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Goshen College

Peruvian Families Warmly Welcome Students

May 4, 2015

By Karen and Duane Sherer Stoltzfus
Peru SST Co-Directors, 2014-2015

During our walk through the neighborhood, we stopped for a photo in front of La Catedral del Buen Pastor, where we will be studying.
Students in front of La Catedral del Buen Pastor, where they met their host families and where classes will be held.

Goshen students met their host families after a  day spent touring downtown Lima.

The day was distinguished, in a good way, by weather and by traffic. For the second day in a row, the sky was exceptionally clear and blue, for fall in Lima. We enjoyed very light traffic as we traveled downtown, courtesy of the Labor Day holiday.

The students had prepared to meet their host parents and siblings by reviewing information about their families, including the locations of their homes, and by practicing Peruvian greetings and farewells. Celia Vazquez, our study coordinator, served as the expert in residence, instructing students in how women greet women (kiss alongside the cheek), women greet men (kiss alongside the cheek) and men greet men (handshake) — and in all cases, hugs may be part of the greeting as well.

We waited to meet families at the Anglican Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (La Catedral Anglicana del Buen Pastor), our home base for classes, lectures and workshops.

For many students, it’s both an exciting and anxious time, sitting alongside each other on the stage of the main hall at Buen Pastor, wondering who will be picked up next. And then, What to say? How to say it?

As each family member arrived, students quickly gathered their belongings, posed for photos and then headed home for a weekend of getting acquainted with new families and neighborhoods.  Becca joined her host family later in the weekend. Students will return to Buen Pastor at the start of the week, for lectures followed by language classes.

 

Zach with his host mother, Bita.
Alberto with his host parents, Eliana and Ricardo, and host brothers, Adriel and Mathias.
Phil with his host mother, Livia.
Peter with his host mother, Edith.
Morgan with her host father, Christian, and her host sisters, Eva and Lucia.
Michael with his host parents, Blanca and Pepe, and his host brother, Nicolas.
Kourtney with her host father, Carlos, and her host brothers, Esteban and Daniel.
Kate with her host mother, Yannina; host grandmother, Angelica; and host sister, Dieuwe.
Josh with his host mother, Cecilia, and his host aunt, Ena.
Jessica with her host father, Daladier.
James with his host sisters, Esther and Daniella.
Irene with her host mother, Rosario.
Hayley with her host parents, Giuseppe and Martha, and her host brother, Giuseppino, and host sister, Antonella.
David with his host mother, Sara, and his host sisters, Zully and Galeth.
Claire with her host parents, Genoveva and Fernando.
Asia with her host mother, Marisel.
Anna with her host father, Percy.
Abbie with her host parents, Charo and Juan.
Becca with her host sister, Daniella.