But somehow, today I woke up to Liz swinging open my door and saying, “Woman! Are you awake yet?” I groggily responded that I was getting there, and would be down for lunch after I brushed my teeth. I walk down there and have everyone throw in their little jabs at my late arrival. “You should be ashamed of yourself!” “Enough sleep for you?” “I want what you had last night!” I just respectfully rolled my eyes at them, paid due respect to the better remarks, and then sat down. Lunch was fairly good today, some unknown soup followed by a paella/fried rice fusion of sorts. I got through about half of it before auctioning it off to the boys, and then headed up for a shower.
Remembering last minute that tonight was the talent show, I quickly French braided my hair (messily, but braided all the same) and hopped in to a lukewarm shower. When I got out, I then remembered that I had homework for Jorge, and quickly pulled out my space pen (thanks Auntie May!) and my notebook, and began to work. In about ten minutes, I had written out a one page essay comparing my life back home to my life here in Cusco, full of golden details (duh!), excitement, and slight exaggeration.
When it was finished, I quickly grabbed my bag and ran outside to grab a taxi. I got to class right on time, and prepared myself for another gossip session. Today’s topic? Boyfriends and clothes. Yes, my classes are completely serious… =]
I have to admit though, it’s awesome to have half a class of grammar, followed by half a class of gossiping (for the sake of conversation practice of course!). It’s a nice balance, and we always seem to run out of time at the juiciest moments. I’m determined to be NEARLY fluent when I return home to the states. After all, if I can’t bring a tan or lean muscles home with me, what else but fluency in Spanish do I have left? ;]
After class, I waited for my tandem, only to wait, and wait, and wait. It turns out he works at some big business here and was unable to get out of work on time. He showed around 4:30 or so though, and profusely apologized. We decided to bump up our tandem time from 4 to 5, so he’d have enough time after work, and I’d have time to relax after class. I stuck around until 6 though, using my laptop, catching up on emails, and attempting to blog. However, when I tried to blog, blogspot told me they were undergoing a scheduled maintenance and my blog could not be uploaded. I saved it though, and figured since it had already been drafted, I could just load it up at the house.
When six came, I headed upstairs to find the boys and go head on home. On the way back home, Simon remembered he needed a jacket for the Inca Trail trek, so we stopped into a few markets along our walk. He found his ideal jacket, only to be shut down because he’s just too tall and grande for Peruvian sizes. He still found some gifts for his girlfriend, so it wasn’t a total waste of a trip. It was a funny experience though, watching as the little Peruvian woman attempted to fit him into a medium, then an XXL, not able to find a nice balance in between.
After the mini shopping stop, I told them I wanted to stop by my favorite fried donut woman. I bought three for one sole, so took one for myself, and gave the other two to Matt and Simon. We attempted to ask for another plate, but the lady stared at us like we were crazy. We told ourselves she was just being eco-friendly, not wanting to contaminate the earth with more plastic plates.
We walk into the house and see that the furniture has been totally rearranged, and there are balloons along the windows. Ben had been hard at work to prepare for the talent show. Still, it wasn’t time for dinner, so I stayed downstairs and watched some more Season 1 Heroes.
When dinner finally came around, we were all more than happy since we could smell the aroma way early on. Our soup was a nice wanton soup type of thing, followed by a chicken stir fry of sorts with some bakchoi type green on the side. It was definitely a Chinese food themed night. I wasn’t very hungry though, and felt bad when Yoco came to ask me if it was okay or not. I told her it was delicious, but I was still recovering from my bout of sickness.
When everyone was finishing up with their dinner, they rolled out the big surprise, a cake for Yuen’s birthday. I actually wish I had taken a picture of it, because it was so surprising and thoughtful of them, and it looked all homemade and delicious. And it was. =] It was a yellow cake with a buttercream frosting, and large dashes of caramel here, there, and within the filling. They brought out a candle and all, and we sang for Yuen as he blew out his one candle. Then the cake was cut and a happy silence of mouths eating filled the room, until Marco brought out the special-occasion-only two liter of Coke. But the surprises did not stop there, and Marco brought out a gift for Yuen, a sweater from their Alpaca factory. Really though, sweetest family EVER.
After the gifts and cake were dealt out, we began to pump ourselves up for the talent show. It started no more than ten minutes after, because we were all impatient and would have fallen asleep otherwise. Ben opened with a nice introduction (seeing as this was HIS idea), and actually was picked first out of the hat. I think it’ll be best if I continue on with my description of the talent show in a line-up format, so here goes.
1) Ben – Sang original song “Miguel” on guitar. The boy can sing and play and write a hell of a song. The end.
2) Ebony – Ebony told us the history of the Gullah Islands, and then some legends she heard there from a local woman. It’s crazy, because I never knew the Gullah Islands were actually real, and thought it was only made up for the show “Gullah Gullah Island” with the huge frog thing. Anyone else remember it?
