2nd day of class

The most beautiful crabs I've ever seen!

A view from the pier

The pier seen from the cliffs

A view from the pier

Another view from the pier of Lima's cliffs

Class was so fun yesterday! The school is a very serious institution, right in the center of Miraflores, a 20 minute walk from "home". I choose to walk by the seaside instead of through Parque Kennedy, which I also really like, because I have the feeling I'm losing days of my life each time I breathe in the polluted air of the avenues. I try to stop breathing until I get to cleaner air but then of course I end up taking great big gasps of air... When you think that it's even worse, thousands of time worse, in China or in India, how terrible... And here, fortunately, there are ways of escaping it. So I walk through the parks along the cliffs, where people are running, doing yoga in groups, pumping iron, walking their dogs (and diligently picking up their poo with plastic bags), where, as everywhere in Miraflores, women with big masks over their mouths and noses, but shiny golden earrings, are sweeping the streets and paths. I have never in my life seen such clean streets. You could eat off them.

My school is in an ugly, old, high building. I was interviewed for 15 minutes to assess my level and I was placed in a class with three nice San Franciscans (one is a Kiera Knightly lookalike) and one really dumb English girl. Four are 23 years old, and one is 55. The 55 year-old guy and I are the extroverts of the group and we both feel we're talking too much and we try to hold ourselves back to let the others speak, too, but the others WON'T speak so we barge in again... He and I talked all of this over during the break today. Our teacher is a great guy and a very good teacher, from Arequipa, where I will be in 10 days or so. There are several other classes and we all had lunch together today at the exclusive Miraflores tennis club, outside, under the hot sun!! Yes, the sun was shining today! Nearly ALL of the students are American. It seems the previous weeks the majority was German. And I am the oldest, apart from my co-extrovert :) Of course, everyone thinks I'm in my thirties... Class yesterday was really fun and fast-paced as we went though everything we knew already. But today it was slow and frustrating and I felt I was spending too much time listening to the others go "ahhhh... ummmm... errrrr..." Maybe I should switch to private classes... But tomorrow's already my third class out of five. I'll have a classroom with only one other student in Cusco.

I have had a few "clicks" about Spanish... Like por/para -- even though I couldn't really define the difference or the rules, I'm getting a feel for it. I'm able to build more complicated sentences. The report I wrote so quickly and inattentively yesterday had mistakes, of course, but amazingly few. I really want to do this; I really want to POSSESS this language!!!

After lunch, a sweet American couple invited me to join them for a drink on the pier we're all so curious about. We went and sat on the pebbles on the beach, watched some courageous people swim, then went to have our drinks.

The pier is lovely, but inside it's a bit dingy and it stinks of humidity (even worse than my apartment, where I leave the windows open all the time). I didn't get used to the smell even after an hour or more. And I won't try other "sours"; I'll stick to Pisco sour from now on! Nothing can compete with that. Mmmmmm... I wish I had one now, but I'm always so afraid of how tired I am and how much work I have, that I haven't been drinking. At noon, they all had pisco sours and I DIDN'T (sob).

And then I got home and subtitled the impeccably stupid and badly acted and propagandic series I'm currently working on. Heyyy, guess what?? Turkish series are terribly popular even here, in Peru!!! They have several of them, it seems, but the guy was unable to tell me which. "Onur?" It's incredible. Such horrible series and the world loves them... Strange...

After I finished subtitling, I went to the supermarket, which at 8.30 was full of people, and I met a French-Peruvian couple who helped me buy my ready-made, delicious and cheap food from the traiteur. And here I am!

Hasta manana!

He stayed there, watching us for around an hour. More exotic birds came and said hello, too, but didn't stick around long enough to have their photo taken.