Day 62

I wanted to sleep in but woke up at 6. I went to class by 10 (it was about a 15-minute commute because of no traffic) to get my grade on the test and in the class. I got a 97 on the test, but an 87 in the class, which was again the highest grade in the class, and again the perfectionist in me says, "That's a B." Then I went to coffee at Starbucks with Ludvig (Swedish guy) and Vanessa (Irish girl), other students of Spanish. We had a good chat while I drank much-needed caffeine, and then I invited Vanessa to join Eden and I as we explored Huaca Pucllana, some pre-Inca ruins in the middle of Miraflores. So we picked Eden up from school (she had a half-day) and started walking on Angamos to some ruins that she "supposedly" bikes past everyday, but according to the hand-drawn, detailed map Meredith had given me, we were going the wrong direction on Angamos. So I asked a guy in a business suit which way on Angamos to go -- he said it was far (and by far he meant 10 blocks) and offered to drive us there. We all looked at each other like, "Is this safe?" but I figured there were three of us, so we could take him. If it were two, I wouldn't have gotten in. Actually, I probably wouldn't have asked a man but would have waited to find a petite woman to ask for directions. He was nice -- worked for an insurance broker, a British company -- and dropped us off right at the entrance. It was 7 soles and an English tour began 15 minutes after we got there. Perfect timing -- we would have missed it if we had walked. We took the tour (photo taken mid-tour), and it was very interesting, though our guide's English pronunciation was pretty off -- "earthquake" became "earkquathe," "skeleton" was "skeletumm," and "construction" was "constraption." If English weren't our first language, we wouldn't have understood her. At Huaca Pucllana, I saw my first Peruvian hairless dogs. I'm not going to lie -- pretty gross. Their skin looks like elephant skin. After the tour, we had a menú for lunch (cheap lunch that comes with two plates and a drink for usually less than 10 soles). Then we took the bus home, I got to hear my friend's London proposal story (yay!), and then I met up with Eden at the bus stop at like 7:15, which turned into 7:35 because Eden's turning Peruvian. We went to meet Claudia and Gabriel for ice cream in Jockey Plaza. The best moment of the day was when Eden accidentally knocked her two giant scoops of ice cream off of her cone onto the floor. It was like a cartoon or a movie. I would have taken a picture if she hadn't said "I don't even care!" and picked it up off the floor right away with her hands. I'm not sure what her eating plan was with two scoops of ice cream in her hands. The lady behind the counter ended up making her a new one and then put it upside down in a cup for her so it wouldn't happen again. We hung out for about 2 hours maybe before we came home. I went to bed exhausted.

Day 61

I woke up to a very foggy, smelly Lima. It smelled like dead fish. I thought it was something in the kitchen, but then I was walking to the bus stop and thought maybe I smelled like dead fish because the smell was following. Then I got to San Isidro, where it still smelled like fish, and I knew that the smell was coming from the ocean, still 15 blocks away. I've heard three theories on this: (1.) it's just the smell of the ocean being wafted up to Lima, (2.) someone dumped a lot of dead fish into the ocean all at once, or (3.) there are powerful waves sometimes that just kill a lot of fish at once. Don't know who to believe. I had my final exam for my Spanish class, and then bought some bananas, Gatorade and crackers for my roommate Elsa on the way home -- she had been throwing up violently for about three hours in the middle of the night, apparently. Poor thing. Meredith suspects food poisoning, although we have no idea the source. I hung out at home, helped Meredith make lunch and then we ate together. Since it was the two of us, we got to speak in English, which was nice. Later, I went with her to run an errand or two, and we ended up getting some ice cream and sitting on the steps outside the residencial eating it. Good quality time. Then Dave canceled class because he's still sick, so I hung out with Eden. We had considered going to the Andrea Bocelli concert, but it was sold out, so we went to some art galleries, the Inca market, and dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant instead. The market was fun -- I'm starting to load up on souvenirs. We went to two different art galleries (the first is pictured above). It was really fun, especially to go with an art teacher. We had dinner at a place called Cafe Beirut, which was quite tasty. We got a little bit molested on Pizza Street, where all the discotecas are (Eden's still a little traumatized...) And we ended the night with some carrot cake, coffee and playing Mancala at a little coffee shop in Miraflores. It was a really awesome little place, but neither of us could remember the rules to Mancala, so Eden won. It was almost like Calvin ball with her just making up rules all over the place... (just kidding).

Day 60

I got up early to try to finish my homework (because I was uninspired at midnight), and I did some research online. Our final project was to speak in front of the class for two to three minutes, and I spoke about San Antonio -- how it was founded (did you know that it was colonists from the Canary Islands?), the climate, the Battle of the Alamo and of San Jacinto, Fiesta, and Tex-Mex food. Due to my procrastination, I left the house later than I intended and then traffic was worse than usual, so I was a few minutes late to class (but I did get to work on it on the bus because I got a seat). It was really interesting -- I think I want to go to China in the winter because they have all these buildings made out of ice and then lit up with super colorful lights. I think it looked a lot like Rainbow Road, the last level in the Star Cup in MarioKart -- bien chevere (very cool). I came home after and had lunch with the roommates. I didn't do much but lounge around the apartment all day, which I think was what I needed after such a long weekend. Sonia was here to clean the apartment, and I watched the third season of "The Office" for a while, which was fun. I needed to go to the grocery store, but I didn't really want to move. I was actually craving popcorn, but I didn't know how to make it without a microwave or JiffyPop on the stove. And then -- awesome -- Raquel comes home and makes popcorn (canchita) in a pot and offers me some. I have wonderful roommates! Then I went to bed early.

