Jan. 2, 2012
It has been a long time since I have given an update of my life here. And what better time than to reflect back than the first days of the new year??
Time here flies by so fast, and it is crazy how quickly a month goes by. Remember when I intended to write a blog every week?? That was definitely before I realized how busy I was going to be.
First of all, we have 7 cats right now!!!!!! Eeeek!! (but I secretely love it….)
Our cat, Fidea, had her babies 6 weeks ago!! She had four healthy little baby kittens. Three boys and one girl. We love them so much!! I stayed home from work to help her deliver them, as a good maternity nurse should.
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| Helping coach Fidea through it all |
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| Little baby kitties!!!! |
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| Nursing and resting after the chaos |
Right now they are just little fluff balls that are learning to climb up on the furniture and love to snuggle. We have found homes for all the boys but the girl is hard because no one wants girls (since no one wants future kittens). We are determined to find a good home though!! And to get Fidea spade ASAP.
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| Peeking out of their box |
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| Christmas cats |
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| Me and the whole kitty family |
So that adds up to 5. And then the other day Kyle and I went to the Sister’s house for a Bio-Green Christmas Gift Exchange (which I will get to later), and there were two kittens starving in their garden. They have a closed in garden, and people who don’t want their kittens sometimes drop them into their garden and leave them there. The Sisters can’t have animals, however, because their house is attached to a clinic and there are regulations on animals with fur…. So, we took in the two little kitties. They have this nervous system disease called “Wobbly Cat Syndrome” where they cant walk properly and wobble around everywhere and fall over a lot. It is a genetic and non-curable central nervous system disorder. They are living in our backyard right now until we can figure out what to do with them. We want to keep the boy but also feel bad separating them. We are praying for wisdom of what to do for these little baby kitties.
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| The wobbly cats |
Work is going well!!!! Really well. This past month, December, I was going out on my own with Justina, the pastoral care worker (on my own meaning the only nurse or nurse technician). I was able to do total nursing care by myself!! And in my own way, which made me feel a lot better about the sterility, especially with catheters, nasogastric tubes, and wound cleaning. And I loved being with Justina because in each house I was able to pray with the patient and sing some songs while they communed. It was a much more spiritual experience than just going out with another nurse. It is also exciting that they are trusting me enough to go out alone!! There are so many families that I love so much and really look forward to seeing when I go out. I am so blessed to have the job I have where I get to form relationships with all of these patients and their families.
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| Me and some of my Hospice co-workers |
Every morning I take time to pray in the Hospice chapel before going out and then drink some coffee with Señora Flor and Señora Katta, two older ladies who are the Hospice cooks. They are soooo cute and like my little Peruvian grandmas. Señora Flor even brings homemade food by our house sometimes which is delicious.
As mentioned earlier, a new group at the parish formed called Bio-Green. We just started the group last month, and it is an ecological and environmental group focusing on the connection between all creations on earth. Our phrase is “Bio-Green: Cuidemos la creación de Dios”, which means, “Bio-Green: Let us care for God’s creation”. We have had about 4 meetings so far and it mostly consists of the young people in the Parish who just were confirmed. Sister Katty wanted to give them something to do with their free time after being confirmed that is still involved with the Parish. It has been good so far and the meetings are very environmentally oriented and centering!!
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| Our Bio-Green Group |
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| Bio-Green!! |
As far as my lice go…. I still have them. Yes, it has been over 2 months. Yes, I have tried every lice shampoo on earth and put all of my bedding and clothes in trash bags for weeks. I have also been putting rosemary sticks in my pillow as recommended by a Señora at work. My mom just recently sent me rosemary shampoo and lice shampoo from the States, which I used a few days ago. We are going to check for eggs again in a day or two to see if it worked. Hopefully this time they are gone for good and I can sleep on sheets again and take the sticks out of my pillow… If not, I decided to be zen with my lice and be content with the fact that I can provide another species a healthy and thriving environment to live in. (And by that I mean I might shave my head if they aren’t gone by February).
