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.

Heavens to Betsy.

I started out my day really really wanting to feel productive and not like a bump on a peruvian log. So I, true to Gillian Baikie form, made a "Things to Do" List.

I love things to do lists. They help me to see my challenge. They let me organize my plan of attack on the monster before I start, and the satisfaction of being able to cross out a completed task and make that to do list a lot weaker is amazing. Picture Street Fighter, and you're Ryu, and you get a sweet combination punch-kick to Ken, making that red bar surge. That's the satisfaction you feel when you cross one of your tasks off the list.

Anyway, one of the things that has been on my to do list for about...oooh...forever, was to update this blog. Check.

The other that has been on there since forever as well was to go back and review my emails and catch up on those. I'm way behind, so this is my public apology to all those who I have left hanging on the e-mails. If it was my turn to e-mail you back, I'm sorry. I'm still working on it. I'll try to do better.

Anyway, apologies aside, it has been awhile for me to give an update, and I'm happy to report that things are going well! I've been teaching private english classes, and working on CompArte stuff too. We're getting closer to having a website set up, and then I'll be able to give you guys more updates about how everything is going for the music ministry. I'll hopefully be working on an e-mail newsletter soon as well, so if you'd like to receive that, send me an e-mail! (I promise that I'll respond to that one). In the meantime, the big news of Comparte is that we're planning to do some fundraisers so that we can take the kids to an international music festival again this year in Lima. We've also been in alot of planning meetings trying to nail down some new methods for teaching as we continue to grow, and plans for this next year. We appreciate your prayers and support for CompArte as we try to motivate the children of Porvenir with music.

I hope that things are well with all of you guys. I am coming home for Christmas in December, so I'll hopefully get to catch up with everyone, but until then I leave you with a fond happy trails to you until we meet again, and some pictures of my latest Peruvian adventures.

Ok really it's just two pictures of the same adventure. Apparently my camera has been getting a little dusty.






I found a Salamander in the Kitchen!