Day 59

I got up at 8:30 on Sunday morning, with plenty of time, I thought, to get ready for church, which starts at 10:30, but somehow the morning got away from me. I was drinking coffee, reading, emailing, writing a poem about buses, etc., and I didn't get into the shower till 10:15 and didn't leave for church till 10:45. It would have been fine -- I was only a little late in Peruvian time, except Pastor Ramiro mentioned in the sermon about people being late to church. Oops. I had to rush out of church to walk to Metro (the grocery store) so my roommates could pick me up in a taxi on the way to Camos, a neighborhood about 45 minutes away where Racquel's family lives. It was her niece's 13th birthday, so we were all invited to celebrate. It was cool to see a normal Peruvian family -- kids, neighbors, cousins, aunts running all around to cook a meal. It was fun and we had anticuchos again, although this time they were a little more chewy -- I could see the heart muscle and I'm pretty sure a ventricle on another, so it was a little more difficult to swallow. We had a cake (tres leches with lukuma) and then rushed out of there back to our place so Meredith and Elsa could get ready for the Culto Unido. On the way from the taxi to the apartment, I ran into a group of people from church -- Claudia, Christian, Josue, Andres and Nadia -- who were on their way to eat. Although I was stuffed, I went and sat with them at Corrallito and then we rushed over to the culto at Buen Pastor. It was a historic event -- in 30 years of the ADIEL in Lima, this is the first time they've sent out Peruvian missionaries. It was a kind of commissioning service for Elsa and Julio (who are going with Meredith to Tarma to plant a church) and Felix and his family (who are going to Chincha to help rebuild homes and host short-term teams from the U.S.) It was so cool because it felt like the last scene of a play -- you know, where everyone from the whole play comes back together for one last scene with song or dance (I guess not so much in tragedies...). Maybe that's more accurate of a Disney cartoon or something (I'm picturing like "The Little Mermaid" or "Beauty and the Beast"). It was really neat because I saw everyone I had met in the ADIEL since I've been here -- not only people from Buen Pastor, but all the other missionary families, all the pastors from all the churches, the people that I help teach English to at El Alfarero, the jovenes from Los Pillares in Callao that I had gone to the youth conference with, etc. And we were also able to see some of the worship bands from the other churches and all of the pastors played some role in the service. I really enjoyed it and was very encouraged by it. I went home exhausted, though, still needing to finish my homework and call Steve and my family. I didn't go bed till after midnight.

Day 58

This day felt the most like "work" since I've been here (I don't think that missionary life feels very work-like). I worked for probably 4 or 5 hours on a PowerPoint presentation about Chincha for the Culto Unido -- a church service with all 6 of the Lima ADIEL churches. Then we met Felix, a missionary who is going to move his family to Chincha to help rebuild homes destroyed by the earthquake, because the PowerPoint was supposed to inspire people to give money to him. We traveled about 45 minutes to Surco in combi for about a 15 minute meeting. Then we had one of the pastors go over the presentations with us to correct grammar. I left there at like 6:00 to get to Buen Pastor by 6:30 for the universitarios group, but I didn't end up getting there till 7:15 because the combi broke down, there was traffic, and then it was a 10 minute walk from the bus stop. But they had only started 5 minutes before I got there. Awesome. Ramiro talked till about 9, and then most of the group went to Miraflores for a live art exhibit thing that Eden had read about online (our bus broke down on the way -- twice in one day?!). However, when we arrived, there was no such thing. Apparently that night was a practice night for the bands indoors somewhere in Miraflores, and the real thing isn't till August. (The photo is a building next to Parque Kennedy -- so pretty at night.) Eden felt bad, but Peruvians really don't care -- they don't see it as a waste of time. We ended up eating at a restaurant at like midnight and then went home. When I got home, I saw that I had received an email from one of my very best friends (Emily Harms) who just got engaged while she was in London traveling with a friend -- total surprise. I'm excited to hear the whole story -- I'm sure it's impressive.

Day 57

Sorry I'm lame and didn't take a picture this day. But this is a picture from a Combi ride in Barranca. (Jay -- you would never be able to take public transportation here. It's built for tiny Peruvian people.) This is my only picture on a bus/combi because I'm afraid of being robbed if I show everyone I'm carrying a camera. On the way home from class, I was actually talking with my Canadian friend about how I needed to write something on the public transportation, so here's a little free verse about my daily bus ride.

Cooster ride…
Blisters on my palms and fingers from holding on to the metal bars with the driver’s fidgety gear shifting.
Butt cheek to butt cheek is the one personal contact I will never be comfortable with.
Every Cooster has its own decorations.
Sometimes the Virgin Mary or Saints, sometimes Looney Tunes stickers.
My favorite – two bobble-head dogs.
A taste of home when listening to music I recognize – Beach Boys, Lenny Kravitz, Queen
Want to cry when I get spit in the face
It’s stuffy in summer, and even worse since I’m at armpit level
“No eye contact, no eye contact.”
I only know the crucial words – where I’m going and “baja” when I get there.
I almost fell out of the bus -- the door wouldn’t close.
Seats are duct-taped and sink when you sit.
I’ve seen the engine through a hole in the floor.
My backpack on my stomach so I don’t get robbed, but I’ve almost hit people in the face with it.
I realize how torpe I really am. I also know the word “perdon.”
I get the usual gringa stares, so I keep my sunglasses on.
No such thing as bus etiquette.
Every day is an adventure in Peru.


