A different life...

*When Arecely wants to do dishes, she must use as little water and "soap" as possible, clean the drain in the sink with her hands, and continually play musical chairs with the dishes (clean, dirty, drying, need to be rinsed) in the very small sink and counter space...
*When Arecely needs to make dinner, she must walk about 15 minutes carrying her one year old to the mercado and eventually find numerous stalls with the exact products her husband wants...
*When Arecely wants to wash her hair she must do so over the sink outside while attending to her baby...
*When Jaime (Arecely´s husband, 10 years her senior) wants his two friends to come hook up the internet, he tells Arecely to clean the apartment and make dinner for everyone...
*After travelling one hour roundtrip to take her husband lunch, Arecely returns to the house (where I´m babysitting btw... happily) and spends the better part of the next four hours hurriedly sweeping, mopping, moving the refrigerator, cleaning and moving the computer desk from outside, cooking a full dinner (meat, vegetables, rice, bread, homemade juice, etc), putting all the clothes away from the laundry pile, doing all the dishes... all the while still attending to a one year old...
*When Arecely wants to buy something for herself (the equivilant of 4 dollars) in al centro mercado, she must call Jaime first to ask permission...
*When Arecely and Jaime want to connect the internet, they must buy a card and attenae... attach both (which involves climbing on the roof etc), ask two men with computer knowledge to come help, go buy an installation cd for the card, call a sister for a password, and in the end wait until tomorrow because the card isn't connecting to the attenae...
*When Arecely and Jaime want to go to al centro they need to take Juaquin (the baby), pick up Jaime's other son (three year old Fabian), drive through crazy traffic and sometimes ridiculous roads in a less than perfect condition very rough running manuel car... oh and they must return before dark because the headlights don't work...
*When Arecely wants/needs to go somewhere while Jaime is at work with the car, it means taking a "Combi" (crowded mini buses) because taxis are too expensive (about $1 for 15 min).
*If Arecely needs to make a phone call and Jaime has the cell phone, she must walk 10 min to the nearest "locutorio" to make the call...

How do I know this? Well, because I've been doing it all with them! Jaime and Arecely are the most welcoming, kindest couple who have not only shown me all the ropes, are continually feeding me, and have completely taken me under their wing, but they have also gone completely out of their way to take me all around the city, feed me traditional Peruvian-Arequipan food, and make sure I am not cold.
Now, let me just say I don't think it's been under 65 degrees ever, even at night, and they are scared to death I'm going to get sick cause I don't want to wear a sweater or jacket! Seriously people are walking around in 80 or 85 degrees with long pants, closed shoes, sweaters, suits, jackets, etc.... WHAT???? Today I'm wearing a skirt and tank top and I know I stick out a little bit, but it's hot... what can you do?!

Arequipa is absolutely beautiful! The center, Plaza de Armas, is amazing with a huge cathedral and park always full of people. The old architecture here is gorgeous and made of a stone that is unique to this town due to the eruption of their Volcano, El Misti, and it's rare type of lava. All of the churches, archways, etc are made out of this beautiful white stone... I love it! Today is my first day really discovering the center on my own. I haven't had much luck finding a position with the institutes yet, cause they want someone for the full year, but there is one more promising one that wants me to email my resume etc. so I will do that asap... then I could work there ( in the center) on the days I'm not volunteering at the school and maybe make a little spending or travelling money... so that would be good! Although I think I'm as good as golden, cause I've spent VERY little money here - for example an hour of internet is equivilant to 25 cents!!! It's so crazy to have gone from Australia, where I was paying up to $6 an hour for internet, to here... WOW.
A bit of culture shock as well... to be expected I suppose.
I can't walk by myself... anywhere... for more than about two minutes before I start hearing, whistles, honking, or comments. It's been a bit of an adjustment to not make eye contact, especially with men, to completely ignore comments, etc... but also to realize that in reality most of the time they mean absolutely no harm and their intentions aren't as bad as you would think... it's part of a culture/a tradition... where men and women just relate differently.

The point of this entry is this: My life here is different. Different good. Different interesting. And sometimes different challenging. More than you could ever expect, being surrounded by the natural beauty of mountains, volcanoes, and an absolutely gorgeously proud people... is an overwhelming feeling. At the same time there is the ageold question: what am I doing here? Right now my anwer to Peruvians who ask is teaching English and learning Spanish... my answer to myself is LEARNING! I've spent every waking moment learning.... about a people, a place, a language, and a way of life that is so different from my own.
I have to say I'm definitely still struggling with my Spanish, with a lack of respect for time, and an understanding of WHY things are done the way they are sometimes. However, I'm coming a long way with all of them... There is no one in my daily contact that speaks English - which is great because it makes me more comfortable using my broken Spanish... I'm forced to if I want to communicate. I've learned so much vocabulary since I've been here (just four days... seems like way more), mostly due to the patience, curiosity, and kindness of Arecely. She is continually teaching me... it's also amazingly fun because she is SO interested in how things are in other countries, so she is contantly asking me... "When you were in India, how were the people? Were they rich or poor? How are their houses? How are their cars? Is it like here in Peru at all.... what parts?" And many similar questions about the US or Costa Rica etc. We've had so many wonderful conversations about life, family, friends... I can't wait until I can communicate better in Spanish! The television here is definitely hilarious... SO dramatic and just plain comical! It is helping me practice my listening skills when we watch these crazy novellas though! Every night I spend at least 30-45 min just looking up words in my dictionary and practicing pronunciation and uses of my new words! I've never been so motivated to learn Spanish... I guess that's why they say you just need to go immerse yourself... cause IT'S TRUE!
Ok, so this is a novel now and I feel like there is so much more in my head to write, but it can wait...
I need to go buy toilet paper! Which by the way is available in every little corner store and there are people on the street who sell it... everyone carries toilet paper with them because toilets in people's houses, restaurants, and the like don't come stocked! The kids in my class even grab it from the closet before walking out of the classroom to the restroom...
Not to mention the several occasions that the lack of public toilets, and general acceptance of bodily functions and natural processes, has lead to seeing men using streets or buildings as their personal urinals!
Why is it that toliet paper/issues are seemingly always a theme in my travel observances and journal entries??? HAHA! One of the the things in life that put us all (humans) on an equal playing field, and yet somehow the customs and traditions are not the same ANYWHERE and always seem to be slightly challenging!

It's a DIFFERENT LIFE...
Peace and Love, Kate