Happy Easter!

Posted on April 16, 2017March 14, 2019 by Lark

Happy Easter!! How cool is it that people all over the world are celebrating Christ’s resurrection today? It’s fun to know that even though I’m halfway around the world, I’m doing essentially the same thing I would be doing if I was at home… just 9.5 hours earlier.

Tuk tuk ride to the rally! Our tuk tuk ride BACK from the rally included 8 people, so I was a little too squished to take a picture (though the India capacity of a tuk tuk is probably considered to be like 45 people).

The day started off nice and early with an Easter rally through the city. Basically, all of the churches in the city get together and walk the streets, singing songs and holding signs and handing out tracts (those little papers that tell people the basics of Christianity) to the crowds that came to gape at us. The rally started at 6AM.

Last night, they told me to be ready to leave at 5:45AM, and like a good US-ian, I was ready at 5:40. I walked downstairs… and all of the lights to the family’s floor were off, and the door was locked. Cue panic! I was sure that they left without me because they didn’t think that I would be able to wake up in time. I ran all over trying to find someone left on the property who could tell me where I needed to go to find the rally start point. Finally, through some broken English and hand motions, I found out that everyone was still at home. Of course.

Pastor Daniel always jokes about Indian Standard Time (IST), and while that’s actually what the time zone is called, that’s not what he’s talking about. The real IST is official IST+1 hour. When they told me 5:45, I should have immediately converted that to 6:45. Beginner mistake. I obviously know that Indian time is a little slow, but it’s confusing because when Pastor Daniel and Ruth say a time, things actually happen at that time. Like church “starts” at 10AM, and it really does start at 10 (probably more on time than church at home, honestly). School “starts” at 8AM, and it really does start at 8. I figured that if they were telling me 5:45, they actually meant 5:45. Today, 5:45 meant 5:45 IST. If I had known that, I could have eaten more than just a butter muffin for breakfast! (In case you were wondering, yes, they are delicious. Though “vanilla cupcake” would probably be a more accurate and less confusing name.)

I’m sure this is shocking, but none of my siblings woke up in time, even with the delayed 6:45 departure. Pastor Daniel, Ruth, and I hopped in a tuk tuk and made our way to the rally. It had already started by the time we got there, but only barely. We found our church and hopped into the line, and as usual, I didn’t understand anything that was happening. They gave me a sign to hold so I could feel like I was contributing something, and they even found one in English for me!

The gathering at the end of the rally where people said more things that I didn’t understand, and we melted in the sun.

After the rally, we headed back to get ready for church. The service was mostly the same… I don’t know what happened or what anyone said, but they had some extra music added in because it’s Easter. It was nice! And then during post-church tea, I talked to someone new! What a successful day!

We went out for lunch, and the lighting designer in me got really excited about this wall at the restaurant. Ignore all of the extra reflections and glare. Pastor Daniel was laughing at me, but look how cool!

Tomorrow, Ruth, Myra, and I are going for an early morning walk. Commence getting back into shape! We also talked about the bike again at dinner tonight, and it’s happening Tuesday. I’m so happy! They want me to try to teach Myra, and they’ll get one for her too if she can learn. I have no idea how to teach someone to ride a bike, but that’s what the internet is for. In exchange, I’m going to make her teach me some Hindi! Pastor Daniel has a whole list of things for her to do to occupy her time at home. He told her that she’s had two days to rest, and now her vacation is over hahaha. That sounds like the same thing my parents used to try with me over holiday breaks. Why don’t parents understand that that’s not the way this works?

Good Friday

Posted on April 16, 2017March 14, 2019 by Lark

Good Friday was a school holiday, so the only thing on my schedule for the day was church in the morning. I was happy to have some time to keep catching up on all of the things that have been piling up since Peru. Even though I wasn’t actively stressed about them, I don’t like falling behind, and my to-do list was far too long for comfort.

Random fun fact of the day: there is a 99.9% chance that I’m currently using crepe paper as toilet paper.

The Good Friday service was the usual two hours of me understanding nothing, but this time it was slightly better because I have a friend! Her name is Anna, and she’s a teacher at another school in town. She and her mom go to our church, and Ruth introduced me to them saying, “this is Lara. She’s very lonely… be her friend.” Oh thanks. I guess I can’t complain though because now they’ve taken me under their wings, and I don’t have to sit alone anymore! Plus, during the service, Anna whispered what scripture passages were being read, so at least I could kind of follow along.

