Hola Todas!
I prefaced this blog in my last one claiming that I was going to tell you all about the "Switzerland" of Peru. Everyone prepare to be shocked, Mallory ended up saying no to adventure and yes to sleep. This is not something that is normal of my character, but afte r reevaluating my priorities and realizing that I was not starting to feel the greatest, I knew my body wa s telling me to slow down and rest. This is something I need to remember in the future when I go on to travel other countries. Although seeing the sites and adventuring is important, our bodies were not made to go 100 miles per hour every single day of our lives.
"By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work."- Genesis 2:2
Let me tell you something that I have had to realize the hard way, if the almighty, all powerful LORD of LORDS took a day to rest, then we mere humans should probably do the same, eh? I know that I thoroughly enjoy thinking that I am superwoman and can do all things at all times and never tire from doing so, but the truth is, I am weak, and I am human, and I need the Lord's strength and real rest to allow me to work at my 100% six days a week. When I start removing that day of rest, everyday begins to go down hill fairly rapidly as I no longer putting forth even 70-80% effort, more like 50%. I have always been a very firm believer in doing things 100% or not doing them at all. If my heart is not in it, then my experience is going to be lacking and will not be worth it.
So with all of that being said, the Switzerland of Peru will have to wait till I return sometime later in life. In other news, I felt my first earthquake last week and it was SO TOTALLY WICCKKKEEEDDD!!! (To quote the little boy on the bicycle from The Incredibles). I was casually laying on my bed while talking with my parents when suddenly my bed started shaking! I started panicking at first, having no idea what was going on, (Jesus coming back was my obvious first thought), and then I figured out after it had happened that I had gotten to experience an earthquake! I may seem like a child when saying this because I understand that they can be extremely dangerous, but a part of me wishes Nebraska had earthquakes so I could go on miniature rides like that more often :)
Warning: this blog is going to be incredibly full of random mini stories because I have been keeping track off a bunch of funny things that have happened lately that I wanted to write about. Unfortunately none of them go together and they are completely random, but that is basically Peru in a nut shell! So it works!
My next story is about the day that a Peruvian decided to take a photo of me, creepily might I add. I was casually standing in line to fill up my water bottle when the girl behind me raised the phone above her head (they are way to short to be able to take a picture of me without doing this) and then she aimed it right at me and started giggling. I turned to her, gave her the one eyebrow up one eyebrow slightly squinted look, and shook my head a bit. Later on while I was retelling this story to a friend, I decided that I rather should have turned to her and simply asked, "Can you tag me in that??"
My next little tid bit about Peru that I wanted to mention is how in love I am with my room. It is barely 8 feet by 9 feet with a desk, wardrobe closet, twin bed, and nightstand table. The free space I have to walk and change is maybe 4 feet by 3 feet. The space is small, but I honestly love it. Sometimes in my room back home I feel so overwhelmed because my room and bed are so big. It never quite feels as cozy as little rooms do. I also love my room because I have a giant window right next to my bed. They have no screen on it, just some curtains. Bugs sometimes come hang out with me, but it doesn't bother me too much. My favorite thing to do is on cool, not mornings like this morning when there was 94% humidity, I lay half my body outside my window (head half) and the other half lays on my bed. They have flower pots on a little ledge outside the window that I lay on. It is truly, incredibly relaxing.
The other relaxing spot in my home, or should I say outside my home, is the roof. I am blessed that I live on the top floor of an apartment building that has a deck- style roof. I enjoy doing insanity workouts up there and also going "star gazing" (I have seen at max 5 stars in one night because it is always so cloudy). Regardless, lying on the roof during the nighttime is wonderful. It gives me time to be in the quite, the coolness and spend quality time praying and reflecting. Especially while traveling abroad I have found that both praying and reflecting are extremely important. Prayer keeps me strong in times of struggle and reflection allows me to fully appreciate all of the fun and adventures I have had.
I feel like it has been awhile since I updated you all on the doorman, Mario, who works in the building a block down from my house. He left for awhile to work at a different building, but eventually came back so I have my conversation buddy back! He gave me a piece of paper today with his name, phone number and e-mail address so that we can stay in touch after I leave. He told me that he will miss me and that he has appreciated my company during the last few months. Sometimes he gets lonely all day with no one to really talk with, so he explained how much of a blessing I was to him. Those words coming out of his mouth made my heart melt. Such a wonderful, sweet man, that I will miss dearly. A quick funny story about Mario that just proves the fancy/dressed up mentality of Surco (the district I live in): I was walking to class in Nike shorts and a tank top because it was a blazing 80 degrees out with who knows how much humidity. I was talking with Mario and he asked if I was on my way to the gym. I smiled and said that I was merely going to class, he gave me a confused face, looked at my clothing, but then looked back at me with a smile and kissed me goodbye (not in a weird way, they kiss every 5 minutes here with any person whether they are your mother or a total stranger). Mario understands that I am American and weird and dress in gym clothes when I am not going to the gym, but he doesn't care and accepts me just the way I am.