3) Todd – Todd is a “scribbler”, and read us one of his poems/writings that he wrote when he first arrived in Cusco. It was really moving, and we were all silent throughout. Yup, it was that good.
4) Matt – Read an original poem, “How do I love Perez house, let me count the ways.” Shoutouts to everyone in the house always ensures some extra points towards a win. Plus, rhyming Cusco with Cusco is a skill lol.
5) Ben and Jake – They sang the Norwegian and Swedish national anthems simultaneously to symbolize that it’s possible for Swedes and Norwegians to be friend. Very touching. ;]
6) Jake – Solo act this time, and sang two Swedish “snob” songs. Ben swears he was insulting us the entire time, but we’ll just have to believe otherwise.
7) Luke – Luke had two talents tonight. His first was freestyle dancing to LoveStoned by Justin Timberlake, which ended with him throwing his hat to Ben. =] The second was building a card house. I personally could not get over the dancing. =]
8) Simon – Juggled two balled up tube socks and an electric converter to “D.A.N.C.E” by Justice. Entertaining, and excellent song choice.
9) Raelene – Rae did Highland dancing (Scottish) for a long, long time when she was younger. Her schedule was pretty much like how mine is for Polynesians, with lots of competitions and performances. She’s even a certified professional teacher, so she showed us a bit of the dance, despite being nauseous. Twas so cool, and takes a whole lot of body control with all of the jumping.
10) Yuen – Yuen also shared with us two talents, because he didn’t have the right tools to juggle fire, which was his intended talent. First he showed us all how to fold a paper crane, and second, he did the Carlton dance from Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Ahhh, memories of the 90s.
11) Self – I went next and freestyled a hula dance to “Fields of Gold” by Keali’I Reichel, and then did a quick Tahitian solo to a Heiva I Reno beat. I don’t know how I didn’t collapse. Fa’arapu-ing full out at this altitude is death on a stick. Luckily, apparently not many of them have seen enough Hula/Tahitian to notice how tired I was and how sucky my technique was, so I was set. =]
12) Ciara – Ciara is huge on football (soccer) back home in New Zealand, so she juggled the ball for us. Way to show up the boys. =] We wanted her to do the Haka from the All Blacks (New Zealand’s rugby team), but apparently it’s disrespectful to do if you’re not Maori. =[ Shame, I really wanted to see it.
13) Liz and Ben – Liz and Ben sang an original duet written by Ben, while Ben played the guitar. It was about a love triangle between a boy, a girl, and the boy’s guitar. The boy only wants to play his guitar, because he always hears it calling to him, and the girl wants nothing more than to make music with the boy. So cute, and very Juno-status. Except better, because I witnessed it live. =]
Then it was time to tally the scores from our judges, Marco, Yoco, and Christian, and announce the winners. The deliberation wasn’t long, and we were all still talking when they ready for the results.
3rd – A tie between Luke’s freestyle dancing and Ben’s song “Miguel. The prize: Oodles and oodles of Peruvian candy.
2nd- Yuen for his Carlton dance and crane making. I personally think it was the Carlton dance that sealed the deal.
1st – Me. =] But it gets better. My prize? A bottle of Bacardi Limon. The irony of the night was that the baby of the house won the alcohol. Aren’t you ever so proud Mom and Dad? =]
Afterwards, we all decided to take a family picture since it’s the last time we’ll all be together. =[ Luke leaves on Saturday night for a week and half trip, and Ebony is gone on Monday. So here it is, the Extended Perez family. =]
Top Row (L-R): Christian (our awesome cook! and somehow related to Marco), Matt, Simon, Luke, Marco (my Peruvian dad).
2nd Row (L-R): Yoco (my Peruvian mom), Ebony, Liz, Me (not tippy-toeing to appear taller…), Raelene
3rd Row (L-R): Todd, Jake, Ciara (pronounced like Kiera)
Front: Yuen and Ben
Afterwards, we stayed up playing Twister, Rummikub, and Scrabble in Spanish. It was freaking hard, but totally awesome when you got a high-scoring word. Twister was hilarious, because it is the smallest mat ever, and six of us played. Not to mention that all other five people besides me are over 5’8. Yup, twas challenging.
When everyone started heading up to pack for the Machu Picchu trek, I stayed behind and decided to hog the phone for the night.
In the end, it was an amazingly fun night, and kind of sad to think that sooner than later, our family is going to be changing. =/ On a high note though, I miss you all, and you should know I’ll be donating the Bacardi Limon…to uhh…some needy bar…
A picture of our Spanish scrabble when we were worded out.
P.S. Ciara and I won, and "Guac" is now a Spanish word. =]
No comments:
Post a Comment