, the most famous being the area “Pamplona Alta” within the district of San Juan de Miraflores.

    It is here in Pamplona Alta that the Rotary Club of San Isidro has been working to improve the lives of the citizens. This how ever is not an easy task. In the past many organizations, charities and even the Peruvian Government have tried to help develop the area, but usually all funds donated to the people of Pamplona end up being spent by the parents of the families on alcohol as a means to relieve them of their depression. Therein the Rotary and Roteract clubs of San Isidro, in Partnership with the United States charity health organization “Medlife,” have been active in multiple campaigns within Pamplona working towards aiding the lives and health of the children living there.

    The first campaign in Late September revolved around providing free healthcare and medicine towards both children and adults in Pamplona Alta. Many Volunteer Doctors from Peru, the United States and Canada all came up to the mountainous town and within makeshift tents provided everything from dietitians to dentists to all sorts of doctors. I got the opportunity to help within the pharmacy tent, helping to both provide medicine to the Pamplonans as well as help administer it to some of the younger and the much older patients.

    After almost running out of stock on much of our medicine we had helped easily over three hundred families, and I had helped people without anything in a very improvised district that could be easily described as a site measurable to the magnificence of Machu Picchu. We plan to return again to set up more campaigns similar to this one in 2011.




    After this however Rotary did not feel that it was finished in Pamplona Alta for 2010, so we came back, just in time for Christmas, to throw a party for the children of the area. There, again in partnership with Medlife, we threw a big bash, to try and make a meaningful Navidad for the kids. We came, presents in hand, actually in sacks stuffed in buses.

    We started the campaign off with a little show provided by our Roteract Club in co-operation with the Police Department of Southern Lima. The Children danced along as our Roteract President led a fun dance show demonstrating the importance of traffic and road safety, mixed with many Christmas songs.


    Then it was time for the main event. All the kids lined up in a big formation excitedly waiting the “figurative” arrival of Santa Clause. They had huge smiles of excitement all on their faces as they waited to receive their Christmas Presents. I myself was very excited just to make this Christmas a happy one for so many kids.

    As we handed out the presents to the young girls and boys they were so happy. These kids, who sometimes don’t even have food to eat or fresh water to drink, and who live in little shacks with their families, got to have a few hours of joy,  and a Feliz Navidad. I will likely always remember the smiles of joy on their faces as well as all of the good that Rotary has done for them, but not only that. I will always remember and be thankful for the two gifts Rotary has given me, to be the Santa in a young child’s life, showing me the true meaning of Christmas, as well as the opportunity to make a difference in the world, as a Rotary Exchange Student.




Thank you, so very much.

Jeff Kennes
Rotary Exchange Student
Canada-Peru
2010-2011

Pamplona Alta, The Feast of Santa Rosa de Lima and more!

Well its been a while! I have been busy, out and about, I'm in school now so its hard to always update and I need to practice my spanish more so I can't always be blogging. However it has been 4 weeks since my last blog post, which is a little bit too much time, so I apologize, but at least you get four weeks of blog in one, I think that it is worth it.

So where to begin! Well an update on my life as Jeff Kennes. School is better, I can actually understand most of the teachers now, but I am still exempt from the majority of things, and most teachers are just focusing on helping me learn Spanish, especially my Spanish teacher. She is so great, like I am so happy she is my equivalent of a homeroom teacher. She will never be Mrs. Martin though. (who I do miss, and who I hope starts reading my blog soon! Even though she might have a stroke at the number of grammatical and spelling errors I am making.) I have also begin to make friends, like alot of them. I love the identity of the class room here, EVERYONE is friends. In Canada usually there are people you despise in your classroom, but here everyone really cares about each other, and sure they tease each other but its more just love. It is also very common for the students to give each other nicknames too, and some are even mean like gordito (which is like little fatty) or Chancho (Pig) and it begins to upset that them if used constantly, but if it is occasion they don't mind. I have been expecting and dreading mine since my rotary conferences where I learned about them, but lucky me I totally got skipped over! The only thing anyone has called me more than once is gringito bonito (which is like saying Pretty Whitey it a very endearing way). I will say that i continue to dislike teachers and their lack of respect for students, some go out drinking with their students at parties, and others do other stupid things. They also make fun of students and laugh at them to embarrass them. It is honestly disgusting, and I am not impressed with the majority of them, the other day, my math teacher called me gordito, and I was little less then impressed.



