¿Cómo?

I have been welcomed into my new Peruvian family and I have been living with them for just over a week now. I live with Tina, my host mom (although she is only in her mid-thirties), her sister, and Tina's two kids, Laura who is 6 and Juan Carlos (JuanCa) who is 4. Tina's husband, Carlos, is here now, but will leave shortly for Lima where he works for about a month and then has 8 days off again to come home. The other morning JuanCa said that he was really sad, and when Tina and Carlos asked why, he said because he knows his dad is going to have to go back to work in Lima again. I can't imagine how hard it must be for them, but it is how he provides for his family and can afford to give them the rather well-off lifestyle and home they have. The house is two stories and has floors, a patio in the back, furniture, multiple TV's, internet, a fan, running water (no hot water), toys for the kids, a washing machine (no dryer), kitchen utilities, and even a blu-ray player. While these things may seem like normal household amenities in the U.S., they are extreme rarities here. A couple houses down, Carlos' mom, Señora Rosa and her husband live with their daughter (Carlos' sister), Nena, and her kids, Claudia who is 13 and Danilo who is about 10. We have lunch there every Sunday since they have a restaurant connected to the back of their house and make the best ceviche (among other things) in town.

The family is very welcoming, and have learned to be a little more patient with me. Their last volunteer was from México and spoke Spanish faster than they did, so the bar was set a little high. After all of the blank stares and "¿Cómo?"'s (which means "what?") the first few days, Tina said to me, "you only understand about 50 or 25 percent of what we say..." oops. They clearly noticed that I was just smiling and saying "Sí" a lot. Since then they've realized that I'm not exactly fluent and have been trying to accommodate. Laura is very affectionate and gave me a huge hug the minute I walked in the door. She loves to grab my arm and put it around her. It's not just with me though; she also plays with, cradles, and kisses our pet pigeon. Yes, we have a pet pigeon! They call it La Paloma, which means dove in spanish, but I am 99% sure it is a pigeon...I'll give Laura that 1%. JuanCa is also affectionate and often tells me to close my eyes and count to ten, and as soon as I start counting he sneaks a kiss on my cheek. He caught me once on the lips and was warned by Claudia that my man back home would not be too happy haha! He loves to sing, and is very talkative and although I have gotten a lot better, at first I could barely understand anything he said. He was always asking me questions and when I would hesitate to answer, he would repeat the question and say, "Sí o no?", repeating that more and more fiercely until I answered "Sí"....God only knows all the things I said yes too. They both love watching movies, so we have watched Twilight, The Avengers, Lady and the Tramp, The Lion King, Ice Age and many others since I've been living with them, and all in Spanish. Another thing they love is my iPhone. They love taking pictures with it, and going through all of mine. They think the videos I have of Chechis dancing and laughing (my friend Adrianna's baby) are hilarious. I also showed them that game "Cootie-catcher" that you make out of folded paper, where you choose a color and a sequence of numbers and then get a fortune at the end. Laura and JuanCa loved it and now it has spread throughout our whole street!

         
                                            

                                         


As for what I've been up to lately, some days are still filled with only eating, napping and sweating, but some have been a little more productive! My non-productive days have been spent watching movies and reading Tattoos on the Heart, a part comical, part inspiring, part heart-wrenching book written by Greg Boyle, a priest who works with gang members in Los Angeles and whom I've had the pleasure of hearing speak a few times. I definitely recommend it! As for some of my productive moments, I walked around the main plaza, Plaza de Armas, with Lacie and her host dad for a couple hours the other night. It is a very happening place at night and people just sit and talk or walk around, enjoying the cooler air. Last Sunday the three of us met at the Obispado (the Bishop's home, that is basically our second home here) and Skyped Paul and my friend Devyn who was having a Super Bowl party back in San Diego. We go to see the game, commercials, and even Beyonce all the way from Peru! By the way, while the game highlights didn't make Peruvian news, Beyonce did. Monday morning I went to the market for my second time, this time with my host family. It is an interesting area, four square blocks of fruit swarmed by flies, vegetables that hit the ground and get put back in place, beef hanging slung over metal rods, fish being scaled, chicken being chopped, and people bartering for the best food and best prices. I've also hiked a couple hills with Britt and Lacie. We go early in the morning or in the evening to escape the heat. You can see the whole city of Chulucanas, but what is even more breath taking is the view of of the mountains embanked by fog and the lush green area of farms and palm trees leading up to them. They look so close we could touch them. Wednesday morning I left for the beach with my whole extended host family. There were 17 of us, and it was almost a 3 hour trip to get there. We took a moto-taxi, two buses, and a 12 person van (with 19 people in it) to Cangrejos (Crabs). We all stayed together in a small beach house, with 2 bedrooms, blow-up beds, one bathroom, and no running water. Needless to say, it was quite a bonding experience. The beach was nice, different than back home. The water was freezing but at least the waves were calmer than in Lima. We saw sea horses, crabs, jelly fish, and these strange translucent beach bugs that settle just under the top of the sand called muy muys. The sun is much more intense here, and even with sunscreen, the family spent the whole next day saying how roja (red) and quemada (burned) I was. Friday we taught two English classes at the University. The morning class was with teens and the night class was for adults. The teens were fun, and very enthusiastic about a tic tac toe game played in two teams where they had to compete to translate Spanish words into English. The adult class was very obviously eager to learn. They asked us tons of questions and were most interested in our pronunciation of words. It was a very tiring day but very rewarding. We just got back from Happy Hour with Ed and Pat and Bishop Dan (who, remember, is a celebrity in Chulucanas). We ate popcorn, drank gin and tonics and beer, and talked about the short-comings of the Church as and Institution versus the hope brought into the Church by different people we have all been reading about. We're a pretty privileged group.

               

We are getting much more accustomed to the lifestyle and our surroundings here. We found a pizza place and a smoothie place, and are on the hunt for an ice cream place we have heard about from Pat and Ed. Mass is still a mystery; the Sign of Peace is an awkward half hug half shoulder pat, there are no lines for receiving communion, just a mass of people trying to get towards the altar, and I have yet to learn any of the songs or prayers in Spanish. I am able to find my way around most places, walking to and from my host house during the day and taking motos at night. The food has been very good. I still haven't had cuy (giunea pig), but I did have cabrito (kid goat) for lunch today. My host parents make different juices for every meal and they are all delicious. I also had calamari in a type of rice soup with vegetables and other seafood for lunch yesterday and I really liked it! Shout out to Paul because he knows how much I dislike calamari and has always wanted me to like it :)  I am still adjusting to the heat, and can't wait for the rain to come....although they say that when it rains, it POURS!

Pouring my heart into life in Chulucanas, but missing everyone back home. Oh and sorry this post is so long, there have just been a lot of changes this past week!

¡Ciao!