Karen's SST in Peru

the last few days

2006-07-13T12:30:00.000-05:00

Saturday at 1:00 I leave Huaraz with the 5 other SSTers to go back to
Lima and spend a little time with my family there before leaving again
to stay for a few days at a retreat outside Lima.THere we will be
reflecting about our 3 months in Peru along with taking a history and
spanish exam and each giving 10minute presentations about something we
have learned about during our time on service. My project will be about
the orphanage I have been working in. As a part of this assignment I
need to put together a visual aid, which I have decided to print
pictures of the kids there and put them in a little booklet thingy to
show everyone. THe only problem with that idea is that printing pictures
here in Huaraz is crazy expensive, so I will have to be very delibrate
about what I actually print, but it will be very nice to have a tangible
taste of what and with whom I have been spending my last 5 1-2 weeks.
It is bittersweet to be leaving, but I know that my time here has
been well worth it, and I will be taking so much with me when I leave
here, - the relationships I have made and the situations I have found
myself in have been priceless experiences for me that will never be able
to be repeated or duplicated.
At this point I have no idea what to expect when returning back to
the states, will I experience severe culture shock or not? Will I have
noticeably changed to those who knew me before? Is my personaltity
different? I do not think the changes that have taken place and will
continue to take place will be astoundingly noticeable to everyone, but
I know they will exist and to find the balance as to who I was before
and who I am now will take some time.
After saying that, I do want to say that I am very excited to come
home and see all of you who have taken the time to read this blog
whenever I sent out a random update here and there over these past few
weeks and months. I dont know when I will have a chance to blog again
before getting back to the states but when I do, I look forward to
talking with you all about this time in my life and of course to see how
you are all doing. God Bless

Peruvian time

2006-07-05T12:24:00.000-05:00

These past weeks I have been getting a first hand taste of what Peruvian
time really is. Maybe it is better classified as Latin time, but since I
am in Peru, it seems fitting to call it Peruvian time.
What this really is, is the total disregard for schedules, starting
and ending times, and anyones personal plans. The past week has been so
frusterating for me because it seems whatever I tell my family I am
going to do, or want to do seems to be almost completely ignored or
forgotten until the second before I walk out the door, and am asked,
[where are you going?] as if I had never explained this to my family
days eariler, and gotten their permission. I have decided that there is
little to no communication between my family members about what the rest
of the family is doing at any given time. For example, My sister told me
last night while we were at the bus station seeing my mom off to Lima
for several days that she didnt know her mom was leaving until a few
days before. My mom isnt coming back until Sunday and I was oblivious to
her going anywhere until 3 or so hours before she left. No one bothered
to tell me. Hmmm, somtimes its harder than others to feel like I am
actually a part of the family. There have also been several times where
I have been locked out of my house becuase whom ever I told where I was
and when I would be coming home forgot what time I would be returning so
I waited on my door step for quite sometime before anyone bothered to
come home. After the third time, I asked for a key, which was given to
me gladly, I almost wonder if they didnt think I would ever need one...
Life continues to bring surprises as I get up every morning and face
what the day has in store for me. I must say, there is rarely a dull
moment, especially in the evenings when my family is around the house
doing their own thing and random relatives often stop by for any number
of reasons. This is indeed a learning experience!

