Soccer is fun! But really really hard!

This is what I have been up to for the last 36 hours:

1. Saturday morning was time to get a bit of homework done. I spent a good deal of the morning reading Como se ensenan y se aprendan las matematicas (it's about teaching and learning math--two of my favorite things to do!!).

2. I had a wonderful lunch, and in the afternoon, I went to the meeting for voluntariado at the university. This involved reading a text by Dietrich von Hildebrand in Spanish, talking about it, and planning some activities to do with the students the next day.

3. This is the first Saturday night that I've had free, so I wanted to go to the youth group gathering at a church that I've been going to. There wasn't a time online, but a group of us were under the impression that it started at 7:30. Unfortunately... we misunderstood something somewhere, because I arrived at 7:27, and the gathering was definitely already in progress. It turns out that it starts at 6:30. Oh well! Next week... I'll go at 6:30.

4. Seven of us then met up at Starbucks and played cards for a few hours. We played some fun games and had a nice time relaxing and laughing and talking and... playing cards.

5. I got up this morning and got to the university at 7 to go to voluntariado. Mary and Maria, some friends from Calvin, also came this time. And my friend from conversation groups, Anthony, was also there. We loaded on the bus and arrived at the church. We went to church with all the children, and then walked a short distance to their school. Once there, we sang a bunch of songs with the kids (all of these songs come with some wonderful moves), and after that we all divided into four groups for some relay races. It was great fun, and I love talking to the kids and spending time with them.

6. Once I got back home after voluntariado, I ate lunch. It was yummy.

7. And I had a super fun afternoon! I went to play soccer with some wonderful people! Two great people from the university, Anthony and his friend Diego, joined a group of us from Calvin--Amy, Sydney, Scott, Becca, Alex, Sarah, and I. It was quite fun! I enjoy playing sports, and usually I can hold my own. But... soccer is really hard for me. The problem is kicking. I frequently miss the ball when I try to kick. My eye foot coordination is... very low. Also, I really like to use my hands. This is generally not acceptable in soccer unless you're the goaly. But I wasn't. Needless to say, I wasn't very helpful to my team. I did a lot of running back and forth and back and forth, but things were just better in general when I wasn't by the ball. Perhaps while I'm here I'll get to play more and improve my kicking abilities. Either way, it was fun.

Father, thank You for a fun weekend. Thank You for always being with me. Thank You for new friends and for all of the people that you have put in my life here in Arequipa. I am so grateful for my family here--God, they are so wonderful--and all the people in the Calvin group and my friends from the university. In the coming week, guide me, Jesus. At every moment, help me to listen for Your voice and follow Your leading. Whatever comes, teach me to trust You more. I praise You, Jesus!

COOKIES!!!!!!!!!!!

Earlier this week, Amy came up with a brilliant idea. "WE SHOULD MAKE COOKIES!!", she said. So, that's what we did today. It was wonderful.

The first step to making chocolate chip cookies involved purchasing a few ingrediants, such as chocolate chips. Sydney, Amy, and I, after visiting two different grocery stores, came to the conclusion that chocolate chips are not very common here. There weren't any. So, instead we settled for a a few bricks of semi-sweet chocolate.

Amy's family graciously offered us the use of their kitchen. We settled down and began to cut the chocolate blocks into chocolate chunks.

And then, we began combining the rest of the ingredients. The recipie called for two and a half cups of flour. We did our best to try to guess how much that was... and we ended up putting in too much flour. In order to make our dough the right consistency, we had to add quite a bit of water. But, the cookies ended up tasting great!

Amy and Sydney with our finished cookies!!!

I get the idea that baking desserts is not very common here. The baking sections of the grocery stores were a bit sparce, and Amy's family was very interested in what we were doing. They wanted to know how we made the cookies and they asked if baking is something that we do for special occassions.

