I did it for you, mom

At school, October is I-Love-To-Read month. On the 31st, today, we celebrated "Storybook Day," (a very smooth way to avoid Halloween controversy) and all the students and staff dressed up as characters from books they read this month.

I preferred to spend my leisure time with people rather than with books and for this reason, I ended up dressing up as a character from the short and sweet, “Election 2008: A Voter’s Guide”...




...Yes, I went as Sarah Palin.
Happy Storybook Day.

Here are some other characters:

Pot-y Humor

Today at school I made a list of all the things I need to prepare for my busy Tuesday tomorrow. I opened up the list just now (at night) and read the following:

To Prep for Tuesday:
Bring pot to school.

Wait, I can explain!
I am planning on letting my art club girls try melting things on Tuesday, but no COOKING pot TO BOIL WATER IN is available. Thus, I need to bring one.

Tourist-of-prey

Chullo: a Peruvian style of hat made from vicuña, alpaca, llama, or sheep's wool protecting it's wearer from the harsh elements of the Andean Mountain Region. The most common consumer of the chullo is the native Peruvian tourist. During our trip last week, we sighted many variations of this camera-bearing carnivore.













While our bus stopped to let us walk around we saw a British woman preying on chullos. She was speaking to the vendor in English and assuming she was being completely understood. A real-life picture of the scene and a record of exactly what was being said can be seen below:












Woman: (holds up a chullo) You wouldn’t happen to have one of a darker color would you?

Vendor: (stares at first, then, confused, picks up a new chullo to show her)

Woman: Oh, you are right this color is quite lovely. Do you have any more like it?

Vendor: (stares)

And the woman didn’t stop talking after this.




There was one other American on the bus who was traveling with her Peruvian husband.
She was talking in Spanish to a tour guide but didn’t have the words she needed in order to communicate well and was struggling for a long period of time with one word in particular. In frustration, she turned to her husband and said in an angry voice, “Honey! Tell me the word I am thinking of!”

You can see a photo of the disgruntled stranger and her husband to the left. Note that she also is a chullo consumer.



Oh yes. Below, are the 3 most deadly chullo consumers of all.

They should be called absenfree ballots

Today












upside-down.


















Absentee ballots: the freedom to vote can be so much more free.

Yes, that is me in the picture above, blur lines expressing that up to this moment, a vote has never been accomplished with such boundless passion.

A New Flavor of Peru!

We had over a half a week off of school for a holiday. So, four teachers and I traveled to Peru's Culca Canyon. It sort of reminded me of the trips my family takes to Immanuel Mission near Christmastime, except that the dirt wasn't red and the land was being farmed on ancient looking terraces.

I have added the following items to my list of gastronomic accomplishments:
Empanada de Pulpo (Pastry stuffed with Octopus)







Alpaca










Maca y Mocha Frappuccino (Maca comes from a root found in the Andes and has been used as an energy giving herb since the time of Incan rule)










Cheese ice cream










Beer ice cream (only a little lick – everyone else was doing it)










Hot red pepper ice cream


Quote of the Week:
We were walking around an Arequipan market when we saw around 25 frogs hopping cheerfully within the confines of a glass tank:


Eden: "Jugo de Rana"? That means Frog Juice! They don’t actually drink the frogs do they?
Kathy: I don’t know. Go ask the merchant, Eden.

Eden approached the stand

Eden: Good Afternoon. I have a question.
Merchant: Yes…
Eden: Are you really selling frog juice?
Merchant: Yes, its good for headaches and other pains.
Eden: But you can’t drink a live frog whole can you?
Merchant: No, of course not.
Eden: (sigh of relief)
Merchant: No, first we throw the live frog into a blender and liquidify it. THEN you can drink the frog.

Eden said thank you and them walked over to her friends to tell them the merchant's response to the question. A long and loud “eewwwwwww!” soon filled the general area.

Oh yes, at the same booth, miracle muscle growth liquid was being sold.

Guessing What

I was walking across my room yesterday when I heard a deep noise which shook my entire house. At first I thought one of the following catastrophes were occurring:



But then I realized what was really happening:


After one more deep, earthshaking boom it was all over.

Here is what I did afterward:


Why? Because of the excitement of experiencing my first earthquake of course!

Peru and Prejudice

While at church, I suddenly transform into the heroine of a Jane Austen Novel as I have my own Peruvian Mr. Collins to torture me there – he is about 6 inches shorter than me, quiet in a creepy way, and is always lurking behind me. Occasionally, he sends shivers up my spine by tapping me on the shoulder...softly.

He took me by the arm today so that he could introduce me to his grandmother, who seemed to think a match between her grandson and I would be quite satisfactory. After this they asked me if I would sit and eat lunch with them at the church anniversary party. I tried to politely excuse myself by saying I was planning on eating with my friend (Kyle the Americana) who, if they would please excuse me, I was needing to find right now. After scanning the room I could not find her and, as he was still lurking behind me, I desperately fled to the bathroom.

After this, he was just around the corner, looking my way, and so I hid behind a pillar. He would be sure to see me soon! I needed an escape. A girl I know walked by and I caught her, “Hi! So good to see you! Are you staying for lunch? Mind if I wait with you?”

Mr. Collins, though a pain, helped me to gain a new friend today.

Q: Why don't you go to Sunday School, Eden?

A: Because the church service alone is 3 hours long and I can only take in so much Spanish in one blow.

Here is how they manage to make the service twice as long as I am accustomed to:

10:30AM
Service is supposed to begin
10:40AM
Service begins

10 minutes of prayer
30 minutes of worship
NOTE: Worship at my church is pretty special because:

1. tone deaf or not everyone sings with all their might
   
2. the super old keyboard makes every song a true 80's experience - worship often sounds exactly like this actually.
   
3. The guy playing the keyboard does have a mullet now (see him in an older photo below).
4. the songs usually are made up of meaningful rather than meaningless lyrics.

30 minutes of a special presentation (missions presentation/testimonies/skit etc).
60 minutes of preaching (if speaker is feeling merciful; +15 more minutes if he isn't)
20 minutes of communion
10 minutes for offering
20 minutes of announcements
10 minutes for prayer and one last song

1:30PM service over
30 to 60 minutes of everyone talking amongst their friends and family and only then do they go to eat lunch (which often takes about an hour to eat).

I will resist describing the young adult group I attend Saturday nights which usually lasts 4 hours. Peruvians have little room for ADHD, lots of room for relationships. Though they require me to change my nature, I love them sometimes.

Lucas*

*name is not really Lucas

I happened to be walking alongside 9-year-old Lucas, whose father is a teacher at the school, in the hall about a week ago. He was carrying his father’s briefcase and shoulder bag for him. As we happened to be walking together down the hall he said in a man-voice, "I have big things planned for my classes tomorrow."

Michelle (a volunteer mom at the school): I like your new haircut, Lucas - it looks good on you.
Lucas: Don’t you already have a husband?