Back to Work

We're back at work today and feeling much better--thanks for all your prayers!

After being at home Thursday and Friday, we were ready to get out of the house on Saturday. We were both feeling much better and decided to head to Plaza San Miguel for a few hours in the morning. Plaza San Miguel is a decent sized mall about a 10 minute walk away.

After lunch, we went back to the Corner Bar to watch some more college football. We watched two games and had dinner but left before #1 and #2 both got upset. This season has been ridiculous, and it's going to be tough rooting for LSU... We both ate more "American" food at the bar, and my (C.J.) cheeseburger turned out to be a big mistake. I quickly reverted to the soup and bread diet but felt pretty bad again on Sunday.

It's a short week for us--we're really excited about leaving for Cuzco and Machu Picchu on Friday. I'm also excited that I'm going to get to play soccer twice this week. Santiago (the husband of the family we're living with) is going to take me to play futsal (very similar to indoor soccer) on Wednesday night and back to San Marcos University to play outdoors again. I mentioned that I played soccer in the last post, but I guess didn't say where I've been playing--Santiago is a professor at San Marcos and plays with other professors every Thursday. I guess I didn't mention that I went surfing either...I did...it was fun...I need to keep better track of what I've put on here!

So, it should be a really fun week. Please continue to pray for our health. We're really starting to miss all of the good food that we had the first couple of weeks--soup is getting pretty old. Also pray for our safety as we travel to Cuzco and Machu Picchu. This will be the first time that we're really alone in Peru! Get ready for lots of pictures again!

The picture below is us having ice cream at Larcomar, a mall built into the cliffs over the ocean in Mira Flores (probably the nicest part of Lima). As you can tell by the ice cream, this was before we got sick, but for the sake of a picture and to remember better gastrointestinal days...

Plumbing...

We're sick. It came on fairly slowly, but it's here with a vengeance. We're not quite sure what set it off, because we were completely fine for the first couple of weeks!?! I (C.J.) was worse at the beginning of the week and ended up staying home for a morning, but yesterday Keri woke up having spent a good bit of time in the bathroom the previous evening. She obviously needed to stay home for the day, and I stayed home to keep her company, though I did feel well enough to play soccer in the afternoon (actually a real answer to prayer for me!).

Keri's home again today, and I'll be returning there before lunch. It's been especially frustrating for Keri, because she was supposed to do some home visits yesterday and today where her skills were going to be really put to use with some adaptations.

Our diet has obviously changed (soup, tea, toast, jello, not much else), and we both started an antibiotic regimen (along with A LOT of Imodium), but we're pretty sick and tired of being sick and tired. Sorry for the depressing post, but we really feel like we need your prayers right now!

Another Week

Hello again, friends. It´s Keri. It has been another week in Peru, already. We are doing well, although the merciful time of no stomach problems has ended. We both have had combinations of that and colds. It´s kind of hard to concentrate on speaking another language and fulfilling your job duties when you don´t feel well! I thought I would take this blog to give you some glimpses into what life is like in Peru for us right now.

-We have a maid/cook. No, we don´t live with incredibly rich people. Having live-in help (as well as a driver, often times) is part of living in middle-class in Peru. We have breakfast and dinner cooked for us every day (as well as VERY good lunch at CASP in the afternoons). She does our laundry, makes our bed, washes our towels, buys us bottled water, etc. It´s a very odd feeling to not even have to clear out plates off the table when we´re done! But that´s all part of the culture.

-Speaking of food...the food here is amazing! Lots of rice, meat, and potatoes, but they use really yummy spices. We have enjoyed eating (even with the above-mentioned problems that started this week). We also have a fresh-made smoothie every morning with breakfast, and fresh mango or papaya with strawberry yogurt most evenings. All of their fruit, bread, and meat is incredibly fresh (in fact, Elena, our host, told us at the grocery store that most of the fresh meats she bought were probably walking around yet that morning).

-We walk to work (only 3 blocks), and it´s not a bad neighborhood, but the other day I was about to leave CASP alone (CJ had already gone home to take a nap--he wasn´t feeeling well) with our computer bag, and 4 people from CASP stopped me and told me that was really dangerous. Pray for our safety.

-And speaking of safety...pray that the taxis we get in don´t get in accidents! Driving here is CRAZY!!! I don´t think I´ll ever again complain about CJ´s driving. Last night our taxi from the mall home made 3 lanes out of a 2 lane road several times. I was sure we were gonners! Taxis are incredibly cheap here. For a 30 minute ride, it cost us about 15 soles ($5 USD). Nothing like in the U.S.!

-There is only one place that we know of in Lima to watch college football. It´s a sports bar about 20 min. from our house. We were there last night with tons of other Americans watching Kentucky go into 4 overtimes with Tennessee. We looked around at all of the people yelling at the TV in English and had to remind ourselves that we are in fact in Lima, Peru. Pretty much all of the people were Gators fans, too, so they weren´t too happy that their game was being missed because of all the overtimes!

-The pollution here is aweful. Most days we´re okay, but every time we take a taxi somewhere, we come home with our eyes, noses, and throats hurting and irritated.

-The people of CASP work HARD!! Most days we work from 7:45am to around 6:15pm. We are the first ones to leave many times. Again, I´ll have to talk more about the center in another blog.

-I had some humbling and frustrating moments this week trying to be an OT here. The resources and materials we have in the US are just not attainable here because of cost or unavailability. They recycle so many materials at the center, but a simple velcro strap for someone´s wheelchair, or cyclindrical foam on a pen so a kid can grab it are luxuries. It´s frustrating for me to know how much we take for granted in the US and how much the technology we have available to us there could help these kids. CASP is doing amazing things with them, but I know that many of them could benefit so much from things they can´t even dream of.

-And finally, it´s been tough to balance feelings of being REALLY ready to be home in STL (after we see our families at Christmas!!!) and in a stable life and routine with wanting to experience this time to the fullest. We are glad we are here and experiencing another culture, and very excited to see more of Peru (We fly to Cusco to see Macchu Picchu on Dec. 7), but we are also very ready to be home. We are going to be part of a church plant in STL when we get back (we can go more into that later too), and we are yearning to be a part of the preparations for it with some of our dearest friends! So that can be tough sometimes. The 4 weeks left here will go fast, and we are so thankful for this opportunity, but home sounds really good too.

That´s all for now. Love you all!

Pictures!

We got some time at work on their fast(er than where we're living) internet connection. Since you should all have read the previous posts, we'll just include the pictures this time (with some brief captions). We've done a lot in this past week, so there are going to be a lot of pictures. Enjoy!

In the park in Guayaquil, Ecuador with the iguanas--there were at least 100 in this tiny park

The cathedral in Guayaquil across from the park

Our first stop in our tourism day--El parque del amor (the park of love for gringos). We're not sure if it was named because of the statue below, but it fits...

The statue in El parque del amor

Ruins at Pachacamac--We think these were probably restored a bit

The Temple of the Sun at Patchacamac--we were told this was probably just the bottom section

Keri in the entrance to the Temple of the Sun

The temple had quite the view--nice work Incas

Really interesting to see really poor areas right next to the ruins

The people that found this named this temple "Temple with the ramp"

The big cathedral in downtown Lima

The presidents palace (in the same sqare as the cathedral)--it was originally Pisarro's

Another cathedral where we toured the catacombs--it was originally a Franciscan monastery

Toasting with the pisco sours (a traditional Peruvian drink) at dinner before the dance show (Keri, Joy from UIC, Jose from CASP, Liliana the head of CASP, and Yolanda from UIC).

Traditional dance

Another traditional dance