things are going well

2006-06-28T13:09:00.000-05:00

I have been here for about 3 weeks now and am feeling quite adjusted.
Working at the orphanage is going well, and on Friday we received a
little girl off the street. She is about 7 months old, and she will be
leaving today to go with a foster family because the orphanage is full.
Her name is Reina, and she is very sweet. I cant believe no one would
want her. A very sad thing I have discovered about her is that she is
covered in flea bites all over her little body, and she screams and
cries every day when I give her a bath. I have no idea what she
associates with water but whatever it is it must have been awful. Other
than that she is very happy baby and I will be sad to see her go today.
I have been making friends with the little ones I work with and it is
so rewarding to have them recognize you and put out their little arms to
indicate that they want YOU to hold them. I think that is my favorite
part of this job. Somebody mentioned to me after seeing what my work
entails that I will be very prepared for a family of my own someday and
I think they are right, who knew it could be soo exhausting to take care
of 4 crying babies at once!!! It normally isnt that crazy, but there are
times when I feel like crying right along with them!
THis past weekend I had an opprounity to do some hiking in the
mountains that surround my city. It was incredible and physically
exhausting. I was VERY sore the next few days! I was able to hike with a
bunch of other GCers and we went to Huascaran National Park and spent
about 5 or 6 hours walking on the paths there. We were able to see 3
lagoonas, which are pure mountain water and have the clearest blue green
color I have ever seen in my life. I will have to show you all pictures
when I get back to the states and have more time.
Tomorrow is a national holiday so the orphanage is going to take a
Paseo, which is a little field trip somewhere, I have no idea where but
it should be interesting!
I hope everyones summers are going well, until next time!!

Service

2006-06-20T12:47:00.000-05:00

Hello all, sorry I havent blogged in awhile, but I have been having
difficulties posting blogs for some reason, so I am trying it a
different way, I hope it works!
I am safely here in Huaraz, which is the biggest city in the
surrounding area, its has about 30,000 people or so, so its smaller than
Lima, but it is by no means a tiny town. It is in the valley of the
Andes Mountains so it is completely surrounded by beautiful mountains,
most of them are snow capped and directly to the north is Mt. Huascaran,
the second tallest mountain in South America. It is beautiful! My house
is on the outer edges of the city, which is nice because it is very
quiet, but in general, the whole city is pretty quiet and very safe.
My family is great, I have a sister Olenka, who just turned 16 on the
13th of June, and a brother Ermes who is either 12 or 13. My parents are
Ermes and Gladys, both of them work alot, and I generally only see them
in the evenings for a few hours before we all go to bed. I am sharing a
room with my sister, but she sleeps in another room, so basically we are
just sharing closet space. I have a fairly large extended family as
well, and as it turns out, I feel like I know them better than my own
family becuase I see them quite often. My mom has 7 other brothers and
sisters and most of them live in Huaraz, so its nice to have a big
family. My family is fairly well off, so it is not quite the compo
experience I was expecting, but it is turning out to be a good
experience anyway.
I work in a place called Casa Hogar, which is an orphanage that is
about 2 blocks from my house so I walk to work every day. There are
about 22 kids there whose ages range from 4 months to 17 years old. My
specific assignment there is to take care of two girls, one is 8 months-
Gabi, and the other is 14 months- Sophia. I am in charge of bathing
them, changing diapers and making their food, which is a dish called
Masamora. It is a soft jelly like food, that can be made with fruit or
milk, and it has a consistancy of baby food. It is fairly easy to make
and since its cheap too, its much more economical than buying baby food,
and its healthy as well. There are also 4 month old twin girls at the
orphanage and I get to take care of them as well along with anoter woman
who works there. She and I get along really well, and she is taking
English classes, so we are able to help eachother with our languages
which has been a wonderful experience. When I am not busy with those
girls, I help the other kids with their homework and am finally able to
remember most of their names! They are all great kids and even though
they come from difficult situations they need loving just like any other
child. The language barrier is still very frusterating at times, making
it difficult to break up fights and keep order when necessary, but for
the most part it is going very well. I work from 3 in the afternoon
until 7 in the evening, which isnt a full work day by any means, but
that leaves my mornings free to read and walk around the city which is
very nice.
There are 5 other Goshen students in my area, and this past weekend,
they all came to Huaraz to hang out. It was so much fun to speak English
and to be together with familiar people. They were only planning on
staying for the day, but one of my aunt and uncles own a karaoke bar
that is going to be opening soon, and they wanted to take pictures of a
bunch of gringos in their club, so we spent the evening dancing and
taking pictures for their web site and pamphlets for advertizing. There
are quite a few gringos walking around here, because Huaraz is a central
spot for tourists to come and go hiking, etc. so it is not uncommon to
see tourists walking around the city. Its interesting to hear French,
German, and the various accents spoken when I have grown so used to
hearing spanish all the time.
My family is Baptist, and every Sunday we go to church twice. Once
in the morning from 10:00 to 12:30 or so and then again at 7, 7:30 until
about 8:30-9. Sundays are also a time to get together with family, so I
am rarely home on Sundays at all. This past Sunday was one of my aunts
birthdays, so as a special treat, we ate cuy, which is basically a
Peruvian guinea pig. I think I blogged about eating this before and
surprisingly I really like it. For brithdays there is always a layer
cake decorated with tons of frosting and in my experience here in
Huaraz, it is generally vanilla. Cake here is different than in the U.S.
most of the time it is not very moist and it looks alot better than it
tastes but I have enjoyed trying foods here, espeically desserts. The
ice cream is very good and almost anywhere you can get coconut flavored
ice cream that has really coconut in it, which has become my all-time
favorite flavor!
Well, I have written quite a bit this time so I think I´ll say adios
until next time. I hope all is going well for you back at home in the
states, or the Dominican Republic or the Ukraine, or where ever you
might be! Ciau!

