And they have arrived....

After eight months of not seeing my parents, except on Skype, we were finally reunited at Arequipa Airport on 11^th October. It was so nice to see them though they were very tired after spending two days travelling to get to me.

So what did we do when they were here? Well the first week was spent in Arequipa showing them around the city, visiting friends, spending time with my Peruvian family, visiting my work and other Latin Link projects as well.

The first day we went to Santa Catalina, the monastery in Arequipa, it mine and my dad’s second time there, me having visited in September and my dad 17 years ago, so suffice to say it was much different now than 17 years ago. Mum had never visited it before and was very taken by all the flowers which were in the monastery. 

Flowers at Santa Catalina

After a lovely lunch courtesy of friends back home, we then went and met fellow Strider Linda Fox for afternoon coffee. In the evening I took my parents to my house to see it and to meet Fred and then in the evening we went for tea at Virginia and Victor's house (two people from my church). With them not knowing English and my parents not knowing much Spanish, my translating skills were put to the test, but think I did ok. 

Virginia and Victor have three sons, Josue, Joaquin and Jordan. Little Jordan who is nearly two years old, really took to my Mum, sitting on her knee all night. She definitely made a friend there. 

Mum and Jordan

Saturday was spent walking around the artisan markets and then we went to back to my house for lunch with my Peruvian Mum and cousins David and Darwin. Again my translating skills were put to use and it went ok until Dad tried to make me explain about the history of Ireland (something which is hard to do in English sometimes) and also made me ask questions about Cows and the milking process in Peru. Think Dad just wanted to see me sweat!!

Mum and Dad were treated to their first taste of Peruvian food at lunch and had Seco de Cordeo (lamb in a corriander sauce) and Chicha Morado (a drink made out of Purple Maize)... think they were suitably impressed. 

On Sunday I took them to my Church where this time thankfully Paul Turner translated for them. And after church we had lunch with Paul and Ruth (Mum and Dad have know Ruth for years so it was good for them to catch up) and their friend Chloe. It was a lovely afternoon with a lovely meal prepared by Ruth. 

That is the first weekend told about, more to follow as they were here three weeks!! 

Happy Birthday Didache

For those of you who do not know a month ago I started teaching English to children aged 2-5 years old in Didache, the nursery/kindergarten attached to my church in Peru. It has been challenging so far and interesting, especially since in my third week of teaching I had to prepare an exam for them. Do not think I did my first exam until I was 10. 

Anyway Didache have just celebrated their 9th birthday and yesterday (Saturday) there was a celebration which saw the kids sing and dance for their parents. It was a fun morning and great to see these wee kids on the stage doing their thing. 

4-5 year olds singing

The 2-3 year olds sin

Not only do the kids learn English, but they are also learning Portuguese as well from a Brazilian who also goes to the church. So as well as having the kids sing in Spanish yesterday, they also sang in Portuguese and English. The 2-3 year olds sang Deep and Wide in Portuguese while the 4-5 year olds sang Happy Birthday in Portuguese. And then all ages together sang Happy Birthday in English - it was a struggle getting Didache in there during the practices but on the day we did it. 

Everyone Singing

Then after the demonstration of their singing and dancing skills to the parents, it was time for Chicken, potatoes and corn which was lovingly prepared by members of the church including the pastors wife who also works at Didache.  

Culture Project 4: The Battle of Angamos

It has been a while since I have done a culture project so decided I would do one now on the Battle of Angamos.

The 8^th October is a national holiday in Peru and is because of the Battle of Angamos. I wanted to find out more about this day, so thought would do my fourth culture project on this day.

So what is the Battle of Angamos? Well it was a naval battle which was fought on 8th October 1879 during the War of the Pacific - with the two opponents being the Chilean Navy and the Peruvian Navy.  And despite the battle being won by Chile, Peru still remember it each year as 8th October is a national holiday in Peru.  Am not sure why they celebrate a battle they lost, but then I come from a country where they celebrate a ship that sank.

Well it’s not really a day of celebration as much as a day of honouring someone special - Miguel Grau Seminario who was killed during the battle and is held as one of Peru's heroes from the War of the Pacific or as it is known here the Guerra del Pacifico. 

Why is this guy so special? Well his military accomplishments as well as his distinguished and courageous disposition earned him the title of Knight of the Seas (“Caballero de los mares”).  He was also named the Peruvian of the Millennium at the end of the 20th Century which to me is quite an achievement as there have been a lot of Peruvians born during that Century so many to chose from.

Miguel Grau was in charge of ‘Huascar’ one of the ships in the Peruvian fleet of 1879. It was known as the best ship of the fleet, having sunk the Chilean battleship ‘Esmeralda’ in another battle, the bale of Iquique. The ‘Huascar’ had excellent speed and enabled Grua to to cruise along the coast creating havoc in enemy lands, but despite this the ship was captured during the battle by Chilean ship ‘El Almirante Cochrane’ which shot cannons towards the ‘Huascar’ killing Miguel Grau. The capture of this ship was the final step in clearing the Peruvian seas and allowed the Chileans to invade Peru by land.

So now I know why the 8^th October is a national holiday, it is a holiday to remember the battle with admiration and honour Grand Admiral Miguel Grua. And now you know, so if you ever get asked this question in a quiz you will be able to wow everyone with the answer. 

Admiral Miguel Grua

Freddie

So most of you know I do not like dogs especially small yappie  ones because a) I am scared of them and b) I am allergic to them. When I moved into my house in Peru and found out there was a small yappie dog I was not very happy - but 8 months on and I actually quite like the wee dog and will miss him when I leave in February.

Here are a few wee stories about my wee Freddie!

