Weekend Trip with Juana

I went on a short weekend trip to the country with my friend Juana. She went to give a short talk on personal hygiene, things such as how many times to wash your hair or body every week, how many times to brush your teeth a day, etc. I went along for the ride just to get to know the country. It was about an 8 hour busride and we probably passed more or less 8 villages the whole time. It was a beatiful little town in the middle of nowhere. The municipal building actually played music, native to the town, on a loudspeaker loud enough so everyone in the town and the outskirts could enjoy it. I could never imagine that in the States. We arrived in the town, Colquemarca, late Friday night and went straight to bed at the pastor's house. In the morning we had breakfast with their family but I was really confused at first because in the same house, there were numerous rooms and a woman across the hall came in and seemed to know Juana well so I figured it was the pastor's wife, only to find out she was the owner of the house and down the hall was the pastor's family. We explored the country for a while, checking out a bull ring that's used once a year for the town's anniversary. That same weekend they have cockfights too. Again, I can't imagine that in the States. We came back to do the teaching on personal hygiene and then everyone set out sacks of habba beans, corn, and freeze dried potatoes. We just took handfulls and sat around the piles eating it all. After filling myself up, I found out that was just snack. Real lunch was to be eaten with the family. Luckily our bus came early and we weren't able to eat the lunch.

On the busride home, something interesting happened. Juana offered me this fruit that I had never had before and it actually made my mouth a little itchy so I was allergic to it. I told Juana and she made me stop eating it in case my throat were to close up so we stuck it in this bag, after I had taken at least 5 bites. But then a few minutes later, the bus stopped so we could all have dinner. Juana didn't trust the restaurant so we ate the snacks we brought, but sat on the bus. Juana noticed the person next to us was still on the bus too, a woman of probably 70 years. And then, Juana gave her my half eaten piece of fruit. Without hesitation, the woman ate it. I know Peruvians are perfectly fine with sharing food that's half eaten, but with strangers? I was just shocked. I would think Juana was insulting the lady, giving her a half eaten fruit, but the woman didn't seem ashamed or insulted at all, just hungry. So, that was a bit of a shock, especially because before we ate our lunch I prayed for those that don't have food, not noticing the woman next to us.

In the picture of me holding a rock, some of the rocks there were made of a different mineral that was especially light, so I was able to pick it up, but honestly, it was still heavy, just less heavy.

Catching up

When I last updated, I only ended with pictures from the end of September. Here I'll finally start putting October pictures in, even though its now November.

I went on a hike with my bible study group, plus a couple of other good friends. The hike was the mountain that's behind my house, or I guess I really do live on the mountain, at the very foot of it, because that would be why I have such a hill to get to my house. We took a bus that dropped us off in the middle of nowhere to get us to the other side of the mountain where it's a bit higher up, a shorter hike up than it would be on the side where I live. There's not too much to tell about the trip except that it was awesome with a really great view of Peru, seeing little villages scattered all throughout. Going down was so fun because we brought cardboard with us and we were able to sled down the tall grass fairly easily, minus random rocks that shredded our boxes apart. At the end of our trail on the top, we stopped at the cross, then we slid down the rest of the way until the tree line began and we walked through some thin woods. In the very last picture you'll see the mountain from the viewpoint at the bottom. The reason I took the picture is because the lines all the way on the left (there are 3 sets of lines) are from us when we were sledding down the hill and pushing all of the long grass down. We made our mark without even realizing it so it was fun to see it and be surprised.

That next week we had a regional strike and some of us from the hike and a few extra people took a long bikeride out to one of the villages where one of the main churches is. We stopped there for a few hours and ate at the pastor's fishfarm where some of us in the group caught the fish with nets and picked out the ones we were going to eat. We watched them beat the fish dead on the head with the back of the knife and then scrape all the scales off before they got to the real dirty work. It was delicious. Unfortunately, it rained the whole time we were there and part of the time home. I also didn't bring my camera so I'm sorry you can't see some great pictures from the trip.

Praises:
~My parents and I had a great and SAFE time while they visited for a week.
~I continue to experience new things here, just learning and appreciating all that there is.
~God is trying to work in my life.

Prayers:
~That I would do all that God is asking me to do for Him.
~God will continue to help me adjust to the culture and strengthen my relationships with my students and friends.