Well, I was lazy and didn't write a proper blog, but there's been a lot of stuff that has happened, so I'll tell you about them in bullet form:
-Leidi, the 11 year old daughter of Zenovia and a regular in our classes, asked me to be her madrina (godmother)! There is going to be a celebration for her graduation from elementary school
-there are tons of little explosions everywhere 24/7 (many thanks to Richard and Beto) because apparently firecrackers are sold around christmas time.
-We FINALLY had some people show up for adult English class, but it was short lived...the two who came left Chijnaya once the professor's strike at the University of Puno ended.
-Went to Juliaca (where we stayed at our veterenarian friend Luis's house and watched a fantastic Korean soap opera) and then Puno in hopes of getting my Christmas package...which sadly did not happen (nor have I gotten Sam and Aubrey's letter..boo.) though I did get to eat Scrumptious cake. A dark chocolate-coffee concoction that satisfied my sugar cravings for at least a day.
-Dionisia, Paula's sister, had a techamiento (roofing) celebration during which a lot of asado de alpaca was eaten, beer drunk, and huaynos danced. I also had a couple of great conversations, the first involving storytelling (my favorite!) and the second about past volunteers and life as a young adult in Chijnaya/Peru. Oh, and Dionisia asked me to be her daughter's madrina too! So I not only get to attend the very interesting Corta Pelo ceremony (first haircut), but I also will have two god daughters! Wow, didn't think that was going to happen for a while.
-The next morning at 5:00 I woke up (with a bit of struggle) to go with Richard, Verónica, Daphne, and Maren to Juliaca to buy...a puppy!!! For Verónica's family. His name is Loki (after the Norse trickster god and a hostal in Cusco) and he is grey with a splotch of white on his chest and toe socks and a "lab" and super duper cute.
-I've been doing a lot of watching/playing with Davis lately. He is quite the little boy. Picks up Everything, throws most of it, babbles constantly, and has a smile that just glows. A couple of days ago he decided it would be really fun to slide from a slight rise of dirt in back of their house onto the lower part, lay there for a minute, crawl a little ways, then get up and do it again. There was a bit of dirt eating going on too...yum. Then, he decided that he would make his game even better by grabbing onto my hair and swinging from the rise to the lower part, laughing hysterically all the while. Luckily I was soon called away to help peel potatoes and wash dishes.
-Oh, and apparently Beto took my cell phone with him to arrear the vaca and found a Signal, so decided it would be way cool to try to call people. So if you got a random phone call from me, from Peru, that's why. Thanks Beto.
Well, that's all for now, hope to hear from you all! Enjoy the snow, those of you in the Northeast. I hope it hasn't all melted!
Los Andes
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Hi Leah,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on being a godmother- twice over! Snow is still all around, and about 0 degrees F this am! It's a beautiful cold sunny day. Do the Peruvians celebrate the winter solstice (besides firecrackers?) Sounds like a busy happy group you're with, have to go send packages to Phila. and NYC now! Love, Mom
Hi, I was in Chijnaya in May for a few weeks working with the artisan project, and was asked to be the godmother for the entire dance team at the Juliaca anniversary..I bought everyone drink,m fruit, cookies after their performances..godmotherhood involves quite the financial obligation, just be forwarned!
ReplyDeletePS -- Could you do a huge favor and can you please tell Hugo, the presidente of the artisan group, that the cojines son muy, muy bien hechos y muy hermosos y que estan vendiendo...y que por favor tengan cuidado con los tamanos cuadrados exactos, y que los botones caben en sus hojales!!!! Mil Gracias. Felices Pascuas.
"Licenciada Judith" Haden
Hi Judith,
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if you will check this again, but just in case I thought I'd respond.
I will pass on your message to Hugo. I'm sure he will be grateful to hear from you and for the advice.
Thank you for the warning, it is definitely a fair one. I was told earlier by other members of the community that gringas such as us are often...taken advantage of (I'm not sure if that is the right word) in terms of our "endless" access to money. I feel ok about being the madrina for these two girls, though, as the girl graduating from elementary school asked me herself and completely surprised her mother (and we have a good relationship), and the mother of the infant is not only the sister of my host mother, but also, as the say "muy buena gente". That is not to say that those who asked you were not, as I'm sure they were absolutely thrilled to have you. I feel, though, that my "ahijadas" will be content with the gifts I give them, as I'm sure yours were. I'm not sure that this explanation was necessary at all, but for some reason I felt it so, due how it seems that people here have madrinas and padrinos for practically every grand occasion!
I will pass on your message to Hugo as soon as I see him!
Thanks again and Merry Christmas!
Leah