I’m still easing into my daily work routine. I start the work week off right – Mondays are my free day. I also have Tuesday and Thursday mornings off. Starting on September 30, on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, I will teach English classes at Santa Isabel Church, which is about a 20 minute bus ride from my house. Eva, a member of the church speaks English and has taught English before. It sounds like she’s going to be pretty much running the show, and I’ll be helping her out. Starting tomorrow, tuesday nights I will attend a prayer service at Santa Isabel, while Thursday nights I will go to Bible study with Santa Isabel. On Wednesdays and Fridays from 8:30 to 5:30 I’m working with children at Kilometer 13 Church as part of their “Compassion International Program,” which I’ll explain in great detail later.
As many people reading this probably know, I am planning on attending seminary after my year of service here in Peru. I think Debbie, my site coordinator and “third mother” here in Peru (the second being my host mother and the first obviously being my real mother), designed this plan of work for me knowing that it would be great preparation for being a “real pastor” one day. I say this because like any good “pastor in training,” the weekend is where I make most of my money (okay, that joke’s bad enough when you’re an actual pastor and even worse when you’re a church VOLUNTEER!). Starting next Saturday, I will be going to Kilometer 13 at 7:30am, bright and early to play fulbito with the church youth. Fulbito is “mini-soccer” – with smaller goals, and it’s played on a concrete “field” that’s about as big as a basketball court. I've only played once so far - and I was pretty much the goalie the whole time, because when I play in the field I pretty much just run around after the ball trying not to get kicked in the shins. After futbolito on saturdays, we eat breakfast. From 9:30 to 11:00 (again, starting next Saturday), I will accompany the pastor, Hernando, and a psychologist (I can’t remember his name – I’ve had to learn a lot in the past couple weeks) on visits to the homes of children in the Compassion program. Most of the kids have lots of issues at home, so we’re there mainly as counselors for the families. Hernando says that together, the three of us will be a great “pastoral team:” he’s a professional pastor/theologian, the psychologist is obviously a psychologist, and I’m a “professional” sociologist (because I majored in sociology). Any time he’s explaining this “pastoral team” concept to someone and he implies that we’re all equally qualified in our respective disciplines, I have to try really hard not to laugh. It’s not that I think I didn’t learn anything by majoring in sociology at Trinity (far from it). It’s just that Hernando and the psychologist each have master’s degrees and about 20 years of life experience that I don’t have, so to hear him talk about me, a 22 year old volunteer missionary with a newly minted bachelor’s degree and who doesn’t even speak Spanish fluently in the same breath as the two of them is rather amusing.
Starting October 4, from 11 – 12:30 every Saturday I will teach basic English at Kilometer 13. Then, from 12:30 to 4, I have time to eat lunch and take a siesta. At 4pm (again, starting Oct. 4) I’ll teach “intermediate” English for people who already know simple vocabulary and grammar. Pastor Hernando’s plan for these intermediate classes is that each class will start with a Bible passage or Christian message in English that we’ll have to translate. But this format won’t be advertised – the class is just advertised as free English classes for the neighborhood. After we get them to come to classes, we get to sneakily evangelize them! (Bait and switch? Not exactly – we’re still teaching English) Finally, my Saturdays conclude with the “adolescents” worship service in Kilometer 13 from 6:30 to 8pm. First we play games, and then Hernando preaches, or occassionally one of the youth does it (this is what I'm told - which means I'll probably have to do it eventually...) Sundays, I spend the whole day at Santa Isabel. I help out with Sunday school from 9:30 to 11, and church from 11 to 12:30-ish. Then I eat at a restaurant with some of the church members. Starting in a couple weeks, I will do "visitations" after lunch with the President of the Consistorio (basically the church ‘session’ or government – Santa Isabel doesn’t have a pastor). I think these will be similar to the family visitations I am supposed to do on Saturdays for Kilometer 13. I finish up Sundays with another worship service at Santa Isabel from 7pm to 8:30. And that’s what an average week will look like. Theoretically.
The Compassion Program at Kilometer 13 has definitely been my favorite part of my job so far (it's also the only thing I've done regularly). I’m still piecing together exactly what the program’s purpose is. Basically, it’s daycare and lunch for kids from 2 – 16 years old, provided for free by the church to the neighborhood. There are two sessions – one in the morning from 9am to 1pm and one in the afternoon from 1pm to 5pm. The sessions overlap a little bit, and each child can only come to one session per day. If you come to the first session you get lunch right before you leave; if you attend the second you get lunch right away. I guess the thing I’m not clear on isn’t how the Compassion Program works but rather what the laws are as far as going to school in Peru. My best guess is that the schools work the same way as the Compassion program (minus the whole free lunch part) – you either come to classes in the morning or in the evening. It just seems odd to me that all these kids would just be wandering the streets or burdening their parents for half the day if it weren’t for the Compassion program. Outside of food, the Compassion Program is basically like Sunday school. The younger kids sing songs, play games and draw/color. The older kids have a Bible curriculum and even complete homework and tests on Christian living. Each child has a “Padrino” or “Madrina” in the United States (or maybe some other countries). Padrino/madrina literally means “Godparent.” These are the sponsors of the program. They donate money to Compassion International, the NGO which provides the funding for the staff, food, materials etc. Kilometer 13 Church provides the building and the teachers/tutors. Every couple weeks each child has to write a letter to his/her padrino/madrina (I’m just guessing – it could be more/less often).
