April 22, 2011
We arrived in Inahuaya about 10:30 that morning after sleeping another night on the lancha at port. The Doctor had arranged for a smaller boat to come pick us up from Contamana, the port where we had slept at. As we pulled into the dock at Inahuaya it looked like a quaint little town. Thatched roof huts greeted us as we unloaded our stuff. The Doc showed up as we were taking bags off the boat, we hadn’t seen him for awhile and quite frankly were frustrated with his lack of organization and communication at the beginning of this trip.
With all our belongings strapped onto motokars we were whisked away to the municipal building. The town was really cute. The road was basically a slightly wide sidewalk, but the town was quite clean and organized. A few minutes later we were all gathered in the municipal building to waiting to be given our next instructions. We were told that we needed to meet at the food house for lunch at 12:00 after settling into our hostels and showering. Then we would be starting clinic. By the time we gathered our stuff and arrived at our hostels it was 11:50 am. 10 minutes to settle and shower.
Lunch was tasty, unfortunately I couldn’t eat much because I was still suffering from whatever parasites decided to camp out in my stomach and intestines. With everyones tummies full we made our way to set up clinic. The municipal building was really nice. Tile floors, concrete walls, windows, a second story. It was quite impressive. I was beginning to like the town more and more. And what’s more, when we started registration and triage, people were clawing and yelling and trying to get their names on the list. They patiently waited in line. They never complained or asked why they had to wait for the person ahead of them to finish triage. It was beautiful. I officially decided I loved the town.
Friday, April 29, 2011
10 Hours and Counting
April 21, 2011
Ten hours in the same place on this lancha. This whole trip has been ridiculous. We were supposed to leave on Sunday, today is Thursday. We decided in a meeting a week earlier that we would be leaving Sunday the 17th. That turned into Monday, which turned into Tuesday in which we had a flat tire on the way to the port, the boat then decided it wasn’t going to leave. Tuesday then turned into Wednesday evening at 8 o’clock.
With all of our stuff loaded into the cargo boat, we were off to Inahuaya, a little town upriver that is home to three of our Peruvian boys. The SM’s, Wendy and Cecilia all played 7-up until the boat captain came and asked us for our names, nationality, and passport numbers, the latter of which we all made up because we didn’t have our passports with us. Oh, Peru, I love it.
We played until the cook kicked us off the table. We all decided it would be a good time to get settled and go to bed. We made our way downstairs into the crowded cargo area. Actually, crowded would be putting it mildly. Every inch of space was filled with food items being imported to the smaller river towns, smelly chickens, or bodies. It made for a pleasant smell. Even the air space was filled with hammocks strung up so close you could feel the person next to you breathing. My place of “rest” was wedged under Rachel and Rebecca and next to some guy I didn’t know. His feet lay conveniently six inches from my face. I wrapped my hammock around myself and tried to get comfy.
At 12:30 AM I was awakened to my hammock swinging wildly back and forth and mothers screaming. The engine was revving quite loudly. We were stuck on a sand bank. Great. Apparently being stuck on a sand bank can be dangerous, there is a chance that the boat could tip over. In my groggy state I prayed that we would get unstuck soon and that I wouldn’t wake up swimming in the Ucayali river.
I awoke at 6:00 am to an aroma mixture of body odor, wet chickens, and warm soggy onions. Probably the worst combination in the world. I felt nauseous, but there was no way I was getting out of my hammock and to the edge of the boat soon. So I thought happy thoughts and suppressed the nauseous feeling. With that abated, we sat a waited to get off the sandbank. It was getting quite hot and stuffy because of the lack of airflow. We passed the time by reading, chatting, and snacking. Oh, did I mention that throughout all of this I was fighting some bicho in my stomach. I had gurgly gut the whole time and was praying that the war going on in my stomach wouldn’t decide to retreat out the exit.
