'All the Single Ladies' -- love them!

mcorak — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:30:00 GMT

10/19/2009 2:07 PM (10:07 AM)

Hoy es lunes y es mi día primero de trabajo. I arrived at the pool at 9:00 am as instructed and vacuumed the pool. Gabriel, the pool guy, only speaks Spanish and I’m his little helper and I only speak English. Well, I know more Spanish than he does English and we’re in his country so we communicate in Spanish. After I finished vacuuming he told me I could rest for a moment, I’m sure multiple hours went by and he didn’t instruct me to do any more work so I laid in the sun, hung out with the dog, grabbed a volleyball and pretended like I could volley to myself and finally (out of sheer boredom) I went and followed him around. He probably just didn’t know how to tell me what to do so he let me rest – worked for me. And then he told me to practice Spanish and I spent the next hour and a half speaking as much Spanish as I knew… he kept saying que mas? And when I responded with no se! he’d tell me to ‘piensas’. He was extremely impressed with my Spanish (well that’s what he said) and it was really good for me to practice – that’s why I’m here! Work will be good I think. I’m pretty sure I’m pool maintenance / lifeguard, but the pool is too murky and dirty to let anyone swim just yet. It’s nice to be working something so familiar. And Gabriel is super patient and wants me to learn Spanish just as much as I want to learn (probably for communication purposes). He told me (via a translator) today that I shouldn't feel the pressure of work and just to tell him when I wanted time off to have fun. After the lunch break (he gave me two hours instead of one) I went back and actually worked. I scrubbed pool toys for a couple of hours and organized their non-working sauna as a toy closet. Esta bien.

Mi Casa: I live with a family, not at all like the family I was told I would be living with but I'm counting it a blessing. So the family consists of the parents and one girl still living at home (about my age, speaks excellent English). But for this month the parents are mostly in Santiago (about 3-4 hours away) house-sitting... So for the first few days it's just been Magda (the daughter) and her friend Fernanda (who is staying here at the house for about a month - mas o menos). So the three of us have been having a great time, I knew I loved them when they turned on 'All the Single Ladies' and started dancing around the house when we were cleaning up from dinner. Definietly a good time. They're both super nice, speak English, laugh a lot and have plenty of free time, works out very well.

The father came home yesterday and it's the first time I've had a good belly laugh since arriving here. He speaks nearly no English but had me laughing within thirty minutes of being home. He'll only be here until tomorrow before he returns to Santiago for a time, but it's been great having him around - he also did the grocery shopping and bought TONS of fruit since I told him that's what I liked. He does know the word 'adopted' and let me know that's what I'd be for the next couple of months - so nice.

The house is situated on a YWAM base and it seems that people on the base don't really leave. I'm being seriously discouraged about attending the language school in town (about a 15 minute walk) and encouraged to take an hour long class once a week with the YWAM students - not quite what I signed up for. Or, I was given the option of paying someone on the base to teach me because "selfishly, if finances are going to be spent [she] would like them to go to someone at the mission". I'm pretty sure I'm just going to go to the language school, also this will get me out of work a couple of days a week. Haha, it's such a funny concept paying to work here. It's like I've bought myself into slavery and am now looking for ways to escape - okay super exaggerated but it's still funny. I know that's where I'm going to learn the most Spanish because Gacho (Gabriel, the pool boy) only knows Spanish and tells me to practice. I don't really know how the DTS kids do it, they are in classes and doing work all day every day.

I don't really know what the big picture purpose is for me being here, I'm not quite a YWAM base sort - even the fact that I want to walk 15 minutes to class instead of stay on base seems foreign to some of the people here. However, I do have a few who are encouraging me to get off base, mostly because they know that's where I'll learn mas rapido.

I'm having a blast. I didn't think it'd be this fun this fast.

Missing everyone tons, naturally

Mucho amor!

The Adventure Begins... In the Many Airports

mcorak — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 06:10:00 GMT

16/10/09 – 6:10 AM Lima-Time (4:10a at home)

It wasn’t until I landed in Lima did I really feel as though an adventure had begun… Navigating the airport on my own gave me a surge of independence. I felt so ‘seasoned’ traipsing around a foreign airport filled with foreign language. Okay, every single sign had English subtitles and only one gentleman I spoke to my entire time here didn’t reply in English. People didn’t even try to speak to me in Spanish… Should’ve dyed my hair like Andrew said.

Stepping off the plane in my 17^th hour of travelling I was starting to look a little travel-wear – realistically? Haggard. I felt like a rockstar coming out of the washroom in a clean pair of underwear with brushed teeth and Burt’s Bees coloured chapstick on (thanks Chana), what a difference! I’m eating maple cookies for breakfast (thanks Ian) and rocking a gray v-neck (thanks Lisey) – starting my day off right!

It is a strange thing, leaving and going at the same time (although you really couldn’t do those two separate from each other, could you). The emotions associated with leaving are almost the polar opposite of those associated with going, and it is possible (I’ve realized) to feel them both simultaneously. I miss you all tremendously already (ok honestly, some more than others) but have this gnawing feeling that I’m on the brink of something huge. Part of me wishes some of you could be apart of this with me, but I’m also excited to be doing it on my own.

Please email me, keep me in the loop of your reality and I’ll try to do the same.

Mucho amor por todos!

Places of Wonder and Discovery

'All the Single Ladies' -- love them!

The Adventure Begins... In the Many Airports