raindrops
Domingo studying with a contact
Kristin, Emily, and me
Friday, September 28, 2007
Suzy Homemaker
Well, the last couple weeks have consisted of me staying at the land almost the whole time and just working on the computer. When I run out of battery life (no electricity at our house), usually cooking meals, shopping at the market for food, doing laundry, random stuff usually takes up the rest of the day. Either I go into town and I am able to charge my computer or sometimes if it has been sunny enough outside, I am able to charge my computer at the house by our solar-powered charger. Since Tara and Kaitlin are both gone every morning teaching English and music at various local schools in the area. David and Brent spend their days, at least recently, cutting down trees and clearing the jungle. After even just a few hours of working, they come back covered in soot and dirt from burning and carrying wood. Quite a sight! Their pearly white smiles really shine through!J So that leaves me to hold the fort down! It gets really quiet at times, such a change from eight people all talking at once!!
This last Friday I was Miss Suzy Homemaker! Haha…David, Brent, and Manuel left in the morning for Masisea (former campaign site that we are doing some follow-up work at) for the weekend. Jenni had been town the last few days and who knows really when she’ll be back! Tara and Kaitlin had left for the day on a field trip to the zoo with one of their classes. So that leaves me!! Mauro and Edwin (two of the Peruvian workers) were outside working and since they speak pretty much no English and I speak very very little spanish, it made for a pretty quiet day. Cleaning house, making lunch, washing clothes pretty much took up Friday. I got stung by a wasp in the morning, which was a new experience for me, but it was all good. Thankfully it wasn’t a lot of African Killer bees, of which we have hives close to the house. Bad idea! I really had a lot of fun though on Friday cause it totally reminded me of Fridays back home: listening to music while cooking and cleaning, making it quite fun preparing for Sabbath. Yesterday, was a really great Sabbath! First off, it was absolutely beautiful outside! The last few days had been quite overcast with smoke, so not so pretty. Sabbath was crystal clear blue skies with white fluffy clouds high in the sky. Of course, it also means it’s gonna be hot, but that’s ok every once in while. I was able to play the piano for church, which was fun, but since the piano is out of tune and some of the keys don’t work, it was interesting. It has been such a blessing to hear these people sing. Some of them don’t have the greatest singing abilities, but that doesn’t seem to stop them from singing. It is so great to come to church and hear everyone singing their hearts praising God! I had a lot of fun playing the piano, mostly because they are all so forgiving with all my sight-reading mistakes, not to mention that Spanish songs are written differently from English, at least it seems like it. In the afternoon, the church had choir practice and so I played the piano for that as well. I am so blessed every time I go to visit the church because they are all so thankful and blessed by all of us SM’s singing/playing talents or attempts as they may be. It really is amazing!!
This last Friday I was Miss Suzy Homemaker! Haha…David, Brent, and Manuel left in the morning for Masisea (former campaign site that we are doing some follow-up work at) for the weekend. Jenni had been town the last few days and who knows really when she’ll be back! Tara and Kaitlin had left for the day on a field trip to the zoo with one of their classes. So that leaves me!! Mauro and Edwin (two of the Peruvian workers) were outside working and since they speak pretty much no English and I speak very very little spanish, it made for a pretty quiet day. Cleaning house, making lunch, washing clothes pretty much took up Friday. I got stung by a wasp in the morning, which was a new experience for me, but it was all good. Thankfully it wasn’t a lot of African Killer bees, of which we have hives close to the house. Bad idea! I really had a lot of fun though on Friday cause it totally reminded me of Fridays back home: listening to music while cooking and cleaning, making it quite fun preparing for Sabbath. Yesterday, was a really great Sabbath! First off, it was absolutely beautiful outside! The last few days had been quite overcast with smoke, so not so pretty. Sabbath was crystal clear blue skies with white fluffy clouds high in the sky. Of course, it also means it’s gonna be hot, but that’s ok every once in while. I was able to play the piano for church, which was fun, but since the piano is out of tune and some of the keys don’t work, it was interesting. It has been such a blessing to hear these people sing. Some of them don’t have the greatest singing abilities, but that doesn’t seem to stop them from singing. It is so great to come to church and hear everyone singing their hearts praising God! I had a lot of fun playing the piano, mostly because they are all so forgiving with all my sight-reading mistakes, not to mention that Spanish songs are written differently from English, at least it seems like it. In the afternoon, the church had choir practice and so I played the piano for that as well. I am so blessed every time I go to visit the church because they are all so thankful and blessed by all of us SM’s singing/playing talents or attempts as they may be. It really is amazing!!
