Fiesta!

This past weekend was party tie in Peru. They all were pretty interesting in their own ways, so I thought I{d tell you a little about them. The first party was for Renalto. He is the 2-year-old son of Tatiana. She was one of the youth who lived on the streets. She died in a drowning accident at the river last winter. She was very loved by everyone here. At this party, the dining/living room was lined with chairs where all the adults sat, just looking at each other, not talking much. At one end was a big table with a huge Sponge Bob Square Pants cake and other mystery snack. The party consisted of talking with the person next to you while listening to very loud salsa and dance music. We listend to the song "Hey Ya!" at least 8 times, no joke. The little kids were encouraged to dance in the middle of everything, which was quite entertaining.

At various points in the party, the aunt would pass around a try of snacks. No plates, napkins, or anything...just take a handfull and eat. I'm learning that no food tastes like I think it will, so the potato chips were thicker and not as salty as I was thinking, the mints were a little musty tasting, and things that looked like they should be really sweet were not. They also had these cold potato ball/cake things. I tried one and would not feel bad if I don't have another. I was expecting a cheesy flavor and instead got a lime flavor.

The biggest suprise was the cake. Now, we knew it wasn't a good sign when we saw the force that the aunt used to cut through it. It was a very dry cake, again, not very sweet, with a sticky/tough marshmallow-frosting.

The next party of that evening was at Generacion. If you remember, that's the home where about 50 street kids live. They have an anniversary celebration each year. They had a DJ and this guy singing and whistling over the beat music. This guy would whistle like I've never heard anyone whistle before. They fed everyone a plate of beans, rice, and a little meat. one of the great things about being around the street kids is that food never goes to waste. When I'm full, I just find a kid to give my leftovers to, which is never hard to do.

The coolest part of the Generacion party was the firewoks. The kids had built this 2-3 story thing out of sugar cane stalks. They lit it on the bottom and suddenly a flurry of fireworks burst from the bottom level. Then, it was a little silence while the flame traveled up to the next level. That level had several things that spun out stream of sparks. The top level had a bar that rained down sparks and this small circle things that shot off the top insto the air before exploding into a small burst of fireworks. Seriously, I am not doing this contraption justice in this email, but it was one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

Another great thing about the Generacion party was that dancing can take the place of words, so it didn't matter than I don't speak many words as long as I say yes to "¿Baile?" (which means, "dance?). It was so cool to see all these kids having such a great time.

On Sunday, about 15 of us took a bus about 2 hours south to Canete for Sandy's 5th firthday party. She is the daughter of Adiete, one of the girls who comes to Casa Job often. Her family was so generous. They fed us all sopa secca, which is a traditional dish of that town. It has spaghetti noodles with a red sauce (but not made from tomates, I'm not sure what it was, really), potatoes, and chicken...a chicken that I'm sure was running around the yard earlier that morning.

They had all of us seated around the dining room table, while they squeezed around the edges of the room. The generosity of people and the way they treat guests is so amazing. I learned at that meal that ginger root is in the dish only for flavor and is not really very good to actually take a bite of.

The most intersting part of that party was using the bathroom. The bathroom (sink, shower, etc) was actually in a seperate building in the back yard. There was a shower curtain for a door and chickens running around alll over the back yard, so both times I used the bathrooms, I had visions of a chicken charing in or the shower curtain blowing back...both of which would not have been good. But nothing happened, thank goodness.

So, that was my weekend of parties. Thought you might find them entertaining. In my next blog I hope to tell more about the youth here and what God is teaching me so far. Thanks for all your emails, thoughts and prayers! I couldn't do this without all of that. Love you all!

One week down...

Hello everyone!
It´s Saturday, our rest day, so I thought it would be a great time to update you all on how things are. This first week in Peru has been quite an adventure.

On Monday, we took a walking tour of our areas of town (the guys and the girls...we live about 10 minutes from each other). We learned where the local grocery store was, what buses to take to get to major places, how to mail letters and exchange money, and a little about eating at the local resteraunts. The Word Made Flesh (WMF) staff here call all the little local resteraunts "Menus". They are everywhere. Most could seat about 20 people, total, and are basically open to the street. The food is pretty good. I was afraid that is was going to be spicy, but it's not. There is a hot sauce that is always on the table (called aji). I tried a bit yesterday, but I don´t think I'll ever be a huge fan of it. I have rice several times each day...I´ll probably have to get a rice cooker when I get hoome so I don't go into withdrawl. For eating, the thing I miss most is milk and cold drinks. Oh, and sweets that are actually sweet. Even things that look like they will be really sweet aren't, which, for the sugar-addict that I am, is quite disappointing.

