Later Monday night, I met up with a girl named Carrie, (the girl I flew into Peru with) and her host sister Fiorella at a place called the Jazz Zone. This place on Monday night was for Jazz Improv. Anyone could go up on stage and play their instrument and play it well! I was so surprised at some of the talent these people have. Being someone who loves Jazz music, I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Come to find out, sitting in the front row, we over heard the piano player talking, IN ENGLISH!! Carrie and I turned our heads so fast, you would think Johnny Depp had walked by. Lo and behold, it wasn't Johnny Depp, but his name was Eric and he's from San Francisco. I didn't get any more information, but that was enough to keep up staring at him playing the rest of the night. He was really into playing the piano, enough so that I had to get a video of it. So great.
On tuesday, the family took me out to another district called Miraflores. In distance from Surco (the district I'm living in), it's about the drive from Dexter to Ann Arbor, a good ten minutes or so. Miraflores is the more commercial side of Lima. Because it's right on the coast, it's very touristy and has a lot to do. That's actually where the Tennis Club is where I take my dance classes. By the way, my family is apart of a Tennis Club, no big deal or anything. But anyway, we went to Miraflores, walked around a park called Kennedy Park, an important park in Miraflores (not sure why, I forgot).. but it's important. They took me to this great authentic ice cream shop and we got the best ice cream. Yes Mom, it was better than Cold Stone, that good. We walked around the park some more and saw some really awesome paintings. I wanted to pick one up, but not sure how I'd bring it back to the states, so Rodrigo had to pull me away from all the bright, abstract paintings.
On wednesday, I had yet another dance class and yet another disaster. Absolutely no improvement since Monday, so once again, made up my own moves to dance. That night around 5:15, Rodrigo and I left to go to Miraflores to catch a Mirabus, to view Peru at Nite with some other Michigan girls named April and Amanda and their host sisters! Inconveniently not knowing we were there an hour early, we ended up walking around Kennedy Park again looking at a little market in the park. I dragged Rodrigo around with me looking at jewelry, I don't think he was too bored, seeing as he was helping me pick out rings! Such a good trooper. We finally hit 7 o'clock, walked back up to the ticket booth, only to find Amanda and April! I haven't seen these girls since one of the Lions Club meetings, so it was good to see a familiar face again! The tour of Lima ended up being a cold, windy 3 hours on the top of a huge red bus. It was really interesting, (what I could understand of it seeing as most of it was in Spanish), and I got quality pictures of buildings. We stopped half way through the tour at a fancy smancy hotel and we treated with tea and mini sandwiches! The waiter came around asking if our group of 6 wanted tea, orange juice, or coffee. Us girls wanted some good OJ and Rodrigo wanted coffee.. So we got our drinks, ate our sandwiches, and another waiter came around, not thinking we already got our drinks, and asked us if we wanted drinks! We were only allowed to have one drink per person, so we hid our glasses and asked for tea! What rule breakers we Americans are. The waiter gave me my steaming water and the other girls their coffee, spoke to me in Spanish.. I told him I didn't understand and he walked away without giving me my tea! I looked at the girls and Rodrigo and said "He didn't give me my tea!" They were all in the process of laughing hysterically while I told them because of my reaction to him speaking Spanish to me.. and Rodrigo had to politely tell me that what he told me in Spanish was that he would be right back with my teabag! Ohhh how embarrassing. So then, I wanted our picture taken at the table, but didn't know how to ask someone in Spanish. After having Marilu teach me, I asked a nice man, and he responds with "Sure, no problem!" I was like grrrreat, I'm glad I just made an ASS of myself to this Spanish guy! We all started laughing because he responded in English after hearing me ask my friends how to ask in Spanish! He couldn't just go with the flow, ohhhh too funny. It was really good seeing the girls, and I'll see them more this week and hopefully next week!
My host family has a trip planned for this weekend! We leave early Friday morning and don't come back until late Sunday night. Off to some place near the Jungle.. I'll be sure to come back and write about how it goes. Lord help me.