In all, there are over 200 children who participate in Kilometer 13’s Compassion Program. They are divided into 3 age groups that share 5 classrooms. The youngest group are 2 – 4 year olds, then 5 – 12, and one for 12 +. My host mother, Daniela, is one of the teachers for the middle age group. About an hour or so into my first day working she informed me she was leaving to go to the market to buy something (which ended up being a cake and soft drinks to welcome me, paid for with money that all the students contributed). So without warning, I was left alone for 40 minutes or so with about 18 kids who I’d just met that didn’t speak English. That was fun. Fortunately, I prevented them from killing each other. They were pretty rowdy since it was my first day there, and they’d been anticipating my arrival for weeks. And the fact that they were obviously really happy I was hanging out with them didn’t mean that they were going to listen or follow my directions. I eventually taught them how to play “Here I sit” (or “aca me siento,” as I roughly translated it), a game we play in Montreat that helps you learn people’s names. They liked it a lot, but it’s a game that gets old quickly. Once they were bored with it I couldn’t think of any other games that were suitable for an indoors, classroom-type space and that I could lead in Spanish. So I finally sat them all down and taught them how to sing the first part of “Jesus Loves Me” in English. Soon after, Daniela returned to rescue me.
Well that's about it for now. Today's random story: yesterday Santa Isabel had a "rummage sale" after the morning worship service. Among the things for sale was an old t-shirt - made in Peru - that says ATLANTA OLYMPICS '96 with a picture of a bald eagle and American flag. It was only 1 sol (about 35 cents), so I had to buy it!
Monday, September 22, 2008
DON´T READ THIS ENTRY!!!
When you’re working as a YAV in Lima, Peru for a year, you frequently find yourself with a lot of free time (and by “a year,” I mean “3 weeks as of tomorrow”…). So I’ve been reading a little Kierkegaard to pass the time. And by Kierkegaard I mean “Kierkegaard For Beginners” by Donald Palmer, which is basically a comic-book style introduction to Kierkegaard’s work. If you’re unfamiliar with the “For Beginners” series, you should check them out – they’re nifty little books that cover all sorts of topics/people in philosophy and sociology.
Anyway, Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher who lived during the 19th century and is basically regarded as the father of Existentialism. He was Christian, and much of his writings are about religion, faith etc. In one thought experiment, Donald Palmer/Kierkegaard describes how God put Adam and Eve in a garden full of trees and singled out just one of them, saying “THIS tree is the tree of knowledge of good and evil. You can eat of ANY tree in the garden EXCEPT this one.” In doing so, God induced a state of dread in Adam and Eve. But they dread nothing – no thing – but rather possibility. The prohibition made them aware of their own freedom – the possibility that they could, very easily, disobey God and eat from the one tree they were specifically directed not to touch. And of course, living with this dread of possibility was too much for them to handle. So they did the one thing they had the freedom to do, but were prohibited from doing.
Thus the inspiration behind the title of this entry. In the blog-world of “Pensamientos Peruanos,” I am God, and you, the reader are Adam (or Eve). Out of all of the entries I’ve written, this is the only one I EXPLICITLY forbade you to read. Obviously my prohibition made you aware of your freedom to disobey Me (and by now, you’re probably sorry you did – this is 5 minutes of your life that you can’t get back!), and thus the forbidden fruit had to be tasted.
Don’t worry though, I don’t have any virtual flaming swords lying around, so I can’t banish you from my blog forever. You’ll just have to keep reading, and hope that I stick to descriptions of my daily life in Lima rather than philosophical musings.
Anyway, Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher who lived during the 19th century and is basically regarded as the father of Existentialism. He was Christian, and much of his writings are about religion, faith etc. In one thought experiment, Donald Palmer/Kierkegaard describes how God put Adam and Eve in a garden full of trees and singled out just one of them, saying “THIS tree is the tree of knowledge of good and evil. You can eat of ANY tree in the garden EXCEPT this one.” In doing so, God induced a state of dread in Adam and Eve. But they dread nothing – no thing – but rather possibility. The prohibition made them aware of their own freedom – the possibility that they could, very easily, disobey God and eat from the one tree they were specifically directed not to touch. And of course, living with this dread of possibility was too much for them to handle. So they did the one thing they had the freedom to do, but were prohibited from doing.
Thus the inspiration behind the title of this entry. In the blog-world of “Pensamientos Peruanos,” I am God, and you, the reader are Adam (or Eve). Out of all of the entries I’ve written, this is the only one I EXPLICITLY forbade you to read. Obviously my prohibition made you aware of your freedom to disobey Me (and by now, you’re probably sorry you did – this is 5 minutes of your life that you can’t get back!), and thus the forbidden fruit had to be tasted.