I actually heard both Lenny Kravitz and Queen today. Such a good music day on the bus (but please don't think I'm a Lenny Kravitz fan). I went home, had an unsuccessful nap attempt, and then met Meredith for a pedicure in Miraflores. She was going to a wedding and she got a mani/pedi, but I just went for the pedicure. I felt bad though because between my lost toenail, my blister, and my toenail fungus, my feet are a mess. I gave her a good tip. Meredith and I actually did do work, though -- we've been going over a book called "Cross-Cultural Servanthood" by Duane Elmer, and it's awesome because I am able to see some of the things he's talking about just from my experiences here. And it's also cool to hear how Meredith has dealt with some cross-cultural experiences in her almost 10 years here. Then I met Nadia, Claudia and Cynthia at Eden's house for "comida Arabe" (homemade hummus, pita bread, etc.) Nadia flat out said it was weird (but good) -- I think the most adventurous they get in their food is Chifa, which isn't even totally Chinese food. And then we talked for about 3 hours (mostly Spanish) -- it was so fun and encouraging because I felt I could understand almost everything, even if I couldn't participate much in the discussion.

Day 56

My commute to class took 45 minutes today when it usually takes 25, so I was a little bit late. Class went well, though, and I went home afterward. I read and went to lunch by myself at YogoYogo, a restaurant in the Residencial owned by this cute Korean couple, who -- as Meredith says -- prove that you can live in Peru for years without ever becoming fluent in Spanish. I met Kay Block at the grocery store and got a ride with her back to her house. Dave and I drove to San Martin in surprisingly little traffic (Lima is unpredictable in so many ways...) and were able to squeeze in some ping-pong with Joel (the pastor's son at El Alfarero) before our class. This is a photo from our beginning English class -- Ines saw me taking the picture and just couldn't be candid for me. I did some interviewing (in Spanish) tonight about why the students are here and how they learned about the class. I'm writing an article for the EFCA about the English classes and how they are an effective outreach tool. The classes have brought in a lot of people from the community who don't necessarily attend El Alfarero as a church. Some students, such as Ines, attend Catholic churches, and the English class is serving as a way to connect those people to an Evangelical Christian church -- sometimes a difficult bridge to build in Peruvian culture.

Day 55

It was a much more productive day than earlier in the week. I went to class and came straight home afterward. I took a nap, read, and snacked a bit before Meredith came to pick me up in the afternoon. We went to a post office in Jesus Maria to pick up a package that Steve sent me. We had expected to have to wait about an hour and then wait to have them open the package in front of us and then I would have to pay taxes on it. But when we got there, there was zero line, and it only took about 5 minutes for them to retrieve my package, have me sign something -- and they didn't even open it up or try to charge me taxes! So exciting. In the package was some brown sugar cinnamon Pop Tarts (my favorite), some cookies, some Sunday comics, and a sweet note. And it only took about a month between the time he sent it and the time that I picked it up! Yikes. Since we finished so quickly, we walked to the Jesus Maria market nearby to look for a cell phone battery, and at about the fifth stall we went to, they actually had one (and, more importantly, it works). Meredith got some makeup she had been looking for, I got some medicine for my toenail fungus (yes, yes. Gross. I don't recommend getting pedicures in Third World nations). And we were back home in less than an hour. Then I met Kali and Eden to go to dinner at San Antonio (Kali is leaving for two weeks for a vacation in Spain), and the photo is our lovely array of beverages. I went with the jugo frozen de fresa (frozen strawberry juice). It was such an encouraging discussion and time of fellowship, and afterward Eden and I went to the prayer night at Buen Pastor. It was about two hours of praise and prayer, and Eden and I were proud to be the sole representatives of the gringas and the jovenes. I think Pastor Ramiro really appreciated us being there.

Day 54

OK, McDonald's is a pretty classy place in Lima, especially in McCafe (do we have those in the states?). Once again, it served as a comfort to me after an unfruitful battery search. My morning commute to school was especially crowded, and I don't know why. And the Cooster (medium-sized bus) I was on seemed to not have as many bars to hang on to, so I pretty much fell on two people on the bus ride. And someone stepped on my toe and popped the blister that I had gotten from playing soccer in the sand on Sunday (sorry if that grosses you out). Then I got to school and discovered that the coffee machine (it's like a coffee dispenser thing -- really cool) was broken, so I had to stick to the sucky instant coffee from the window in the cafeteria. After class, I tried to make my way to a larger cell phone store on Javier Prado (opposite direction from our apartment), where Meredith assured me there would be cell phone batteries, but the cell phone model was too old. So I went back to Plaza San Miguel to the same place, and they said that they didn't have them and that I'd have to come back in the afternoon because apparently someone comes by at 4 p.m. that has a lot of cell phone batteries. Again, frustrated, I went to McCafe to cheer me up. I went home, had lunch with the roommates (said my first prayer in Spanish, which only lasted about 30 seconds, but still...), and was quite inspired to look into job possibilities for when I get back to San Diego and work on my resume. Then I went to English class with Dave Block, and it went really well. I'm really enjoying everyone there -- they all just have such good attitudes about learning English. On the way home, while driving through Callao, we got pulled over for a routine document check. Unfortunately, Dave forgot his driver's license at home, so we had to pull over and he had to go to the cop's car. Usually, cops ask for bribes, or they have the ability to confiscate your car and give you a ticket if you don't have your license. The cop ended up being really chatty actually -- Dave told him about the English class, and also understood that he broke the law and that he was willing to go to the police station and pay a ticket and everything. Amazingly, the guy didn't do anything -- not even a ticket. It was so awesome! I told Dave about the owl incident -- it being so close to being inside the house -- and he suggested purchasing an air gun from the market for 18 soles. He thought that would be more effective than Meredith and Racquel's intimidation techniques of sticking a stuffed animal dog out the window and yapping at it, or throwing tennis balls at it (and inadvertently hitting cars in the parking lot and setting off the alarm).

