From Surviving to Thriving... and Everything in Between

There we were, occupying our usual strategic position, with our faces up against the glass of the majestic… empanada case. Oh the cafetería, what a magnificent place! It is full of wonderful smells, encapsulating tastes, and life-threatening numbers of calories. And, oh, how we love it:) Hawaiana, Italiana, Rocoto relleno, Triple, Lomo Saltado, Queso: these are just a few of our favorite empanadas. Somehow, inexplicably, there is a group of gringos (nickname for a white person from an English-speaking country) and Peruvian friends waiting in line at the Cafetería for empanadas after every History 308 class. Maybe we are sucked into the Cafetería after class because we have to walk past its open doors in order to leave the university, but more likely, it is because we are mentally and physically exhausted after we leave history class. We all just need that sweet, warm empanada-pick-me-up to revive our dejected spirits. Sometimes, on really tough days, a churro will follow. And if your name is Joe, a whole bag of granola would probably follow that. 

Back to History class, the probable cause of this deliciously terrible health risk. Hispanic World History 308. As those of us who take this class all know, 308 is both a blessing and a nightmare. Yes, we are all intrigued to be learning about how Huns crossed the Rhine River, upsetting all of Europe and eventually causing the “Visigodos” to inhabit Spain. It is actually very interesting to understand how God and His-Story shaped the Spanish language and formed cultures, including the Peruvian culture. All of this novel information has helped us understand the people here and the way they live. It is exciting, for example, to understand the history of how this language we are speaking came to be the way it is today. (I, for one, was just as excited to discover that “Germany” isn’t G-e-r-m-a-n-y in Spanish. It’s “Alemania”! Maybe I just need to get out more…). However, we are somewhat less enthralled with the fact that our notebooks are filling up with maps and arrows and words that we can’t even pretend to fully understand. Professor Lizárraga whips from one side of the whiteboard to the other, drawing enormous maps and scribbling key words in the remaining spaces. He does it all at the speed of light as well. While he is writing furiously… “Ejercito Romano – > Acero, La cúpula, el aquaducto…”, we turn to each other with dumfounded looks.

“Qué significa ‘Acero’ (what does acero mean)”?! one student whispers.

“No sé (I don’t know)”, one of us answers dejectedly, “Pero yo quiero saber por qué estamos hablando de Roma otra vez! Pensaba que estábamos hablando del Peru. (But I want to know why we are talking about Rome again! I thought we were discussing Peru.)” Then the professor turns around and we sit quietly, every cell in our bodies straining to hear and comprehend what he is saying. Finally, after countless questions and explanations and even jokes have been exchanged, the period is over, something Laurel or Emily S. has to remind Professor Lizárraga of just about every class period. Thank you ladies! Either he doesn’t pay much attention to the time, or he just really enjoys our company. Obviously, I’m going to bet on the latter :)

One of the best parts of 308: the view:)

Now that class is over, we try to forget momentarily that the following day we need to take a quiz in which we must recall a timeline of 103,488,009 dates (almost). We wipe the cold sweat off our foreheads and head down the stairs to collect our well-deserved empanadas in the cafetería.  This is where I was one day when I noticed Megan walking up to join the empanada party. She was grinning as she walked; no, she was beaming.

“What happened?” I asked her. “Why are you smiling like that?”

“I am just happy; I love my life here!” she exclaimed.

“Yup,” I had to answer, “I know exactly how you feel.”

That pretty much sums up our day-to-day lives in Peru right now. We are blessed and happy. However, we still have a few discrepancies and frustrations. I’ll let the rest of the crew explain…

Confessions from behind the scenes…

              Hanna Silvey tbt: papaya sometimes makes me gag.

            


Carmen Bilbao The amount of carbohydrates I'm taking in daily over here... Not good.

            



Carmen Bilbao I can't stop eating empanadas - especially Triples. I had one after 340 this morning and another this afternoon before theology...


            



Megan Rozeveld My digestive system is a joke.

            



Hanna Silvey bombed a couple quizzes, just for kicks.

            



Carmen Bilbao I wear shorts around the house... Idk what my family thinks about that, if that's alright... But mi abuelita commented on how I must be so cold and rubbed my thigh, and I haven't shaved since we got here... (Since we never wear shorts/dresses I don't see the point.)

