Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Exchange student learns about Prescott

There are some major differences between Prescott, Arkansas and Lima, Peru.

One of the major ones is population. Prescott has a little more than 4,000 residents while Lima's population is several hundred thousand.

Another difference, according to Geraldine Pizarro, 17-year-old exchange student from Lima, is nobody walks here, while everyone walks there.

Pizarro spoke through interpreter Karina Hernandez, saying she's trying to learn English, and will continue working to master the language when she returns home. Pizarro is staying with George and Margaret Ivey, under the Lion's Club exchange program.

She attends Prescott High School as a guest student and will complete her high school education when she returns to Lima. Ivey said students attend school in shifts in Peru because of the lack of facilities. Students there also wear uniforms.

Pizarro said Prescott is a little town with a lot of interesting things in it. While here she's living in a house, but lives in a high rise apartment complex in Lima.

Fast food, she said, is eaten only on the weekends in Lima, but people here eat it all the time. Pizarro said they have the same kind of fast foods, pizza and burgers.

Ivey said they recently took the girls to Blanchard Springs to see the caves. Pizarro was apparently overwhelmed by the experience, saying the caves were too big, and she was glad she didn't see any bats.

Pizarro said her home life revolves around school, studying and helping her mother, Carmen, who's a nurse. There isn't time for much else, such as hanging around with friends.

She enjoys music, playing volleyball, dancing and singing, but didn't participate in the recent talent show at PHS.

Ivey said they took the girls to a barn dance and one man asked them to dance. They declined initially saying they didn't know how to square dance. However, they were talked into it and apparently enjoyed themselves. "I thought it was nice of him," Ivey said.

Pizarro also has a sister in Lima, Rachel, 10. Her father, Jorge, is an engineer currently working in California.

Her future plans are to attend college and become a nurse like her mother. She also plans to continue learning English so she can communicate with people.

The Ivey's took Pizarro to a Methodist and Assembly of God church. She said the services were different from those in Lima where most of the people are Catholic.

It's a bit expensive for Pizaro to communicate with friends and family in Lima. She said they don't use email, but write letters. Ivey said stamps are 80 cents each.

The Iveys tend to have oatmeal for breakfast every morning, and served this to their guest her first day in town. While Pizarro at it, she didn't care for it. The Iveys got other cereal for her to eat.

Ivey said Pizarro doesn't stay at their house much because of the language barrier. Instead she spends time with Hernandez and her family, as they speak Spanish.

Hernandez said Pizarro knows how to take care of hair and nails, and helps her with this.

While winter is winding down on the north American continent, it's still summer in Peru. Pizarro said if she were at home she would be going to the beach and exercising.