Bachlor Pad Without the Bachlor

Tio left for a conference this week and so it's women only in the house. Woot Woot, party. So, what do two grown woman do when there are no men around? Women reading this already are thinking of a list of things they would do. Men, if your reading this lean in close and I will tell you. When you leave the house women... ready for it - go about their day like normal. I am so glad to be the one to share that with all of you men. To be honest Tia and I actually haven't been in the house much ourselves.

I taught English class solo on Wednesday due to a sick child needing someone to care for her. It was fun. I taught about slang words. No matter where you go, what language you are learning, slang words are always a hit. I won't bore you with the details of my planning process but I will tell you one thing... I am not hip. Shall I elaborate? While trying to find slang words I ran across a few online dictionaries that said they would be helpful. First of all, not everything you read online is true. I know that because most websites were not helpful at all. Second, slang is intense. I thought I new a decent amount but apparently I don't. Let's be honest if you want to know if you led a sheltered life go to an online dictionary of slang words and see how many you have heard of.  Better yet see how many slang words you know the definition for. I'm pretty sure from what I read I need to gouge my eyes out. I didn't know some things existed let alone had a slang way of saying them. I want to be clear ALL the slang I taught was appropriate and clean.

Skyped family for Thanksgiving

Those of you reading this from the good old US of A know that Thursday was Thanksgiving. For everyone else in the world it is simple Thursday. So what did I do, being torn in two on this day. For one, I wished my father a happy birthday from Peru. Which for those of you who have never gotten a birthday wish from another country it is one of the coolest feelings knowing you know someone who lives in another country. Back to what I did, as those of you who have been following this adventure know by now Thursday is when I work with the children at Semillas . I left early and me and another Tia made pasta for lunch for all of the kids. It was good, if I do say so myself. Although I mostly stirred stuff and washed dishes. This was the first Thanksgiving for me to be away from home so I added a little USA to the day (ha ha that rhymed) my friend and I made deviled eggs or as my mother calls them angel eggs.

Can I just say Telephone Pictionary is very funny. For those of you who have never played either of the games Telephone or Pictinary let me just say that alone they make you LOL but together you ROTFL (rolling on the floor laughing). I hope I used those right, it was my first time abbreviating. I feel so hip. Any who back to the game which we played in English class. I am no artist - by this I mean that finger painting by a parrot looks like Picasso next to my artwork. Add the fact that with having people attempt to describe your work in one sentence makes the situation so much funnier. At one point in the game it went from "trying on a new sweater" to "Kortni steals money from under her chair to go shopping at the mall". You guessed right, my picture was the reason the next person got it so wrong.  And that was one of my better drawings! Then, on the other end of the spectrum was the artist in our group drawing a llama with socks, a scarf and some light rain.  Also looked like the llama had just walked out of the field and onto his piece of paper. What a show off! Either way it went, it was funny and we were all laughing by the end of both classes.

All in all this week has been good. It has gone by faster than I ever thought it could go. Until next time, remember you are blessed and find joy in the small things.

Birthday Week

This past week was "Birthday Week".  It has nothing to do with Peru but it is one of my family traditions and it goes wherever the birthday person is. For those of you who have never heard of this wonderful idea, it is simple. The family member who is having a birthday is spoiled for the entire week leading up to their big day. This usually means no washing dishes and maybe a candy bar or two. For those of us with siblings it means having them do your house work - which for any child could possibly be better than Christmas gifts! Since my birthday happens to be on Monday November 19th I will celebrate it in Peru.  At the beginning of this week my parents and family have been wishing me well each day, which I am grateful for. But, since I am not near my immediate family which are the only ones to usually abide by these rules I have decided to take it upon myself to enjoy one thing every day that is not a normal occurrence. I should have done this a lot sooner.

Some of the girls here are taking a massage class. Of course I volunteered to be their practice dummy. Who wouldn't right? Well, they not only give wonderful massages they sometimes have to try more than once, you know the old saying "practice makes perfect".  This week I got a massage and I also got a few lessons.  What a good start to what turned out to be a wonderful week.