After the service, we all went over to the school to pray over the building, the students, parents, and teachers, and the school’s quest to become accredited. They’re been trying for five years now to get the official government accreditation, and they meet every requirement. The problem is that no one will pass through your application without a bribe, and Pastor Daniel refuses to pay. At some point, I’ll explain more of the background of the school, but the important thing in this situation is that a lot of kids are on scholarship. If a bribe is paid, that means less kids get to go to school. Not being accredited isn’t the end of the world. The school can still operate, and the kids can take the exams they need to go on to further education. With accreditation though, the school will attract more students, and with that, they’ll be able to give more scholarships to kids who need them.

I don’t know if you can read it, but the label on the muffins is “butter muffins”. I don’t know what that means, but I can’t imagine that they’re anything less than calorie-packed and delicious.

For the rest of the day, plus all of Saturday, I holed up in my room and got stuff done. It feels so nice to be able to cross things off of my list! Friday night, my third sister, Myra, arrived from boarding school in the south. She’s on holiday now for about the next month. With her came Pastor Daniel with a pile of baked goods for me, even though I said I didn’t need anything. At this rate, I’m going to roll home from India. Workouts start Monday!

Saturday afternoon was supposed to include a trip to buy me a bike, but that got scrapped when it started pouring rain. I’m really hoping it isn’t forgotten because I will lose my mind if I can’t go anywhere without a chauffeur for my entire trip. I’m working at the school in the mornings, and that’s fine because it’s literally across the street from the house, but there is another project I’m hoping to help with in the afternoons.

This is maybe like 1/5 of the books… I think they said it’s around 4,000 total

At the Bible college that Pastor Daniel started, they are cataloging and organizing a huge donation of library books. Since I’m now a professional library organizer, I said I could help. The college is about a 30-minute walk from the house, but I’m not allowed to walk anywhere by myself. So, currently, the only way I can get there is if someone drives me. That’s fine every so often, but it’s ridiculous to expect someone to do that every day (it also doesn’t help with my “don’t treat me like a princess” campaign). Chances are it will just mean that I can’t go half the time because everyone is busy, and the other half I’ll be wasting hours and hours waiting for rides.

I’ve been struggling a lot with the feeling of losing my independence. I can’t walk alone here because of safety and all that, and it makes me feel like a child. I’m trapped in this house. A bike is my ticket to freedom.

Investiture Ceremony

Posted on April 15, 2017March 14, 2019 by Lark

Talk about the shortest work week ever! After one day of teaching, I was off the hook until Monday. The kids did have school on Thursday, but the entire morning was consumed by the “Investiture Ceremony”. I always find it interesting to see what words people use in other English-speaking countries. Honestly, I don’t know that I’ve ever used or seen the word “investiture” before (if you’re in the same boat, it’s the same thing as an inauguration or swearing-in ceremony), but these kids are going to grow up knowing it.

Fab decorations that I helped to rip tape for

The next question: who is getting sworn into what? As far as I know, no one does this stuff in the States, but it seems like it’s a thing in a lot of other countries (this is solely based on my observations here, in Ghana, and in Harry Potter). Each class has a Prefect, and then the whole school is split into four teams: green, yellow, red, and blue. Each team has a Captain and Vice-Captain, and then there’s a School Captain and School Vice-Captain. I couldn’t tell you what any of this means or what the responsibilities that go along with any of these positions are, but there you have it. The four teams compete throughout the year in all sorts of events, from poetry writing to football. At the end of the year, the winning team gets a trophy and, I assume, a lifetime of glory. Like I said, I really have no idea how it all works, but it sounds like fun!

The class prefects are in the black sashes in front, the team captains are wearing the colored sashes, and the school captains are in gold.

So back to the investiture. Today was the day where all of the lucky (or maybe unlucky?) students took their oaths and promised to lead their classmates with integrity. I went early to help set up and start my campaign to be treated like everyone else. When I first got there, they tried to get me to sit down and watch them work. Had I done that, probably 5 minutes later someone would have come with a tray containing a mug of hot milk for me (hot milk is now apparently my thing since I don’t drink tea or coffee, and there needs to be some hot beverage for people to bring me) and nothing for anyone else, confirming my suspicions that they are not treating me like I’m one of the other teachers. I forced my way in and started helping with the decorations, and one of my co-teachers told me that I could sit with her team during the ceremony. “Perfect!” I thought. Commence blending in.