Don’t worry though, I don’t have any virtual flaming swords lying around, so I can’t banish you from my blog forever. You’ll just have to keep reading, and hope that I stick to descriptions of my daily life in Lima rather than philosophical musings.
Monday, September 15, 2008
At least I don't have to worry about being shocked by an electric water heater in the shower
So after church yesterday, I’m walking through the local open-air fresh food market with Daniela (my host mother). I’m looking at all of the nice vegetables, fruit and meat, taking in the sights and smells, when all the sudden, there’s a pig head. Yeah. It’s just the head of a full-grown pig, obviously bathed in preservatives, but it’s detached from the rest of it’s body. And it’s just hanging under one of the tents at a little above eye-level STARING straight at me. It was kind of creepy. And by “creepy,” I mean “awesome.”
Anyway, today’s entry features sub-headings! As well as descriptions of who people are in parentheses after their names (you may have noticed that above). I’ve described who these people are before, but if you’re like me, you probably won’t remember – or you just didn’t read the previous entry or two – shame, shame, shame!
Paging Dr. Atkins
Peru is the starch capital of the world. Seriously, I hope not too many of my friends and family are too attached to skinny, long-distance runner Alex, because in all likelihood the Alex that returns to the States next August will NOT be that guy. I knew that Peru was going to be a meat ‘n potatoes kind of place, but I didn’t know it was going to be a meat, white rice, white bread and potatoes kind of place. Yes, most regular meals here include BOTH potatoes (they’re frequently french fries) and white rice. And white bread is a breakfast staple. On top of that, I think Daniela (host mother) must use about a half a bottle of vegetable oil with every meal she cooks. Don’t get me wrong, the food here is really, really good – it’s just also really, really bad for you! The other day, Daniela told me that the family doesn’t really save any of their income. But they don’t use it to buy extravagant things either – they just spend it all on food! “Y por eso, somos muy gordos!” (and because of this, we’re very fat!). They aren’t that poor (by Peruvian standards…), they just like to eat.
So much for “Machismo”
Last Tuesday, Juan Carlos (host father), Juan (host brother) and I had a “guys night out.” What did we do? We went shopping at the mall of course. There was a family wedding on Saturday, so first we had to buy suites for Juan and me. The store we went to was basically a Macy’s-type department store in what was I think just a US-style shopping mall. We never did find one that fit perfectly. Every suit jacket there was really big. It almost felt like we must have been in a “big and tall” store – especially when you consider the fact that Peruvians normally aren’t that tall (and considering the average caloric intake, surprisingly they aren’t that big either). We eventually did find one that was reasonably priced and that fit well enough. I tried to pay for half of it, but Juan Carlos wouldn’t let me. I tried again when we bought dress shoes, and this time we made a deal that I would pay for dinner for the 3 of us that night. And conveniently located in the parking lot of the mall was a KFC. I had become wary of all of the greasy, unhealthy food I had been eating recently, so at first I wasn’t too thrilled to be getting fried chicken and french fries for dinner. But then I remembered that KFC recently stopped using trans fats!!!!!....... and then I thought about it for a second and realized that they probably weren’t too concerned about trans fat in South America. Oh well. The worst part is that while KFC still serves its gross mayonnaise-y cold slaw in South America, for some reason they DON’T serve their amazing biscuits! What’s the point of going to KFC if they don’t have the biscuits?!
Weddings and Receptions
As mentioned above, I got to wear my fabulous new suit Saturday night at the wedding. (WHICH, by the way, was in an ANGLICAN church. How many people can say that they’ve attended an event at an Anglican church in Latin America but not a Catholic one?) The bride was Juan Carlos’ (host father) sister, and she was marrying umm, some guy… who I soon learned was a professional singer. After they exchanged vows, Juan (host brother) informed be that the groom was going to sing a song. I thought this to be a strange Peruvian custom. He started singing the first couple phrases, and I thought “dang, this guy has a pretty decent voice.” Midway through the song I finally figured he must be a professional singer. I was kinda disappointed that the groom doesn’t have to sing at ALL Peruvian weddings.
Damaris (6 year old host sister) was pretty much the star of the wedding. As the flower girl, she was the first person in the spotlight, and never really left it. I think she found a way to work herself into nearly every picture taken of the newlyweds and families at the reception. Which brings us to the reception. The wedding and reception were in San Isidro, which is one of the upper-class, high-end financial districts of Lima (my host family and I were kind of out of our element – I had to tie Juan Carlos’s necktie for him before the ceremony because he didn’t know how). The reception was pretty tame – just a little music and dancing. But there was champagne and fingerfoods EVERYWHERE. Seriously, I think I nearly ate my weight in cookies and candy and pastries and meat kabobs. And then I learned that we were having DINNER at “part 2” of the reception, at a nearby hotel. So there was more wine and champagne, and some sort of fancy Peruvian pork and cheesy potato dish that I couldn’t eat much of because I was already stuffed. Although the wedding had started at 7, we didn’t get home until about 1am.
