Gettin' Friendly: Visits from Near and Far

Malaria Pills, Hand Weights and Carnies…oh my! What a week it has been; let’s recap.

With Erica on the Pacific Coast in Miraflores. 

Last week started out on a great note, because we hopped on a combi bright and early Monday morning to meet up my friends Dave and Erica in Miraflores. Dave and Erica and are a married couple living in Paraguay for two years while Erica teaches Math at a local high school. It was refreshing to see them after six months and to chat with someone who understand what it’s like to relocate your whole life for such a long time. We spent most of the day walking around the rocky Pacific Coast and chatting, but also hunting in pharmacy after pharmacy for malaria pills. In one week, Dave, Erica, Katrina and I are going to Iquitos, which is in the heart of the Amazon—thus, malaria medicine is necessary. After more than a dozen pharmacies, we finally found a medicine we were content with and headed to my favorite churro place to celebrate.

The view from the top...of the Ferris Wheel! 

Tuesday afternoon, Erica and Dave headed out to southern Peru to check out some of the sights and  Katrina and I headed to the Carlos apartment for a movie night. All of Prudencio’s children share an apartment within walking distance of our homestay. The sisters, Gladys, Marlene and Mirtha live on the lower level, while their brother Roberto, lives upstairs with his wife and they’re son. It was wonderful to spend the night gossiping and pigging out on cancha and popcorn with the girls. Something odd about being a World Service Corps volunteer is that you pretty much spend all of your time with people in the church. That’s by no means a bad thing, but after a while, you miss the feeling of just going out with your friends—the independence of saying, “See ya, I’ll be back later tonight.” Now, of course, Gladys, Marlene, and Mirtha ARE our church friends, but it was still refreshing to be hanging out with them strictly on a social basis and to just spend the night having fun together—and we didn’t even need an escort to walk to their apartment J.

Wednesday was the day we found out we STILL hadn’t seen the REAL Peru. Living in Callao is pretty much as “real” Peru as you can get; it’s on the outskirts of Lima and it’s where the normal people live. It’s not tourist-centered, it’s a little dirty and dogs on the streets are a normal thing. Living here for four months, we thought we’d pretty much seen it all; but Wednesday, Wilfredo took us to a market we’d never been to before. It was off the beaten path and a little…rough and tumble…but we found what we were looking for: hand weights and yoga mats. Apparently home workout equipment is NOT popular in Peru.

My horse looks rather strained... 

Friday marked our first ever English lesson in Monte Sion. Something I LOVE about Peru is that everyone seems to be excited about learning new languages. Everyone is always trying to pick up words in both Quetchua, the language of the Incas, and English. We only had five students for our first class and our age range was from six years old to 52 years old, which I found absolutely fantastic.

Saturday was my first time teaching the young children’s class. I’ve always taught the middle school aged children, but this time around I was with a slightly different age range: 2-8 years old. I have little experience working with kids this young, and it was a bit of a struggle, but overall the class went well. If nothing else, they really seemed to like the hand motions involved with singing “Esta Lucecita” (This Little Light of Mine.)

Attendance was down at the service that night, with only one mom and her daughter from the local community attending. The little girl had attended a few previous events with the church and I have to admit: I sometimes struggle with her. She’s not fond of listening to adults and she is insistent on getting what she wants. But—the thing about church is that everyone is welcome and we’re all called to love each other. So I’m hoping this little girl will start coming to more events and that we can learn to have a better understanding of each other.

FYI: This guy added two tables after this! 

To round out the week, Sunday was an exhaustingly fantastic day. Karen, Rocio, Katrina and I left the house bright and early to go a fair at Costa Verde. Naturally, I was a little nervous about the event since my stomach is less than fond of fairs; however, loaded up with Dramamine, I only had one moment when I thought I was going to toss my cookies, and luckily, I managed to choke that back. A particularly awesome part of the fair is that they had exotic fair food: corn dogs, fried pickles and funnel cakes. Naturally, we bought a giant funnel cake, complete with chocolate and strawberries and destroyed the entire thing.

After the fair, we headed straight to church, where Johnny preached and Betzabe presided. I always like it when Betza presides because she loves music and carefully chooses every song we sing—and she leads all the songs with passion. Sometimes in church here I feel like I’m at a concert because whoever leads the song generally closes their eyes and just belts it out. Say what you want about our pitch and rhythm, if nothing else, we’ve got passion.