You want to know how long that lasted? Approximately 5 minutes. First thing on the agenda was the honoring of guests, and after Pastor Daniel and Ruth, I was called up and forced into sitting in the “honored guest” seating area. Seriously? No one could have given me a heads up when we were setting up those chairs that one of them was for me?

I thought that was the end of it, but that shows how little I know! I then was included with Pastor Daniel and Ruth in the honor of lighting the candles that the kids were carrying in the procession… and leading the procession! I was mortified. Here I am, trying to blend in, and I’m being given all of these tasks of honor, as if I’ve done anything to deserve them. Pastor Daniel and Ruth… they are deserving of all of that. They are amazing. Me? All I did was get on an airplane and fly here from another country. I felt like an imposter.

Okay, so I was off the hook after the candle-lighting, right? No no, I still had work to do (keep in mind that no one told me about any of this, so each time they announced my name it was like oh hey, surprise!). After everyone was sworn in, who better to offer words of encouragement than me? Cue impromptu speech #3 since being here, though for the others I at least had some clue that they were coming. I spit out something about the responsibility of leadership and leading by example and how just because you’re not given the label of being a leader doesn’t mean people aren’t looking up to you. I actually think it was okay, but I could have come up with something way better if I had more than 10 seconds’ notice.

When I sat down, I was sure that had to be the end. Again, I was mistaken. I then had the honor of handing out the gifts to the newly-installed student leaders and had to do the whole cheesy-picture-while-handing-the-gift-over thing.

By the time the ceremony was over, I was at a total loss. What. Just. Happened. I feel like I’m a princess who is trying to live a normal life, but no one will let her. The difference is, I’m not a princess. I am just a normal person trying to learn about what it’s like to be a normal person in another part of the world.

I promise I’m not ungrateful, just overwhelmed. I understand that this is the culture, and I do appreciate how kind everyone has been to me, but this ceremony caught me way off guard. I thought that once I was teaching and doing things that everyone else does, we would all be on the same level. When I ended up being SO wrong in that assumption, it was like something out of a comedy bit. Ah the joys of travel. Here’s to another day of cultural discovery!

Anddd I’m a Teacher…

Posted on April 15, 2017March 14, 2019 by Lark

Well, it happened about a week earlier than I was planning, but on Wednesday, I had two English Literature classes to teach. Okay, no pressure. I didn’t have anything too crazy planned for the day because I wanted to have some time to get to know the kids, try to gauge their levels and just cover some introductory stuff.

The school… Those kids on the top floor must be in fabulous shape because there are A LOT of stairs to climb to get there.

I have a new friend at school, Jenrika. She is covering the English Grammar classes, so she told me that if I have any questions, I can ask her. Thank goodness because I have lots of questions, and even though I’ve asked her about a million so far, she doesn’t seem even slightly annoyed by me. She also speaks English very well which is a nice break from the constant communication struggle that I have with so many people (it usually goes something like: say something, see confused face, say thing more slowly, see confused face, rephrase, get answer to question you didn’t ask, rephrase one more time, finally get the answer you were looking for. It won’t be like this forever though. I just need to learn how people speak here/what kinds of words they use and adjust accordingly. Give me another week or so). Anyway, Jenrika is my savior and the only reason why I have any clue about what’s going on. I think she has a good information source in the office too because she has the most accurate school details like when breaks start, adjusted class schedules for events during school, etc. I can already tell that she’s a good friend to have.

My first class was with grade 10 (or 10^th standard as it’s called here), and I started out by introducing myself, giving a little info about my background, and explaining what I studied and the basics of what goes into designing a building. After that, we started talking about literature. I had the kids introduce themselves and say their favorite genre… which was a struggle and got me thinking that these kids don’t read outside of school. Since I’m all about setting unrealistic goals, I’m now determined to instill a love of reading in them, though I’m certain that won’t happen with the readings we have in the textbook. Maybe I can find something more fun to read after we get a few weeks in.

Anyway, from there, we talked about what literature is, different genres and formats, and attempted to make a list of reasons why literature is important and why we study it. They’re such high schoolers… the reasons they gave were mostly “to improve our English”, “to improve our reading skills”, etc. When I tried to explain that you can learn something from reading, that you can learn about what it’s like to be someone else or to go to a place where you’ve never been, they looked at me like I was a nut. Okay, goal #2, convince the kids that this is true. For homework (because I can assign homework because I’m a real teacher and everything), I gave them two questions to answer:

Why is it important to be able to see a situation from someone else’s point of view?
If you could go on a trip to anywhere in the universe, where would you go, and why?