            



Anna Drechsel i have accepted the fact that my digestive system will not be normal...until December.

            



Anna Drechsel the thoughts, 'I am going to die' cross my mind just about anytime i take a taxi.

            



Megan Rozeveld I just want to throw my toilet paper in the toilet...and sometimes I do.

            



Bethany Fennema I'm totally gonna get hit by a car. It's gonna happen. I'm convinced.

            



Hanna Silvey NEVER enough water. ALWAYS too many cookies.

            



Megan Rozeveld I WANT MACORONI AND CHEESE

            



Carmen Bilbao I want Qdoba and Spoonlickers. I almost cried the other day because I have to wait another 14 weeks.

            



Hanna Silvey I miss the other 85% of my wardrobe...

            



Emily Harrell My family hates it when I don’t wear shoes/socks. So when I'm alone in the house, I run/frolic/dance around in bare feet singing.

            



Bethany Fennema Ruth (Peruvian family member) goes to the bathroom in the dark with the door opened. So occasionally I walk in on her. She also never flushes. Sorry if that's TMI, I just felt the need to share. hahahahaha.

            



Hanna Silvey I’m so pumped that we're missing out on the dreary, cold, slushy pre-beautiful snow month or two!

            



Carmen Bilbao I’m pumped that I no longer get winded climbing the stairs at UCSP. I feel like we're going to get back to Michigan feeling like superheroes!

            Until our red blood cell count goes back down...


            



Joe VanderWeide I try to see how close I can get to cars when crossing without getting my feet run over.

            



Joe VanderWeide Fitness has really become a joke to me. Whenever I get bored playing solitaire (which I do for a solid 8 hours every day) I look at my arms and gut I've developed for a good hearty chuckle/chortle.

            



Lori Dykstra Not a day goes by that I don't trip on the stupid cement blocks that we might otherwise call "sidewalks" on my walk to class.

            



Hanna Silvey I like playing pinball every morning on my walk to class maneuvering and passing the Peruvians.

               Hannah Kwekel I want bacon!!!!!!!!!

            



Jamie Cheeney Sometimes I smile and say "hola" to harmless little kids and other girls. This probably makes me seem like a creeper but I just hate having to look serious or stare at the ground ALL the time.

            



Hannah Kwekel I spend nearly every second of my taxi rides wondering if I should break the awkward silence or not. And then I do. Usually with something stupid about the how busy the roads are or how nice the day is. And then the awkward silence thickens.

            



Emily Strikwerda I often wonder if people who have shirts with English on them know what they actually say…

            



Lindsey Ryskamp Mi mama is always late; when she says "en punto" it still means 15 minutes late.... I know it's part of the culture so I really don't make it an issue, but deep down it drives me absolutely crazyyyy.

            



Lindsey Ryskamp Also, the fotocopiadora (photocopy) system is wacked... and apparently copyrights don't exist in peru???

            



Emily Strikwerda My family probably thinks I'm a pig... I eat SO much.

            



Micah Warners One night I was hungry so I literally ate thirteen granola bars at once...


               Michael Jadrich I went to a clinic and they even charged me for the gloves that the doctor used.

            



Hanna Silvey the mosquitos look like little gnats. It's like they went into stealth mode or something. I can't stop itching.

            



Megan Rozeveld I almost passed out at the gym today: drink water kids. (altitude!)

            



Hannah Damsteegt I actually feel like a giant sometimes haha.

            



Megan Rozeveld Sometimes my digestive system feels so bad I actually want to leave my body.

            



Joe VanderWeide I speak en english a veces (sometimes).

            



Megan Rozeveld I ate an entire box of crackers a few nights ago.

            



Micah Warners My cycle is always messed up.

            



Hannah Kwekel I ate a box of cereal by myself... in two days.

            



Anna Drechsel My mosquito bites are so big they literally feel like tumors...that itch like crazy.

            



Bethany Fennema Sometimes I can't distinguish between healthy skin and bug bites because I have so many of them.

            



Lindsey Ryskamp I really just want a chocolate chip cookie right now.

            



Lori Dykstra The other day I was typing in english and had to use spell check for the word "traditional" because, for the life of me, the only way I could think to spell it was "tradicional" which resulted in a squiggly red underline every time.