In English class we introduced a new phenomenon in Peru. The ice cream, fries dip. For those of you who never tried this I recommend that you stop reading right now go to your local In-In-Out, or even McDonald's (anyplace that sells soft served ice cream and good fries) and then forget the spoon, straw or however you down soft serve. Take the fries and dip them into the sweet treat and you will find your mouth water. Enjoy the glorious flavor until both fries and ice cream run out. Now that you have had a fiesta in your mouth come back and finish reading my blog. Don't worry if you were skeptical at first, most people are. The students in English class had their doubts until they tasted the wonderful concoction for themselves. I am not sure who first thought of this although it just might have been a small child wanting to eat ice cream before finishing his happy meal and so they simply combined it.


At church we were able to hang the tents that took me way too long to figure out how to sew! Let me just give a quick tip. When someone hands you a hula-hoop... step inside and make it spin. (I didn't do that, I used it to make the hula-hoop tents in the picture.) The tents turned out fine and the girls seem to like them. Now I will move on to more painting. My next project will be a nice cardboard stove which I'm sure will prove to be much simpler than the tents.

At dinner this week the family and I did a lot of  laughing. We all had a long night and apparently the giggles were coming in full force. We were all laughing away when Tio (my host father) asked me to do something. Miscommunication makes funny stories. My Spanish isn't horrible but apparently I missed the key words that he said to me and the whole idea changed. I heard him say, "Tell Tia (my host mother) a word in Spanish." Tia leaned in and cupped her ear so I could whisper the word to her. That was when it hit me that this was a game but I had no idea that the game was "Eye Spy". I thought it was smart to think of the newest word I learned - "linda".  In Spanish it is not only a name but it also means 'cute'. Tia then proceeded to look around the room and randomly guess items. That was when it hit me that we are playing "Eye Spy". I immediately burst out laughing because the word cute was not an object for Tia to find in the kitchen. Tia smiled and attempted to guess but Tio knew what I did wrong and so he suggested we start another round. For my second word, I said bananas since they were on the counter. And this is why understanding the whole conversation in your native language helps! When you only catch bits of something you end up saying something like "linda" which makes no sense playing "Eye Spy" in a kitchen!

To end this bea-u-tiful week I will celebrate my twenty-third birthday.  I woke up to a lovely day, feeling good. My host family took me to Chile so we could enjoy the beach. Chile and the beach were both wonderful.  All in all, my "Birthday Week" ended with a great birthday "day".

Monsters Under Your Bed

As a child, were you ever afraid of monsters under your bed? Well think back to that time. There have not been thoughts of monsters under my bed lately but I feel like those days are returning. At the moment I am surrounded by pillows. Why that reminds me of monsters is simple. The more pillows you have the less likely the monster will find you. Burrow deep into your bed covered with blankets and 15 that's right 15 pillows and even if there were monsters under my bed they wouldn't be able to find me.  Why do I have 15 pillows on my bed? Good question, I have been working hard this week making them. Instead of chairs for the children's reading area at church we decided pillows would be a fun alternative.  I got the job of making them. Which brings me back to childhood moments and monsters. Then again, a lot of things brings me back to childhood memories.

I am excited to say we have new students in English class. We passed out flyers in front of the university and we got bites. There was also one guy who was just walking by the church and saw the sign and came inside and said he wanted to be part of the class. Score one for us.

Here is little glimpse into my home. Tia made a mix between a crepe and a pancake. I want to say I helped but unless you consider holding the bowl while she did all the work is considered helping then I give her all the credit. They were so good. We put some kind of caramel sauce on it. I added apple slices although I think bananas would have gone wonderfully as well. Then we sat down to dinner. Dinners here are just a light snack usually what I would consider breakfast. Toast with avocado or jam or maybe eggs is a common dinner at my new home. But the other night when we had pancakes I was so happy. Ever since Tia made the pancakes it made me a little sad since she can't eat them. It is like making a cake and then not getting a slice, it saddens your heart a little. Tia also made empanadas this week. Some of you might have had them before. If you have, erase those from your memory because Chilean empanadas are the best thing my mouth has tasted. It is like a festival of flavor for your senses. So good that I can't even describe it.

girls freezing at soccer.

