Well, here we go breaking my one of my unspoken, self-enforced blog rules. I have tried restricting my blog to the struggles and joys of experiencing life out of my home country (and then back in it, and then back out of it). And throughout this I’ve kept from writing too much about my romantic…

I’ve been running on full blast for several weeks now, and I’ve missed writing. Last weekend I was tour guide to 30 Mexicans here visiting from the south union. So between that and several projects here at work, I’ve arrived home every night with enough energy to throw everything on the floor and collapse into…

Little known fact: I have few phobias, and most are normal and healthy (except perhaps my fear of vacuum cleaners, thanks a lot Jeffrey Worthington) but I have developed a new phobia here in Peru. It’s probably one of those personal things I shouldn’t share, but hey, why start being shy now? When you live…

Once again I found myself translating last minute, which is now becoming a specialty. It was fabulous though. We had the closing ceremony here for the Caleb project, a service/evangelism program for youth in which 20,000 young people from all around Peru came to participate in. Our closing ceremony hosted about half of them. And…

Last weekend we were surprised by Monday and Tuesday off (they don’t like giving notice around here), so my friends, Karla and Heinrich, decided it was time to hit the road! So off we went early Sunday morning on a quest to see Paracas, Ica, Nazca, Huacachina and Chincha. So here’s our quick tour of…

Ok, let’s be relatively transparent here. There are awesome aspects of living in a foreign country. And one is that here, I’m foreign. And yes, it’s fun being “exotic” but it comes at a price. I am often lacking in female friends. The few I do have, who are wonderful people by the way, are…

I’ve fallen in love with a new awkward moment. I think we all have those, moments which are so deliciously awkward we drink them in to the last drop. For some it’s when someone forgets our name or when we forget theirs. In Iowa I suffered a lot with the “say a guy’s cute then…

Christmas arrived today from Australia! And Browns from down under made my week! I’ve been meaning to buy chapstick for weeks now (yes, I admit I’ve been using plain vaseline), an adorable pin (which is actually all the rage down here in Peru!) and delicious smelling lotion all wrapped up in a super convenient and…

While my parents prepare for a snow covered Christmas, I experience a white Christmas for very different reasons. My Christmas is white mostly because I have no tan, and as it turns out it is summer here. And while last year I was in Brazil for Christmas, so it’s been a while since I’ve had…

So remember the thing in the last post about burning the cookies because I started talking and kinda forgot that something was cookies and the rest of the world existed. Well, oops, I did it again. Except this time, they were not cookies that were burning. But it sure was a good conversation! This is…