Many of you know that I am a big fan of baking and that we do quite a bit of baking in my house. When I first think about it, it seems strange that baking isn't common here. After all, baking is great! Why would people not want to do that all the time?! On the other hand, I have eaten many delicious things here that I have not eaten or seen before in the US.

Algebra, Volcanoes, and Ice Cream

1. It's about time that I say something about Algebra Lineal y Geometria Analitica. I haven't mentioned that class very much, mainly (I think) because I don't really know my classmates very well, which is unfortunate. But, that's okay because we're busy doing MATH! Which is wonderful!!! I am really enjoying this class. The professor is really good! While we are working on problems, he regularly comes over to me to see what I am doing, which confirms to me that I am doing the right think and understanding what he is saying, so I appreciate immensely! Most recently, we have been learning how to find the inverse of a matrix using Gaussian Elimination (I would just like to say that it's really cool that that is possible! Math is neat!). If you don't know how to find the inverse of a matrix using Gaussian Elimination... we'll you're missing out! Grab a pencil and a piece of paper and learn!!

2. Wednesday night after class, I went to the Plaza de Armas with Danery and we ate some ice cream and talked in a wonderful mixture of Spanish and English. I had so much fun with her! She has been such a blessing to me!

3. I did some observing at Colegio Claretiano this week, also. The math teacher that I am working with there is great! He has been very welcoming about having me in his classroom, and I have really enjoyed observing there. I am learning lots of math words in Spanish, which is wonderful. Currently, the students are  in the middle of a unit about statistics.

4. Every Monday, a group of us from Calvin meet for a Bible study. Calvin provided a book of devotions for Off Campus Programs (in Spanish!), so we are working our way through that book. This group has been a great encouragement to me.

5. On Thursday, I had a conversation group with Anthony, one of my conversation partners at the university. I am having a great time getting to know my conversation partners! I am learning so much from them!! And they are all cool people! It's wonderful!

6. One of the classes that I'm in is called Analisis de la Realidad Peruana. Right now, we are learning about the history of Peru. I really like learning this!! My goal right now is to read (and understand) a very long chapter about Peru in the 19th century.

7. There are roosters here. I don't know where they are though. I hear them, but I don't see them.

8. Apparently there was a tremor here this week! But... I didn't feel it.

I get to look at this everyday out my window. It does not get old.  (That is, seeing this everyday does not get old. The volcano does get old -- it gets older and older everyday. It is quite old. And very awesome.)

I am itty-bitty!

Everyday, I walk to class, and I see a ton of people. There's people walking around, people in taxis, people in combis, people selling food... basically, there's just a lot of people! I come in contact with some many people everyday! Some of them, like the ones I see on the street or at the university, I don't know at all, but they have become a part of my environment. Others, like my classmates and my friends and family here, I do know and am getting to know them better and better everyday.

It is crazy to me to think about the fact that less than two months ago, I didn't know any of these people. I had never seen them before, and moreover, I had never even really thought about them at all. They were not part of my reality. But, that doesn't change the fact that they were here! They were in the combis and the classrooms that I see and sit in everyday now.

By coming here, my world has gotten so much bigger. And, at the same time, I am realizing how very small I am. For the past 22 years of my life, things have been going on here in Arequipa. My family and professors and classmates and friends have been living and doing things, and I never knew about any of it! To me, my reality was in Lansing, Illinois. That's all I thought about. But... there's so much more than Lansing! There are people all over the world! Sure, I knew that. But now that I see that, it makes me see things a bit differently. Suddenly, I am beginning to realize how little and limited my reality is.

Google tells me that population of the world is about 6,973,738,433 people. I make up 1.43 x 10^-7% of the population of the world. And... a very very large percentage of my thoughst are about me, even though I make up a very very small percentage of the people on this planet.

The more I realize how small I am, the more I realize how ENORMOUS God is. Oh wow! Really, He is gigantically big!!!

The LORD looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men. (Psalm 33:13)

God can see ALL OF US at once! That is... really cool! I can hardly think about more than one person at a time, but God knows each of us intimately and is aware of every breath that we take. That is a LOT of people to see all at once.

