Livin' in the moment

Idea borrowed from from Pilgrimgirl.

I am wearing my fluffiest slippers, brown elasti-pants (so comfy!), and a white cotton tank top and faded green cotton long-sleeve t-shirt from Old Navy.

I am reading background material for my independent study, a Cary Grant biography, and the second book in the Inda series by Sherwood Smith.

I am hearing dogs barking, the ever-so-soft breathing of my sleeping puppy, and Grace’s sighs of jealousy as she sulks in a corner by the door. Thankfully all the construction stops around 7PM around here. However, to make up for the reprieve, I do have a contractor here in the house, banging in a new countertop.

Learning all the time how to be a better person. Now I just have to practice.

I am thankful for my friends who shower me with much needed affection now that I am thousands of miles away!

I am hoping that my independent study in the spring isn’t nearly as overwhelming as I feel it will be. (Something about conducting research in Spanish on a topic I know very little about…)

From the kitchen comes the noise of the contractor. But it is also the home of some Tin Roof ice cream that will be consumed the moment the contractor leaves.

I am creating memories.

Bringing beauty to my home by filling it with friends, family and laughter.

Around the house we need an empleada. I am the worst housekeeper ever. At least, it appears that way since every day everything in the house obtains a new coating of lead dust (from the car exhaust - yay for leaded fuel!).

Outside my window is the fenced-in front patio (?). I’m not really sure what to call it – Bubba will be kept here, but now it’s just a stone-paved area, with plants all around and a little shed that looks like Hansel and Gretel’s house (according to da’ Momma).

I am thinking about my independent study proposal and all those internship applications I haven’t yet completed.

One of my favorite things is that the puppy actually SLEEPS once in a while.

A few plans for the rest of the week include a girls-only French-Peruvian fusion lunch at Café Crème on Wednesday and shopping for something to wear to the soiree at the Ambassador’s residence on Saturday night. Gotta find something slightly more dressy than the two pairs of jeans, 5 t-shirts, and 4 sweatshirts that I packed in my suitcase when we left the States in July. (Update: household goods scheduled to arrive in 2-4 weeks.)

Makin' friends, tra-la-la-la

Here's a quick shot of me (looking like a booger) n' my favorite El Sol students, Cathy and Phil. Cathy hails from Ireland (with a nice rich N. Ireland accent) and is the only girl I know whose daddy actually did buy her that pony. She's in Peru for approximately 6 months to volunteer with an organization that allows her to combine her education degree and Human Rights law degree; then she's off to Ghana for another six months to be a something-something-insert-fancy-human-rights-education-consultant-title here.

Phil, on the other hand, hails from Park City, Utah, where he manages a ski resort. Apparently his company hires a lot of kids from South America to work through the winter, as the local rich Utah (or is it Utahan?) kids can't be bothered to make $15 an hour. He's blessed with a spitfire Peruvian girlfriend, who tries to keep him in line, and an interesting lifeview as a reformed (i.e. excommunicated) Mormon.

This week, I'm off to meet a whole new group of students outside the hallowed walls of El Sol. One such gentleman hails from Japan and has been in the majority of my classes for the last couple of weeks (interesting factoid: as a result of a very nomadic childhood, at the ripe old age of 24, Rocky believes he's visited somewhere in the range of 60-70 foreign countries). Since several of his friends will be in town from Japan, we're hosting an El Sol dinner with the Japanese friends and have invited the students and teachers at El Sol: which includes people from China, Algeria, Canada (oh my!), France, and (obviously) Peru. Should be quite the international forum.

For Yael

When we lived in San Isidro, I walked past this building nearly every day. And it makes me think of you, Yael. Although, as far as I know, you didn't attending an engineering-specific high school and Penn's buildings are prettier (what can I say? I'm fond of the place)...

Shown: Colegio de Ingenieros del Peru

Moving!

We're packing up and moving to the new house in the morning...hope to be up and running again this weekend, but can't promise to post more news until da' Momma leaves! And I may not have internet (stolen or otherwise) for a little bit. But, in the famous words of Michele's former and Nicole's current governator, I'll be back!

Selling yourself in photographs

While reading other people's blogs, I came across the Mosaic Maker for Flickr. Now I'm very proud to present the outcome of a half-hour's search through other people's photos for my soul...

1. Ryan McGinness, 2. Garlic, 3. Baddesley Clinton, 4. Green Tea Sunset, 5. ryan, 6. coffee & the city, 7. Acrophobic mountain climber.., 8. mmmummm..mummm...mmmmummmmumumum, 9. Day 106 - I am a librarian, 10. Still in love? I think so ; ), 11. This is becoming a habit, 12. Sgt. Pookah Hodge

Basically, the outcome is a result of a meme from PilgrimGirl, the instructions of which are as follows:

"If you want to play too, type your answer to each of the questions below into a Flickr search. Using only the first page, choose your favorite image, then copy and paste each of the URL’s into the mosaic maker (3 columns, 4 rows)."

And the questions are...

1. What is your first name? (Ryan)

2. What is your favorite food? (garlic)

3. What high school did you attend? (Clinton)

4. What is your favorite color? (orange)

5. Who is your celebrity crush? (Ryan Gosling)

6. Favorite drink? (tea)

7. Dream vacation? (hiking)

8. Favorite dessert? (ice cream)

9. What do you want to be when you grow up? (writer)

10. What do you love most in life? (love)

11. One word to describe you. (driven)

12. Your Flickr name. (Pookah)

For your consideration

My friend, Akoua (see her Blog), is volunteering in Lesotho for the Peace Corps and I invite you to take a look at her Uncle Matt's charity webpage (Bike For Beds). He is attempting to raise money for hospital beds for the hospital with which Akoua works. I promise not to think you're a horrible person for not supporting his efforts, but it is a charity which will be donating ALL proceeds to the hospital. And it doesn't take much in this case to make a difference. Please consider donating.

Say what?

Setting:

El Parque Olivar, Sunday, August 4th (see post on La Vida Peruana)

Cast:

seemingly homeless man

seemingly drunk man

Aaaaaaaaand scene:

Seemingly drunk man wanders over to seemingly homeless man, who is sleeping under an olive tree in the grass. Seemingly drunk man unzips his pants, pulls out his weiner, and proceeds to pee on the leg of seemingly homeless man.

Seemingly homeless man shakes his pants leg, delivers a word or two to seemingly drunk man and then rollos over and returns to napping.

Seemingly drunk man walks away and continues his pee on an olive tree, close to the main path, and across the way from where young children are playing.

End scene.

*****

Unfortunately, I did not catch any photos of this happy occurrence, but I did witness it. Along with Anthony's exclamations of, "I would've kicked that guy's ass!"

However, I do have some very lovely shots of Grace: one is of her trying to will me to stop taking pictures and move forward, the other is of her newfound interest in coi fish.