Meet the Gringo
Have I mentioned that I have yet to actually start my “work” yet? Our Lima orientation lasted all the way until Friday, and we had the weekend to rest. On Sunday, I was introduced to the congregation of the creatively named “Kilometer 13” church (one of 2 churches that I’ll be working with). It’s in a little bit poorer area of Comas (the name of the district of Lima that I live in). I arrived with Daniela during Sunday school (the rest of the family doesn’t go to church0. They had all of the Sunday school age groups together taking turns with bible trivia. I knew most of the answers for the younger kids’ questions – and I might have done alright with the older kids if the questions hadn’t been in Spanish! Once the worship service started, I was called up to the front to be presented by Hernando (the pastor) to the congregation pretty much immediately. Debbie (the YAV Peru site coordinator) must have given him a copy or summary of my YAV application, because he almost literally read my entire resume to the congregation – right down to my high school class rank! It was kind of uncomfortable. Afterwards, I got a chance to introduce myself. I basically told them I was happy to be there and excited about learning from them and also teaching the congregation about my personal faith and culture. And I asked them to be patient with my Spanish. Luckily, they didn’t ask me to pray (it would have been in Spanish of course) – I really thought they were going to!
The format of the service was pretty much standard for Protestant (“Evangelical”) churches in Latin America. We sang a few contemporary songs and a more traditional-style hymn, all led by a praise band. Then the pastor read scripture, delivered the sermon (~ 40 minutes long, maybe a little less), then we sang one more song to collect the offering, and finally the “President” of the what Presbyterians would call the session read some announcements and then called on a lucky soul to pray (again, not me!) before we departed. After the service was over, I met with the pastors and a few members of the session for a few minutes before I was bombarded by members of the “youth group” (which is high school, college and “young adult” ages). They all introduced themselves and invited me to help out with their worship service the next Saturday. I quickly learned from Hernando (the pastor) that I was not obligated to do anything that anybody but him asked me to do – my schedule was already set. He told me some other things too – suffice it to say that if I’ve learned one thing already, it’s that there is NO escaping the headache of petty church politics, no matter what hemisphere you’re in.
Para Concluir (if you hear this during an evangelical sermon in Peru, that means there's still a good 15 minutes left)
That’s about it. I think I’m definitely still in the “honeymoon” phase of living in a new culture. I’ve gotten over the initial discomforts of adjusting to a new routine, and now I’m just enjoying being here. It’s pretty exhausting to be speaking Spanish all the time, but I’m able to understand the Limeños more and more. Juan Carlos still has to repeat everything he says about 2 or 3 times before I can begin to figure out what he’s saying, but I’ll get there eventually.
I’ll leave you with my personal guide on “How to Take a Cold Shower.”
Wait. Take the cold shower at night, not first thing in the morning when everything will just be even colder. As soon as you’re done with the shower, you can get straight into your nice, warm bed.
Exercise. Go for a run. Or a bike ride. Or, if you’re living in a South American mega-city, do a bunch of push-ups and sit-ups in your room. The point is to get hot and sweaty so a cold shower doesn’t seem like such torture after all.
Pray. Or, if you’re not into that type of thing, meditate. Do something to get yourself ready for the challenge ahead. A cold shower is never something that should be sudden or spontaneous. If you aren’t prepared, you’ll be in for a rude awakening (if you think about it, that’s basically what a cold shower is….)
Once you’re ready and disrobed, step into the shower before you turn on the water. Once you’re in, turn the water on all the way to get it over with – think about it, if you know the pool is cold, you don’t stick your toe in and slowly submerge yourself. Instead you dive right into the deep end. (This is the worst part, but you probably already guessed that).
Once you’re good and soaked, turn the water off. It’s not going to help anything if it’s just running while you’re standing there soaping yourself up. Getting nice and soapy isn’t too bad – the soap is actually kind of an insulator.
Rinse off. The same way as before, turn the water on all the way and stand directly under it. Don’t sell yourself short, subject yourself totally to the cruelty of the water in all of its frigid glory for longer than you think is necessary. There’s nothing worse than finishing a cold shower, starting to dry yourself off, and then seeing a mound of suds in your armpit and realizing you have to do it over again.
Dry. If you’re able to dry yourself with a soft, warm freshly washed, towel, do so. But if you have access to nice, toasty, recently washed and machine-dried towels, chances are you’re probably not in a place that you’d have to take a cold shower in the first place…
Jump into your cozy, warm bed. Congratulate yourself on being super hardcore. Give yourself a pat on the back for decreasing your ecological footprint, saving energy and water. If you’re me, take comfort in the fact that you won’t have to do this again for (at least) another 3 or 4 days!!!
Anyway, today’s entry features sub-headings! As well as descriptions of who people are in parentheses after their names (you may have noticed that above). I’ve described who these people are before, but if you’re like me, you probably won’t remember – or you just didn’t read the previous entry or two – shame, shame, shame!