Question #2 is super easy, but I have a feeling they’re going to struggle with #1. That’s okay. These are mostly so that I can see a little bit of how they think and evaluate their writing level.

After that, I went and did the same thing with 9^th standard. They looked at me like I was even more of a nut, and that made me happy that I started with 10^th. I guess we’ll see what we end up with. There’s no class until Monday, so that’s more than enough time to come up with something. I’ll be fine with them writing practically anything. Being able to talk your way around a question you don’t understand is a good life skill.

First Days of School

Posted on April 14, 2017March 14, 2019 by Lark

I wanted to spend a couple of days at the school just observing and getting a sense of how things work, so that’s how I spent Monday and Tuesday of my first week. On Monday, Andrew and I went to the school assembly in the morning, were welcomed as honored guests, and said a few words of greeting in which I sputtered out some nonsense again. I’m not good at the whole honored guest thing. My goal is to become a normal human as soon as possible so that I can stop being treated like I’m some sort of royalty. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very nice and I appreciate how welcoming everyone is being, but I’m going to be here for two months. At some point, I need to stop being a guest or else everyone is going to get sick of me. I don’t want to feel like a burden!

Can we all agree that there’s nothing worse than on-the-spot public speaking? Or is it just me who feels that way?

We spent the morning going around to different classrooms and sitting in the back to observe. I tried to melt into the background so that the kids would stop staring at me like I’m some kind of alien and start paying attention in class, but I’m not a very good chameleon.

After two mornings of this, I went to talk to the school coordinator to try to figure out how I can fit into the school. It’s very hard to get straight answers out of people here. I say, “what do you need help with?” and they say, “what do you want to help with?” NO! That’s not the point. I want to fill in existing holes, not create holes for myself to fill in. Does that make sense? I said, “is there anything that the kids aren’t learning that you think would be helpful?” She said, “you can teach them whatever you want.” AHHH!!

Kindergarten class learning about fruits

Finally, I squeezed out the information that one of the English teachers has been sick, and no one is teaching her classes. Also, one of the Science teachers has to leave at 11, and no one is teaching his afternoon classes. Perfect. This is exactly what I was looking for. I said that I could definitely take on both of those things, so that’s how I found myself assigned as the English Literature teacher for grades 9 and 10 and the Science teacher for grade 8. This is ideal because without me, they would be learning nothing, and I’m at least better than nothing. Low-pressure situation. I agreed to start teaching on Wednesday… so much for taking a full week to get my bearings! It was good though because then I had a sense of purpose and stopped feeling like such an imposition, taking and taking and giving nothing back. Anyway, she gave me the textbooks and just like that, I was officially a teacher. My qualifications: I’m from a different country and speak English.

View from the school roof. They have a nice covered part, and I asked what they use it for. Taking tests, apparently. Can you imagine taking a test with this as your view??

Oh yeah, another important thing to note. I’ll tell you more about the school later, but everything there is taught in English (besides the language classes of course. I think they take Bengali and Hindi). Since the students are from such diverse backgrounds and all speak different languages, English was chosen as the school’s official language. That’s good news for me because otherwise, I’d be worthless.

Monday and Tuesday were both very busy! Monday afternoon, there was a women’s prayer meeting with women from all of the churches in Jaigaon. Our church was hosting, so that was nice and convenient for me. I understood approximately zero things that were said, but it was still a cool meeting to be a part of. They prayed for India and for the community and probably some other things too. I prayed silently to myself until I started falling asleep from the warmth and having my eyes closed. Oops. Then I just sat there and willed myself to stay awake.

Random fun fact… my bed got eaten by termites!

Tuesday night was another meeting, but this one was a part of a pastor’s conference that was going on. They gave out certifications to the new pastors and then the conference speaker shared a message. The best part? The whole thing was in English because the pastors came from all over, so that’s the common language. The speaker was awesome. His name is Rev. Dr. Ivan Satyavrata, and I’d recommend looking him up if you’re interested! He talked about how our greatest challenge is accepting the call that God puts into our lives. We have to make a decision about who/what owns us. Is it money, comfort, etc or will you give Him your life? It was a good message for me, especially right now where my future is so up in the air! I left feeling so encouraged, both by his words and by the atmosphere created by the people there. The Holy Spirit was definitely filling that room.