election day

2006-06-04T10:21:00.000-05:00

Today the entire country of Peru is voting for a new president. It is required for everyone between the ages of 18 and 65. Neither candidate is very promising for the well being of the country, but by 4:00 today we´ll know which one was chosen. Because of the elections, there are laws that prohibit the sale of alcohol the day before to prevent rioting or any unwanted problems associated with drunkeness. As a result of this law, this weekend has been rather quiet and many people chose to stay home so there are no events that happen- even weekly food stands that are set up every Saturday night did not exist. The other major law about election time is that there can be no gatherings the day of, not even at private homes or church. So, last night we had church instead. Saturday nights usually mean youth group, and my parents host a Bible Study\book club about a book written by Max Lucado, so after church they were still able to have that but today everything is so quiet. It was nice to be able to sleep in and later today my sister, mom and I are going to see Xmen 3. I guess its ok to gather at the movie theaters....:)
Last Sunday I had an opprtunity to go to a real footbol (soccer) game! It was held in the big stadium and the two teams were both from Lima. (Aliansa and Crystal) It was great to watch, I was sitting on the Aliansa side, and was given strict instrucions not to cheer for Chrystal or the fans around me would be VERY upset. Chrystal ended up winnng 2-0, so it was a little disapointing to be on the loosing side, but still a very good experience. There are some very hard core fans, and things can get out of hand very easily at those games. there were police everywhere! All in uniform with helmets and batons and even big dogs with muzzles over their mouths. The just stood around the staduim during the game, but aftwards they were very violent. Since Aliansa lost, the fans didnt want to leave, so the police took it into their own hands and began to beat\chase people out with their batons. That part was not a pleasant experience, I had never seen that kind of violence in person before... and it was only a soccer game!
On Monday I had my first experience of being REALLY sick on SST. I didnt feel well all day, and ended up throwing up twice...(thats really not fun away from home). But my mom here took good care of me and after sleeping all day and drinking very little I felt much better on Tuesday morning. I dont really know what caused it, but my mom is convinced that it was the rachi (cows stomach) and anticucho (cow heart) that I ate Saturday night. Both were very tasty and I would recomend either to anyone who would be willing to try them but I guess my stomach didnt like them. I being this sick was a one time experience but I have 6 more weeks to find out!
This Wednesday morning I am leaving on service. I will be traveling with a group of about 5 other Goshen students on a bus for the 8 hour trip. At this point I still do not know anything about my family, but I know I'll get info about them soon. It is strange to think I will be saying goodbye to my family here in Lima, I have grown to appreciate them so much and will miss them alot. It is also strange to be finishing up with my spanish classes and saying goodbye to my fellow SSTers whom I´ve gotten to know so well over these last 5 or so weeks. I am almost half done with my time in Peru. It has gone so fast and soon I will be back in South Dakota to end the summer. I guess it is a good thing time has gone fast, because that means I have been enjoying myself which is definately true.
Depending on how quickly I get settled in Huaraz I probably won´t have a chance to blog in the next week and a half but I will let you know how everything is going when I get a chance. By the way, I would love to receive letters from you! Bev and Dale will be visiting me on service and will bring all letters that have come for me since I left Lima, so please write so I have bits of home to look forward to! :)

