Roots

Well, after a relaxing time at a confrence for Mission to the World missionaries in Mexico, I'm finally back in Cusco for good. In my new world of ever changing circumstances it's good to be in Cusco and be able to start planting some roots.

I'll warn you ahead of time that this is kind of long and may be boring for some, but others have asked about my living situation, so here's the info....

Before arriving here there were lots of unknowns(yes, I know it's just a normal part of life...). One of the things I've wanted to have ironed out asap was my living situation. My boss had opened his home to me and offered that I could stay there as long as I needed til I could find a place of my own. I'm not always a very patient person, so i was determined to find a place the two days I was in Cusco before going to Mexico for a week. God was gracious to me and quickly provided a nice place to live(such a great deal!!). I was able to move into my house the day I came back from the conference in Mexico. Yay!!

Friends on my team were so sweet to take me shopping(directly from the airport) for appliances and other stuff I would need so I could move in right away. So, I am now living in a place of my own. I've discovered that all you REALLY need is a fridge and microwave to get started. Houses or Apartments don't come with any appliances here, so it takes a good bit of work to get a place up and running.

It's a great little place for me. It's a cute little townhouse in a "gated community" on the top of a hill, so it's really quiet and has an absolutely beautiful view of the mountains from my bedroom window. There's plenty of room for me and a cute tiny backyard, which I am so excited about since I like to garden. Other favorite features: lots of windows and skylights upstairs, cute little kitchen, and newly painted walls in my favorite shade of yellow. Another added bonus is that there's a missionary family living just a couple of doors down from me. They have been so sweet to me and have really looked after me since I moved in.

It's been so nice to wake up to complete silence. After living with a family and lots of other students as well, it is so nice for me. Other nice features are that it's just a short walk to the clinic and church. There's also a market close by, which is very convenient if I just want to run over to buy a pigs head right quick.

So, at this point, I'm enjoying setting up the house and making it my own little space. The only think I've disliked about the place is the rat living in the kitchen since day #1. Not cool!! Thankfully, some really kind friends dealt with it for me. Otherwise it's been a nice place to start to plant roots.

Home!!

Well, I'm here. After an enjoyable 10 hour bus ride I'm finally in Cusco. I'm serious about the enjoyable bus ride this time around. It was pretty much uneventful except for the losing my ticket part. I had to wait a while to get all of my bags. Thankfully I had locked my luggage and had the keys, so I could prove it was mine by opening the locks. All worked out and was pretty funny for my friend who was traveling with me....

It's good to be in the city I'll be calling home for the next couple of years, but does feel pretty strange not to be in school or studying. I still have plenty to do as far as set up, but I'm happy to be done with the moving lots of stuff and the hassle with all of that. I'm still current homeless, but am happy to report that I'm not living under the bridge I had previously thought I'd be calling home for a while. I'll be staying with my bosses family for a while til I can find a place to live. Cusco is a bit of a change from the city of Arequipa, but it's absolutely beautiful here. I'd forgotten how close the mountains are and how many wide open spaces there are here. It's beautiful!! I'm looking forward to hiking some of those mountains hopefully in near future.

In the meantime, I'm hoping to get more settled into home and work asap. Many surprises are ahead for me on that side of things and I'm excited to have less mysteries in that part of life, but wouldn't be surprised if God's answer to this request is NO, you need to wait a bit more.... For now I'm trying to be patient and enjoy the ride.

I'm looking forward to a little bit of travel this week. I'll be attending an retreat with Mission to the World for the missionaries in Latin America. Should be a good time of fellowship and renewal. I'm thankful for God's timing with my transition from school to Cusco and having the opportunity to attend this retreat. Hopefully I'll be sane when I get back...

Hasta Luego!!

Que chévere!!

I can't believe that I'm finished with school, but I'm told that I'm done. Whenever a student finishes their studies here, there's a little graduation party in between classes. This time around, there were two of us graduating. Each graduating student gives a speech(in Spanish), we eat some food, and pray for the students who are graduating. It's a good time for the students who are graduating, but for newer students as well as they see what the end results of half a year of studying look like.

