Sometimes, it's incredibly easy for me to start off my new posts. Sometimes I have a really hilarious story that I want to share and it's easy to let the words pour out. Sometimes my heart has been set on one thought that I feel I need to write down soon, lest it gets lost amidst the rest of my life, but other days, such as this one, I find it difficult to begin writing, and I know exactly why.
My eyes have seen so many things in just this short week or so that I have been here. From the moment I wake up until the moment I go to bed on my 7 inch thick mattress, I am filled with new sights, new sounds, and new smells (sometimes pleasant, most times not so much); and with so many new things around me, my brain is in overdrive trying to absorb and process everything. Which for me, is interesting. I'm what you might call a quiet observer. Ok, quickly make your joke about how there's nothing quiet about me and we'll move on. Now, what I mean by being a "quiet observer" is that when I experience new things, I like to take them in immediately, and process later. I don't like to sound my judgement right away. However, I think what has been happening lately is that all I have been doing is absorbing things, without having any time to process them. Sort of like if you have a garage that you keep shoving stuff into to store it for later, but never organize it. What do you have? Just a big mess of stuff, right? Right.
So my thoughts remain scattered today. I have a sketchbook that I've been using to write down feelings, record emotions and thoughts, and ironically enough, to sketch. Sometimes though, I feel like that's not even enough to keep up. I want to remember every feeling and reaction during my time here! Is that so much to ask? Oh probably. I suppose that until I find a more efficient outlet, I will have to resort to blogspots and sketchbooks.
P.s. Please feel free to check out my online Peru photo album which I'm sure will become very full over the next year. For now, it's still a manageable amount of pictures to view. www.flickr.com/peruviangillian
Monday, July 30, 2007
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Fun things I've seen in Trujillo so far...
Well folks, it's been precisely 4 days since my arrival. I have encountered a really extraordinary amount of fun things so far, but here are a two of my favorite experiences.
My Breakfast Walk-
My first day in Trujillo, I went out to breakfast with my friend Joshua Burdette, who is a friend from Anderson University, but is currently serving here as well. As we walked to the cafe of choice, we heard a commotion in the Plaza de Armas, the main square in Trujillo. We walked farther and realized that there happened to be a random parade in the middle of the square, complete with Marinera dancers (a native dance of Peru) A 35 piece marching band, flag bearers, men and women on stilts, and colorfully costumed men doing stunts. And by stunts, I do mean, making a 6 person pyramid in the middle of the road. It was nice and fun, but we sort of had to walk next to the parade for a while, and be followed for about a block by the marching band. But looking back on it, I now realize that this is how I want to walk to breakfast every morning- with a big brass band following me. You can't have a bad day with a parade backing you up.
Mr. Toad's Wild Taxi Ride-
Granted, every time you get into a taxi in Peru, you never know what sort of driver you'll get. Will he be one of the ones to give you whiplash as he careens around the Ovolo Papal? Will he slow down for the speed bumps that appear on random streets of Trujillo? Heck, will his transmission even make it over that speed bump before falling out onto the pavement? You never know. But two nights ago, my friend Katie and I had the good fortune of finding an exceptionally frightening cab driver. He was a bit disheveled, for a taxi driver anyway, and drove what is known as a Tico Taxi. Now, the Tico Taxi is like the hot rod of all taxis. Except that it's a Daewoo and nothing like a hot rod at all. In a CNN story, it was said that "The Tico is not designed for use as a taxi," says Lino de la Barrera, a traffic safety expert and an architect of the regulations. "The possibility of a fatal accident is greater in a Tico." However, does this stop anyone? Not so much, and ne'er wanting to appear the tourist, of course we end up taking Tico Taxis about every other trip. But I digress. So this taxi driver, who had his Tico pimped out with stuffed animals hanging in the window, and some neon beads, took us around corners at blinding speeds, stopped within mere inches (no exaggeration here) of hitting cars in front of us, beside us, and even somehow behind us (that might be exaggerated). In all my years of visiting Peru, I cannot remember a taxi ride that made the verse about life being a vapor clearer to me than the ride in that tico taxi. It was life changing.
My Breakfast Walk-
My first day in Trujillo, I went out to breakfast with my friend Joshua Burdette, who is a friend from Anderson University, but is currently serving here as well. As we walked to the cafe of choice, we heard a commotion in the Plaza de Armas, the main square in Trujillo. We walked farther and realized that there happened to be a random parade in the middle of the square, complete with Marinera dancers (a native dance of Peru) A 35 piece marching band, flag bearers, men and women on stilts, and colorfully costumed men doing stunts. And by stunts, I do mean, making a 6 person pyramid in the middle of the road. It was nice and fun, but we sort of had to walk next to the parade for a while, and be followed for about a block by the marching band. But looking back on it, I now realize that this is how I want to walk to breakfast every morning- with a big brass band following me. You can't have a bad day with a parade backing you up.
