El número de teléfono del cobrador

Can I say that I love eating breakfast in the morning!  In the U.S. I almost never eat breakfast and if I do it consists of two or more Chewy granola bars, right Taylor?  (Which by the way, I've been craving, but I can't afford a lot of imported stuff here :))  Anyway, I love my usual cereal, scrambled eggs, and freshly squeezed orange juice.  It's delicious  The freshly squeezed orange juice is on my "Things I will miss" list.  Yes, I actually do have this list, but you won't see it until December.  So if you're curious, you should probably keep reading this blog until then!!  Anyway, I don't know exactly why I'm talking about my breakfast..este...I guess I'll tell you to eat it, it's good for you!!

On to a micro story...this is a good one!!

So I was on the micro quietly minding my own business when the cobrador came up to me asking for the pasaje (money).  I showed him my carne (student ID) and gave him a Peruvian sol and he obviously told me that I owed more because the carnes for foreigners don't look the same so we get turned down a lot.  I obviously explained this to him and he was nice and accepted it.  Later in the ride he came back up to me and asked again if I had another carne and I said "no" once again.  I thought for sure that he was going to turn around and make me pay more (which I wouldn't have), but he didn't and he awkwardly went back to the door to do his cobrador duties.  I kept shifting in my seat because I was sitting in that seat over the wheel well - you know that seat you always hated sitting in on the school bus when you're growing up.  Anyway, the cobrador then motioned (more than once) to a seat right in front of him pretty much saying it would be more comfortable.  And it was then that I knew for sure what was occurring.  The micro started to empty and the less people on the micro the more anxious I became.  Then, the inevitable happened, the cobrador sat across the aisle from me and started talking to me.  At first it was the usual questions "Where are you from?," "Why are you here?," "What are you studying?," and "Do you like Perú?," but then he remembered where I got on and what my name was from my carne.  He then boldly asked for my number and I told him "Sorry, I don't know it," which is true!  He didn't have to know that my number is written on the back of my phone which was in my bookbag.  He then told me to write down his number and I said that I wasn't interested and that I had a boyfriend.  And here's where I tell you about the two types of guys in Perú.  #1. When you say you have a boyfriend, they stop talking to you.  #2. When you say you have a boyfriend they proceed to ask if he's here or in the U.S.  Well, I need to start saying that he's here because then they should leave me alone, but when I answer in the U.S. the majority of people here say it doesn't matter.  It's the weirdest thing.  That's just the attitude of a lot of the people here.  I'm glad I have different values in that sense.  Anyway, the guy didn't care and still wanted to give me his number.  I obviously didn't get out my phone or he would have easily seen my number on the back of and I would've been busted, but I hadnded him a pencil and he wrote it on the back of a micro ticket (I'm going to keep that as a souvenir..haha).  Anyway, as I left the micro he said, "Me llames" (Call me).  Little does he know, I was thinking in my head "Yeah, right!"  Hopefully, I don't ever have him as a cobrador again because then I'll have to explain why I didn't call him  I'm sure you're thinking "You'll never see him again" and honestly, one month ago, I would have believed you, but actually, I ahve had a few repeat cobradores.  So I guess I'll just cross my fingers that I don't have him again.

Okay, on to the rest of my school day, it's nothing special so I understand if you stop reading here.

I had Peruvian Social Reality, where we discussed more of the Chinese migration as well as the Japanese migration.  The numbers are actually really interesting: in 1908 the population of Lima was 100,000; in 1940, 400,000; in 1970, 4 million; and in 1990, 9 million.  Crazy, huh?  We also discussed the reason why there is no discrimination anymore when, in reality, it used to be very bad.  The mass migration actually is one of the factors that helped rid of the discrimination, which I find interesting.  After, I ate lunch with Tonisha and we sat in the grass in the nice hot sun!  It was beautiful and I loved every second of it.  Plus, I had some amazing pasta with huancaína sauce, which I have become quite fond of.  Anyway, I had Spanish, too, where we learned the difference between por qué, porque, por que, and porqué.  Confusing, huh?  Well, actually it wasn't too bad.  Also, my writing is improving I think.  Well, at least my papers are having less and less corrections on them. :)  After, I printed my Ethnography paper and headed to class.  In class, we discussed a lot of different things, but we started with the missions, which was what my paper was on so that was nothing new to learn about and then we talked about the education in the Amazon.  This also had my interest considering I want to be a teacher.  He said that on Wednesday, we're talking about some wildlife, so I'm excited for that!  And next week is midterms so we don't have class!  It's going to be wonderful!  I don't know what I'll do with my spare time!

Anyway, tonight when I got home I had a really good beef stew of some sort that I have never had before and it was of course amazing.  Then, I proceeded to find Grey's Anatomy online in order to watch it, since I have an addiction to the show. :)  Also, I obviously worked on these blogs and a little bit of some homework.  I hope you all had amazing days today and I wish you an amazing day tomorrow!  Buenas noches!