Anyone might think from the title that I’m about to launch into some deep theology, the fall of mankind etc – not so. My blog this time is a lot more worldly!! It is in fact about my first real fall from my motorbike. But as with my other “pretend” fall, or better said, topple over, on our motorcycle trip, it was my pride that was hurt more than my body!
On Sunday morning I woke up and listened to the pitter patter of a few droplets of water as the rain finally stopped. I was glad, as I had planned to ride my motorcycle to church that morning. I was still decided on going to church on my bike, even with the knowledge that it had been raining hard all night, from about 1am. Had I been more alert and in my right mind I would have known that with that amount of water that had fallen from the sky during those hours of daybreak, riding my bike was not the smartest option.
However after breakfast I got myself ready for church, ignoring Rachel’s suggestion that I put a pair of trousers over the shorts I was wearing, for the mud!! I did put on a long sleeve shirt over my top however. Crocs were the shoes of the day, knowing that if I did have to put my feet down in the mud I could just rinse them off.
I set off OK, the roads in San Jose weren’t too bad, my mood lifted, and with the rock and roll that was playing inside my helmet the day was looking brighter. That was until I reached the outskirts of San Jose. The very helpful municipalidad had rolled the roads only 2 days beforehand. Very helpful – only if it hadn’t rained. As I left San Jose behind the roads became like butter. I was feeling pretty pleased with myself, I arrived at the next village along and had managed to keep in good control of the bike, my back wheel slipping and sliding a little but I thought, this is OK, Ewan McGreggor has nothing on me – I don’t know what he was complaining about on his round the world trip.
And then disaster struck – or should I say, I reached the well renown, dastardly mud pit of the land bridge coming into Tuschmo. What a nightmare. I was slipping and sliding, the sweat breaking on me, panicking that I was going to lose control of the bike and land headlong into the river that surrounded the bridge. I managed to make my way through the 2 feet of mud, until suddenly I lost control and I fell, squelch, into the mud. Thankfully with so much mud all around I did fall in slow motion so was able to get my left leg out from under the bike.
So what next – how does one manage to right a heavy bike in the middle of a mud pit, when one feels like crying of frustration and hurt pride?? The answer?? 2 young footballers who just happened to be walking that way!!! The guys, after a little persuasion from me, came over and helped me right the bike. I then thought I’d chance my luck and asked them to help me push it out of the worst of the mud and along the land bridge a little, to the slightly dryer and more compact mud. They were only to happy to help the damsel in distress, even asked me if I was OK and was I hurt. I laughed, saying I wasn’t hurt, more because of my embarrassment than anything, and asked them if they could push the bike to Pucallpa, they refused, but sai they could push it to Yarina if I needed – bless them!!
We walked to the more compact mud and I decided to try the bike, I jumped on, started her up and then headed on my way shouting my thanks to my 2 white knights!!
The rest of the journey was supposed to be uneventful, having left the worst of the mud behind. I just kept thinking how I was going to explain my appearance to people in church, mud to the eyeballs, and nothing to change into!!
I arrived at the lotte where our church meets, and as you turn into the street there was yet another mud pit. I tried to pass, but this mud was thick and impassable, I got halfway into the mud pit and then couldn’t get out. At this point I did wonder why I had decided to ride to church that morning. I got off my bike, walked through the mud pit and walked over to the house where church meets, and asked for help from the guys standing around. I then realised that they couldn’t understand what I was saying, as I still had my helmet on. My hands caked with mud had trouble removing the helmet, but finally I was able to communicate what I needed and the guys came out to rescue the bike. Jemima came out with a bucket of water so I could start to clean myself off, wash down my legs and my crocs, and then pointed out that they had put in a new gate to get into the lotte, which meant you didn’t have to come through the mud pit – now they tell me!!!
Only after I had arrived at the church and had almost finished cleaning myself off other people started arriving. The place where we meet had been flooded during all the rain, and many of the people who live in Yarina had houses flooded, so many people were not able to get to church. We ended up meeting in the living room of Jemima’s house, all squished together, except for me who got a chair of my own because of the mud situation!!
For the rest of the day, spending time with people from the church I was worried about getting home, not wanting to risk the journey back to San Jose by myself. For the rest of the day I wasn’t allowed to forget about my fall either as everyone kept having a great chuckle at my clothing and my retelling of the story. Thankfully though there was no more rain that day, and by the time I was heading back to San Jose the mud pit had dried out a little bit. However, by the time I was heading home I had started to hurt all down my left side, the side I had fallen on. But bless the guys in the church, they all jumped on their motorcycles, one of them jumped on my motorcycle and they all drove me home, my new gang – Heaven’s Angels!!
And today, for all the pain and aches that I have on the inside, all I have to show for my adventure on the outside is a few scratches and a tiny bruise – how can I get sympathy from that?? Whoever thought going to church was boring!!
Monday, April 27, 2009
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Girls on Bikes!!!
So I’m a member of the bikers club now – I feel like I achieved something, I feel like I’m allowed to call myself a biker!!! We rode a total of about 500kms in 2 days. Not just any old road, but dirt and gravel and roads with huge potholes. It was quite an undertaking – and you had to concentrate the whole way. Not only were the roads bad, but it’s the only route from Pucallpa to Lima – so throw big articulated lorries and fully loaded buses into the equation and you have quite the adventure!!!
We started off on the Friday morning. Supposedly leaving about 8am – but things being as they are in Peru we didn’t start until 9.30am. Our first stop was on the carretera on the way out Pucallpa for some petrol for the bikes. To be honest I was a little nervous, being new to the whole biker thing, but I wasn’t going to tell anyone. Actually I was more nervous about the main highway more than anything – I can do dirt, just not that keen on the roads in town and dealing with all the crazy traffic. I was also a little nervous about my little 125 bike – small in comparison to Rachel and Cristina’s, 250 and 300!! There was no way she was going to keep up with the other two.