It was starting to get rough about hour 7 on the boat. One lady tried to start a revolt. “People, we need to get off this boat. Children are starving. We need to rally anyone we know who lives on the river with a small boat to come and take the women and children out of here. Who is with me? Everyone to the front of the boat!” It was comical.
Finally, about 11:00 am on the 21st, we found a way out of the sand bank after trying to hail down various other boats. Everyone let out a hoot and holler and shout of rejoicing over our freedom. I felt like music should be playing and people should be crying and hugging each other. But the rejoicing only lasted a minute and then we were on our way.
So, here I am now, hanging out in my hammock, Steph is next to me working on her dreads, a parrot is overhead. Every now and then he squawks out an, “hola,” or, “corre corre corre,” on rare occasions a, “papi, ven!” It’s cute, and the parrot is pretty.
A breeze blows as long as we’re moving and the green luscious jungles slowly pass as we make our way down the river to Inahuaya. I pray that despite all the craziness we’ve gone through to getting here, God will still work through us. We’ll see where he leads.
Ten hours in the same place on this lancha. This whole trip has been ridiculous. We were supposed to leave on Sunday, today is Thursday. We decided in a meeting a week earlier that we would be leaving Sunday the 17th. That turned into Monday, which turned into Tuesday in which we had a flat tire on the way to the port, the boat then decided it wasn’t going to leave. Tuesday then turned into Wednesday evening at 8 o’clock.
With all of our stuff loaded into the cargo boat, we were off to Inahuaya, a little town upriver that is home to three of our Peruvian boys. The SM’s, Wendy and Cecilia all played 7-up until the boat captain came and asked us for our names, nationality, and passport numbers, the latter of which we all made up because we didn’t have our passports with us. Oh, Peru, I love it.
We played until the cook kicked us off the table. We all decided it would be a good time to get settled and go to bed. We made our way downstairs into the crowded cargo area. Actually, crowded would be putting it mildly. Every inch of space was filled with food items being imported to the smaller river towns, smelly chickens, or bodies. It made for a pleasant smell. Even the air space was filled with hammocks strung up so close you could feel the person next to you breathing. My place of “rest” was wedged under Rachel and Rebecca and next to some guy I didn’t know. His feet lay conveniently six inches from my face. I wrapped my hammock around myself and tried to get comfy.
At 12:30 AM I was awakened to my hammock swinging wildly back and forth and mothers screaming. The engine was revving quite loudly. We were stuck on a sand bank. Great. Apparently being stuck on a sand bank can be dangerous, there is a chance that the boat could tip over. In my groggy state I prayed that we would get unstuck soon and that I wouldn’t wake up swimming in the Ucayali river.
I awoke at 6:00 am to an aroma mixture of body odor, wet chickens, and warm soggy onions. Probably the worst combination in the world. I felt nauseous, but there was no way I was getting out of my hammock and to the edge of the boat soon. So I thought happy thoughts and suppressed the nauseous feeling. With that abated, we sat a waited to get off the sandbank. It was getting quite hot and stuffy because of the lack of airflow. We passed the time by reading, chatting, and snacking. Oh, did I mention that throughout all of this I was fighting some bicho in my stomach. I had gurgly gut the whole time and was praying that the war going on in my stomach wouldn’t decide to retreat out the exit.
It was starting to get rough about hour 7 on the boat. One lady tried to start a revolt. “People, we need to get off this boat. Children are starving. We need to rally anyone we know who lives on the river with a small boat to come and take the women and children out of here. Who is with me? Everyone to the front of the boat!” It was comical.
Finally, about 11:00 am on the 21st, we found a way out of the sand bank after trying to hail down various other boats. Everyone let out a hoot and holler and shout of rejoicing over our freedom. I felt like music should be playing and people should be crying and hugging each other. But the rejoicing only lasted a minute and then we were on our way.