On Tuesday we took a walking tour of the downtown area, where many of the youth that we will be working with live/spend their days. The most impactful part of that was a discussion we had in a newly renovated park. The park is aplace where the street kids use to be able to hang out, but now it is fenced in with guards at the gate, so the kids would never be able to get in. It´s a little sad to think that the few places the kids have to enjoy are being taken away. It´s so hard to know what to think about that.

On Wednesday we worked at the drop-in center. It is located in a poor area of Lima called La Victoria. Right now, about 15-20 youth are allowed in each day (depending on the number of staff people there). It is actually much more organized than I thought it would be. The doors close at 9:30 each morning. Then the youth sign-up for things they might want to do that day (like take a shower, wash clothes, take a class when they are offered), and sign-up for a chore (sweeping, moping, cleaning, etc). Theyn they have worship (it is so cool to see them sing, slap, play instruments...all in a language that I don't understand). After worship is a Bible lesson, then breakfast. Stella, one of the workers, does the cooking, and she is awesome! After that, the kids so the things they signed up for. Then lunch, clean-up, and everyone leaves between 3 and 3:30.

The youth love to brush their teeth, with lots of toothpaste. We have to ration is or they would take a tablespoon of it at a time. It is hard to sum up the time there in just an email, so I will stop for now and just continue to write more as the trip progresses.

On thursday, we had the morning free, then went to an orphanage (of sorts) where we will volunteer at least once a week. The name is Geracion. Again, the kids there clamored for our attnetion and talked a mile a minute. I had some gum and kleenex in a pocket on the outside of my bag that the kids saw, and in a matter of minutes, half the kleenex and all the gum was gone....it was pretty entertaining. At 1pm, we walked a bunch of the kids to school. Tonight we are going to a party there for their 17th Anniversary Celebratoin.

thursday night we were on our own for a meal for the first time. We decided to make soup. First, we had to buy the ingredients at the local market. We could've went to a regular grocery sotre, but what would´ve been the fun in that? At the market, we learned that a kilo of bow tie pasta is enough to feed about 15 people, not just the five that we were trying to feed...opps! The next adventure was actually in cooking the soup. We were using a propane burner at the house where the guys are staying )which is the apartment of one of the WMF staff). About half-way through, the burner went out. After trying to relight it, we realized it was because the gas was out. So, here we are, five Americans with limited Spanish abilities, and a half done pot of stew. After a few phone calls to some other staff, though, we got a new propane tank and enjoyed a great dish of soup...yea!

Ok, so that brings me to Friday. Another day at the drop-in center, but this time we took a field trip to the San Fransisco Catherdral. They have catacombs there, which are tunnels and rooms under the church where thousands of pepole were buried, so there were bones everywhere. I know that sounds weird, but it was actually kind of cool. The kids really enjoyed it because many of them had never been there, even thought they have been in LIma for much, if not all, of their lives.

Today we are hoping to do some laundry...yes, we get to hand wash our clothes here...explore a bit, and they go to a birthday party tonight. Tomorrow we have another birthday party to attend for the little girl of one of the girls who comes to the drop-in center. It is in a town about 3 hours away, so we will have some quality time on a Peruvian bus tomorrow.

I should say a little abou the traffic here. It is crazy! I have never seen people come so close to an accident over and over without actually getting into one. There are very few stoplights or stop signs. Instead, at an intersection, cars zoom through, honking their horms in warning that "I'm not going to stop or slow down, so don't even think about going!" If you are stopped and want to go, you slowly start to inch your way up until the bus or car coming has no choice but to let you go. Crossing the street can be a challenge, but we are getting the hang of it. Number one rule: don't hesitate, just go when there is a window of opportunity!

we ride buses almost everywhere. They are crowded, sometimes small (like glorified mini-vans), and short...short as in, I have bumped my head at least once every day so far getting on or off a bus.

Well, I really must go. Sorry if this has been long or boring. The next ones won't be so involved. Just wanted to let you know what life is like here so far. My goal is to update this website once a week (probably on Saturdays), so check every so often to see if there is anything new. Adios amigos!