Watching Monster University in Arequipa [YQrtw Day 92 Jul 10]

Location: Arequipa, Peru

While I love taking Spanish lessons, I cannot help but feel that time learning Spanish in schools is sucking time I can use for sightseeing.

My posts on school days lack excitement because the most exciting thing in the day is getting answers right when I blindly guess my answers.

Today, I learned past tense and imperative verbs in class. The conjugation of past tense drove me crazy and I felt that my brain would blow up.

I planned to watch Man of Steel today after class. However, the class ended quite late (to make up for yesterday’s lunch) and I couldn’t find the right minibus to board.

I reached the cinema too late for the Superman movie. The ticket guy said I was more than 30 minutes late so I cannot enter the cinema. In the end, I chose to watch Monster University instead.

I was about 10 minutes late for Monster University but thankfully Pixar likes putting cute short films in the beginning so I didn’t miss the actual movie.

As I watched the movie, I was delighted to find that they actually change the language of the opening credits and even the words inside the movie into Spanish. I’ve never seen that in other languages.

I didn’t understand 98 percent of the conversation but the movie was just fine without fully understanding the language. (I miss Boo a lot though.)

The rest of the evening was uneventful. I had a dinner of chicken and fries and headed back to the house for homework and Internet.

By the way, I have two videos of alapacas today. I can’t embed them here so check out at the brown alpaca on Instagram and the white alpaca on Vine.

Walking to school in Arequipa [YQrtw Day 91 Jul 9]

Location: Arequipa, Peru

Since I was picked up from my homestay to school yesterday, today was the first day that I walked to school. Classes start at 9:10am so I started myself walked 45 minutes earlier.

Traffic in Arequipa seems to be quite bad almost all the time. Maybe it’s because of the tiny roads and excessive number of taxis zooming around.

All looks calm on this side of the road in Arequipa in the morning.

The day was sunny but cool when I started my walk. I chose to wear flip flops today because my shoes didn’t have a good grip of the smooth stone pavements in the town center.

I immediately regretted wearing flip flops when I got out of the house. The weather was too cold for my toes to be exposed! As I walked down the road, I noticed that everyone wore covered shoes. The schoolgirls even had knee-length socks as part of their uniform.

"Combi", Arequipa's mini buses. — “Combi”, Arequipa’s mini buses.

The side of the road which I walked on had less traffic since it was the road out of town. However, the opposite side which had traffic heading into town had a really bad traffic jam. It seemed to me that walking was much faster than being stuck forever in the one-way lane.

Traffic here reminded me of Jakarta’s traffic–Bad.

Things don't look so good on the other side. — Things don’t look so good on the other side.

Morning traffic at Olvalvo Grau roundabout in Arequipa. Look deeper into the photo to see the traffic jam.

Near the roundabout, the two alpacas which I saw yesterday where still there. Instead of grazing, they were just sitting around, glaring at people looking at them.

Morning traffic on Puento Grau in Arequipa. (Do you see the alpaca?)

I finally reached my language school after half an hour of walking. I’m actually quite thankful that most of my path were in the shade so I didn’t have to worry about UV rays.

At school, I learned new grammar and learned that I’ve forgotten many new vocabulary.

In the afternoon, there was an Arabic cooking session by one of the students. I got to see how baba ghanoush is made in real life! The food was good and we ended with pancakes slathered with jam from Germany.

By the time I walked back to my homestay, the sun was setting so I didn’t get an eyeful of sun.

I went to the Arequipa HQ of mobile operator Movistar to purchase a new SIM card. However, the employee said I could not buy a new SIM with my foreign passport. I was very annoyed about it so I went to its competitor, Claro, to buy a new SIM.

I did eventually get my SIM card so all was well.

To Recoleta Cemetery, again/ Visa application [YQrtw Day 72 Jun 18]

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

In the morning, I woke up at 6:15am to get ready for my visa application to the United States. I need to have 2 visits to the US’s office and embassy.

Today’s visit was only to get my photo and my finger prints taken. I took a cab to the application center because I did not want to get up extra early to take the public transport there.

The process was very quick. I queued with the rest of the people, had my application form stamped and was asked a few questions about my transit.

I was seated at the “special” area because I cannot speak enough Spanish. At the photo taking counter, I was asked a few more questions and was given a bobby pins so I can pin up my hair for the photo.

And it was done. I took the subway back to the hostel because I wasn’t as rich to take a cab both ways.

The subway wasn’t very crowded and I managed to return to the hostel at 8:00am, in time for breakfast.

Classes sped by as we crammed our minds with reflexive verbs and vocabulary for telling the time. Soon it was lunch and I had Chinese food again.

School trip to the cemetery

Our school trip today was to Recoleta, specifically the cemetery. The place is so gorgeous that I do not mind visiting again.

We had some questions which we needed to ask passerbys for answers.

Our teachers stopped one lady in oversized sunglasses who resembled a frazzled Anna Wintour. Wintour was haughty in her answers, saying that for her, the most famous person in the cemetery was her family.

Excuse me.

Another gentleman with his wife were more than helpful with their answers, showering us Level 1.3s with lots and lots of words. Thank you kind sire.

After the CCA, I head back to the hostel to pack my bag. I’m heading to Iguazu Falls tomorrow evening with a tour group. The group will leave on Wednesday evening and reaching Buenos Aires on Monday.

Updates on the blog might be paused if I cannot get good internet or if I am driven mad by the party tour bus. I am deathly afraid of parties.

What are your plans for the weekend?

Update on summer programme

Mom suggested that I join a tour group to Tokyo. Then I join the group for seven days of fun and when they leave for Singapore, I leave for Fukuoka.

It’s a lot cheaper than backpacking in Tokyo if I do this. The plane tix are already exp and the accommodation cost is very high too.

Plus, I can go to Disneyland if I join the tour group. Will consider it.

I’ve faxed my passport details to Kyushu’s person in charge. Quickly get the visa and everything will be confirmed.

Met with U today at D’s. Learned something about the Japanese from her. I will be a brave traveler!