But in more interesting news! I have like four different adventures to tell you about! We will start with Pamplona Alta. Now as I have said before, there are 43 districts in the City of Lima, each functioning like its own municipality. One of these, boarding my more residential District of Surco, Is "San Juan de Miraflores" another huge district, that is much poorer than Surco. Although there are people there who live quite well, it is also home to likely one of, if not the poorest part of the city, Pamplona Alta, which is possibly one of the most poor, yet most amazing sites I have ever seen in my life. A literal city of shacks built on the sides of a mountain. The magnitude of emotion this site brought on will likely end up being equal to macchu pichu for me. Anyways I had the opportunity to help out here on a rotary project quite a bit. The San Isidro rotary club in junction with it's roteract club teambed up with medical students from Penn State University to provide a day of free health care to the people of Pamplona Alta, many of whom desperately needed it. We Built a hospital/clinic out of tents and we went to work on literally the SLOPE of the mountain. I did a bunch of stuff that day, from translating for the Med students (yes my spanish is getting that good ;)) to helping my mom (a dentist) and helping patients find their way around, but the majority of the day I spent as a pharmacist, COOL RIGHT? I worked in the pharmacy tent measuring out pills for perscriptions and finding medicine.
Anyways it was a rediculously filling day, and I enjoyed it alot. And to top off the day me and Sofiane (my french amigo who helped out all day) hit Miraflores with some friends from School and hung out at a cafe and later went out to a party!

The Monday after was also a very important day. The Feast of Santa Rosa de Lima, our patron Saint. It was a rather interesting day and a national holiday here in Peru. Anyways the story of Santa Rosa, is that she, like most other saints healed the sick, but what is very interesting is that she made an orange tree grow out of the cement! So two miracles as any Learned Catholic knows is enough to canonize a saint. Usually people in Lima go out to her church in Lima on this day, but we knew it would be very busy, so we instead headed out to a military Club (a country club for military officers and their family)) in a mountain town called Chosica where we had lunch toured the mountains (yes Mountains!) and played a game of Giant Chess. All in all, a very fun day!

The following week we didn't go out and do a whole lot, but all it all it was ok, minus the school part ;). Anyways the weekend following me and Sofiane headed back to Miraflores, with our friend Megan to go on a tour of Lima, mainly Miraflores and El Centre. It was a nice trip, we saw some ruins inside of the city of the Incas, as well as some beautiful colonial Spanish Architecture, and my Favourite the Cathedral of San Fransisco de Assisi. Now that was just plain cool. It is a Church ran by Franciscan Monks. First we entered a beautiful garden courtyard, where we could hear mass going on, and quite humourously I could hear an alleluia coming from the church before the gospel and I sang along with it, because I knew it, everyone was kind of impressed, but more than anything thought I was a nerd. Later just reaffirming my catholic nerdiness I was able to name a saint from the back of a statue (keep in mind it had wings and was carrying a sword (if you want to guess post it in the comments)). The church contined on with a beautiful and very old library, where any history geek (yours truly) would die. There were very old texts and bibles in the library, which had all very old chairs and what not. It was amazing. The library also had an open book.....of Gregorian Chant.......I flipped....there were neuves and everything, unfortunately I couldn't take pictures anywhere inside the church. However the coolest part by far was the catacombs, underneath the church, with bones, thousands of them, from actual people.There were real skulls and what not. It was so cool, can't wait for my real mom to see it when she comes ;). Anyways, thats about all I did that day, except for when I came home, there we watched the Peruvian-Canada Futbol match. It was, upsetting to say the least, but on the bright side Canada (who is the worst futbol team in the world) ONLY lost by 2 points to Peru. I think thats preety good!

