first week

Under the plátano trees

The second thing I noticed was the driving. I have to hand it to Peruvians. They know how to drive. It may be fast and it may look completely insane and unsafe to an American, but I have not once seen a single wreck since I've been here. And in all honesty, a 3 cm margin is really all you need between cars, right?

View from the farm in Mala

The first week I spent in Perú, I stayed with Gaby, met the other AIESECers, saw Lima, and waited for the other trainees to get here. Gaby took me to Miraflores, Larcomar, and many other places around Lima. We saw the beach at sunset (how romantic haha) and I learned about taking taxies and micros (busses), which is how most people travel. Soon enough, Ben and Mathilde showed up and we had a few adventures. La madre de Renato was our personal tour guide around Lima, Mala (where she has a farm/fruit plantation/house), and everywhere in between. She even took us to to buy cute little cuyes (which she raises to eat). At her farm in Mala, we tried every fruit known to Peruvian mankind. We also tried a lot of traditional Peruvian dishes. They're all delicious. Rice, potatoes, and chicken are favorites here. And also fruit.

Ice cream at Larcomar con Gabyta

Forgot what it's called, but includes
macla (corn), shrimp, rice, potatoes,
eggs, and DELICIOUSNESS

After touring, we got down to business. The latter part of the week we attended talks about Perú, teaching others, and the project that we were about to start. These were held at Universidad Pacifico, where we were joined daily by a couple of other trainees and a lot of AIESECers. This week served to prepare us for the two months we'd be teaching. 

arriving in lima

W'll pick back up on that Saturday (May 12th).  I was on a plane heading to South America for the first time. Until then, I'd only been to Canada a couple times, Mexico, and the Bahamas, so going to another continent was really exciting. I love flying. It feeds that global-minded, travel-loving side of me that yearns to be in far away places immersing in other cultures. I landed in Lima after a sixish hour flight and found my 'buddy' and her mother waiting for me.

This seems like a good place to explain what a buddy is and how I came to have one. The proyecto that I'm working on this summer is called English Impact. The five other trainees and I were sourced for English Impact through an organization called AIESEC that I joined at the beginning of my freshman year at Tech. It's a fantastic organization that helps students develop into globally minded individuals with the confidence, experience, and skills set to make a difference in our world. A lot of this growth is realized through conferences and internships abroad. That's what I'm doing, and AIESEC is facilitating the exchange.

Welcoming flyer for the trainees made by AIESEC Pacifico

So that's how I got here. I basically told Daniel (my VP OGX at @GT) that I wanted to go abroad to work on my spanish and learn about another culture, and here I am! Our AIESEC partner in Lima, AIESEC Pacifico, has done an incredible job of welcoming and working with the trainees from Georgia, Indiana, and France (via Canada). We were each assigned a buddy to stay with while we were living in Lima, and a host family to live with in Chosica, where we would be spending most of our time.

My host sister from Lima, Gaby, and her mom met me at the airport and took me to their home. My first impression of Perú was the airport parking lot. More specifically the billboards. Most specifically, their huge size.

bl (before lima)

For anyone that doesn't know me (which I don't anticipate because it's probably just going to be my mom reading these) my name is Donovan, I attend the Georgia Institute of Technology (GO JACKETS) and though I hail from Georgia, I'm currently hanging out in Chosica, Perú.

Though this blog will be mostly about Perú because I'm living here for almost 3 months, it's going to include the whole summer in case I get to go on a very exciting trip in the beginning of August (fingers crossed and prayers please).

I promise we do know
how to use it correctly.
(photo by Alexia Lemaigre)

So the summer of twenty twelve started with a bittersweet goodbye to my friends at Tech and a quite refreshing homecoming kayaking trip. I love kayaking. I love the water. I love nature. I love green. Just some things I enjoy. Now you know.

But as sweet and relaxing as a summer lazing about the river and crowding up the beach always is, I had a flight to catch. I left Savannah May 11th, managing to grab the last plane of the day. Wheeere I was upgraded to first class. Never before have I eaten that many peanuts in one sitting. I'm pretty sure the food and beverage ladies were on a permeant loop. Hands down best flight of my life. All 37 first class minutes of it. Unfortunately, I didn't make my connecting flight to Perú. No that's completely false. I couldn't be happier that I missed that second flight. Because it meant a 24 hour layover in Atlanta. Which meant I got to spend the night/next day with a bunch of housechurchers and tell Douglas Cox goodbye another 14 times.

So after a little help from Corbin, I marta'd it back to the Atlanta airport the next day, and hopped on a flight to Lima.

oh herro hand!

So, because of the combined forces of 1) peer pressure and 2) the desire to share my summer wanderings with family, friends, and the incredible Ivan Allen College at Georgia Tech, I have decided to give a summer blog a go. I have a bit to make up, seeing as we're about a month into summer, but bear with me and I'll bring everyone up to speed!