Flip-Flop
I will have to bring my camera with me the next time I go to the market – my words won’t give you the full effect. I have made a second visit to a very sweet lady named Adela. I am going to make couscous tomorrow. The price of food here is flip-flopped from the States, which is good for us. It makes eating well a lot cheaper than at home.
small jar processed peanut butter: $5
10 white flour tortillas: $4.50
Betty Crocker cookie mix: $5.00
2 eggplant, 2 red peppers, 2 yellow pepper, 2+ pounds carrots, fresh basil, 3 turnips, 3 leeks, 4 cucumbers, 2+pounds onions, 1+ pounds of green beans, 3 zucchini, and a bag of hand washed chick peas: $10
She also threw in a free pepper for mi esposo. Last time she gave me some free ginger root.
I have to say that I probably look pretty silly with my dictionary in the market and at the grocery store, but oh well. I am managing to get what we need and am even managing to speak and be understood rather that smiling, pointing and grunting.
School is going well for the kids and us. I know Christian is looking forward a break this week-end. We are both studying hard. The kids are doing great and working very hard on their studies. They have a few more weeks to work on their current schooling full-time before they start at the International School.
Keep praying for us. Honestly, everything is going great but I am very tired. The air up here at 8,000 ft is a bit thinner. I get winded going up to do laundry. It actually rained a little today. That was only because I decided to water the lawn today and wash our bed sheets . . .
Crazy Gringos Play Ball
Well, Christian is feeling much better today. Thanks to all of you who prayed. We had an adventurous afternoon and evening. After siesta we went to the park down the street and played a little soccer with the kids. We played half court (the field is a basketball court) because some other kids were playing on the otherside. Well I noticed that eventually they stopped playing and just watched us. I think we were better than T.V. – A large family of gringos playing soccer was a sight to behold. We were slipping and sliding on the painted concrete. It was fun and I’m sure the Peruvians had a good laugh.
After a little futbol we headed off to get a taxi and go to Plaza Vea. It is like Walmart, kind of. We were able to get some school supplies, a froggie trash can (for all that toilet paper), and hair clippers. It is a little embarrassing that the lady working at the store spoke more English than we did Spanish. But we got what we needed and then headed of to the centro. We walked many streets looking for a bookstore to by a Spanish/English dictionary. Funny we didn’t own one. Now many streets and two book stores later we own two.
We took a taxi back across town to Pollo Real. Picked up 2 chickens, 2 fries and 1 Inca Cola and headed home. The chicken was great but I feel a little sick to my stomach – maybe it is because the chicken man put five raw chickens on a spit, tied them, wiped his hands on a towel and put our food in the containers with his salmonella ridden hands! Oh, well. I’m sure its not the first time and I know it won’t be the last.
Spanish classes are going well. I am thoroughly enjoying going to class, and so is Christian. Really, we are blessed in a very special way to be living here and learning Spanish – it is such a blessing – parasites and all. There have been many moments since we arrived that I have wondered why we are here. We, in and of ourselves, have nothing to offer Peru. They don’t need our culture, habits, cooking, language . . . .nothing. We have nothing to give worth anything except Christ. I pray HE will be seen in us.
Revenge of the Germs
We’ve been here for two weeks and we have all been fairly healthy until now. Christian has a terrible gastrointestinal issue. He can’t eat, can’t sleep, can’t study, can’t throw up . . . .he is just down right miserable. Please pray for his health. I don’t think I ever seen him quite like this. Nothing seems to help, so just pray, He has class at 8:30 in the morning.
We started our Spanish classes today and the kids started home school again after a month and a half break. It has been a busy day. I still have a couple of hours of home work to do so this will be short. Christian is in class for 4 hours a day, 2 hours of practice and 2 hours of grammar. I am only doing 2 hours of practice in the afternoon right now so I can be home with the kids while Christian is at class, then we switch. We were supposed to do 2 hours of grammar together so I will do that at home until March when the kids start at the International School.
Please pray for good health for all of us.
Homework is calling me . . . .
Rock concert
More Tid Bits
Here are a few more things that make our life here all the more interesting and comical:
The washing machine is plugged into an extension cord that runs down the side of the house into the kid’s bathroom window.
I have to unplug the washer to plug in the nightlight so the kids can find the bathroom in the dark.
The meat counter at El Super is self serve – pick your steaks and scoop your own ground beef.
The garbageman rings bell so you know he is coming – he doesn’t come even close to the time marked in the paper.
Our district in Arequipa, Yanahuara, is Quechua for “black underwear”
Tid Bits
“We’re going to die here? I hope it doesn’t happen (volcanic eruption) because we’ll all die and that will be the end of our mission . . but we’ll be in heaven so that’s O.K.”
Boy that kids keeps us laughing and on our toes. Today he went to hail a taxi for me w/o permission. No fear . . .
