Road Accedents

Here in Peru ar e agiven. There are little to no rules of the road, well at least they are not enforced. For instance, a 2 lane road is really a 4 or 5 lane road. And yes a sidewalk is considered a lane. Everytime I get on public bus, 2-3 times a weeks, I like to assumethe worst. Calms me down, and carnage never happens. Go big and be relived/supprised when nothing happens, that´s what I say. HA!

I´ve see som FUCKED UP bus accedents here. Last wednesday a double decker bus turned into another resulting in a T-Bone passenger side of the bus turning. I don´t know a body count but it was bad. The bus hit was compleatly abbliterated on the impacted side. FIRE. Screeming. The whole shabang. Scary stuff.

Right, on a smallr scale. Monday I set off to Lima, par normal. My bus rearends another bus at a stop to ppickup people. Not huge, probobly nothing. WRONG! We look back and the bus is on fire. Panic insues; people and babies screaming, everyone is up and pushing, yelling, jumping through windows. Of course yelling is of no help. Clearly everyone does NOT want to be burned or exploded and trying to push one mass through a tiny door?- no good.

It´s not so dramatic but most people here don´t know how to drive or anything about cars. The engine and gas is all forward and the fire is small. All ends well, we ´escape´ unscathed! A couple of up scoop sand on the fire to put it out and then head off to another bus. The end!

This same day at the tattoo studeo in Miraflores I get a HUGE F´ing piece done. 6 hours laying on a table. My ink goes back of mid thigh down across the back of my knee and halfway down my calf. My artist there, Javier, is a GOD! He can put any photo in your skin, a perfect copie. My left leg, backside, is now a Javier gallery tribute. 3 masks all the way down mi leg. feliz! ps. behignd the knee is a bitch, holly crap! Wont be doing that again for a while.

Also, I´m on my way home. Arriveing June 23rd. If anyone is going up to San Juan island arround then I´ld love ya for ever. Bing y besos,

Emi

Everyday

 in Peru I learn a new thing. This is wonderful. I truely belive that how we approach knowlage should define how we live our lives.

Yesterday I learned how to tattoo. I can see where it could be difficult for many but I found it simelar to welding. Not that welding is easy by anymeans.  And, as in welding, I look forward to practacing to getter down!!! Baller, I´m getting my system and machine on Tuesday. Neet :)

I have my system now and have started the fun times. It´s REALLY great to not have to schedual tattoos or travel to figgen Lime (2hrs via bus) to get inked. Just head to the back room in my house and off we go!!! I´ve chosen my feet as practice matirial. Mybe i´ll buy socks now, or not wear them at all. I´ve put a star, a tree, and a turnip on my left foot.

Also saw the new Pirates of the Carabian in Cini last night. In spanish and i´ll tell ya what: thank god my spanish has improved. HOT!! Although I do crave the Depp, I shall search for this film with not being dubbed into spanish.

In other news, I got engaged. Neat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (who´da´thunk)

Fun Time in Taxi, Again

Last night at 12am ish on my way back from getting inked I hopped into a cab for Lima center. The driver was a stout old man, maybe in his mid 50´s. The ride to my destination is 15min and the entire way he sung loud and clear meledies from A West Side Story. If you listioned carefully he´s not saying anything but his ocillations and tones where spot on. You know you´re safe when . . .

I also went on a legitimate date. Like food and drinks and a walk home. Wow, I don´t think i´ve ever done it the traditional way. Cool. Cross it off the bucket list. We´re going to the movies on Saturday.

And, who can say they´ve cross dressed with their 17 year old Peruvian brother? ME!!

Mamacita y Flaca

Sexy/beautiful and skinny girl, I can live with that. It´´s really neet to be called these names. Although is has been difficult to part with ´Gringa´I think I´ll live, tee hee. Actualy this is the first time in my life that i´m skinny and beautiful, cool, gush.  I´ve boughten myself booty shorts for the first time too. Very unlike me, i know, but they give my tat artists a perfect boarder line. And because my legs are officialy canvas, I feel comfortable wearing shorts. This is good.