So the day after that we all went to a rotary lunch, very quaint and what not, I enjoyed it, all of my fellow intercambios were there and we had fun, while all the Peruvians and Americans laughed at Canada's Defeat in Soccer the Day prior. Anyways that night me and Sofiane and my parents went to a place called "Parque de los Aguas" where we saw beautiful lighted fountains and some light/water shows. It was honestly, gorgeous! I hope I get to go again, there was only one thing that annoyed me, and that was the trillions of young peruvian couples snogging on the benches.

The weekend after that was also a very relaxing one, as all I really did nothing. We went out to a concert with some exchange and highschool friends on the friday night, which was really cool. The Group was Called La Mente, and they were a Peruvian-Rock-Reggae infusion thing, which  was cool, but I couldn't hear after, and I had a number of bruises, but it was very fun! The next day was another rotary lunch, what fun, and apart from that and the Peruvian-Canadian Volley ball game (which we also lost) we didn't do too much. I will say though that after losing both of Peru's favourite games to them, I didn't hear the end of it.

Finally this Past weekend was also very interesting. On Friday night I went out for Sushi with a bunch of my good friends (it was a buffet, OH YES!) and on Sunday we had an interesting day too. We decided to go out to Huacho. I will be honest, there is not much to do in Huacho, and it is a 3-4 hour drive from Lima, so the day wasn't that great, BUT I got to experience another one of Peru's geographical areas. The Desert! (we Have two, on north, and one south of Lima, both very large) This was the north Desert, and to be honest, iw was so amazing. It was also gigantic. If any of you have watched the Book of Eli, that is what the whole desert looked like, very deathly, very cloudy (no sun) and very depressing. (But I deffinately wasn't depressed, I liked it ALOT)

So that catches you all up on the major things that have happened here, I have also entered my next exchange phase (Culture Shock) but I am dealing quite well with it, more and more things are starting to shock me about Peruvian culture, but that is ok, I am hear to learn another way of life, andI am enjoying it. I have also been making a ton of friends, and I am starting to really understand my teachers when they talk in Class, andI can converse with my friends! It is really great!

Anyways, I have got a fun week coming up, more sushi this weekend, and maybe to the fort in Callao (yay geeky history) and after that, the next wednesday begins my holidays, and since I don't write exams, instead of 1 week of holidays for spring break, me and Sofiane get 2 and a half! So it will be a marvelous few weeks, we plan to see sights, eat some crazy food, hang with friends and FIESTA! OH YES.

Talk to you all soon! CHAU!

( I will soon begin updating my posts with pictures, so take a look back, I have finally learned how to, but today it isn't working :P)

The Feast of Nino Jesus

Quite often, I want to update my blog, but stuff always gets in my way. Oh well, right now I have the opportunity, so I might as well take it :)

Not much has happened since my last post, I caught the Flu for one, that was great. I have now been sick twice in the three weeks I have been here. Apart from that most of last week was just school. Now I'm sure I made school sound great in my last post. I was lying. It is very long. and very boring. And I figure that is primarily because I don't understand. What makes me really mad though, are the teachers. There are 2 that I REALLY like. The tutora, who looks after everyone in my grade, and my Spanish teacher, who I have just begun to have conversations with. Her class is likely the most boring though, as It is alot of spanish spoken very fast. Apart from that I can only say that I like the religion, the math, the civics and the art teacher, because they are the ones that understand what I am going through. Apart from that I dislike the other 7 teachers because the yell a lot, and they expect me to fully participate in all homework and projects. Now I might sound lazy to you, but when they don't even come up to me to explain it to me apart from everyone else you could imagine how frustrated you would get. I have a whole bunch of projects right now, including a chart retelling the reconstruction of the Soviet Union, a project on the holocaust, for which I must make a video, a ton of business homework, AND a project on The principles discovered by Archimedes. My least favourite teacher, ironically is the english teacher, who is quite rude. Probably because I know more than her.

