Hello Ev'rybody! The title of the blog is a tribute to the wanna-be-summer weather we have been experiencing in Lima lately. Don't get me wrong, I miss fall. I miss the colors, smells, and temperatures. Well sorta. I am getting excited about not freezing as much so the idea of summer does sound pretty nice. Lima is kind of in a spring-like season.
This past week one of my sweet students, Jakob, was abruptly withdrawn. Jakob's brother, Silas, was born about a month premature and the doctor's discovered some intestinal problems. So the family headed home to the States to seek medical answers and treatment. We all hope this is not a permanent move, but Jakob and his family could be gone until next semester or not return at all. Please join me in praying for his family, especially Baby Silas. Jakob and his younger brother, Derek, will be enrolling in a school in Texas. Pray they can transition well...for however long their stay is. We miss Jakob already! He loved school and you could tell. He could tell me more information about animals than I thought possible. He always loved to share things about Scripture, too! Love and miss him!
Another adventure I had this past week was getting my eyebrows threaded! It was super painful and hard to explain in Spanish what my request was. If you know me, I have gone through many stages of brow looks - unibrow, too-thin brow, arch issues/over plucking brow - and now I am mildly happy with my brows. All in all, it was a good experience and only 20soles for brow and lip - about $7! Win for the pocketbook! And now I have a new place I can go to in the city!
This coming up week we have Spiritual Emphasis Week at school. A team from the US has come to serve by sharing Bible stories, crafts, and games. They even brought teacher treats. The word on the street is they are ready to spoil us! Please pray for the team as they minister and enjoy Lima. They will be kept very busy and you know Satan loves to complicate lives/hearts when glorifying God is at hand. Also, pray for the kids as they hear the Truth in many different capacities. I pray conversations between small groups or teachers/students will only spur the students on to know Him in a personal way.
A joy-spot for this week: My roommate, Jess, made real apple cider. Talk about hitting fall on the head. We enjoyed roommate bonding and fellowship. I really do feel so blessed to do life with these ladies. From sweet hugs (Gabbi) to New Girl/Jake Johnson marathons and TONS of quality time (Missy) to enjoying/discovering our new city together (Katelyn), and to teaching me all the ins and outs of the market (Jess) I love them all. They all bring so many different things out of me.
More joy-spots! My good friend, Sarah, got engaged!!! WOOHOOOOOO!!! And friends, Kristin and Van are adopting a baby girl! YAY!!!!!!!! I get so upset when I feel thousands of miles away from all the excitement in everyone's lives. I feel guilty of getting caught up and settled in my world that I have hard time releasing the tight grip I have to my Stateside life. I am figuring out balance.....slooowwwwlllyyyy. I have realized, though, that I am happy to be any part of your lives as God as ordained it even though I wish it were more. I feel like I should break out into Michael W. Smith's song "Friends," but I shan't. :) You're welcome.
After praise and worship tonight, you KNOW I am going to be sprintin' home to watch the Emmy's - the red carpet at least!
Go strong this week knowing YOU have a purpose! :)
Love love,
Megan :)
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Cultured.
Hi world! This week has been quite a busy one! Here is a breakdown of my week:
Monday. A new second grader was enrolled. She is sweet and speaks practically no English. She keeps calling me "Teacher, Teacher." So we are working on being at a name-based status. It is cool to watch Grace (a late start second grader as well) help out the newest second grader, Cielo. Grace shows Cielo the ropes and you can tell she has transitioned well to school. (Grace had a bit of rough patch acclimating, but has turned a corner! PTL!) I now have 14 second graders in my class. They are getting better about doing the Daily 5 routine but sometimes they baffle me with their choices. They have sweet hearts and want to please. We are working hard at our manners and independence! I want to share their names so you can be in prayer over them: Sarah, Donna, Bryce, Layne, Oliver, Lucas, Beltran, JeongWon, Daniil, Cielo, Kianna, Mone, Jakob, and Grace. I have changed up my furniture in my room, but it still doesn't all fit! I will take a picture of the maze! :)
Wednesday. I ignored the warning and bought Peruvian q-tips. I put it in my ear and the cotton remained in my ear. I tried to get it out even enlisted my roommate. No such luck. I went through out my day having muffled hearing and aching beginning to start. I went to a doctor that afternoon. He extracted the substance. I was expecting to feel immediate relief but it actually hurt more. Apparently, when I tried to get out the cotton swab I managed to bruise my eardrum. He did a hearing test and seemed concerned. The whole time I was thinking, "I can hear just fine! It's my eyes that are bad!" Here is what I have learned from this experience: 1. I would do something like this. 2. Cotton swabs don't belong in your ears and now I know the CORRECT way to clean your ears. I am happy to share these new insights with you. 3. For the money I was paying, a "free" hearing test was totally ok. 4. I work with some of the best people. Rebecca took me to and from the appointment, translated the paperwork as well as spoke Spanish, and Lindsey (our school nurse) sat with me and understood any medical lingo. They definitely took care of me. 5. NEVER buy Peruvian q-tips.
