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29 de febrero: Despues mis dos clases en castellano, fuimos un matrimonio. Estoy curioso si ellos van a celebrar su aniversario el 28 de Febrero o el 1 de Marzo. :-) Hay pocas tradiciones diferentes de en Los Estados Unidos. 1. En lugar de una vela unidad, ellos tienen que yo llamaría un vaso unidad (en que ellos echan agua de sus vasos respectivos). 2. El - como se dice en castellano - anillo portador?? tiene un timbre que el toca periodicomente cuando el está caminando bajo el pasaje. 3. La pareja sale despues la boda, a un otro lugar, y no regresa hasta mucho tiempo - anoche, la boda estaba a las 7:30 (pm) y despues la boda (posiblamente a las 8:30) ellos no regresó hasta poco despues las 10. Yo tuve que salir a las 10 porque tuve que leventarme esta mañana (el 1 de Marzo) a las 4:45 (am) por exercisio con Vicky. (Ella sale su casa a las 7, entonces necesitamos hacer exercisio muy temprano.)

Feb 29: After my two Spanish classes, we went to a wedding. I'm curious if they will celebrate their anniversary on February 28 or on March 1. :-) There are a few different traditions: 1. Instead of a unity candle, they have what I would call a unity glass. They both pour water from their respective glasses into the one in the center. It was interesting. 2. The ring bearer had a bell which he rang periodically. 3. The couple leaves after the main wedding (before the reception) and often doesn't return for a long time. Last night the wedding started at 7:30, and after the wedding (maybe 8:30) the couple didn't return until after 10. I had to leave at 10 because I had to get up at 4:45 this morning (March 1) to run with Vicky (she leaves her house at 7 so we had to exercise very early).

	The wedding was interesting, especially the tradition of what I would call the unity glass (shown below to the right).
Below is Mark with the Hinostroza parents, the Medina family and Abi

28 de febrero: Como siempre, yo asistí la clase de los maiestros porque me gusta escuchar mas castellano. Despues, fuimos a la lección sabática. Frequentamente, Yo asisto a la clase de Pascual Hinostroza porque le puedo entender mejor que la majoría de la gente. Despues el servicio, nosotros visitamos con miembros de la familia de Eduardo. Disfrutamos hablando a la mesa por mucho tiempo.

Feb 28: As usual, I attended the Sabbath school teachers' study so I could listen to more Spanish speaking. Then we went to Sabbath school. I often attend to Pascual Hinostroza's class because I can understand him better than most. After church, we spent time with Eduardo's family and had a good time talking around the table for a long time.

	Eduardo and I went to a small restaurant to each cebiche. It is a spicy dish of raw fish. It was very good.
	To the left is a large bowl of cebiche and bowls of other things. To the right is a prepared plate of cebiche. The red/orange color is ají - hot pepper sauce - yummy!
Some of Eduardo's family came to the house today. It included his father (Raul), his brother and sister (Marcos and Jessica) and Marcos's girlfriend Ericka.
	To the left: Jesica, Mark, Abi, Raul, Marcos, Ericka and Teo To the right: Raul, Marchos, Ericka, Abi, Teo, Eduardo and Jessica
	I liked this shot of Teo.

27 de febrero: Cada día yo estudio con mi maestro Oscar y el has estado una gran ayuda para mí (ve su foto abajo). Abi, Teo y yo fuimos a una fiesta de Josi y yo sacé fotos de esta fiesta y la casa en que estaba.

Feb 27: Each day I study with my Spanish teacher, Oscar. He's been a great help to me (see the photo below). Abi, Teo and I went to Josi's fiesta and I took pictures of it and the house in which it was.

	My Spanish teacher and I are in class. Usually we have class for four hours each morning. Sometimes it lasts for five hours. Today was an exception, at 5 and a half hours... and this afternoon, I will go to the Hinostroza's house for another 3-4 hours.
		Abi is just way too cute. She distracts our class periodically, but it's rarely unwelcome. :-)
This is a birthday party for Josi. The kids had a great time and it was interesting to see.
		This is the dwelling unit in which the party was. The small white "building" or room is a bathroom. Note the "stairs" in the picture with the brick wall. Apparently this used to be one house and they built a wall where the stairs were. I saw them use the ladder to get to the second floor.

26 de febrero: ¡Melissa ingresó en Universidad Recardo Palma! ¡FELIZITACIONES MELISSA! ¡Ella ganó 2da puesta de 36 postulantes!

Feb 26: Melissa was accepted by Ricardo Palma University! CONGRATULATIONS MELISSA! She placed 2nd out of 36 applicants!

24 de febrero: Melissa y yo fui a la universidad se llama San Marcos donde esta una sitio arqueológico se llama Huaca (dentra la cerca). Estaba gratificador. ¡Esta universidad tiene más de cuatrocientos años! En el comedor, yo probé papas rellenos y era rico.

Feb 24: Melissa and I went to the university called San Marcos and it had an archeological site called Huaca (inside the campus grounds). It was interesting. This university is is more than 400 years old! In the cafeteria, I tried papas rellenos (stuffed potatoes). It was very good.