incredible places

2006-05-26T22:31:00.000-05:00

This past week has been full of amazing sights and places. I was able to see one of the 7 wonders of the world- Machu Picchu and swim with sea lions!
Last weekend the group flew to Cusco which is about 3,000 ft. above sea level making it difficult to breathe. To ease the symptoms of altitude sickness, we all had to drink coca tea-made with the leaves used to make cocaine. (dont worry, the tea doesnt make you high) :) It was amazing how well the remedy worked. My headache and lethargy went away almost as soon as I had finished my cup. The following day we took a 4 hour train ride through the mountains to the base of the mountain where M.P. is and then took a 25 minute bus ride up the mountain to the entrance. The masonry is incredible as are the mountains surrounding all sides of the ancient hidden city. The weather was very warm and clear that day, and it was even hot enough to wear tanktops! It seems so strange to be sitting here in my jeans and sweater and still be cold while those of you back home are just getting into the summer weather.
We spent the rest of the weekend visiting more ruins and doing some hiking as well.
The trip was well worth it and I would encourage anyone to visit this amazing part of the world.

Today we took another field trip to the Pacific Ocean. We didnt have to go far because Lima is on the coast, but today we were able to take a boat out on the sea to see the islands just off the coast. We were able to see many pelicans, sea lions and even peruvian penguins. The most amazing part of the day was getting a chance to swim with the sea lions. The water was frigid, but with a wet suit, it is tolerable and well worth the cold. The lions are quite tame and curious because the island where they live is very well protected by the government, so the animals have no reason to fear humans. They make lots of noises, and the sound is deafening when there are hundreds of them. It was so much fun to be in the water with them, they would come very close and just before you could reach out and touch them, theyd dive in to the water and swim under you. A few times one would jump out of the water so close to you that theyd brush you with their bodies. It was truly an experience that I wont soon forget.
I took lots of pictures, so hopefully I will have some time in the next week to post some for your viewing pleasure. :)

Tomorrow is yet another field trip to a nearby town that is famous for its wine and dancing. We´ll be touring a vinyard and watching a dance show as well as many other things Im sure. Sunday a bunch of us got tickes to see a soccer game here in Lima to see 2 of the biggest rivals play eachother. Ive been told the games can get pretty crazy, so I am sure it will be quite an experience!