We left Pucallpa behind in our mirrors and the adventure started, 3 ladies on their bikes and our road crew travelling behind us in the truck. About an hour or so from Pucallpa the roads change from tarmac to gravel and dirt. The roads are pretty much like that the whole way to San Alejandro, a town about an hour from Aguaytia, our destination!!! My bike is pretty slow on the main roads, but it can hold it’s own on the dirt and gravel.
We travelled and rode for about 3 hours and just as we left the gravel roads Rachel realised that she had a flat. We pulled into the side of the road, and as we drove over a big bumped I spilled over the bump and landed on the ground – nothing hurt except my pride. The other two didn’t even realise it had happened until I was spotted trying to lift the bike. We had to wait for a good 45 mins until the truck caught up with us, and then Kyle and John set to work trying to change the inner tube. They did a good job in the searing heat – both of them finished a lot sweatier than they had arrived, in their air conditioned truck!!! With the inner tube changed and the tire back on with some air pumped in we headed on – about 5 minutes when we finally arrived at the actual town of San Alejandro, where Rachel discovered the tire was flat again. We had to take it to a wee workshop this time, where the man said that when they had put the inner tube on they had pinched it with their tools. The wee man was able to do his Peruvian magic and patch the new inner tube!!!
Finally after another hour waiting for the work to be done we were on the road again. There ws only another hour or so to go until we reached Aguaytia. This time it was all tarmaced road – so as mentioned before my wee bike couldn’t keep up. I let the other 2 girls ride on ahead and I pushed my wee bike to the limit with the truck on my backside the whole time. This time I had my iPod on and wasa rocking along and enjoying the journey. The truck behind was killing themselves laughing, because unbeknownst to me as I was rocking along to the music, my head was going in time and at certain times my whole body was swaying to the music – must have been a sight to behold!!
We got into Aguaytia and checked into our hostal for the night. We 3 girls were in the non air-con room – and man was it hot!!! We got changed and then went looking for somewhere to eat before heading to the falls. We stopped at a little swimming pool where we ate a lot of chicken. Finally after food and before it go dark we all loaded ourselves into the truck to head up to the Bocaron for the falls. We got up to the falls and the night was drawing in, we had a bit of a look around and John went in for a swim, but the rest of us decided to leave the joy of swimming in the falls til the next day!!
We all headed back to the hotel and spent time getting cleaned up and watching South American pop music on the TV!!!
The next morning we woke early for Rachel’s 30th birthday and headed to the falls. This time we all went in for a swim. The water was beautiful and cool, if not really strong. We stayed in the water for quite a while and then left the river and spent some time in the Ducha Del Diablo falls. Quite a few photo shoots going on there!!!
After the falls, we went back to the hostal to load up our stuff and then looked for a place to lunch before hitting the road. Aguaytia is not bustling over with places to eat at lunchtime – but finally we found a little place that served us Lomo saltado!!
We hit the road about 1.30pm and the bikes headed out in front of the truck. There were a lot of lorries on the road and it was quicker for us on the bikes than it was for our truck. We could overtake a lot easier and also pass by the big trucks on the small potholed roads!! We were about an hour from Pucallpa when I thought something was wrong with my tire. The other 2 girls had gone up ahead and the truck was no where to be seen, so I stopped to have a look at the bike. Whether it was my sore wrist or just my tiredness from the journey, the bike fell out of my grasp and landed on the ground with a thump. It was hard work to pick it up – men passing by just shouted at me rather than help me get it up – I probably would have refused their help anyway, my foolish pride!!! I got it up and there asn’t any damage – just a bent clutch pedal!!!
I started her up and rode on for 5 minutes to find Cristina was having trouble with her bike. Probably on the hottest part of the road we ended up stopping and Cristina couldn’t get the bike started again. We waited until the truck arrived, in the bakin sun with no shade, and finally our white knights arrived again!! There was nothing to be done with Cristina’s bike, so they loaded it up onto the truck and Rachel and I headed off into the sunset one more time!!!
We finally arrived in Pucallpa about 4.30pm on Saturday evening for our last refill, a few more pictures and then headed back to San Jose and TEC. We arrived back to thank Juan Pablo for all the help he had given us in regards to fixing up our bikes before we left – he had y bike in pieces the day before we left and he did a great job with it, with my bike being the only one that didn’t have any problems with it – apart from the rider!!! It was a great trip and one that we hope to do again. Praise God that He kept us safe during the whole journey!!!
500km in 2 days – that makes me a real biker, right??!!!
We started off on the Friday morning. Supposedly leaving about 8am – but things being as they are in Peru we didn’t start until 9.30am. Our first stop was on the carretera on the way out Pucallpa for some petrol for the bikes. To be honest I was a little nervous, being new to the whole biker thing, but I wasn’t going to tell anyone. Actually I was more nervous about the main highway more than anything – I can do dirt, just not that keen on the roads in town and dealing with all the crazy traffic. I was also a little nervous about my little 125 bike – small in comparison to Rachel and Cristina’s, 250 and 300!! There was no way she was going to keep up with the other two.
We left Pucallpa behind in our mirrors and the adventure started, 3 ladies on their bikes and our road crew travelling behind us in the truck. About an hour or so from Pucallpa the roads change from tarmac to gravel and dirt. The roads are pretty much like that the whole way to San Alejandro, a town about an hour from Aguaytia, our destination!!! My bike is pretty slow on the main roads, but it can hold it’s own on the dirt and gravel.
