Las Botas

All the ladies in my aerobics class have been making fun of me for wearing my rain boots. :( I got them for 15 soles (USD $5) last year, because we get crazy rain here during the rainy season. Yes, sadly, rainy season is upon Cajabamba again.

I´ve broken out the boots, because they keep my feet nice and toasted (to the point of grossly sweaty) and because the heavy rubber is enough to keep a monsoon at bay from my feet! However, they are not very stylish and the people here make fun of them, because usually only people from the campo wear them. Sad face x 5. (Even the Peruvians make fun of me for being campo!)

Anyways, I wore them today, only to find out that right before I arrived to class, a girl had slipped and fell while wearing her non-rain resistant shoes and another one broke her cell phone after it slipped out from her pocket and landed in the rain water. (Ok, the former may not have had anything to do with rainboots, but who knows, maybe if she did have my magic boots on, her cell phone wouldn´t have been so quick to abandon her!) So take that aerobic ladies who laughed at me...look who´s laughing now!! ;P

Um, anyways, I hope you all are doing well in the states.

La Eleccion

Today is Election Day in Peru. Unlike the US, people here are mandated to vote once they turn 18 (or else bad things happen to them). We are electing our new local government officials (not national). The presidential election is next year, but in the meantime, a truckload of military men arrived the other day with their sub machine guns guarding every election post. (It could just be me, but I think Peru handles their election process differently.) Everyone from the smaller campo towns have all descended into my town as all the voting posts are here. They arrived yesterday and slept on the streets if they had nowhere else to go. Sad face. But the election will be over in a few more hours and then it will be party time with beer and homemade chicha liquor! Happy face!

Also, my town´s fiesta starts this month. (Yep, more booze.) It´s such a reminder that a year ago, I had just gotten here and at that time, all I could think about was going home. This place held nothing familiar—neither food, people, nor culture. A year later and it´s almost nostalgic being here. I can´t believe that time is going by so fast. I just want it to stop so that I can enjoy the food, people, and culture before I have to go home next year. Sorry, I am a real sap right now so I´ll stop this chatter.

Bella y la Bestia

I went to the girl´s school today and showed them the movie ¨Beauty and the Beast.¨ Only two scenes garnered the most attention: Belle walking down in her yellow dress (Who doesn´t love that scene?!) and the banquet scene when all the food was displayed. There were audible gasps. :) Guess I´m not the only starving one in this town.

In other updates, my soup kitchen project is currently being presented to a local Congresswoman here. After presenting it to an agency called CARE in my capital city, they were unable to help us in donations but agreed to present it to the Congresswoman on our behalf. Next week, I sit in on a governmental meeting in my municipality as they decide on what to donate. Ugh. All these meetings make me feel like I have to pee all the time...so nerve wrecking.

Last bit of news and this one is in regards to Mr. Hand. When I was in Lima, my doctor told me that the nerves in my arm are damaged. Sad face x 3. Mr. Hand has to continue in physical therapy (still) and a new regimen of medications. I can´t wait until all this is behind me.

Un Artista

The picture shown is done by one of my elementary students who won first place in the town´s annual drawing contest. And then instead of keeping it or saving it for his family, he gifted it to me yesterday. I was so touched. It´s now hanging up on my wall. The drawing represents my town well...people drinking, dancing, and buying beer in our town square. :)

Besides letting you all know how appreciated I am here, I also want to share a ¨how to be cool 101 tip by Katie´s dad.¨ (Because I don´t think you´re ever too old to take cool tips from your father.) Anyways, while he was visiting, one day he was happy and said in his heavy Chinese accent, ¨Give me five!¨ Once I did so, he switched it up to the ¨knucks¨ (where two people touch knuckles instead of shaking hands). I thought that was rather cool so I have been using it in my class. (And look what it got me...a free painting!) All I am saying is that next time if you want free stuff, remember the ¨knucks.¨ And then you can thank my dad for his free tips on how to be cool. Happy freebie hunting and happy face x 3!