Paging Dr. Atkins
Peru is the starch capital of the world. Seriously, I hope not too many of my friends and family are too attached to skinny, long-distance runner Alex, because in all likelihood the Alex that returns to the States next August will NOT be that guy. I knew that Peru was going to be a meat ‘n potatoes kind of place, but I didn’t know it was going to be a meat, white rice, white bread and potatoes kind of place. Yes, most regular meals here include BOTH potatoes (they’re frequently french fries) and white rice. And white bread is a breakfast staple. On top of that, I think Daniela (host mother) must use about a half a bottle of vegetable oil with every meal she cooks. Don’t get me wrong, the food here is really, really good – it’s just also really, really bad for you! The other day, Daniela told me that the family doesn’t really save any of their income. But they don’t use it to buy extravagant things either – they just spend it all on food! “Y por eso, somos muy gordos!” (and because of this, we’re very fat!). They aren’t that poor (by Peruvian standards…), they just like to eat.
So much for “Machismo”
Last Tuesday, Juan Carlos (host father), Juan (host brother) and I had a “guys night out.” What did we do? We went shopping at the mall of course. There was a family wedding on Saturday, so first we had to buy suites for Juan and me. The store we went to was basically a Macy’s-type department store in what was I think just a US-style shopping mall. We never did find one that fit perfectly. Every suit jacket there was really big. It almost felt like we must have been in a “big and tall” store – especially when you consider the fact that Peruvians normally aren’t that tall (and considering the average caloric intake, surprisingly they aren’t that big either). We eventually did find one that was reasonably priced and that fit well enough. I tried to pay for half of it, but Juan Carlos wouldn’t let me. I tried again when we bought dress shoes, and this time we made a deal that I would pay for dinner for the 3 of us that night. And conveniently located in the parking lot of the mall was a KFC. I had become wary of all of the greasy, unhealthy food I had been eating recently, so at first I wasn’t too thrilled to be getting fried chicken and french fries for dinner. But then I remembered that KFC recently stopped using trans fats!!!!!....... and then I thought about it for a second and realized that they probably weren’t too concerned about trans fat in South America. Oh well. The worst part is that while KFC still serves its gross mayonnaise-y cold slaw in South America, for some reason they DON’T serve their amazing biscuits! What’s the point of going to KFC if they don’t have the biscuits?!
Weddings and Receptions
As mentioned above, I got to wear my fabulous new suit Saturday night at the wedding. (WHICH, by the way, was in an ANGLICAN church. How many people can say that they’ve attended an event at an Anglican church in Latin America but not a Catholic one?) The bride was Juan Carlos’ (host father) sister, and she was marrying umm, some guy… who I soon learned was a professional singer. After they exchanged vows, Juan (host brother) informed be that the groom was going to sing a song. I thought this to be a strange Peruvian custom. He started singing the first couple phrases, and I thought “dang, this guy has a pretty decent voice.” Midway through the song I finally figured he must be a professional singer. I was kinda disappointed that the groom doesn’t have to sing at ALL Peruvian weddings.
Damaris (6 year old host sister) was pretty much the star of the wedding. As the flower girl, she was the first person in the spotlight, and never really left it. I think she found a way to work herself into nearly every picture taken of the newlyweds and families at the reception. Which brings us to the reception. The wedding and reception were in San Isidro, which is one of the upper-class, high-end financial districts of Lima (my host family and I were kind of out of our element – I had to tie Juan Carlos’s necktie for him before the ceremony because he didn’t know how). The reception was pretty tame – just a little music and dancing. But there was champagne and fingerfoods EVERYWHERE. Seriously, I think I nearly ate my weight in cookies and candy and pastries and meat kabobs. And then I learned that we were having DINNER at “part 2” of the reception, at a nearby hotel. So there was more wine and champagne, and some sort of fancy Peruvian pork and cheesy potato dish that I couldn’t eat much of because I was already stuffed. Although the wedding had started at 7, we didn’t get home until about 1am.
Meet the Gringo
Have I mentioned that I have yet to actually start my “work” yet? Our Lima orientation lasted all the way until Friday, and we had the weekend to rest. On Sunday, I was introduced to the congregation of the creatively named “Kilometer 13” church (one of 2 churches that I’ll be working with). It’s in a little bit poorer area of Comas (the name of the district of Lima that I live in). I arrived with Daniela during Sunday school (the rest of the family doesn’t go to church0. They had all of the Sunday school age groups together taking turns with bible trivia. I knew most of the answers for the younger kids’ questions – and I might have done alright with the older kids if the questions hadn’t been in Spanish! Once the worship service started, I was called up to the front to be presented by Hernando (the pastor) to the congregation pretty much immediately. Debbie (the YAV Peru site coordinator) must have given him a copy or summary of my YAV application, because he almost literally read my entire resume to the congregation – right down to my high school class rank! It was kind of uncomfortable. Afterwards, I got a chance to introduce myself. I basically told them I was happy to be there and excited about learning from them and also teaching the congregation about my personal faith and culture. And I asked them to be patient with my Spanish. Luckily, they didn’t ask me to pray (it would have been in Spanish of course) – I really thought they were going to!