A group of friends and I went to a park of fountians in center of Lima Saturday. We went at night when everything i lit up. Lovely. Some of the fountians are big arcs of water that you can walk under, other you can play in. The big fountian at the center has a water , music, and light show at 9pm. Fantastic! The show perjected like a computer, ballarinas danced in light IN the water. Very cool effects. Two parks are connected by an underground tunnel that goes under the street. Inside is information about the water system in Peru and how the park is able to continue without damage. Also a lot of emphasis on clean water efforts and water conservation. Like a museum. I´ld like to go back in the day sometime to play. It´s officialy winter here and FUCKING cold (I know for you washingtonions I shouldn´t bitch but hey, I don´t have a swetter). If I want to play in the water i´m gunna need some sun, and thank you please.
If you are interested in seeing my latesed beauty of 5hours long, look up Javier Vladimir Campos Alvarado on the Facebook. He is one of my artists in Lima. REALLY incredible work. He does portrates and realism. His Tattoos look like paintings or photos on skin. Also he put my leg as his home page pic, which is an honor. heres a link. . .

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/javiervladimir.camposalvarado

Panties

Right, here´s why it is wise to ware underware. Due to a lack of toilet paper here in Peru, and the incificiantcy of the shake dry, my jeans will inevitably smell like pee faster than when using paper. I´ve decided to not smell like urin as much and bite the bulette and ware panties.

In other news,my friends and i may be going to a water park thins weekend. This will essentialy be my first real tourist activity since being here for three months. Quite excited although it is getting quite cold here in the evenings. I shall run through fountans dispite the cold and be a man.

There are other things happening but I don´t want to jinx anything so i´ll not mention those till later on. well then. Good day.

Bing.

Jobless

And suffering from boardom. My schedual as of last week and this is now: tattoo day, help in the kitchen day, gym day. Tattoo, kitchen, gym, tattoo, kitchen, gym. Fun times but i REALLY miss working at the factory.

That job came to a close 2 weeks ago and my group moved to another factory close to Lima. I would have loved to continue with them but get this. . .no girls aloud in that factory. Go figure eh? It´s interesting to be aware of being a woman every day. Stares, whistleing, rules. And shockingly I don´t feel seperat when i´m at the gym. I was quite supprised when i first started attending that there wasn´t a lot of staring and good communication about sharing the equiptment.

Yesterday I was off to the gym and on my way i noteced a HUGE cloud of black smoke towering up through the nieghborhood. Re routing my direction to investigat i found that 4 houses had been burnt to the ground and people where still trying to put out the fire. I was supprised to see hundreds of people just standing arround, some even with empty buckets. I grabed a 5 gallen bucket from a man and started filling is with sand running up to the location of the fire and doucing flames. Another man saw what i was doing and hoped in my line of direction to do the second half with the bucket. He also had a bucket so now we where a good system of two backets i fill and run, he pours. Quite exciting!!

It was an emotional expereance for me because that shit is scary. A gas explosion is how it started and naturally the fire spred to the other houses. Their houses are made of plastic, cheep wood, and often roofs of dryed corn husks. Many screems and crys of pain, stuned faces; truely a devistating accurance. No person or animal was injured but everything inside, all possesions and now part of the sand. I don´t know how one recovers from something like that with no money and no insurance.

In other news,  I sent in my first of two visa applications to the embassy. This is a first for me and i´m head nothing but negative feedback from people pertaining to the impossibilitys. But personally i don´t like people like that who´ld rather sit at home and dwell on imposssibilities. If you don´t TRY you´ll never go anywhere. Even if the outcome is failure it´s NOT failure at all because one moved in a forward direction. STOP inhabilitating ourselves people!

Discovering Crist and Public Transit

For those of you unawarez---it´s easter. We´ve had the whole week off and I´ve had nothing but fish all week. I´ve asked what the deal is and all i get is that it´s for crist, and if your´re catholic you eat fish. But today I decided to use my college education and well traveled mind with the help of interwebs and investigat. The search was by no means difficult. Google is the home page on this comuter and it turns out that this easter business is pretty globle. Whoda thunk. ps. I´m not this thick just it´s all out of context ya know.

I have been in Lima for the past few days getting tattoed in Mirafloures. This is my first time to visit this section of Lima and WOW!!! It´s almost like Seattle. Supper clean, lots of activities, and GREAT public transportation. Kind of a culture shock in the street signs and lack of sand alone. After a bit of walking and taking it in, a felt like i was taking a visit to the states and what a great break.