I also learned another very interesting natural remedy lately. My feet on my heels have been very dry, cracked, and painful. Sister Sofie noticed one day and that convo went like this:
Sofie: Katie, tus pies estan como las mujeres en mi pueblo!! (Katie, your feet are like the women in my village)
Me: Si, no se por que pero que pena!! Quiero pies normales pero no se que puedo hacer. (Yeah, I don’t know why but it is a pain!! I want normal feet but I don’t know what I can do.)
Sofie: Pues, tienes que poner tus pies en tu orina fresca en la mañana cada mañana. (Well, you have to put your feet in your fresh urine in the morning every morning).
Me: Como?? (What??)
Sofie: Si, este esta muy útil para ayudar con cosas asi, como piel muy seca. (Yes, this is very useful to help you with things like this, such as dry skin).
So apparently urine can help heal dry and cracked skin. Who knew??? As tempting as it is to soak my heels in a basin of my own fresh urine every morning, I think I will stick to the PedEgg that my mom sent me for Christmas.
Lastly, I am pretty sure my bff Erin is coming to visit in May!!!!! I am sososososo excited and Kyle and I are already planning what we can do with her. I CANT WAIT to see her in Chimbote and spend at least a week with her here!! Also, we are all being flown to Mexico City February 25-March 3 for our Incarnate Word Missionaries retreat. Normally we just have our own small retreat here, but this year is the 25th anniversary of the missionary program so all of the IW missionaries from all over the world (Peru, Zambia, Guatamala, and the US) are all being flown to Mexico for a retreat and conference. We are all SUPER excited to see Mexico City and also to get together with the other missionaries!!!!
So that is all for miscellaneous updates, now for CHRISTMAS and NEW YEARS!!!!!!
Christmas in Peru
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| Our Christmas tree!!!! |
Christmas here starts like in October – not kidding – and lasts until Epiphany. In the States we always wait until after Thanksgiving to start listening to Christmas music and planning Christmas stuff, but since Tgiving doesn’t happen in Peru, Christmas starts after Halloweenish time. It is pretty crazy when people are asking how you plan to spend Christmas during the first week of November!!
A big deal here are these things called Chocolotadas. These are basically birthday parties for Jesus. They are mid-day parties for kids where hot-chocolate is served (yes, even though its 85 degrees outside and air conditioning doesn’t exist) and Panéton (which is a Christmas bread/cake served here, kind of like angel food cake with fruit chunks in it). There is usually someone dressed like Papa Noel, or Santa, and some girls dressed in Santa costumes who sing and dance and entertain the kids. Then sometimes there is a little nativity play and some Bible scriptures are read about Jesus’ birth. After all of this is some kind of gift exchange. I went to 3 Hospice chocolotadas and 2 Parish chocolotadas. That’s a lot of chocolate and Panéton!!!!
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| Kyle and I carrying huge pots of hot chocolate for the Hospice Chocolotada |
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| Hospice chocolotada |
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| Me and Sol, one of my patient's grandchildren, at the Hospice chocolotada |
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| Our parish chocolotada |
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| TEFA put on Peter Pan for all the kids at the parish chocolotada |
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| All the different panetons we were gifted at Christmas |
In one of our Parish chocolotadas I was chosen through TEFA, the theatre group I am in, to play the Virgin Mary. I had a live baby Jesus who weighed like 25 pounds (AKA way too much for my weak, out of shape arms to hold for 30 minutes) and kept screaming and spitting up all over my shoulder. It was an experience for sure and it definitely re-enforced why I don’t want to have kids until after I’m 30. BUUUUT it was fun and the little kids were so excited when we came out as Mary and Joseph!! Some photos below.
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| Me and Alejandro as Mary and Joseph |
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| The whole fam |
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| The fam with Angel Gabriel |
In Christmas Eve mass, I played an angel. This was also fun and the rehearsals were a great way to get excited for Christmas!!!! I am really enjoying being a part of TEFA.
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| Herod and the 3 Kings |
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| Mary giving birth at the alter. Yes, this happens. Grunting and yelling included. |
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| The whole scene, I am on the right |
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| Processing out |
Within our community we tried to be as Christmasy as possible!! We did Secret Santa amongst the four of us (and obviously by Christmas had all figured out who had who). We made an advent wreath out of branches from a tree in our backyard and lit it with the weekly Advent prayers. We also dedicated a community night to decorating our house. We put up a tree, lights, and built a nativity. Here they put up nativities by piling boxes on top of each other and covering it with green or brown papers. Then they put little figurines all over it of all different sizes (it doesn’t matter if they all match or not) and put a star or angel on top. It is really creative and beautiful!!!!
