Lima is an awesome city! Although, it is completely different than what I expected. The city is very crowded, and very dirty. Its cold, too. I guess I should have expected those things, especially the cold since it is technically winter. I guess when cold is 65 degrees, I can't complain! There are also not tons of tall buildings like cities in the US, it is much more sprawling. The city is huge though, and there are over thirty districts, maybe even forty.

I absolutely love the family here. There are six other international students living in the house, along with Nancy and Tito (los padres) and their three children (17, 21, 22). It is so much fun! Nancy cooks a lot, but for the first week she is cooking "mild food" so it doesn't upset our stomaches because we aren't used to all the food yet. Today, Nancy made homemade passion fruit juice. It was the best! They have been awesome about showing us around town, explaining everything, and dealing with our semi-broken Spanish. Although, my Spanish isn't great, it has been much easier than I thought it would be.

The house is great. All the houses in Lima have huge gates around the them (complete with barbed wire in some cases), and then once you are inside the gates, everything is unlocked and open, and its like a nice, little sanctuary away from the city (although I can always still hear all the cars honking on the street). There is a courtyard with a big BBQ area, a waterfall and koi pond, and palm trees. A lot of the walls in the house are made out of glass, and most of the hallways/staircases are outside. It is nice because we can keep our doors open, and it feels like we are outside with so much fresh air. My room, along with one other room (Julia's from WI), is upstairs away from the rest of the house. It is like a little balcony with two rooms that overlook the courtyard. Definitely the best rooms in the house!

I have had a cough for awhile now, and I still have it. I had to suppress it through customs so they would let me into the counrty. Not that long ago, all the public areas in Lima (movies theaters, clubs, etc.) were closed for twenty days due to the swine flu outbreak, so they are still worried about it. Although Tito has been making me hot eucalyptus leaf tea, which is supposed to help... maybe it is? :) Although now I have a bit of a grudge against the tea, I spilled some of it on my computer (completely my fault...!). My computer still works totally fine, but there are little, darker spots on the screen (looks wet under the screen?). I think it might dry up, and as long as my computer works, I don't really care. However, if anyone knows how to fix this, let me know!

Tonight, we are going out to a jazz club. I don't really know what to expect from Peruvian jazz, but it should be fun!

I haven't taken too many pictures yet, but I will post some soon! For now, this is Tito and the koi pond. He has to cover it when the pigeons get out of control, the pigeons eat the fish.