As for this week, we start our malaria regiment today and I’m a little anxious about it. Marlaria medicine is notorious for having weird side effects like creepy dreams and I don’t really want to tango with that. Dave and Erica will be back in town on Saturday, then Monday the four of us are jungle-bound. Wish us luck! 

And, by the way, you're preaching tomorrow.

The end of last week was unexpectedly busy, and I’m just now getting time to blog, my apologies! So—let’s recap.

Sunset from the church roof in Monte Sion. 

The beginning of last weekend was slow and...well, it wasn't peaceful. We woke up right at 8 a.m. every morning to the continuous banging downstairs. They’re still fixing the water system in the house, which means digging up the entire bathroom and patio area to install a giant water tank and pipes. There’s constant banging and booming, which I can handle, but the awkward part is that you never know when you can use the water or not. More than once Katrina and I have gone to the bathroom, then double and triple checked that we could wash the toilet water down without it falling on someone’s head. Luckily, the work is scheduled to finish this week (which probably means it will actually finish early next week.) Until then...when it's yellow, let it mellow. 

Katrina and I are finally back into our exercise routine, although we aren’t  can't run near as far as we used to—we’ll get there though! Perhaps my favorite part of working out last week was the Billy, the 10 year old, who enjoys doing Jillian Michaels workout videos with us. By far his favorite part of the routine is throwing punches. 

Billy is just living with us for the next few months, but he is positively fantastic. I keep telling Katrina that he is the cutest kid in the entire world. Now—I know what you’re thinking—‘No, no, Melissa, MY child is the cutest kid in the whole world.’ Well here is what you don’t understand—Billy speaks Spanish, and for some reason everything he does is ten times more adorable because it’s in Spanish. During church last week there was a time for testimonies and nobody got up to share. After an awkward silence, Billy stepped up for all of us and  A Capella sang a hymn memorized. It was my favorite part of the service (and I feel like I can say that, because I’m the one that delivered the sermon.)

Preaching in Filidelfia. 

Friday night at dinner Katrina and I had the unpleasant discovery that one person scheduled to preach, and one person scheduled to preside, couldn’t make it to church this weekend. This ended up meaning that Katrina would preach one day earlier than expected and I had 24 hours to prepare to preside over that service, then 48 hours to prepare a sermon for Sunday. Needless to say, we were less than thrilled to have such short notice—I was already scheduled to teach a children’s class and Katrina was already scheduled to teach an adult class. We debated what was best to do on such short notice, but every time an emergency like this comes up the result is the same: Wilfredo bears the burden. Not wanting him to, yet again, have to pick up the slack, we decided to step up to the plate and put something together.

Our hard work was and wasn’t rewarded: Saturday night’s activities at Monte Sion were a little lack luster. A member of the congregation, Elsa, happened to have her daughter’s birthday party at the same time as church. As a result, all the kids went to the birthday party, and nobody showed up for classes. Eventually, we ended going to the birthday party too and it was a sight to behold. Kids were literally flooding out the door, it was a full house to celebrate the first birthday of Nicole. There was a constant train of snack flooding in and out of the house: crackers, chips, popcorn, jello, masamorra, cake, etc. There was also a hired (and scantily clad) fairy princess, who led activities, like breaking the piñata, and gave out an assortment of balloons and toys. Nobody does birthdays quite like Peru. 

After an hour or so at the birthday party, we went ahead and had church, and although nobody from Monte Sion attended, it still went well. The only attendees were from the Filidelfia congregation: Consuelo, and her children Betzabe and Eder, Wilfredo, and Katrina and I. Though the crowd was small (and rather sleepy), Consuelo, Wilfredo and I all gave testimonies, and Katrina delivered a solid sermon; we went home feeling good about the way things went, despite our low attendance.

The Pacific Ocean in Miraflores--I can't wait to swim in it! 

Sunday was the my big day to preach in Filidelfia. Exhausted from staying up so late to finish a kids class, service and sermon on such short notice, I had to drink a foul tasting energy drink called Maltin Power before I preached. The sermon went well, but as always, there was room for improvement. Over the last six months in Peru, Katrina and I primarily wrote, translated, then read our sermons. This six months, we still have notes, but we’re no longer reading our sermons. Naturally, when this happens, we forget some Spanish words and get a little flustered, but it’s a work in progress. By the end of the night, I was okay with how the service went and happy to have the week behind me.