1) One night I was sitting beside Fred watching TV when he suddenly starts hiccuping (or as they say in Peru, he gets the hippos) - I have never seen a dog with the hiccups before, it was so cute.

2) In September Rut Maria, my Peruvian Mum went away on holiday for 15 days to Lima leaving me in charge of the house and the dog. On the second night of Rut Maria being away Fred sat outside the front door for 20 minutes waiting for her to come home - it was sweet but also heart breaking as I knew she would not be back for another 13 days. When I told him his mummy would not be back for a wee while he looked up at me with a sad face then ran straight to me. 

3) This week I have been sick with the stomach flu and one day was lying on my bed feeling bit miserable when Fred came and jumped on my bed to see if I was ok. I was cold so put my hood of my jumper up and the next moment Fred started attacking my head. He obviously does not like hoodies! 

4) Every time I go to bed or leave house Fred starts barking like crazy and tries to stop me from going to bed or leaving the house - at first it was very annoying but now its quite endearing

5) If anyone goes near me to hug me or even touch me sometimes Fred starts barking at them to back away, which is really strange as like three months ago he did not like me

I think that the two weeks we spent together when Rut Maria was away helped us bond, aww how sweet. He had to depend on me for food then and ended up quite liking me now we are buds - would not go as far as saying best buds, but we are buds.

Around the World

A couple of weeks ago at the Jovenes we had a special night for all jovenes of all baptist churches, this was called Fiesta Costumbrista Misionera Unida and was basically an Around the World night.

Each of us were paired into twos with a jovene from another church and told to pick a country to represent. I was paired with Illich and surprise surprise we decided on Ireland - just because I knew more about it than any other country.

On the night we had to do a little speech about the country, so I decided that I would write all the information out and Illich would speak, made life easier for me. We also had to bring some traditional food from our chosen country - so with a little help (well maybe a lot of help) from my fellow Irish Strider Linda, I made Potato Bread and took it a long. The reviews of this Irish delicacy were mixed with some not liking it and some loving it..

Potato Bread

We also had to wear traditional dress of our chosen countries, but Ireland does not really have any traditional dress, so instead I wore a Northern Irish football top and Illich wore the Irish Rugby Jersey (kindly leant to me by my work boss). Everyone else was in very traditional dress so I felt a wee bit embarrassed but hey what can you do if your country does not have traditional dress. Feel free to correct me on that, does Ireland have traditional dress which I do not know about?

Illich and I in our 'traditional' dress

Jenny in her Brazilian dress

Rocio in typical African dress

It was an interesting night and overall there were 9 different countries represented: China, Senegal, Peru (two provinces of Peru were represented: Cusco and Piura), Argentina, Jamaica, Brazil, India, Mexico and Uruguay.

In darkness......

On Saturday nights I go to the Jovenes group (young people - yes am still young).... and tonight was no different, was glad to go because had been in my house alone all day with the dog and was going a wee bit mad talking to him and getting no response back.

Jovenes is usually fun but tonight there was an added aspect of fun - there were no lights. We sat down to start and all of a sudden the lights went out. And unlike back home no one went to find out why or to try and flick the trip switch or whatever it is called, we just got the cellphones out to light the place and carried on. 

One of the first things we did tonight was split into teams of two, tie are legs together and hop down the church in a race.,.... now these kind of races can be dangerous with lights on, but with the lights off and chairs all in the way I was scared that my next doctors visit would be because of a broken arm or leg, but no worries I survived without a breakage as did everyone else. 

The aim of this game was to help each other, lean on each other to get from one place to another and I think the fact there was no lights added to this need as not only one where we tied to each other but we needed each other to help see. Just like we need to lean on God and have him show us the way.

The rest of the night was spent listening to Airyn do a bible study whilst walking around holding a cellphone to her head so we could see her and she could see us - it amused me. We spent an hour and a half in darkness - the lights never came on the entire time we were there.

I know its not really exciting but it interested me and amused me and I just thought would share it with you guys. No pictures sorry of the darkness to follow sorry, but close your eyes and you can be there too in the darkness!! 

On the water

Last week Ali, a ex work colleague and friend from England came to visit me. It was fun. While I worked she showed herself the sights of Arequipa and then on Thursday which was a bank holiday here the two of us went rafting on the River Chili.

This is something I have never done before and something which have always wanted to do. Though I know my family members were scared when I told them I was doing it, scared I would break an arm or lose my teeth - but am pleased to inform you that I survived and came back in one piece.

When we arrived to the office of the guys who do the rafting we were given wetsuits, shorts, shirt and a helmet and it all made a pretty sight really  very elegant!!

There were 10 of us altogether and we were put into two boats, a Spanish boat and a English boat. We went 6km on the river and went over about 12 rapids ranging from class 2 to class 4. Not being a outdoor person this meant nothing to me, but some of them were pretty rough and twice I nearly fell out of the boat but thankfully the lovely good looking instructor Rodrigo caught me before I went the whole way in. Someone else from the other boat did fall in.

Half way down the course we came to this big rock and Rodrigo said does anyone want to jump this and the American guy in our boat said yes, so we stopped and everyone climbed up to jump. I was not sure about doing it as I am not a great swimmer anymore, but I did jump and wow. I think  swallowed half of River Chili  but I survived even though went hit the water I thought I was a goner!!

About to Jump

Mid Jump

Ali decided not to jump, and she was very sensible. But even though it scared me a bit, I was glad I did it. 

The whole morning of rafting was fun and it was one of those things to do before I die ticked of my list. I recommend it to anyone. 

To see more photos please click here - they were taken by one of the professionals.