Mother's Day

2006-05-16T19:14:00.000-05:00

Hello again, I hope life is going well for all of you, wherever you may be. This past weekend was Mother´s Day here in Peru, just as it was in the U.S. or EE.UU. as they abrieviate it here. (I found this to be rarther strange, but I am learning new things every day, and this is one of them!) Anyway, Sunday was Mother´s Day, and we were told that this is a very big holiday here- I think this is true for all Latin American countries. I knew I had to do something, but there are no flower markets anywhere near my house, so I couldnt go out and buy her some fresh flowers Sunday morning. Instead, I talked to my siblings, and we agreed to get up at 6:00 and make her breakfast! They had done this before in the past and knew she loved it. I was very excited to finally beable to cook and was even more excited to bake a coffee cake- my most favorite food to make- as my contribution to breakfast. I emailed my real Mom to get the recipe and was very happy to discover that my family already had most of the ingredients. The few problems I ran into were finding measuring cups (my mom here does all her cooking by estimation) a pan to bake it in (my family hardly ever uses their oven and therefore doesnt have many baking pans) and the baking temperature was in farenheit instead of celcius, so we had to pull out our math skills early in the morning to bake the cake. It turned out really well and my Mom loved it! Cakes here are generally not very sweet and very dense, so this cake was pretty different from what they were used to. I did have to explain that it was ok to eat cake for breakfast because thats what it was made for, and it had no coffee in it either, it was just a name that suggests that you eat it with coffee, but you dont have to. After she tried it she asked for the recipe, so I know it was successful! Maybe now that I have been able to make one thing from home I will be able to make more food for my family. Coffee cake wasnt the only thing we made for her. My sister and brother made little sandwiches called ¨triple¨ prounced ¨trip lay¨ they have three layers, and each layer is something different. It consists of a layer of avocado, hardboiled egg, and tomatos and each layer has mayonaise inbetween as well. They are really good and are fairly easy to assemble -for the exception of peeling the tomatoes. (which I dont think would be necessary, but whatever:)
After breakfast, the family went to my Abuelita´s house (on my Dad´s side of the family) and I got to meet several aunts and uncles too. Meeting family is rather overwhelming and nerve racking too, because they all want to know how much spanish you know, so you are under pressure to talk, but often the questions they ask are spoken too fast to understand so even if you wanted to respond, its helpful to understand the question first. Things went well and we didnt end up staying very long, so that was nice.
At church the children gave all the mothers chocolate suckers, and had a program prepared which was really cute and fun to watch. Later that evening my family went to see a movie for the first time since I have been here (Mission Impossible 3). I had a great time seeing a movie in English with Spanish subtitles-and I learned more spanish words too! While we were sitting in the theater waiting for the movie to start, several North Americans walked in and sat right infront of us. I saw one girl with a Mississippi State sweatshirt and they were speaking English- its amazing how drawn I was to them because they were a piece of familiarity\home for me and I had absolutely no idea who they were. They were the first people from the U.S. that Ive seen since I have been here besides my fellow SSTers from Goshen. I almost felt like I was home again watching an English movie in a nice theater, with popcorn and listening to a language that I could fully understand spoken by people other than me! I am just amazed how much more I have noticed\become aware of even the slightest thing that reminds me of home -either an advertisement, a phrase, or even people I see on the bus on my way to school and back every day.
Oh, I wanted to make sure I remembered to mention that there was an earthquake here last week! It was very small, and didn´t do any damage, and saddly I missed it because I was already sleeping, but it happened around 10:00p.m. on Thursday night and lasted for a few minutes. I didn´t find out about it until the following morning when my mom asked me if I felt the shaking the night before. At first I had no idea what she was talking about, but I finally understood that there had been an earthquake. I was so disappointed that it didnt even wake me up! The next day when I talked to people at school, some said it was stronger in their area. One guy was shaken out of his bed, but he and his family were fine. I'm glad there wasnt any damage done but I kinda wish that there would be another little one so I could feel what a real earthquake is like, but I guess I'll have to wait until next time.

