What the...?

So I’ve been plodding away at Spanish since getting back from Lima and Bolivia. It’s been going pretty well. I’m noticing more and more when I say things incorrectly (which I’m taking as a good sign...). But when I do stuff up, it definitely makes for a good laugh!

I decided not to do most of my language and culture year in a language school, so the idea was to have some language helpers and live with a family... and it’s been really cool! I’m learning words and phrases that people use (though I have a feeling my 13 year old brother Javier might be using words that I might not want to use...). Conversation is getting easier, especially one-on-one and face-to-face...but groups and over the phone is still difficult.

So I thought I’d share some of my stuff ups... I’m watching TV with Javier and we’re and talking about going to look at the stars with his telescope and I say... But today’s not really a good day because of all the nines (nueves) in the sky. Clouds are “nubes” which you might think sounds nothing like “nueves” but B and V are virtually identical in Spanish. He definitely gave me a “What the...?” look.

There are so many words that are really easy to mix up... for eg: casada (married): cansada (tired), vieja (old): viajar (travel), piedra (stone): pierna (leg), pollo (chicken): polo (t-shirt)...

So basically, there are SO many mistakes I can make... and at the same time, there is still so much to learn. I’m looking forward to going to Lima in a couple of months to consolidate everything but at this stage, I’m really enjoying meeting with Haydee and Deysi each day and hanging out with my family. Learning in context has made it a lot easier and I have lots of opportunities to listen and practice.

You know what? This week has been really cool, the family and some church friends asked about why I decided to ditch the corporate world and become a missionary in Peru. While it is such a great opportunity to share my testimony, at the same time, it’s frustrating because there are things that I can’t express properly, especially deep and meaningful stuff.

So pray that my Spanish will continue to improve, so that I can have more opportunities to talk and share with people at a deeper level, especially my family. Praise God that we’ve been getting along really well, God has provided me such a cool family to live with and it has been such an answer to prayer. Pray for creativity, motivation and discipline to learn more vocab and verbs. If you have any fun ideas, let me know!!

A crazy week...

So you think you know what you're going to do for a week... think again!

This week was a great reminder that God is in control. I had initially planned to go with Lynda (a short termer from NZ) to Bolivia to renew her visa and visit some ministries in La Paz but through different circumstances (including me getting sick and not getting back from Lima..!), we decided to go to Cusco and Puno instead.

So on Monday, we arrive in Cusco thinking that we would go to Puno the next day.
On Tuesday... we accidentally find Immigration and find out that we can cross the border to Bolivia to renew Lynda's visa but needed to go back for a stamp the next morning.

So on Wednesday night, we're on an overnight bus to Desaguadero, which is on the border of Peru and Bolivia. When we arrived on Thursday morning, we stand in line for ages and yet somehow managed to cross the border without the stamp in our passport and had to walk back to Peru to get the stamp.

On the Peruvian side, we were told we could come back the same day... but when we got to Bolivia... we're told that we have to stay 24 hours... and there was NOTHING in the Bolivian side of this town... and we couldn't get back to the Peruvian side where all the buses were... so we jump back on the bus that we came on and find ourselves in La Paz.

I would have thought that being in the capital of Bolivia would have been exciting, but we were both really tired from being on the bus for about 15 hours, my nose started bleeding, it didn't feel very safe, had nowhere to stay... so it just seemed easier to head to Copacabana instead, which was closer to Peru and on Lake Titicaca (when you live in the mountains... water is very appealing!)So we hop onto a bus that took us to Copacabana. At one stage, we had to get out of our bus so that it could go across the lake... apparently it was safer for us to go across in a packed little boat. It was a gorgeous town on Lake Titicaca.

On Friday, we take a bus to Puno (which is where we wanted to go on Tuesday...and right on Lake Titicaca) and head out to see the floating islands. It was really interesting... they have these islands made from reeds and people live on them!

We spend ALL day Saturday getting back to Abancay from Puno... on buses and taxis.

Looking back... it's been an amazing cultural experience and I feel so privileged to be able to see another part of God's creation here in South America. Thank you to everyone for praying, God kept us safe as we trooped around and as for being sick...I'm still a little bit sick... but it's great to be back home in Abancay.

This is a really long post... so I might as well keep going... I start with 2 new language helpers tomorrow. Pray that I will be able to get lots of language practice and build good relationships with Haydee and Deysi.

Thanks for reading and to everyone who has left comments - I feel very loved and know that I wouldn't be here in Peru and totally loving it if I didn't have friends and family back home (and all around the world) who are praying for me and love me.