Observations

The summer rainy season has officially begun in Peru; as a result, snow has returned to the mountains, everything has become more colorful, and the city is a bit less dusty. The beginning of the rainy season also heralds the end of school and many people are heading to the beach for the summer.  Everyone tells us the city will be less crowded in January and February but for now it is total mayhem due to the holidays.  Last night we took a taxi to the closing ceremony for Hannah's gymnastics program and what is normally a fifteen minute ride took over an hour due to the traffic.

Speaking of ceremonies, we have been very busy with all kinds of year-end activities. The girls had final exams at school which was quite a long haul but they both did very well. Then of course came all the various parties, closing events and holiday festivities.

December is also a big birthday month for us.  We organized a birthday celebration at the girls' school but  since parents are not allowed into the classrooms, we only got to hear about it.  Not wanting to be left out, we also held small party at home and the girls invited a few close friends.  Hanukkah was celebrated with a homemade menorah and potato latkes and Christmas will be spent with some friends.

The end of the school year also marked the beginning of what the kid's call "Mommy and Daddy School."  We are trying to home school the girls to help them get ready for the next academic year in Peru and the USA. We have done a few fun projects, including a marble track which is still a work-in-progress. The I-Pad has come in handy as there are many excellent educational apps when one of the "teachers" gets frustrated.  Don't worry, our summer break will not be all work and no joy. We are planning on travelling to the countryside before our visit to the United States in January; we also hope to visit Northern Peru in February. Everyone is looking forward to these upcoming adventures and a MUCH needed break from Mommy and Daddy School.

As part of our home schooling efforts we asked Emma and Hannah to practice their writing by sharing some observations about Peru.

Emma

• People in Peru are very creative with Christmas decorations.  I have seen Santa on a ladder and "Santa stop here" signs.
• I have never seen a lawn mower in Peru.  I have only seen alpacas and llamas eating grass.
• The Peruvians speak differently than Nicaraguans.  They still speak Spanish but many words are different. For example, if I say "mecate" (rope) people do not understand me but if I say "cuerda" they do.
• Almost everybody in Peru has bread for breakfast.  When we go to the bread store in the morning there are always lots of people there.
• Almost everybody in Arequipa goes to private school.  There are hardly any public schools.

Hannah

• I like my school because I have lots of friends there.
• I like to sing at school with my music teacher.
• I like the people in Peru because they are very good people.
• My gymnasium in Arequipa is very good because I am learning lots of things.
• The food in Peru is very good, my favorite is tallarin (noodles).

The adults will add a few observations to the list:

• There is a constant struggle over small change in Peru; if you buy something for 9 soles and give the store a 10 sol bill, they still ask if you have exact change.
• Like much of the world lines mean nothing in Peru and unless you are vigilant about getting to the front, you never will.  However, if you are really rich you can apparently walk to the front of whatever line you want.
• Peruvians hate lines but love rules.  Conformity seems to be rampant so it is very exciting when we see folks dressing or acting outside the norm.
• Once you get to know most Peruvians, they treat you like family; our friends always invite us to their celebrations and shower us with warmth and affection.
• There is no such thing as bad food in Peru (unless you go to KFC).

Well, those are all the observations we have for now.  It is has been an absolutely wonderful year and we are looking forward to 2012 with great anticipation.  We hope you all have a lovely holiday season.

News from Arequipa

Jeff

One of the reasons I wanted to move to Arequipa is the mountains.  There are three peaks over 19,000 feet very close to the City.  Unfortunately, I have not met any climbers and the guide services do not run many trips this time of year due to low demand.  I could not wait anymore and decided to attempt a solo climb of a nearby volcano called Misti.  I bought a few items that I needed (including a map and compass) and arranged for one of the guide services to transport me to the trail head shown below.

The route uses the prominent rib to the left of the sign

My chosen route was very easy, with the altitude and route finding being the only real challenges. However, on the way to base camp, I got stuck in a snow/hail storm so I decided to stop at a lower camp that had some small ledges I could sit under since I did not have a proper tent.  I went to sleep around 5:30pm but was so worried about not having made the upper base camp I got up four hours later to start my summit attempt.  It turns out I was way too worried about time. I reached  the summit in the dark and made it back to my camp by 6:00am.  It was a nice hike and a very beautiful mountain to spend some time on.