Mr. Toad's Wild Taxi Ride-
Granted, every time you get into a taxi in Peru, you never know what sort of driver you'll get. Will he be one of the ones to give you whiplash as he careens around the Ovolo Papal? Will he slow down for the speed bumps that appear on random streets of Trujillo? Heck, will his transmission even make it over that speed bump before falling out onto the pavement? You never know. But two nights ago, my friend Katie and I had the good fortune of finding an exceptionally frightening cab driver. He was a bit disheveled, for a taxi driver anyway, and drove what is known as a Tico Taxi. Now, the Tico Taxi is like the hot rod of all taxis. Except that it's a Daewoo and nothing like a hot rod at all. In a CNN story, it was said that "The Tico is not designed for use as a taxi," says Lino de la Barrera, a traffic safety expert and an architect of the regulations. "The possibility of a fatal accident is greater in a Tico." However, does this stop anyone? Not so much, and ne'er wanting to appear the tourist, of course we end up taking Tico Taxis about every other trip. But I digress. So this taxi driver, who had his Tico pimped out with stuffed animals hanging in the window, and some neon beads, took us around corners at blinding speeds, stopped within mere inches (no exaggeration here) of hitting cars in front of us, beside us, and even somehow behind us (that might be exaggerated). In all my years of visiting Peru, I cannot remember a taxi ride that made the verse about life being a vapor clearer to me than the ride in that tico taxi. It was life changing.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Where the parties don't stop till 8 in the mornin...
So what's a normal day like in Trujillo?
I don't know I've only been here one day. But I see myself settling in quickly. I've met alot of the interns that were here for the summer, but was told not to get too attached since most of them are leaving in a week. A new group, my group, will be coming in next week, but I got a little head start. But anyway, I'm currently sitting in my apartment, very glad to have some free wifi (gracias to Telefonica) and being soothed by the smooth sounds of a Peruvian guns n' roses cover band from the party going on next door. You've never heard Sweet Child o' Mine until you've heard it Peruvian karaoke style. The smell of gasoline from the taxis in the street occasionally wafts up to the second story. The street sounds and the horns definitely make it up here. But as the party continues, it eventually just becomes a part of the atmosphere around me, and the Peruvian rappers that are now performing no longer stand out as much, because I realize, I'm here- in Trujillo, my home for the next year, and this is my environment.
It's strange living in the middle of your life. Of course John Lennon once said, Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans, but in my case, I planned, and anticipated, and planned some more about actually moving here to Trujillo, so much so that when I actually got here, it was in fact very surreal. I knew from the get go that the experiences that I would have in Peru were going to be amazing and become integral parts of my life, but I'm sort of in the process of making these memories, and that's what I mean by it being strange to live in the middle of my life. Which probably makes no sense at all, but it does to me...I think, and I'm ok with that.
Oh hang on, the Peruvian cover of Guns n' Roses Paradise City just started, and I really can't miss this.
Buenos Noches!
I don't know I've only been here one day. But I see myself settling in quickly. I've met alot of the interns that were here for the summer, but was told not to get too attached since most of them are leaving in a week. A new group, my group, will be coming in next week, but I got a little head start. But anyway, I'm currently sitting in my apartment, very glad to have some free wifi (gracias to Telefonica) and being soothed by the smooth sounds of a Peruvian guns n' roses cover band from the party going on next door. You've never heard Sweet Child o' Mine until you've heard it Peruvian karaoke style. The smell of gasoline from the taxis in the street occasionally wafts up to the second story. The street sounds and the horns definitely make it up here. But as the party continues, it eventually just becomes a part of the atmosphere around me, and the Peruvian rappers that are now performing no longer stand out as much, because I realize, I'm here- in Trujillo, my home for the next year, and this is my environment.
It's strange living in the middle of your life. Of course John Lennon once said, Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans, but in my case, I planned, and anticipated, and planned some more about actually moving here to Trujillo, so much so that when I actually got here, it was in fact very surreal. I knew from the get go that the experiences that I would have in Peru were going to be amazing and become integral parts of my life, but I'm sort of in the process of making these memories, and that's what I mean by it being strange to live in the middle of my life. Which probably makes no sense at all, but it does to me...I think, and I'm ok with that.
Oh hang on, the Peruvian cover of Guns n' Roses Paradise City just started, and I really can't miss this.
Buenos Noches!
Nothing like a recycled post to get things started...
This is a little something from my first update e-mail I sent out about my travel experiences through the Lima airport. If you're not on my update e-mail list but would like to be, please leave a comment with your e-mail address on it, or send me an e-mail at gbaikie@gmail.com.