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Inahuaya
So in a previous blog I mentioned we were going to Iparia for a mini-clinic. Well, plans change and we didn’t end up going to Iparia. Instead, the night before we were to leave for this mini-clinic plans fell through and Jenni was frantically calling around, trying to find a place for us to go. We had already bought medicines and were all packed and ready to go, we just didn’t have a place to go. On top of that, there was a medical team of 14 people en-route from Gordon Adventist Hospital in Dalton, Georgia who were still planning on having a clinic. Thankfully, with God’s help we were able to find a place. Inahuaya is a river village about halfway between Iquitos and Pucallpa, meaninging a 24hr ride on a boat launch.
Throughout this whole clinic experience, the word flexible took on a whole new meaning. Changing clinic destinations less than 24hrs before departure, changing boat launches, differing arrival/departure times, things just not working the way you planned them are all different ways our faith and flexibility were tested last week. The trip to get to the clinic itself was such an experience. Spending 24hrs on a boat was a new experience for me and it was really fun! We all bought hammocks and lounged in those pretty much the whole boat trip, though some of the time we held a little clinic for those on board. What was really awesome about this medical team, was not only doctors and nurses were coming, but also people trained in optical, eye-glass fitting. During clinics, this was the hot place to be. The lines for optical were always the longest!! I was able to learn how to test people’s vision and find glasses that fit them! Being able to help give someone the ability to see things again is so cool. The look on the person’s face when they are able to see again is amazing!!
When we finally arrived in Inahuaya around 2:30am Friday morning, we were pretty exhausted. Clinic started around 8:30am that morning, leaving little time for sleep. Each day of clinic was to be spent in a different neighboring town. The term “neighboring” is used loosely to refer to any town within 2hrs of traveling. Some days the trip to the clinic location took 20minutes by motocar, other days it took 30minutes by pekepeke and 1-1.5hrs by walking/riding a horse cart/motocar, not leaving took much time for actual clinic. AMOR and Gordon groups were divided into two different groups, each going to different locations for the day and returning to stay in Inahuaya for the night.
Because of there being two groups, our dental team was split as well. Manuel went with one group and Brent and I went with the other. I was excited yet kind of nervous being on our own without some experience teeth-puller watching over your shoulder. Yet, I was calm, knowing God would be guiding the hands in each procedure. The first day was really discouraging for us. We didn’t have the right tools to pull properly and each tooth we had to ask Dr. Mathews for help on, which was frustrating a little for him as well. However, the next 3 days of clinic went much better!! We got the right tools and with God’s help were able to pull quite a number of teeth. In between patients, I was able to hang out with the kids and get to know them, though with my limited spanish, it proved to be quite difficultJ
After the clinic, the Gordon group left for the States and the rest of us went to some hot springs about 25km from Cantamana. They were so amazing! I had never been to hot springs before and to be in a stream of hot water was a totally new experience for me. We slept by the hot springs in a large hut. It was so relaxing to fall asleep in your hammock listening to the water rush over the rocks nearby! The next morning, we hiked out to the main road and started walking back to Cantamana. Since it had rained the night before the roads were too muddy for the motocars to come and pick us up, so we hiked. Dr. Mathews had borrowed a motorcycle for the trip and was going to shuttle us back to Cantamana, so we wouldn’t have to walk all the way, but the motorcycle broke down. So the guys tried to push the bike through the mud for quite a ways, but 25km is a really long way to push a motorcycle, so the bike was left. And we walked. And walked…and walked. We hadn’t exactly planned on hiking this far, so hiking in the mud and on an empty stomach early in the morning was a tiring experience. Yet, it was such a blessing because nobody complained at all. Despite our backs hurting, having no breakfast, and just being discouraged that the bike wasn’t working, everyone was laughing and making the best of the situation. The hot springs were literally in the middle of the jungle and by walking out, I was able to spend more time enjoying the scenery and take some pictures! The early morning sun shone brightly on the green grass and the clear blue sky above was absolutely beautiful!!