So, here I am now, hanging out in my hammock, Steph is next to me working on her dreads, a parrot is overhead. Every now and then he squawks out an, “hola,” or, “corre corre corre,” on rare occasions a, “papi, ven!” It’s cute, and the parrot is pretty.
A breeze blows as long as we’re moving and the green luscious jungles slowly pass as we make our way down the river to Inahuaya. I pray that despite all the craziness we’ve gone through to getting here, God will still work through us. We’ll see where he leads.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
To Do: organize/clean/pack/donate/throw out all of my stuff!
It was decided yesterday that we will be having one more campaign as a big hoorah to finish out this SM year. This threw me for a jolt as I am now forced to start packing away my life this week.
I was planning on putting off my goodbyes and consolidating until the last week of April, but I don´t really have that option anymore seeing as we will be leaving this Sunday and returning the 27th (two days before I head out). I started to tear up as I realized that this is my last week teaching, this Sabbath is my last Sabbath at my church, Sunday was the last time I will have shopped for food for the week….ugh, I hate ¨lasts.¨
A lot can happen in a week, as I have discovered since being down here. So I will save my reflections on the year for another day as well as updates on this trip, which will be up the river by the way. So please, please, continue to keep all of us in your prayers. Until then.
I was planning on putting off my goodbyes and consolidating until the last week of April, but I don´t really have that option anymore seeing as we will be leaving this Sunday and returning the 27th (two days before I head out). I started to tear up as I realized that this is my last week teaching, this Sabbath is my last Sabbath at my church, Sunday was the last time I will have shopped for food for the week….ugh, I hate ¨lasts.¨
A lot can happen in a week, as I have discovered since being down here. So I will save my reflections on the year for another day as well as updates on this trip, which will be up the river by the way. So please, please, continue to keep all of us in your prayers. Until then.
Oh life, you stump me sometimes
Tried to post this over a week ago.
As I sat in the new house at Km 8 watching birds soar gracefully in the cloud-filled sky, I thought about my life here in Peru over the last few months. The girls and I had been chatting about how glad we were to have made the decision to spend a part of our life here in Peru. Sure, there have been some downright cruddy times here. I´ve had a few times of tears, but amidst it all I´ve come to love this place.
I was discussing life here in Peru with Stephanie and decided the reason I love it so much is because here I live day-to-day. I´m not always bombarded by the future. At the moment I can´t decided if that´s truly a good thing or not. Do I love it here so much because I don’t feel pressured to quickly make crucial decisions about my life? Or is there something falta in the way I was living my life back at home? Am I worrying too much about my future and not being grateful for each day as I should?
My Christian upbringing says I “shouldn’t worry about tomorrow.” But practicality and society tell me that I have to have a plan, I have to know what´s coming up next in my future. Which voice do I listen to? Or should it be a combination?
I still haven´t come up with an answer. Although I’m afraid I know what will happen when I return home. I´ll get back into the routine of life before Peru. My future will stress me out, and I´ll wish I was back in Peru once again. Is that normal? Is that ok? Who´s to say? At this point I would much rather give it all to God. I really like not worrying about tomorrow.
Before coming here I was always the girl who had to have a plan. I always had to know what was coming next. I wanted to know each individual step along the road of my life. I wasn’t content just letting God lead. Yes, I ultimately wanted His plan for my life, but only as long as I had a significant say in the matter. It was always, “Ok God, I’ll take the lead on this one, and if you have any good suggestions just pass them my way. Or better yet, I’ll give you a call if I get hung up on something. Thanks.”
Now, I feel as though I’m just starting to realize how relieving it is to just allow God to lead. And you know, He has already worked some things out in my immediate future without my having to stress about it.
I’ve learned a lot in these last several months. But even if I were only brought here to come to this realization in my life I will still be a happy girl.
As I sat in the new house at Km 8 watching birds soar gracefully in the cloud-filled sky, I thought about my life here in Peru over the last few months. The girls and I had been chatting about how glad we were to have made the decision to spend a part of our life here in Peru. Sure, there have been some downright cruddy times here. I´ve had a few times of tears, but amidst it all I´ve come to love this place.