I won’t go into too much detail about this week, but I will tell you we’ve been feeling a little bit of the strains of leadership lately. With the new year, the church is looking to refresh some things and make improvements, which does lead to some….debating. However, we can go into further detail on that in the next blog. Until then! 

Getting Back to Business (with Help from a Few Friends)

Katrina and I set out last week trying to reestablish our routine in Callao; however, last week just wasn’t a regular week.

For starters, there is jack hammering going on at the house. This is not an exaggeration. Workers are ripping out the floor in the bathroom downstairs and making preparations to add a new pipe and water tank at the house. The water on our level hasn’t been working since before Christmas, and while I’m happy to see the issue finally getting fixed, the 8 a.m. jack hammering has been less than pleasant.

The beautiful cathedral in Lima. 

Another new element is that it’s summer vacation in Peru. Did I mention it’s hot here? It’s hot here. I woke up covered in sweat this morning. Anyway, with the free time, a lot of people have used the opportunity to travel. Sandra’s mother and little brother, Billy, are staying upstairs, and we get to share our meals with them. Billy is nine years old and pretty much the cutest kid I’ve ever seen. Although most kids use summer vacation to let their minds melt into mush, Billy intends to use his to learn English, so I gave him a few lessons last week, which was fun.

Wednesday was when our week really started moving when we picked up a few people from the airport—Katrina and I’s boss, World Service Corps Program Coordinator Emily Penrose-McLaughlin, and Steve Hatch, the Assistant to the Apostle for Central and South America Mission Field. Emily was here to do a site visit and to check in with Katrina and I for our midterm review. Steve was here on a regularly planned visit. They got in late at night, so we hit the hay shortly after their arrival (me in my glorious bunk bed with an exceptional mattress that managed to be both thin and lumpy.)

Thursday was a day full of meetings; meetings about our World Service Corps experience, meetings with Wilfredo and Graciela about their experience in this process, and more. Honestly, it was a good way to start out our next six months in Peru because it reminded us of how far we’d come; for example, when I first got to Peru, I showed up in the airport alone, without so much as a phone number or address for where I was going. Don’t get me wrong—I still have moments here where I feel like that horrified girl in the airport, but they generally fade quickly and are slightly less dramatic. 

Friday was our chance to show Emily a little bit of Central Lima. We headed to Plaza Mayor, and we got to take a tour of Basilica Catedral de Lima (aka the Lima Cathedral.) I understand that, especially if you’re touring around Europe, you slowly begin to feel like all of the old churches are the same, but coming from the Midwest, we just don’t have a lot of really old buildings like this, and I still enjoy poking in and out of an old church now and then. It’s always especially impressive to me in Lima, because you know that building has survived some decent sized earthquakes over the years.

The whole group in Filidelfia. 

Friday night was my first time teaching since our arrival in Peru, and I lead our adult bible study class in a lesson about worry and anxiety. While worry is pretty much a part of everyone’s everyday life, it’s always been a particularly large part of mine. Whether its social situations, driving or just leading a meeting, my anxiety can be completely overwhelming—for example, there are times when I’m driving I get so overwhelmed I honestly forget which pedal is which. Therefore, naturally, anxiety was a topic I was “anxious” to further explore. The class went well overall, with each person sharing their concerns: computer problems right before a big presentation, a sick child, work troubles; everyone had their own thing to bring to the table. After some trust falls and bible scriptures, we wrapped the day up by writing our problems on a paper and offering them up to God.

Saturday was a full day in Monte Sion. We spent most of the day in workshops about all kinds of things: the ins and outs of World Service Corps, how to teach young adults, how to teach children, etc. The day ended with a special service, where Emily preached and Katrina translated.

Sunday was a new day full of workshops, this time in Filidelfia. Steve taught a few lessons about basic beliefs of the church and Katrina and I shared some of our personal experiences as World Service Corps reps.

We took a lunch break midway through the day where I finally got to try Chufa, or Peruvian Chinese food for the first time. Peru has a notable part of the population that originally hailed from China—apparently, a big part of the end of slavery here was bringing in Chinese workers from abroad to fill in the work gap (which seems counterproductive, but whatever.) The influence from China remains and I feel like you can find a ‘Chifa’ on about every street corner here. While the food was, of course, similar to Chinese food in the United States, there were a few differences—notably, that Peruvians really seemed to love the extra sweet styles of Chinese food. My side of the table of the table spent the majority of the meal lusting after something that was covered in pineapple and something similar to sweet and sour sauce (although I think it was JUST sweet, not sour.)

With Steve & Emily on their last night in Peru. 

