Oh Oscar....you always know what I'm thinking.

"Any place you love is the world to you"

The Catherine Wheel from The Remarkable Rocket by Oscar Wilde

So one thing that every immigrant or expatriate must get used to, and which sometimes proves to be difficult, is not being able to find his or her preferred products from his or her specific corner of the world.

For me, living in Peru, I actually haven't had too many products that I was attached to so much that I actually lamented not having them. Actually, come to think of it, living in Trujillo, I have access to so many things, and as globalization continues to strengthen its influence, I find myself not missing much. From Starbucks, to US brands of snacks, drinks, and even toiletries, to dunkin donuts, a cinnamon roll place and what I'm almost convinced is going to be a Bubble Tea store once it opens in the mall, I sometimes forget that I am living in what is officially considered a developing country.

I've had a fair share of luck too with the products that I have actually missed from the states being food items that I end up finding recipes for on the internet. Bagels...check. Tortillas...check. Pumpkin Pies...check. Well, you get the idea.

The point is, I haven't really really missed anything terribly. However, I will tell you one product from the states that I currently am in possession of, but will soon run out of, and thus will soon be mourning the loss of this product.

My friends....I am almost out of....

Toothpaste.

More precisely, Tom's of Maine Natural Toothpaste.


I love this toothpaste so much, and actually, was well stocked, thanks to an amazing care package my parents sent back in March...yeah they did send me a lot of toothpaste. The reason I like this toothpaste so much is because it has no artificial sweeteners, so when I brush my teeth, I'm not actually putting more sugar into my mouth than I did when I ate that piece of carrot cake I just made.

If you've never used this natural toothpaste, you need to go buy two tubes right now and compare how much sweeter your colgate/crest/whatever popular brand is than Tom's. And then, you should send me the other tube in the mail....please?

The life of an immigrant is difficult sometimes. Sigh.

I told the witch doctor I was in love with you...

So one thing you should know is that when you live 15 minutes from an ocean...the climate tends to be humid. Always.

One humid climate, plus one girl who grew up in a semi-arid climate, equals said girl to be frequently having sinus problems. I find that about once a year, I tend to get some sort of sinus infection/sinusitis type thing which knocks me out for awhile. Even though they are so very readily available here in Peru (you don't need a prescription to buy them from the pharmacy, I try not to take antibiotics, because if Scruff McGruff ever taught my anything, it was that users are losers and that I need to say ugh to drugs.

I suppose that yes, he was talking more about narcotics, but I figure his message can extend into the antibiotical realm too, and no, I'm not sure that antibiotical is a real word.

Anyway, the point is, because I knew I didn't want to resort to antibiotics this year, I began my search for an herbalist who could help me with my problems, though I've been joking around all week about how I need a witch doctor. After Jamesson and I visited a couple of markets with no luck, Jamesson remembered that somewhere over by the cemetery lived a "curandero" who might be able to help me.

And thus, my fun adventure for the week happened.

We knocked on the door, which was opened by a man who was immediately telling us to "Come in! Come In!" It was a yellow living room, but without furniture, only a few benches where some people were waiting. On the back wall, there were two doors, and two little windows. Without us saying one word, and without him giving us a chance to say one word, he ushered us in and pointed us to the closed door on the far right and told us to knock. It was almost like he was expecting us. Weeeeeird.

So we knocked on the door, and a kind faced old Peruvian man, dressed like any typical grandpa came to the door, invited us into his office, which contained precisely one desk and two chairs. The man asked me to sit down, and said "Let me see your hand please" I gave him my hand, he touched my wrist and said to me "You're here for the herbal remedy" And began to reach into his desk drawer. At this point, Jamesson said "Well..she's had sinusitis..." and the man looked at him before he could continue and said "yes" with a facial expression and a tone that very clearly stated that he already knew that.