The studio i´´m hangen out in these days is really like the states. Supper relaxed people, nice, and VERY talented artests and tattooests. There is also a visiting artisted from get this, Victoria BC. He´s been here 10 days and has very little spanish. This is fun because now i´m the translator and have found proof that I actualy DO speek spanish, few. It´s fun translating for him and chatting with his coworkers. It´s nice to feel relaxed and safe with compleat strangers for the first time in a while. I do trust the people i´m with here in the sticks but it´s still a REALLY poor area of Peru and ya kinda have to always have a shiled up of sorts. Also the conversations are different with people who have attended school.

I am filling up my left thigh with color tattoos and my left with black and white. I was trying to think about focasing on a theme or something organized, looking for patterns in what i already have. Here it is: The right more visualy aggressive and bold. Part of this is the realism of the style and part is the images.

The left is pictures of animals witch at first are cute but on closer examination, they are skellitons. The style is symple and the lines are perfect. I´m REALLY happy how the ink is holding up. And if I put my legs together, tee hee, it looks like my wolf is eating my fish. I love unplaned ´it was ment to happen´ ´what will be will be´type of things. Live your life that way and you´re bound to learn more :)

TRansit: They´ve got this buss system that is great! You buy a rechargable bus card and symply swipe it upon entree. Not unlike our Orca cards in Seattle. The bus goes direct to center of Lima city and over to Mirafloures, probobly more but i have not ridden more. People have been supper helpfull with my sort of lostness on this bus. Feliz!! Fun times meeting new strengers. Sigh. AND Lima is bigger than NYC by the by. I think I get bawlzie points for navigating alone AND in a different language. Prostitutes, killers, and normal folks lookout. (Well I might have madeout with my hot cab driver because my cab fair fell out of my pocket at some point in the evening. When it´s 12am at night I´m all for avoiding conflict)

The whole thing is a good reminder that even though i´m still an islander and fall easly into the safty of small communities, I am perfectly capible of fearless glob trotting elseware.

Well done Gringa!

The Pros and Cons of Double Bra´ing

When I work I perfer to wear two bras. One classic to seporate the tatas and a sports bra for compression. The positives of this syestem is 100% securedy. Definatly keeps the twins out of they way of my manly endevors at the ´ol factory. The comprimise for this system is that I get two little chaiffing holes where the wire bra rubs on my skin. At lease it´s symetrical eh¿?

In other news: I spent the night at the factory yesterday with all the dirty boys. Fun times!! It was the most relaxing night I´ve had in Peru yet. Most people were asleep by 9:30pm or 10pm. Really quiet, no light pollution.

After work everyone goes to bath in communal showers (not me of course). I bathed in a privated shower in the office. At the end of they day we´re all covered in coal dust and grease. The best way to clean this business in with laundry deturgent btw. It´s the perfect balance of exfoliation, clean, and warmth (it´s strong stuff en all). My skin is improving, less aceny, smoother in general. Probobly because i´m killing everything with detergent but hey, it works. Apply lotion after to frevent drying.

The beds in the factory are made of corn stalks covered in fabric, witch are supprisingly comfortable. I slept in the room with all the welders from my group. The young´ens and I were up later chatting away. All in one bed, classic slumber party style. While the elders watched a novela on the tube.

This weekend I´m off to Lima for the weding of the brother of my friend Grissel. Should be fun. It also happends to be the football soccer classic between two HUGE rival teams here in Lima. I wanted to go with my bddys from the factory but i´ve got this wedding to attend. I´ll were a dress.

As the Weather Changes

It´s starting to get cold here. Hard to belive that i´m wearing a sweatshirt at work, welding; and needed an extra blanket last week. With the climate change comes, a shit ton of bugs (that´s a lot). Many mesquito bites, bless it, and ants (they also bite).

Today is election day! Tones of energy here lots of people on the bus going to their elotted votting spot. Lots of purple fingers. It feels good to see the exccitment. But I still question why people think I´m going to vote. Hummmm. Must be those half days in school their entire lives.