I was discussing life here in Peru with Stephanie and decided the reason I love it so much is because here I live day-to-day. I´m not always bombarded by the future. At the moment I can´t decided if that´s truly a good thing or not. Do I love it here so much because I don’t feel pressured to quickly make crucial decisions about my life? Or is there something falta in the way I was living my life back at home? Am I worrying too much about my future and not being grateful for each day as I should?
My Christian upbringing says I “shouldn’t worry about tomorrow.” But practicality and society tell me that I have to have a plan, I have to know what´s coming up next in my future. Which voice do I listen to? Or should it be a combination?
I still haven´t come up with an answer. Although I’m afraid I know what will happen when I return home. I´ll get back into the routine of life before Peru. My future will stress me out, and I´ll wish I was back in Peru once again. Is that normal? Is that ok? Who´s to say? At this point I would much rather give it all to God. I really like not worrying about tomorrow.
Before coming here I was always the girl who had to have a plan. I always had to know what was coming next. I wanted to know each individual step along the road of my life. I wasn’t content just letting God lead. Yes, I ultimately wanted His plan for my life, but only as long as I had a significant say in the matter. It was always, “Ok God, I’ll take the lead on this one, and if you have any good suggestions just pass them my way. Or better yet, I’ll give you a call if I get hung up on something. Thanks.”
Now, I feel as though I’m just starting to realize how relieving it is to just allow God to lead. And you know, He has already worked some things out in my immediate future without my having to stress about it.
I’ve learned a lot in these last several months. But even if I were only brought here to come to this realization in my life I will still be a happy girl.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Oh life, sometimes you stump me.
As I sat in the new house at Km 8 watching birds soar gracefully in the cloud-filled sky, I thought about my life here in Peru over the last few months. The girls and I had been chatting about how glad we were to have made the decision to spend a part of our life here in Peru. Sure, there have been some downright cruddy times here. I´ve had a few times of tears, but amidst it all I´ve come to love this place.
I was discussing life here in Peru with Stephanie and decided the reason I love it so much is because here I live day-to-day. I´m not always bombarded by the future. At the moment I can´t decided if that´s truly a good thing or not. Do I love it here so much because I don’t feel pressured to quickly make crucial decisions about my life? Or is there something falta in the way I was living my life back at home? Am I worrying too much about my future and not being grateful for each day as I should?
My Christian upbringing says I “shouldn’t worry about tomorrow.” But practicality and society tell me that I have to have a plan, I have to know what´s coming up next in my future. Which voice do I listen to? Or should it be a combination?
I still haven´t come up with an answer. Although I’m afraid I know what will happen when I return home. I´ll get back into the routine of life before Peru. My future will stress me out, and I´ll wish I was back in Peru once again. Is that normal? Is that ok? Who´s to say? At this point I would much rather give it all to God. I really like not worrying about tomorrow.
Before coming here I was always the girl who had to have a plan. I always had to know what was coming next. I wanted to know each individual step along the road of my life. I wasn’t content just letting God lead. Yes, I ultimately wanted His plan for my life, but only as long as I had a significant say in the matter. It was always, “Ok God, I’ll take the lead on this one, and if you have any good suggestions just pass them my way. Or better yet, I’ll give you a call if I get hung up on something. Thanks.”
Now, I feel as though I’m just starting to realize how relieving it is to just allow God to lead. And you know, He has already worked some things out in my immediate future without my having to stress about it.
I’ve learned a lot in these last several months. But even if I were only brought here to come to this realization in my life I will still be a happy girl.
I was discussing life here in Peru with Stephanie and decided the reason I love it so much is because here I live day-to-day. I´m not always bombarded by the future. At the moment I can´t decided if that´s truly a good thing or not. Do I love it here so much because I don’t feel pressured to quickly make crucial decisions about my life? Or is there something falta in the way I was living my life back at home? Am I worrying too much about my future and not being grateful for each day as I should?