            
Hannah Kwekel Walk. Just. A little. Bit. FASTER. (Peruvians walk astoundingly slow)

Clearly, we have our frustrations. More seriously though, yes, there are times when we struggle, when we just barely survive the daily pressures. There are times when issues in the States, a world away, bring us to tears. Sometimes, we are stressed out by the workload that comes with our Spanish classes. Even the Spanish language or culture itself confuses and discourages us. Other times, spending days in bed, in the clinic, or over the toilet eats away at our energy physically, mentally, and even spiritually. Every one of us has had times in which we felt depressed and helpless, times when we just wanted to be home where everything in our lives is much more easy to understand.

Yet, in all of this, we truly are blessed. We aren’t just surviving the days anymore; we are thriving. Even in our struggles. We thrive in our relationships with each other, with our wonderful Peruvian families and friends, with professors, and even with strangers that we encounter when we wander through the city. We thrive in this beautiful language that has begun to feel almost natural as it rolls off our tongues, and in the lively culture and open hospitality that defines Arequipa. Most importantly, we thrive in the everyday challenges, the chances to change and grow in Arequipa. Every day we are presented with opportunities to observe and learn new things, and all at a level I have never before experienced in my life.

Author David I. Smith phrased this idea beautifully in his book, Learning from the Stranger, “If we find ourselves among the privileged, members of a dominant language and culture, used to thinking of ourselves as the center and "foreigners" as oddities at the margins, then Jesus' call to "go and do likewise" has a different ring. Is undertones whisper: humble yourself. Realize your own need of mercy. Realize that God does not choose to live tamely within the circles of belonging that you draw. Learn from those who are of other cultures; God may be at work in them in ways that you desperately need.”

I have discovered so many ways in which I desperately need to “Learn from the Stranger” here in Peru. I think we have all discovered this in some way or another. God has thrown these opportunities in front of us at the most surprising moments.

A beautiful hall in the cathedral Companía

One of these moments occurred during mass in a Catholic cathedral, of all places. Joycita, a Peruvian friend, had brought me to the cathedral to observe the mass with her. As I sat beneath the intricately decorated cathedral ceiling, I noticed long lines of people, whole families, gathering in the side aisles. They were waiting silently to confess their sins to the priests. I knew this catholic practice but had never seen it. I was equally intrigued and humbled. How many of us take the time every week to actively humble ourselves before God and confess specific sins before Him as these Peruvians were doing? Do we actively concentrate on His mercy to forgive and His power to restore our souls every day? I am not always so dedicated, not like these Peruvian Catholics. This was a crucial lesson that I needed to learn in that cathedral.

There are many moments like these for us, moments in which we learn something from the Peruvians that we might not have otherwise learned back at home. Every day, among the craziness, the frustrations, and the triumphs, we are presented with these opportunities to grow mentally and spiritually. We are oh so very blessed by our gracious God! He is “directing our paths” in astonishing ways. Thank you, Lord, for teaching us and for showing us how to thrive here in Peru!

P.S.  If you don’t recognize us when we return because we are “gorditos” (chubby), blame Hispanic World History Class.

~Hannah Marie Kwekel

First empanadas, then churros!!!

  

The Day-to-day

As you can all probably tell by now, we have already had a ton of adventures and excursions here in Peru and each new day always brings about cultural, fun, and eye-opening experiences for every one of us. But let’s not forget that despite it all, we still are Calvin students and yes, that means we actually have to – dare I say it – study! All 22 of us are now officially students at the Universidad Católica San Pablo, one of the three main Catholic universities in the city of Arequipa, and we even have new student ID cards to prove it!

Just to assure you all that we are still managing to focus on our academics here, please allow me to describe a typical day at the university. All of us have our own separate schedules with a variety of different classes, but we are all able to meet once a week in our Peruvian Culture class on Monday mornings, which is taught by Professor Bierling (or Profe, as she is also dearly called by her students). We also take Calvin-specific classes, such as Linguistics and Hispanic World, to fulfill the requirements for our Spanish majors and minors. But perhaps the most challenging, yet rewarding academic experience is the opportunity to direct-enroll in the classes offered here in the UCSP with other Peruvian students! Some of the classes we’re taking include: Theology, Music Appreciation, Art, Analysis of Peruvian Reality, and a whole lot more. These classes are also taught entirely in Spanish and even though the language may create some challenges for us, we actually have a lot less homework than in our Calvin classes and sometimes even no homework for the week! All of the professors are eager to help us if we need it and the direct-enroll classes are a great way to meet other Peruvians and make new friends at the university.