Update from the factory is: Might have blown up the other day because of classic Peruvian machismo-ism and punched somone in the face. Well the message was gotten and I´m slowly becoming more a part of the club. Sadly violence creates positive outcomes :(. It´s really hard to see how terribly the men here treat their women. Litteraly I´ve heard, "You wait. You´re a woman and lower." It goes both ways i guess. The women recognize the whisleing, comments, and general treatments are bad but do nothing. Say nothing. It´s as if the women here have never been exposed to the concept of strong women, or equal rights. I´m starting to undersatand why most beoble find me funny. I´m way out of the box hear, Just in my work not counting my endless bad language and rude habits :)

On the BM (body modification. I know bowel movement is fun to say Weez but no :) front: I´ve descovered a great, rather large, groups of body artists in Lima. They are professional is the cleanlyness department, etc. and they offer all that is glory. Tee hee. This means: tattoos, skin removal, branding, implants, and susspention. My new buddies really admire my art. They think it´s very uniqu, which I appriciat vastly. It´s a realife to be within a community that is accepting and comfortable with these kinds of things. It´s nice to be touched and not feel fear or disgust from a person. Right so details. . . I´ve started getting a big doberman pincher tattooed on my thigh next to my pistol. My first session wat this saturday and I´ll go back next weekend for round two. My body gets inflamed easaly and it´s difficult for the ink to hold when the tissue is irretated. Fun times. The only quames I have is the drugs.

Saturday while getting inked was my first time to witness in live time people snorting coke. The good thing is the atmosphere is not as we see in the films but more a feel of people casualy smoking a joint. No pressure to do it, etc. Few, WAY glad it´s not excessive and they respect my choices to not sniff powder up my nose. I am adding this experience to my life list. Check!

Que mas¿? My family is good. I´ve started sneeking them money in the form of bread, eggs, butter, and chocolate milk. They know but we all keep it under wraps. They new pappy, a yellow lab/delmation mix is shitting in front of my door less. I´ve also gotten smarter about checking with my headlamp before i step out to pee in the morning. Her name is Nervana. Adorible^3.

BING!

The Price of Eggs has Gone Up

At the cornner story kitty corner to my house. That´s probobly the biggest news on the block.

In bigger news, the presidential election aqui in on the 10th. Almost all building/houses are painted with names. It´s really interesting to follow because they have many parties as opposed to our system. Checking out stats of the candidates is difficult to vissualise. I guess if I had a better idea of the population here that would help.

Also, most liquids come in thin plastic bags. My personal favorites: Quacker(deluted oat meal/quienoa with clove and cinnimon and f-ton of sugar), Chocolate milk, and Pepsi. My new brest feeding habbits my cause my teeth to fall out due to the sugar. Dang it.

I´m Pregnate

She told me. I had sex without a condom and I´ve missed my period, we were really drunk when we did it. She´s crying because she´s a single mom already with two daughters and can not afford another kid. My friend is 23 years old.

I am not afraid of anything but if anything, her situation terrifies me. She needs my help finacialy to go to a clinic and resolve the proplem. This is a whole new world for me, emotionaly, language wise, and I have NO idea how to find a clinic for this kind of thing.

At this point I´ve assumed we are looking for an abortion clinic. We get on a bus and head up to a smaller city about a hour away. She knows where we´re going so i´m just following, trying to keep my cool. This clinic seems to be a family clinic; small with a few families in the waiting room. It´s clean and there is a bottled water dispencer in the cornner. She takes her ticket number and we wait.

It turns out she only wants to get a blood test to really see if she´s pregnate or not. Her test comes back negative. I´m SO SO SO glad this is the case. After the clinic we decide to wander the city, get some lunch, etc. All in all it´s turned into a beautiful day but I tell you what, it nefinatly makes me NEVER was to be in her shoes.

Frogger

As I dodge cars going both directions, three lanes wide on a two lane highway, I think, ´´ How bawlsy am I¿?´ I´m trying to catch a bus after work during rush hour in a new town, far more populated than my normal factory. Fast times in Puente Piedra I say and WELL WORTH the hour standing up listening to salsa and people watching at S/2:50. 

