Firsts

Saturday was the first day we were on our own. We decided to go to la cabina (like an internet cafe). Unfortunately, we didn't know how to use our key, so we were locked out of the house until after jovenes (similar to youth group).

First impressions of churches: We will be going to two different churches. Our main church, Las Viñas Altas, is just starting so it does not have services on Sunday mornings.
Our Sunday morning church is in Manchay. The building is brick with dirt floors (this area of Lima does not have running water). Sunday morning service is like Sunday school. We will be attending the junior-senior high girl's class. One of the older ladies invited us over for lunch, but we had to go home so we could make it to evening services in Viñas Altas. In the future, we will ride the bus there, but this week our host missionary let us ride with his family.
On Saturdays (3:30-7), we go to Las Viñas Altas for jovenes. It is in an old restaurant but looks like a dance studio because there are mirrors surrounding it. On Sunday afternoons, we have a kid's club followed by a family service. The church is still quite small, but the people are great.

First bus rides: The first day our host missionary's wife came and rode the bus to school with us. It was very crowded. Last night, we rode the bus home by ourselves.

First Grocery shopping: We get to make our own lunches at school, so we had to buy food yesterday. It was hard figuring out what everything was and comparing soles to dollars, but we made it (and lunch was good today).

First day of classes: The arriba center is nice. I like being surrounded by books and bricks with a lot of windows. We keep the windows and doors open most of the time. (They don't even have screens here--it is so dry that there are not very many bugs) Our spanish tutors are great, and I think we are catching on pretty quickly.

Walls are everywhere! Houses are surrounded by locked walls (often the tops have broken glass to discourage climing).

Our house: We live on a mountain! We see a lot of lights when we look out our window at night. We live on the second and third floor of a building. The house is very nice and our host and hostess are very gracious. The food is pretty good, too.