Classes start on Monday for Christian and me. The kids are all registered for school, too. I will be going to school 1/2 time until March when the kids will be in school all day. I will then go the full 4 hours while they are at school. Until then We will continue to home school in the mornings while Christian is in class and then I will go in the afternoon. The kids will have to wear uniforms to school. All the kids wear white shirts, gray pants or skirt. and a green sweater. Gabe get to wear a green Blazer and a tie instead of the sweater. I am looking forward to seeing this.
I wish you could all be here and see, smell, and experience everything with us. I will do my best to share all that with you.
Here is a short list of things that make life here different and interesting:
I do the laundry on the roof.
I look at a volcano when I do laundry.
Toilet paper goes in the trash can.
Paper napkins are single ply.
Cold water only to wash clothes and dishes.
We have cable T.V. – first time ever.
The meat counter at El Super was self serve.
We live 8,000 ft up and the air is thin.
View of El Misti from our roof.
A Nice Steady Closet
Getting out of Lima was not as simple the second time around. We had a taxi pick us up around 9a.m. to take us to the airport. Our flight to Arequipa was supposed to leave around 11:20. We planned to have enough time to check our bags, eat breakfast at the airport, and get through security. All was going very well. We checked our carry-ons so we wouldn’t have to lug them around, not to mention that they we VERY over weight for carry-on luggage. We took our time at the food court (did you know Papa John’s serves breakfast?we opted for McD.), paid our airport tax of $6.25 a person (tickets are invalid w/o the paid tax sticker), got down to the gates, checked the board only to find written next to our flight CANCELADO. Even you non Spanish speakers can figure that one out, CANCELED. The flight had been canceled while we went through security.
So back to the ticket counter we go. The line at the LAN counter was huge! So being resourceful Christian put the Latin culture to work to help us out. He got the attention of a LAN worker and pointed out our predicament : canceled flight + last in line + 5 kids=remove blockade and put family with kids at the head of the groups line. People down here don’t like to see kids cry or make them wait. We were thankful to not have too long of a wait. However, it almost didn’t matter because the next flight to Arequipa was at 3:50p.m. we now had 5 hours to wait in the Lima airport.
We found the nicest spot we could near a fountain, under a skylight and set up camp. We ordered the most expensive cookies (not realizing what we were ordering) just to sit in this café. The price was worth it since we spent a good 2.5 hours sitting there playing cards and trying to figure out how to call the school in Arequipa to tell them our change in plans. With that dome we made our way back to security to head to our gate. We bypassed the tax booth since we had already paid several hours earlier, well – since our tax stickers had already been scanned once they weren’t valid anymore. I was about ready to scream. The lady at the counter said it would be fine but now we were being told to go back down to the ticket counter to get it fixed. The kids and I planted ourselves on the floor along the glass wall in front of the security entrance. Christian returned in about 10 minutes with new stickers and we were on our way – through security again and to our gate. At this point all went well. We got on the plane – got to Arequipa just fine, and so did our luggage. People from our school meet us and brought us to our house where we meet the owner and signed our lease, we went shopping for some necessities, moved around a lot of beds, and got to bed very late.
The next morning we left the house at 9:45a.m. to go to ABC (that is the language school)to talk with some people there and see where it is. It is about a 15 minute walk from our house. We then proceeded to walk all over Arequipa. It is a beautiful city – we walked 4.5 hours that day. At almost 8,000 feet up the air is thinner and the sun stronger. We were all exhausted and sun burnt by the time we got home. Our boxes also arrived in Arequipa without a problem. It was nice to unpack our things and make this place home – even if it is only till August. As Gavin put it when we put his laundry away, “It is nice to have a nice steady closet.”
More Bus Pictures
Emma, Hannah and Tasa in front of the Murray’s purple house.
They looked thrilled, don’t they?
The Road to Puerto Supe
We had a great time with Tim and Hannah – it takes a lot to host the 7 of us.
The Ocean in January
This movie was taken yesterday on the beach in Puerto Supe, Peru (3hrs north of Lima), where we came to visit fellow SAMers, Tim and Hannah Murray. The sky was white as usual here but we still managed to get burned. P. Supe is a small fishing town – the fishing industry is in decline, however. It is a pretty depressed area. The trip on the dirty crowed bus was well worth it. We got to catch up with Tim and Hannah, go to the beach, and to watch Prince Caspian (in Spanish). The kids have been dying to see that movie and it is kind of ironic that they had to come to Puerto Supe to see it. God seems to blessing them that way – the kids are being great about everything. They got to see Hawk Nelson and TobyMac last Sunday night in Charlotte. (Gabe is working on a post about that.) When Tim said they were showing Prince Caspian for the town (only 3 people came besides us) the kids were so excited. I am so glad knows the desires of our hearts and shows his love in such small but specific ways. You can’t doubt his love when you remember all he does.