We travelled and rode for about 3 hours and just as we left the gravel roads Rachel realised that she had a flat. We pulled into the side of the road, and as we drove over a big bumped I spilled over the bump and landed on the ground – nothing hurt except my pride. The other two didn’t even realise it had happened until I was spotted trying to lift the bike. We had to wait for a good 45 mins until the truck caught up with us, and then Kyle and John set to work trying to change the inner tube. They did a good job in the searing heat – both of them finished a lot sweatier than they had arrived, in their air conditioned truck!!! With the inner tube changed and the tire back on with some air pumped in we headed on – about 5 minutes when we finally arrived at the actual town of San Alejandro, where Rachel discovered the tire was flat again. We had to take it to a wee workshop this time, where the man said that when they had put the inner tube on they had pinched it with their tools. The wee man was able to do his Peruvian magic and patch the new inner tube!!!
Finally after another hour waiting for the work to be done we were on the road again. There ws only another hour or so to go until we reached Aguaytia. This time it was all tarmaced road – so as mentioned before my wee bike couldn’t keep up. I let the other 2 girls ride on ahead and I pushed my wee bike to the limit with the truck on my backside the whole time. This time I had my iPod on and wasa rocking along and enjoying the journey. The truck behind was killing themselves laughing, because unbeknownst to me as I was rocking along to the music, my head was going in time and at certain times my whole body was swaying to the music – must have been a sight to behold!!
We got into Aguaytia and checked into our hostal for the night. We 3 girls were in the non air-con room – and man was it hot!!! We got changed and then went looking for somewhere to eat before heading to the falls. We stopped at a little swimming pool where we ate a lot of chicken. Finally after food and before it go dark we all loaded ourselves into the truck to head up to the Bocaron for the falls. We got up to the falls and the night was drawing in, we had a bit of a look around and John went in for a swim, but the rest of us decided to leave the joy of swimming in the falls til the next day!!
We all headed back to the hotel and spent time getting cleaned up and watching South American pop music on the TV!!!
The next morning we woke early for Rachel’s 30th birthday and headed to the falls. This time we all went in for a swim. The water was beautiful and cool, if not really strong. We stayed in the water for quite a while and then left the river and spent some time in the Ducha Del Diablo falls. Quite a few photo shoots going on there!!!
After the falls, we went back to the hostal to load up our stuff and then looked for a place to lunch before hitting the road. Aguaytia is not bustling over with places to eat at lunchtime – but finally we found a little place that served us Lomo saltado!!
We hit the road about 1.30pm and the bikes headed out in front of the truck. There were a lot of lorries on the road and it was quicker for us on the bikes than it was for our truck. We could overtake a lot easier and also pass by the big trucks on the small potholed roads!! We were about an hour from Pucallpa when I thought something was wrong with my tire. The other 2 girls had gone up ahead and the truck was no where to be seen, so I stopped to have a look at the bike. Whether it was my sore wrist or just my tiredness from the journey, the bike fell out of my grasp and landed on the ground with a thump. It was hard work to pick it up – men passing by just shouted at me rather than help me get it up – I probably would have refused their help anyway, my foolish pride!!! I got it up and there asn’t any damage – just a bent clutch pedal!!!
I started her up and rode on for 5 minutes to find Cristina was having trouble with her bike. Probably on the hottest part of the road we ended up stopping and Cristina couldn’t get the bike started again. We waited until the truck arrived, in the bakin sun with no shade, and finally our white knights arrived again!! There was nothing to be done with Cristina’s bike, so they loaded it up onto the truck and Rachel and I headed off into the sunset one more time!!!
We finally arrived in Pucallpa about 4.30pm on Saturday evening for our last refill, a few more pictures and then headed back to San Jose and TEC. We arrived back to thank Juan Pablo for all the help he had given us in regards to fixing up our bikes before we left – he had y bike in pieces the day before we left and he did a great job with it, with my bike being the only one that didn’t have any problems with it – apart from the rider!!! It was a great trip and one that we hope to do again. Praise God that He kept us safe during the whole journey!!!
500km in 2 days – that makes me a real biker, right??!!!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
29 years old!!!
So here’s a little update of life in the jungle!!
I had my birthday – I’m now 29 years old – people keep telling me I have to enjoy this last year before I turn 30 – seems to me that I never feel older, feel just like I did at 20 – so I’m not so worried about this last year before I’m 30. The only thing I would say is that after a day of fun and swimming with 16 year olds I’m pretty stiff and sore the next day!! Hehehe To celebrate my birthday and Cristina’s 30th birthday which fell the same weekend we had a ceilidh. We had some friends over and taught them a few ceilidh danced – it was great fun, a great night – but very sweaty and sticky, even at 8pm at night!!
We have had a lot of stuff going on since I last wrote. Initially I felt I hadn’t enough work to do here at TEC – so that started me thinking of all the projects that I could do. So I’ve made myself a whole lot of work to do. I have started English classes with a couple of the staff members. That’s a lot of fun, I enjoy it – it’s just a little early in the morning!!!
We also still have out girls clubs – we now have 37 girls coming on a Thursday afternoon which is crazy – we’re going to be needing more leaders – but I love it!!
We have been in touch with the school here in San Jose. I have been given permission to help in the English classes. I’m working specifically with 3rd, 4th and 5th grade of secondary – so 14, 15 and 1 year olds. How it works here in the provincial schools is that usually their budget is so small they can’t afford to hire an English teacher, so they put a teacher in charge of teaching English who may not even speak the language. This is what has happened here in San Jose. We spoke with the teacher in charge of English and she can’t speak it. When I checked the notebooks of the kids on the class they write a lot of grammar down but they never speak!! It seems that a lot of my work is going to be getting them to speak it, never mind the grammar notes in the book!! The teacher will be with me in the classes – however last week and this week when I was in class with the kids the teacher wasn’t there as she was out on a course – to try and learn English!!! It turns out that most of the teachers were out on courses – so there was no one to look after the kids. I had a class yesterday to teach and when I arrived the kids had all gone home because there was no teacher!! The Directora had just cancelled school and sent all the kids home – it’s incredible!!!
