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Hello everyone! We have been in Peru for officially three months now. I wanted to give you an overview of what our lives are like here. We have been in language school full time (minus the holidays) This consists of four hours a day with two Peruvian teachers: Rene and Chari. Jake and I both spend two hours one-on-one with each. Our Spanish teachers have been so great and have continually encouraged us even on the days when “hola” comes out wrong.

Jake, Chari, Claudia, Me, Rene, Paty, Alfredo

The first nine weeks we lived with the Ugarte family.They a Peruvian family that agreed to host Jake and me as a part of Passport Language School’s homestay program.The idea of this program is to enhance language learning. However, it turned into something much, much more. They have become like family to us here in Peru. From day one they have been extremely patient with us and have gone above and beyond what they needed to do. We have had many meals with extended family on both sides and we just can’t express enough gratitude to God for allowing us to meet this family. Most of our afternoons were spent with them hanging out with the kids, going to birthday parties of relatives, and once I even went to the dentist with them. We tried to participate in everything we could. It was an intense, hands-on way to learn language and culture.

Jake, Me, Rodrigo, Mijalko, Maria, Ana Paula

We recently moved into our new apartment! We are living in the district of Hunter. This is where we will be doing medical work in the near future. Moving in has been a full time job, but it is finally starting to feel like our home. The queen-sized bed frame was too big to fit up the stairwell so we had to lift it four flights up the side of the building onto the roof with ropes, with the help of random passers-by and Chari (our language teacher).

Right now we are in a transition period. With the New Year starting the McKenzie clan said their gooodbyes and made their way back to the states. In just a few short months the Smith family will be moving back too. And a few months after that our beloved Aussies head back to Australia. We just completed CONFIA, Conferecia del fin de año, which was a conference with the missionaries and the church here. The infamous Bill and Holly Richardson joined us for a three-day meeting with the church family. We planned for the future and prayed for God to be with us and guide us as a family. It was a beautiful time together.

This is Bill imparting his wisdom and leading a discussion about the cycle of vision.

It’s not always easy. We miss our families and the familiarity of home. Things take time here. I took for granted how easy it is to get into a car and drive through a fast food restaurant. Here there are a few American restaurants but no drive-throughs and going there requires catching a bus. When I make food I will look at recipes online and for some of the ingredients listed I have to look up a recipe to make that too. Some days are hard and it is frustrating that we can’t always communicate exactly what we want. This can make for some good stories. For example one time I took the trash literally onto the roof (techo) instead of the larger trashcan outside (tacho.) I will never forget the word “tacho” from now on after the look I got. And one time Jake asked “What age of pizza would be sufficient for us?” He meant size rather than age. We are learning to take everyday in stride.

We have had so much fun too! We got to go to the Peruvian circus, a bull fight (no bulls die), celebrate Jake’s 28^th birthday here, attend many school functions (with Rodrigo and Ana Paula), hiked at 19,100 foot mountain named Misti (some may debate the “funness” of this), attended an Arequipa vs. Lima soccer game, saw the most amazing 360 degree view of 1 million inhabitants creating their own fireworks show... twice (Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve).

Peruvian Circus

Me and Katie giving this bull a pre-match pep talk.

                                   

Happy Birthday Jake!

View from Misti.

Melgar (Arequipa) vs. Alianza (Lima)

Our tourist visas expired at the beginning of January so we had to bus across the border into Chile and return to renew them for another six months. Though only two hours were actually spent in Chile it was a breath of fresh sea air. We ate dinner in a restaurant overlooking the ocean. On the bus back I thought to myself “I’m glad we will be home tonight.” Home. We have a home in Peru.