My next story is absolutely absurd just to warn you. These bizarre things most definitely only happen to me. There was one night that I was up relatively late on my computer messaging back and forth when an old friend I had not talked with for a very long time. We stayed up for a long time talking, and probably did not sign off until around 1am. I must have been distracted because it was not till I had almost finished talking with her that I realized the whole time my computer sound had been on and the constant 'dinging' that Facebook makes when you receive a message had been going off all night! I think I had realized it at one point, but it was not bothering me for whatever reason, so I left it on. The next night I remembered to turn the dinging noise off, but then I started hearing it. I checked my sound bar and my computer was on mute...where was the sound coming from. I looked around the house to see if one of my siblings was on the computer, but no one was home. I eventually came to realize that the noise was coming from the room below mine in a different families apartment! I could clearly hear the computer dinging from the floor below. The dinging continued all night, very loudly, and I was tempted to yell out the window, "Can you please turn that off??? I am trying to sleep here!!!" But then, I realized that this was a defensive attack from the human living below me. They had not said anything last night and probably found it comical to annoy me (intentionally), the same way I annoyed them the night before (unintentionally). At the time I was increasingly annoyed, but now looking back, like many a things that have happened in Peru, it all seems silly and funny.
One last story before I sign off for the night and keep on livin' the Peru life for the short amount of time I have left to live it. I have always been a bit jumpy when walking by garage doors here. I know what you are thinking, that seems like an incredibly irrational fear, Mallory. Well, just so you know, my friend Anna said this the other day, and I quote, "my biggest fear is being killed by a garage door." This is a real thing, folks. The garage doors here are vicious and hunting for flesh. Why they are so deadly you ask? Because they open in the same fashion that a castle drawbridge closes and shuts. There is no curvature, rather they are stiff as a board and go straight up, down and out, crushing anything that gets in its way in the process. With that being said, it was just my luck that 2 days after this conversation went down between Anna and I about our fears of Peruvian garage doors, one sneak-attacked me at 11pm while I was walking home from a friend's house! SCARY! I luckily used my cougar-like skills to leap out of the way.
I think that is enough ridiculous stories for one blog, onward to my list of shorten stories (essentially) or more ridiculousness about Peru...
*My host mother has been spraying her face with water lately with this weird spray gun thing. The other day she put it in the freezer, the next day she took it out and looked at me with a dumbfounded face of disbelief, she exclaimed in all seriousness, "CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS IS FROZEN??????" Yes Giselle...I can. (insert laughing face because my host mother is a silly bean).
*Another Giselle story. she was getting rather annoyed with the man trying to sell us a bunch of nonsense when we were sitting in our car at a stoplight (this is a regular occurrence), so in order to make the man she said, God bless you and handed him a random bag of mini brownies she had.
*My last point about Giselle, she does not know how to drive. I have no idea how she handles being forced to be taxied around by her husband whenever she wants to go somewhere. I would go insane if I could not go run an errand when and where I wanted to go. But, oddly, the 21 year old daughter of the family knows how to drive.
*There are SO MANY speed bumps in Peru you would for sure think that this would help calm down the insanity of all the ridiculous driving, but somehow it does not help at all. Or maybe it actually is helping and I just refuse to think the driving would actually be more insane without the speed bumps every 2 blocks.
*While in the car, my host parents listen to English-pop and R&B music and I just think that is a hoot.
*Jaime was shocked the other day to find out I like meat (not sure why because I have never said no to any meat they have ever served me) and then he asked me if I even ate lamb, when I said yes you would have thought he had seen an alien. He is now having the maid cook us lamb this Saturday so that I can try the famous lamb of Gorda :)
*TMI here...and maybe I put this on a different blog or maybe I have just been planning to add it to one of these lists, but someone needs to explain the appeal of booty-cut women's underwear here. It is sooooo awkward feeling and they all wear it 24-7! Let's just say when it comes to yoga pants, things get weird fast.