A number of us have classes both in the mornings and during the afternoons and/or nights most of the days of the week. Most of us usually have a couple of hours or so in between to return back home to eat lunch with our families, grab a bite together outside with friends, or stay at the university to socialize and study.

Aside from our classes, we also have many opportunities at the “U” to hang out with each other and our Peruvian friends and to meet new ones.

•Conversation groups: Each one of us is paired up with a UCSP student who is taking English classes at the university. We meet once a week (and sometimes more!) to practice our English and Spanish speaking skills with each other, 30 minutes in each language. These meetings are very relaxed and a great way to socialize while helping each other with our language skills. We can meet at the university, over coffee, or even go out together in a large group to the cine (movie theater).

       

Our conversation partners have become our good friends!

 •Talleres (workshops): We have the opportunity to register for a workshop offered here at the U, which meet regularly at least once a week. Again, this is a wonderful way to interact with the Peruvian students and form lasting friendships, especially over common interests. Some of the workshops we Calvin students are in include volleyball, basketball, Taekwondo, guitar, volunteering, and many more!

Taller de Vole (Volleyball), team "Gringo-Power"

Beautiful smiles:)

•Trabajo voluntario (volunteer work): Many of us also volunteer in a variety of different places and organizations in the city, from schools to hospital clinics to nursing homes.

Some of work with these special children at "La Casa de Unamonos", a school for special needs children.

Anna spent some time working with Operación Sonrisa

•The U also sponsors many cultural events, often free of charge, for the students that we definitely take advantage of. For example, there are many musical concerts here and just this past Monday, we had our afternoon classes canceled to enjoy the Día del Estudiante (Day of the Student) at the campus where there were prizes, music, dancing, a talent competition, and much more!

~ Christine Lim

 

Día del Estudiante (Day of the student) at UCSP!!

Anticucho (Cow hearts) at the Día del Estudiante

Puno and Lake Titicaca

This past week our group had the wonderful opportunity to tour Puno and Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the whole world. Some of the first Incan civilizations were based around the lake for the obvious reason of fresh water. We boarded a boat early Saturday morning for a day long voyage on Lake Titicaca. The lake was a wonderful blue and since it's always sunny in Peru, the sun added for a nice glimmer upon the lake's surface.







Our first stop was after a few hours on a small floating island. The island only had about 20-some inhabitants and was purely man-made. Long ago they discovered a root that could float and this root is used to hold up the entire island.  The island has to be reconstructed about every 3 months to ensure that no one falls through to a wet surprise. The main income of the people there is the tourism and most of their money is used to provide an education on the mainland for their children. Any extra money goes towards extra things like gasoline for fuel.





(above students sampling the reeds used to construct the island-but the white part is eaten by the people as well- there were mixed reactions)

(some students took a boat ride constructed by the island people)

The native children are so cute! (And so is Anna!)

Our next stop was a REAL island. The village was nestled on top of quite a large hill that we had to hike to get to.  Atop the mini-mountain we toured the plaza of the village which included a small place to buy things made by artisans, a restaurant, a church and really not much else. The people here had a unique culture which majorly had to do with what they wore. All women wore shawls and if you were single the pom-pom on the end of your shawl was very big and colorful, if you were married then it was smaller, and if you were widowed there was no pom-pom.  The men wore caps of different color to indicate whether they were single or married. I suppose you wouldn't waste any time flirting with someone who is taken in this society. We took a different way down to the boat which was somehow more beautiful than our journey up, but the natural steps were VERY steep!





That night we went into the village of Puno and enjoyed a nice birthday dinner for Neal where he even got to perform with the dancers that put on a show for us! Along with Neal's spectacular Dutch dancing we saw some traditional dancing.



The next day we had some free time in the village near our hotel where there were more artisans-which we always seem to take full advantage of. We may be Dutch, but these Peruvian women sure do have a way of making us spend! (Maybe that's just me.)




