Weird that there was that huge earthquake in Lima...glad the timing was such that we weren't there....that would have been freaky. We spent a couple of days in Lima and really loved what we saw...the market, really good restaurants, a hotel that made us feel that we were living in a Maeve Binchy novel (have you read her?) I love those books..all about people's interconnected lives and seemingly chance meetings. It is definitely a third world country.

Mancora is a very interesting place. Being here also makes me feel like I am in the middle of a documentary or some other sort of movie. It was a bit of an adjustment to get used to the smell of burning garbage, the sound of the vultures on our roof, the various bells and whistles that announce the coming of the bread guy and the milk guy and the garbage guy. There's also a type of security guy that blows his whistle throughout the middle of the night every time he sees someone walking...somewhat annoying! Our house is actually pretty comfortable and is probably the nicest house in town, and we are on the second floor, which is nice too. We have two cats named Fat Eddie (a girl) and Toffee (also a girl). It makes it seem homey and they are both house cats, which is good too. It's a little hard to get used to tossing the toilet paper in the garbage and the concept of "If it's yellow let it mellow; if it's brown flush it down!" Many of the people (and I might even say most) do not have running water or electricity. We have running water (although cold!) and usually have electricity, although it goes out for periods off and on. The beaches are GORGEOUS, the people warm, and the weather hot, so that helps to make up for the things we don't have.

It will be an interesting year. We are going to start by teaching English in the schools during the day and to the town's people in the evening, starting the beginning of September. This will give us a couple of weeks to settle in, improve our Spanish and do some planning. We will also be helping with a project that is called Robin Hood (I am not sure why) which is a group of 9-10 year olds who have been selected for an after school program focused on improving their reading and stimulating creativity and helping them to find their gifts. This should be pretty fun too. We have the chance to teach sex ed in the schools, but I think our Spanish needs to improve quite a lot before we can tackle that. They also want us to do some one on one counselling on Friday afternoons, but I don't feel that my Spanish is quite good enough for that yet either. I also feel slightly (or greatly) underprepared for that because I don't really know anything about the social problems that they would encounter here. I guess I just hope to somehow make a difference by being here and hopefully doing what I can to help people believe in themselves and love who they are...to be strong and stand up for themselves and what is right. There are absolutely no organized sports or social activities of any type here, so maybe we'll get a bunko game happening once a month or something! :)

Stacy

The community has come together even in their poverty to donate clothing, food medical supplies to the victims of the earthquake. It does seem weird to be so close and yet so far from the devastation of the country. We have had a few after shocks the past few days that have been closer to our area. One registered 4.3 in a town only 1 and1/2 hours away, but we didn't feel anything here.

We went to the beach the other day at the tourist end of town. It was hot and it is winter here. The water was warm and refreshing. We were sure to put on lots of sunscreen and didn't even get burnt.

The local cuisine has also been enjoyed a couple of times. The saying here is "Peruvians may be poor and have not money, but they eat well" It means that they are fantastic cooks and make anything taste great.

The volunteers in the house take turns making suppers. The have been good, except for the fact that we don't eat until 9:00 in the evening. So we will have to adjust to that. Our turn for cooking will come next week. Hopefully we won't poison anyone.

There is a little place called Ruth's, it is una tienda (shop) full of just about anything you can imagine. You can buy just one of something or grande sizes. The other day when we went in there, everyone just stopped talking and stared at us. I think they were all just trying to be helpful or something.

When we went to the English class to observe the other day, there was a small chica (girl) there. We spoke to her a little and then read her some spanish books as her parents were taking the lessons. The books were quite primary age, and we were asking her to point out the monkey, the elephant, etc. Later I as we were drawing pictures and I look over and she is cursive writing out words to go along with her pictures. We thought she was about 4-5. She turned out to be 7 and probably thought we were a little inappropriate with our talking down to her knowledge when we were reading the books. We wondered why she kept looking at us with a blank stare!

We have also started to drum up students for our English classes that we will start in a week or so. One woman on the street was quite interested, and we were speaking in Spanish and telling her about the classes. She asked where the classes were going to be held and suddenly we realized we had no idea of the address or how to tell her to get there. She was quite good about it. Hopefully we will find her again, she told us where she lived, and get her to those lessons!

It is hard to get used to the dust and sand everywhere in the house. Not that it has to be this way, but when you are living with college students, they don't see the need to be a tidy as we would like and chores don't get done as they should. Most of them are leaving next week, and a couple of girls from Canada are coming in. Other than that it might be just me and Stacy for awhile in the house.

Gabby who is the co-ordinator in Mancora is a great woman. She is 47 and has lived in the States for about 2 years. Her and Cecilia, the founder of Para el Mundo, grew up together. They both have a passion to make a difference in the world. They are both strong women. There is a lot of strong women in Peru. We hope to give them even more skills to better their lives.

In Peru it is common for children to live their whole lives with their parents. There is a strong value of family. Some of them I have talked to say that it is almost too much and they are looking for their freedom and chance to be independent. Sometimes the sense of obligation can be overwhelming for them. Even Gabby still feels the pull of her mother and the guilt of not doing what her family wants.

She lives here in Mancora. She used to live in the volunteer house, but now her and her boyfriend, Julio, live with each other and his ailing mother...just cross the street.

Thursday night we had a party for Josh, one of the Canadian co-ordintors. He was down in Mancora for a couple of weeks and headed back. He is a neat guy. Him and 3 others from Toronto came down here about 3 years ago for a year to help get this organization off the ground. Cecilia was working with her husband Frank, but didn't have the infrastructure set up yet. So the 4 people from Toronto came down, found the house and started to make some contact with the community. The Toronto end mostly deals with the volunteer co-ordinating, the donations and the fundraising. The Peru end deals with the 3 focus areas of Health/Medical care, Social services, and Education. So this is the hands on part of their oganization, but they work together.

At the party, this guy comes up to me and asks me, in Spanish, if I play the guitar. I can understand him a little, and I say I play a little. He says that he will accompany me as I play for the celebration at the school for special needs kids. I'm like....no, no, no, I can't play that well. He say you will just need to practice. What????? I hope I don't have to play. I,m not qite sure ifI agreed to something or not....must learn more Spanish!!!

Please keep us in your thoughts as we adjust to this way of life. It has been good so far and it is truly amazing what you can get used to in a short time. That is something we want to develop as well, tolerance for those around us even when we return home. Also we want to become part of the community while we are here. Maybe that is also what we will bring, the gift of hospitality. We understand that this takes time and our other gifts will be used in good measure. So pray for patience and acceptance of where we are right now, and to live fully in all moments.

Shelly