Apart from the severe disorganisation I have really been loving being in their classes and teaching. Maybe it’s because I now have something to do and it’s exciting for me to be useful, or maybe it’s because I really do love teaching. The only thing about teaching that really gets me down at home is all the paperwork that goes with it – all my friends talk about the paperwork and al the extra they have to do. Here I’m getting the best of both worlds – I get to teach without having to do all the extra marking and recording results – it’s great!!!
We are also looking into the possibility of starting a homework club for many of the kids that come to our clubs. Many people on staff have been concerned about the level of reading and writing of some of the kids that attend, and would like us to be able to do something for them – so a homework club is in the middle of being devised. I think we’ll have to look at the kids and choose some of them which we would like to attend and then go and talk to their parents about it and see if they will send their kids – should be good and again, more for me to do!!
We had a fun day last weekend – a reunion of sorts for the kids who had come to camp here in February. It was a lot of fun, we played football and volleyball(I was glad to see that I haven’t lost my footballing skills yet!), and then spent some time playing in the lake. After lunch the kids had a youth meeting with the youth pastor in one of the churches – it was a great day – a lot of fun to see the kids again!!
On Sunday we were to have a movie night with little Elijah, Noah and Abbie. We made a big tent with blankets and put up a big screen on the wall made of sheets. We made popcaorn and the kids were so excited to watch Shaun the Sheep (courtesy of Kyle!!). They were enjoying it so much – but after about 5 minutes the power went off and we didn’t get it back until after the kids had gone home – they were gutted. Instead of the movie night we told stories in the tent and then played some music and sang and danced for the rest of the night. We finally had to take the kids home when Elijah lay on the floor and begged to go home cause he was so tired – bless him!!!
I say we had the kids over because now I have 2 new housemates. Having people around has made living here a whole lot more fun and a lot better. Rachel is from California and has just come back after a month’s furlough. She’s an agriculture person and looks after all our green spaces and helps us grow fruit and veg and teaches the mums how they can grow lettuces and all sorts of plants in milk cartons etc. We are very similar in tastes and it has been fun getting to know her. She’s been key in getting me out and about more on my motorcycle!!
Charlotte has also arrived to live with us. She’s a short term intern, will be here for 8 weeks in total. She’s from South Carolina and has been coming along to the school to help in my English classes, she’s a lot of fun too!! It’s been fun teaching her about Peru and TEC!!
Cali cat is still a little mad. He has been bringing bats home recently. He hasn’t seemed to figure out that he has to take animals from inside the house and play with them outside, rather than vice versa. Most of the animals he brings in are dead, but last night he brought in a bat and it flew around the kitchen for a while before Rachel caught it and took it down to Lucas for his snakes!! The exciting news for me is that I might get myself a little Capybara for a pet – but I’ll keep you posted!!!
I had my birthday – I’m now 29 years old – people keep telling me I have to enjoy this last year before I turn 30 – seems to me that I never feel older, feel just like I did at 20 – so I’m not so worried about this last year before I’m 30. The only thing I would say is that after a day of fun and swimming with 16 year olds I’m pretty stiff and sore the next day!! Hehehe To celebrate my birthday and Cristina’s 30th birthday which fell the same weekend we had a ceilidh. We had some friends over and taught them a few ceilidh danced – it was great fun, a great night – but very sweaty and sticky, even at 8pm at night!!
We have had a lot of stuff going on since I last wrote. Initially I felt I hadn’t enough work to do here at TEC – so that started me thinking of all the projects that I could do. So I’ve made myself a whole lot of work to do. I have started English classes with a couple of the staff members. That’s a lot of fun, I enjoy it – it’s just a little early in the morning!!!
We also still have out girls clubs – we now have 37 girls coming on a Thursday afternoon which is crazy – we’re going to be needing more leaders – but I love it!!
We have been in touch with the school here in San Jose. I have been given permission to help in the English classes. I’m working specifically with 3rd, 4th and 5th grade of secondary – so 14, 15 and 1 year olds. How it works here in the provincial schools is that usually their budget is so small they can’t afford to hire an English teacher, so they put a teacher in charge of teaching English who may not even speak the language. This is what has happened here in San Jose. We spoke with the teacher in charge of English and she can’t speak it. When I checked the notebooks of the kids on the class they write a lot of grammar down but they never speak!! It seems that a lot of my work is going to be getting them to speak it, never mind the grammar notes in the book!! The teacher will be with me in the classes – however last week and this week when I was in class with the kids the teacher wasn’t there as she was out on a course – to try and learn English!!! It turns out that most of the teachers were out on courses – so there was no one to look after the kids. I had a class yesterday to teach and when I arrived the kids had all gone home because there was no teacher!! The Directora had just cancelled school and sent all the kids home – it’s incredible!!!
Apart from the severe disorganisation I have really been loving being in their classes and teaching. Maybe it’s because I now have something to do and it’s exciting for me to be useful, or maybe it’s because I really do love teaching. The only thing about teaching that really gets me down at home is all the paperwork that goes with it – all my friends talk about the paperwork and al the extra they have to do. Here I’m getting the best of both worlds – I get to teach without having to do all the extra marking and recording results – it’s great!!!