On Sunday the men play soccer at a local park. During this time of night the girls tend to go and watch. It is cold and so this week we decided to be pro active. A basketball was brought and we played. I want you to imagine what it looked like to see four girls and a basketball. We split into two teams and played full court. For those who may not know, I loath running. I find it pointless and exhausting. So there I was running - playing basketball which I haven't done for at least 3 years. So you can guess I am pretty rusty though I don't think I was ever that good to begin with. We played until one team reached 15 points. Which means we ran up and down the court for almost an hour non stop. If you were watching you could find me at some moments running and then suddenly I would just lay down.  Since there was only two of us I would have to get up rather quickly and continue playing. Hopefully you can see by this picture how tiring it was! It also was one of the funnest times I had this week. If I play again I will remember not to wear two pairs of pants and 2 jackets because I definitely was no longer cold by the time we finished.

I am thankful for so much. Thinking back on everything it is easy at moments to find myself in a mundane mood. The same routine, the same people. Then - I remember I am in Peru! So if you are in the spot as well thank God for the things that are normal and seem mundane. Every time I leave my house I am grateful I have a house to leave behind. I am thankful for the food I get to eat. I am thankful for the people that did not know me 33 days ago and now treat me like family. I am thankful for family back home that love me from afar. So much that gets put into the normal everyday things that may not be normal and everyday for other people. Until next week... love the small joys God puts into your life.

A Kitchens a Kitchen

As I look around the place I will call home for the next two months there are a few things I realize. Most homes are the same. They are split into rooms that are designed for different reasons, but with every home rooms change. A living room can become a bedroom. A bedroom can become an office. An office can turn into a play room. There are a few rooms that don't change no matter the country. A bathroom may look different from one country to another but it can only serve one purpose. Then, there is the kitchen. A kitchen is a kitchen no matter where you are. I have lived in homes in North America, China, Europe, Central America, Africa, and now South America and a kitchen never changes. Peru is no different than all the other countries I have lived in.  The kitchen is what I find to be the heart of the home. No matter its size the kitchen is a spot where people come together to share life.  

My host mom.

The beginning of this week started in the kitchen. Monday morning my host mother and I went to work making cookies. As most would agree, the smell of fresh baked cookies brings back childhood memories and that has a way of making us smile. This time was no different for me. The cookies we made have no name because we made up the recipe - a type of vegan oatmeal fruit cookie. I will tell you this though, they were delicious. The best part is Tia (Aunt) could eat them. I must admit that to start a day off baking is the best way to start a day. I knew the rest of the week would be amazing, and I was right!

I hope you all like history because I am about to throw some at you. As most of you know I just graduated from a small Foursquare Bible College. Foursquare is a Christian denomination. Like most churches they have a logo. As you can guess, our logo is “4 squares”. How does this relate to Peru? Wait for it…I will take you back in time and tie up the loose ends of this history experience. As a child I was like most other children playing the game of 4 square. It consisted of 1 big box turned into 4 smaller boxes where 4 children would hit a ball around. This game is still played at the college I just graduated from. (I think mostly because of the humor behind the name.) This past week I painted a 4 square court on the church floor for the after school program. So, of course I was feeling school pride and got permission to paint the court the Foursquare denomination colors. Each color represents a different aspect of God's love for us. That is my history lesson… hope you enjoyed it.

Several people have asked the question if Halloween is celebrated in Peru. The answer is yes and no. The church does not celebrate because of the history behind Halloween which includes witches and communicating with family or friends that have passed away. The people that don't attend church in fact do celebrate. Their celebration looks like what I know as “The Day of the Dead”. The children get dressed up and go trick-or-treating but this is done at local businesses instead of homes. I did not celebrate Halloween in Peru although a group of the youth and I went to the central area of town and got to see all of the costumes.

Today I spent most of the day at the pool. We took the youth that help to lead Awanas to the pool for a nice treat. It was a fun day. Watching from my chair I remembered swim parties from my youth and the feel of cold water on a nice summer day. It was very relaxing and enjoyable.

Until next week learn something new, do something you have never done, and love the people close to you.