My Christian upbringing says I “shouldn’t worry about tomorrow.” But practicality and society tell me that I have to have a plan, I have to know what´s coming up next in my future. Which voice do I listen to? Or should it be a combination?
I still haven´t come up with an answer. Although I’m afraid I know what will happen when I return home. I´ll get back into the routine of life before Peru. My future will stress me out, and I´ll wish I was back in Peru once again. Is that normal? Is that ok? Who´s to say? At this point I would much rather give it all to God. I really like not worrying about tomorrow.
Before coming here I was always the girl who had to have a plan. I always had to know what was coming next. I wanted to know each individual step along the road of my life. I wasn’t content just letting God lead. Yes, I ultimately wanted His plan for my life, but only as long as I had a significant say in the matter. It was always, “Ok God, I’ll take the lead on this one, and if you have any good suggestions just pass them my way. Or better yet, I’ll give you a call if I get hung up on something. Thanks.”
Now, I feel as though I’m just starting to realize how relieving it is to just allow God to lead. And you know, He has already worked some things out in my immediate future without my having to stress about it.
I’ve learned a lot in these last several months. But even if I were only brought here to come to this realization in my life I will still be a happy girl.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Jet Lee
Well, it was good times all around the last week and a half. Two Saturdays ago mi hermano came for a little visit. It was so good to have him here. I gave him a tour of the house, which took all of 5 minutes, and showed him how I live life down here. I liked saying, ¨El es mi hermano, esta visitando me.¨ It was great.
Keith was put to work while here though. I did give him some warning ahead of time (what a nice sister I am). He did some shoveling, some wheelbarrow carrying, some hammering, and sludging through mudd-ying. I just really love that when I reference things, I know that he´ll know what or who or where I´m talking about.Just that knowledge makes a difference.
Unfortunately, my brothers time here was short.Only a week, bummer. But it was a fabulous week. I think he even learned some Spanish (one of the guys befriended Keith and made him speak Spanish).
In other news. I started teaching again this semester. The kids have been on their summer vacation for the past two months. I didn´t realize until Monday how much I had missed my kids. It was also a little sad because some of my students had moved on to middle school. So now I have new students, and new names to learn.
Speaking of new names. On Monday, we had our first class of the semester with the little 1st and 2nd graders. We played a name game to get to know the kids in our class. We all sat in a circle with one less chair than people. I had them stand up, say their name and something they liked to do. If anyone else like the same thing they had to get up and switch chairs. The person left without a chair would do the same thing.
A girl named Rita got up, introduced herself and something she liked. Cool! A girl with the same name as my mom. I can remember that. Next came Sander, he needed a little more prompting. Cute kid though. Then Carlos, the crazy teacher´s son. You´d think he´d be a little more behaved, or maybe not. He yelled his name and dove for a chair before the next kid could leave it. Then Angi, she was in my class last semester, cutest little girl ever and smart too. A few more kids got up, and we were left with one more. The little guy stood up, and said his name. At first I thought I´d heard wrong. ¨Say your name again.¨ ¨Jetli,¨(pronounced Jet Lee). I thought he was pulling my leg, I unsuccessfully suppressed a laugh and asked again. This time a few other kids repeated his name for me. This time I knew. It was too good to be true. I have a kid in my class named Jetli. I turned to Rebecca, chuckled and declared how awesome I thought that was.
Jetli and the rest of the kids had a good time learning some English, and making paper airplanes the rest of the morning. I love these kids. Everyday I keep thinking about how much I´m going to miss them when I have to leave in two months. I will cry. It´s for certain. Until then, I just get to have some fun, teach them English, and hang out with Jetli.