Thursday. Jess (a roommate) and I went shopping for presents for Gabbi's (roommate) birthday celebrations. Jess took me around Mira Flores and I got some cute scarves and accessories as well as some nice pottery from Jess' pottery guy. (She has a connection with a boat load of places.) We had to stop at Dunkin Donuts and get a snack! It was a nice! After a large and quick shopping trip to Wong, we dashed over the Gabbi's birthday dinner at Danika's. Danika's is an Italian restaurant in town. It was super good. A nice atmosphere and the waiter tried so hard to work on his English with us and we wanted to practice our Spanish. We ended the night with the Wobble (birthday style) and our house favorite, Bruno Mars' "Treasure." To say that I love these girls might be an understatement. They are fabulous and I so glad that we LIKE each other on top of able to live with one another. :)
Friday. Katelyn (roommate) and I went to the symphony. It was a delightful experience. I might have fallen asleep during some parts of it (because I was soooo tired), but the clashing cymbals awoke me quickly. :) We are planning on making more dates to experience more of Lima life.
Saturday. The day started out with a baby shower for the Baby Graham. They are having a little girl at the end of October. It was nice to hear how God worked on her about marriage and a baby before all this had planned out. She was talking about how she wrote a list of things she wanted in her husband. Everyone began to get chill bumps, sitting in amazement on how God had orchestrated her meeting her husband. I was thinking about how I had written my list several months ago and I haven't seen anything happen yet! :) God's timing, not mine.
Later Saturday. We (all the roommates) headed to Mistura. It is a LARGE food festival that has different expos of different kinds of food. There was a whole expo for chocolate. We decided it would be best to divide and conquer so Missy, Gabbi, and I were in a group together. I haven't laughed that hard in a while. We looked (and probably sounded) like such gringos. We ate cow heart, guinea pig, a gyro-ish wrap, and CHOCOLATE - hot chocolate, brownies, muffins, fudge. It was DELISH. It almost had a fair like atmosphere - crowds and dirty feet. It would have been amazing with funnel cake and some rides, but you take what you can get. Mistura was set up along ocean so the view wasn't so shabby. :)
Missy Parks. Missy is head of member care with the NICS organization. My school is part of that organization. She came to check in with everyone especially the newbies to see how the transition was going. She also but Reese's Peanut Butter cups! What a gem! :) She was such a breath of fresh air. She spoke words of encouragement and laughed along side of us. Something God has really been teaching with this whole foreign country move is to not compare my experience to anyone else's and put unrealistic expectations on myself. In devotions one morning, Missy shared this thought that has stuck with me thus far. "When you compare yourself to others, you are comparing your inside to their outside." SOOOO TRUE. :) I may not get everything here as quickly as others around me or may not feel as confident to speak Spanish in front of a native, but that doesn't devalue me or my experiences. I think it is impossible to go throughout the week and not have an "Oh, I wish I was in America" moment, but I am being so stretched by being here it is hard to imagine life. Growing can be painful and uncomfortable, but is cool to look back and see how you have grown.
Wow. What a week! I am thankful for these new experiences and friends to share them with!
You is kind. You is smart. You is important.