Okay so this is what I was trying to explain about the hospitality here. They asked me what fruits I like. I said apples and grapes. The next day, this was delivered to my room. Keep in mind that they are also feeding me at meal times… it’s not like they’re starving me and I need food in my room to survive.

The more time I spend here and get to know this community, the more excited I become for the rest of my time in India. I have so much to learn from the people here, especially Pastor Daniel and Ruth. They have an amazing story and amazing faith. This is going to be a good environment for me to keep growing in my faith and in my confidence in general! I can already tell that I’ve made a lot of progress since the beginning of my journey, simply based on the fact that the thought of teaching on my own doesn’t throw me into a total panic anymore. And if they keep putting me on the spot unexpectedly, maybe I’ll even learn to quickly form coherent thoughts instead of just babbling.

Palm Sunday

Posted on April 14, 2017March 14, 2019 by Lark

Due to my impeccable subconscious planning skills, my first Sunday in India was Palm Sunday! When I picked the dates, I didn’t even think about when Easter was going to fall this year, but I couldn’t have planned it better if I’d tried. How cool to get to spend the most important Christian holiday with believers in another country! It’s going to be fun to see how things are done here and what is different from and the same as the way we do them at home. The differences that you notice right away are that everyone leaves their shoes outside (YESSS! Hooray for more socially acceptable barefoot time!) and the men sit on one side and the women sit on the other. Most importantly though, don’t worry, we still had palm branches to wave around here.

The general format of the service is the same as at home. Here it’s two hours, but at least two hours means two actual hours and not “who knows, maybe four” like in Ghana. Big difference: languages. Since this is such a diverse place, people speak a bunch of different languages. The service is advertised as being in Hindi and Nepali. I’ll be honest – I can’t tell the difference yet, so I couldn’t tell you what parts were in what language.

A couple other differences are that 1.) everyone leaves their shoes outside (YESSS! Hooray for more socially acceptable barefoot time) 2.) the men sit on one side and the women sit on the other

We started out singing, and I’m pretty sure we covered both languages, plus English in the songs. Thankfully, they have a projector and lyrics written in the Hindi/Nepali alphabet (same alphabet, different languages) AND the Latin alphabet, so even when they’re singing a song in a language I don’t speak, I can at least stumble through an attempt to sing along.

This doesn’t properly convey how much of a goober I sounded like.

They called Andrew and me up to the front so we could be honored as guests and so that I could give a greeting… which consisted of me having no idea what to say and eventually spitting out who knows what. Pastor Daniel also told everyone that I’m Nepali, and most people definitely didn’t realize that it was a joke because they were coming up and speaking Nepali to me after the service. Eek!

Andrew delivered the message for the day, so at least I could understand that. I have a feeling that most of the time, I’m going to be back in the situation of having no idea what’s going on. I don’t think I fully appreciated how nice it was to know some Spanish in Peru. At least I could sort of follow what was happening. Here, the only words I know are hello and thank you which really limits my comprehension.

After church, we had tea and crackers, and I awed the masses (gross exaggeration… I awed maybe three people) with my palm branch cross folding skills. I was super excited because I had a bonding moment with my littlest sister, Anika, as I tried (semi-successfully) to teach her how to do it.

We went on an adventure during the afternoon and stopped at a market in a nearby town. It was similar to markets I’ve been in before, but mostly people had their things spread out on tarps on the ground, and there were tarps strung up overhead to give some escape from the sun. One new thing for me was that everyone who was selling food had scales and weights to determine how much to charge. It was amazing to see it all in action. I love watching people do things with well-practiced hands. It doesn’t matter what it is, but there’s something beautiful about people moving with complete confidence.

I almost bought a machete because you never know when it might come in handy, right?

The Journey to Jaigaon

Posted on April 12, 2017March 14, 2019 by Lark

Taj Mahal Day was our last day of sightseeing and then we were off to my home for the next 7 weeks, Jaigaon (jay-gahn). Jaigaon is a city in the eastern part of India, probably so far east that you didn’t even realize it’s still in India. It’s right on the border with Bhutan and is very close to a bunch of other countries, so even though it’s not a huge city, it has a lot of diversity.