We are also looking into the possibility of starting a homework club for many of the kids that come to our clubs. Many people on staff have been concerned about the level of reading and writing of some of the kids that attend, and would like us to be able to do something for them – so a homework club is in the middle of being devised. I think we’ll have to look at the kids and choose some of them which we would like to attend and then go and talk to their parents about it and see if they will send their kids – should be good and again, more for me to do!!
We had a fun day last weekend – a reunion of sorts for the kids who had come to camp here in February. It was a lot of fun, we played football and volleyball(I was glad to see that I haven’t lost my footballing skills yet!), and then spent some time playing in the lake. After lunch the kids had a youth meeting with the youth pastor in one of the churches – it was a great day – a lot of fun to see the kids again!!
On Sunday we were to have a movie night with little Elijah, Noah and Abbie. We made a big tent with blankets and put up a big screen on the wall made of sheets. We made popcaorn and the kids were so excited to watch Shaun the Sheep (courtesy of Kyle!!). They were enjoying it so much – but after about 5 minutes the power went off and we didn’t get it back until after the kids had gone home – they were gutted. Instead of the movie night we told stories in the tent and then played some music and sang and danced for the rest of the night. We finally had to take the kids home when Elijah lay on the floor and begged to go home cause he was so tired – bless him!!!
I say we had the kids over because now I have 2 new housemates. Having people around has made living here a whole lot more fun and a lot better. Rachel is from California and has just come back after a month’s furlough. She’s an agriculture person and looks after all our green spaces and helps us grow fruit and veg and teaches the mums how they can grow lettuces and all sorts of plants in milk cartons etc. We are very similar in tastes and it has been fun getting to know her. She’s been key in getting me out and about more on my motorcycle!!
Charlotte has also arrived to live with us. She’s a short term intern, will be here for 8 weeks in total. She’s from South Carolina and has been coming along to the school to help in my English classes, she’s a lot of fun too!! It’s been fun teaching her about Peru and TEC!!
Cali cat is still a little mad. He has been bringing bats home recently. He hasn’t seemed to figure out that he has to take animals from inside the house and play with them outside, rather than vice versa. Most of the animals he brings in are dead, but last night he brought in a bat and it flew around the kitchen for a while before Rachel caught it and took it down to Lucas for his snakes!! The exciting news for me is that I might get myself a little Capybara for a pet – but I’ll keep you posted!!!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Tarantuals, killer bees and Cayman!
So in the last month since I have been here I feel like I have experienced all types of wildlife. We had a swarm of killer bees making a hive in our house. Apparently they leave a scent in places where they have been before, and this scent is now in the wood in our house, so they keep coming back every 4 months or so!! It’s a real delight. We went cayman spotting one night. With the high flood water the cayman are coming up close to one of the houses in TEC, so we went down with our flashlights and you can see their eyes glowing red with the light. As well as that our neighbour has begun a collection of snakes, some that have been found here on the property. Thankfully they aren’t venomous, they are just boas. Some of them are really beautiful, he now has a rainbow boa, his first snake, and now added to the collection are 2 red tailed boas.
We went to visit a little mini zoo just across the lake from us, called La Jungla, I had been there before a couple of years ago – it’s where you get to hold the giant boas etc. They had little Capybaras and Ocelots and many other pretty animals – I would love a Capybara as a pet – they’re supposed to make great pets – just not sure how Cali would react to it!!
Swimming has been a lot of fun, we are swimming with all kinds of wildlife. When we were out in the lake on Sunday we looked around the there were river dolphins swimming just a little bit past where we were. What I don’t like are the little fish that start jumping out of the water when you swim by – one of them jumped right down my t-shirt!!
One thing I haven’t liked are the tarantulas. I walked into the bathroom the other night and there was a little baby tarantula on the floor of the shower. I went and got the cat – Cali – who was no use at all as he just chased the spider round and round the shower, in the end I had to sweep the spider up and throw him out!!
We had some sad news about one of the dgos we were caring for. Bailey was a chocolate lab that we were looking after for a family that is home is the States. Bailey disappeared on Sunday and we don’t know what happened to her – we are all gutted as she was a beautiful dog and a great pet, wonderful with kids and just loved going swimming with us!!
Apart from the animals I have met a lot of lovely people. I have to admit that I’m not meeting as many people as I met in Arequipa, and I kind of miss having so much contact with people. It’s hard adapting to the slower pace of life here and the limited contact with people who are round about. We work with the village kids and the ladies in the village, but I think I need a little bit more. I guess I’m just used to being busy. The girls that come to the girls club are great – I love spending the time wit them teaching them and hanging out with them – I’d like to do something more to help them in their studies at school, whether that be basic numeracy and literacy, or something more like helping with their English!! Hopefully we’ll get something sorted out with them, and possibly be able to get into the schools to help there!
It’s been hard adapting back to being asked for money or help again. Because I’m white and a missionary people come and ask for help, to pay for school fees, or to buy some new clothes, it’s hard to say no sometimes! You have to really think about long term consequences, who you are helping, why do they not have the money, if you help this time will they keep coming back and what will they do if they don’t have this help now. It’s very difficult to discern sometimes!
On another note, after having a lonely month here in the house by myself, in the spce of 2 days I gained 2 housemates. Rachel has been here in Pucallpa for 2 years already with another organisation and is now seconded to TEC for this year, and Charlotte who is here for about 6 weeks or so. After not having many people to talk to sometimes I just want to go into my room and not talk to anyone – lol!! I’m never happy!!!
Church has been interesting – I have been going mostly to San Jose’s little tiny church, but while Charlotte is here I hope to visit some other churches and may decide to go somewhere else!!! We’ll have to see how it all works out!! Stay tuned!