Have a blessed week,
Megan :)
Monday. A new second grader was enrolled. She is sweet and speaks practically no English. She keeps calling me "Teacher, Teacher." So we are working on being at a name-based status. It is cool to watch Grace (a late start second grader as well) help out the newest second grader, Cielo. Grace shows Cielo the ropes and you can tell she has transitioned well to school. (Grace had a bit of rough patch acclimating, but has turned a corner! PTL!) I now have 14 second graders in my class. They are getting better about doing the Daily 5 routine but sometimes they baffle me with their choices. They have sweet hearts and want to please. We are working hard at our manners and independence! I want to share their names so you can be in prayer over them: Sarah, Donna, Bryce, Layne, Oliver, Lucas, Beltran, JeongWon, Daniil, Cielo, Kianna, Mone, Jakob, and Grace. I have changed up my furniture in my room, but it still doesn't all fit! I will take a picture of the maze! :)
Wednesday. I ignored the warning and bought Peruvian q-tips. I put it in my ear and the cotton remained in my ear. I tried to get it out even enlisted my roommate. No such luck. I went through out my day having muffled hearing and aching beginning to start. I went to a doctor that afternoon. He extracted the substance. I was expecting to feel immediate relief but it actually hurt more. Apparently, when I tried to get out the cotton swab I managed to bruise my eardrum. He did a hearing test and seemed concerned. The whole time I was thinking, "I can hear just fine! It's my eyes that are bad!" Here is what I have learned from this experience: 1. I would do something like this. 2. Cotton swabs don't belong in your ears and now I know the CORRECT way to clean your ears. I am happy to share these new insights with you. 3. For the money I was paying, a "free" hearing test was totally ok. 4. I work with some of the best people. Rebecca took me to and from the appointment, translated the paperwork as well as spoke Spanish, and Lindsey (our school nurse) sat with me and understood any medical lingo. They definitely took care of me. 5. NEVER buy Peruvian q-tips.
Thursday. Jess (a roommate) and I went shopping for presents for Gabbi's (roommate) birthday celebrations. Jess took me around Mira Flores and I got some cute scarves and accessories as well as some nice pottery from Jess' pottery guy. (She has a connection with a boat load of places.) We had to stop at Dunkin Donuts and get a snack! It was a nice! After a large and quick shopping trip to Wong, we dashed over the Gabbi's birthday dinner at Danika's. Danika's is an Italian restaurant in town. It was super good. A nice atmosphere and the waiter tried so hard to work on his English with us and we wanted to practice our Spanish. We ended the night with the Wobble (birthday style) and our house favorite, Bruno Mars' "Treasure." To say that I love these girls might be an understatement. They are fabulous and I so glad that we LIKE each other on top of able to live with one another. :)
Friday. Katelyn (roommate) and I went to the symphony. It was a delightful experience. I might have fallen asleep during some parts of it (because I was soooo tired), but the clashing cymbals awoke me quickly. :) We are planning on making more dates to experience more of Lima life.
Saturday. The day started out with a baby shower for the Baby Graham. They are having a little girl at the end of October. It was nice to hear how God worked on her about marriage and a baby before all this had planned out. She was talking about how she wrote a list of things she wanted in her husband. Everyone began to get chill bumps, sitting in amazement on how God had orchestrated her meeting her husband. I was thinking about how I had written my list several months ago and I haven't seen anything happen yet! :) God's timing, not mine.
Later Saturday. We (all the roommates) headed to Mistura. It is a LARGE food festival that has different expos of different kinds of food. There was a whole expo for chocolate. We decided it would be best to divide and conquer so Missy, Gabbi, and I were in a group together. I haven't laughed that hard in a while. We looked (and probably sounded) like such gringos. We ate cow heart, guinea pig, a gyro-ish wrap, and CHOCOLATE - hot chocolate, brownies, muffins, fudge. It was DELISH. It almost had a fair like atmosphere - crowds and dirty feet. It would have been amazing with funnel cake and some rides, but you take what you can get. Mistura was set up along ocean so the view wasn't so shabby. :)
Missy Parks. Missy is head of member care with the NICS organization. My school is part of that organization. She came to check in with everyone especially the newbies to see how the transition was going. She also but Reese's Peanut Butter cups! What a gem! :) She was such a breath of fresh air. She spoke words of encouragement and laughed along side of us. Something God has really been teaching with this whole foreign country move is to not compare my experience to anyone else's and put unrealistic expectations on myself. In devotions one morning, Missy shared this thought that has stuck with me thus far. "When you compare yourself to others, you are comparing your inside to their outside." SOOOO TRUE. :) I may not get everything here as quickly as others around me or may not feel as confident to speak Spanish in front of a native, but that doesn't devalue me or my experiences. I think it is impossible to go throughout the week and not have an "Oh, I wish I was in America" moment, but I am being so stretched by being here it is hard to imagine life. Growing can be painful and uncomfortable, but is cool to look back and see how you have grown.