Our journey from Delhi to Jaigaon consisted of a one hour car ride from our hotel to the airport, a two hour flight from Delhi to Bagdogra, and a 4ish hour car ride from Bagdogra to Jaigaon. I was a little nervous because why wouldn’t I be? I was going to meet my temporary family and see my new home, and I had no idea what to expect. The moment I stepped out of the car, I was put at ease. Pastor Daniel gave a belly laugh and said, “ha! She could be Indian!” He later amended his statement and said that I could definitely be Nepali. If it means I’m going to be able to blend in, then I’m happy for it. Sticking out everywhere you go gets old VERY quickly. It’s even worth the awkwardness of constantly having to tell people that you only speak English when they start talking to you in a different language, assuming you speak it.

This is a river in the rainy season, but right now it just looks like a river of rocks

They showed us to our rooms, and if I still had any doubts about if I would be okay here, they were gone when I saw my room and waaay gone after dinner. I’m feel like I’m living in a palace. I have my own room. I have TWO beds, my own bathroom with running water and a water heater, a mini-fridge, my own wifi router, a TV, an air conditioning unit. And then they told me that if I need anything else, they’ll do what they can to get it for me… what more could I possibly need? Even this is way above and beyond my needs. There’s also a great view from the roof, plus there’s a swing set up there. Yes, a swing set ON THE ROOF.

Roof views! See that mountain? That’s in Bhutan

We had a little time to get organized before dinner because dinnertime here is usually around 8PM aka bedtime. If that’s the thing about being here that gives me the most trouble though, I’m doing pretty well.

The hospitality culture here is overwhelming. They made so much food for us for dinner, and we weren’t allowed to do anything to help. I definitely felt welcomed! I was glad that Andrew was there too because if all of that was just for me, I would have been even more overwhelmed. Hopefully I can convince them to let me help out with things in the future. Two months is a long time to take someone in, and I don’t want to be a burden.

I’m feeling good about this though. I can see myself getting to the point where I feel comfortable here. I have my adoptive parents, Pastor Daniel and Ruth, and my adoptive brother and sisters, Jayesh, Myra, Prisha, and Anika. Jayesh is 14, and the girls are 12, 9, and 6. My first time having younger siblings!

Tomorrow we’re going to drive around to see the bible school that Pastor Daniel started and some of the city so that I can get my bearings.

Goodbyes and Airport Musings

Posted on March 24, 2017March 14, 2019 by Lark

I don’t know that I’m ever going to get used to this feeling. The feeling of “where did the time go?” and “I feel like I just got here, but now it’s time for me to leave”. How does time always feel like it’s moving quickly or moving slowly? That should be one thing that we can always count on – time moving at the same speed. And yet, how many times in life have you thought, “ah, time is moving exactly as it should”? Probably zero times.

This is The Year of the Airports, so it’s fitting that I’m sitting in the Lima airport right now, 8 hours before my flight to Cuzco. Eight hours that will, almost definitely, move slowly. Plenty of time for some airport people-watching (one of my favorite things because I just imagine that everyone is going to or coming from someplace awesome, and how fun is that?!), snack-eating, potentially freezing to death because I’m sitting under an air conditioning vent, and trip-planning the last few details for my day tomorrow. I’m not completely sure how I’m going to make it through the day without falling asleep, but that’s just part of travel, right?
I can’t complain because 1.) I made these plans so there’s no one to blame but myself and 2.) I’m on vacation so complaining is illegal. Realistically, in a couple hours I’ll be too sleepy to complain anyway. Here’s my schedule for the next 24ish hours:

Now: sit at the airport and amuse myself for 4 more hours until I (maybe?) can check in for my flight

2AM: check in and hopefully find a nice place to sleep near the gate

4:50AM: flight departs, hopefully with me on it and not asleep by the gate

6:10AM: flight lands in Cuzco, hopefully after a glorious 1 hour and 20 minutes of plane sleep

The rest of the day: drop stuff at hostel, go on a culture-filled, caffeine-powered sleepwalk through the streets of Cuzco.

When I feel like collapsing (ideally after at least 6PM): go to hostel, check in, be that super cool person who goes to bed at 7PM on a Friday night. Hibernate for 12 hours minimum.

Aside from the inevitable, impending physical exhaustion, I’m feeling a bit mentally drained. Today was great, but it was also filled with goodbyes. Be proud of me though! I didn’t cry at all! Well, except for that one time but it was just a little bit and not really in front of anyone.