We went to visit a little mini zoo just across the lake from us, called La Jungla, I had been there before a couple of years ago – it’s where you get to hold the giant boas etc. They had little Capybaras and Ocelots and many other pretty animals – I would love a Capybara as a pet – they’re supposed to make great pets – just not sure how Cali would react to it!!
Swimming has been a lot of fun, we are swimming with all kinds of wildlife. When we were out in the lake on Sunday we looked around the there were river dolphins swimming just a little bit past where we were. What I don’t like are the little fish that start jumping out of the water when you swim by – one of them jumped right down my t-shirt!!
One thing I haven’t liked are the tarantulas. I walked into the bathroom the other night and there was a little baby tarantula on the floor of the shower. I went and got the cat – Cali – who was no use at all as he just chased the spider round and round the shower, in the end I had to sweep the spider up and throw him out!!
We had some sad news about one of the dgos we were caring for. Bailey was a chocolate lab that we were looking after for a family that is home is the States. Bailey disappeared on Sunday and we don’t know what happened to her – we are all gutted as she was a beautiful dog and a great pet, wonderful with kids and just loved going swimming with us!!
Apart from the animals I have met a lot of lovely people. I have to admit that I’m not meeting as many people as I met in Arequipa, and I kind of miss having so much contact with people. It’s hard adapting to the slower pace of life here and the limited contact with people who are round about. We work with the village kids and the ladies in the village, but I think I need a little bit more. I guess I’m just used to being busy. The girls that come to the girls club are great – I love spending the time wit them teaching them and hanging out with them – I’d like to do something more to help them in their studies at school, whether that be basic numeracy and literacy, or something more like helping with their English!! Hopefully we’ll get something sorted out with them, and possibly be able to get into the schools to help there!
It’s been hard adapting back to being asked for money or help again. Because I’m white and a missionary people come and ask for help, to pay for school fees, or to buy some new clothes, it’s hard to say no sometimes! You have to really think about long term consequences, who you are helping, why do they not have the money, if you help this time will they keep coming back and what will they do if they don’t have this help now. It’s very difficult to discern sometimes!
On another note, after having a lonely month here in the house by myself, in the spce of 2 days I gained 2 housemates. Rachel has been here in Pucallpa for 2 years already with another organisation and is now seconded to TEC for this year, and Charlotte who is here for about 6 weeks or so. After not having many people to talk to sometimes I just want to go into my room and not talk to anyone – lol!! I’m never happy!!!
Church has been interesting – I have been going mostly to San Jose’s little tiny church, but while Charlotte is here I hope to visit some other churches and may decide to go somewhere else!!! We’ll have to see how it all works out!! Stay tuned!
Friday, February 06, 2009
In the jungle, the mighty jungle!!!
So I’m here in the jungle. A year or so of planning and I’ve finally made it here to be a part of Mision TEC> It’s strange that I’m here, almost feels surreal. You plan for something for so long and then it’s weird when it finally happens.
So the travelling went without a hitch, incredibly. Normally something goes wrong. I was expecting to walk out of Lima airport without my bags as I thought 12 hours in Madrid airport was sure to get them lost – but they all arrived.
My night in the hotel in Madrid was pretty awesome – nice hotel, got to speak to people over Skype – it was all good!!!
Then when I got through customs and walked out into Lima airport I was just about to get a taxi to my friend Susan’s house and I hear someone shouting my name. My friends Pam and Rich were there with their little boy Lucas. They were down in Lima for a couple of days from Trujillo. They said they couldn’t let me arrive in Lima with no one to greet me. I was so happy that I teared up – it was so weird!!! It was lovely to see them and see how much Lucas has grown since Easter when I saw them in the UK. We had ice cream and coffee together and just caught up – such a nice time.
Then I caught a taxi to Susan’s house and we had a nice time catching up too. It was lovely to hear her news and hear how other members of her Mission to the World Team are doing. Great news about my friends the Rosses and their new baby girl born a couple of days before I arrived!!!
The next morning I woke early to get a taxi back to the aiport for my flight to Pucallpa. This was really it – I was going to the jungle.
It was hot when I arrived, but Cristina was there with little Abbie, ready to take me back to TEC. I was so happy just to be there!! They took me to my new house, showed me around and then left me to unpack before meeting the rest of the team at lunch. It was great to have Peruvian food again, I didn’t realise how much I’d missed it. And for lunch was the food I had been telling people about – fish, rice, beans and bananas – my favourite jungle food!!!
After lunch we had a meeting for a camp that we are running over Valentines weekend, talking about relationships, sex, love and all that jazz. I’ve been elected as music person, so I was given songs, a CD and told to learn them for the camp. Thankfully, when I took the CD home and listened to it there were a bunch of song si already knew to sing, so hopefully it was looking OK for learning them in time.
So I’ve been here a week already, and it seems so much longer. I’m finding my way about, have been into town, done some shopping in the market and have a cell phone that can send and receive text messages from the UK. I also have dial-up internet in my house – a bit slow but it does the job – I just have to get into the way of writing my emails before I log on, rather than doing it while connected. So far I haven’t met my housemate Rachel – she’s at home on furlough – but she has left me a lot of good info about the house, about the cat etc, she did a little DVD explaining all the intricacies of the house – so I’ll look forward to meeting her properly in March!
I guess I felt a little bit homesick when I first arrived. It’s funny though because I’ve never been homesick before, I guess getting older and playing a bigger part in my friend’s lives back at home has impacted me and I was a little reluctant to leave this time. Anyway, I’m signed up for a year and then who knows what will happen, this year will tell all!!!
