Easter Weekend

Things are finally getting back to normal for me in Lima. It was my first weekend in Lima after all of our amazing trips. Since it was Holy Week the University and most businesses closed down on Thursday and Friday. It was nice to have a four day weekend, but not so much fun that we will have to make up two weeks of our Conversation class. On Thursday night I went to a movie, Silver Linings Playbook, with my sister, Liseth, and two of her friends. We got to the theater early and bought our tickets then walked around the mall and ate some ice cream. I was surprised that the movie was in English and only had Spanish subtitles. I suppose it's the same as watching a foreign film for us in the states, but I'm not sure if I would want to go to a movie and pay 20 soles to read it. If it were a really good movie I would go to read it, but I wouldn't want to have to read most of the movies I watch. Some of their movies have dubbed over voices but some do not. After the movie Griselda told me that she would rather watch movies in their native language. I've never had the dilemma of watching all foreign films so it's an interesting aspect for me. I really liked the movie though, and it was nice to hear it in English and read the subtitles to see how they translate. Afterwards I told my sister that after reading the subtitles, Spanish was easy, but when I speak it it's not so easy. Friday I just hung out at home, did some homework and watched TV. Saturday my sister and I ate at a Chifa, a Peruvian Chinese restaurant, with four of her friends and it was really good!

After eating at the Chifa we went to TGIFriday's and had some drinks and ordered desert! We ordered a brownie with ice cream and an ice cream sundae. It was really good! Especially since I never eat ice cream or brownies here. On Sunday I woke up early walked to church. Church started at 7:30 so I had to wake up early since the walk is about 30-40 minutes. But it was nice since I got to see the sun rise over the "mountains" and the temperature was perfect for a morning walk.

I live in the condos in the far left of the picture... If you can see them. 

Selfie of me on Easter Morning!

The Catholic Church that Marta (my UNK teacher) and I attended.  Once church started it was packed and we had 5 people in every pew. 

 Church service was really nice and only about an hour long. The man I sat next to was really nice and we talked while others went to communion. After service I walked to the grocery store to buy a mango, a chocolate bar for my "Easter Candy" and grenadilla (passion fruit) and ended up seeing my new "friend" again which was a little creepy and we talked some more. After shopping I was going to find a Collectivo (a taxi that is shared with other people) to take me home, but I saw my "friend" once again and he said he had a car to take me home and I told him I liked to walk; so I made the 40 minute trek up my "mountain". But it was a good walk and I'm glad I made it.

On Thursday night (Maundy Thursday) when Liseth and I were walking down the mountain to meet her friends there was a church service going on in a park near by. Over the past several weeks I have watched them build this monument in the park. Generally on the inside of them is a statue of Mary and Jesus. On Thursday when we walked by, on our way to the movie, there was a sheet covering the opening to the cave. On Sunday when I walked by, the sheet was gone and Mary was outside and Jesus was above the Alter. I thought it was a pretty cool way to present their new monument.

You can see Jesus above the Alter and Mary kneeling outside the cave.

The rest of the day Sunday I did some homework and took a nap. Later that day I was able to Skype with my family as they were all celebrating Easter at my house in Lincoln. In was good to Skype with them and the first time I've been able to see by Grandparents and Aunt and Uncle since I left in January. The nice thing about Skype is you can buy "Skype minutes" and they allow you to call any phone in the world for a cheap price so I have been able to talk to my grandparents.

Monday was my first day of going to a local high school to help girls practice their English. It's a Catholic High School and their 11th grade is only girls. One of the girls in my group was very fluent in English so it was fun to talk to her. Our subject to talk about was the differences of schools in Peru and Nebraska. After class the school gave us a snack of chocolate eggs and Inca Kola! I was happy to get a chocolate egg for Easter, and ice for my pop!