After a nice lunch we boarded the bus which took us to yet another lookout point over the city where there was a slide! Some of us were a little apprehensive since it appeared concrete but we're only in Peru once right!?! So all participated with success and some dirty butts since not all landings were completely smooth. The local people got quite a kick out of us.



Lori and Hannah weren't so lucky to land on their feet.





Our last stop for the trip was to a place that had a lot of chulpas, ancient tombs. While most of them were weathered away, there were several still standing in great shape. The rocks there were really incredible as they were huge, rectangular, volcanic and Andesite. The ancient people had to have carried them all the way up the mountain which must have taken a great amount of man power. It was incredible.







-Megan Rozeveld (And photo credits to Neal Bierling, Michael Jadrich, Emily Strikwerda and myself)

Yes, We Actually Do Go To Class

Greetings to all of our faithful readers out there.

This morning (September 25), I have about four hours of free time, so I decided that this was the opportune moment to go ahead and write my blog entry. I am VERY busy all the time with my school work and studies, so this is a very rare moment for me. I will explain in a bit why I have so much free time this morning.

As you all have probably already read and seen in the pictures, we have gone on many excursions. However, one of our primary tasks here is to be a student. Yes, we actually do go to class.

So, I would like to take the time to talk about the classes that we are all taking at La Universidad Católica San Pablo.

All of us Calvin students are in a class called “Cultura Contemporánea Peruana,” and it is taught by our very own Professor Bierling. We meet once a week in the university, and the topics of the class touch many aspects of the Peruvian culture. For example, before every excursion two classmates give a detailed presentation about the location of the excursion, its history, what to expect, etc. 

In addition, we take the time to journal for this class. It is of course written in Spanish, and it allows us to express our thoughts and feelings; and at the same time we practice our writing in Spanish.

I really enjoy this class. Not only am I learning more about the Peruvian culture, but I am getting to know my classmates more intimately. And that is a beautiful thing.

Another Calvin class (taught by Peruvian Professor Talía Pareja Herrera de Krüger) is a Spanish linguistics class. I believe there are about 10 Calvin students, so the relationship between student and professor is strong and quite visible. The professor clearly loves her job and field of study, for I cannot wipe the smile off of my face when I look into her face as she teaches. She literally oozes joy and happiness.

One of my favorite things of the Spanish linguistics class is creating the “Bitácora.” When making the “Bitácora,” we students have to record our voices in a voice recorder recounting an account that has happened to us. It can cover any topic, so long as we speak in Spanish. In English, the word is “binnacle.” And according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a “binnacle” is “a housing for a ship’s compass and a lamp.” I wonder why the professor chose to name the task of recording our adventures “bitácora” or “binnacle.” Just as a ship needs to safe place to store its compass, so our adventures and feelings need a safe place to be stored as well.

Some of us Calvin students are enrolled in Peruvian classes taught by Peruvian professors. Some of those classes include the following: cine (cinema), la apreciación de la música (music appreciation), teología (theology), el análisis de la realidad peruana (Analysis of the Peruvian Reality), estudio etnográfico (ethnographic study), etc.

Out of the mentioned list of classes, I am currently taking theology, Analysis of the Peruvian Reality, and the ethnographic study.

I have taken a theology class at Calvin, and I am now extremely grateful that I have already taken the course. The theology class at the university is covering a lot of the material that I have previously studied. However, it is going to be a long and hard journey. I find myself struggling to understand the professor sometimes, and that is to be expected. The class is taught in Spanish, and Spanish is my second language. I am still in the process of dominating the language.

In addition, this particular theology class is going to cover the theology of the Catholic faith. I know only the basics of the Catholic faith, so perhaps this class will aid me in widening my horizons and understanding the faith of a different branch of Christianity. 

I have also made some good friends in my theology class. I don’t feel afraid or ashamed to ask them to explain a concept to me that I did not understand. They are understanding and accepting of me, and for that I am proud to call them my friends.

Another direct enrollment class is the Analysis of the Peruvian Reality. We are currently studying the aspects of the Incan empire such as their type of government, the governing techniques, their religion, etc. However, I will admit that this is the class that I struggle with the most. I do not always understand what the professor is saying, but I am will continue to try my best. 