On the bright side my spanish is getting better due to school, I have actually had small phone conversations with people. which is really cool for me. And I have been making friends at school, everyone wants to befriends with the white kid from north America :P so as for that area I'm doing well, I have also been making friends with the other exchange students which is really nice :) and this weekend I might be hanging out in Miraflores with some friends from school at a artsy cafe, very cool ;P. Hopefully I can also hang with some rotary friends? haha.

I also have hit the party trek again. 2 Fiestas this weekend, might hit one on saturday night too lol. Fiestas as I metioned are interesting, usually I dance for 10-20 minutes and then go outside for some fresh air, because in the house it is a fog of second hand smoke. The first fiesta was at my friend Luis and Sofiane's house, celebrating his trip to france, and the second was in my casa for nathaly.

Another fun thing that happened last week was the raising of my flag at school. It is amazing how patriotic I really am, and never knew it. I guess it takes living in another country for you to really notice how much you care about your own. I like Peru! Thats for sure, but Canada is always going to be my home, I have no doubt about that.

I have also hung out a lot this week with people. On Saturday Renzo and Ivonne came over to do a project, they are both very good friends at colegio, and on Monday I went with Nathaly, Adriana and Brenda for Sushi, it was sooooooo good :D how I had missed it :) <3. Also hung out in Miraflores last night, even more fun, but tonight I am just relaxing at home :)

Oh here is something else interesting that has happened to me. My Realization, that I am in fact a minority group. It is very strange living your life as a white man, and then going to Peru and becoming a gringo (the slang and somewhat racist term for North Americans and Europeans) There really aren't many white people in Lima, although it is likely the largest minority group in the city. Racism is very common however in Peru, and if you are of Asian descent you are called a chino, and if you are black you are a negro, or the other "N word." You can imagine how taken aback I am quite often by the talk they use, after all, I am a Canadian (likely the least racist country on the planet) who is considering applying for a degree in Social Inequality Studies. I However do not get the full front of Peruvian racism, as white people are usually very well liked in the city, especially because it is assumed they have money. Most people want pictures of me, or to be my friend at school, there is a project on me for the grade 9 equivalent and all the primary school kids stare at me. I have only ever been treated negatively by two people, a cab driver, and the boyfriend of a friend's sibling. Oh well, most people like me, can't please everyone right? Interestingly enough I went to Starbucks the other day, and (I'm not joking) almost everyone in the building was white haha. I think their will also be many more white people in the summer, because Peru is a great tourist destination, because apart from Nazca and Macchu Pichu we also have some of the best waves in the world.

Before I begin, I just want you all to know, that I am a practicing Catholic and believer. Anyways, Yesterday was also a very interesting day. The Feast of Nino Jesus (pronounced Kneen-yo Hay-zeus) or baby Jesus. We had mass at school, basiclly all 2-3 thousand of us stood in rows in the courtyard as the priest said mass, I said the our father in English, i is easier that way, because I haven't learned Padre Nuestro yet (but I'm halfway done the peruvian national anthem). The weirdest part was at communion when two students walked around to all of the teachers whit a plastic baby doll, and the teachers held it and prayed to it then kissed it, I know us catholics are kind of in to the idolatry and we embrace our latin-pagan roots, but the plastic jesus was pushing it a bit... Interestingly the Catholic Church is much different here. I am not allowed to eat communion unless I confess that day. So I have now went to two masses, neither of which I have eaten communion at, which is weird for me as I have eaten host at every mass I have ever went to since I was in Grade 2, and I likely won't eat it for a while because confession requires advanced spanish. It is also a sin to miss church here. So I have a number of sins that need repenting. I myself am not an avid believer in confession, but when in Peru, do as the Peruvians I guess.