After this game, Julie told me that I’m too competitive hahahaha

I woke up and packed/organized until I only had 10 minutes until for worship, so I quickly got ready and walk-jogged there. Afterwards, I had to shower (since I didn’t have time before), and Debbie came in when I was conditioning my hair saying something about the lights in the cafeteria not working and “it’s not urgent but kind of is so you can finish showering but hurry”. Okay… weird.
I got out and got dressed, and the two of us walked back to the cafeteria and into a surprise farewell party! I’ll be honest; I wasn’t COMPLETELY surprised. Debbie’s story was sketchy at best. I didn’t, however, expect a party! The fact that the kids are off from school this week made it possible, and I’m glad because it was so much fun!

First, we played this game where everyone has a balloon tied to each ankle, and you have to stomp on everyone else’s balloons while protecting your own. No big deal, but I won. Shh ignore the fact that the majority of my opponents were under the age of 12. Really that makes it more impressive because they have better endurance. Next, there was some limbo (I didn’t win…), musical chairs (Debbie won… she’s very strategic), and a cup-stacking game where the kids had to make a cup tower and then carry it across the room. The finale was a race to run to a chair, sit on/pop a balloon, run back, and repeat two more times. Debbie and I were in all-out sprints in the cafeteria. The first round ended in a tie, so we had to do a tie breaker where I edged her out. I’m not convinced that she didn’t let me win since it was my party, but we’ll ignore that.

The party ended with the presentation of some awesome thank you cards and hugs from each of the kids. It was really sweet. As much as I joke (/am totally serious) about not being a “kid person”, sometimes kids are pretty cool. The rest of the time though…
The afternoon was filled with wrap-up meetings and semi-successful attempts to fit all of my snacks in my bags. Before I knew it, it was 8PM and time to leave (Jim has a flight out tonight too, so I got to hitch a ride to the airport with him). I was happy to be able to mostly sneak out and avoid a million goodbyes. Julie, Debbie, and Tony were all there to see us off.

Saying goodbye was weird but not as dramatic as the goodbyes in Ghana. There, I knew with almost complete certainty that I wasn’t going to see most of those people ever again. Here, I feel like I was just saying a “bye for now” to some friends. I don’t know when or where, but I truly believe that I’ll see them all again. True or not (though I hope it is!), it makes for a much easier goodbye.
Now, I have a week of sightseeing, and I’m super excited! I’m spending some time in Cuzco and am going to Machu Picchu. It’s going to be awesome! I’m just 6 hours away from take-off now. Time to attempt a relocation to a warmer spot, ideally with a nearby outlet.

My snack situation is still solid. I’ve already eaten an apple and some Oreos. Next up, peanut butter sandwich at midnight, maybe some “red fruit” mentos at 1AM, and probably some crackers at 2. Scheduling snacks is the best way to stay awake… I used to do the same thing in college to get through late work nights. Okay, now get some sleep (so I can live vicariously through you), and I’ll see you in Cuzco!

More Weather and Water Shortages

Posted on March 21, 2017March 14, 2019 by Lark

The weather situation here has just gotten worse since the last time I wrote about it. It’s even getting a small nod in the international news, and when that happens for a weather-related event, you know it’s a big deal. Still, they’ve just been tiny shout outs: “MUDSLIDES IN PERU KILL ##, LEAVE ###,### HOMELESS” followed by a three sentence article. HERE and HERE are two of the more substantive ones I’ve seen.

See that brown spot in the ocean? That’s where one of the rivers comes out. The rivers are dumping all sorts of mud and waste and trash into the ocean.

The problems are stemming from the highlands in the northern part of Peru. They’re getting a lot of rain, and all of the water runoff is more than the usual rivers can handle. A bunch of rivers that haven’t seen water in years are getting flooded, and due to some poor planning, their paths are now blocked by roads and houses. Well, I guess they’re not really “blocked”… more like there are roads and houses in the way, but the water doesn’t care and has been just plowing through and causing all sorts of destruction. There’s a ridiculous amount of personal property damage, not to mention the infrastructure damage. At least one major bridge has collapsed which isn’t exactly encouraging.
It’s ironic, but due to the flooding, there are water shortages all over Lima. The water in different parts of the city has been turned off most of the time over the last week because they’re having issues with the water treatment system. People have been buying out all of the water at the grocery stores, and when they did manage to turn some water back on, they had to turn it off again because people were stockpiling and the system couldn’t handle it. There have been scattered power outages too, but as far as I know, water is the biggest problem.