Day 53

Class is starting to get much more entertaining. It's just such a mix of people, and there's this one girl from China who is so sweet and so enthusiastic, but is horrible at Spanish. Seriously. And she tries so hard, and while she's talking, I look over at the Brazilian girl, who speaks pretty good Spanish already because it's so similar to Portuguese, and the Croatian guy, who speaks like three languages already, and they both have their faces scrunched up in confusion and annoyance. It's just such a crazy dynamic with all the different cultures. Anyway, after class, I needed to go Plaza San Miguel, a mall about 10 minutes past my house when coming from school. I need to buy a new cell phone battery (Elsa lost her cell phone, and since I was using her old one, I had to give it up and now am on the hunt for a new battery for another old phone). Meredith thought it would be no problem, but when I got to the phone store, they sent me off to another place, and the same thing happened there -- I ended up going to 5 different places. I think in Peruvian culture it's considered rude to just say "I don't know" -- everyone has a suggestion for another place to go. At the last place, the lady said, "Oh yeah we have those, but not right now. Come back this afternoon." Frustrated, I walked to McDonald's and got myself a frappe and went home. I helped make lunch because we always make lunch on Mondays when Sonia (the empleada who borrowed my brush and lied about it and then -- passive aggressively -- didn't clean my room the next week) is cleaning. I didn't have much to do the rest of the day, so I caught up on some emails, read a book, and cleaned up my room. At about 7 p.m. or so, just after the sun had set, Sonia calls down to me from upstairs (I was the only one home), and she told me to come quickly and bring my camera. There was one of those darn owls perched on Meredith's window. It was so close -- less than 10 feet from us. The room is dark, and the owl is just sitting there screeching away, so Sonia and I crawl on the ground trying to get close enough to get a picture of the whole owl. I stretch my arm out as far as possible and get this picture. After the flash, the owl bends over and looks right at us with its giant beedy eyes, and I start squeeling (apparently, Sonia has very little fear of animals -- she's from the sierra, or the mountains). And then it flies off. Sonia thought it was so cool, and I was just scared. I mean, the thing is a predator (of mice and rats, people keep reminding me, but still...) It was nice to have a little bonding moment with Sonia, though. Maybe she'll take out my trash next week.

Day 52

I was able to enjoy my last day in Puerto Fiel much more than the other days. We were once again awoken by screaming little ones in the kitchen and had breakfast together. Then we had a mini culto (church service) outside in the cloudy weather, when we took this picture. Gabriel is a little anti-self portraits (hence the no smile), but Laura is all about them. Gabriel is the son of Ramiro, the pastor of Buen Pastor, and Laura is an MK, originally from Wisconsin. After the service, though, was the highlight of my weekend.

The Game: I had mentioned to Gabriel that I play soccer, but he had yet to see me in shorts or tennis shoes or a T-shirt. He actually mentioned to me that I looked weird wearing said attire. So, a group of us went out to a small field (a little larger than an indoor field probably), but it was entirely sand. There were about 15 of us, I think, and we divided into jovenes (young adults) and adultos/viejos (the old guys -- pastors and missionaries). Even though we were young and in better shape, we expected to lose to the adultos. They may be a little overweight and "past their prime" (one of the pastors playing is 67 years old), but they have incredible foot work still, and it's obvious that they've played their share of futbol. We played two twenty minute halves, and it was a pretty high scoring game. By half time, it was 4-3, viejos, I think, and then with two minutes left in the second half it was 5-4 jovenes until someone had a hand ball in the "box" (meaning pretty close to the goal because there was no box). So the old guys got a penalty kick and made it, of course. So 5-5 to end the game. Then there was a whole discussion about going to a shootout or golden goal (gol gana). We decided on golden goal, and then ended up playing about 10 or 15 minutes with several shots on goal. The goalie for the adultos team, though, was able to block them because he's about 6'5". At one point, the jovenes team gets a corner, so someone kicks it in and it goes to one guy on our team who takes a shot -- deflected. Goes to Gabriel -- deflected into the air. Then it comes toward me in the air (and I'm actually a little scared of headers ever since my friend broke her nose by heading the ball), but I headed it toward the goal anyway. It goes over the outstretched arms of the other team's goalie and into the goal. It was seriously like a movie. I could never ever re-enact it. For the rest of the day, everyone congratulated me, told me I should coach the Peruvian women's soccer team, and even called my 6-year-old New Balance tennis shoes "zapatos gloriosos." I'm afraid they'll have really high expectations if I ever play soccer again, so I may end my Peruvian soccer career after only one game.

I had dirt everywhere in my body, so after lunch, I took a long, lukewarm shower and then packed up my stuff. Meredith and I rode with the Blocks who were returning to Lima in their own car, probably about 2 hours before everyone else. I relaxed when I got home, unpacked, and went grocery shopping with Meredith. I think the retreat was a really awesome bonding experience for me with all the families of the pastors and missionaries.