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| The nativity at Hospice |
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| Emily putting baby Jesus in our nativity at midnight on Christmas Eve |
On Christmas Eve, it is a tradition here to go to mass at 9pm, eat dinner with family afterwards, and at midnight to go outside and shoot fireworks, hug all of your neighbors, then place baby Jesus in the nativity. Our Christmas Eve dinner consisted of Velveeta Shells and Cheese (thank you mom & dad and Tom and Sandra Peden for getting this delicious food to me!!!!) and Swiss-miss hot chocolate. Then we shot off some fireworks in front of our house, hugged some neighbors, and drank some Bailey’s Irish Crème and went to bed. Very fun and relaxing!!
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| Kelli and I with our sparklers |
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| Our delicious Christmas Eve dinner of Velveeta Shells, salad, and Swiss Miss |
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| Christmas Eve fireworks, view from our house |
Christmas morning we woke up and took some Christmas photos, made breakfast, and opened gifts we were sent from home!!!! It was really fun and so wonderful to open cards from our families. I even got 3 cards from my cats!! Haha. I got season 2 of Modern Family on DVD, and we spent the next 5 hours watching ModFam and being lazy. A perfect Christmas Day.
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| Christmas morning photoshoot |
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| Kyle and Emily with gifts |
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| modeling a new skirt and headband I got!! (dad, notice the Sooners shirt) |
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| Kelli and I and her new bag |
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| Fidea was excited for her Cat Party Mix!!!!!! |
New Years Celebrations
Here the New Years Eve tradition is to go to mass at 9pm, go home and have dinner, wear something yellow for good luck, and then to shoot off fireworks and set a giant human sized doll on fire at midnight…. Let me explain.
On New Years Eve day everyone here starts building their Muñecos, or dolls, around 3pm. These dolls consist of old clothes you don’t want, and you stuff them with whatever you don’t want anymore from the old year. This could be other old clothes, newspapers, trash, etc. People make their dolls to look like people of the year who they don’t want to remember, such as a corrupt President, any type of politician, someone who wronged their family, etc. Anyone you want to let go of for the new year. They can also just be dolls that are unidentifiable. They tie the dolls to polls or sit them down in chairs and fill them with fireworks, and at midnight everyone lights their dolls. It looks like a war zone with all of these doll bodies burning all over the street!!!! But it is a way to signify letting go and starting anew. Our doll was made of old clothes, newspapers, ripped up magazines, and fireworks. It was even taller than Kyle!!
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| Putting the head on our doll |
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| Drawing on the face |
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| Our doll in front of our house!! |
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| Some fireworks |
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| Our street of burning dolls |
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| A doll burning in a chair |
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| Fidea partied all night long |
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| Yay 2012!! |
New Years day it is a tradition to go to the beach. It is summer here now and super hot, and January 1 is the first day that people start to go to the beach to hang out. We went with a group of 8 from our Parish. We had lunch on the beach, played music, swam, and slept in the sand. It was really such a gorgeous day outside and a great day to begin 2012!!!!
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| Cheers to the new year |
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| Me and Tania |
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| Kelli and Kyle |
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| Kyle and I |
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| Playing in the water |
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| Colver brought his guitar so we could sing some songs on the sand |
It is CRAZY to be starting 2012. I can’t believe that only 1 year ago I was in Chicago celebrating NYE with 2 of my best friends. It does not feel like so long ago!!!! One year ago I was still in college, I was just about to have my ACL surgery, and I had my SLU graduation still so far ahead of me!!!!! What is EVEN CRAZIER is that on January 15 I will be ¼ finished with my time here already. That is so wild. How has it already been so much time?? Wow. Truly such a sign of how important it is so embrace every single second and stay present in the moment. Every day I feel more blessed for the experience I am having here.
Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año Nuevo a todos de ustedes!!!!!!!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you!!!!!!!!!
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