The format of the service was pretty much standard for Protestant (“Evangelical”) churches in Latin America. We sang a few contemporary songs and a more traditional-style hymn, all led by a praise band. Then the pastor read scripture, delivered the sermon (~ 40 minutes long, maybe a little less), then we sang one more song to collect the offering, and finally the “President” of the what Presbyterians would call the session read some announcements and then called on a lucky soul to pray (again, not me!) before we departed. After the service was over, I met with the pastors and a few members of the session for a few minutes before I was bombarded by members of the “youth group” (which is high school, college and “young adult” ages). They all introduced themselves and invited me to help out with their worship service the next Saturday. I quickly learned from Hernando (the pastor) that I was not obligated to do anything that anybody but him asked me to do – my schedule was already set. He told me some other things too – suffice it to say that if I’ve learned one thing already, it’s that there is NO escaping the headache of petty church politics, no matter what hemisphere you’re in.
Para Concluir (if you hear this during an evangelical sermon in Peru, that means there's still a good 15 minutes left)
That’s about it. I think I’m definitely still in the “honeymoon” phase of living in a new culture. I’ve gotten over the initial discomforts of adjusting to a new routine, and now I’m just enjoying being here. It’s pretty exhausting to be speaking Spanish all the time, but I’m able to understand the Limeños more and more. Juan Carlos still has to repeat everything he says about 2 or 3 times before I can begin to figure out what he’s saying, but I’ll get there eventually.
I’ll leave you with my personal guide on “How to Take a Cold Shower.”
Wait. Take the cold shower at night, not first thing in the morning when everything will just be even colder. As soon as you’re done with the shower, you can get straight into your nice, warm bed.
Exercise. Go for a run. Or a bike ride. Or, if you’re living in a South American mega-city, do a bunch of push-ups and sit-ups in your room. The point is to get hot and sweaty so a cold shower doesn’t seem like such torture after all.
Pray. Or, if you’re not into that type of thing, meditate. Do something to get yourself ready for the challenge ahead. A cold shower is never something that should be sudden or spontaneous. If you aren’t prepared, you’ll be in for a rude awakening (if you think about it, that’s basically what a cold shower is….)
Once you’re ready and disrobed, step into the shower before you turn on the water. Once you’re in, turn the water on all the way to get it over with – think about it, if you know the pool is cold, you don’t stick your toe in and slowly submerge yourself. Instead you dive right into the deep end. (This is the worst part, but you probably already guessed that).
Once you’re good and soaked, turn the water off. It’s not going to help anything if it’s just running while you’re standing there soaping yourself up. Getting nice and soapy isn’t too bad – the soap is actually kind of an insulator.
Rinse off. The same way as before, turn the water on all the way and stand directly under it. Don’t sell yourself short, subject yourself totally to the cruelty of the water in all of its frigid glory for longer than you think is necessary. There’s nothing worse than finishing a cold shower, starting to dry yourself off, and then seeing a mound of suds in your armpit and realizing you have to do it over again.
Dry. If you’re able to dry yourself with a soft, warm freshly washed, towel, do so. But if you have access to nice, toasty, recently washed and machine-dried towels, chances are you’re probably not in a place that you’d have to take a cold shower in the first place…
Jump into your cozy, warm bed. Congratulate yourself on being super hardcore. Give yourself a pat on the back for decreasing your ecological footprint, saving energy and water. If you’re me, take comfort in the fact that you won’t have to do this again for (at least) another 3 or 4 days!!!
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Lima Living
You may have noticed a subtle difference in my blog title. My old title, "Pensamientos Peruvianos" is Spanish for "Peruvian Thoughts," or so I thought. Actually, "Pensamientos Peruanos" (no 'v') is correct. That's what I get for trying to show-off and be fancy with a suave, mysterious, foreign-sounding blog title.
But more importantly, I want to share that the past 11 days or have been a whirlwind! Orientation in Louisville lasted for a week. The entire group of YAVs bonded really, really well. After 8 days of meaningful worship services, small group sessions and meetings about self-care, culture shock and how to "do mission," we were all definitely ready to get our feet on the ground in our new countries and get to work. But at the same time, we were sad to say one last round of goodbyes. In all, there are 30 international YAVs serving in five different partner countries: India, Northern Ireland, Kenya, Guatemala and Peru (there are six of us in Peru). You can read blogs of the other YAVs at www.pcusa.org/yav.
And now I'm here, in Lima. Sean, Leslie, Michael, Lynn, Katie and I landed in Lima last Tuesday. Since then, we've been doing group orientation in Lima, which lasts until Saturday. Katie, Leslie, Michael and I will all be living/working in Lima for the entire year, so we've been staying with our permanent host families since day 1. Lynn and Sean have placements in Huanuco and Huancayo, two smaller rural towns that are each a several-hour long bus ride away, so each of them is staying with a temporary host family in Lima during orientation. I am EXTREMELY thankful that we have these 10 days of orientation together in Lima before we're off on our own. I feel a lot more confident getting to know the city with five other gringos than I would if I were solo.
