so long...

for now see you in the next page!!!

in light of lots of changes going on around me, i opted to change up my blog too. actually... ive been waiting for the right opportunity for this. you see, when you sign up for a blog... its justn ot a good idea to sign up for one with your university email address. because eventually that email address gets cacelled... and eventually you have a REALLY hard time getting into your blog because you forget the password (numerous occasions) and cant have it emailed to you because you cant sign into your email any longer.

so please see all future julie posts at the following address:

http://perandom.blogspot.com/

i hope you like it! i have been working on it/i am still working on it... tell me what you think!

my friends...

are crazy fun. can you guess which ones actually play instruments? 

pre church 'jam session'

the process of a juane

a juane is a food from the jungle... a present if you will, of rice packed around chicken olives and boiled egg. its cooked up in banana leaves, and just ...so so good. many of my friends/students are from the jungle and i had been planning with one of them to one day spend some time preparing juanes or jungle food together. i had no idea just how much time that entailed... until this past saturday...

our day began at 10:30ish when I Angela and her Aunt went to a local market in search of our ingredients... which began with a visit to the chickens... i had no idea what was about to happen, my first time to this particular market i was getting caught up in taking in everything around me when i realized the vendor had grabbed one of the chickens i was admiring to well, appropriately prepare it for our meal. that... was definitely my first experience watching that kind of process. i was trying to find saliva to swallow as i was also trying to understand angelas aunt explain that this was the cheaper market where everyone else comes to get their meat and veggies and everything else, then sell. 

the markets are wonderful places full of colors and smells and everything you can imagine...eggs....

...sticks of cinnamon... barrels of olives...

...mountains of dried peppers and fresh garlic.... i wanted to take pictures at the market but was in the opinion that it wasnt safe for me to even take my camera let alone get it out for photos. angela encouraged me to act the tourist part though, so i timidly took a few pictures while securely holding my camera in both hands. the one thing i wish i had a picture of that i was too shy to take for it being too far of a step of looking the tourist, was of some people whom i am assuming were natives to a part in the jungle who were wearing traditional clothing and selling their medicines. they were walking the market trying to convince people to buy their jars of herbs/liquids. i have a bad that is made from material from the jungle and as they walked by us i heard their leader try to convince me to take their product and said 'but you are using my bag!!" 

The first thing we had to do after our trip to the market was take the banana leaves and start to clean them. Johana, one of my students, took on this task:

the trick to learning the secrets of cooking peruvian food is watching a gifted aunt teach her niece how to appropriately prepare everything... we had to put the banana leaves over a flame until they slightly turned color so that they would be more flexible...

mixing up rice with the right color and aromas....

and finally putting it into the banana leaves with an olive, boiled egg and chicken to be wrapped then cooked. 

see... its like a present no? all of the experiences of that Saturday were more than memorable from the chicken.. to watching angelas 8month pregnant aunt truck around the market with carrying a kilo of rice and more veggies with more strength and speed than myself... to preparing and wrapping up the juanes amidst stories of their family and the jungle... we spent plenty of good time together saturday preparing the juane for the next day sunday lunch.

sundays are by far by far my favorite day of the week. after the morning service at larco our normal routine is to gather together for lunch at a restaurant or in someones house as in this weekends case in my friends house for the juanes we had made, plus this amazingly tasty jungle soup made of peanut that her aunt surprised us with. we eat lunch then find someones home to relax in until the evening service. its just an awesome day of relaxing in the environment of friends on the Lords day of rest. its that time when you are so content that you just want to wrap up the moments/emotions/warmth/peace/comfort of finding rest into your own banana leaf and keep it for a day in the middle of the week when you need to be reminded of the peace that God extends to us. 

that time between services is also so great because it serves like a time of common ground between the friends that i have already within the church and the friends that dont frequent the church so much.. a time when we can enjoy one another and be encouraged by one another... and usually the whole group goes together to the church for the night service. the sacrifice is a sunday nap, i think its well replaced. 

a new season

a new season in Peru means... the weather is getting colder but we still live in the city 'of eternal spring' so not too cold. ...until your body adjusts to the cold weather and you find yourself wrapped up in sweaters and jackets even when you see other tourists visiting in shorts and t shirts. i think this is a hint that you are adjusting to the country. at least your body is. 

it also means new faces for the interns. the monty of July saw our summer interns return for  home to begin university classes again, just as we were getting to know them. But as they left we received 7 new faces to get to know, most of them staying with us for the next 10 months. 

notice that even though I said the weather is changing for colder, we still visit the beach. Huanchaco is about a 15/20 minute drive away, we went there Friday to enjoy some lunch. Many of us cebiche which is a traditional dish here of fish cooked or not cooked based on your perspecitve of cooking... in lime juice. its tasty. 

one of our first days all together, with a birthday party for one of our friends in the mission. Some of our Peruvian friends from the church threw Eric a Peruvian birthday party, it was a lot of fun, including the dancing. which i still haven't picked up even with a year under my belt. ha.

