Two Month Anniversary

22nd of September 2010, 3:02 am
"Hurry up! Pack everything you can into the van," my grandmother said with a strong sense of urgency as she stepped into the blue vehicle. Surrounding the car was my uncle Theo, mom, sister, grandparents and great grandparents. They were all frantic, bustling about, grabbing whatever was in arm's reach from the abundance of looming, metal racks. There were beach balls and white cardboard boxes... I stood there dazed, overwhelmed with confusion and anxiety, 'where are we going?' I thought to myself.

We all piled into the van and as we were buckling our seatbelts, my great grandmother was the one to get behind the wheel and ferociously step on the gas. We were all terrified, as none of us have seen her behind the wheel for many years. I could not see see an exit, just more shelves- why were there so many shelves in this warehouse?! My grandma however did see one and did not allow the shelves to get in her way even though physically, they were. We hit every shelf as we swerved to-and-fro which lead to the loud crashing of metal on concrete and the contents of boxes being splayed across the floor...


I slowly opened my eyes, prompted by the strong shaking of my bed moving left and right; I awoke with the same feeling of confusion that I remembered from my dream. Staying motionless, I continued to lay in my bed, trying to comprehend why it was shaking. My immediate response was to listen. I listened for what I was feeling and hoping to hear something that confirmed that it wasn't just my bed rattling (the boogieman?). I looked towards my window, even though the curtains were closed, I was expecting to see a large 16 wheeler truck rumbling by. Nothing. As my bed continued to shake and I was becoming more awake with each shift in its position, I thought: this is an earthquake... oh my god. This-is-an-earthquake!

Despite this realization, I continued to lay in bed. I reckon it was the combination of shock, and enjoying the ride. Not to mention, I still wasn't entirely sure that I knew what was going on... after all, I've never experienced an earthquake before. I kept listening for something that would confirm my theory. The confirmation was the sound of other doors opening from down the hallway. At that point I quickly put on my glasses and headed toward my own door. I threw it open and there I saw my host mom and brother in their separate doorways.

"Espera," (wait) my mom said as she motioned me to stand still. We stood there, in our own arches of protection in silence, waiting. After a few more seconds passed, I giggled- I couldn't suppress my excitement any further! My family responded with tired chuckles and I could tell they didn't care about this earthquake as much as me; it was far from their 1st.

Finally, the trembling ceased. We waited for another moment before we each stepped into our rooms, quietly shutting our doors behind us. I let all of my excitement out by running around the room, stopping to look at the clock and to grab my notebook and pen to record the events.

I returned back to my bed and it was not a surprise that I could not fall back asleep immediately, especially when I realized: today marks the two months that I have been living in Peru! This was Peru's gift to me for residing in her territory and it made me anxious for how we would celebrate our six month anniversary.
------------------------
As the day progressed, I was generally in a fantastic mood- as are most Wednesdays for me. Not only did I have an earthquake to start the day off right, it was the last day of my week and a half of final exams and I enjoyed my first Luna bar in Peru (a daily treat that I left behind in CO), courtesy of my first care package.

Further more, my school was throwing a party to start off it's four day celebration of the school's anniversary- which also means optional school until next Tuesday (I'm choosing 'no')! There was a huge crowd all night outside of the school trying to get in, which made it look like more like a night club. Thanks to my connection with the school's security/crossing guard who was being the bouncer for the party, I was able to pass the line and get in quickly (I'll explain him in another post), which made people upset that I could get in and not them- I felt pretty bad ass. Most of my close friends from school were there, and there were a lot of strangers from other schools, and off the street- the school literally became a dance club, equipped with DJ, lights and all. There was another "hora loca", which makes any party fun and generally I enjoyed myself a lot- dance, dance, dance!

Now tell me, is this not a great way to spend an anniversary?! I enjoyed every second of it- as well as most of the two months that I've been living in Peru.