Primera Día

It's so nice to think in English for a few minutes!!! I've been speaking completely in Spanish for almost 24 hours! Our flight was delayed in Texas and because of this we arrived 1 hour late. I met most of the other exchange students on the flight and I like all of them! I will see them all soon too because I start Spanish classes on Wednesday and it will be fun to compare experiences so far. All of the paperwork so far has been very easy except in the airport I was randomly chosen for extra screenings..... yay. That wasn't even that bad though and as soon as I got through it all I was the last student to see my familia. I was so happy to see them and I wasn't even too overwhelmed by the Spanish. They took soooo many pictures and it turns out that photography is a big hobby for my papa. After we all got into the car we drove to our apartment and arrived at nearly 4 am. I found a pair of pjs and went straight to sleep!! Today I woke up around 9 and ate breakfast with mama and Diana (papa stayed asleep). After that I spoke with Diana for a while and then started to unpack my things. It took about an hour but I got all of my clothes organized and most of my other things in a place. Then we headed out for lunch in Miraflores. I told my family that I like seafood so they took to to a restaurant called the hidden island which specializes in seafood. I tried ceviche!!!! When I first saw it I was pretty grossed out because of how it looked but i still tried it! (ceviche is raw fish in lemon juice sauce) The texture was sooooo strange but the flavor was delicious!! It took a few bites to get used to the texture but it was so good especially with sweet potato. I felt bad though because Diana had her appendix out a few days ago and is on a strictly bland diet :(  My papa kept asking if I liked the ceviche and I would tell him yes but he didn't believe me! I didn't eat a ton because I ordered fish as well (ceviche was an appetizer) and I was afraid I wouldn't have room for everything but he loves ceviche so he helped me eat the rest along with mama. After this we went to a park that had a open air market and I got a really cute hat! My parents were worried about the cold and how I'm not affected by it :) Then we went to an open air mall overlooking the beach and it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen!  We walked around for a while before heading to this giant all purpose store to get dessert for later and slippers for me in the house. We didn't have any dinner at all! I'm not too hungry but I have a secret stash of trail mix in my room just in case! While we were driving up to the apartment there was a lady outside who started talking to papa and apparently she is Diana's great aunt! So she came in for a while and Diana and I went to watch 21 and over in Spanish. (We both are HUGE movie fans!) Then I did the first night questions and gave the gifts and they loooooved everything! My papa cannot get over how cool the sign is (good job dad, he wants to Skype thank you soon! and I guess Fernandez isn't mama's last name- you were right mom!) And they looked through the photo book like 12 times!! They even want to make one for Diana to take to Germany. After aaalllll of this Diana's godchild and our neighbor came down to meet me! She's very nice and Diana and she kept having me teach them pronunciation in English which was fun :) We spoke in Spanish besides the few words they wanted to hear even though they both speak English.  I'm doing ok with the Spanish especially with Diana but it is harder with mama and EVEN HARDER with papa. I do a lot of nodding and saying si pretending to understand but if it seems important I ask :) My family is soooo sweet and patient with me I'm so glad that I have them! Oh there are a few things I noticed about Peru so far that I thought I would share....
-lines on the roads separating lanes are a suggestion
-personal space (especially in markets) is nearly nonexistent
-napkins here are one sheet perfect squares folded in a triangle and don't clean up anything!
-cats are the squirrels in the parks here
-cars will go within inches of other cars and people like it's no big deal
and I think that's it so far :) But I do want to say to Uncle Billiam- my papa puts the car in park at red lights like you! And Aunt Shannon we have the same pitchers here that I used at you house with Sam and Jayne for lemonade! I will put the photos that I have on my phone on Facebook but I can't take many because I can't have my phone out because it will be stolen :( So that's the first day in Peru! I will write again soon, maybe tomorrow or maybe after my fist day of Spanish class and I'm sorry family but I think it's going to be Spanish from now on! I'm having trouble because I'm thinking in Spanish while I type in English! It's bad to speak English during exchange anyway :)
Love you all!!!!!