Apart from that I haven't been up to much maybe it would be a good time for some facts?
Fact.1 Peruvians only eat their eggs sunny side up, I hasve now blown my mama's mind with scrambled eggs and an omlette (my real parents are reading this think, he knows how to make that?)
Fact.2 Peruvian culture is made up of three main areas, The Incas, The Military and the Catholic Church
Fact.3 Latin America generally doesn't like each other, with the exception of Brazil, Suriname and Guyana and French Guiana. When Spain finally got kicked out of latin america, all of the spanish countries began to fight for supremacy, Peru has been conquered by Chile in the past, and has had conflicts with its too main enemies Ecuador and Chile. I personally have become to dislike chile, because it is very mean to Peru.
Fact.4 Alpaca fur is very soft. I bought a scarf :)
Fact.5 Chocolate, junk food and condements all come in small packets here, because the climate in peru mixed with the sugar and fat leads to a lot of acne. (fortunately I learned this before I went and got junkfood)
Fact.6 Their are terrorist in Peru, tens of thousands, and their are multiple groups, some that are trying to over throw the governement and install a communist regime, and others in the jungle trying to secure their drug trade ruits. It is kind of scary, but they don't do anything in Lima ever.

Well I think that sums up life for now, more to come Later
Hope you enjoyed :)

There is a reason why Cebicheria rhymes with Diarrhea

I am very sorry for not having updated lately, I have wanted to but Dios Mio (Oh my God) so many things have been getting in my way. I have heard that many people enjoyed my last post, so heres hoping you enjoy thins one two.


So where we left off I was at a point in my journey where I was this excited nerdy little exchange student ready to live in Peru, that was a two Thursdays ago, well not much else happened that week, except for I got to taste the fiesta side of Lima. In one week in this country I went to 3 full on parties. I was ridiculously pooped by Saturday. There are basically three things any Peruvian teenager does at a fiesta. Drink, Smoke and Dance. Thankfully I am not a Peruvian Teenager, and I decided just to dance. What blew my mind, is that it is cool to smoke here. Now I know some of you Canadian teens smoke, and I know you think, "man am I tough" well I hate to burst your proverbial bubble....but you're not tough, and you're definitely not cool, just the opposite actually. That being said, many teens smoke here at parties, but I dance. There is something about reggaeton that just moves you. (Physically, not emotionally)

So as stated, after all of these parties I was indeed very "pooped" on Saturday. But "Pooped" is not strong enough of a word to describe what was to come.... (yes their is a horrible pun brewing). On Saturday my parents went to the market and we picked up cebiche (no not from a trust-able restaurant, from a small market stand). Now Cebiche, is basically raw fish, no not like sushi, it is much more crude. Anyways I have been excited for it all week, because everyone says it is the best. I ate it. I regretted it. About 5 minutes after finishing I asked myself "What demon have you released into your bowels" My parents ran out with a shot glass and Anis, (a 45% Alcohol from Arequipa) and made me take a shot. Ok it subsided, and I survived. We went and bought my uniform for school, and everything was fine. That night we came home and I had milk for my light dinner. I regretted that at about 2 in the morning. Lets just say I should have taken 5 times the recommended dose of Pepto Bismol because I had all 5 symptoms. That Sunday we went to the hospital where I was plugged into an IV with Electrolytes and Anti-Biotics. It didn't help much. I went home that night, and the next day was just as bad. Back to the hospital for an all day stay, with another IV of both Electrolytes and Anti-Biotics. After a few jugs of that, my body had settled down, but it was monday, and the next day was supposed to be my first day of school. Well that didn't happen, and I just sleeped all day and watched TV. To make things worse, I also hit an important stage of my exchange, homesickness, I cried, It was embarrassing, but what can I say, I love my family and friends. Curious as to what set off? My Mom, Dad, Aunt, Oma and Grandma's favourite musician is Andre Rieu, a Dutch Violinist and orchestra conductor. It just so happens that Andre Rieu strangely also happens to be my host parents favourite musician. At the first sound in the car coming home from the hospital I broke down. Anyways I got over my sickness, and am doing much better now. Oh and as a Special shout out to David CA, I was proscribe Gatorade jajajaja!