I am really little. And I am loved by a God who is really big.

Happy Birthday, Ann Webster!!

Today a dear dear friend of mine turned 23! Happy Birthday, Ann! In order to celebrate her birthday, I bought a brownie at the university today, and I ate it. It was wonderful.

This has been a great week. God is teaching me that in everything, His grace is sufficent for me. He is teaching me to let tomorrow worry about itself and to embrace every moment and to rest. He is reminding me that He cares about every single little detail of my life, not just the really important stuff. That's what I thought of this morning when I read about the wedding in Cana where Jesus turned water into wine. This wasn't a life or death situation. But Jesus cares about the big things and the small things -- He healed people, raised the dead, drove out demons... and changed water into wine. He is teaching me to trust Him with the tiny details of my life.

This morning, part of 1 John 2 jumped out at me. It was a very encouraging reminder of who we are in Christ Jesus! In Him, our sins are forgiven and we are automatically victorious over the enemy. The word of God, the One who is from the beginning, lives with in us! Be encouraged!!!!

I am writing to you, dear children,

    because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.

I am writing to you, fathers,

    because you know him who is from the beginning.

I am writing to you, young men,

    because you have overcome the evil one.

I write to you, dear children,

    because you know the Father.

I write to you, fathers,

    because you know him who is from the beginning.

I write to you, young men,

    because you are strong,

    and the word of God lives in you,

    and you have overcome the evil one. (1 John 2:12-14)



Oh God, I thank You for caring about the little things and the big things in our lives. Thank You for being trustworthy and teach us to trust You more, Jesus!!

What a wonderful weekend! Part 3

Okay, I think we're on to Sunday now! On Sunday morning, we woke up and had a worship service in a gathering room at the hotel. After that, we had about two hours before lunch to explore Chucito. We started by getting as close to the lake as we could. There ws a dirt road that went from the hotel down to the water, so we went down there, which was quite beautiful and peacful.

On the road down to the lake.

 And then after spending some time at the lake, we headed toward the Plaza de Armas of Chucito. On the way there, Alex (one of my classmates) looked up and noticed that THERE WAS A CIRCLE RAINBOW AROUND THE SUN!!!!!!!!!!! So we stopped and gawked at it for a little while. It was cool.

Circle rainbow!!!!!

We walked around the Plaza de Armas, bought some ice cream, and continued on. The city of Chucito is not very large. We saw quite a bit of it, I think. Eventually, we ended up all sitting on a very large rock and just soaking in the view of the countryside. I could have stayed there for hours, but we had to return to the hotel for lunch.

This is part of our view from the big rock. Oh, it was great!

We ate lunch at the hotel, and then we all got on the bus to begin our trip home. But we made some stops on the way. The first stop that we made was at a lookout over the city of Puno. Oh wow. That was cool! Look at this!!!



After spending lots of time at the lookout, we got back in the bus and headed to Sillustani. Sillustani is a place where there are lots of very large circular stuctures made of rock. These are ancient tombs from pre-Incan times. That's a long long long time ago. These structures were all over! There were tons of them! And the view was spectacular. God is really really amazing!!

This looked so much cooler in person.

And here are some of the very large structures. It was amazing to see them! They are called chullpas.I would also like to mention that it required a lot of math to create these structures.

After spending some time in Sillustani, we got back on the bus and drove off to Arequipa. Home sweet home!

God, Your creation is magnificent! Thank You for making this world!

 

What a wonderful weekend! Part 2

We departed from the floating islands (Islas de los Uros), and we boated off to the island of Taquile, which is a real island, not a floating one. It took almost three hours to get to the island! I didn't realize how very large Lake Titicaca is! But we had a great time on the bonding on the boat.

Here we are inside the boat. That's Alfonso, our guide. He was cool.

 

And here are some of the wonderful people that I spent the weekend with! We're on the top of the boat.

