First Impressions of La Molina, Lima
Mariana Gledhill from Wellington, N.Z spent 7 months in Peru in 2005 doing voluntary work. She shares her experiences.
Holas from La Molina, Lima
I am officially studying Spanish here at the moment, but I felt a bit unwell at Breakfast… turns out that over here, not eating means that you are pretty sick! In Wellington I would have gone to Uni anyway. My first Spanish lesson was so boring! We did Ser and Estar and I seriously had to start reading the dictionary to stop myself from falling asleep. I learned that stuff AGES ago! My host mother is going to sort them out though. She thinks that I am the best exchange person at Spanish that she has had and she thinks that it is stupid!
Differences, where to I start. Complexions- all dark. I went into Central Lima with my host mum and I felt like there was a dog obediance school following me. Seriously, there were so many whistles. The Mancho thing- there are advertisements about how to be the best
mother. All the sisters in the families that are used as examples for classes are secretaries. I wrote a story about one of the families in my first class and had one of the sisters quitting her secretarial job and studying pychology. (I can spell this word in Spanish… not English…) My teacher liked the fact that I had used every tense and mood that I had learned, (My subtle way of showing that I was above ser and estar.) but she thought that the prospect of a women becoming a famous pychologist was strange (but she knows my name!). Food is so good here! My host mother cooks so well! Breakfast is usually avocados on bread or fried egg, along with a banana smoothie and leche (condensed milk and hot water). Lunch is 3 courses- a soup, then a
main meal and finally some fruit. There is this juice made of purple corn (I am addicted!). I told my host family that we get soup in packets and my host grandma found it insanely funny! No es natural, she said.
My host family is lovely. Jorge, a stomach doctor, is in Piura at the moment. Gloria, my host mother, is a housewife and she is very kind and sweet. We have some interesting conversations. She speaks little English, which does my Spanish a whole heap of good. I have 2 host sisters, Karin studies engineering in Perth and Vanesa went to Oz last year. She studies business at San Marcos and English as well. My host grandmother is originally from Cuzco and she claims to be an Inca! She speaks Quechua, Aymara and Spanish. La Molina is a nice place to live as Lima goes. It is pretty safe, but in an earthquake, I would not like to be there. All of the buildings are brick. At church, the tunes have lots of movement. I like the music here. There is one singer who has a very clear outstanding voice. They have popstar programme on Tele with a small group who come out to dance and wear few clothes (they are Brazillian, my host mother said, as if that explained everything) and an American Idol like componant. There is one for kids- but unfortunately, the girl who won it strains her voice (oh, I hate being a music snob.) I can talk about music with my family thanks to the Italian terms I learned- Gracias 5th form music.
Cool coincidences abound. There are 3 poms here and Adam (who is not bad for a guy from Manchester) knows Yorkshire quite well (I lived in Leeds for a year). Afeah is from Leeds and has a friend on the same street where I lived Anyway, hope that answers all your questions. I like Lima more than I thought I would. La Molina is neat! I will send photos when I have worked out how too.
Hasta luego
Nos Vemos
Mariana