I´m staying with a wonderful woman named
Chela, who is my best friend Ruth´s aunt and a most compassionate
woman to have picked me up from the airport last night about midnight
so that I wouldn´t die trying to navigate Lima by myself. And she´s a
saint for putting up with my horrible, horrible conversational
Spanish.
Anyway, I made it through the airport alright, but my big fear was
passing through customs. If you´ve been through Peru´s airport
before, once you pass through immigration and reclaim your baggage,
you must pass through customs, which is the worst thing in the world.
Why? Because you have no control over your own destiny at customs,
which is a worker who gathers your forms and then tells you to press a
button that will either flash red or green before you pass through the
black gate. Now, once you press this button, your fate is nothing
more than a dangerous gamble, for this button decides your future.
Green means you haven´t angered the universe, Red means....well, red
means bad news bears for you. Everything you own will get searched,
and it will be thorough (i.e. time-consuming). So before you get in
line, you stand there trying to gather as many statistics as possible
on how many times it´s flahsing red to best determine which line is
the least likely to ruin your day. However, in the bottom of your
heart you know that you have absolutely no way to pick a ´´good´´
line, so you just pick one, and then you hold your breath. Palms
sweating, you watch as people get the green light, wishing so badly it
were you that was passing through so easily. Finally you´re almost to
the front. One more person to go, she hands her form to the customs
worker, reaches up to press the button with confidence, and there it
is. The red button of doom. And it seems as though a silence falls
over Lima, you can almost hear the trombone´s ´wah wah waaaaahs´´ in
the distance.
But only for a second, because I then realize. I made it! The girl in
front of me got the axe and doom won´t flash twice in a row! The
music changes to an upbeat whistling tune most likely from the fifties
as I happily hand my form over, press that button, and walk past that
beautiful green light with a little extra spring in my step because I,
Gillian Baikie, did not have to get searched at customs.
Well, update from yesterday, I did make it to Trujillo alright with no major disasters, so now I guess I can finally get my Peru blog on the way! Hooray!
I´m staying with a wonderful woman named
Chela, who is my best friend Ruth´s aunt and a most compassionate
woman to have picked me up from the airport last night about midnight
so that I wouldn´t die trying to navigate Lima by myself. And she´s a
saint for putting up with my horrible, horrible conversational
Spanish.
Anyway, I made it through the airport alright, but my big fear was
passing through customs. If you´ve been through Peru´s airport
before, once you pass through immigration and reclaim your baggage,
you must pass through customs, which is the worst thing in the world.
Why? Because you have no control over your own destiny at customs,
which is a worker who gathers your forms and then tells you to press a
button that will either flash red or green before you pass through the
black gate. Now, once you press this button, your fate is nothing
more than a dangerous gamble, for this button decides your future.
Green means you haven´t angered the universe, Red means....well, red
means bad news bears for you. Everything you own will get searched,
and it will be thorough (i.e. time-consuming). So before you get in
line, you stand there trying to gather as many statistics as possible
on how many times it´s flahsing red to best determine which line is
the least likely to ruin your day. However, in the bottom of your
heart you know that you have absolutely no way to pick a ´´good´´
line, so you just pick one, and then you hold your breath. Palms
sweating, you watch as people get the green light, wishing so badly it
were you that was passing through so easily. Finally you´re almost to
the front. One more person to go, she hands her form to the customs
worker, reaches up to press the button with confidence, and there it
is. The red button of doom. And it seems as though a silence falls
over Lima, you can almost hear the trombone´s ´wah wah waaaaahs´´ in
the distance.
But only for a second, because I then realize. I made it! The girl in
front of me got the axe and doom won´t flash twice in a row! The
music changes to an upbeat whistling tune most likely from the fifties
as I happily hand my form over, press that button, and walk past that
beautiful green light with a little extra spring in my step because I,
Gillian Baikie, did not have to get searched at customs.
Well, update from yesterday, I did make it to Trujillo alright with no major disasters, so now I guess I can finally get my Peru blog on the way! Hooray!
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Five finger calendar...
You can count the days I have left in the United States on one hand now.
I have the feeling that my life will be changing drastically.
No duh, Gillian.
But, beyond stating the obvious, I feel that my life will be changing much more than I expect. And to be perfectly honest, I'm excited about the unexpected. Every time I go to Peru I learn lessons I never counted on learning and experience things I never imagined. I suppose I am finding peace in the unknown. Knowing that I actually have no idea what will happen makes me throw any preconceived notions out the window. Maybe this should be scary to me, but it's not.
I'll tell you what is scary though. Adulthood.
There comes a time in every twenty-something's life when they must step over that threshold of a college student life and into the proverbial "real world." And supposedly, my time has come. Here's why one might be tempted to believe that I am actually becoming an adult- I just bought my own health insurance plan.