So I had an email from a friend of mine in Arequipa, Carlos, who worked with me in the Colegio. He married my flatmate from Arequipa last year and he got in touch to say that he might surprise his wife, my good friend, Yazmin with a ticket to Pucallpa for their anniversary. I would love them to come. They could stay here and that would make things cheaper – all they’d have to do would be do buy their ticket – that in itself costs a lot of money for someone who works in a Colegio. I hope they can come though, I’d love to see them. I missed their wedding last year as I had gone home already, so I haven’t yet seen them as man and wife yet!!
As well as a flatmate I have a cat – called Calabazo, or Cali for short. He’s a bit mischievous, likes to take flying leaps at you as you pass. I have scratches all over my arms and legs from his “playing”!!! He also likes to bring in presents – lizards, spiders, birds etc – I’m not a big fan of the presents – especially if they are still alive!!! But he did catch a big cockroach the other day which has made up for some of the scratching!!!
So that's about it for the first update - here's a few pics of my house, my moto and the cat and some other randoms!!
So the travelling went without a hitch, incredibly. Normally something goes wrong. I was expecting to walk out of Lima airport without my bags as I thought 12 hours in Madrid airport was sure to get them lost – but they all arrived.
My night in the hotel in Madrid was pretty awesome – nice hotel, got to speak to people over Skype – it was all good!!!
Then when I got through customs and walked out into Lima airport I was just about to get a taxi to my friend Susan’s house and I hear someone shouting my name. My friends Pam and Rich were there with their little boy Lucas. They were down in Lima for a couple of days from Trujillo. They said they couldn’t let me arrive in Lima with no one to greet me. I was so happy that I teared up – it was so weird!!! It was lovely to see them and see how much Lucas has grown since Easter when I saw them in the UK. We had ice cream and coffee together and just caught up – such a nice time.
Then I caught a taxi to Susan’s house and we had a nice time catching up too. It was lovely to hear her news and hear how other members of her Mission to the World Team are doing. Great news about my friends the Rosses and their new baby girl born a couple of days before I arrived!!!
The next morning I woke early to get a taxi back to the aiport for my flight to Pucallpa. This was really it – I was going to the jungle.
It was hot when I arrived, but Cristina was there with little Abbie, ready to take me back to TEC. I was so happy just to be there!! They took me to my new house, showed me around and then left me to unpack before meeting the rest of the team at lunch. It was great to have Peruvian food again, I didn’t realise how much I’d missed it. And for lunch was the food I had been telling people about – fish, rice, beans and bananas – my favourite jungle food!!!
After lunch we had a meeting for a camp that we are running over Valentines weekend, talking about relationships, sex, love and all that jazz. I’ve been elected as music person, so I was given songs, a CD and told to learn them for the camp. Thankfully, when I took the CD home and listened to it there were a bunch of song si already knew to sing, so hopefully it was looking OK for learning them in time.
So I’ve been here a week already, and it seems so much longer. I’m finding my way about, have been into town, done some shopping in the market and have a cell phone that can send and receive text messages from the UK. I also have dial-up internet in my house – a bit slow but it does the job – I just have to get into the way of writing my emails before I log on, rather than doing it while connected. So far I haven’t met my housemate Rachel – she’s at home on furlough – but she has left me a lot of good info about the house, about the cat etc, she did a little DVD explaining all the intricacies of the house – so I’ll look forward to meeting her properly in March!
I guess I felt a little bit homesick when I first arrived. It’s funny though because I’ve never been homesick before, I guess getting older and playing a bigger part in my friend’s lives back at home has impacted me and I was a little reluctant to leave this time. Anyway, I’m signed up for a year and then who knows what will happen, this year will tell all!!!
So I had an email from a friend of mine in Arequipa, Carlos, who worked with me in the Colegio. He married my flatmate from Arequipa last year and he got in touch to say that he might surprise his wife, my good friend, Yazmin with a ticket to Pucallpa for their anniversary. I would love them to come. They could stay here and that would make things cheaper – all they’d have to do would be do buy their ticket – that in itself costs a lot of money for someone who works in a Colegio. I hope they can come though, I’d love to see them. I missed their wedding last year as I had gone home already, so I haven’t yet seen them as man and wife yet!!
As well as a flatmate I have a cat – called Calabazo, or Cali for short. He’s a bit mischievous, likes to take flying leaps at you as you pass. I have scratches all over my arms and legs from his “playing”!!! He also likes to bring in presents – lizards, spiders, birds etc – I’m not a big fan of the presents – especially if they are still alive!!! But he did catch a big cockroach the other day which has made up for some of the scratching!!!
So that's about it for the first update - here's a few pics of my house, my moto and the cat and some other randoms!!
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Autumn
I'm enjoying a day off work - sitting in front of the fire, watching the rain falling outside, glad I don't have to leave the house for a while. I'm catching up on a bit of work, stuff that needs doing in preparations for going back to Peru.
Finally it seems like the return is finally in sight. I've been home for about 11 months and it seems like these 11 months have all been preparation for heading back. Every job that I have had has provided me with a new skill, a new opportunity and has expanded how I look at the world.
I spoke at a YF weekend recently, talking about how we should be living if we really have been rescued from an ordinary life - one of the points was that we should be expecting to grow in every circumstance. I hope that I have been entering into every opportunity with that expectancy, wanting to change, to be a better human being in every circumstance - and hopefully messing up less and less!!
So where are we at then, in this big plan of return to Peru??
Well the first and exciting news of all is that my church decided back in October to support me in going back to Peru with TEC Ministries. This means that I'll be going to serve in Mision TEC in San Jose, near Pucallpa. I'm pretty excited about all of this as I have been praying about this since I came home last year.