Finally, I am participating in an ethnographic study. I believe that 6 students are participating in their own particular study. Since I am a Secondary K-12 Spanish Education major with an ESL minor, I elected to observe a Peruvian high school. Specifically, I am observing the English learning classroom. At the end of the semester, I would like to present the similarities and differences in the Peruvian language learning classroom in the high school setting verses that of the American language learning classroom in the high school setting.

Every Wednesday, from 9:00 am until 12:00 pm, I go to El Colegio Nacional Arequipa which is a high school for girls only. The experience so far has been positive, and I look forward to forming lasting relationships with the girls and the teacher.

And now, I return to my opening statement. Why did I have so much free time this morning? The answer has to do with the Peruvian culture. Here in Peru, things can happen slowly, spontaneously, without a plan, etc. I arrived at the high school promptly at 9:00 am, and to my surprise I saw many buses lined up along the side of the road and all the girls lined up at the front gate. I knew right away that this was a field trip. I didn’t even have to ask if there was class today, for I knew at that moment that there was no class. Instead of pouting and becoming frustrated, I took the opportunity to simply talk with the girls.

After all the girls left in the buses, I returned to the house at 10 am and found myself with spare time. I don’t have an appointment until 4:00 today. Obviously, this was the time for me to go ahead and write this blog. 

Yes, we are having a good time down here. But yes, I assure you we are always keeping busy being students.

I am quickly going to change the topic here, but while I was writing the ending to this blog post, I experienced my first earth tremor. My desk began to shake, and my bottle of water on my desk almost fell over. It only lasted for about 6 seconds, but I will never forget my first earth tremor!   

  

Setteling in with The Word and the words

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been here for a month already! The intense weeks of orientation are over and our first excursions is behind us. Now we are starting to settle into our weekly routines. Finding a rhythm is good and I think we are starting to learn from consistency as much as from the exciting mini-adventures we have every day.

Part of the consistency that we are working to incorporate into our lives is regular fellowship, worship, and study of God’s word. I believe many of us have been feeling how necessary this commitment is to our spiritual health and personal sanity; but it also seems like the only appropriate way to respond to the blessings and challenges we experience every day.

Within our group of students from Calvin College, we have started four small Bible study groups that meet weekly. The groups meet in the homes of our host families or in various cafes and parks around Arequipa. One group has chosen to study Songs of Songs and Lamentations, another with join with Calvin’s campus in the study of Exodus, the third group decided to study Thessalonians and the final group is hoping to meet soon to choose a book. The consensus among all four seems to be that we want to create a space for open conversations to relate God’s word to our thoughts and feeling, our joys and challenges, here in Peru.

We are also finding ways to live our faith with our Peruvian brothers and sisters. Many students enjoy going to mass with their host families. We are learning about the culture through the Catholic Church in Arequipa but more importantly it’s an opportunity to live deeper into fellowship with our families. Some have even asked to attend churches with us! Many students have found a church to call home at Baptista Fe, a Baptist church in a close-by neighborhood, or in other local congregations. We have received warm welcomes and look forward to opportunities like youth group, small groups, and evangelism events. Opportunities to grow with our Peruvian brothers and sisters in Christ are beautiful and endless so we begin to reach out with excitement to see what God has in store.

Our group has also decided to meet all together once a month to have a time of worship, reading scripture, sharing God-moments, praying for one another, and fellowship. Here are some pictures from our first "Fiesta para Dios" together at the Bierling's apartment. What a blessing!

 One of the challenges we have faced through all of these experiences is learning just how important language is to worship and prayer. Many times we feel unable to express our deepest thoughts in Spanish. We want to keep trying because we want to learn to express our faith and, more importantly, to pray with and for our brothers and sisters in Spanish, here and around the world. But is frustrating at times.

Sometimes we find new truth in the words in a Spanish church service. We even find that in some ways Spanish has words that help us express more than English alone. For example, there are different words for inner beauty and outer beauty – how handy! Or sometimes you need a word that is even stronger than “hunger” or “desire” – Spanish has it!  And sometimes we just fall into Spanish simply because it’s becoming a habit. Yet other times we are relieved by the English words that lift from our hearts in song or prayer. We have decided that our commitment to speak only Spanish can and should be broken when we need more words to express the Spirit’s movement within us. This struggle between our hearts and tongues has resulted in Bible studies, worship, and prayer in our language of choice for faith: Spanglish.
 

