My First Christmas in Peru

My first Christmas abroad has come and gone, and I must say it was a lot better than I had expected. I of course missed the usual traditions and spending the day with my family, but I was able to start new traditions. In traditional Peruvian fashion, nothing went exactly as to plan, but it was a wonderful day nonetheless. Christmas Eve we spent all over, going to mass at the hogar and in the central plaza. Then we went to the bakery to await midnight with all the girls. At midnight, everyone wishes everyone a Merry Christmas, fireworks are going off everywhere, and we shared a huge dinner of duck and pasta, followed by the traditional hot chocolate and panneton (a sweet bread with raisins). For Christmas day, in the morning we met with a friend who works with me at the bakery to go to mass. We were supposed to meet two of them, but only one showed up, a half hour late. Time here is so relative, you just have to accept that or it will drive you crazy. We went to mass in the national cathedral and then went back to our apartment where Catherine cooked a Christmas breakfast for the three if us. It was great food and great covnersation and we hope that we have made a friend as well. After that Catherine and I headed to the sister´s community for a lunch of duck and vegetables, which was delicious as well. Then we went back to wait for Mario, the nice boy who cleans our apartment, to come and get us so we could go to his house. He arrived an hour and a half late, so late that we figured that he just wasn´t coming. But we went and spent the evening with him and his family looking at pictures, talking politics, and drinking chicha, a fermented fruit drink. While everythign was a new tradition, I truly enjoyed celebrating the holiday with my new community here. I hope everyone passed a peaceful Christmas and I wish you all blessings in the New Year.

Things have been a little crazy here in the past couple of weeks, and I´m sorry I haven´t kept everyone updated. We have been getting ready for Christmas, decorating and celebrating. I got to elp pick out the (fake) tree for the dining room at the bakery and decorated. I was glad that I was able to help and to still be able to do the traditional Christmas things that I love. I continue to learn all the ins and outs of making breads and pastries. You will all be proud to know that I have successfully mastered the art of putting dried coconut on the edges of all the pies. There are even some things that I am allowed to do on my own, like dip the donuts and crossaints in chocolate. However, the more complicated procedures, like decorating the cakes and actually making something still require heavy supervision and several start-overs. The parties have started too. A couple of weeks ago, Catherine and I went with the whole group from the bakery to Urubamba for a day of fun and relaxation. We played soccer, volleyball, lots of fun games, and grilled trout. Also, on Saturday we had our first of three work parties where we have secret friends who we have to get gifts for. It has been interesting, to say the least, trying to figure out not only what to get, but where we can get it from. Our next one is tomorrow with the people from the Hogar and the final one is on sunday with everyone from the bakery. I have to say that secret friends is extremly intense at the bakery. This week you can leave cards and littel notes for your friend, but you can´t reveal your identity. Everyone is trying to figure out who has who and it is the topic of conversation at every lunch. Everyone has specifically stated what they want to receive from their friend, and it is a very big deal. They don´t go an hour without talking about it and trying to get out of me who I have. So far I have been able to keep it a secret, but we´ll see what happens. I have slowly been making some friends, in extremely random ways. Catherine and I have both meet people in the street, usually when they are trying to sell us something, then started up a conversation with us. We even met one guy who took us out for a night of dancing after I showed him where he could change his dollars into soles. We are currently working on making the guy who cleans our apartment our new friend, so I will keep you updated on how that goes. We have also been learning lots about the people that we work with. Everyone has story and they are slowly opening up to us and telling it to us. Most of the girls and guys have come from backgrounds of poverty. Their parents are dead, don´t want them, or can´t afford to take care of them. It is when I am listening to these stories that I see the reason why I am here. I can´t change what has happened in the past, but I can contribute to the things that will make their future better. Soon I will start giving English and computer classes. It will be interesting to see how that all works out. Thanks to everyone for their constant support. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas full of peace and love and a Happy New Year!