My host family is amazing. I'm staying in Comas, a department on the northeastern side of Lima (a "suburb" by the US definition) that is about an hour-long taxi ride from downtown during normal rush-hour (but if you take a bus, or if the traffic is particularly nasty, it takes much, much longer - I'll get to that later!). My host family is among the most loving, caring group of people I've ever met. They greeted me from the airport with a big posterboard sign that read "I Love You Alex!" (in English). Daniela is my madre here in Lima. She speaks Spanish slowly and clearly, and often "translates" the faster, slurred spanish of the other family members - especially Juan Carlos, my padre. He is a bus driver in Lima and works a lot, so I haven't spent much time with him. Daniela really keeps the family running. I don't know how she does it - I think she hardly ever sleeps between caring for children and grandchildren, and making 3 meals a day for everyone. On top of being a full-time mom and grandmother, she also works part-time with youth and children in one of the churches that I will be serving for my placement here in Lima. She's basically a super-heroine. Juan (or "Juancito") is my 19 year old host-brother. Damaris is my EXTREMELY energetic and affectionate six-year-old little sister who is absolutely delighted with anything I say or do. Julia is my 16-year old host sister who stays busy attending night classes and taking care of her daughter Dayra, who turned one this weekend. Cristiano is a three-year old grandson of another of Daniela and Juan Carlos' sons (who doesn't live at home). Needless to say, it´s a crazy, energetic family.
Luckily, I have the ground floor of the house all to myself (which I also feel kinda guilty about), so at least I have a place to sleep that's relatively quiet. As of now, the house doesn't have hot water. So taking showers is fun. Lima is technically in a "desert" climate-zone, in that it hardly ever rains and there's not much vegetation. However, it's usually totally overcast (I think I've seen the sun once so far), and the humidity is always above 80 percent, which means everything is always damp. It's winter now (but we're coming up on spring), and temperatures are in the 60s. Aside from its interesting climate, one thing you notice pretty quickly about Lima is that the traffic is much crazier than any I've seen in the states. During our 10 days of orientation, I take a city bus for about an hour and a half from my neighborhood to the Uniendo Manos de Peru's headquarters (the PCUSA's partner organization). Most of this ride, I end up standing up shoulder to shoulder with the other Limeños going to work as we all try to brace ourselves while the bus driver navigates the insane rush-hour. Traffic here is governed by unwritten rules of the road much more than it is by signs and lights. Many busy intersections have police officers directing traffic instead of lights. Everyone drives pretty much as fast as they can, as close as possible to the person in front of them. You use your horn to declare that you're coming and that you want the right of way. If two vehicles want the right-of-way at the same time, the smaller yields to the larger. Pedestrians NEVER have the right of way. It's fun!!!
As I sit here thinking that I need to wrap this post up, I'm realizing that I haven't really said all that much, though there sure are a lot of words on the page (sounds like I'm becoming a preacher already, no?). So I'm gonna try and do this whole blog-update thing more often in the future, once orientation with the other YAVs is over and I've moved full-time to my job with my two churches here in Lima. In the meantime, I'll leave you with the top 5 things to love about Lima and the top 5 things to.... not love.
TOP 5 THINGS THAT KINDA STINK ABOUT LIMA
5. The air. It kinda stinks. There's a lotta smog. But that makes sense in a city of 8 million - even if everyone DOES take public transportation.
4. It's so big! On a day with particularly bad traffic, I had to ride the bus for 2 hours one way, standing up the whole time to get from my house to orientation. Urban sprawl isn't just a US thing.
3. 90% humidity + dust - rain = EVERYTHING is just kind of dirty
2. They speak spanish SO FAST. And use so much slang!
1. The water. You can't drink it. You can bathe in it, but it isn't hot.
TOP 5 THINGS TO LOVE ABOUT LIMA
5. Everyone greets each person individually with a handshake/hug/kiss on the cheek when you arrive or leave a place, rather than saying a cheap "goodbye" to everyone at once.
4. Even though they drive like lunatics, NO ONE drives while on a cell phone (it would be suicide).
3. The prices. Everything is really cheap. A big lunch (the main meal here - including an appetizer and entree) in a really nice restaurant costs about $5
2. The food - especially the abundance of meat 'n potatoes. Steak. Chicken. Mashed potatoes, whole potatoes, sweet potatoes, potato puree, french fries. Plus there's ceviche, which is a type of seafood salad with "raw" fish that's been "cooked" in lime juice. And there's "canchitas," which are a type of salty nuts that all the restaurants have for you to eat while you're waiting for your real food.
1. It's much closer to the REST of Peru (mountains, jungle, beautiful natural beauty, etc) than the US is!
So that's about it. Hopefully I'll post again soon with more detailed, fun anecdotes!
But more importantly, I want to share that the past 11 days or have been a whirlwind! Orientation in Louisville lasted for a week. The entire group of YAVs bonded really, really well. After 8 days of meaningful worship services, small group sessions and meetings about self-care, culture shock and how to "do mission," we were all definitely ready to get our feet on the ground in our new countries and get to work. But at the same time, we were sad to say one last round of goodbyes. In all, there are 30 international YAVs serving in five different partner countries: India, Northern Ireland, Kenya, Guatemala and Peru (there are six of us in Peru). You can read blogs of the other YAVs at www.pcusa.org/yav.