He pulled out an antique glass device which looked like an old perfume sprayer or a glass air brush. He told me "Tilt your head back" and then he sprayed once in each nostril. My sinuses began to burn, but not a painful burn, just a...Hey this is really working kind of burn, and then about .7 seconds later, everything that appeared to be clogging up my sinuses was quickly making it's exit from my nose and my tear ducts. He then sprayed a little bit on my forehead. Handed me a tissue and said "There...you feel better." It wasn't so much a question, but I enthusiastically said "YES!" Because for the first time in a week and half, I could actually breathe with my mouth closed. He gave me a bottle of his magic remedy to take for the next few days until I feel better, charged me 3 soles (about 1 dollar) and I was on my way.

It was insane. The whole process from us stepping foot inside the door to us leaving with my recently cleared sinuses took no more than 4 minutes, and I'll be darned if know what in the world he actually sprayed up my nose (as far as I can tell, it's some sort of mixture of ginger, pepper, herbs, and what seems to be peruvian moonshine), but whatever he did...it worked and I can breathe and just like always, natural medicine once more has won me over.

When it's time to change, you got to rearrange...

Sha na na na na na na na na....Sha na na na na! (Think Peter Brady from the Brady Bunch)

It was time for a change. The background, by the way, is a closeup of a Peruvian bill that is worth 10 soles...or about 3 dollars and some change.

I can't believe that October is over. I mean, honestly. What the heck? Where did it even go? I spent the majority of my October teaching english classes, working with compArte, and quite possibly my favorite part of the whole month was dedicating a lot of time to carrying out Pumpkin Fest 2009.

What is Pumpkin Fest 2009 you ask? Oh my. It's amazing, that's what it is.

I'll explain. Pumpkin Fest is at least a month long festival that involves making a lot of delicious things with alot of delicious fresh pureed pumpkin. You see, in the Baikie family, we alllllllways boiled down our own pumpkins in order to make pumpkin pies (my mom makes the world's best...don't try to argue with me, you'll lose as soon as you taste hers), pumpkin bread, and other assorted pumpkin things. we neeeeever use canned pumpkin, and if you think that those fake orange pumpkin pies that canned pumpkin makes are good, well...you just sadly don't even know what you're missing.

Anyway, so with me living in Peru, I do not partake of the same fall festivities of the United States so much anymore. However, thanks to globalization, Peru has recently began to pick up on Halloween, and thus, once a year for a few weeks in October, the globalized grocery stores sell pumpkins, which I quickly buy in order to quickly boil down and quickly puree, in order to quickly begin pumpkin fest, which basically just includes making a lot of pumpkin based things. 31 recipes technically. So far, Pumpkin Fest 2009 has included the inaugural pumpkin pie, pumpkin chocolate bars, pumpkin swirl brownies, pumpkin brownies, roasted pumpkin seeds, pumpkin bagels, pumpkin cinnamon rolls, a chocolate pumpkin layer cake, pumpkin pie fudge spice cookies, aaaand....there's some more coming.

So basically, I've been baking.

Alot.

And yes. It's all been good. Come visit me in Peru, and I'll make you something pumpkiny.

Elbow Room.

Being here in Peru for over two years, I'd like to think that I'm comfortable in the culture here. A lot of times I feel more Peruvian than I do like a U.S. American. However once in awhile, something will catch me off guard here and the cultural differences stand out a little.

For example. I'm sitting in Starbucks waiting to go to a compArte website meeting in just a little while. I was happy to find that the leather couch was unoccupied, which was great because I also needed to plug in the ol' laptop and the couch is home to one of the not so many seats that come with an outlet. As I was/am enjoying my hot chocolate, a group of business people came in, and with there not being a wide array of seating left right now, they decided to occupy the other 3 seats on this 4 person couch and the chairs surrounding. I'm currently in the middle of their business meeting. It's going well...sales are up.

Sorry, Edward Hall, A U.S. standard of personal space is a frivolous thing to try and treasure here. Good thing I quit that awhile back.