2006-05-09T18:48:00.000-05:00

In a few hours it will be exactly 2 weeks since I arrived in this thriving metropolis of Lima. This past week was good to finally have a routine of going to class, hearing lectures and coming home at a fairly regular time every day. Spanish class lasts from about 8:30 in the morning to 11:00, then we either have lunch, and listen to a lecture before taking a field trip somewhere in the city. We have visited the Government Palace-where the president lives and works, as well as several historical sites and museums. There is so much to learn about the indigenous people and how the different tribes evolved to become the Incas, and how they were overtaken by the Spainards who founded Lima and now to see its evolvement to what it is today. I think of North American history and how I have been learning it since I started school, and to come now to a different place and begin learning a country´s history from scratch is no small task. I do have several books that were assigned to bring with us that consist of the history of Peru that I have been reading as well.
This past weekend our group of 23 students were split into two groups to travel to different sections of Lima to what are called ´Shantytowns´. These areas are on the outskirts of the city where people have come to live and find jobs in the city, trying to make better lives for themselves, but often they end up living in homes made of cheap wood, cardboard and tin. The shantytown I visited this past Saturday was in a neighborhood called Callo (k-eye yow). We arrived by taxi and spent a few hours there getting to know the neighborhood and playing with the children. The leaders who we had set up our visit with lead a Bible Study once a week and we had an opprotunity to sing for and with them as a part of their worship time. There were about 30 children at first, but the longer we were there, other children came too, so by the time we left there were about 50 children there. It was very sad to see so many kids who were so young, taking care of their siblings who weren´t much younger than they were. Most of them were dressed better than I expected because they knew outside people were coming. Dispite their clothes it was obvious to see that they wouldn´t wear those clothes normally. One mother in particular I saw had 3 kids, 2 hanging on her skirt and the other in her arms. She was still breast feeding the youngest who appeared to be at least 2 years old if not more. It is such a humbling experience to see people who live their entire lives in these places, who don´t have more than one meal a day and are just barely getting by. I felt so helpless, I just wanted to give all those kids a nice warm bath, clean clothes, good food and a future other than growing up to live in this sad, dangerous place. I think the saddest thing to see were children who had obviously been abused. One girl inparticular had a large bandage across her forehead and several brusies on her face. No one should live like that, no matter where they are.
They welcomed us very warmly and were excited to know our names and where we were from. Even more they loved the attention we gave them. It was so much fun playing even a simple game of catch becuase their smiles and giggles were so happy. When it was time to leave, they all waved goodbye until we were out of site. I am glad another group is going back next week, and I am excited to go to a different town to play with more children and to show them that I care. Right now, it seems that is all I can do.
On the lighter side of things I have made more observations about Peru now that I have had a little more time to process things. First of all, my milk comes from a can or a box, and we always add water. Essentially it is just evaportated milk, but it is sweeter than the milk from a jug like I am used to from home and I have become used to putting a teaspoon full of instant coffee in it to make it drinkable. :) Every morning I have fresh fruit juice, they tend to blend everything here, so instead of juice, it ends up being more of a mush that you drink. Depending on the fruit it is very tasty, but occasionally I´ll get a full glass of something that it is all I can do not to gag as I drink it down. My host mother is very concerned about my health, so she tries to make everything we eat healthy. For the most part this is a wonderful thing, because I get lots of fruit, but not many veggies, and tons and tons of potatoes, chicken and rice. Its amazing how many different dishes they can make with those three ingredients! The food here has been very good, and my family here has been trying very hard to make all kinds of special dishes for me so I can experience as much authentic Peruvian food as possible. So far, they have all tasted amazing...I sure hope I can come close to recreating them when I go home!
I have only felt sick a few times and of course have experienced the typical digestive changes that everyone goes through so I consider myself pretty lucky...at this point at least. There have been at least 5 or 6 people in the unit who have thrown up or have had to go home early or have seen a doctor due to sickness.
I feel like I have been here so much longer than 2 weeks, I feel like I know the city so much better than I ever thought I would and I can´t wait to see how much more I will have learned after several more weeks!

I am finally here!

