In Flight Entertainment? Not quite.

Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve had a dream; a dream that I once considered impossible to achieve. But today, May 30, 2010, that dream was about to become reality. You see, I consider myself decently traveled (not yet well traveled, just decently), but I have yet to experience a flight with In Flight Entertainment consisting of your own personal TV screen on the headrest in front of you where have your choice of what to watch. I had heard rumors of such things, but I deemed it a mere urban legend.

False. They are very much real as I experienced on Continental Flight 590, services from Houston to Lima. I was, in a word, giddy. I texted Ryan and called my parents just to tell them my good fortune. I was ready to settle in for the next 6 hours with cheesy romantic comedies coupled with episodes of The Office. If there’s anything I’m good at, it’s watching TV. Unfortunately, my dream did not come true today. The sound did not work on my screen, and alas, I was left to my own devices in terms of entertainment. Of course of all the seats on the plane, mine was the one that didn't work. Damn you, 31F, damn you.

It really wasn’t so bad – I read HP, listened to my Ipod, played some games on the screen (the best one by far was “word traveler” where could learn simple vocabulary in 23 different languages. I learned more Chinese in 30 minutes than I did my entire semester of Chinese in Spain), and made some new friends. The Peruvian couple next to me was precious. They spoke very little English, so I was quick to bust out my Spanish skills. The highlight was that I went to the bathroom (yeah, that was the highlight. My bathroom trip. Just kidding, there's more) and when I got back, the woman had put the armrest up between us. Now this isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve been to AMC Quail Springs Mall 24 Theatre enough to know what putting the armrest up means. Needless to say, I was flattered.

This is getting way too long and I haven’t even gotten to the best parts. When I stepped off the plane in Lima, I was so ridiculously excited. I couldn’t stop smiling. I suppose it’s because I have so many positive memories associated with Peru. I embraced it all – the annoying announcements over the intercom that used to keep us awake when we had to spend the night in the airport, the huddled masses that overwhelm you once you clear customs, and even that distinct Peru stench. I loved it all.

But the ABSOLUTE best part is my host family! They are two precious sisters, Norma and Ella, and get this, they’re from Piura! El mundo truly is un pañuelo. And oh man, they were diggin on me. The apartment is so nice! I’m staying with 3 other girls from OU and we’re staying in 2 bedrooms (2 girls in each room, obvs). They showed us our rooms and then we were all sitting in the living room and it was just so funny because I had no idea what to say. The other girls speak a little Spanish, and I sort of dominated the conversation. It was so hilariously awkward. Not for lack of Spanish skills, but for some reason I plum forgot how to have a conversation. What’s more, I started thinking, we still have two weeks here and so I don’t want to use up all of my conversation topics! (I’m very much a forward thinker) Oh well, as Steph and I would always say – “a smile is universal.” So we did a lot of that.

All in all, things could not be better. I am so happy that I decided to spend the summer here and I am so excited to see what will come in the next two months! So yeah, so far so good…

Well here goes. I’ve never been much of a journal keeper, much less a blog writer. My diaries in elementary school consisted of entries for a whopping three consecutive days, usually about how much my sisters annoyed me, and then I would give up and start up again the next year. I attempted to keep a journal in Spain to no avail. I wrote in it, you guessed it, the first three days in January, and wrote it in once more in April only because my Internet was broken. As I am required to keep a travel journal for class, hopefully this won’t suffer the same fate as my previous journals.

Today marks my last day in USA (pronounced phonetically – “oooosa”) and I’m pretty pumped for the next two months. I will spend one month doing a study abroad program with OU that visits Lima, Cuzco, Machu Picchu, and the Amazon rain forest. When that is finished I will fly to Piura to do mission work with Santísimo Sacramento church.

Now for some anticipated clouds and sunshines of the trip:

Sunshines:

1) Speak some ‘spañol. (You can’t imagine home depressing it is to turn on the Spanish Channel and not understand a word despite a (4.0) Spanish minor under my belt, living in Spain for 6 months, and, of course, studying Spanish consistently since the first grade).

2) See my Peruvian family!!!!!

3) FINALLY visit Machu Picchu!!

4) Have a decent blog that’s up to Katherine Giles’s standards

Clouds:

1) The plane will go down LOST-style. However, if I’m sitting next to a Jack Shephard look-alike, this might result in more of a sunshine.

2) I will acquire some sort of parasite/get really sick/suffer from a sever case of malaria.

3) I will look like a les in my hiking boots (that’s not a fear, that’s a reality)

4) New people/new situations will inevitably bring out my inherent awkwardness in full force

I'll let you know how these hopes and dreams/fears and anxieties play out...