I arrived at the Lima airport at around 11:30pm and my host mom Aída, one of her daughters Marylinda (Mary) and Alessia who is one of Aída's granddaughters picked me up and drove me back to my new home for the next four months and I immediately fell asleep after the almost 14 hours of traveling and airport dwelling.
My first official day in Peru, Saturday, was spent attempting to get to know my new family. This is an ongoing process because my new family is HUGE. Let me rephrase, huge for me as I only have one brother and my two parents in America.
So here is Mi Familia Peruana:
Aída (Sr.) is the oldest of the house and is either the mama, tia or abuela to everyone here. She speaks no English but is extremely sweet and always is making sure that I am doing alright.
Gladius is Aída's sister and she knows very little English but also is just extremely sweet whenever she sees me.
Aída (Jr.) is the oldest of Aída's (Sr.) children. Her husband and three children all live here in a kind of separated/attached apartment. That's the best way I can explain it. She actually does speak English fairly well but I try my best only to use Spanish but I use English for S.O.S.
Coque is Aída's (Jr.) husband, he speaks very little English but he is so nice and patient when I speak with him.
Aleesia (age 12), Favia (age 6), and Luciano (age 4) are Coque and Aída's 3 children. I already love them and my favorite part of breakfast every morning is waking up to a kiss on the cheek from all 3 of them.
Marylinda or Mary is Aída's (Sr.) youngest daughter and she is one of the prettiest and nicest people I have ever met. She speaks English very well and always helps to translate when I get stuck on words. She is also the creator of my new nickname "Meli" which I will talk about later.
Pito is Aída's (Sr.) son who also lives here with his wife Veronica. I haven't talked with them quite as much yet but they lived in Atlanta, Georgia for 6 years so they know a lot of English and seem very nice.
Adriana (age 10) and Lyah (age 7) are Pito and Veronica's two children. Both of them remember some English from their time in Atlanta so when one of the other children want to say something to me, they both try to translate.
Aída (Sr.) also has one other son and he and his wife have a son named Joshua (age probably 4, I have not asked). They don't live with us here but I met them this weekend so more info on this part of the family will come later.
Finally, there is Karla who is from Ecuador and goes to UPC but is currently on summer break so she won't have classes again until March. She is leaving for Mexico on January 29th to visit her dad for a month which makes me sad because she has really helped me transition to Peruvian life. She has helped me get a Peruvian phone, new chargers, shown me what transportation to use and really made me feel welcome.
Basically, I live with 13 amazing people. I still have a lot to learn about them all but they are the most welcoming and kind people. I feel like the luckiest person in Peru because I get to live with such a happy and loving family.
Here's a few more bullet points to wrap it up the last few days...
- Every time you greet or say goodbye to someone you kiss them on the cheek (this is hard for me to get used to).
- I now go by "Meli" which is short for my real name Melissa. I actually kind of love it, which is wierd since I have never gone by anything but Missy. Marylinda started calling me this from the first day I got here and everyone else followed suit.
- I live literally across the street from campus, which is awesome.
- It's really hot, which is also awesome.
- I already love everyone from UNK and I can't wait for all of us to get closer throughout this adventure.
- UPC has a beautiful campus.
- "chevere" = cool (this is the first slang word I learned here).
So far so good... I love Peru :)
My "Welcome to Peru" Presents
The Beautiful UPC Campus
The whole UNK group
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