So After all of that horrible experience, Wednesday was my first day of Colegio at Pedro Ruiz Gallo in Chorrillos Lima Peru. Pedro Ruiz is a high school for the children of military officers, and I'm sure I mentioned my father is Colonel in the Peruvian army, and the Commandant of an army base in Lima. Anyways this school is ran by the army. I get salutes from random people when I talk about it, oh and it is catholic, but its not like I don't have experience in Catholic School. South American high school is very different from North American High school.  It is much longer from before 8 to after 3. I take 11 classes a week, usually 4 a day. I get RECESS AGAIN :D:D:D:D and the students don't listen and just talk. I am surprisingly good at school. Ingles is more or less the best thing in my life right now. Math and Physics are also ridiculously easy due to their lack of words, and even religion is fairly easy for me, I was very proud of my self when I wrote a paragraph on the death penalty being against the catholic faith in Spanish!!!! The only thing thats hard for me is Communicacion/Lituratura or Spanish class. I think that speaks for itself. the coolest thing though is that My Spanish (first language) teacher in Peru is EXACTLY like Mrs. Martin my English teacher in Canada, and I'm actually glad about it because its something familiar to me when there isn't much familiar. One other familiar thing for me is English Class (Second language). It is exactly like grade 7 French. The kids don't listen or care. The course material is so easy and meant for babies. And The teacher gets no respect. Part of me feels bad for her, but part of me also laughs. I of course come off as a nerd in that class, because I know everything. Oh and I forgot that I'm actually good at volleyball! Phys Ed ws actually fun, because its not full of jocks trying to act macho and show off, it was just a bunch of people who wanted to have some fun playing sports.

More Peruvian Facts! Fact 1, When your Dad is a colonel your life is made in Peru, you get cheap education, free health care, access to special clubs in the city, and more! Fact 2, the stereotype Fidel Castro created about Latino military officers wearing Track suits outside of work is TRUE (my dad wears a track suit ALL THE TIME) Fact 3 Gatorade is a prescribe-able medicine in South America. Fact 4 (for Catholics) You cannot receive the host at church without having gone to confession THAT DAY. Fact 5 Peru uses the French Law system, Napoleonic Law where you are assumed guilty until proven innocent. That is very interesting for me, someone who is considering becoming a criminal lawyer. Fact 6, Lima is basically covered by clouds all the time in the winter, but...since I have been here, strangely the sun has been out about 6 days, which makes me very happy. Fact 7, the past faact is one of the reasons Lima is considered the most melancholy city in the world. Fact 8, elections are going on in Lima right now! which is very interesting! You will get more info on that after, along with much more on Peruvian Politics.

I have gotten my first taste of culture shock and boy is it bitter, more on that as well coming soon! (along with hat philosophical post i promised)

Have a great Week if I don't post soon!

The First Week

So before I begin this very lengthy post, I will apologize for not Posting since last Tuesday....It has been an amazing week, and sorry Mom and Dad for not reply to your emails more, but (and this is for everyone) If I live in the Cyber world, I won't learn Spanish.

Anyways, I arrived in Lima last Friday at 00:15 (I am getting used to the 24 hour clock, although both are used) I got a warm reception from my host Mom and Dad at the airport, although I understood almost none of it, and all I really said was "HOLA, COMO ESTAS?... BIEN GRACIAS) We went back to the house and I was intruduced to my siblings, Edson, my Brother, and my sisters Fiorella and Nathaly. I also met Luis, another exchange student who is from Peru and going to France, and Sofianne who is from France and now living in Peru. These 5 have been my friends for the past week. Life in the family is great. Mom and Dad are working by the time I wake up, and sometimes Edson and Fiorella are gone to university. They are done around 12:00 and mom comes home around 14:00 (2:00 PM). Dad doesnt return until arround 18:00 or 19:00. My Mom is a Dentist and my dad is a colonel in the Peruvian army. We eat breakfast, usually just me and Nathaly around 10:00 and we eat Dinner/Lunch at 3:00 or 4:00, we usually don't eat a meal after that. Usually we just have tea or soup and a sandwich around 21:00.