Day 51

Yeah, it looks pretty dramatic, huh? The coast is actually really pretty, but a very different kind of pretty from any beach I've ever seen in the U.S. Meredith, Maria and I shared a room at the beach house, and while the room was very convenient --right off the main kitchen -- it was also the main congregating area for all of the early-risers in the group, especially parents of small children. I woke up at like 6:30 with all the talking, and read until breakfast at 8:30. Unfortunately, we spent a lot of the weekend drinking instant coffee... We had a devotional time and some singing before an hour or two of free time. I watched some people play tennis before lunch, and then we had a block of about 5 hours of free time. Sadly, I was feeling pretty awful, so I ended up lying in bed for about 3 of those hours. Afterward, Maria, Julia, Laura (all missionary kids) and I walked to "the punta" (in the picture). Apparently, you can frequently see dolphins and sea otters from the lookout, but all we saw were some large crabs on the rocks. We had dinner (a barbecue), and I went for a walk with two pastor kids down to the water. Then we had some more alabanza and sharing of testimonies. I went to bed at 10:30, probably mostly exhausted from trying to speak/understand Spanish all day.

Day 50

After Spanish class, I went home and helped Meredith make lunch (tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches -- delish) and then packed for our trip to Puerto Fiel, a beach about 2 hours south of Lima. We went to Puerto Fiel for an ADIEL (EFCA church in Peru) retreat with all the missionaries, pastors and their families. We rented a large beach house (pictured above) to sleep about 40 people. We were supposed to meet at Buen Pastor at 4 to drive in our rented Cooster (medium-sized bus), but we ended up not leaving there till 5:15, of course. I read, slept and spoke in Spanish on the drive -- pretty fun. We got to Puerto Fiel at maybe 7:30 or 8, unpacked the bus, and then had sandwiches for dinner. We had a time of alabanza (with Maria Panaggio on guitar) and then went to bed around midnight... much later than I'm used to.

Day 49

After class this morning, I went home and relaxed for a while, read a book, watched "The Office" on DVD before going to Plaza San Miguel with Meredith for lunch. We went to Pizza Hut, which is quite a classy joint outside of the states -- white porcelain dishes, fancy desserts, good service. It was so nice that I felt compelled to eat my personal pepperoni pizza with a fork and knife. I went home for a bit before walking to the Blocks' house to head to English class, but I found out when I got there that Dave was sick, so the class was canceled. I went to Eden's house and had a fun night with her. We walked to an Italian restaurant and split some fettucine and lasagna, and then went to the Magdalena Market. We bought some fruit (mangoes and pomegranates, called granadas) -- the place in the picture was where we bought the mangoes -- and had a leisurely walk home. We watched some episodes of "Friends" while eating pomegranates and some alfajores (cookies with manjar blanco in the middle). Such a nice, relaxing night. While I love helping teach the class, it was kind of nice surprise to get to hang out with Eden.

Day 48

(Happy Birthday, Mom!) These are our beloved barn owls that screech really loudly from our roof all night. We're seriously considering purchasing something, such as a fake owl, to scare them off. The day went well -- class, and then went to the grocery store Santa Isabel to mail some postcards -- $2 each! I ran into Nadia, which was really fun because I hadn't seen her in several days -- and I won't see her for several more because I'm going to a retreat this weekend. Meredith and Elsa got home from Tarma, and before Bible study, Meredith and I ran an errand in Plaza San Miguel. While Meredith was getting something photocopied, I got us two mint chocolate frappes from McCafe in McDonald's (don't judge - they're delicious). Then we went to the women's Bible study with all the English-speaking teachers/missionaries. After some Skype phone calls and a little reading, I went to bed, exhausted again. I'm thinking that the exhaustion is still stemming from the language barrier and how I'm always working really hard to listen to things in Spanish and translate them in my head. Meredith she had that problem for the first few months she was here, and she ended up falling asleep at her desk at work every afternoon.

Day 47

Finally a day of rest! I went to class (and was extremely happy to discover that the cappuccino out of the machine was way better than the crappy instant coffee they served at the cafeteria). I took the bus home and then took a nap, spent some time reading, ate some leftovers for lunch. Since leaving for Barranca, I had gotten basically no time to myself, and the introvert in me really needed a break. I met Dave Block to take the bus to class, but on my way I took this picture. It's very common in Peru for women to feed/breastfeed their children while walking or riding the bus. All the missionaries here don't even notice anymore, but it's still very weird to me, especially when it's the woman sitting next to me on the combi. When we got to San Martin, we were excited to see that we had 11 people in our basic English class (only 3 in advanced). The class went smoothly, and once again I was able to help more with the teaching. I went with Dave back to his house so that I could finish printing/scanning my tax documents, and then walked home.

Day 46

22nd birthday. It wasn't till about 20 minutes after I woke up that I remembered it was my birthday. Meredith and Elsa left at 7 a.m. for a three-day trip to Tarma in the mountains, but Meredith left me some jewelry as a birthday gift - so sweet. It was kind of a weird day. I went to class after an especially crowded bus ride, and then I walked over to the Panaggio home, only about 6 or 7 blocks from school. Maria Panaggio, Claudia, Gabriel and I went to the beach in Miraflores for about an hour and a half (I thought the water was too cold to swim in, so I just read my book). We had some lunch at Maria's house and hung out for a bit before I took a combi home. I had time to call my family, Steve and Andrew (to wish him a happy birthday -- only the second year that we haven't been together for our birthday) and we had a good chat. I also got some mail -- my first since I've been here! Then I walked over to Eden's house, and we walked to San Antonio to meet Kyle and Kali for dinner (that's the photo). I had some tasty jugo surtido, a salad and a capuccino, and I thought it fitting to go to a restaurant called San Antonio since I'm so far from home. Afterward Eden and I walked to a bus stop to catch a bus to Jockey Plaza, a mall about 45 minutes away but close to Claudia's school, where she was in class till 10 p.m. There was some miscommunication about which Burger King to meet at, but we ended up just hanging out in the food court for about an hour just chatting -- Eden, Gabriel, Claudia and I. It was a very different birthday. I was kind of on the verge of tears all day -- partly because I'm sad that I'm not around anyone I've known longer than 6 weeks, but I was also very blessed by all these people here who tried to make my birthday as special as possible -- by text messages, phone calls, birthday cards, little gifts -- knowing that it's hard to spend a birthday so far away from everything familiar.