And now I'm here, in Lima. Sean, Leslie, Michael, Lynn, Katie and I landed in Lima last Tuesday. Since then, we've been doing group orientation in Lima, which lasts until Saturday. Katie, Leslie, Michael and I will all be living/working in Lima for the entire year, so we've been staying with our permanent host families since day 1. Lynn and Sean have placements in Huanuco and Huancayo, two smaller rural towns that are each a several-hour long bus ride away, so each of them is staying with a temporary host family in Lima during orientation. I am EXTREMELY thankful that we have these 10 days of orientation together in Lima before we're off on our own. I feel a lot more confident getting to know the city with five other gringos than I would if I were solo.
My host family is amazing. I'm staying in Comas, a department on the northeastern side of Lima (a "suburb" by the US definition) that is about an hour-long taxi ride from downtown during normal rush-hour (but if you take a bus, or if the traffic is particularly nasty, it takes much, much longer - I'll get to that later!). My host family is among the most loving, caring group of people I've ever met. They greeted me from the airport with a big posterboard sign that read "I Love You Alex!" (in English). Daniela is my madre here in Lima. She speaks Spanish slowly and clearly, and often "translates" the faster, slurred spanish of the other family members - especially Juan Carlos, my padre. He is a bus driver in Lima and works a lot, so I haven't spent much time with him. Daniela really keeps the family running. I don't know how she does it - I think she hardly ever sleeps between caring for children and grandchildren, and making 3 meals a day for everyone. On top of being a full-time mom and grandmother, she also works part-time with youth and children in one of the churches that I will be serving for my placement here in Lima. She's basically a super-heroine. Juan (or "Juancito") is my 19 year old host-brother. Damaris is my EXTREMELY energetic and affectionate six-year-old little sister who is absolutely delighted with anything I say or do. Julia is my 16-year old host sister who stays busy attending night classes and taking care of her daughter Dayra, who turned one this weekend. Cristiano is a three-year old grandson of another of Daniela and Juan Carlos' sons (who doesn't live at home). Needless to say, it´s a crazy, energetic family.
Luckily, I have the ground floor of the house all to myself (which I also feel kinda guilty about), so at least I have a place to sleep that's relatively quiet. As of now, the house doesn't have hot water. So taking showers is fun. Lima is technically in a "desert" climate-zone, in that it hardly ever rains and there's not much vegetation. However, it's usually totally overcast (I think I've seen the sun once so far), and the humidity is always above 80 percent, which means everything is always damp. It's winter now (but we're coming up on spring), and temperatures are in the 60s. Aside from its interesting climate, one thing you notice pretty quickly about Lima is that the traffic is much crazier than any I've seen in the states. During our 10 days of orientation, I take a city bus for about an hour and a half from my neighborhood to the Uniendo Manos de Peru's headquarters (the PCUSA's partner organization). Most of this ride, I end up standing up shoulder to shoulder with the other Limeños going to work as we all try to brace ourselves while the bus driver navigates the insane rush-hour. Traffic here is governed by unwritten rules of the road much more than it is by signs and lights. Many busy intersections have police officers directing traffic instead of lights. Everyone drives pretty much as fast as they can, as close as possible to the person in front of them. You use your horn to declare that you're coming and that you want the right of way. If two vehicles want the right-of-way at the same time, the smaller yields to the larger. Pedestrians NEVER have the right of way. It's fun!!!
As I sit here thinking that I need to wrap this post up, I'm realizing that I haven't really said all that much, though there sure are a lot of words on the page (sounds like I'm becoming a preacher already, no?). So I'm gonna try and do this whole blog-update thing more often in the future, once orientation with the other YAVs is over and I've moved full-time to my job with my two churches here in Lima. In the meantime, I'll leave you with the top 5 things to love about Lima and the top 5 things to.... not love.
TOP 5 THINGS THAT KINDA STINK ABOUT LIMA
5. The air. It kinda stinks. There's a lotta smog. But that makes sense in a city of 8 million - even if everyone DOES take public transportation.
4. It's so big! On a day with particularly bad traffic, I had to ride the bus for 2 hours one way, standing up the whole time to get from my house to orientation. Urban sprawl isn't just a US thing.
3. 90% humidity + dust - rain = EVERYTHING is just kind of dirty
2. They speak spanish SO FAST. And use so much slang!
1. The water. You can't drink it. You can bathe in it, but it isn't hot.
TOP 5 THINGS TO LOVE ABOUT LIMA
5. Everyone greets each person individually with a handshake/hug/kiss on the cheek when you arrive or leave a place, rather than saying a cheap "goodbye" to everyone at once.
4. Even though they drive like lunatics, NO ONE drives while on a cell phone (it would be suicide).
3. The prices. Everything is really cheap. A big lunch (the main meal here - including an appetizer and entree) in a really nice restaurant costs about $5
2. The food - especially the abundance of meat 'n potatoes. Steak. Chicken. Mashed potatoes, whole potatoes, sweet potatoes, potato puree, french fries. Plus there's ceviche, which is a type of seafood salad with "raw" fish that's been "cooked" in lime juice. And there's "canchitas," which are a type of salty nuts that all the restaurants have for you to eat while you're waiting for your real food.
1. It's much closer to the REST of Peru (mountains, jungle, beautiful natural beauty, etc) than the US is!
So that's about it. Hopefully I'll post again soon with more detailed, fun anecdotes!
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