I have just come to realize that I have been here for a long time...more than 6 months now actually. But I did not come to this blatant realization by looking at a calender, reminiscing of times at home or anything else normal like that. Instead it was brown sugar that brought the dawning of this thought. You see, I am so accustomed to life down here that I really am starting to forget about the things of my home land (not my friends and family though – I still have vivid mind pictures of you all). It now seems normal to me to sweep my dirt floor and to often wash my clothes by hand (however it is quite a treat to go back to Km 38 and use a real washing machine...so quick, so effortless). Anyways enough of this rambling, back to the inspiration of my realization. One of my SM buddies received some food ingredients from home so that he could make a good old family tradition recipe. I happened to see some of these ingredients on the counter and was puzzled by one ingredient in a clear little baggy. “Self,” I questioned “What on earth is this light colored smooth brown mush?” Not having a good reply for myself I asked those around me. Dane starred at me for a brief moment, them replied slowly, “Well...its brown sugar.” All of the sudden all those many hours baking cookies came rushing back to me and I realized just how long I have been in Peru. You see we have brown sugar down here but it comes in large granules and is blondy in color - completely different. But all is well down here, because homesickness still hasn't set in.
Daily life has fallen back into its normal groove. I go house to house teaching my health classes and the like. One episode that was quite hilarious this week was the meeting of Dora. I just so happened to be at the house of a student, when this other lady off in the distance started waving frantically at me and pointing off to her right. “Ven a mi casa!” Ven a mi casa proxima, di? I heard her faintly calling. I waved to her, nodded and smiled, implying that yes I would come to her house next. So she smiled, turned around and continued on her way. With that matter settled, I continued teaching....but not for long. The lady repeated this crazy process, not once, but twice more before disappearing from my view. So I finished up my lesson real quick went to this lady's house next door. I approached the house a bit hesitantly, not sure of what awaited me. But soon I found myself in the presence of Dora, an incredibly happy, bubbly lady, with absolutely no fears at all. I was a bit taken aback by her openness, because most of my students are still quite shy and reserved...but not all. Dora probably would have dragged me to her house for a friendly little chat if I had not come on my own free will. Yeah for people who are excited about life.
I believe we may be starting rainy season (even though we still have had a lot of hot days). The reason I say this is because we had a torrential down pour on Friday, and I had the pleasure of being stuck in the middle of it. Horray! You see, since the Bible workers have not yet reached the Sabbath lesson in their Bible studies, we have not held a church service out at the new site. Instead we have been splitting up and going to little churches in the surrounding area, to help out with the worship services. This past weekend I decided to help at Hierbas Buenas, which is close to our mission base at Km 38. So I got to go back to base for the weekend. Lauren was going out to base too, so we left 17 de Septiembre on Friday afternoon. All started out well, the weather was dry and nice as we climbed in the Motokar to go to the Pista (main highway). But then it started to sprinkle...then pour. Lauren and I happily bounced along in our motokar, clean and dry – but not for long. Soon we got to the Pista, paid our moto driver and proceeded to stand on the side of the road and attempt to hail a taxi...in the pouring rain (and it was South American rain too, not just or piddly US rain). We were drenched in moments, but didn't care. We were laughing and joking the whole time...and everyone was laughing at us too. What were two white girls doing drenched on the side of the highway. Normally it doesn't take very long to get a taxi, but for some odd reason, that day it did. Nobody wanted to take us 34 kilometers away – that was just way too far. So we chilled in the rain for at least 20 minutes. Several motokars and taxis offered a ride but then looked at us like we were crazy upon learning our desired destination. Or they would try to charge us outlandish prices. Finally some nice chap gave us a lift, and when we got back to Km 38 we had some nice warm tea and all was well. Which is what is great about life, it always keeps going on, no matter what happens and no matter what attitude a person chooses. So why not have fun with it all, even if you are slightly cold and soaked, find something to laugh about, even if it is just laughing with those who are laughing at you.