Did I mention that this lake is beautiful? Oh my, it's gorgeous!!!



And I have been so blessed to know these two awesome ladies, Sydney and Amy!

So, we eventually arrived in Taquile. Our guide told us that we had some time to climb to the plaza. It really was a bit of a climb! But it was also one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen! The pictures... really don't do it justice at all. But here they are anyway!

Here is the island as we approach it by boat.

This is on the walk up to the plaza.

It was reallllllllly pretty.

We made it to the plaza!!

Here's the view from the plaza.

And here is the view inland from the plaza.

From the plaza, our guide suggested that we take a quicker way down to get back to the boat. Indeed, the return trip was much shorter. It was also very very very steep. Oh man. It was a tricky descent. But so pretty!!! And quite fun.

We got back on the boat in time for the sunset. Oh wow.

And here I am on the boat with some cool people! It's Amy, Sydney, and Lauren!

We took a long boat ride back to Puno, and from there we hopped on the bus and went to the center of Puno. We were to go to dinner at Balcones de Puno, a restaurant with a dinner show of traditional Peruvian dances. For dinner, I ate alpaca.

We walked down one street in Puno, on the way to the restaurant.

Here are my friends at the restaurant!

And here is the alpaca that I ate.



And here is some of the dancing!!

 That brings us to the end of Saturday! After the restaurant, we all went back to the hotel to sleep. We still had all day on Sunday, which I will write about tomorrow.

What a wonderful weekend! Part 1

The weekend began on Friday at 4:00. There was a huge party at the university for Dia del Estudiante! This is a wonderful tradition!! Every year, there is a party to celebrate all students. The students all get presents (WE GOT FANNY PACKS!!!!) and there is a big stage and a musical program that consists of all students from the university. It was quite fun.

From the party, the Calvin crew boarded a tour bus and we headed west to Puno. This was a seven hour bus ride, so we watched Lion King and Lion King II in Spanish. We arrived at the hotel in Chucuito (close to Puno) around 1 AM and collapsed into our beds. I stayed in a room  with Sydney and Amy. It was a really  nice hotel, right on the shores of Lake Titicaca.

We woke up the next morning and had the best continental breakfast I have ever had in my life! There was enough fruit for an army, and some awesome yougurt and stuff to put in it and juice and breads... it was great. After breakfast, we all boarded the bus and drove to Puno, which isn't too far from Chucuito. Puno is the folklore capital of Peru. It's a decently big city on the shore of the lake, and it's very very high - the elevation is 12,500 feet! We all get altitude pills to take from Professor Zandstra.

In Puno, we all got on a boat. It was the perfect size for our group. There were about 20 seats on the inside, but most of the time we were hanging out on the roof or on the back section of the boat that is not covered. The boat took us to the floating islands of Uros. Ok, this is cool.

Here is our hotel room!!

This is right outside the back door of our room!! It's Lago Titcaca!!

This is the courtyard of our hotel taken from our hotel room.

FRIENDS!

We had a beautiful view of the lake!

Here we are on the floating islands! The island is made of the straw-like stuff that you see.

While on the islands, everyone tries on traditional clothing. This is what the women on the islands wear.

Here is our island host with some beautiful things that she has made.

Here is a view from the island.

As we floated away, the women from the island sang a song to us.

Here are more floating islands. They are all over!!

We rode in a boat like this one from one island to another.

So, the floating islands. They are about 30 minutes from shore. And they are really man-made and floating. They are made of this water grass stuff that grows in the lake. The people harvest it and use it to make their islands. When you're walking around on them, you can tell that they are floating. They move a bit. The people who live on these islands (ranging from 5 to 25 families per island) live very traditionally. They wear traditional clothing, they live in very small structures and they make a living through the tourists who come to visit. They sell their textiles (which are beautiful).

On the islands, we also got to go on a boat ride on one of their traditional boats made out of the grasses from the lake. It was super awesome!!!