Dos fotos favoritos

I want to share two cute photos. The first was taken before I left. If I were to title it, it would say, ¨Pigging out...as usual.¨ Yep, that about summed up my life in the states; I didn´t even have time to look at the camera. (Doesn´t my cousin Jim Jim look so cute!?)

The second is a photo that was taken last month when the US doctors were in my site for their medical mission. Even though it was a little delusional of me to be dressed in scrubs (like a real doctor!)...and only answer to ¨Dr. Yang¨...and pretend-listen to patients´ hearts with a stethescope (not my idea--it was the blond´s), I´m not going to lie, it was a lot of fun. And PS, don´t I look like a real doctor!?

Saludos de Arequipa

Hi, everyone. My father and I are in Arequipa and, for me, it´s good to be back. It was the last place that I visited before my accident so this time, I´m going to be really careful when I return. I come sharing some of my favorite photos...And, yep, they´re all of me!

It´s been really fun being a tourist in Peru! I´ve eaten at restaurants and gotten to do things that I have never done before. Within the last week, I´ve peed in more toilet-seated toilets than I have in the last year, eaten meals that cost over USD $1, and I´ve shopped so much...Awesome! It makes me have a whole new appreciation for this country that I´m actually thinking about applying to become a national. It wasn´t the luxury toilets that swayed me (although it did help), more and more, I´ve grown to love a lot of things about this country. And by being a national, I can come back whenever I want and visit Machu Picchu at a discount price...Sweet!

But some old habits are hard to break. Campo life has made me become, well, campo. Case in point, we stayed at a place in Cusco that offered a breakfast buffet. Because free meals are hard to come by, I took full advantage of the all you can eat watermelon (expensive in my site) until one of the employees actually came up to me and told me to save some for the other guests. I was so embarrassed. :( (But what she didn´t know was that once she left, I made a beeline for more...Sweet!)

The other favorite memory was our last meal in Cusco. We went to this hip and happening restaurant so I ordered a Sangria (a homemade fruit wine). When I was about half way through, I got really sick and had to sit myself outside on the curb like a bum. This is not my fault, you know, I haven´t drank for about a year in the campo! Afterwards, I apologized like crazy but my dad and aunt both had to half carry me back to the hostel. :( x 2. I am now either a cheap drunk or a cheap date...or both. Later, when my dad and I visited a winery on another date, I tasted sips of wine, and my father thinking that he was really funny kept saying, ¨Don´t drink too much now or I´ll have to carry you again...Oh! That´s enough for you!¨ :( x 3.

Last embarrassing memory was visiting this awesome museum in Lima. Everything was going swimmingly. I was actually doing a really good job translating the tour guide´s words from English/Spanish to Chinese for my father...until we got to the erotic pottery section. Then the guide started talking about certain body parts and this and that and what they meant that it no longer became fun translating for my father. After a while of describing what the pottery meant when a man and woman ¨conduct business,¨ I just gave up all together.

Anyways, the journey continues on for Katie and father in Peru for another week. Time has gone by really fast and I have enjoyed visiting with my long lost family. Wish us luck! I hope you guys are doing well back in the states!

Disculpe!

Sorry, I haven´t written in so long. My family/friends of a family´s family friends have been visiting so we´ve been making Machu Picchu and Lima our stomping ground. Seven people have left and my dad remains so we´re headed off to Arequipa tomorrow.

In the meantime, let me show y´all a picture of me in Machu Picchu and how I can still be ¨accidentally hot.¨ That´s right, I said that and I should title this blog, ¨Caliente por accidente,¨ because while in Cusco, some lady thought that I was my dad´s ¨esposa¨ (ie wife). EWWWWWWWWWWWWW..... x 100. I was so offended! And then everybody in my group started discussing the changes to my physical appearance during the year that I´ve been in Peru. In short, I suffer from sun damage (Hello! I do live in the Peruvian sierra!), I´ve aged from it, and that I´ve become more Peruvian. (I don´t know if they mean that as a good thing when taken everything into context.) So, whatever, this is just a picture to show everyone that this girl still got it. Yep, that´s right...bien caliente.

Um...I´ll post more in a week after my dad leaves.