*I have said it before, but I am far too tall for this country. I went on the elliptical the other day because ALL the treadmills were not allowed to be used for absolutely no reason at all, but anyways, the elliptical's face the mirrors. My head gets chopped off on the mirror every time I reach the top of the elliptical. I kind of have a weird sense of what it would be like to watch someone get decapitated.
*My host father refuses to believe I understand Spanish so I receive daily charades shows :)
*The baby Alpaca Teddy Bear I bought will forever be my best investment on this trip. Amazing.
*Many Peruvians who know English talk with a British accent. I have no idea why, but I love it!
*THIS IS REAL LIFE: on my way to the gym a girl had baller, gangser pants on and was carrying a boom box on her shoulder jamming out to life!
*Yesterday I ran out of Peruvian soles (their money), I literally had 30 centimos which is equivalent to 10 cents. I wanted a brownie so badly, and had no choice but to say no. Fate. Need to lay off the sweets.
*If you have not been blessed to receive a snapchat or screenshot photo of the 10 day forecast in Lima, Peru from me, I apologize. Every. Single. Day. is the exact same temperature. The temperature is hot, really hot. Yet, for some strange reason, being from bi-polar Nebraska, I continue to check the weather every day. Why? I have no idea. You would think after living here for over 13 weeks I would have figured out by now that it is not changing anytime soon.
*There are these cookies called 'Casinos' that are similar to an Oreo, but they are not an Oreo at all. I realize that did not make sense, just go with me here for a second. These cookies come in every flavor imaginable and they taste magical. The best part is, there is a mysterious flavor that no one actually knows what it is (very safe and healthy I am sure) called Alfajor. I have been searching at every bodega in all of Lima to find them lately and I finally found them yesterday and fell into sweet, sweet heaven. To me they are an interesting mixture of maple syrup pancakes, caramel, cinnamon, and marshmallows. Mmmmm.
*Every single time, without fault, that I go to a new market, I wish dearly that I had not purchased my earlier purchases and would have been patient and WAITED because there is something new that I have never seen and dearly want. Ugh.
*Right now I am in a fierce debate with myself whether or not to buy a llama sweater that is going for 50 soles and only should be 30 soles, but the lady will not budge with me. I will be sure to update you later on what I finally decide to do.
Tis all for now my friends and family!!
BESOS!!
Mal Pal
I prefaced this blog in my last one claiming that I was going to tell you all about the "Switzerland" of Peru. Everyone prepare to be shocked, Mallory ended up saying no to adventure and yes to sleep. This is not something that is normal of my character, but afte r reevaluating my priorities and realizing that I was not starting to feel the greatest, I knew my body wa s telling me to slow down and rest. This is something I need to remember in the future when I go on to travel other countries. Although seeing the sites and adventuring is important, our bodies were not made to go 100 miles per hour every single day of our lives.
"By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work."- Genesis 2:2
Let me tell you something that I have had to realize the hard way, if the almighty, all powerful LORD of LORDS took a day to rest, then we mere humans should probably do the same, eh? I know that I thoroughly enjoy thinking that I am superwoman and can do all things at all times and never tire from doing so, but the truth is, I am weak, and I am human, and I need the Lord's strength and real rest to allow me to work at my 100% six days a week. When I start removing that day of rest, everyday begins to go down hill fairly rapidly as I no longer putting forth even 70-80% effort, more like 50%. I have always been a very firm believer in doing things 100% or not doing them at all. If my heart is not in it, then my experience is going to be lacking and will not be worth it.
So with all of that being said, the Switzerland of Peru will have to wait till I return sometime later in life. In other news, I felt my first earthquake last week and it was SO TOTALLY WICCKKKEEEDDD!!! (To quote the little boy on the bicycle from The Incredibles). I was casually laying on my bed while talking with my parents when suddenly my bed started shaking! I started panicking at first, having no idea what was going on, (Jesus coming back was my obvious first thought), and then I figured out after it had happened that I had gotten to experience an earthquake! I may seem like a child when saying this because I understand that they can be extremely dangerous, but a part of me wishes Nebraska had earthquakes so I could go on miniature rides like that more often :)
Warning: this blog is going to be incredibly full of random mini stories because I have been keeping track off a bunch of funny things that have happened lately that I wanted to write about. Unfortunately none of them go together and they are completely random, but that is basically Peru in a nut shell! So it works!