Padre nuestro, te damos GRACIAS…  God, we thank you for all of your many blessings, sus bendicios, in our lives here in Peru. For putting in in spaces where we have the chance to grow closer to you with your children, sus hijos. Thank you for your church, su iglesia. But most of all, thank you for your presence with us right now; we are grateful that you hear our prayers in English, Spanish, and Spanglish. Amen.

 

Photo Credit: Neal Bierling - Since he doesn't get to be in the pictures he at least deserves a big thank you for tanking such great photos. Gracias, Neal!

How neat is that? (Thoughts from the 1 month mark)

Hello all! To start, the semester so far has been an adventure. It’s difficult to think that we’ve already been here for one month, it seems like we just arrived yesterday. During this month, our group has seen some very exciting, interesting, and strange things. With some of these things, such as the night sky that we were able to see in the Cañón de Colca, the view of the mountains that can be seen every day from the classrooms, and the things that can’t entirely be captured with our cameras, there are only so many words and expressions that can be used to describe things that somehow manage to escape a complete description. However, to start with some descriptions, it’s easy to notice the differences that exist and to juxtapose the things here with things in the Michigan or the U.S. in general. For example, the stars in the Cañón de Colca have incredible colors of red, blue, and white all the while twinkling with a strength that is muted in Grand Rapids. When only the lights of the city can be seen, the feeling of awe about the strength and number of the stars and the immensity of the night sky is overwhelming. However, questions about the stars aren’t going to be the first thing that pops up in everyone’s mind so I’ll skip to the more exciting topics of food, language, and friends.

One of the amazing views we saw

                Firstly, the food. I still haven’t tried any food that is too strange, but before the end of the semester, my goal is to try cuy. I’m not going to explain what that is because you have a wealth of information available on the internet that is more descriptive than what I can accomplish in this blog post. However, the food that I have eaten during my time in Arequipa is not that strange or different than the food in the U.S.  In my family, the breakfast normally consists of a plate of bread with butter, a fruit such as pear, peach, or orange, and probably a type of oatmeal or other light snack. With my lunch, I’ll have a plate of rice, potatoes (fried or with soup), and a section of meat, all of which is preceded by either a light soup or a small piece of corn. For supper, the plate is generally the same, but the meat may be different or there will be a different type of soup.

Happy Birthday Mike (and the seven other people not shown)

                Secondly, the language. At times, it seems as though I haven’t learned anything or improved in my ability to speak the language (despite the fact that all of our conversations are in Spanish, with the occasional word or phrase in English). During a normal day, there may be times when I can’t understand because it was spoken too fast or the words were foreign too me. Very quickly in the beginning of the semester, I learned that it is not a bad thing to ask someone if they could slow down a bit or if they could rephrase that sentence. However, my current limitations in the language aren’t too bothersome or worrying considering that we’ll be here for three more months, which is plenty of time to improve significantly. As my Peruvian father and many of my Peruvian friends enjoy saying, "tranquilo, poco a poco." 

                Thirdly, friends. With this trip, we are very blessed to have an excellent group of people. All of the people in the group have a special place in my heart and I can’t imagine my trip here if any of them had not come along. Also, in the university, I have gotten to know quite a few of the students quite well and I am extremely thankful for the opportunity to develop my relationships with friends from the university, inadvertently helping me with the language as well as helping me get to know a little about the Peruvian culture and the lifestyle of a Peruvian student. En las dos areas, of friends both Peruvian and from the Calvin group, the blessings are enormous and I cannot express completely the extent of my thankfulness to have the group of friends that I have this semester.

Going down to the hot springs

                In total, this semester has been most exciting and I am eager to see what the rest of the semester has in store for our group. Thanks so much to all of the families in Michigan and elsewhere for all of the support that you all have given us in the form of letters, prayers, and skype calls. It is all needed and appreciated very much! Entonces, necesito terminar este blog post pero hasta luego y chau! (Enjoy the small language challenge, I recommend that you use something other than Google Translate to solve that pequeño puzzle)

Cañon Del Colca!!!