Day 45

Easter Sunday -- Despite going to bed at 3 a.m., I woke up at 8:30. Somehow I distracted myself enough to be late to church, which was at 10:30. The service was good - pretty Easter focused - and then I hung out for about an hour after church. I went to lunch with Meredith and the Bruggers family at a place in San Miguel called Mi Propiedad Privada, a cevicheria and seafood restaurant overlooking the ocean. It was pretty fancy and modern, with beautifully plated food. The plate closest to me is "Festival de Causa" with four different types of causa (one of my favorite foods here). The one farthest from me is ceviche with chiclo (Peruvian corn - kind of giant) and sweet potatoes. Everything was incredibly delicious, and then I was thoroughly given the birthday treatment when the waiter came with some flan with a candle in it and "Happy Birthday" and "Feliz Cumpleaños" came on the sound system at the restaurant. We got home, and I had a chance to call my family, Steve and Sarah for Easter before Meredith, Racquel and I went to dessert. We went to 4D, a fancier ice cream place. I had some incredibly delicious ice cream and my first pisco sour -- the national alcoholic drink of Peru (although Chile claims pisco was their idea). It's made out of pisco (grape brandy, I think), a lot of limes, some sugar and then some whipped egg whites on top to make a foam. Sounds kind of gross, but you don't really taste the egg whites.

Day 44

We packed a lot in to our last day in Barranca. We planned to wake up early and get to the beach, but we didn't get to breakfast till about 10:30 (had some fresh piña juice) and then headed down to the beach. The sun was much stronger, so we only lasted about an hour and a half before we were too hot to lie there anymore. We went to a restaurant called La Sombrilla, literally across the street from the ocean, and had awesome lenguado ceviche (flounder) and tacu-tacu (kind of looks like a giant hot pocket) stuffed with rice, beans, and mixed seafood. Extremely tasty. We caught a taxi back to our hotel, showered, and packed up. We waited along the road to catch taxi to take us south -- one guy was on his way to Huacho, about 30 minutes south, so four of us hopped into the back seat of his little car (a tight fit). We were dropped off at the bus station and caught a bus to Lima, and had some beautiful views of the coast on the way back. I got home at about 7:15 and headed straight to Buen Pastor for the universitarios group, and after the lesson (and after waiting a really long time for someone's sister to pick her up) we piled in two taxis to Miraflores to go to a Cuban salsa club on Pizza Street. It was kind of as a celebration of my birthday and Josue's birthday, which was Friday. The picture is of the live band who were on the second floor overlooking the dance floor. There were 9 of us there -- 3 girls, 6 boys, so in the three hours we were there, I ended up dancing with 5 of the guys. My favorite part was that on the stage all night with the band was this little abuelita who was all dressed up in white and looked about 85. She just bopped along to the music (not necessarily very salsa-like). I didn't look like a total idiot at least -- I'd kind of learned to dance when I was in Chile during high school. Some of the guys in our group were really good, but there were people at the club that were amaaaazing... they could seriously be on "So You Think You Can Dance." We were there till about 2 a.m., and as I was walking into my apartment, I discovered the source behind horrible screeching that we hear every night on the roof of our building. There was a theory of bats, but I discovered that it's actually barn owls. Two of them were staring at me from a bar sticking out of the building -- they're very creepy with that screeching noise and those giant eyes.

Day 43

This is pretty much what the beach looked like on Friday, although you can't see that there was sand to lay out on. This kid is fishing with only a piece of string wound around a piece of cardboard. We got up pretty early, got some coffee, and then went to the beach. We got one good hour of sun and about 3 hours of fog/cloudiness. We took a nice walk along the beach, though, and saw some crabs and a cave. We ended up giving up on the beach, but as soon as we packed up our umbrella the sun came back out. Of course. We left anyway, showered at the hotel and then went into town. We went to a chicken place on the Plaza de Armas in Barranca. It's a little controversial to eat chicken or beef during Semana Santa, though, because Catholics believe that it signifies Christ's body. So fish prices skyrocket during Semana Santa, and we got some weird looks through the window as we ate our meat. Then we took a mototaxi around the beach -- Conce had to sit in Meredith's lap because a mototaxi really only fits two, it's tight with three, but there were four of us. Then we went to a dessert place called El Postre. Incredibly good. Meredith had tres leches, Elsa had lemon pie, Conce had something similar to rice pudding, except made with this rich syrup, and I had something similar to carrot cake without the carrots. It was all sooooooo good. Then we went back to the hotel and enjoyed the fact that there was cable. We watched the end of "Slumdog Millionaire" (Peru is shameless in its pirated films) and then "Talladega Nights," which was in English with subtitles. The two Peruvians didn't really understand the humor, but Meredith and I were laughing really hard.