Wow. What a week! I am thankful for these new experiences and friends to share them with!
You is kind. You is smart. You is important.
Have a blessed week,
Megan :)
Sunday, September 1, 2013
1 Month Anniversary...Plus some days!
Hello! I have been in Peru a little over a month and some days it feels like a few days and then others a few years that I have been in this foreign place. Every day I think this home does feel more home-y than the day before. Here are a few things that have been going on in my life recently:
You are loved,
Megan
- The Amazing Race: Lima Edition. This event actually happened a week after we got here but I forgot to share with the world wide web all the excitement that it brought. Our veteran staff organized an adventure where we had to run all across Lima to get to see some of the popular sights and experience the culture. Our adventures included: a juice bar, skateboarding park, different modes of transportation, climbing steps and sticking our feet in the ocean, the Presidential palace, Larco Marthe Burrito Bar, and more parks than I can imagine. We had to go to "Cat Park" and find a cat to take a picture with - either petting or holding it. I volunteered to do the capturing of the feline (with gloves of course), but all the creatures ran up the trees when we got close. It was a wild ride. I was proud of my team. We worked well together and thankfully the three of them were fluent in Spanish. :) We were only given a certain amount of soles to spend, too. There are pictures some where on someone's IPhone so I will have to try find them! It was a great time.
- I have been church "shopping" for a few weeks now. Not knowing Spanish seems to limit some things. I have been to my roommate's church a couple of times. The community is great and all around my age, but hard to understand everything going on not knowing Spanish. I went to a new church today that is near Larco Mar. The pastor is a gringo (aka - not a native Peruvian or white). I am SUCH a gringo. More on that later though... The people were nice and we saw several other school staff there. The church definitely felt like my American church I had left so that was a nice piece of "home". They had the flashing lights and contemporary music going on. The Gospel was shared and 14 people accepted Christ so God is definitely moving in the church. I think I will attend another week, but it was definitely encouraging to find a place to worship with other believers - all not being my staff. :) After church, we went to Larco Mar and had lunch. Larco Mar is a shopping area that overlooks the ocean. It pretty much looks as beautiful as it sounds. Shops inside the area even include some reminders of home: Steve Madden, North Face, and GAP (coming soon).
- School is going well. We are busy learning the routine and content. I have great parents who are warm and inviting. They want to help in anyway and want to invite me over to dinner at their house. One even offered to cook American food! :)
- Independence. I think of that Destiny's Child song "Independent Woman" when I hear that word. I am learning slloooowllllyyy how to be independent here I am challenging myself to cook more in the kitchen - crockpot recipes and such - but still a start is a start. I have taken a cab several times by myself. I have tried to make conversation with the drivers because I feel aca-awkward if I don't. However, as soon as we talk we have a language barrier about 18 seconds after starting. I just smile and nod or shake my head/throw up arms; TOTAL GRINGO. But it is nice to be able to do some things on my own. The other day I am pretty sure the cab driver was talking about a beautiful monkey. I even did the monkey noise to clarify. I don't know how you work that into a cab conversation so I think something was lost in translation somewhere...if I had to guess!
- This week I had my Sunday School teacher (from when I was a fresh professional/graduate) pass away. It has been hard to be so far away during a time of loss. I wanted so badly to be with my friends and former church family to celebrate a man who taught me so much from the Word and about the character of God. We had great memories of the group of us going to the beach in the summer and sharing what God was doing in our lives while enjoying the setting. Gary had a great laugh - the most contagious. He brought so much joy and leadership to our class. His heart was to follow God's heart. I pray I can follow his legacy to the dedicated degree he did. His passing away, made me homesick. And not just homesick for my family and familiar places, but homesick for times gone by. I have been blessed with so many friendships/mentor relationships over my years that I am who I am because of these people. Thank you all for those who have invested and mentored me....from childhood - Mom and Dad, Barbara Finch, Lisa Travis to youth/young adult - Ray and Christina Strauss, Paula Vauter, Meredith McCaleb, Christina Chartney, Cindy Fain, Lisa Kohen, Anna Emamghoraishi, Dixie Swezey, Stacie Sherry, Ann Singleton, Klista Storts to older adulthood....Gary and Susan Milsaps, Terri Ingram, Julie Welborn....the list could go on. :) Thank you for your spiritual leadership and encouragement in my life.
- We should be painting the house soon so I will have more pictures to add!
You are loved,
Megan
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