Jamesson

became a member of the Larco church this past weekend. :D

he's a student of English, a friend, and looks after me like a brother. 

calls me mana (short for hermana which is spanish for sister) 

it was/these are happy days. 

Josue

It doesn't matter what culture you are in,

 you can always find a teenager that thinks he's too cool for photos. 

in peru when you order a sandwich there are soooo many kinds of condiments to choose from. it's pretty crazy. mostaza (mustard) ketchup (um, ketchup) mayonesa (mayonnaise) aceituna (olive) and aji (spicy peruvian pepper) plus im sure more than i dont know about. 

and, there of course as in any big city, is plenty of graffiti to discover.

Otuzco and... deer jerky?

yesterday we packed up into a van and took about a 2 1/2 hour trip out of Trujillo to Otuzco. SALI classes ended on Wednesday for the June cycle, so we took a little trip out of the city. The ride there was beautiful... sometimes I forget how much I just love the mountains and seeing things that are green, smelling fresh air. These are the things you forget are vital when you live on the corner of one of the busiest intersections in a large city. 

I googled Otuzco before we started our trip.... and... well it may not have been the most thorough search possible but I could not find any information on the town except dates for festivals for saints. 

You know that I have been trying my way with chicken... and recently I tried some cecina (which is a bit like country ham) in a jungle restaurant here in trujillo. So... on our trip when I was greeted with the menu... I thought that my safest bet on the menu was cecina... and oh could i have been more wrong? The cecina was actually more like dried deer meat. And wow did not go over well with my bodiest tolerance for meat. But, well I can say I'm trying. 

One of the gorgeous views along the way

Inside the Catholic church in the Plaza (the main square)

the church from the outside

Cecina (not the normal cecina) 

a classy mountain woman

yellow.

Rocio found earrings and hair clips that match my yellow shoes and spontaneously bought them for me... my students are awesome no? yes, the correct answer is yes they are amazing. ad im not saying that because they give me gifts, im saying that because its just a fact. 

love my students.

love my friends.

love my students/friends.

love peru.

Hogar de Esperanza

This past Saturday took a little of a detour from my usual Saturday activities. A group from the church which I attend here in Trujillo, the Larco branch of Peru Mission, took a group out to the orphanage to help out for the day. It was definitely a wonderful day of work and play and exhaustion :) 

Let's get you a small vision of my day:

The plan... as had been announced at the church as well as been said through the many mouths of authority through the week... was to leave the church on a bus at 7 am. So naturally... friday night I had nightmares about being 3 minutes late to the church and them having left me with their bus full of excited helpers. This was a worry for me... only because I had never gone to this place before, on my own or with anyone, I had no idea where it was. But my nightmares were completely unrealistic... as I knew... I KNEW! that every other function it didnt matter how late I had been... there were always those that were later....by 30 minutes. I learned this lesson well, the past month that I started to attend a girls Bible study at the church on Monday mornings at 7 am... which later had been changed to 7 am for the peruvian girls and 7:30 am for me ... as I had been continuously surprising the Hermana (sister) which was leading the study... for a personal visit for 30 minutes each Monday while waiting on the other girls :D

So... this past Saturday morning... what convinced me to show up at the church at 7 am? Incredibly unrealistic yet guilt inflicting night mares. What did I meet when I got to the church? Well a closed door and no bus for starters... which I naturally first assumed that I just missed everything. What was the reality... I was again... la primera (the first) ... and I waited patiently for the others to arrive. :) I don't know if I will ever learn my lesson. I am inconsistent. I show up late to the things people show up on time for, and early for the things every ones else know somehow to show up 30 minutes to an hour late for. Why can't I grasp the culture!!!! haha

Well, eventually we left the church, and were at Albergue in time to start cleaning near to 8 AM.. we gathered in groups and spread across to all corners of the orphanage, soapy bowl in left hand, cloth to scrub in right hand. We spent the morning cleaning then gathered together midday to eat lunch with everyone. It was fun to have the kids help us... well... hmm.. well yeah help :) But even more fun to spend lunchtime with them then spend time with them after playing. The boys played baskettball and the us girls gathered around to watch, talk and cheer. I met a cute girl with the same name as me... what can I say? :) It was fun to spend time with both the group from the church, the kids, and the combination of the two. Some of the kids come to our church, so it was great to see their faces to be able to spot them and focus on them. One of the boys I recognized because one of the guys in our choir gives him drum lessons on Saturdays before choir. Well... he (a teenager, or preteen) had a sandboard and somehow i was the girl selected among the little group of guys he chose to go out with the board into the dunes nearby. ...What a treat! I went out with the guys, and a few little boys... including Franklin... precious kid with the goofiest classes... and... I can confidently and securely tell you... that even though there is no evidence.. I completely rocked out the sandboarding better than the the three other guys there my age.. thus winning over the privelage of conversation with this kid that had previously ignored me in church. So now I get to pick on the guys  and I get to talk to this kid because now he thinks I'm cool enough. 