My next story is about the day that a Peruvian decided to take a photo of me, creepily might I add. I was casually standing in line to fill up my water bottle when the girl behind me raised the phone above her head (they are way to short to be able to take a picture of me without doing this) and then she aimed it right at me and started giggling. I turned to her, gave her the one eyebrow up one eyebrow slightly squinted look, and shook my head a bit. Later on while I was retelling this story to a friend, I decided that I rather should have turned to her and simply asked, "Can you tag me in that??"
My next little tid bit about Peru that I wanted to mention is how in love I am with my room. It is barely 8 feet by 9 feet with a desk, wardrobe closet, twin bed, and nightstand table. The free space I have to walk and change is maybe 4 feet by 3 feet. The space is small, but I honestly love it. Sometimes in my room back home I feel so overwhelmed because my room and bed are so big. It never quite feels as cozy as little rooms do. I also love my room because I have a giant window right next to my bed. They have no screen on it, just some curtains. Bugs sometimes come hang out with me, but it doesn't bother me too much. My favorite thing to do is on cool, not mornings like this morning when there was 94% humidity, I lay half my body outside my window (head half) and the other half lays on my bed. They have flower pots on a little ledge outside the window that I lay on. It is truly, incredibly relaxing.
The other relaxing spot in my home, or should I say outside my home, is the roof. I am blessed that I live on the top floor of an apartment building that has a deck- style roof. I enjoy doing insanity workouts up there and also going "star gazing" (I have seen at max 5 stars in one night because it is always so cloudy). Regardless, lying on the roof during the nighttime is wonderful. It gives me time to be in the quite, the coolness and spend quality time praying and reflecting. Especially while traveling abroad I have found that both praying and reflecting are extremely important. Prayer keeps me strong in times of struggle and reflection allows me to fully appreciate all of the fun and adventures I have had.
I feel like it has been awhile since I updated you all on the doorman, Mario, who works in the building a block down from my house. He left for awhile to work at a different building, but eventually came back so I have my conversation buddy back! He gave me a piece of paper today with his name, phone number and e-mail address so that we can stay in touch after I leave. He told me that he will miss me and that he has appreciated my company during the last few months. Sometimes he gets lonely all day with no one to really talk with, so he explained how much of a blessing I was to him. Those words coming out of his mouth made my heart melt. Such a wonderful, sweet man, that I will miss dearly. A quick funny story about Mario that just proves the fancy/dressed up mentality of Surco (the district I live in): I was walking to class in Nike shorts and a tank top because it was a blazing 80 degrees out with who knows how much humidity. I was talking with Mario and he asked if I was on my way to the gym. I smiled and said that I was merely going to class, he gave me a confused face, looked at my clothing, but then looked back at me with a smile and kissed me goodbye (not in a weird way, they kiss every 5 minutes here with any person whether they are your mother or a total stranger). Mario understands that I am American and weird and dress in gym clothes when I am not going to the gym, but he doesn't care and accepts me just the way I am.
My next story is absolutely absurd just to warn you. These bizarre things most definitely only happen to me. There was one night that I was up relatively late on my computer messaging back and forth when an old friend I had not talked with for a very long time. We stayed up for a long time talking, and probably did not sign off until around 1am. I must have been distracted because it was not till I had almost finished talking with her that I realized the whole time my computer sound had been on and the constant 'dinging' that Facebook makes when you receive a message had been going off all night! I think I had realized it at one point, but it was not bothering me for whatever reason, so I left it on. The next night I remembered to turn the dinging noise off, but then I started hearing it. I checked my sound bar and my computer was on mute...where was the sound coming from. I looked around the house to see if one of my siblings was on the computer, but no one was home. I eventually came to realize that the noise was coming from the room below mine in a different families apartment! I could clearly hear the computer dinging from the floor below. The dinging continued all night, very loudly, and I was tempted to yell out the window, "Can you please turn that off??? I am trying to sleep here!!!" But then, I realized that this was a defensive attack from the human living below me. They had not said anything last night and probably found it comical to annoy me (intentionally), the same way I annoyed them the night before (unintentionally). At the time I was increasingly annoyed, but now looking back, like many a things that have happened in Peru, it all seems silly and funny.
One last story before I sign off for the night and keep on livin' the Peru life for the short amount of time I have left to live it. I have always been a bit jumpy when walking by garage doors here. I know what you are thinking, that seems like an incredibly irrational fear, Mallory. Well, just so you know, my friend Anna said this the other day, and I quote, "my biggest fear is being killed by a garage door." This is a real thing, folks. The garage doors here are vicious and hunting for flesh. Why they are so deadly you ask? Because they open in the same fashion that a castle drawbridge closes and shuts. There is no curvature, rather they are stiff as a board and go straight up, down and out, crushing anything that gets in its way in the process. With that being said, it was just my luck that 2 days after this conversation went down between Anna and I about our fears of Peruvian garage doors, one sneak-attacked me at 11pm while I was walking home from a friend's house! SCARY! I luckily used my cougar-like skills to leap out of the way.