It was a good time for me to look back to when I first started at the school and see where I am today. It was also nice to thank my kind teachers for all they have done for me and apologize to them for all they've had to put up in the past six months I've been there. There's a slight possibility I'm on the top of the "difficult students" list at the school by now(just personality). I've had the best, kindest, sweetest teachers for my time in school. They were SO patient with me always. I've enjoyed studying at the school and will miss many people at the school. Today was the start of many goodbyes I'd rather not say, but it's one of those things that's got to be done in a transition.

It feels a bit strange not to have homework, but I guess in place of homework, I get to pack up all of my stuff and move to Cusco. Saturday's the big day. I'm looking forward to getting to Cusco, just not the packing up my life here part...
Any volunteers for packing??













My huge grammar class of two students: My very entertaining y maravillosa teacher in the middle and my partner in crime/mother on the right

Sweet!!!!!

As the time to move to Cusco comes closer and closer I've started the process of saying goodbye to some things here in Arequipa. This past Sunday I had one of my first “last times”. It was my last Sunday here in Arequipa. I've enjoyed worshiping at the church I've called home for the past six months, but at times it's been difficult. Most Sundays, my brain's working so hard to understand little bits of things, inevitably there's a word or two in there that I don't understand(so I have to write it down or look it up),and then after all of that I've pretty much lost little parts of the whole point of the sermon, and then the big point of the whole deal. It's been a bit frustrating at times, but it's all a part of the language learning process.

Ever since I've started school here, the response to the slow process of language learning has been one of the most popular phrases here: “poco a poco....”(little by little..). As an impatient person, I'm really not a fan of the concept, but have come to respect it. It's been the story of my life for the past six months and I'm pretty sure it will continue for the rest of my time here in Peru.

I'm not saying I'm best friends with the concept, but it was a good thing for me to remember in church this past Sunday. After the service I realized that I really didn't have think hard core during the sermon, I was able to just listen (exciting since it doesn't always work out that way...) Oops, a great example of that (in my eyes) frustrating phrase of “poco a poco”. It was a sweet time for my last Sunday in Arequipa and I'm looking forward to more opportunities to see the results of language school in the future.

The forbidden word........

So, I've decided to come up with some reasonable goals for my last seven days of school I've recently discovered my inappropriate use of "like" mixed in with my Spanish. I've never noticed this habit, but it's been confirmed by all of my teachers and friends that it's crazy bad, so I'd like to purge it out of my system ASAP....

I'm still looking for good solutions to the problem. The most popular one has been paying one Sole every time anyone catches me saying the "forbidden word". We'll see how that one goes. I might end up broke soon.

ojalá.....

Were has the time gone? Seriously... I can't believe that I've been here for just a couple days shy of six months. That's means I've been in school for almost 26 weeks. It's really hard for me to believe my time here is just about up. It's been such a fun experience. I've come to love the people of Arequipa, even if everyone and their mother on the streets thinks I want to talk with them. As strange as it has been at times, I think I'm going to miss all the random conversations with total strangers(mostly in the parks...). I've really enjoyed my time in school too. The school has become my family here and I'm really going to miss them(they probably won't miss my crazy antics though....)

As school finishes up, I'm desperately trying to squeeze as much Spanish into my brain as possible. Its an interesting challenge as my brain is asking to quit. I don't think that's going to fly if I want to continue to live. I knew the day would come, but I'm now faced with the reality that I will so very soon be forced to function in the real world again. My bubble is going away......

I am very excited to start working again as a nurse and am a bit curious about what God has for me in my quickly approaching future in Cusco. As of right now, there are lots of unknowns about Cusco, so I'm in the process of attempting to become Peruvian in how I react to ever changing plans. It's been a good lesson in flexibility and in trusting God. So for now, I'm just trying to hang on an enjoy the ride. I'm sure the next couple of weeks in Arequipa will fly right by and before I know it, I'll be in Cusco starting up even more trouble.....

hasta luego,