Life on these islands is so very different from what I am used to. Oh my. There are lots and lots of islands. I don't know if tourists come to any given island every single day or if they rotate, but the whole thing does make me feel slightly uncomfortable. We went to the islands, and it felt kind of like we were going to a zoo, just to watch how they live. The people there make a living by letting a bunch of strangers play dress-up with their clothing. I am so very very glad that we went and glad that I got to see the islands. My world definitely got bigger - I had no idea that people live in ways that are so very different from my reality. I learned a lot, but I'm still kind of uncomfortable with how it felt like we were making a spectacle of these people who live on the islands.

I'll continue about our weekend story tomorrow!!!

Oh God, I thank You so much for the wonderful weekend we had! Thank You for our group and our laughter and the time that we got to spend together. Oh man, God thank You for the beautiful things that You created!! You creation took my breath away, God. And God, You know I'm feeling uneasy about some of the tourism we did. Show me Your thoughs, Jesus.

Going to Puno

Last night, after class and conversation group with Anthony and Alonso (twas quite fun!), I went out for pizza with a bunch from Calvin. It was good. The company was better than the pizza. The pizza wasn't bad... but it wasn't Aurelios. But I had some wonderful jugo de maracuya (it's passion fruit juice)!! After dinner I had a great night of skyping with my parents, watching tv, and getting some homework done.

This is the pizza I shared with Lauren.

And here is the other half of our table! This is a great group of people! I like them.

Oh, and this morning, I went to el mercado with Tita! I ate this wonderful fruit! It's called granadilla, and wow--it's good! I need to take a picture of it sometime. It's kind of funny looking on the inside. El mercado is really close to our house. There are lots and lots of stands with fresh fruit and vegetables of all kinds, and there are meat stands. At the fish stand, there are whole fish, (and they are really big) and the woman who works there cuts the fish up and takes the scales off when you buy some. Tita bought some and we had it today for lunch. It's called corvina and it's quite delicious.

Also, there are so many kinds of potatoes here. They come in lots of different colors.

Well, in a few hours, our whole group is going on a weekend trip. We're off to Lake Titicaca (which, so you know, is the highest navigable lake in the world). We'll be back  on Sunday night, and I'm pretty pumped. So, I won't be posting anything until we get back.

We are going to Puno, Lake Titicaca, and Isla Taquile (an island on the lake)!

Oh God, You are so good. Thank You for showing Yourself to me here. I pray that our upcoming weekend trip would bring You honor--guide our time together as a group and our conversation. Help me to keep my eyes open that I might see You at work and know You more. God, You are wonderful!

Eyes Wide Open

Oh man! Today, I am trying not to blink (it isn't working). I don't want to miss anything here--there is so much to see and experience!

I need to tell you all about my Ethnographic Study class. Until now, I don't think I've mentioned it. There hasn't been much to mention. But now there is.

I'm in an Ethnographic Study class.

That means that I will be going to a school here in Arequipa and observing throughout the week.

On Tuesday morning, I went to a meeting with Professor Zandstra and the director of the Education Department at San Pablo. He gave me information about where I would be placed for the semester. I'm at Colegio Claretiano, which is about a mile from my house. He also told me to come back to his office with Eena (one of my classmates) the the next day to go visit the school.

So, Wednesday morning, I went to his office and the three of us went to Colegio Claretiano to speak with the director and get to know the teachers that we would be observing.

Oh man! The director was very kind and excited to have us there. He wants us to actually teach some classes!!! So, for all of you who have made jokes about me teaching math in Spanish... yeah, that's going to happen! If I think about that too much, it's slightly terrifying! But, with God's strength, I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

I am going to go to the school a couple times a week to observe high school math and English classes. Colegio Claretiano is an all boys school. The teachers that I will be working with were super welcoming!!

And this morning, I went to Colegio Claetiano to observe my first classes!! They are in a unit on statisticas, so I learned some Spanish statistics vocab. It was fun to be in a classroom again, and I think I'm going to learn a lot by watching this teacher. He clearly loves what he's doing.

