Well, this weekend was really nice. I didn't have a ton to do for homework, which is always nice on the weekend. Saturday I worked on homework in the morning, then we had a parrillada (BBQ) at our house for some friends that are leaving to go back to Canada. It was fun to have everyone over and enjoy the good food and company.

Litos (Juan Carlos) and Pedro...my hermano and papa in Arequipa...grilling the wonderful food!

My friend Christy standing in the backyard of my house...it is a very nice house...although it does get pretty cold!

Yay! A picture with me in it...I know it is pretty amazing!

After the wonderful parrillada, I talked to my mom on the phone for a while and then headed downtown to my favorite coffee shop. I meet Christy and Cassie there and we hung out there for a little while.

Christy working on her computer at the coffee shop...got to love the free wireless internet.

After the coffee shop, Christy and I headed to the "mall" to find some jeans for me. It was definitely an adventure since I have no clue as to what size I am here in Peru. But it turned out well, with Christy's help I was able to find a pair of jeans that actually fit me and that were reasonably priced. We were then supposed to meet friends for a movie but it turned out the times we had for the movie were wrong. So we ended up sitting around the food court for a while. The others decided they still wanted to see the movie and so they stuck around to watch the movie later and I came home and called one of my good friends. It was nice to talk to her for a while and just catch up. I really am enjoying having high-speed internet here in Arequipa. It makes life a little easier.

This is an attempt to get a picture of the volcano Misti...but it is a little hard to get a decent picture in a moving car. I will try to get a better one soon.

Sunday was Father's day and so after church we had a special meal. It was nice to hang out with other people from church, however after trying to follow a conversation for almost 40 minutes in spanish...my brain was a little fried. So I came home and took a nap before Marshall and I headed over to the Doolittle's for a fun evening of games, food, worship and prayer. It was great to spend time with others from school and not have to talk in spanish. It was a great weekend! I am very thankful for the friends I have made here already and the opportunities to hang out with them. Like right now...off I go to my favorite coffee shop to study verbs!!!

Well, two weeks of language school are behind me. It has been a crazy two weeks with me coming and going...but they have been good too. I am learning a lot and looking forward to learning even more as the weeks go on. Last night Marshall and I sat and made flashcards for all of our irregular verbs...we have at least 200 cards. It is crazy how many different verbs I have to learn the meaning to and learn how to conjugate them. But I guess it is good...I am expanding my vocabulary! However it is a little annoying when you have 2 or 3 different words for the same thing and they all get used regularly. Ah the joys of another language!

Tonight I think is going to be a relaxing night...I have been tired all day and will benefit from staying home. I might work on homework, but will probably save it for tomorrow. My brain is too tired to think in Spanish tonight. It is amazing how quickly things can change in this house. Last week I was the only student staying here with the family. I came back from Lima on Tuesday and all of a sudden there were three guys staying here too. And now we are back down to just me and Marshall. It is crazy how fast and often things change around me...it is helping me to learn to be more flexible. =) David and Ed left this afternoon to head back to Lima. Ed, I believe, flies out of Lima tonight. It was fun to get to know him after hearing about him from David. I hope to see him again some day and meet his wife too, it sounds like we would have some things in common. Anyway, that has all added to the craziness of my week...but I guess it has been good craziness. But I think it is also what has made me so tired today. Hopefully tomorrow I will feel better and be able to have fun hanging out with people.

Some random pictures

Ed, David, Marshall and Cassie...they are fun to hang out with!!
Me, David, Marshall and Cassie...look at how short I am!

Here is a picture of my long awaited carnet!!! Yay!!!
Chris and I at the airport just before I left again for Arequipa. Very sad that he left =(
Picture of the mountains on the way back to Arequipa.
More mountains....so pretty!
The clouds that remind me of snow.

Sunset behind the mountains....plus the wing...how cool!

Friends going and friends coming

Well, today I got back to Arequipa. It is good to be back....I know it is where I need to be. Chris and I hung out today before I left. It was a bittersweet time since I knew it would be the last time I would see him here in Peru. I still don't think it has hit me yet that he and Kelly won't be in Pucallpa when I get back. I am still fully expecting them to be there when I go back at the end of July. Right now it just feels like we are all on vacation...so weird.

So coming back to Arequipa has been better than last week. I feel much better than last week...last week I had a headache and wasn't very hungry because of the altitude. But thankfully, I only had a slight headache tonight and should feel mostly normal tomorrow. It has been nice already to have someone else here at the house. Marshall is staying here too and it will be nice to have someone right here to hang out with. Tomorrow it is back to classes and homework...always a fun time. I think I will have a ton of homework tomorrow since I missed two days of classes. I will probably spend my whole afternoon and evening doing homework, with maybe a little bit of time to hang out with Marshall, David and Ed. We will have to wait and see exactly how much homework I have to catch up on.

Yipee!

So this morning Chris and I headed to "Migraciones" to finish up my paperwork for my carnet. We got there about 8:05 and called the CONEP office to see where we were supposed to meet the guy. So they told us were to go and we only had to wait about 10 minutes before he showed up. So I watched them put information into the computer, got my picture taken, had my fingerprints taken digitally (which was really nice and should be the only way to do fingerprints), and then waited for at least an hour. But by 10:30 I had my carnet in my hand and way free to go! I am so thankful that everything was able to be done today and that I didn't have to wait any longer for my carnet. Thank you to all of you who have been praying about this with me. Please know that I greatly appreciate your prayers.

So after all of that was done, we came back to the guest house and got to see Marshall, David and Ed before they left to head to Arequipa. It was good to see Marshall and catch up with him a bit before we both get busy with language school. Chris and I then went and did some shopping and I decided that I wanted to buy a book in Spanish to help me understand more...so I bought The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and The Magician's Nephew. I figured they are books that I know well enough in English that I shouldn't have too hard of a time reading them in Spanish...I guess we will have to wait and see.