Te Amo Peru!

Ayyy, I've left way to much to write about...I've finished my first week at work and everything is settling in here really well. I was definitely a little bored here for a little while, but now that I've started work and begun to get to know some of my housemates, I'm starting to enjoy everything a little more overall. The area around my house is super nice too, there are plenty of really good Peruvian/Peruvian-influenced restaurants within a few blocks where you can get an appetizer, main course, and a drink for S/.8 or less. Lima has a very large presence of Chifas, which are Peruvian-influenced Chinese restaurants. You get the best wonton soup ever and a delicious main course like an egg omelette on top of chaufa con pollo, and of course the standard Inka Cola. It saves me the pain of cooking too often, because to cook a good meal here would cost just as much at least, especially with the higher class Vivanda grocery store that's near my house.

After work Tuesday, I got a big ole haircut, and I'm already missing my long hair...It was a rather obnoxious story, because this (slightly off and creepy) guy I live with wanted to score points with his girlfriend by sending me to her salon, where all the women there shamelessly tried to set me up with one of the girls that works there. I ended up tricked into going to dinner with them, which wasn't so bad because the salon owner was an interesting lady to talk to. They also convinced me to take antibiotics for a nasty stomach ailment I was already experiencing, and I think it worked despite my hesitance to resort to them so quickly. As much as there is such a sense of brotherhood among everyone here, it sometimes can be a little too much. But it is kind of cool to be able to know that there are a lot of people around who would do a lot for you no matter how well they know you. And even to a foreigner, how they pull you into their inexclusive community without hesitation. I'm not saying it's the only attitude in any situation, but it's definitely a common sense I get in interaction with locals here.

Then Thursday night I saw Taylor Morton, who happens to be taking off the quarter to travel South America. Lima was his landing point, so he'll be back here in November again. It's always nice to catch up with an old Brophy grad. After much pain of effort, Saturday morning I finally found a supermercado which was selling the cheap section tickets for the Peru-Uruguay match yesterday afternoon in the World Cup elimination rounds. Peru has no chance of qualifying, but they got their second win at the game my Irish house mate Simon and I went to to make their record 2 wins, 4 ties, 9 losses. Many were approaching us after as we were likely the only gringos in the Popular Norte section. They said that we had brought the good luck. The funniest thing about the whole day was two young Peruvians who claimed to be 14 were curiously stalking us along the walk up to the stadium. We thought they were just really bad pick-pocketers, but I was a little worried since I had my camera. Then, close to the stadium, they pop up from behind and ask if they can enter with us because if we say they are with us, they get in for free. They turned out to be really funny kids who sat in front of us and tried to explain us everything about the soccer game and went on with endless questions about the plato típicos of the US and Ireland and the star players of our football teams. They had come out to the stadium, which is far out in one of the more-slummy suburban areas, from La Victoria, and helped us get on the right combi home.

 Estadio Monumental, Ate Vitarte, Lima; Peru is not quite filling it up right now

 The chants of Peru were nonetheless loud, I think things would not have been so good had they somehow lost after the last minute goal.

 Fortunately, there was a little fight on the field, and Uruguay got a red card.

So, as far as my new job goes, I am really excited about it! It is really hard to get used to working a full time job in front of a desk and computer and to stay focused, but hopefully I'll get going with it a little better. I need to go eat though, so I'll post more about it later!

Brandon