That's it. I'm conviced...

Everyone should learn to speak a second language.  Such an amazing challenge for the mind and soul.  I've been acquiring quite the backbone.  Not only does one have to memorize a bunch of new words, but the order in which the words go in just to construct a simple sentence is just, loco!  If you haven't tried, I highly recommend it. It'll change your life.
Being a mute can cause one to be freakishly reflective.  As I am constantly wracking my brain, trying to form sentences these days, I begin to wonder if the thing I was going to say is even worth communicating.  (And then of course there's the fact that the conversation has already taken three turns and is now in a completely different neighborhood from when I started to form this now useless contribution.)  It's also a bit difficult to listen and learn while thinking so hard.  Even in English, I have this great habit of only hearing about half of what is said and then remembering only about a third of that.  You know how mothers do when children say "mom! mom! mom! mom!"  They've subconsciously trained their ears to completely ignore it.  Well that's exactly what I do with incomprehensible jargon.  Really not an option when you're trying to learn an entire language in just three months.  It's painfully challenging to maintain attention to conversations that only kind of make sense, some of the time.  However, I do have to admit how flattering it is when the taxistas here tell me "Usted habla Español muy bien!" 
       Needless to say,  I have a whole new respect for the bilingual population.  We always gave my father (who didn't learn English until moving to the US from Lebanon at age 30 or so) a hard time and would have no patience for him when he didn't understand as I would mumble something rapidly, with my back to him, or better yet from another room.  Sorry dad.  And is it odd to hate your own accent?  Can't role an 'r' to save my life without feeling like a huge dork.  I have a darling nephew with the cutest speech impediment.  He too would often rather just not speak much of the time.  I feel you kiddo.

Goodbye Hello Goodbye Hello

My time here is flying by.  I've already said goodbye to dozens of missionaries who have finished their Spanish classes here and are now off working in far away places.  Here's a group shot of one of the many going away parties we've had.

It's truly amazing to be able to spark up an immediate friendship with people from completely different cultures and backgrounds simply based on our common ground that we love and honor the Lord Jesus.  I just fared well to a gal from Germany yesterday who I only knew for a week, but it honestly felt like we went back at least a few months.  It is a bit sad to see people go who I probably won't ever see again in this present life, but we do anticipate a great reunion in the life to come and therefore remain cheerful.  And while it's hard when they leave, there are always new people coming that I get the pleasure of getting to know which makes life here that much richer.  Soon, I'll get to meet a whole new crop of people in Trujillo, where the community will be a tad more stable, I think.  Check out Peru Mission's news letter if you like.  It includes a little tid bit about the clinic I will be working in.

Zapallo Madness

I think everyone who has ever been around me during the fall season knows about my obsession over anything pumpkin.  From pumpkin beer, to pumpkin soup, to candles and smoothies... yeah.  Well the closest thing we have here is the zapallo.  "It's not the same," I was told but that didn't stop me from trying.

¡Ole!

Being an ex Spanish colony means that Peru has many traditions that come from Spanish culture.  Bullfighting being one of them.

Our house mamá asked if we wanted to go after church on Sunday.

Rooftop Fun

Killing time on the roof before a night out.

The view

Friendly Food

Can't say what meal here is my fave, but I can tell you which has the most memorable presentation.  Just some rice, ground beef, hard boiled eggs, olives, tomatoes and parsley can become a fun activity for all (and a great icebreaker if you like me are challenged when it comes to interacting with children).  First, you fill a small bowl with beef sandwiched in between two layers of rice.  Pack it in, so that when you dump it on your plate, you now have a canvas to create a face on!  Can't wait to try this with my nephews.     

I knew this would happen eventually

Determined to make banana nut bread, another missionary and I skipped half a block over to the local tienda to buy some flour.  All of the merchandise lies behind a counter so you have to tell the attendant what you need.  Well, although we looked it up minutes before, I forgot already and asked the nice lady if they had any orina.  She gave me the look.  I knew immediately what I had said.  "I mean HARINA! HARINA!  Lo siento."  She just chuckled as she pulled out the different kinds of flour for us to chose from.  Both of these words are now ingrained in our memories for ever.

Not that hungry anymore

Have I mentioned how good the food is here?  My host family has been kind of impressed at how much I love it all, no matter how different.  I missed lunch at the casa today. Instead of eating together for dinner, most Peruanos have a late lunch as their main meal and then just snack for dinner.  Our house does this.  I was out at a birthday party and therefor missed it today.  Not long after getting back, my ever hungry belly growled so I peaked into the fridge to see if there were any leftovers to grub on.  I found the promising container with ?pollo perhaps? grabbed a fork and popped it open....(click read more)            

Oh to be a student again

I just finished my second week of Spanish school and I must say that learning another language is more challenging than I thought.  Good though.  I go to the institute every morning around 10:00 via bus.

"Mi casa es tu casa"

Sept 4, 2010 - It was a bit stressful going into the unknown.  I boarded a plane to Arequipa without a clue in the world as to who was picking me up or where I would be staying.  And it's not that I didn't ask.  The gal with Peru Mission in Trujillo (which is about a million hours away from Arequipa) who was setting everything up for me via email, just couldn't find out.  She seemed pretty confident that I would not find myself alone at the airport, without a phone, unable to understand anyone.  After the relief of finding all my checked bags in decent condition, I slowly waltzed out to see that there were indeed no signs with my name spelled incorrectly.  Great.  Perhaps if I just keep walking no one will notice that I am completely lost, while I figure out what the heck to do. 

Well hola

Sept 1, 2010 - After an overnight flight from LAX to Lima, I arrived on (what I was told) the coldest day of the year.  Anyone who knows me knows about my affinity for gloomy weather, so this was elating.  Groggy eyed, I passed through customs to find a sweet Peruvian man waiting with a sign he made saying 'YVETTE BREDOSSIAN'.  I met his son over the summer, Giancarlo who was the primary instigator of my coming to Peru.  We took a taxi (traffic in Peru is blog worthy but maybe another time) to the house of Gian's Aunt Patica and cousin Jenny where I spent three noches.  During this time I was treated like royalty.  We ate out, celebrated Gian's father's birthday and tramped all around town.