Have finished the first week of Spanish class, I would say that my Spanish has indeed improved, learned a lot of vocabularies and how to construct sentence, questions...etc. I even write a passage about my family for one of my homework. (Yo escribo un pasaje sobre mi familia) Although it is written in baby Spanish, but geez, let's me enjoy this satisfaction just for a little while. Compared to just a week ago, I wasn't able to say "I am 34 years old", to now I can tell people "I am the youngest in my family". That's a difference. I will attach that passage on the next post. Please pardon the mistakes I made in the passage. :P Anyway, I still don't think I am able to communicate with people yet though. I start to pick up the sound if the other person speak really really slowly, and I am able to ask or say a few things without the dictionary. But if the person really answers me in full and long sentences, I would be totally lost already. But this is the start, I guess. I only report how it really is.
Paulo, one of the professor, wants us to do some activities together as a class, so we go to have the national dishes of Peru for lunch. It is called ceviche, basically it is a dishes of raw seafood marinated in lime juice, plus salt, yellow peppers, onion, served with corn, lettuce, sweet potato and sea weeds..etc. I am pretty much the only one who can finish the whole thing! Hahaha... that is so funny, one of the german girl (her name is Imke) asked me beforehand, that I would need to help her to eat the fish, because she doesn't like eating fish. The other german girl named Myriam is a vegetarian, so she wouldn't even order anything with meat or fish anyway. We first get a bowl of soup with a big shell in it, the two germans have one zap and that's it. I actually like that soup very much, it's very tasty, so I help Imke to finish her bowl. Then, the ceviches arrive, my dish is huge, for 18 Soles (US$6). You know, I would say I like it for the most part, the favor is there but perhaps a bit overpowering, I need water or some drink to balance it. It's interesting to try it though. In term of foods, I don't mind trying. To me, it seems Peruvian cooking is a collision of taste in a very rough way, or in a very macho way. Unlike French or Spanish cooking, which combines tastes in a more sophisticated way, like they would stand by their dishes with their nose sticking up, and making a mmmh sound. Not saying which is good or bad, just different. I am not making funs of Imke or Myriam either, there are things I don't eat myself. It is understandable, the Westerners may not accustom to this kind of food. I told them we Chinese and Latino pretty much eat anything. Actually, I think Imke got the best dish on the table - a deep fried fish tenders kind of thingy, it tastes really good. My ceviche is a mixed seafood, while Alan the Brit has a ceviche of a regional fish. The fish is chopped into cubes. I like his dishes too.
Talk about food, might as well talk about the national drink of Peru. It calls Pisco Sour. It is basically a grape brandy cocktail. I had a few chances to try it, like the Spanish school welcome dinner. We were offered a shot of pisco sour for each of us before the dinner. But I didn't drink it, because of the alcohol. From the people who drank it, they says you either like it or hate it. I am not a drinker so I have no idea what it is like. But here is a receipt from the Lonely Planet: 1 part freshly squeezed lime juice, 3 parts pisco, ice, suger to taste, 1 teaspoon egg white (for frothiness) and Angostura bitters. Salud!
In the afternoon, I book my Lake Titicaca bus ride at Inka Express ticket office. Meet the same woman who I talked to yesterday, and who will give me a discounts, I don't think it's the best price I can find, but it is an acceptable price for me, so I just go for it. Anyway, she is copying information from my passport, and see that my family name is Chan, so as typical as you can imagine, she asks me if Jackie Chan is my brother. I say No. She adds, do you know him? Almost want to tell her that a lot of Hong Kong people does not care for Jackie Chan really, not anymore anyway. But I don't want to disappoint. So we just laugh away. She also asks me if I know Bruce Lee too. How interesting even all the way in Peru in South America, people knows about these two guys. Back home for dinner, we have a good laugh about similar topic, if I know Karate. The house mom is like laughing his heart out. She is like Benny Chang Ching Chang, making that silly Karate motion. It is so silly, but every gets to laugh. I don't mind. It's all good.
After dinner, go out with Amanda again. This time, we go to a different bar, with live band too, although they do not start playing until we almost leave. Get home around midnight, now I am just winding down and getting ready to fall asleep. Tomorrow, gonna head to the nearby Inka ruin - Saqsaywamán or better known as Sexy Woman by the non Spanish speakers. Just gonna have a picnic, read a book or something, I don't know. We'll find out. Hope the weather will be nice for us.
