dec.11

alright! within 24 hours of our arrival here rosa and i had gotten an ampartment in miraflores rented out for a month. miraflores is the fancier part of lima and thus more tourist friendly and of course a little on the expensive side. our little home for the month cost way more than we intended on spending but it was just too nice to pass up. it´s on the roof of a very swet lady named maria´s house and includes our own little kitchen with running water, bathroom with a hot shower, a bedroom and the rest of the roof top. there´s a nice little table with a few chairs under a canopy and since the weather here is awesome i believe we´ll be spending a lot of time there studying spanish. it´s all around quite quaint.
i´ve found once again that the extent of my spanish diminished signifigantly upon my arrival in a spanish speaking country. i do know enough to get by and am enjoying learning more each day, i still get baffled hearing people talk to each other. how the hell do they understand each other. damn, there´s no question mark on this computer! maria has been patient and helpful with our spanish and in other regards as well. she is a very cheerful lady and is excited to help us learn the area, wants to teach us to cook local foods and even offered to go to the market with us so we can learn the nuances and get the best price.
my brain has been going at a hectic pace for the last few days. i have to really focus on what people say to translate it then i usually throw out some spanish of my own in reply and hope for the best. i´m not as timid with speaking to folks as i used to be, i´ve learned that i have to try new words and phrases or i´ll never get better. if they give me a funny look than i know to try something else and try to remember which one was right. the exchange rate is something that i´m also thinking about a lot. you get a little over three soles for every dollar so it´s actually pretty easy to figure and eventually i won´t really have to think about it. all in all, rosa and i both are really excited to be here, our place is way nicer than what we imagined we´d have and it´s a great oppurtunity to learn. we´re about 5 blocks from the beach and about that same distance from a good market, it´s sunny, warm...... geez, what can i say