The second exciting thing is that I'll be living with another girl when I get to TEC, a girl called Rachel. As we speak Tachel is putting some work into our house, doing a spot of painting and DIY, looks like it'll all be done by the time I get there!!!
So I'm just putting together some of the bits and pieces - writing letters to tell people of the project, getting prayer cards done out and generally just trying to get the details sorted out for going back.
I can't express how excited I am about it all. So it's good that I'm leaving in January. I get to spend Christmas at home before heading out and have February to get settled into TEC before the schools all start back in March.
It'll be a totally different way of life compared to Arequipa, but I am so ready for the challenge, and excited about what there is to be done!!
Finally it seems like the return is finally in sight. I've been home for about 11 months and it seems like these 11 months have all been preparation for heading back. Every job that I have had has provided me with a new skill, a new opportunity and has expanded how I look at the world.
I spoke at a YF weekend recently, talking about how we should be living if we really have been rescued from an ordinary life - one of the points was that we should be expecting to grow in every circumstance. I hope that I have been entering into every opportunity with that expectancy, wanting to change, to be a better human being in every circumstance - and hopefully messing up less and less!!
So where are we at then, in this big plan of return to Peru??
Well the first and exciting news of all is that my church decided back in October to support me in going back to Peru with TEC Ministries. This means that I'll be going to serve in Mision TEC in San Jose, near Pucallpa. I'm pretty excited about all of this as I have been praying about this since I came home last year.
The second exciting thing is that I'll be living with another girl when I get to TEC, a girl called Rachel. As we speak Tachel is putting some work into our house, doing a spot of painting and DIY, looks like it'll all be done by the time I get there!!!
So I'm just putting together some of the bits and pieces - writing letters to tell people of the project, getting prayer cards done out and generally just trying to get the details sorted out for going back.
I can't express how excited I am about it all. So it's good that I'm leaving in January. I get to spend Christmas at home before heading out and have February to get settled into TEC before the schools all start back in March.
It'll be a totally different way of life compared to Arequipa, but I am so ready for the challenge, and excited about what there is to be done!!
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
The 6 month Mark
Well, it's official. I've been home in Northern Ireland for just over 6 months. I thought it would make for a good time of reflection and thinking back on what's gone on and where I hope to be heading.
I never imagined that I would get to this point of being home and be happy with life. I mean, there's stuff going on...but I'm content...and I never thought I'd get to that point with being content at home. I don't think anyone ever imagined that I would get to that point. Someone once told me that I live far away becasue I'm running away from something - maybe thats true - maybe I'm tired of running...maybe there's nothing left to run away from!!
So 4 months into my job here in Monaghan and I'm on the move again. Come the 11th August and I'll be uneployed again - for the 3rd time since coming home. Funny that being unemployed usually strikes fear into people's hearts, but i'm fine about it. It's almost like I've finally let go of being in control. It's not for me to decide what comes next, it's not in my hands. It feels great to say, and really mean it, that God's will be done....it's totally not up to me.
I was asked recently about my 3 year plan, where would I like to be in 3 years time?? A great question, and made me think a little....I don't have one. Is that a bad thing, should I be taking responsaibility for my life and at least sete out some vague ideas for where I'd like to be...or does that just limit God, should I just be open to anything and anywhere that God calls me?? Even though I say Im opne I guess I'm not really open, I feel in my heart that the jungle is for me....so what happens if God calls me somewhere else??
A lot of thoughts and ideas come from such a simple question. An really it leaves me in exactly the same place that I have been - I don't know where I'm going in 3 years time, I don't even know what's going to happen in a months time, but what I do know is that I'm enjoying being home, I like the fact that I don't have to translate things in my head before I can laugh, I like the fact that I've never laughed so hard as I did in Summer Madness this year - I like it, it's a new feeling to like Northern Ireland, or the Republic of Ireland, it's good, and God is good to me, and I do know that whatever happens I'm leaving it up to God!!
I saw this cartoon and liked it a lot..... my life as a youth worker!!
I never imagined that I would get to this point of being home and be happy with life. I mean, there's stuff going on...but I'm content...and I never thought I'd get to that point with being content at home. I don't think anyone ever imagined that I would get to that point. Someone once told me that I live far away becasue I'm running away from something - maybe thats true - maybe I'm tired of running...maybe there's nothing left to run away from!!
So 4 months into my job here in Monaghan and I'm on the move again. Come the 11th August and I'll be uneployed again - for the 3rd time since coming home. Funny that being unemployed usually strikes fear into people's hearts, but i'm fine about it. It's almost like I've finally let go of being in control. It's not for me to decide what comes next, it's not in my hands. It feels great to say, and really mean it, that God's will be done....it's totally not up to me.
I was asked recently about my 3 year plan, where would I like to be in 3 years time?? A great question, and made me think a little....I don't have one. Is that a bad thing, should I be taking responsaibility for my life and at least sete out some vague ideas for where I'd like to be...or does that just limit God, should I just be open to anything and anywhere that God calls me?? Even though I say Im opne I guess I'm not really open, I feel in my heart that the jungle is for me....so what happens if God calls me somewhere else??
A lot of thoughts and ideas come from such a simple question. An really it leaves me in exactly the same place that I have been - I don't know where I'm going in 3 years time, I don't even know what's going to happen in a months time, but what I do know is that I'm enjoying being home, I like the fact that I don't have to translate things in my head before I can laugh, I like the fact that I've never laughed so hard as I did in Summer Madness this year - I like it, it's a new feeling to like Northern Ireland, or the Republic of Ireland, it's good, and God is good to me, and I do know that whatever happens I'm leaving it up to God!!
I saw this cartoon and liked it a lot..... my life as a youth worker!!
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