Father, I praise You because You are so good! Thank You for all that You are doing here in Arequipa and in my life. Thank You for the opportunity to learn more about the culture through experiences at Colegio Claretiano. Guide me, God. Help me to embrace the dreams that You have for me--Your plan is infinitely better than mine, Jesus.

Lawn Mower Alternatives

1. If the only thing that is keeping you from getting a dog is that you don't know where you would put it... I have a solution. Put the dog on the roof. Many many many people keep their dogs on the roof here, and it seems to work well.

2. Mayonnaise is much more versatile than I ever realized. I have eaten mayo on green beans and french fries and potatoes. And I have used it as salad dressing.

3. If you are tired of using a lawn mower, there is an alternative. You could always just weedwack your whole yard. I don't think there are lawn mowers here. People just weedwack everything. This morning, I watched a man weedwack the entire park across the street. It's a bit tedious, but it gets the job done.

4. I had my shirt on backwards all day today. That's always a real ego-boost.

5. Tonight I had my first conversation group with Danery and David. It was such fun! Oh man!

6. Yesterday, I spent some time with a new friend named Ana. I met her through a friend from the Calvin group, and she is doing a project for one of her classes that requires here to interview some people. She interviewed me about what I think "life" is, and then we had a great time talking and getting to know one another!

Danery

I want to tell you about Danery. She's cool. And she has been such a blessing to me!!

I met her on Thursday when we had our meeting about conversation groups. We drew names and ended up in the same group. We talked quite a bit that day, and we found out that we live about two minutes away from one another. She was very easy to talk to and I had a great time telling her about my home and hearing about her live as well.

On Saturday night, she invited me to hang out with her and some of her friends. We played some fun games, and talked about nutrition (one of her friends is studying to be a doctor).

And then, Sunday was her birthday. She invited me over to her house for dinner and for cake. A bunch of her friends and family were there. Throughout the evening, she made sure I knew what was going on and explained words to me and kept me involved, even though there were about 25 other people there as well.

It was so much fun to hang out with her and her friends. They were all so kind to me. At times, over the past month, it has been hard to get to know other students at San Pablo. It is a lot of work (and, I have learned, a bit scary) to start conversations. But Danery has made me feel so welcomed!! It was so nice to have her explaining things to me practically all night on Sunday. I have been getting used to sort of not knowing what's going on, but she didn't let that happen at all!!

It was very humbling to hang out with her. Really, there's no reason for her to take any sort of interest in being friends with me. She has plenty of friends. But she has welcomed me anyway, for no reason. I'm used to friendships that are a bit more equal. Usually, we both have something to offer to the other person. We need one another equally. But that's not how things are with Danery. There's not much that I can help her with at all, and she has many many other friends, yet she has chosen to befriend me anyway.

Here I am with Danery and her sister, Denisse.

Father, I thank You for Danery. Thank You for putting us in the same conversation group. Thank You for the love and care that she has shown me. God, I pray that You would bless her--shower her with Your love. Jesus, guide our friendship, and I pray that it would glorify You.

Santa Catalina

This morning, our whole group went to Santa Catalina. It is a convent that was founded in 1579. We took a tour, and it was fascinating. The place is huge--it is like a whole other city within Arequipa. When women went there to live, they were not allowed to ever leave.

We had fun!

These are slatted windows. If the women who lived here had visitor, they got to speak with them through these windows.

There were paintings like this all over, depicting the life of Jesus. The women there could not read, so the paintings were a way for them to "read" the Bible.

This is a bedroom.

Oh! This was cool! This is how they purified water! They put a bunch of water in this cone shaped rock, and it slowly dripped out the bottom. The water that dripped out the bottom was clean!!! I don't quite get the science behind this... but it worked!

This is a street within Santa Catalina.

And here are some houses!

And another street!!

This is where they did laundry!!

Here's the view from the top of a high place in Santa Catalina.

This is inside Santa Catalina.