Day 42

This is my attempt at cutting a duck neck. The duck here is hard enough to cut, but then they have to give me a neck to try to cut -- we had to ask for a cuchillo de carne (and I still couldn't cut it). And that yellow stuff in the cup is flan... an interesting serving style, but quite tasty. I got up at like 6 a.m., but I went without coffee because I was told there was no bathroom on the three-hour bus ride. We had to wait at the bus station about an hour before getting on our bus, which left about 20 minutes behind schedule. As soon as I got on the bus, I fell asleep, and I would just wake up when the not-so-pleasant smells of Peru would drift through the window. They showed some cheesy French action film that was dubbed in Spanish, so I wasn't very interested. We got to our Hostal, Las Palmeras, which is actually in Puerto Supe (the town next to Barranca). We checked in, put our stuff in our rooms ($10 a night!) and went to lunch at Restaurant Viajero a 1/2 mile down the road (owned by the same family). The family actually lost their daughter, their niece and the niece's friend two Christmases ago when they were hit by a drunk taxi driver. Only their son, who was sitting in the front seat, survived. Meredith was friends with the niece and her friend because they went to Buen Pastor, so that was how we knew where to stay -- the owner recognized Meredith. Anyway, I tried the duck and had some flan, and then we all went to the beach for about two hours. But it was so cold that we put all our clothes back on over our bathing suits after the first hour. We went back to the hotel, showered, and then played some Spanish Pictionary. I only got one word -- mariposa. Oh well. Then we went to bed early (like 9:30), and we all slept really deeply.

Day 41

This is the bag (which doubled as a beach bag this weekend) that I purchased for 10 bucks at a market in La Victoria. I couldn't take my camera there because it's pretty sketchy, but that's where the missionary kids here all go to find their banquet dresses -- there is quite the selection. Plus, you can get the dress for as cheap as $15. It was yet another fun cultural experience. After class (my last class of the week!) I walked to the Panaggios' house, where Meredith was, and we had lunch with them. So delicious. It's nice that all these people want to feed me healthy, tasty meals. I went to the market for a few hours with Kay and Maria Panaggio, Kay and Julia Block, and another friend of theirs, and there was a lot of trying on dresses as well as making fun (in English) of ridiculous dresses. I didn't get home till 6, and I was planning to go to the prayer night at Buen Pastor, but I was exhausted, needed to pack, and it was my one chance to talk to Steve after he got back from a two-week trip to Europe and before I left for Barranca. Then I tried to start packing, but (of course) I waited till the next morning to really pack.

Day 40

This is the street in San Martín de Porres where El Alfarero (the church where I help teach English) is located. San Martín was one of the first "land invasions" (squatter camps) in Lima -- it began in the 1940s. I like that the houses are so colorful. Today was fun -- class, lunch with Elsa and Meredith, and then Meredith and I went for a run. We ran/walked on Salaverry for about an hour out to the ocean. There's an awesome view of the ocean from the cliffs at the end of the road. The weather was so beautiful today, and not too hot. We remarked that the ocean looked quite clean and had no odor from that distance. I got home in time to change and go to English class in San Martín. We took the bus there and back, but on the way back the radiator overheated in our bus, so we got a full refund, even though it had already taken us a lot of the way. We took a combi from there, and we ended up saving about 15 cents between the two of us. Awesome.

Day 39

Meredith got back from her 12-day trip to Venezuela, and half of the things in her suitcase (which cover the table in this picture) were purchased or received as gifts in Venezuela. This includes such things as a flashlight, a pencil sharpener, coffee, keychains, chocolate and earrings. My morning started off well, with almost no traffic on the bus to class. I had lunch at home with Sonia and Elsa, and took a nap, chatted with visitors, read a book, etc. This day marks the second half of my trip to Peru -- I can't believe it went by so quickly. The rest of my time here is broken up by some traveling around Peru, such as to the beach at the end of this week and to the mountains in the beginning of May. The theme of today was patience, though, as I'm learning how the Peruvians place a major emphasis on relationship over punctuality. Elsa is the champion of chatting and chatting and chatting with people, and she also seems to have good intentions in being punctual, but never really follows through. I was frustrated with the Internet today (I had to reset it twice for no reason -- I was getting very impatient), and then we were supposed to leave for the airport at 8 p.m. At 8:07 I closed down my laptop and gathered my things and walked toward the door when I heard Elsa turn on the shower. We didn't leave till 8:30, and then we walked to the wrong bus stop, and she didn't think about it till after we got there -- we didn't get onto a bus until 8:50. But then we ended up only waiting at the airport 10 minutes before Meredith walked out, so it turned out Elsa's timing was actually right on. This culture blows my mind sometimes.

Day 38

I apologize for failing to take a photo Sunday, but this is from Friday. I blame Eden for this picture -- she thought it'd be funny to take photos in machinery. I've found that Peruvians prefer to smile rather than make weird faces in photos... I'm not sure why. Sunday started with church, which started 10 minutes late with only about 10 people in the audience. The sanctuary wasn't full until about half an hour into the service -- typical Peruvian time. I went with some Americans to lunch at an "Italian food by way of Argentinia" restaurant. Very tasty. I hung out with Eden for a bit (watched "Friends" -- really makes me forget that I'm in South America) and then went to another church service at Calvary Chapel. It's a bilingual youth group type of service for college students, I think. And then I went to bed early (I hadn't realized how tired I was).

Day 37

This was how I spent a lot of my day -- in a bathing suit on the beach. Eden, Nadia and I went to the beach in Barranco this morning at like 9 a.m. We were there a couple hours, and then in order to take a taxi to Miraflores, Eden and I had to hide behind a wall so that the taxi drivers wouldn't see Nadia, a native Peruvian, with two gringas and so she could get a lower price. We paid 6 soles, but without Nadia, it would have been at least 10. I went to read in Starbucks for about an hour and a half until Gabriel and Gabriela showed up and we went back to the beach, but this time to Waikiki. Gabriel and I surfed while Gabby hung out on the beach, and I think there was a lot more sun than we realized (I got a teeny bit of a sunburn on my nose). I went home for a few hours, took a much needed shower and nap, and then joined the universitarios grupo in the church. We all went to La Punta in Callao. I understood almost everything that Cristian said in the lesson, and then we had dinner (I had anticuchos again). I've realized that it takes forever to do something with that group, but I'm learning to be much more flexible and patient. Now I'm exhausted, though, because I took a dramamine before surfing so I wouldn't get seasick.