Here’s the previously bone-dry Chilca River. It’s definitely not dry anymore. This is one of the rivers that is running around our water well and making it so we can’t get running water right now. We went to check this out on Friday. You can see a wave coming down the river to the right of the middle of the picture. Those waves just kept on rolling down, as if the water wasn’t running fast enough. The big damp-looking dirt area above that little island was also covered with water just days earlier, but our neighborhood rented a backhoe that has been digging a trench for the river to run down in the hopes that it won’t keep spreading out.

The schools in Lima are closed all week, which includes the schools that our kids go to. We heard that some schools tried to stay open last week after the problems started and got fined for it! The after-school program is suspended until school starts again, but the overnight program is still running. The kids who stay over are just hanging out here all day, playing outside and watching movies and doing activities. It’s kind of like summer school all over again. A few extra kids are staying over this week too, from some families who are really in a tough place or whose parents need to go to work and have no one to stay home.
We’re technically in the Lima province, but we’re way outside of the city. Things are slightly better here, but the people who live around us without running water are struggling too. Usually, there are water trucks that drive around the neighborhoods at somewhat scheduled times, and people who need their water tanks filled flag down the truck and buy water. With the increased demand for water trucks, the water service isn’t nearly as consistent, leaving people with no clue of how long they’ll have to wait for another one to come. We’re lucky here. We have huge water tanks, so we have a much more significant supply than other people. Still, we need to be super careful. The kids’ shower and laundry schedules have been adjusted, and we’re doing everything possible to cut back and conserve.

Things are okay now, but it’s unnerving having such an unknown future. They’re estimating that these flash flooding and mudslide problems will keep cropping up over at least the next two weeks. A lot can happen in two weeks!

I’m leaving here on Thursday to do my week of touristing, and at least at the moment, it sounds like everything is okay in Cusco and around Machu Picchu. They’re more in the southern part of the country, out of the affected zone. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that things stay that way! Or better yet that something changes with the weather and these problems stop altogether.

Princess Day

Posted on March 18, 2017March 14, 2019 by Lark

What a crazy week! I’ve been trying to get as much of the electrical stuff finished as possible, but I’m running out of time, and there’s so much to do! Then yesterday, I gave a presentation to a few of the staff about electricity in general, the electrical system here, and lighting design basics. It was fun getting to share my knowledge and knowing that everyone was actually interested in learning about the things I presented. Debbie translated and did an amazing job. Knowing how to speak Spanish and knowing how to speak construction Spanish are two very different things!

At the beginning of this whole adventure, I thought that it would be nice to have a break from lighting and electrical work. I was adamant that I wanted to do something different. I’ll admit that I have enjoyed growing in other areas, but these last few weeks of electrical work have been much more enjoyable than I would have guessed. It’s nice to know that I do enjoy the field that I spent seven years training/working in because there have definitely been times where I’ve second-guessed my choice. These last couple weeks have pushed me to learn and do new things with my knowledge. I get to walk around and investigate and measure and make real decisions, and I don’t spend all day sitting at a desk. It’s so satisfying to make my brain work on a higher level!

It kind of looks like actual Emma Watson is in this picture.

Today was the beginning of Lara’s Last Weekend of Fun, Peru edition. What could be better than a princess day to start things off? Tony, Debbie, Julie, and I went to see Beauty and the Beast, and it was so good!! We had to go into Lima to find a theatre with Spanish subtitles and English audio rather than a dubbed version, and it was so worth the effort.

Part two of Princess Day was a 4-year-old’s princess-themed birthday party. During the week when the team was here, we had a translator to help out with things. She is super cool, and we got to spend a lot of time together that week. The birthday party was for her daughter, so it was triply fun because I got to experience a Peruvian birthday party, pretend I was a princess, AND see our friend again!

Purple is definitely her favorite color, and Sofia the First is kind of a big deal.

The party was, as you might imagine, somewhat insane. I’m all hyped up on sugar right now because I basically just ate candy for 3 hours. The party consisted of some games for the kids, lots of sugary snacks, dancing, princess dresses, and a piñata. In other words, it had everything required to be considered a fabulous success. It was funny seeing the kids go from being kind of shy and quiet at the beginning to wild and crazy after they got some sugar pumped into them. Sugar never fails.
In conclusion, life is great, sugar is magical, and every day should be Princess Day.