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!