I´m welding at my bosses house this week because he has all the steel parts for our projects there. It´s more fun because it´s a smaller group of welders and his family lives there on the upper floor. His youngest daughter is a jem. The first time I saw her  she had the biggest smile ever. When her Dad said that I was a welder, her eyes nearly poped out of that little 8 year old skull of her´s. I´ll have to describe the look as admeration. She spends most of her time after school hanging out with me, helping mark stuff or ask me questions like. . .8x3=¿? and so on.

In other news. . .did I cover my B-Day¿? Think not. I selebrated it on the Saturday before because I have work on Monday, Tues. . . I went to the disco techa with a handful of friends and I was officialy brocken into sirio fiestas. We went out all dolled up at 11pm and got home at 6:30am. This is standard here but I tell you what, that´s a late mother f´ing night. Pitchers here are smaller and you share one glass with your group. In a circle, one pours a glass and passes the pitcher or bottle to the next person; salud. Pisco shots. Miledly tankered. Danced for hours. FELIZ!! And definatly had a hicky the next day. . . (during dancing, nada mas btw)

This hicky caused quite a ruckesss in the ´ol factory on Monday I tell you what. On your birthday in my group the boss buys the beer at luch and, In the traditional, Shareing is Caring fasion, we pass the bottles arround. Cute, group bonding but difficult to return to welding a bit tipsi. Note to self: Evers (Eber) birthday is next and do find a was to pass. Thanx.

I´m going to watch Kick Ass in Spanish now and eat fish. Thanx.

Night Time Follies

Right-o! Friday night at the factory I´m working right along welding away. Many people are running saw dust up and down stairs feeding a MASSIVELY UNTAIMED fire below me. They are cooking the bricks and let me just say how interesting that is. I´m sure the system could be impruved but the people are happy. It´s crazy to see fire like that and relize that the day befor I was IN that oven. I´ve never seen fire like that before, NEAT!

Now back to me(thanx Oldspice): So I´m welding along and all of a sudden my mask is failing me. FUCK! I think, the soler panal has cracked but it has not been a problem yet. I take the mask off and with furrowed(that´s for ms. tess tess) brow ponder the problem. . .

Emi sirio¿? There´s NO SUN gir!!! And your mask is SOLER POWERED! As is I´ve lost track of time and it´s 8:30 PM. My work is normaly over at 6pm. I look arround and all the people feeding the oven are new; they are the night shift for´brick baking. Can´t belive no one told me the time but I´m having a blast doing high intencity welding. This is important for my heart.

 The boys are working realy HARD. Like a shit ton of steps, and did I mention we´re on a giant oven¿? HOT BABY!!!! The boys are passing round sweet buns, cola, and taquila. For my team, things are winding down, shoot´en the shit etc. My buddy Ever(Eber pronounced) jokes with me that it´s late and I should just sleep at the factory with everyone else, ´´It´s no problem Emi. You can share my bed with me.´´ Ha ha. Uh, no :)


*one day i´ll figure out the putting of fotos on this. . .

Difficult Decisions

Right, so I´ve got HUGE flea bites on my legs that I have officialy itched to a borderline infected state. The cause: Scooby. This is the pet dog of the Phlukers, family i live with, and me and this dog are in LOVE! Essentialy this means he follows me everywhere and is my sid-kick. Although he is scared of most other dogs and the ocean, he pretends not to be feared by standing at the water´s edge; for example.

So I have fleas because in the morning I awake to find myself spooning with the Scoob :) It´s REALY nice and I don´t want to give it up but these bites are re-donk-a-donk itchy!

In other news. . I hit my burned thumb with a mini sledge hammer yesterday and now the wound is open for bactirial bussines! The plot thickens. Looks pretty good, not infected, definatly sore now and difficult to bend. Cute.

Also I think the factory is cooking off it´s first batch of bricks on Saturday. All the welder, me too, have moved up up up to the roof of the oven and are madly working to connect all moving machines that help the oven function. FUN!! Crawling arround in square tube/chambers that lead downword to vast cooling tanks, welding. . . WOWZA BABY! We´re also working till 8pm now witch means I´m going to bed so I can make my 4:45am alarm :)

Besos. . .sorry, no shower.

Oxyacetylene Run-in

Often, when welding, it is faster to cut your metal with an oxyacetylene  torch. Essentialy mixing the propper ratios of oxygen and acetylene gases gives you a flame that burns at about 6, 330 degrees F.