Throughout this whole clinic experience, the word flexible took on a whole new meaning. Changing clinic destinations less than 24hrs before departure, changing boat launches, differing arrival/departure times, things just not working the way you planned them are all different ways our faith and flexibility were tested last week. The trip to get to the clinic itself was such an experience. Spending 24hrs on a boat was a new experience for me and it was really fun! We all bought hammocks and lounged in those pretty much the whole boat trip, though some of the time we held a little clinic for those on board. What was really awesome about this medical team, was not only doctors and nurses were coming, but also people trained in optical, eye-glass fitting. During clinics, this was the hot place to be. The lines for optical were always the longest!! I was able to learn how to test people’s vision and find glasses that fit them! Being able to help give someone the ability to see things again is so cool. The look on the person’s face when they are able to see again is amazing!!
When we finally arrived in Inahuaya around 2:30am Friday morning, we were pretty exhausted. Clinic started around 8:30am that morning, leaving little time for sleep. Each day of clinic was to be spent in a different neighboring town. The term “neighboring” is used loosely to refer to any town within 2hrs of traveling. Some days the trip to the clinic location took 20minutes by motocar, other days it took 30minutes by pekepeke and 1-1.5hrs by walking/riding a horse cart/motocar, not leaving took much time for actual clinic. AMOR and Gordon groups were divided into two different groups, each going to different locations for the day and returning to stay in Inahuaya for the night.
Because of there being two groups, our dental team was split as well. Manuel went with one group and Brent and I went with the other. I was excited yet kind of nervous being on our own without some experience teeth-puller watching over your shoulder. Yet, I was calm, knowing God would be guiding the hands in each procedure. The first day was really discouraging for us. We didn’t have the right tools to pull properly and each tooth we had to ask Dr. Mathews for help on, which was frustrating a little for him as well. However, the next 3 days of clinic went much better!! We got the right tools and with God’s help were able to pull quite a number of teeth. In between patients, I was able to hang out with the kids and get to know them, though with my limited spanish, it proved to be quite difficultJ
After the clinic, the Gordon group left for the States and the rest of us went to some hot springs about 25km from Cantamana. They were so amazing! I had never been to hot springs before and to be in a stream of hot water was a totally new experience for me. We slept by the hot springs in a large hut. It was so relaxing to fall asleep in your hammock listening to the water rush over the rocks nearby! The next morning, we hiked out to the main road and started walking back to Cantamana. Since it had rained the night before the roads were too muddy for the motocars to come and pick us up, so we hiked. Dr. Mathews had borrowed a motorcycle for the trip and was going to shuttle us back to Cantamana, so we wouldn’t have to walk all the way, but the motorcycle broke down. So the guys tried to push the bike through the mud for quite a ways, but 25km is a really long way to push a motorcycle, so the bike was left. And we walked. And walked…and walked. We hadn’t exactly planned on hiking this far, so hiking in the mud and on an empty stomach early in the morning was a tiring experience. Yet, it was such a blessing because nobody complained at all. Despite our backs hurting, having no breakfast, and just being discouraged that the bike wasn’t working, everyone was laughing and making the best of the situation. The hot springs were literally in the middle of the jungle and by walking out, I was able to spend more time enjoying the scenery and take some pictures! The early morning sun shone brightly on the green grass and the clear blue sky above was absolutely beautiful!!
Franky Asuito Gordito aka MonkMonk
I can now say I’ve had a monkey for a pet! Last week, during clinic, someone sold Jenni a monkey and so now we have a monkey to play with. Actually, our duties consist mostly of cleaning up after him and changing his diaper. Yep, we made diapers out of old socks. The need for the monkey to be wearing a diaper at all times quickly became apparent after going through multiple changes of clothes in one day. So we made diapers…The monkey is quite small, about the size of a small kitten. His hands are so cute! Tiny little fingernails too! He loves to cuddle and cling to everyone! He’s so lovable, yet some of the SM’s aren’t so in love with him. Some not so affectionate names, such as Monster, Terror, and Pooper are quite common with the monkey-haters. Kristin and David have even been plotting different ways to give the monkey as food to Cheva, our beloved, yet dumb rotweiler who has shown quite a bit of interest in eating the monkey on a number of occasions. Cheva has already killed one of the baby sheep and is looking to expand her tastes with monkey meat. So, it’s an on-going battle everyday to save the little monkey!
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
a little creature, a vampire bat to be exact that we found in our house. Some of the girls had seen and even felt some sort of bat-like create flying around the last couple days. I had not seen it, crazy though enough I hadn't put up my mosquito net yet because we had just gotten back from a clinic and hadn't yet made the time!!