Keith was put to work while here though. I did give him some warning ahead of time (what a nice sister I am). He did some shoveling, some wheelbarrow carrying, some hammering, and sludging through mudd-ying. I just really love that when I reference things, I know that he´ll know what or who or where I´m talking about.Just that knowledge makes a difference.
Unfortunately, my brothers time here was short.Only a week, bummer. But it was a fabulous week. I think he even learned some Spanish (one of the guys befriended Keith and made him speak Spanish).
In other news. I started teaching again this semester. The kids have been on their summer vacation for the past two months. I didn´t realize until Monday how much I had missed my kids. It was also a little sad because some of my students had moved on to middle school. So now I have new students, and new names to learn.
Speaking of new names. On Monday, we had our first class of the semester with the little 1st and 2nd graders. We played a name game to get to know the kids in our class. We all sat in a circle with one less chair than people. I had them stand up, say their name and something they liked to do. If anyone else like the same thing they had to get up and switch chairs. The person left without a chair would do the same thing.
A girl named Rita got up, introduced herself and something she liked. Cool! A girl with the same name as my mom. I can remember that. Next came Sander, he needed a little more prompting. Cute kid though. Then Carlos, the crazy teacher´s son. You´d think he´d be a little more behaved, or maybe not. He yelled his name and dove for a chair before the next kid could leave it. Then Angi, she was in my class last semester, cutest little girl ever and smart too. A few more kids got up, and we were left with one more. The little guy stood up, and said his name. At first I thought I´d heard wrong. ¨Say your name again.¨ ¨Jetli,¨(pronounced Jet Lee). I thought he was pulling my leg, I unsuccessfully suppressed a laugh and asked again. This time a few other kids repeated his name for me. This time I knew. It was too good to be true. I have a kid in my class named Jetli. I turned to Rebecca, chuckled and declared how awesome I thought that was.
Jetli and the rest of the kids had a good time learning some English, and making paper airplanes the rest of the morning. I love these kids. Everyday I keep thinking about how much I´m going to miss them when I have to leave in two months. I will cry. It´s for certain. Until then, I just get to have some fun, teach them English, and hang out with Jetli.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
There´s a Badge for That
It´s rainy yet again. This time I´m prepared for it. I´m wearing my rain jacket/trench coat, quick dry pants, and rain boots. I look pretty ridiculous trudging around Pucallpa, especially with my bag under my jacket. I´m something similar to the Hunchback of Notre Dame. But, you know, I could care less what I look like, I´m dry. I mentioned something to Rebecca about how I wondered if I would be as carefree when I return home. I really hope so. I like not wearing any makeup, mismatched clothes, and (ok, some of you may barf, and it´s taking me some courage to say this publically) not shaving my legs everyday. Ok, go ahead, barf, do whatever you need to do to get that picture out of your mind. But seriously, I like this new part of me, being carefree. Yeah, so I´ll probably return to shaving my legs regularly when I get home, it´s a cultural thing, and I really don´t like it when people vomit.
Since being here I have started a Pathfinder program. Think I´ve mentioned that once or twice before. I´m looking up activities to do with the kids. Looking through the Pathfinder honors manual online is very interesting, and slightly entertaining. Who knew you could receive a little badge for so many things. Here are some of my favorites:
Aboriginal Lore
Life saving
Tree Climbing
Unicycling
Laundering
Cattle Husbandry (like Temple Grandin!)
Pigeon Raising
Small Fruit Growing
Antelopes
Think we´ll just go with kite making this time.
Since being here I have started a Pathfinder program. Think I´ve mentioned that once or twice before. I´m looking up activities to do with the kids. Looking through the Pathfinder honors manual online is very interesting, and slightly entertaining. Who knew you could receive a little badge for so many things. Here are some of my favorites:
Aboriginal Lore
Life saving
Tree Climbing
Unicycling
Laundering
Cattle Husbandry (like Temple Grandin!)
Pigeon Raising
Small Fruit Growing
Antelopes
Think we´ll just go with kite making this time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)