On Wednesday at the ´ol factory we were lacking electricity and therefore there was no welding to be had. I cut metal pieces all day. Mostly small bits of rebar that I will eventualy form into roof trusses for airplane hanger type buildings. Definately a teidious and time consuming business.

So I´m cutting right along and have just finished 119 peices of rebar about 5´´ long. I notice a ONE stray rebar peice of to the left of me and THEN. . .I reached for the rebar with my left hand, passing through a WOPPING 6,330 degree cutting tourch. Nice job Emily!!

The good news is that I learned a new ´trick of the traid´with burns witch is to put grese or oil on the affected area imidiatly to avaid blistering. This method is SHOCKINGLY affective. My thumb has been a trooper, taking the biggest hit. Absolutly NO feeling in that one what so ever. Also, visualy NOT the prettyest thing, although I´ve see worser. My other fingers escaped with much less damage, the middle sustaining the most of it. Definatly no more hair on my hand and now I think I´ll need gloves, at least until they heal up a bit.

IN OTHER NEWS: MY house mate Grissel who works in the resterant, that is the house I live in, opens caned food with a knife. I bought her a can opener esterday and she was excited to recive a gift but asked´, ´Will you show me how it works¿? Lesson: it´s the simple things that we ofted forget that are most important. Thank you gooroo Emily.

Worked the beach today. Saturday it was closed off for Tsunami warning stuff. According to residants and the news, the wave arrived at arround 1am Saturday coming ashore about 15meters. Today, the beach is geograficly differant. The water is MUCH higher up and MUCH more rambunctious. There seems to be no change/damage on shore. Work goes about as usual; launch people in kayaks, explain the form, and recive. Neet!

Lunch Time Follies

Arm wressling at lunch yesterday in the ol factory and generaly shootén the shit with the boys. I thought I would teach my buddy Alex about leg wresling; ya know, cuz we arm wresling en all. Trying to explain how to leg wrisle is difficult in english, in spanish, i tried the draw and deminstate method.

A stick drawing of leg wresleing is actualy a ´how to´ on the sexual possision 69´ing. LOADS of laughing and shouting in the caffetirea. she trys again; I lay down on the flood and try to demonstrate and of course make my effort worse. Only girl in the factory, white, laying on the floor with a bunch of peruvian boys overhead. . . not the most convinching stratagy.

In closeure, I DID NOT explain leg wresling but I did enjoy a SERIOUS laugh! Done and done!

Living Flashdance!!!!!

I´ve gotten myself a new job as a welder in a BRICK factory!!! Essentialy this is a wet dream for me. If you know of my deeply passionate relationship with ´mi blokies´ you´ll understand. On TOP of that being a REAL welder is incredible!!!!

I work Monday to Friday, ten hours a day. The factory, Kallpa, is about a 30min bus/carpool away from where I´m living. My bus leaves at 6am and gets me home at 7:30pm. Long day let me tell ya, but being exahsted is helpfull for that sleeping.

Kallpa is brand new and still under construction. I´m welding componants for BIG ASS machines used  for sorting, sifting, crushing, mixing, and outputting componants of bricks. I have a lot of independance. My boss lets me know the project and I fabricate and weld. He checks in every so often. Supprisingly the language berrier is minamal. The other welders are really great. There are six of us at various locations around the factory and we are all pretty seperate in our tasks, getting together for lunch at noon.  O! And one kid, 18yrs, who is our token painter/grinder. The boys call him Flaco witch means skinny boy; I asked his real name the other day, Adrian.

Right, more hillarious is that I´m pretty sure I´m the first girl they´ve ever seen on a job site, ever. The first couple of days there was a lot of double takes. ´Mujere!¿ Gringa!¿´  Tee hee, glad to be that person for them. Also, a friend of mine from last year works there too. He works driving tractors. He has informed the employees on Kallpa of my ambitious working habbets and my history of block laying. One day they pulled me asside and up top of a new building in progress, speeking rapidly and not understanding I went with them. Turns out they wanted me to prove that I could lay bricks. Easy. The men were shocked, as in taking pictures with their phones, neat! At any rate, I´m slowly becoming a part of that world, and it´s fun :)

I came bake from the beach early today because I need to go to the movies! HA! I walk up to my house and BLASTING, as in can´t hear a dame thing, What a Feeling from the movie Flashdance!!!!! Seriously, you CAN do it ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I´m Open to a LOT of New Things But. . .

