Para empezar.....To begin.....

Translations in English will be below- I need to keep up my Spanish writing skills!

Hola de Peru y bienvenidos a mi blog para mis aventuras! Yo he estado aquí en Arequipa por cuatro días y en Peru por una semana, y empecé mi clase de certificación de TEFL esta mañana. Estabamos en Lima antes:

En frente de una catedral en Barranco
In front of a cathedral in Barranco

Yo en frente de Huaca Pucllana,
 las ruinas pre-Incas en el districo Miraflores de Lima
Me in front of Huaca Pucllana,
the pre-Incan ruins in the Miraflores district of Lima

Bria en frente de Huaca Pucllana
Bria in front of Huaca Pucllana

Parapentes cerca del Parque de Amor en Miraflores
Paragliders close to Love Park in Miraflores

Estoy aquí con mi amiga de escuela secondaria, Bria, y vivimos en Yanahuara, Arequipa, un districo muy bonita, en una casa más bonita con una vista increíble:

Basicamente, la vida es buena!  Tengo que escribir reflecciónes cada día en mi clase, y por eso voy a poner algunas en este blog (en íngles, abajo), si quieres saber lo que estoy pensando sobre mi clase.

Trataré de escribir lo que he hecho:

Lima: 

El circuito magio de las aguas (fuentes bonitas con espectáculos de luces)

Barranco (districo viejo de los españoles)

La Plaza de Armas (centro historico, arquitectura bonita)

Larcomar (centro comercial se construyó en la cara de un ancantilado en la costa)

Electricity Museum (lo econtré por el azar- cosas eléctricas viejas (radios, etc) y la historia de hidroelectricidad de Peru)

Futbol- La Copa de Sudamerica está pasando ahora. Peru estaba en los semifinales! Fue increíble! No estaban en los finales.  Menos increíble. 

Caminamos por la costa al Parque de Amor, vimos muchos parapentes

Huaca Pucllana, ruinas maravillosas

Arequipa:

Monasterio de Santa Catalina

Mercado de San Camilo

Basílica Catedral de Arequipa 

Día de Volkswagon

Both: 

COMIDA.  Mucha buena comida, por poco dinero.  Muchos restaurantes tiene un menú, un plato especial diario que es MUCHISIMA comida por S./8-12, o 3-4 dolares.

Y una cosa o dos que he aprendido:

Poder hidroeléctrico empezó en 1902

Comprar una tarjeta de SIM toma mucho tiempo.  Claro necesita tu número de pasaporte, etc....entonces recibes demasiado mensajitas de Claro (lo mismo que Verizon en los EEUU)

Peruanos son muy abiertos y ayudables.  Un chico quien nos conocimos y con quien hablabamos por una hora me ofertó enseñarme la guitarra.  

Necesito relajarme- voy a tener mucho más tiempo aquí que lo que estoy acostumbrada (más que nada) y pasar una tarde para leer si yo quiero está normal en este ritmo de vida aquí!

Reflection from July 1, 2015

The grammar in this course will help me understand my own language so much better than I ever have. I was nervous before about knowing how to explain to my students the rationale behind strange English idiosyncrasies; I’ve always just been grateful that I learned such a complicated language as my first. As we discussed in class, my language competence is plenty sufficient, but when it comes to metalinguistic awareness I’ve got some definite gaps to fill.  I realized, though, how much my previous Spanish experience will help me with explanations, and if we are going to cover grammar concepts as thoroughly as we did today throughout the whole course,  in a month I’ll feel much more prepared to answer grammar questions than I do now.  The linguistics we learned today will also no doubt help me out a lot- I am fascinated by linguistics, and I will use the phoneme triangle to explain pronunciation as much as I will use the use affixiation to discuss prefixes and suffixes.  I have a feeling I won’t go into as much detail with students as we did today, but knowing all of those details about English’s roots makes me feel much more comfortable teaching English. As much as my English knowledge will improve, though, I am realizing how difficult it will be to maintain my Spanish while I’m here. Speaking English all day with a bunch of English speakers will, as John pointed out, not be helpful in that regard. I will have to work hard outside of class to improve my Spanish and make a concerted effort to go out and meet locals. 

ENGLISH

Hello from Peru and welcome to my blog of my adventures! I've been her for four days in Arequipa and in Peru for a week, and started my TEFL certification class this morning. We were in Lima before (see pics above) I'm here with my friend from middle school , Bria , and live in Yanahuara , Arequipa, a beautiful (and pretty rich) district , in a nice house with an incredible view (also pic above) Basically , life is good ! I have to write reflections every day in my class , so I'll put some of those on this blog (in English, above ) , if you want to know what I'm thinking about my class.

I'll try to keep a list also of things I've done:

Lima: 

El circuito magio de las aguas (beautiful LED fountain display with shows)

Barranco (old Spanish district)

La Plaza de Armas (historic center, beautiful architecture)

Larcomar (Shopping mall built into an ocean cliffside)

Electricity Museum (randomly happened in on it- awesome old appliances/radios/etc and the history of hydroelectricity in Peru)

Futbol- La Copa, the South American World Cup, is happening right now. Peru made the Semi Finals!!  It was awesome!!  They didn't make the finals.  Less awesome.

Walked down the coast to Lover's Park, saw a bunch of paragliders

Huaca Pucllana, amazing ruins

Arequipa:

Monasterio de Santa Catalina

Mercado de San Camilo

Basílica Catedral de Arequipa 

Volkswagon Day

Both: 

FOOD.  Lots of good food, for ridiculously cheap.  Most places have a ¨menú¨ , a daily special that's a full meal of SO MUCH FOOD for about 8-12 soles,  $3-4.

And a thing or two I've learned:

Hydroelectric power in Peru started in 1902

Buying a SIM card here takes a long time.  They need your passport number, etc....and then you get SO MANY TEXTS from Claro, essentially the South American equivalent of Verizon

Peruvians are so open and helpful. A dude we met and talked to for an hour on the street offered to give me guitar lessons.

I need to chill out- I'm going to have much more down time than I'm used to (aka more than zero) and taking an afternoon to read if I want is totally in line with the pace of life down here!