Finally arrived...

although I've been in Peru for nearly one week now I haven't found the time to write on my blog nor to even sit on a computer...anyway let's start from the beginning...: )
I left Switzerland on the 2nd of September as planned.....the journey was really long but ok.....me and the other Swiss AFSers had lots of fun in the plane as we were flying with the dutch airline and dutch can really be verz amusing.....anyway...we had to change the plane in Amsterdam. Arriving there we were a bit shocked by the crowd waiting at the passport-control...after half an hour wainting we thought we had the worst behind....well...no.....there was a huge queue (about 400 people) waiting for the security-check for the flight to Lima....another hour went by and again another 40min until the plane actually departed....
After 14 hours we finally arrived in Lima, where we met other AFSer from France & one from Iceland who apparently were on the same flight as we. After being welcomed by several Volunteers we were brought to a huge guesthouse runned by nuns, where we met some more AFSer. The largest group was yet to come though....32 from Belgium,Germany & Austria ( 21from Belgium still....:) ) As I said this place was huge...there were about 30 rooms, a dining room, something like a big classroom, a park and even a swimming pool. It was located in a place called Chacalayo about 1 hour car drive south from Lima.
On Thursday everyone had to go through a medical check due to the swineflu but everything was ok. Then we had 4 h Spanish classes, which was really a long time to be concentrated and sometimes a bit annoying as there were peoplenot understanding a single word in Spanish. But it was still worth it's time especially as the German accent in Spanish is just simply hilarious! ;)
On firday we had to go to Lima to the embassy to get registered. Lima is really a strange city...it looks like someone just had some houses to put somewhere and did it really randomly.
Our camp lastet until sunday morning. At 10 a.m the first group (in which i was) was being picked up by a bus and brought to another bus terminal where we met the head counsellour for AFS in Huancayo. She handed us over our tickets and we went to a supermarket together as we still had one hour left until the bus departed...the supermarket was huge....and the things sold there as well. We ( Lindsey, Nele, Matthias and I....all going to Huancayo) were blown away. The fruits here are HUGE! Papayas & Watermelons are at least two times as big as back home. And even Lindsey (she's from the USA) was impressed by the 7l waterbottles....:)
Anyway the Bus we traveled in was luxurious (Cruz del Sur by the way:) ) ! It was like Business Class in a plane. After 8h watching TV, sleeping, eating (yep there was Lunch on the Bus), taking pictures, being annoyed because my camera randomly broke and being totally excited, we finally arrived in Huancayo, where we were already awaited by our host families. Mine wa really sweet and we went out for dinner straight ahead. We went to a typical peruvian restaurant where we ate the "best of..."-plate. I don't know what exactly it was...i can just remember Antichuchos (i guess i once heard this was cow's heart but i'm not sure.) and picarones which was the dessert.....very sweet but actually not to bad at all.
The food itself here is really good actually. Heavy but good. A lot of meat of course and always rice & potatoes....mostly even all together...:) The desserts as I said are REALLY sweet.....to sweet for me sometimes. oh and the tea is delicious. so are the fruits! muuuy rico! :) But i do miss the Swiss water....even the one in the bottles you buy in the supermarket are not conpareable to our fresh Swiss water! :)
As I said my family is really nice. The little one, Jadira, is really sweet. she's always hugging me, coming to my bed in the morning to cuddle.... :) the only problem is that most of the time I don't understand what she's saying...which already made me loose a pen as obviously she asked me wheter i would offer it to her as a present....oops! :) My two other sisters are really sweet as well and helping me wherever they can. My hostmum is mostly occupied with the baby (Gianpierre :) ) and i don't understand her too good as well but what i understood was really nice. :)
My brother Charlie is like my guard & guide. I'd be lost without him here. During the day mami is at home and the girls at school. So he's the one showing me around and organizing everything for me, as for example trying to get my camera fixed again...he's at university in the evenings from 7 to 10:30 p.m ( i don't know if it will be the same for me too...)
The place where we live can't be called a house yet. It's under construction so at the moment we're living in two little houses...one is the kitchen/dining room/computer room and bedroom of Rossmery...the other one is the bedroom of mami, the baby, Jadira, Cynthia and me...Charlie lives in an other house about 5min from here. My hostdad is in Italy at the moment and maybe he'll be home for christmas and his birthday otherwise I won't meet him at all!
Well in about one week my bedroom is supposed to be finished...tomorrow we're going to buy some paint....i can choose the colour...yay! :) uhmm....what else....oh yeah...we don't have central heating but it's ok as we have a lot of blankets...and during the day it's really warm. The shower is outside...and there are only a few hours a day with warm water....but that's not too bad either....a cold shower can be really refreshing in the morning...:) the toilets are outside as well....well put simply we don't have a bathroom...and everything that's not in the bedroom or the kitchen is outside...:) but that will change too as soon as the house is finished....
oh I've got soo many things to tell....yesterday Charlie and I went to a little town in the middle of nowhere to a fiesta.....as far as I know it was for the new mayor who invited us to come there. It was really a lot of fun....Peruvians loove to dance and to drink beer....i had to join because otherwise Virgin Mary would punish me....that's what i was told..:) We then climbed up a hill from where we could see the whole valley and the village. Sooooo nice! Too bad my camera is broken...:(
After a few hours we wanted to return to Huancayo which was a 1 and a half hour drive. So we went down to the main road by mototaxi...really funny....especially beacuse we were 6 people on a motorbike....(thats what a mototaxi basically is) :) . After that we went home by a "collectivo". A car that is like a mixture between taxi and bus,...meaning the car is not full until there is no space at all left for anyone. So we were 9 people in a car made for 5 people.the driver, two on the frontseat, 4 on the backseats and 2 in the trunk....definitley something to get used to but it was only 10 Soles (about 3 dollars/Francs) for 90min....so :)
ok i guess i stop here....i'm getting tired..:)
I'll keep you posted!

besitos