August 17: “put some brain in it”

Wednesday morning was our final exam, of sorts. We had a few quizzes and then we had to go through a series of interviews/ simulations to see how we handle them. It was things like finding a safe taxi, explaining the Peace Corps, dealing with inappropriate comments…..all in Spanish of course. After test time we had our last medical charla with Jorge. I am going to miss the comedic relief provided by the PCMOs. Hopefully I don’t turn into one of the crazy stories they tell the new training class :-P After lunch we had a little fiesta with our Spanish classes. Our group and the class right above us worked together a fair bit, so we had our fiesta together. We had tons of snacks and we taught Giovana and Karim how to Soulja Boy and electric slide…… American dance culture at its finest. We also had a cuy shaped piñata and played a game of dizzy bat. Helpful hint: after stuffing yourself with pringles, brownies and besos de mosas (imagine a smores bon bon); wait at least an hour before attempting dizzy bat. Otherwise you’ll throw up 
After class Kelsey and I went to Chosica again to pick up our photos and buy stuff for the host family party. Gotta say, Wal-Mart is convenient, but I could really get used to this market shopping thing. It’s like a little scavenger hunt and you get to haggle at the end. After the market I met up with some of the other trainees at a restaurant we all call the pizza-taco place. None of us have ever eaten the pizza and the tacos are actually burritos, but the name stuck. This was the first time I’d gone and I’m a little sad about it…..the tacos are crazy good and now I don’t have all that much time to eat more of them :-P After dinner I went home to make no-bake cookies with Jon and Kelsey. It’s a super easy recipe were you just melt all the ingredients, add oatmeal and then spoon them out to dry overnight. They are A-mazing and I will most certainly be repeating them at my site. I had a great time cooking with Kelsey and Jon too. We should’ve done it way earlier in training; made things feel very home-y.