Yanina!

Yanina is one of my oldest and best friends in Peru.  She is also one of Luis', which makes it doubly nice to see her.  We visited her mom, who is a hairdresser, and had my hair cut and highlighted the other day.  We also found out from her when Yanina would be home (she is a professional photographer for the biggest newspaper in Peru, so she's usually very busy) and made plans to visit her.  On Sunday we went to see her, and spent time with her whole family, all of whom are so very nice.  I couldn't believe that as soon as she walked in the door, Taye went over and gave her a kiss!  I almost caught it on camera too, but he moved too fast for me.  But Yanina is just that kind of person, everyone who meets her instantly loves her. 

We had a very nice visit.

I let her play with my camera, which I'm sure is way better than hers (ha).

And she has wireless internet at her house!  Not that we're suffering from withdrawl or anything!

 

Like the hat?  Taye brought it to me, I guess he doesn't like my new hairdo much.  Here I am, struggling to send an update to you people :o)

Before we left, we made Yanina take a picture of the four of us.  And we learned her secret trick - when taking a picture, you must say "Eee!  Eee!" to get your subject's attention.  Darius was sleeping, but I like the pictures anyway.  This is my favorite.

And here we are with our lovely friend.

Q.T in Peru

One night while walking home, Taye noticed his shadow on the ground and said, "Look - I'm two Taye's!"

Another time, he tripped and did a face plant in the sand.  I picked him up and wiped him off, and we started walking again.  A minute later, he licked his lips and said, "Mmm, tastes like sandbox!"

On New Year's Eve after we woke the boys, Taye was having fun with the balloons.  He grabbed one and asked me, "Can I zero this balloon?"  (Bonus points if you understand this one).

Happy New Year!

2008 already, I can't believe it.  I remember all the hype about "Y2K" (actually that was the year I first came here) and looking forward to graduating in 2001.  It does not seem like that long ago.  Anyway, here's to 2007, a wonderful year for us, and a year that truly went out with a bang.

In Peru New Year's is an event.  It is not like home where most people I know aren't even awake at midnight (including myself) and those who are sit in front of the TV watching a sparkly ball drop (woo-hoo).  No, here it is a huge deal, full of tradition, music, fireworks and bonfires.  Its awesome. 

We put the boys to bed at their regular time, and planned to wake them around 11:30 so that they would be awake for the fun.  Before we woke them, I got them dressed and ready.  One of the traditions here is to wear yellow, something new, when the new year strikes, to bring you luck all year.  Luis' mom bought new yellow underwear for all the kids, so I put them on the sleeping boys (I'm sure they would have thanked me if they were awake).

I had thought they would be the only two kids sleeping before the party, assuming the older ones would be too excited, but I was wrong.  Most of the kids ended up falling asleep in one corner of the house or another before the fun began.

Even Luis' mom couldn't stay awake.

Yellow is a lucky color, so all the decorations are yellow (even the napkins).  The whole neighborhood put together strands of yellow balloons and hung them across the street from house to house. 

Right at midnight, the real excitement began.  The radios synchronize the time with the military and count down to midnight.  At midnight everyone hugs and wishes their family and neighbors a Feliz Ano Nuevo.  They light dummies (I think they represent bad luck, but I'm not sure) that each family makes on fire, and set off fireworks. 

 

The boys didn't want to wake up at first, and I felt bad, but once they got outside and saw the party they had a blast, so I was glad I woke them up. 

 

Here's something you don't see at home - two eight year olds, a nine year old, and a ten year old lighting fireworks!

After the celebration died down a little, everyone went into their homes and had dinner with their family.  The boys were ready for bed by then, so I brought them in and just stayed with them.

Luis came to bed around 4am, and at about 5am I heard the music start up.  No one else in the house went to bed that night.  Like I said, its an event!

Playgrounds

A couple of times this week the boys have seemed to need a break.  Well, to be honest, more than a couple of times.  One time we decided to bring them to a nice park in town.  They have soccer fields, a playground, and a small zoo.  And this path, which is where Luis and I had our first kiss :o)

It was pretty early in the day, so we had the place to ourselves.  The boys had fun running around for a while.  We think they liked seeing the grass and trees, which you don't see here normally.  When we left, Taye talked about seeing the trees again.