Definatly have no interest in eating chicken feet every day in my soup. I hummored it for a while and I´m done. Lo siento. And. . . not sure yet if this is a culteral norm or just the fun and interesting people i draw into my life but I also will NOT pop zits on other people. Lo siento.


Today was my first full 7am-7pm shift with the kayak people. Way fun and a shit-ton of work! First off we haul 6 2X guetto kayaks on a cart with weels about 3/4  of a mile. Then to be drug accross the sand and unloaded. They´re really busy the whole day! My job is to drag boats up after a session and to launch people. Explain how to kayak (in Spanish) and the rules. Neat!! And to close: clean all boats, pack up PFD´s, paddles, and huff the boats up hill the 3/4 mile. So happy to play poney and show off mi muscules :)

Ok, tired and plastering the inside of a neighbors house tomorrow at 7:30am.

Besos

Lets be Honest Here,

We all talk to ourselves now and again. Those of use who live solo more so than others I think. Last year in Peru it was really neat to learn spanish through emersion, but there was always lots of American volenteers to speek engish with. NOw i´m the only english speeker arround and I tell you what; I´ve never talked so much to myself in my entire life. Whitch is saying something.


In more EXCITING news: I got myself a real job. And get this: It´s in a BRICK factory as a welder!! Neat!! Blokes and welding, just a little HOT SEX sandwitch if I do say so (and I do). I went yesterday for my first day and negotiations. Pretty sure I´m the first girl the other male employees have ever seen on the job site. Not to mention that I´m white. The double takes we hella entertaining.  The work is Monday - Friday, 8am-6pm, and lunch in included :) Mostly a wet dream for me because if I were in seattle i´ld be in a boat yard. In Peru I´m in a factory that´s under construction because it´s new ie: the welding projects a BIG and way interesting. Ex: I´m making parts for a huge ass machine that transports massive numbers of wet bricks to the oven. The welding team is about 7 people and from what I can tell we´ll all be in small groups working on verious projects. Sigh, what a life¿?

AND!! I have a job on the weekends at a kayaking busines with a other friends. Saturday and sunday I´ll  be playing at the beach for cash :)

All I can say is THANK GOD for Ken at CSR marine in Ballarg for teaching me the ways of welding without holding my hand. With giving me real projects and a new view on working environments. And of course Me´ Rome for letting me weld-in partitions in the building in Africa almost on my own. Experiance is worth HOURS more that a classroom. AND AMEN TO THAT BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cool Beans

The Sand Becomes Lovely

Yesterday was my first day at the center and I think we may have to make it a part time job thang. They have it pretty set up there. Volenteer parents for child care, a cook in the kitchen, karate/dance/beading classes, and extra curiculars like Bolly(volly ball) and soccer. Neat! I´m going to start the Peruvian version of curves. If you´re gunna have classes for the chitlins, you might as well have classes for the moms who stay at home all day. The rub: getting women here to exercise. . .

In other news on the job front, I´ve got a job helping a family finish their house. They are really great people; dad works and mom tells him what to buy and where to put it in the house. Literaly, she stays at home all day and designs her own house. Delegater, Cool!

Went to the beach where my host brother works for a kayak company that another friend, Haite, ownes. I ended up kayaking for about an our and a half all the way out out out past the mainland points of the bay. It was beautiful! Interesting crabs on shore, huge swells, open ocean, and sunshine dust. When we finaly returned, the kid I was with had a bike that he borrowed me, a fixie, I know, but a BIKE!!!!! He said it was no prob to ride the bike home; so I did. Here´sthe deal: If you try and ride your bike up hill in the sand in Peru you WILL FALL and cut your knee open on a dirty something and cause a commotion with the nieghbors. Definatly the perfect ´´Gringa´´ move. Woops. The mother of a friend instisted on cleaning up my mess and feeding me some sort of pudding relative.