2006-04-30T17:08:00.000-05:00

Hello all, I have made it safely here and doing my best to adjust to the culture, language and everything else that is new here. I have been here for 5 whole days and it has already been an incredible trip. The first night we arrived, we spent the night in a hostel near Bev and Dales house then had a full day of orientation the next. Meeting my host family was very nerve racking, but it went well. As a welcome gift, my mom gave me flowers and a Dora balloon (from the cartoon, Dora Dora the Explorer) it made me smile. My parents are Miguel y Katia. I also have 2 siblings. My brother is 17- Miguel, and my sister is 16-Arlet. Both kids speak a good amount of english, and my dad speaks some, but my mom does not speak more than a few words here and there. I have made it clear that I want to learn spanish, so english is only for the times I have absolutely no idea what they are saying.
I have my own room, bathroom and closet, which are all very nice- I think my family is one of the wealthier host families, judging by what my friends have been describing, so it will be more of a shock for me when I go out on service to Huaras in 6 weeks. They also have a car (blue honda civic for those of you who care) so I have not been able to ride public transportation as much as I would like to before I have to use it on my own to get to school on Tuesday. eek! Just today they also gave me the use of the family lap top to use in my room...I told them that it wasn{t necessary but they didn{t listen. Since they have wireless internet in there house, I can use the laptop anywhere-they made sure I understood that! But at this point I don{t want to use it for anything more than checking my email, and then only doing that once or twice a week.
I live about 45 minutes away from the seminario (the school were my language classes will be) and there are also 2 other girls who live in the same neighborhood that I do, (Anna Yoder and Amanda Esh) so hopefully we will be able to travel together.
This weekend is a long weekend, because Monday is a holiday. The first of May is a national holiday, so my family is going to a club, (from what I have gathered it is like a resort) with a few other families and we are going to spend the day swimming, playing games and hanging out. As it turns out, Annas family is really close with mine, so she will also be there. Yay! :)
Yesterday, a few of us Goshen students decided to get together for a few hours because we knew we wouldn{t see eachother until Tuesday when classes begin. So we spent lots of time figuring out where to meet and then deciding what we should do. Thanks to the expertise of our cordinator Celia, she told us we should go to the Indian Market where you can barter and buy lots of authentic Peruvian handi crafts. Explaining our plans to our parents was a little more difficult than I was prepared for, but it all worked out in the end. Four of us GC ers went on Sat. with a family friend of one of our host families to the market, and on the way, we stopped by the ocean (the beach is entirely made up of rocks, so I took a few to take back home with me since I like collecting stuff like that:) ). The market was so much fun, I had a great time bartering and was able to buy some pretty cool stuff. For lunch we went to a supermarcado and bought bread, cheese, fruit and a little dessert- all for less than 7 soles. Soles (pronounced: soul lays) are the currency used here in Peru, and it ends up being about 3.5 soles per american dollar. I am trying to get oriented to thinking in soles and sometimes find myself comparing a sol to an american dollar but I have to keep reminding myself that it doesn{t work that way. Other times I think that a price in soles is way too expensive, but then I also have to remind myself that that price is very good compared to anything I would find in the U.S. It was great to having a day hanging out with friends and getting to know Coco -the family friend who speaks good english and who was our guide. In the evening I was able to go to a youth worship night at my church which turns out to be Evangelical and the same church as 4 other goshen students! I didn{t understand much of the sermon, but I was able to understand the praise and worship songs we sang because they had the words projected on to the wall. :) I don{t think I have ever been so excited about singing praise songs!!!
I have been getting myself oriented with my neighborhood and the streets surrounding it so I feel very confident when I go anywhere which is a very good feeling. The other evening my mom and I went on a walk and she took me all over the place to help me understand what streets went where and what the names of all of them were. Saddly, my directions are very turned around here, and I have a hard time finding which direction I am going, but if I just pay attention to the street names I will be fine, but hopefully in time that will come.
So far Peru has been amazing, and I am loving the food, culture and people here. It is not easy dealing with the miscommunication and not understanding though. I haven{t even been here for a week and I feel like I have come so far from the first day here. This will truly be a learning exerience!

Preparing to Leave

2006-04-12T13:52:00.000-05:00

As of today, I have 13 days until I leave with my SST unit to Peru, South America. There is so much to do and think about until that day arrives. I have been making lists of things I need to pack and have been thinking about the trip almost every minute of my spare time. Knowing I will be saying goodbye, leaving everything I know that's familiar for three whole months is not always a welcome thought and can be very overwhelming. Although it is comforting to know that many people have gone through this experience before me and survived so I know I will too. My spanish ability is far from stellar but there again I am told that yes, it will be a struggle at first but that too will get better. On the other side of things, I am very excited to be able to experience a different culture, learn as much as I can from the people I meet and of course try all sorts of exciting foods. :)
One very unique experience the Goshen College SST unit to Peru will have is witnesssing the presidential elections going on right now. The elections were held on April 9th, but because there was no candidate that had a clear majority of votes, the final elections will be on May 7th. (To read more details of the candidates and of the elections go to the Peru Times link on the right side of this blog.) Living in Peru while those elections take place will be very interesting but I am disapointed that my communication skills will not be good enough to adequetly discuss the opinions and feelings of those around me during this intense change of government leadership. We have already been informed that as white students from the U.S. we are not allowed to attend any of the riots or activities relating to the elections for safety reasons. We have also been assured that we should be quite safe during our time there despite what will be going on all around us.
Even though I am aprehensive about leaving familiar surroundings for what seems to be a long time and being forced to speak a language I'm not very good at, I am excited to finally be able to have an SST experience of my own and to open my eyes to the greater world around me.