Living in a Man's World

Things are finally back to normal in Huanuco! I have a bit of a cold coming on, which Carolina insists is from the dogs (she has valid reason—two of the dogs here have a cold.) Her new thing to do is to tell me I can only touch the dogs with a stick, “no mas.” I’ve started getting scolded when someone catches me cuddling up to a dog, but I think everyone also realizes that trying to keep me away from the dogs is a lost cause. The evolving compromise is that I, alongside the 7 and 11 year old, have to prove that I’ve washed my hands before dinner. Fair enough.

Sling Shotting: It´s harder than it looks.

Anyway, with our strength back to normal, Katrina and I spent last week getting back into our routine: teaching English classes, getting ready for church activities and spending time with the family. It was an easy week for me, because I didn’t have any responsibilities for the service, so I ended up spending quite a bit of time with the family.

My family time in Huanuco is quite different than my family time in the States. The biggest difference is that Carolina and Orlando’s family is male dominated. I come from a family with three girls and one boy; in this family, there’s five boys and one girl. Thus, I’m not accustomed to toilet seats being up, someone being shirtless at all times, and accidentally walking up on someone peeing in the backyard. At the same time, I’m somewhat in my element: because there are very few feminine bones in my body.

For example: Eynor’s favorite activity is practicing with his sling shot in the backyard. Generally, this is not the most girly of activities, but Katrina and I have jumped on board with sling shot practice.  Eynor has one sling shot that is more, Bart Simpson style, with a stick attached, and another other sling shot that’s just a piece of elastic. The latter one is a little harder to work and often results in you launching a rock at your own finger. While I have to admit Katrina and I are far from experts, I can at least say I won Sunday’s pre-church milk can killing competition.

The milk cans (aka our targets.) Notice that we haven´t hit any.

Moving on, Katrina and I have hit our one month mark in Huanuco. We celebrated, by trekking to the mall and eating some burgers at Bembos, a Peruvian fast food spot equivalent to Diary Queen. We also stopped by Radio Shack (turns out they have those in Peru) to get a surge protector. Electronics in Peru use more watts than electronics in the States and energy comes in bursts. Thus, after a month in Huanuco, Katrina’s computer cord burnt up and she had to wait week before we could find her a new one. While we were at the mall, we also had to stock up on bottled water. Between the two of us, Katrina and I drink about 2.5 liters of bottled water a day, which means we need to stock up on water as often as we can. This may sound easy, but remember last week’s post about the Hill of Death? Carrying five liters of water up the Hill of Death is enough to make anyone sweat.

Friday night, a crowd of us gathered for a church planning meeting, where we dished out service responsibilities. Katrina and I weren’t sure whether delegating out duties would go well or not, but Sunday we had the highest attendance we’ve had since coming to Huanuco.

Activities started with a few hours of volleyball with the kids, then we all filed into Orlando and Carolina’s living room for the service. We ended up having to bring in more chairs from the kitchen, which was a welcome dilemma. Jimmy presided, and I got my first taste of what church in Huanuco is like when we aren’t here. Jimmy pretty much radiates energy everywhere he goes and church was no exception. He led a lot of interactive activities where he would say things like, “Who saves us?” and the audience would yell, “Jesus!”

Katrina trying her hand at the sling shot.

After Jimmy warmed up the crowd, his grandfather Antonio led us in a few songs. I’m not sure why, but music has been a bit of a struggle in Huanuco. We struggle to find the rhythm, the beat and to sing remotely on pitch. Generally, songs here have been a bit freestyle, where you just hope that everyone finishes singing at the same time. It’s an art we’re going to need to perfect a bit more before Katrina and I lead a campfire next week.

Moving on, Katrina preached and once more we encountered the intimidating experience where someone interrupts the person preaching to add their insight. When you think about it—it’s a great way to go about church. In all of my teaching classes in college the professors warned us against standing up front and lecturing all day; so why do it in church? When it comes to preaching, it’s still a slightly intimidating idea, leading a discussion about a scripture and you can’t help but think things might get a little heated—but it’s an idea worth trying. Anyway, Katrina handled the situation with grace, the service wrapped up nicely and everyone went on their way.

As for this week, Katrina and I are planning a few things so we can teach the Peruvians a little about Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is really the first big, family holiday that Katrina and I are missing while in Peru, but it’s exciting to be able to share a few aspects of the day with the people here.  Until then, eat some turkey for me!