This program works by sending one student to live with another family in another country for 10 months to know their culture and people.
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| Suwannapum Airport |
We left from Thailand on 8 March 2010 at the Suwannapum Airport. Then we transited at Tokyo and New York before we arrived at Lima, Peru.
The temperature of Lima is quite cool for me. No sunlight and the sky is very gray.
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| Lima Airport |
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| Buildings in Lima |
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| Center in Lima |
There are some zone in Lima that is poor and there are too some part that live those who are rich. Most of the building are not completed but there are people who live in it.
Each of the city in Peru has a center of it. For example center of Lima is just like the picture in the left side.
In the first three days, we have to live in a house of monks to prepared ourselves before departing to our city.
My city is called "Tumbes" which located at the north of Peru. I have to live with another friend from Thailand.
We arrived to Tumbes by plane. Tumbes is just a small city near the river to the sea. It has a hot climate and the sun is very strong there. There are a lot of mosquito too.
I lived with the family "Calle Barreto", which consist of three members: My dad "Diego Barreto Quevedo", My mom "Lidia Calle Ramirez" and my older brother "Alexander Barreto Calle". In Peru, people have 2 surnames from their parents. The father's surname will be placed before the mother's surname.
My house is not very big. It has 2 floors. In Tumbes, water is available only from 4:00 am until 7:00 am so you have to be quick in taking a bath or else the water will be out of service. Lucky that my house has a water tank on the roof, so my house always has water on the second floor.
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| In my house |
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| My Parrot :D |
Peru has 3 part, 1.Coast 2.Sierra 3. Jungle. Tumbes is located in the coast and it's also famous for its beach.
During the time in Peru, I had travel to many places:
1. In the Coast:
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| Trujillo |
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| Chiclayo |
2. In the sierra:
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| Machu Picchu |
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| Cajamarca |
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| Lake of Titicaca 3. In the Jungle: |
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| Cusco |
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| Picchaniki |
In daily life, the people really love party. Every week, we have party (birthday, matrimonial) and the people really love to dance. The most popular songs are Reggae and Salsa.
In Peru, there are a lot of schools and mostly are small with one class per year. My school's name is "Niño Jesus" It's a small school with a swimming pool. I studied in fifth grade secondary. My class had 33 students and there was only one class in fifth grade.
School started from 7:45 am until 2:00 pm. There are mathematics, physics, chemistry, communication, religion, civics, etc. For me, mathematics and physics are very easy. The topics are from fourth grade in Thailand.
In class, the students really take things easy. The teachers were not very serious about teaching and this make the environment of the class to be very shiny and happy.
For us fifth grade secondary, there will always be a promotion and we will have party at the end of school year.
For a birthday party, when the owner blow the candle, he/she have to bite the cake with his/her month and sometimes other person will push your head down to the cake just like a joke or sometimes the people will knock your head with eggs too! Lucky that I hadn't got eggs on my head.
AFS also had many activities for us to do. For example, when Christmas came, we have to join activities with children too. It was fun and it was a great experience. We had also been in a TV to promote about AFS.
For me, being in Peru for 10 months is the best experience I ever have in my life as a student. You shouldn't miss this once-in-a-life-time opportunity. Now I feel that I can stand by my self and I had knew a lot about the world outside. Not only the language that I've learn but also to be more flexible. I hope you would enjoy reading this story.
Thank you :D