		This is Huaca, an archeological site on the campus grounds of San Marcos University in Lima, Perú.
	Above, Melissa is holding one of the ancient bricks.
		On the far left, there is ruins of a large container in which the Incas made one of their favorite drinks from a type of corn. In the center is a picture of Perú with the ocean behind it. I really liked the view.

17 de febrero: Fuimos a la playa hoy, y yo ví esta pelicano. Era interesante.

Yo oí hoy que los niños en este barrio me llama "el gringo de Abi." ¡Que grasioco!

Feb 17: We went to the beach today and I saw this pelican. It was interesting.

I heard today that the children in this neighborhood call me "el gringo de Abi" which is like saying "the Abi's North American" or maybe something like "Abi's white guy." That is hilarious.

	Here is the nearby beach in Barranco, Lima. This pelican was interesting.

15 de febrero: Cuatro de nosotros fuimos a Lima a la palacio hoy. Yo ví mucho y estaba divertido. Casi todo de mi tiemp es in lecciones de castellano, entonces no tengo muchas noticias, pero estoy mejorando mucho en mi castellano.

Feb 15: Four of us went to Lima to the palace today. I saw many things and it was fun. Most of my time is taken by my Spanish lessons, so I don't have much news, but my Spanish is improving quite a bit.

The church in this area is large and quite striking. The above left shows balconies for which Peru is famous. They were very striking. Below are shots of other balconies in the area.
	The changing of the guards in the palace.

11 de febrero: Yo fui a un gran mercado con muchas frutas. Estaba interesante. Estaba con la familia Hinostroza. Nos hablamos mucho y yo aprendí mucho.

Feb 11: I went to a large market that had a lot of fresh fruit. It was interesting. I was with the Hinostroza family. We talked a lot and I learned much.

	Abi doing homework
	Here is a cliff side showing how barren much of the hills are.
	Here is another shot of many houses on a barren hillside.

8 de febrero: Abi y yo jugamos hoy. Es divertido jugar con ella. ¡Que Linda esta! Ve la fotos abajo.

Feb 8: Abi and I played today. It's fun to play with her. How Cute she is! See the photos below.

	Abi forces the visor on Mark
	Abi considers attacking
	Abi choking Mark
	Abi can't resist looking at the camera while she chokes Mark

6 de febrero: Ayer, compré dos libros sobre gramática castellana. Uno de los dos parece muy beneficioso y estoy feliz para tenerlo. Anoche, yo leí un poco en Los 7 Hábitos de la Gente Altamente Efectiva, y yo me dormí casi a las uno. Entonces, estaba muy consado en mi clase en esta mañana.

Feb 6: I bought two Spanish grammar books yesterday and one of those appears to be very helpful. It was a great find. Last night I read a little in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (in Spanish) and didn't go to bed until close to one o'clock, and I was very tired in my Spanish class this morning.

	The design of this church. in Lima caught my attention from about a half mile away.
	We visited Starbucks yesterday too - what a GREAT TREAT. I haven't had coffee since 2003. :-)

4 de febrero: Ahora estoy concentrado en el castallano, y estoy muy contento con mi progresa. Tengo un maestro en las mañas por 4 hores por día (Oscar), y un otro maestro en la tarde por 3 o 4 hores por día. Estoy aprendiendo MUCHO.

Abajo estan fotos, algun de Abi. ¡QUE LINDA!

Feb 4: I'm concentrating on Spanish now, and I'm very happy with my progress. I have a teacher in the mornings for 4 hours, and another teacher in the afternoon for 3 or 4 hours. I'm learning a TON.

Below are photos, some of Abi. How CUTE!

	Abi is playing with water in the new bathroom.
	She has very long hair - it has never been cut.
	The lights in the nearby square, called the Municipalidad.
Nearby Dwellings
	These are roofs across the street
	Here is a dwelling viewed from our third floor
	This is the ceiling in the third floor bathroom

1 de febrero: Fuimos a la zoologico. Mira abajo.

Es interesante, hay una tradición en todo de febrero, para echar globos de agua a otras personas. Entonces, cuando nosotros fuimos en un carro, el ventana estaba casi cerrado porque no quisimos alguien a echar globos dentro de el coche.

Feb 1: We went to a zoo. See below.

There is an interesting tradition here during all of February. People will throw water balloons at others. So when we drove the car, we kept our windows almost closed because we didn't want someone to throw a water balloon inside the car.

	A relatively typical scene in this zoo. There are many buildings of cement also. Some animals are in cement cages and some are in the open, surrounded by a mote.
	This animal was strange to me. It is a Tapir. The snout is long. It appears to eat from the ground similar to a pig.
Above are some beautiful Macaws.
	The above turtles are fairly large.
The monkeys above are very cute, and the lower one is strange to me.	The above are toucans. Their bills are quite colorful and it shows only partially in this photo.
	This bear appeared to be very tired.
This animal appears to be a cross between a lamb and a llama. It's called a vicuna.	I liked this white Llama resting in the afternoon.
Butterflies	This is a piranha. Note the teeth. I could see how they would be very dangerous in a group.
	Abi is standing next to a cactus that looks like a tree. Below, you can see the trunk, which appears much like a tree trunk.