Volleyball, Talents Shows and Banana Pancakes

I’m sitting here listening to the Chiefs game online, slightly paranoid that I’m throwing off their mojo. I went to as many Chiefs game as I could last year and we had an abysmal record. Then I leave the country and the team starts out 5-0. Coincidence? Possibly. Possibly not. Regardless, the chances of me being able to listen to a game in Huánuco are slim to none, so I’m drinking in all the Chiefs I can before we leave.

But first thing’s first—I need to recap the week.

Last weekend, after church, I had my first Peruvian sleepover. Before I jump into that, I need to break down the Carlos family tree. At the top of the tree is the Carlos family—there’s Graciela (Carlos Paz), our host mom, Wilfredo (Carlos), the pastor in Peru, Consuelo (Carlos Yanqui) and Prudencio (Carlos). They’re all brothers/sisters and they’re all active in the church. We live with Graciela and her children, Wilfredo lives on his own (he’s unmarried and doesn’t have children), Consuelo lives with her two children and Prudencio lives with his wife Livia, and his two youngest children, while his older children share a separate apartment. Follow me? Eh… let’s move forward anyway.

So, all of the female Carlos family members were invited to our sleepover, and the turnout was pretty good—we had three of Prudencio’s daughters, Consuelo’s daughter, and of course, Katrina and I. Now, what does a Peruvian sleepover entail? Food, karaoke and dancing. Fortunately for me, we were a little too exhausted for the dancing, so we just ate a chicken dinner, did a little karaoke and hit the hay. It was a low-key, simple night, but it’s always heartwarming to see how close knit the Carlos family is and how they always make time to hang out with each other.

Tuesday was another great example of this—it was a federal holiday and everyone had the day off work. Nearly everyone in the Carlos family made the trek to a local park, where we spent the entire day playing soccer, volleyball, jump rope and tug of war. Perhaps my favorite part of the whole affair was the picnic; in Peru, they go all out. Cancha (it’s similar to popcorn), Chica Morada (a traditional Peruvian drink made from purple corn), shredded chicken, Chinese rice, beets, an assortment of fruit, rolls, and the list goes on. It was an interesting take on the holidays—yes, food was an important element, but it was also all about being active—and I mean everyone, 70 year old Prudencio included.

 

And speaking of food, Katrina and I tried our hand at cooking twice this week. Wednesday we headed over to Wilfredo’s house to break in his kitchen. Wilfredo moved into his house in July, but he eats nearly all of his meals in Graciela’s house; thus, Wilfredo has gone more than three months without using his brand new kitchen. So we served up some cilantro-lime rice, cooked veggies and fish, rounded out with some no-bake cookies and maracuya juice. Perhaps my favorite part of this whole experience was shopping at the market—buying cilantro at one booth, a mango at another, pepper at another, etc. The best part was picking out our fish—we had no idea what we were doing, so we just picked a big, healthy looking fish, and asked the woman running the booth to cut the scales and head off. All and all, the meal came out well.

This morning we tried our hand at cooking banana pancakes. We rounded out the meal with some fresh eggs, pineapple and sausage, and it was the perfect way to start the day. We were really hoping to find some chocolate chips to throw into our pancake batter, but, alas, we came up short. We might just have to bring some chocolate chips back with us when go home for Christmas.

This weekend was a big event in Monte Sion—a talent show and clothing donation. When the Ayers were here, they brought an entire suitcase of clothes to donate to the congregation in Monte Sion. We combined this clothes with some other clothing the Paz family had been collecting and ended up with a heaping amount to donate. The donations went over well—it was pretty much organized chaos—but by the end of the night, the families were able to walk away with at least 10 pieces of donated clothing.

The talent show was—well, interesting. With the allure of free clothing, we had a full house for the church service, which was great to see. The thing I didn’t expect was that there were twice as many children than as adults. This made the service slightly more chaotic; at all times, the noise level in the church was a dull roar, and there were at least three children running laps around the building (including running on the stage, in front of the person preaching.) Katrina and I had rehearsed a talent—singing “For Everyone Born” in Spanish—but we scrapped that idea to share something the children could enjoy a little more. We ended up singing “Cristo es la Roca para Mi” and, thankfully, the kids ate it up.

Today, we have a few more exciting things to do, including church in Filidelfia. We’re leaving for Huanaco on Wednesday and I’ll be sure to update the blog again before we head out.

Until then—I’ve got a Chiefs game to watch!