Day 36

It was such a wonderful, exhausting day. It started with Spanish class in San Isidro, and then I walked to the school where Eden works and sat in on her class for about 45 minutes, until I needed to receive instructions on being a science fair judge. I took about an hour to judge 9 projects, and it was really fun -- brought back a lot of science fair memories. Then I went with Eden and her roommates back to her house to hang out before walking to the Blocks' house, maybe 6 or 7 blocks away (both are in the district of Magdalena). She and her roommates are thinking about renting their house while the Block family is in the United States for a year. After that, Eden and I met Nadia at her house and chatted for a while with her and her sisters before leaving to get gelato. I got coconut and brownie -- que rico! Then we walked around for a while and walked over to the cliffs overlooking the ocean. The wind coming off the ocean made it a little chilly and reminded me a lot of San Diego. It was just such a perfect moment, and we had so much fun talking and hanging out with Nadia and her sister Cynthia (and I understood almost everything!) The picture is on the way home, and we were walking on a bike path in the middle of Salaverry.

Day 35

This is the English class, with David Block teaching. It's basic English, and we consistently have between 5 and 8 people. I started my second month of Spanish class this morning, and so far, so good. The professor seems nice, but no one from last month is in the same room with me. Then I came home, took a nap, went to the grocery store, and ate lunch while watching The Office. I met David at the bus stop to go to El Alfarero (the church where we teach). The English classes were pretty eventful, and we waited afterward for Kay (David's wife) to finish teaching a class so we could all drive together. That drive was the most exciting part of my day. David got pulled over by a policeman (who are well-known for accepting bribery) and the cop accused him of talking on a cell phone while driving, which he hadn't done. There was a heated argument in Spanish, and while I sat in the back row, I prayed that the situation would be resolved. After about five minutes of arguing and pulling out documents, the officer handed the papers back and told him to be careful, to not talk on the cell phone, and didn't give him a ticket. It was amazing (and quite the cultural experience for me, as David remarked). After that excitement, David, Kay and I stopped at a Chifa restaurant for dinner (what is with eating dinner at 10 pm?!). It was delicious. Apparently, the key to Chifa restaurants here is not to know exactly what's on the menus, but to ask the waiter for something sweet and for something salty. When I got home, I had a lovely chat with my grandma over Skype and now I really should get some sleep.

Day 34

There are pigeons everywhere in downtown, and when people feed them, they flock. This is outside the Monasterio de San Francisco near the center of Lima, where I went with Elsa today. We took a tour (in Spanish) throughout the church and into the catacombs underneath. There were an estimated 70,000 burials there, I think, and the creepiest part was not the tons of bones piled in crypts. The creepiest part was that the people who conserved the catacombs had found the bones in disarray but chose to arrange the femurs and skulls in circles. (We weren't allowed to take pictures, though...) We went to lunch at Pardo's chicken near the Plaza de Armas, and I tried anticuchos (cow heart on a shishkabob) for the first time -- quite tasty. Elsa was very encouraging in our discussion. And she's very entertaining. When we were riding up the elevator, I thanked her for taking me, and she was like, "Now you've met the dead of Lima!" We came home and I watched most of the Ecuador/Paraguay World Cup qualifier game before going to Bible study with the gringas again. It was an interesting discussion about how we should pray and how God speaks to you. My second month of Spanish class starts tomorrow morning.

Day 33

This was part of a surprise 25th wedding anniversary ("bodas de plata") celebration for Emilio and Gladys. They're part of the Blocks' church (El Alfarero), and the pastor Oscar performed a ceremony of remaking their vows. It was so sweet to see a Christian Peruvian family gather around the couple in a celebration. Before that, I had spent a quiet morning at home and then went to Starbucks for a while, visited Eden at work, and then went to lunch with three girls from the church. Two of them are Peruvian but speak very good English, and the other is an MK and speaks both, too. But they spent lunch at Casa de Empanadas speakng in Spanish, which was fine because I can't learn it if I don't hear it, but I also feel like they can't see that I have a personality because I can't even participate in conversation. But I feel bad making them speak to me in English because I'm the one coming into their world. It was a little frustrating, but the Blocks were encouraging to me, telling me that I need to be much more patient with myself. We had our English classes tonight, which went well, and then I went with Kay and Dave to the anniversary party. It's awesome that I get to have so many cultural experiences while I'm here! But we did have the late night meal again (like 10:15), which was delicious, but I didn't really have room in my stomach for it.

Day 32

Yes, that is Nadia eating hot dogs on French fries. I decided to just have a beverage at this restaurant. The started off well, with me sleeping in till about 10 a.m. (I didn't realize how tired I was). There's a guy that's building a closet for Meredith, and then Sonia comes every Monday, so while people were working, Elsa and I had a nice little chat in the living room while drinking coffee. Then it seemed like the afternoon came really quickly, and I went to a missionary meeting at the Panaggios' house. We just talked and snacked for a few hours. It was a little boring because I didn't know all the people they were talking about or any of the context, but it's really cool to see these long-term missionaries interact and share. It was a very interesting glimpse into missionary life because they've all been here at least 8 or 10 years and are very settled into their lives. Afterward, I rushed to the cine to watch a movie ("Boy in the Striped Pyjamas") with the universitarios group. It was an extremely sad/depressing film. And then we ended the night surrounded by a lot of grease at a nearby restaurant.