We rounded out our day with another service and this time around we got to hear Steve preach in Spanish. It’s always so odd to have visitors here because we switch between English and Spanish with each other so regularly. I thought people only did that in The Lord of the Rings, but apparently that happens in real life too.

Emily and Steve are probably arriving back in Kansas City about right now, and Katrina and I are trying round two of establishing our routine in Peru. I don’t have much on my schedule this week, so I’m trying to devote a little time to the joyous activity of filling out job applications and beefing up my resume—that is, unless someone wants to offer me a job right now? No takers? Okay—then I should probably get to work. Until next time!

Guess Who's Back?

Hello again from Callao! After our whirlwind December, going everywhere from Machu Picchu to Blue Springs, MO, Katrina and I are back in Peru for the second half of our World Service Corps terms.

Now, I’m not going to bore you too long with this—but I do feel like I need to tell a little bit about what it was like to be home for the holidays.

First of all, when Katrina and I were leaving Peru, I was completely flustered because there was this small thing we had to deal with: customs. We had overstayed our 90 day visas in Peru by, well, an additional 90 days. As we went through customs, the officer asked me (in Spanish of course) why I had overstayed so long and all I could stammer out was, “Soy una voluntaria” (I’m a volunteer.)  Apparently that was enough, because he let me go after charging me a $133 fine. P.S. They only charged Katrina $64—jerks.

Meeting up with friends at IHOP while at home! 

Anyway, after a long night of flights from Lima to Houston, then Houston to Kansas City, we touched down on a snow covered runway and I was home. My parents were anxiously awaiting and had a coat ready for me (thank goodness.) I went straight from the airport to Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs, to see my boys play their last home game of the season in the frigid cold. I knew I was back in America when a random stranger in the security line asked me if I wanted a hit of his Jagermeister. ‘Merica.

Anyway, after what my family fondly calls, “The Kansas City Letdown” (aka another heartbreaking loss by the Chiefs—who, for the record, will always be my boys, no matter how many times they put me through The Kansas City Letdown) we headed home to thaw out.

It’s amazing how quickly you can fall into the routine of things once you’re home. I immediately commenced drinking out of my mom’s tea cup, making the dogs bark for no apparent reason and leaving a trail of my things all throughout the house (I sound like a delightful roommate, don’t I?) The following week was a pleasant mixture of simply sitting and enjoying my family’s company and rushing around frantically to try to see as many friends as I could.

On a Christmas morning run in the local park!

Here, I have to pause to say that I have some incredible friends. More than a few of them footed the lunch or dinner bill for me while I was home, since they know I’m not getting paid this year. It was nothing I asked for and I was completely humbled when my friends insisted on helping me out. And while I’d love to think that I will forever be a hippy with no big kid life roaming around South America, I’m also excited for the day when I’m financially on my feet and can treat them to a similar pleasure (although I know it won’t quite be the same.)

Seeing my extended family was wonderful. I managed to get to see pretty much all of my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. Everyone was excited to hear about my adventures in Peru and it made me feel good about myself. I’m well aware that I’ve taken a path a little different than most—many of my friends are starting budding careers, have husbands or fiancés, and are starting to think about investing in houses. I quit my salaried job, packed all of my things in boxes to store in my parents’ basement (thanks mom), said a final farewell to my car (which was donated to charity a week after I left). I did all of this to move Peru to do something I had absolutely no experience in. Yeah, it’s not exactly your typical path for a 25 year old. But my family finds all of that “adventurous” and it’s refreshing to have someone tell me they think my path is cool.

We discovered some "Welcome Home" decor on our door!

Before I knew it, January 5 was upon me and it was time to make the trek to the airport through the slippery Kansas City streets (seriously though, the drive was horrible.) Before we even got off our plane in Lima we could feel that infamous Lima humidity and it was evident that we weren’t in Kansas anymore (and thank goodness, because the wind chill there was -30 today.)

Looking ahead, I’m excited for the next six months. I feel like Katrina and I spent the first few months we were in Lima getting accustomed to each other, the world around us, and our new roles. Now that we’ve got those things (mostly) figured out, we can figure out what we can really accomplish while we’re here.

Of course, I still have some lingering concerns: my (still) lacking Spanish skills and figuring out what on earth I’m going to do with my life when I come home in July (to name a few); but for right now, I’m choosing to look at the positive. We’ll tackle the hurdles one we get to them. Here’s to making the next 178 days in Peru count.