Food
So I love food! All of us SM’s love food. So much so that I’m pretty sure it’s our favorite topic. We talk about food we are craving all the time: before meals, while we are eating, when we’re going somewhere, when we are washing dishes, so yeah all the time! The food here pretty much consists of rice, pasta, potatoes, beans, eggs, and platano (that is, at least for the non-meat eaters). Whenever we go out to eat, rice and some form of beans or potatoes or eggs are served, with fried platano as a side. Usually soup is served, but since it has chunks of beef or chicken floating in it, I usually ask for a salad instead. Ok, so the salads are soo delicious. Lots of fresh, crisp vegetables. Mmmm…..cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, lots of avocado (yumm), carrots, etc. The salads are soo good-and without any salad dressing except lemon juice and salt!! I am so thankful that we are able to have fresh vegetables that taste great and are inexpensive! The fruit is really good too, though right now there isn’t any really in season except for platano (which I’m pretty sure doesn’t ever go out of season). Pineapple and mango season is coming up really soon, like next month, so I can’t waith for those fruits!! I’m learning to like papaya. I’ve found that the more yellowish looking variety tastes pretty good. We can also get mandarins and oranges, which are quite tasty but also full of seeds! We also have fruit salads, though not as often as vegetable.
Peruvian food has a strong Chinese influence. Soy sauce is used quite frequently in dishes. In Pucallpa, there are quite a number of Chinese restaurants. Some of them are quite touristy and more expensive, but others are quite economical. Lunch today was called Arroz Chaufa, pretty much Chinese fried rice. It’ definitely a favorite dish among us SM’s and Peruvian workers. There is also a pasta dish that is very similar to Chinese Chow Mein. It’s really good!! We found this one restaurant that serves this pasta dish and also the Arroz Chaufa for really cheap. I have never seen so much pasta piled onto one plate in my life---all for 3.50 soles or just over $1!! It was huge. I’ll have to post a picture sometime!!
I’m so excited to share all this amazing food when I get back to the states! So much great food, I’m really happy that I’m not tired of beans and rice yet. It’s kind of hard to cause there are many different ways to cook rice and since I’m hungry I’m not gonna complain!
Breakfast usually consists of fruit, bread, hot chocolate/roma type drink called Ecco, and hot cereal. Now, Peruvian hot cereal is quite thin. Normally it’s the drink and suplimented by rice and beans and fried platano. Sometimes we’ll have a sweet rice porridge type thing and so thats good. Eggs are really cheap and so sometimes, like this morning, we’ll make eggs and potatoes.
Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and is usually salad, rice and beans, and some form of potato or fried platano or boiled yuca. Yuca is a really starchy version of potato. It’s solid stuff. At first I thought it was pretty gross, but it’s growing on me and it’s quite good now!
Dinner is usually pretty small with popcorn, tea/Ecco, bread and fruit.
Peruvian food has a strong Chinese influence. Soy sauce is used quite frequently in dishes. In Pucallpa, there are quite a number of Chinese restaurants. Some of them are quite touristy and more expensive, but others are quite economical. Lunch today was called Arroz Chaufa, pretty much Chinese fried rice. It’ definitely a favorite dish among us SM’s and Peruvian workers. There is also a pasta dish that is very similar to Chinese Chow Mein. It’s really good!! We found this one restaurant that serves this pasta dish and also the Arroz Chaufa for really cheap. I have never seen so much pasta piled onto one plate in my life---all for 3.50 soles or just over $1!! It was huge. I’ll have to post a picture sometime!!
I’m so excited to share all this amazing food when I get back to the states! So much great food, I’m really happy that I’m not tired of beans and rice yet. It’s kind of hard to cause there are many different ways to cook rice and since I’m hungry I’m not gonna complain!
Breakfast usually consists of fruit, bread, hot chocolate/roma type drink called Ecco, and hot cereal. Now, Peruvian hot cereal is quite thin. Normally it’s the drink and suplimented by rice and beans and fried platano. Sometimes we’ll have a sweet rice porridge type thing and so thats good. Eggs are really cheap and so sometimes, like this morning, we’ll make eggs and potatoes.
Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and is usually salad, rice and beans, and some form of potato or fried platano or boiled yuca. Yuca is a really starchy version of potato. It’s solid stuff. At first I thought it was pretty gross, but it’s growing on me and it’s quite good now!
Dinner is usually pretty small with popcorn, tea/Ecco, bread and fruit.
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