THE END 

DENDRITAS

There is absolutly no reson why I should be struggling with three languages right now. Mostly because I really only speek one but I tell ya, I can NOT shake my small sesotho. Ing¿ Que¿ What¿ I´ve been catching up with a lot of people, witch is great but I really feel like my head is gunna blow! But on the plus side i´m learning a fricken language and my cussing has sugnificantly dissolved. I got nada.

Yesterday morning was full of total tamales with onions and bread and tea and most importantly a great family. Then off to the market where we ran about in the labyrenth of ´" un sol un sol un sol!!!!!!!!" and came back on the most packed bus i´ve ever been in with close to 300lb of fish, octopus, potatos, green things, and tomatos. Right on food!!!

Then, off to the hair saloon at 5pm with Eleazar and Edwardo. The barber was an aspireing drag queen and i only wish my lovelies in seattle could have been here to help! Where are you Thom-nus¿

And here i am, monday, listioning to Malue tell me about the world as if i understand everything she´s saying :)

Hasta

ps, LISA and BRION, Leonardo has a brand spankén new brother named Mateo! Photos to come.

RESPORATOR¿?

Ok I have forgotten how costic Lima is. The drive to San Francisco de Asis was slightly dificult because of that dame Lima smoggedge! But here I am in the desert and HAPPY!

When Erica said I would have my own house, I assumed that it would be a small, one room, cardboard casita. Wrong. Her mom has given me a real house made of bricks, painted yellow. It is a two bed, one bath streight up house. The problem is I´m a pansy and it´s too big for a hobbit such as myself :) Therefore I´m living with the Flukers right now and couldn´t be more enjoying.

It´s a big family with limitless love and caring. Mama y papa y 3 sons, 1 five year old daughter (who is my bestie btw), y one incredibly energetc Grand Mama! I have my own room and a pocket for my toothbrush in the bathroom. Internet and washing machine included.

Last night I was up till 1am showing photos and talking with Brion (brother) and Eleazar. Tee Hee. I slept like a rock, so heavy in fact that I only barly think I remember a MASIVE earth quake last night. It was like any ól storm on the boat but in retrospect more like sleeping on top of a washer dryer. WOWZA!! I think that´s my first reall tremmer, eh¿?

Any-hoo, today I have organized my new house and later to the beach for kayaking compatitions. Nice!!

Over and out; cuchhhhhhck

PS. I also watch Milo and Otis in spanish with english subtitles with Malue (5 year sister) I´m happy to share my childhood with this one, let me just say.

Note to self. . .

I have arrived! Neat!!!! All of my flights/connections were so perfectly close. I get off a plane and walk two gates down, get on the next plane. If I had not been so tired to start with I might have been nervous about that. Shrug: good thang I'm a champion :)

My spanish is coming back but mostly in what I'm understanding. I feel myself plying double dutch and missing the second rope every other swing. sheeesh!!!

Today I will be blabbling with Erica's Mom about the center and what kind of things she needs help with. Then she will take me down to the community, like and hour south, and then I might pee with excitement!!!

Punch line is: All is well down south so far and probably not the best idea to travel the day after a large tattoo. Although I am quite happy with Jason's craft. My leg gooed on the 6hr flight from Houston to Lima and stuck to my pants. Cute, I know.

Signing off,
Emily

And She's Off!!

Right-o! Less than one month ago I was toying with a pipe dream of visiting San Francisco de Asis in Peru around my birthday. Knowing that with my work schedule at Holy Names Academy my visit in March would be impossible I started to brainstorm. The HNA girls have no breaks in March so I figured if I was ever going to get down South it would have to be linked up with my current absence. If I traveled to Peru immediately after returning from Lesotho, Africa then it would be unnoticed that I was actually vacationing.

What was at first the pondering of a short vacation has turned into a full on MOVE to Peru. If you're gunna do something, ya might as well go all in I say!

The plan was/is to stay with the Flukers; a family I love dearly who have agreed to take me in. Jobs are no problem when left to my own devises; "I'll just find one when I get there." Much to my surprise and all in all foreign to my usual 'build it when we get there' attitude, the NGO that we built a community center for last year would like to hire me to help organize at the center and be maintenance girl, what have you. The job also comes with housing. WELLL DONE!

I'm out the 17th of February :)