In the last week I have been in many different parts or "districts" of Lima, the are 43 in total, and even my host brother hasen't been to them all. Imagine the GTA but three times bigger, that is Lima. Lima's population is 9 million, by the way. I live in Santigo de Surco, which is a very safe and almost residential district of Lima. I will be going to school in Chorrillos, where my mom works. The rotary club I am in is from the San Isidro District (where I have never been) and they meet in Miraflores which is a very beautiful district, and considered part of downtown. I have also visited El Centre De Lima, which is the Old Lima, and it is also very historic and beautiful, although there is a lot of crime.
Finally I have also went to "El Marcatto: (The Market) to buy Fruit and Bond with my Mom. Oh also, When I get back to Canada I am never eating fruit again, it doesn't even compare to the non chemicalized fruit of Peru.


A Manana (Tomorrow) I am going back to miraflores hopefully to go shopping with the gang and finally eat Chebiche, which is a way of preparing fish. We are also going to go get Nathaly's passport. Odia (today) I met all of the other rotary students in my district, and of the (around) 12 of us 8 were from the US, the other 4 of us are from France (Sofianne), Germany, Switzerland and CANADA!!!!
So I made some new friends, who speak english....which isn't good haha.

So Some more interesting fact about Peru.... We are in a cold wave.....now to a Canadian you probably think "big deal" (I know I did) well....in Canada winter is usually dry is our isolated house, to keep out the cold of winter, In Peru it is a humid cold.....which is evil....it goes in your clothes and makes everything moist AND cold......and thus I have caught a cold. Fact number 2, Peruvian moms freak out about colds...especially when they warned you, and told you to put on more clothes, and you ignored them saying "I'm Canadian, this isn't cold!" Fact # 3, You must wear shoes inside, or your cold will get WORSE.... Fact # 4 After eating certain Peruvian foods (thats names escape me) drinking water will cause diarrhea, where as carbondioxide from Pop will prevent it, as will one Peruvian hard liquor shot, I went with the pop... Fact # 5 THERE IS NO SALES TAX :D. Fact # 6 , when you have no sales tax, roads are much less funded, as is the liscening system. Fact # 7 half osf the populatinon of Lima drives taxis.....ya if you though New York City was bad.....and there are more facts to come :)

Anyways I think that is all for tonight, picture are coming soon! My next post will be rather philosophical, on Lima Peru as an identity, it should prove interesting for all of you :)

I hope you are all enjoying life in Canada and in el Mundo I know I am :D


CIAO

The Pre-Adventure Post

Well here it begins my friends. The first post, and the beginning of a year long adventure. Before I begin, I just want to thank you for reading this blog, and taking an interest in my adventure, I hope you enjoy it, even a fraction of how much I enjoy living it. The people reading this have likely somehow came into my life and effected it somehow and I truly want to thank you for doing that, I wouldn't be going on this exchange if you didn't effect my life and make me who I am now.

So today is a special day for me, I get to say good bye to the Kennes family. It has however been goodbyes for the last two weeks, and the rest of this week will be no different, until I step through Airport Security at Pearson around 4:00 on Friday crying my eyes out. That is the day the real adventure begins I guess, this Friday, the 30th of July.  I cannot believe it. For the past year I have been studying Spanish, Peruvian Culture and general exchange student mental psychology, all in preperation for Friday.... I am a little tense. I don't expect it all to hit me until Friday Morning though....

Anyways I will pdate you on my life, likely on Saturday, and through out the coming year. I wish all the best to my fellow Exchange Students from District 6330, and I hope their exchanges will be as wonderful as mine is.

Adios!

P.S. If Nisha Reads this "WHOO" (yes that was the bird noise ;))