I particularly liked this which we saw on our way out - the open door marked "danger of death" - at the playground.

  

Another day we were headed out for lunch, when Luis thought of a restaurant that the boys would like.  It had a play space in it like the McDonalds ones at home.  We invited his mom to join us and headed out.  The boys didn't seem interested at first, but eventually they jumped right in.  The play space was on the third floor, and had floor to ceiling window that the kids could see out of.  It was pretty cool.

Speaking of danger at the playground - how about sticking a knife through the net?

Or climbing the outside of the twisty slide?

It was a nice time, even Dada got in on the fun.

These circle openings were too high up for the boys to get through by themselves, which was kind of a pain, but they did make for cute photos.

Sopa!

In recent weeks we have learned that both boys are soup-a-holics.  They can't get enough of it, which is really convenient since soup is so popular in Peru.  It is common to start a meal with a bowl of soup before the main course.  The boys have gone through periods of not eating while we've been here, and whenever they do, we grab a bowl of soup - problem solved!

 

Three spoons?

Good to the last drop!

Animals

At Mamitita's house there are a lot of fun animals.  They have a kitten who I will call Michi because I thought that was his name.  I later found out that is the noise one makes to call a kitten in Peru, and the kitten has no name.  The boys chase him around endlessly and love to play with him.  He is a sweet kitty, and seems to like the attention.  Especially when he is being fed.  He's no Grover, but he'll do for now.  :o)

They also have an enormous turtle, I don't think she has a name either, so lets call her Tortuga.  The boys cannot get over her, they flip out every time someone brings her out.  She is big enough to 'ride', and I am assured it doesn't hurt her. 

Taye the Turtle returns:

Walking down the street one day, Daddy found a snail for Taye.  He brought it to the park down the street where we were headed and held it for a long time.  At one point he said it was "his Gary" and "says Meow!"

At the park they had a small zoo.  There were mostly birds and monkeys, but they also had a few interesting animals.  One was a coati, which I had never seen before, and only heard of on Diego.  I hear chinchillas are afraid of them.  :o)  The real one was curled up in a tiny ball which didn't make a great picture, so here is the sign.

They also have cats in the zoos of Peru.

I thought these monkeys were so cute, they reminded me of something...

Everywhere we go there are stray dogs on the street.  Literally everywhere.  I think Darius is going to lose his mind.  He points out every single one, and yells "Hi Rah!"  One day we saw a 'baby Rah' and he spent the next ten minutes saying, "Bye baby rah" over and over and over.  I think he is going to miss them when we leave.

And while we're on the subject of animals, we can't forget to mention the cockroach that was on Darius' shorts when I opened his drawer the other day.  Or the one who ran in front of me on my way to bed last night.  And lastly, my dear flea friends who have been feasting on me since we got here (and who recently started on Taye).  I will definitely miss them when we go. (not)

Needle Felting in Peru

12/31/2007 4:46pm

Today I was in desperate need of a mental break.  For some reason homesickness suddenly hit me and I was having a really hard time dealing with all the changes and stress.  So I decided to lose myself in my new favorite hobby.  I didn't want to leave the boys alone, so I brought all my supplies outside.  Needless to say it called the kids attention.  I was instantly surrounded by several of my nieces and nephews who wanted to know what I was doing.  My niece somehow knew that I was making a doll.  After a while a couple of the kids joined in and we all enjoyed some needle felting together.  I was pretty impressed with the finished products.

 

For the record, this is the doll I was making.  :o)

 

Alex displaying her doll and mine (they were all nice enough to point out that mine had no eyes or mouth and hers did).

Leo was working on one too, but I don't know what became of it.  After they were done Alex somehow got hold of a lighter and firecracker and was planning on sending her doll for a ride.  Mean Tia Amy (haha) asked Luis if the adults knew she had those things, and the next thing I knew her mom was out to stop them.  I guess its a good thing the kids don't speak English, so they'll never know I tattled.  :o)