Fred

I want to introduce you to Fred, he is the family dog here in Peru. He is a Peruvian Hairless Dog. This breed of dog have their origins in Peruvian pre-inca cultures. And because he is hairless he sometimes gets cold so has to wear a wee coat.

When I first met Fred I was bit scared as I have always been scared of wee dogs ever since I was 2 and chased up the garden and bitten by one. But as Fred and I are usually the only ones in the house we have become friends.

He is very acrobatic, especially when it comes to meal times and he is jumping up and down trying to get food from Rut-Maria and me. So I thought I would take a wee video of Freddy boy to show you to him and let you see his acrobatics for yourself.

I am official now

In order to stay in Peru for a year or more, you need to get a Carnet which is an official residents card for Peru. So on Thursday, I flew to Lima with fellow strider Cecily so we could pick ours up on Friday.

The flight was good, and the first thing I felt when I got off the plane was the heat, wow it was so humid compared to Arequipa. I thought there and then, well that's bad hair days for the next three days, as when my hair meets humidity it will not behave itself and goes all weird. And if you see the picture on my carnet, it proves me right.

We went straight to the hostal from the airport (we were staying in the same place we stayed in during orientation, so at least we knew were we were going) and after dropping our bags, went to get a bite to eat and then back to hostal as next morning we had to be up very early so sleep was needed

We were at the immigration office by 7.15am the next morning and by 9.30 after lots of queuing, I had my carnet and was now an official resident of Peru. The same cannot be said for poor Cecily, and due to problems with her last carnet when she was here 12 years ago, Cecily is still in Lima trying to sort hers out. 

We were not just there for official business, we also managed to have some fun as well, despite the fact I was miserable with the flu and could barely function. Thankfully Cecily is a retired Nurse so she was looking after me, making sure I was getting fluids etc. 

On the Friday afternoon we had afternoon tea with Christine and Hannah, fellow striders which was lovely. We were treated to Scottish shortbread as well which Christine's parents who were over had brought with them. Her parents are both Northern Irish, though Christine is Scottish, so it was nice hearing home accents (though there are plenty in Arequipa to stop me getting homesick for the accent). 

Then on Saturday, we met up with Anna, a strider, who like us has only been here for 7 weeks. She is living in Lima and it was great hearing her stories and how she is settling in. I was meant to go and see one of her projects in the afternoon but felt so rubbish just went back to hostal to bed. Did not want to give the kids my bug. 

I left Lima on Sunday. I was meant to fly back with Cecily but she is still there, so flew back by myself. That was good for me, to negotiate the airport by myself and find my own way home too when I got back to Arequipa. Thankfully my Spanish is bit better than it was when I first arrived in Arequipa 5 weeks ago so I could talk to the taxi driver and get home no problem.

So that is my weekend... it was good despite the fact I was ill, but enjoyed it still. Please pray for Cecily who is still there, pray she will get things sorted quickly so she can get her carnet and come back to Arequipa.

Toilet - Out of Use

Every other Wednesday night the Arequipa Latin Link team meet up to worship, pray and study the bible together. For me this is a good time because not only am I getting to know the other members of the team but it is also a night where I can speak English all night. Bliss.

The meeting is held in a different house every time and when we met last Wednesday, it was in Ruth Green and Rosemary Gibson's house. There were just five of us as Paul and Ruth Turner were in Lima to welcome the Peru Step team.

As I am a newbie to the team I am still trying to be polite and not cause any trouble - basically trying to leave a good impression with them and make them see that I am a lovely person and invite me back to their house.

Well after this past Wednesday I am surprised that Ruth and Rosemary invited me back to their house which they did on Friday night, where I did behave myself.

The same cannot be said about Wednesday night. This is the story, am not sure if you will crack up laughing like Cecily and Linda did (my fellow striders) but maybe...

We had just finished dinner and were about to start our meeting when I asked if I could use the bathroom, which they kindly said yes to. So I traipse off to the loo and well you know... anyway I finished what I was doing, washed my hands (am a good girl and do that), open the door, turn off the light and close the door.

All was well, or was it? Before I closed the door I thought it would be a brilliant idea to push the button on the inside of the door which effectively meant that when I shut the door, the door was locked and no one else could get in. What a fool! (Think I should be blonde!  - apologies to all my blonde readers)

I was so embarrassed I did not know what to do, so I sheepishly went back to the lounge and admitted what I did and was VERY VERY apologetic at the same time. Cecily and Linda just started to laugh and Linda said she was glad I was here now to do silly things like that.

Thankfully Ruth and Rosemary laughed but I was still embarrassed and what made matters worse that they did not have a key to unlock the door. I just left so bad for others who might need the toilet later (me included).

I was like, how are you going to get in and they are like it will be no problem. We began the study and I tried to forget about what happened, but couldn't. I spent the whole time praying "Lord, please let there be a way in to the bathroom otherwise I will never be able to come to this house again  - I will be blacklisted, or if I do come back to the house I can never go to the toilet again" Both those things would be bad.

When we finished the study, Ruth grabbed a big box of keys and tried everyone of them in the toilet door, no luck with any of them. I was slowly beginning to wish the ground would open up and swallow me. Another box of keys came out and again one by one they were tried, no luck again - oh no I thought. Fortunately, Rosemary decided to try some of the keys again. One by one several keys were tried and one by one they did not work, until YES one worked and the door was opened. Oh I was so thankful to the Lord for saving me on that one. The toilet door was open and people could go to the toilet again, thank goodness.

Despite causing trouble for them, Rosemary and Ruth gave me a lift home. During the journey we started talking about me being in Arequipa and how I was settling in. Rosemary said, "You are a breathe of fresh air" to which Ruth quipped, "Yes, no one has ever locked us out of our bathroom before"

Like I mentioned before I did visit their house again on the Friday night and when I asked if I could use their toilet, they said "Yes it is safe, the key is in the door". Which caused mighty laughs between people.

Moral of this story for you readers - if you invite me to your house, always make sure there is a key in the bathroom door.

a poco a poco

It has been ten days since I last wrote and I know people are looking for an update on what I have been doing.

Well, what have I been doing since I last wrote - going to Spanish classes, doing Spanish homework, eating, sleeping - the same thing every day, so nothing really exciting - but learning a new language is exciting as well as frustrating as well.

It is a slow process learning Spanish, as they say here in Peru, a poco a poco entra la coco (little by little enter my head). And is is true, its little by little. I went to a prayer meeting at the church the other night and was surprised to find out that I could understand about 75% of what was being said - which is actually quite a big amount when you think about it.

I still cannot hold a proper conversation but I have only been going to classes for 15 days now. I can talk to my Peruvian family and other people by saying words and using my hands to get across what am trying to say. And you can often find Rut-Maria and myself sitting around the table both with dictionaries in our hands.

So as well as learning another language I am also reacquainting myself with the alphabet which is always a good thing.

I will speak the language soon I hope, but it is a very confusing language in some aspects because there are so many different kinds of verbs, there are masculine and feminine words, which word as an article and sometimes a word you think is feminine like problema actually turns out to be masculine. My teacher taught me to remember that one by thinking every time I hear it, all men cause problems!! And funnily enough the word for solution (solucion) is feminine!!

So in a nutshell that is what I have been doing for the past ten  days and will continue to do for the next nine weeks (as have three months language school to do - three weeks down)... but am sure I will find other things to write about - but my next few posts may be Spanish related - but at least it has been a bit informative because I have taught you a new phrase!!