Following the cleaning and playing... we headed back to the church in the same bus... where... well more cleaning was left to greet some of us. Our youth group has split up into groups that takes turns cleans the church on Saturdays.. and... of course it was my groups turn! And well it's not the lightest of cleaning. But doable. That day, followed by choir practice and a despedida ( a going away party) for one of the missionary families that is returning on furlough, was a hard core day ending with a serious visit by the sandman. But I enjoyed every minute of it. And I'm excited for some of the doors that I think were opened for me by going with that group. 

Some of the kids....

Some of our group...

Where we spent our day...

Fast Track Inspiration

My time here in Peru, as all of you know, has been spent with SALI, teaching English... which is where the majority of my time is consumed. With that kind of work I have spent a lot of time teaching, preparing, talking with students, building up relationships with them. Which is wonderful and I love every moment that I get to spend with them. Especially this month in particular has been an exciting and encouraging one for me as far as my students. Although a small class, I have found a great connection with them. It is a fast track class, which is a little different from our normal classes, its... well faster.. and prepares someone for English that has a little amount of time to learn before needing that skill. Many times our students finish our Fast Track program then enroll in our regular classes. 

Well, this a class of all girls, so I feel that we are all a bit more open with each other. And, since it's a smaller class, we are getting to know more about each other as well. Vivian has a baby and she lives with her family, she is a wonderful mother. Diana has medical studies that keep her very busy and she is a great student. And Lorena travels to Lima about as often as I go to the grocery store, to help her mother with their work. I think that also an advantage for me from having a smaller class, has been me feeling like I could experiment more, be more open with my students about my life, my beliefs, and more intentional with them as well. We have had great opportunities to look at Bible passages on topics we talk about in class, as well as our time of prayer has really changed this month. We always finish class with prayer, but this month has been so much more special. And I feel that they each know that they can come with requests each day to class that they will hear me pray for them for. I think that our time has been incredible this month, and I am really looking forward to spending the next month with them as well, to see how our relationship increases as well as how God works in our class. Please keep each of these girls in your prayers, as well as our classes at SALI in general. God is truly working in our classrooms, and in our lives here! 

corpus christi

dyed wood shavings...

flower petals...

designs...

the catholic church..

the plaza de armas...

...corpus christi

36 hours in Lima

last weekend i took a trip to Lima! my tourist visa is expiring soon, and since I am planning to stay in Peru longer, I took the next step past a tourist visa and went to Lima to start the process of getting a religious visa, which means I can stay in Peru for a year at a time. Lucky for me, that I have been in Trujillo long enough now to have friends in Lima! How does that work? Well, a student of mine a few months ago, now lives in Lima working as an Engineer. So when I told her that I was coming to Lima, Vanessa offered to show me around her new city.

While I was waiting on Vanessa to finish work, I visited the Museo de la Nacion. It was free! :) and I could wander around the museum looking at art and history for as long as I wanted. 

In the evening I met up with Vanessa, and also with her friend Claudia... both of whom... were so excited to see me because they wanted to practice their English!!!! haha. we had dinner and window shopped for the evening, then finished with a few games of air hockey. Which I can proudly say that I introduced them too! I can't believe that neither of them had played before, but we had so much fun, and I am pretty sure that they are now just as addicted as I am. 

The next day in the afternoon we went by the plaza... and saw the presidential palace! Sadly we missed by just a few minutes, the changing of the guard. We heard it was very interesting to watch but we didn't get to see it ourselves. It was fun to wander the city with these girls, because they are new to Lima also and they were just as much a tourist as I was :)
The zoo!!! There is a zoo in Lima... and of course we went! I was so excited! And although I don't have a picture... I think the turtles were my favorite... they were HUGE!!!
half child - half tiger
real tiger -not so happy... he paced and paced... and roared and roared. he was quite the attraction.
and they were just sleepy :)
it was a lot of fun spending time in Lima, thanks Vanessa and Claudia!!!!

i'm invited!

meet my friend Keren. miss keren is currently 14 years old and patiently waiting her 15 year birthday party in July. here in peru, turning 15 is celebrated like turning 16 in the states. theres a big party, a pink dress is involved. 