And now, here's why that adult rumor should not be taken too seriously- After carefully going over my insurance packet that explains my coverage, I realized that I understood somewhere between 7 and 8 percent of what I read. I know absolutely nothing about health insurance (or probably any insurance for that matter), I can't understand their insurance jargon, nor could I even give you a decent definition of a premium, deductible, or what a PPO is, or even what it stands for. Frankly, I'm not sure what I just paid for, but modern bureaucracy tells me I need it, and it's time like these when I wonder how hard it would be to become a hippie of the 21st century.
So there you have it, I'm being forced into adulthood, and I don't understand the lingo. That's how they get you. Phooey on this, I'm moving to Peru.
I have the feeling that my life will be changing drastically.
No duh, Gillian.
But, beyond stating the obvious, I feel that my life will be changing much more than I expect. And to be perfectly honest, I'm excited about the unexpected. Every time I go to Peru I learn lessons I never counted on learning and experience things I never imagined. I suppose I am finding peace in the unknown. Knowing that I actually have no idea what will happen makes me throw any preconceived notions out the window. Maybe this should be scary to me, but it's not.
I'll tell you what is scary though. Adulthood.
There comes a time in every twenty-something's life when they must step over that threshold of a college student life and into the proverbial "real world." And supposedly, my time has come. Here's why one might be tempted to believe that I am actually becoming an adult- I just bought my own health insurance plan.
And now, here's why that adult rumor should not be taken too seriously- After carefully going over my insurance packet that explains my coverage, I realized that I understood somewhere between 7 and 8 percent of what I read. I know absolutely nothing about health insurance (or probably any insurance for that matter), I can't understand their insurance jargon, nor could I even give you a decent definition of a premium, deductible, or what a PPO is, or even what it stands for. Frankly, I'm not sure what I just paid for, but modern bureaucracy tells me I need it, and it's time like these when I wonder how hard it would be to become a hippie of the 21st century.
So there you have it, I'm being forced into adulthood, and I don't understand the lingo. That's how they get you. Phooey on this, I'm moving to Peru.
Monday, July 9, 2007
I just flew in from Peru and boy are my arms tired...
Well folks, I'm ten days away from moving to Peru, and it's just a little bit surreal. I've been looking forward to this for so long that once the day finally comes, I don't think I'll quite know what to do with myself. But no worries yet, I'll figure it out when I get there.
So, what have I been doing to pass the time, you might ask? well, for starters, my brother get married last weekend, so the whole family traveled to Southern Illinois for a five day wedding blitz. It was nice...and stressful. Nice and stressful indeed. Then I visited friends in South Carolina one last time. That was also nice...and humid, but mostly nice.
Then, yesterday, which of course was Sunday, marked the very first Peruvian Luncheon/Talent show at King of Kings Lutheran church, my home church in Colorado. We put it together to help raise more support for my time in Peru. It was a great day and so far, about $1350 was raised, and Thrivent promised 3/1 matching funds which means that the whole event will bring in about $1800- which of course, is overwhelmingly encouraging to see people becoming active with Peru Mission. I cooked a Peruvian meal for 60 and gave others a chance to experience lomo saltado and aji de gallina, even some chicha morada and Inca Cola (Peruvian drinks which you can get in Denver if you're interested by the way). We had about 10 acts for the talent show after lunch which included a magic act, some stand-up comedy direct from Pastor Schlecte, and the soulful stylings of Mr. Jim Rasmussen playing the bagpipes. I believe everyone had a great time. But to wrap this post up in true church bulletin style- A fun time was had by all.
So, what have I been doing to pass the time, you might ask? well, for starters, my brother get married last weekend, so the whole family traveled to Southern Illinois for a five day wedding blitz. It was nice...and stressful. Nice and stressful indeed. Then I visited friends in South Carolina one last time. That was also nice...and humid, but mostly nice.
Then, yesterday, which of course was Sunday, marked the very first Peruvian Luncheon/Talent show at King of Kings Lutheran church, my home church in Colorado. We put it together to help raise more support for my time in Peru. It was a great day and so far, about $1350 was raised, and Thrivent promised 3/1 matching funds which means that the whole event will bring in about $1800- which of course, is overwhelmingly encouraging to see people becoming active with Peru Mission. I cooked a Peruvian meal for 60 and gave others a chance to experience lomo saltado and aji de gallina, even some chicha morada and Inca Cola (Peruvian drinks which you can get in Denver if you're interested by the way). We had about 10 acts for the talent show after lunch which included a magic act, some stand-up comedy direct from Pastor Schlecte, and the soulful stylings of Mr. Jim Rasmussen playing the bagpipes. I believe everyone had a great time. But to wrap this post up in true church bulletin style- A fun time was had by all.
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