I think that is enough ridiculous stories for one blog, onward to my list of shorten stories (essentially) or more ridiculousness about Peru...
*My host mother has been spraying her face with water lately with this weird spray gun thing. The other day she put it in the freezer, the next day she took it out and looked at me with a dumbfounded face of disbelief, she exclaimed in all seriousness, "CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS IS FROZEN??????" Yes Giselle...I can. (insert laughing face because my host mother is a silly bean).
*Another Giselle story. she was getting rather annoyed with the man trying to sell us a bunch of nonsense when we were sitting in our car at a stoplight (this is a regular occurrence), so in order to make the man she said, God bless you and handed him a random bag of mini brownies she had.
*My last point about Giselle, she does not know how to drive. I have no idea how she handles being forced to be taxied around by her husband whenever she wants to go somewhere. I would go insane if I could not go run an errand when and where I wanted to go. But, oddly, the 21 year old daughter of the family knows how to drive.
*There are SO MANY speed bumps in Peru you would for sure think that this would help calm down the insanity of all the ridiculous driving, but somehow it does not help at all. Or maybe it actually is helping and I just refuse to think the driving would actually be more insane without the speed bumps every 2 blocks.
*While in the car, my host parents listen to English-pop and R&B music and I just think that is a hoot.
*Jaime was shocked the other day to find out I like meat (not sure why because I have never said no to any meat they have ever served me) and then he asked me if I even ate lamb, when I said yes you would have thought he had seen an alien. He is now having the maid cook us lamb this Saturday so that I can try the famous lamb of Gorda :)
*TMI here...and maybe I put this on a different blog or maybe I have just been planning to add it to one of these lists, but someone needs to explain the appeal of booty-cut women's underwear here. It is sooooo awkward feeling and they all wear it 24-7! Let's just say when it comes to yoga pants, things get weird fast.
*I have said it before, but I am far too tall for this country. I went on the elliptical the other day because ALL the treadmills were not allowed to be used for absolutely no reason at all, but anyways, the elliptical's face the mirrors. My head gets chopped off on the mirror every time I reach the top of the elliptical. I kind of have a weird sense of what it would be like to watch someone get decapitated.
*My host father refuses to believe I understand Spanish so I receive daily charades shows :)
*The baby Alpaca Teddy Bear I bought will forever be my best investment on this trip. Amazing.
*Many Peruvians who know English talk with a British accent. I have no idea why, but I love it!
*THIS IS REAL LIFE: on my way to the gym a girl had baller, gangser pants on and was carrying a boom box on her shoulder jamming out to life!
*Yesterday I ran out of Peruvian soles (their money), I literally had 30 centimos which is equivalent to 10 cents. I wanted a brownie so badly, and had no choice but to say no. Fate. Need to lay off the sweets.
*If you have not been blessed to receive a snapchat or screenshot photo of the 10 day forecast in Lima, Peru from me, I apologize. Every. Single. Day. is the exact same temperature. The temperature is hot, really hot. Yet, for some strange reason, being from bi-polar Nebraska, I continue to check the weather every day. Why? I have no idea. You would think after living here for over 13 weeks I would have figured out by now that it is not changing anytime soon.
*There are these cookies called 'Casinos' that are similar to an Oreo, but they are not an Oreo at all. I realize that did not make sense, just go with me here for a second. These cookies come in every flavor imaginable and they taste magical. The best part is, there is a mysterious flavor that no one actually knows what it is (very safe and healthy I am sure) called Alfajor. I have been searching at every bodega in all of Lima to find them lately and I finally found them yesterday and fell into sweet, sweet heaven. To me they are an interesting mixture of maple syrup pancakes, caramel, cinnamon, and marshmallows. Mmmmm.
*Every single time, without fault, that I go to a new market, I wish dearly that I had not purchased my earlier purchases and would have been patient and WAITED because there is something new that I have never seen and dearly want. Ugh.
*Right now I am in a fierce debate with myself whether or not to buy a llama sweater that is going for 50 soles and only should be 30 soles, but the lady will not budge with me. I will be sure to update you later on what I finally decide to do.
Tis all for now my friends and family!!
BESOS!!
Mal Pal