i met keren and her brother isaac in January i believe in one of my conversation classes. they are both awesome people and give me very good reason to believe that their entire family is just as awesome as the two of them. i haven't had the two of them in class since Januray, but they continued taking classes here, and one of the highlights of each of my day is getting to see them as they come into their classes. 

so keren's big 15 is coming up soon, in July. and i am EXCITED that i get to go! the invitation was very nice, and it says specifically "elegante" which then she gave me strict instructions about dressing nicely and wearing a dress but most importantly NOT a PINK dress. because thats what the birthday girl wears. and the birthday girls brother wears a pink tie. to which i will endlessly pick on him for of course. hehe. 

this is going to be fun. im excited. really excited. i will let you know soon (well after July 4th since thats her birthday) how it goes, with pictures of course!

SALI corner cafe

this month i am working in the coffee shop as well as teaching a Fast Track class. I start at three oclockish... selling coffee and cookies... sandwiches and sodas. 

Today Andrea was helping me out :) Andrea and I have spent several months working hard on me spoiling her with cookies and swinging circles of ring around the rosie to develop our friendship. I think we are finally at the point in our relationship where she remembers my name even when i don't have cookies in my hand. Today we shared coffee for me and hot chocolate for her over yummy cookies like they make in the mountains in peru. 

i love

my students. they are just simply awesome.  i've taught these kids a lot the past months... they are crazy, and they bring out the crazy in me. they are in advanced 4 now... not much more to go! next month someone else gets the joy of hanging out with them learning English for an hour and a half. im a little jealous. but... i will get new students to tell you stories about :)

they posed

so did they, carlos likes to be cheesy

martin definitely posed. hes happier than he looks, i promise.

advanced 4 quote of the day:

context: students are searching for meanings in both english and spanish.. racing even though i told them it wasnt a race.. students looking in the one dictionary.. and asking me questions left and right about meanings.. the asking me to repeat the word in spanish for MY practice in pronunciation. haha

martin: Julie!! arrg...

me: are you speaking pirate right now?

everyone: hahahahahah

martin: wait.. what? no.. arrrg

me: seriously, you arent speaking english or spanish right now martin

 a-r-g aka pirate language

everyone: random laughter.. random pirate noises

martin: a...r...g...u...e.... arrrrggggue

everyone: hahahahahahahahaha

advanced 7:15 pm... i will miss you.

esperar en ti

breakfast

i have been more in the mood for breakfast lately...

actually, almost every morning is an orange juice morning. but lately i have been visiting the sandwich lady too. nearly every morning i walk about a block away from SALI where i find the familiar face of a woman that knows my orange juice order... so when she sees me coming  she pulls out a bolsita (little bag) and starts measuring out some fresh squeezed orange juice. this lady must have some hardcore arm muscles for as many juices she squeezes each day.  one day i shook up our relationship a little bit... and what? drank the juice there. i always get my juice to go.. and take it back to SALI to drink. but its more common for someone to stand there with her and drink down the vitamin C before they head off to their next stop. that day i decided that i would reach for a little conversation. i thought today is the day... today im in. ... well our conversation didnt go very far... she was more interested in just selling me juice and moving on with her day... but theres hope, i see hope in her smiles each day :) 

next the breakfast sandwich lady. this i would say is best described as breakfast, fast food style. 

again about a block, but from where i live, theres a lady each morning with different kinds of sandwiches.. filled with avocado.. egg.. sweet potato... tortilla (like an omelette) ... for 50 centimos i can get a filling start on my day. i like to imagine that her smile when she sees me is more over the fact that i always order the same thing... and not the fact that i am the only female getting a sandwich from her... yeah... 

chicken salad...

...is best made with 6 ever so skeptical advanced 4 students. 

i wish you could have heard the groans coming from each of them when they saw the combination of chicken... nuts... mayo ... and what? piña??? actually, it quite remarkedly resembled the tone in their voices when i assign them homework. today they are slaving away at a reading exam.. i can just see the determination in their faces to finish and begin their weekend. this class is finishing our regular cycle of english classes this month. next month they will begin the rotation of TOEFL classes. four months of preparation for an exam that if passed will officially declare them as fluent English speakers. they are almost finished! im excited for them... its always so fun to see students working and studying and see them in class day after day...cycle after cycle (hopefully) ...to start friendships with them and watch the ways they grow not only in their English but also in life in general. 

i thought it necessary to include this second picture.. just because it really looks like leilan is about to stick her fork into the unsuspecting martin. hehe
and by the way.. mom... thanks for the recipe :) jiji

it works out better when you have a recipe. ...and also... they completely scarfed down the chicken salad. guess the mayo pineapple chicken combo wasnt such a bad idea after all.