Sometimes there are just no words.  Sometimes there are things which we see, which we experience, to which words can do incredibly little justice.  Even pictures, I’ve been coming to realize, show incredibly little of the full picture, almost nothing of the smells, the atmosphere, the full surroundings.  The past two days we spent on an excursion to a canyon about five hours from Arequipa and I’ve just felt repeatedly in awe.  In awe of the sights we’ve seen, in awe of the power around us.  It has been an amazing experience but over and over I was simply silenced by the majesty of God’s creation.
 We set off at around eight o-clock on Friday morning, leaving a already busy Arequipa to the Peruvian countryside.  Our trip included a few interesting things of note. 1. A quick stop to take pictures of vicuñas, a animal sort-off like a small deer, a stop which ended in a snowball fight.  2. More stops for llama and alpaca, at times they seemed to graze together by the hundreds. My little sister would absolutely adore them.  3. Another stop at a local coffee shop, where we sipped on very authentic coca tea.  Not quite sure what sort of leafy materials we were drinking, but a very interesting experience.  4.  A climb in altitude to a lookout at about 16,000 feet, after which we descended to our hotel and dinner (never had eaten alpaca before), another hour or so away.
Impossible to describe the whole weekend, and so I want to attempt to describe two moments, one friday and one saturday.  I apologize because there is no possible way to begin to describe in words or pictures the full experience, but I am going to try as much as I can.  Our destination friday was a hotel in the Colca valley.  Nestled in the Andean Mountains, the valley included a few small villages and a lot of local agriculture, all still functioning since even before the Incas. Nestled maybe isn’t the best word to describe this valley, it is absolutely enormous.  It spans miles across, including various small villages and a huge amount of agriculture (see picture!).  

After a short hike and an evening well spent at local hot springs on Friday, a large group of us went for a walk outside our hotel.  Darkness had fallen as we left our hotel for a walk down an old gravel road down the valley.  I have never seen stars like that Friday night.  So bright, so many, a single whispy cloud streaking across the sky. Here we are, the Andean mountains surrounding us, feeling so incredibly small at the vastness of God’s creation around us.  But I think what we found most profound was not the stars nor the mountains.  A small group of five of us went a bit farther ahead than the big group we were with down the gravel valley road.  We were walking downhill, and dipped down farther into the valley.  We got far enough ahead that we couldn’t hear the group behind us, and so we stopped just to take in our surroundings.  We fell silent and just listened.  The next three minutes were amazing.  Never have I heard a silence so profound.  The valley, the mountains, the stars.  And the silence. Just absolute silence.  By the moonlight I looked around at my four friends, seeing tears rolling down two of my friends’ faces.  I don’t know how to describe this moment further, but powerful only begins to describe what we felt.  Something bigger, something greater, something so incredibly vivid.  We walked a bit further down the valley and spent the next half hour laying out under the stars, just in awe of the power around us.

The next morning we got up and drove an hour and a half up the side of the valley (yes, the many steep drops tested my fear of heights) to view the Colca Canyon.  This third most visited tourist destination in Peru is the deepest canyon in the world, over 13,000 feet deep.  A river runs down the basin, and Andean condors are a major attraction.  These near-threatened birds can have wingspans up to 10 feet, and we were lucky enough to see them soar majestically through the canyon.  We spent a few hours just trying to take it all in.  The valley is incredible.  So incredibly big, so incredibly grand, so incredibly stunning.  Feeling so small, so humbled at the creation around us.  I just felt so powerless.  How do I even begin to soak it all in?  How can I even begin to respond?  But we ended the excursion as a group together, just worshipping our Lord and Savior.  Sitting on rocks overlooking the canyon, we simply sang together, and it was the perfect response to our weekend.  What a better culmination to the trip than just to adore the creator, the creator of the Andean mountains, the creator of Colca canyon, the creator of the silence we had felt so vividly.  And the creator of us!  A God this big took the time to handcraft each one of us.  And as I sat overlooking the canyon, singing to the creator, I realized there wasn’t much more I could do.  I can’t begin to describe the canyon.  I can’t begin to take enough pictures. And I definitely can’t begin to explain why a God this enormous created and loves each one of us.  But I can worship, worship the creator.  No better way to respond than that.

Alpaca!

Oops...

Profe no quería juntar :)

No!!

El grupo!

Ps. Thanks for many of the photos, Emily, Emily and Lindsey!