View from the summit

The hardest part of the trip was getting home.  The long hike back to the trail head was followed by an even longer hike to the road. However, I loved the high desert scenery and the previous night's storm brought out some beautiful wildflowers.  Once the walking was over, I had to sit in the middle of nowhere praying for a bus to show up on a seemingly deserted highway.  After nearly two hours in the hot sun, I finally saw a bus!  I started jumping up and down frantically to ensure the driver stopped for me. Everyone was cracking up when I got on board; I am not sure if they were laughing because I was waiting in the middle of nowhere, had been jumping up and down like a maniac or that my face was covered in volcanic ash.  Once I settled into my seat, an old guy reached over and patted me on the shoulder. He said something in what I think was Quechua.  My Quechua is very limited; he was either telling me "congratulations on the climb you strong north american hero" or "don't worry crazy and stupid gringo, everything will be just fine."

Emma
A couple of days ago I competed in a swimming competition at school.  I was 1 of the 4 people that competed for my class.  I won a silver medal for speed, velocidad, below is the medal.

I won another silver medal for relay, postas.   In the photo below is my team. The boy in the towel is Sergio Tadeo, the boy next to him is Brandon, I am next to Brandon & to my left is Maria Fernanda.  

My medals are now hanging on my closet door.


Aileen
A few weeks ago I mentioned to a friend that I when I get back home to the U.S., I wanted to get back to working in Special Education, because I really loved it.  She said that she knew someone who worked with a special education program and could arrange a volunteer placement for me.  She said somewhat flippantly, "I believe that if you really love doing something, you should do it."  Even though she said it off the cuff, I've been thinking about it a lot.  Anyway, her aunt brought me over to Unamonos, a privately funded program for special needs children, and since then I've been volunteering there a few times a week.

It's been really interesting for me, to see both the similarities and the differences between special education in the U.S. and here.  I find that on Monday mornings as I walk to the school, I'm looking forward to seeing the kids I've been working with and helping out however I can.

Hannah
We had Thanksgiving at our house.  When we were cooking the turkey it was kind of weird but we had to give it a shot to get the juice in there.  We had to stick carrots and celery and onions in the turkey's butt which was weird too.  Mommy and me cooked everything.

After we cooked all that stuff our friends came over:  Sammy, Francesca, Ximena, Mafer and the adults - Erica, Nelson and Teresa.

We played with them in our garage and did hide-and-go-seek and los paises.  I really loved the turkey.  Thanksgiving was so good!

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School Dayz

There is nothing too exciting to report on since our last post, just business as usual. Everyone continues to be happy and healthy and we are still very pleased with our decision to move here.  Since school is such a big part of our experience in Peru, education will be the focus of this blog post. We hope you enjoy all the different perspectives.

Emma

I am going to describe my school, Juan de la Cruz Calienes. In my school I am in 3^rd grade. We are not in the U.S.A., we are in Peru and we are here for a family adventure.

Part of my adventure is going to school! I am in section 3-A and the teacher is named Ursula Gonzales Leon. In my class there are 32 students. My classroom is close to the school office so there are always meetings there.

We have lots of classes like, Language, Science, Social Studies, English, Math, Catholicism, and Computers. We also get to pick our own workshops. Volleyball, chorus, swimming and cooking are all the workshops that I chose.

My school is very big and we have to wear uniforms. For a girl the fancier one is a grey jumper, a white shirt and a blue tie. The other uniform is for sports and is a blue jacket, a grey shirt, blue shorts and blue pants. The shorts go under the pants so you can take off the pants when we do sports.

I feel really good at this school. I have lots of friends, the teachers are nice, and we all play together. Sometimes there is teasing and I don’t like that. I like my school but it is still different from the U.S.A. My school is a lot bigger, because of that there is a lot more stuff like a swimming pool, 3 basketball courts, a computer lab, etc. Instead of having photo copies of everything like I did in the USA, we have to write everything down.  Sometimes Miss Ursula copies things on the whiteboard and other times she says it out loud for everyone to write. There are also lots of sports like volleyball which we did not have in the U.S.A. The big difference is that everybody speaks Spanish.

Overall I like my new school. So far I have had a really good experience here.  However, I still miss the USA.

Jeff

The Peruvian government spends relatively little on education and ranked in the bottom 20^th percentile in a World Bank study of public expenditure on schools.  Despite the low spending levels, Peru is above the 50^th percentile in most educational indicators.  I thought that this was because most Peruvians with regular incomes send their children to private school and thus the government did not need to spend as much money on public education.  I then started thinking that the Peruvian government should just get rid of public schools (except in rural areas) and implement a voucher system.  Lots of people I spoke to hear thought that sounded great.  OMG, not only do I sound like a Republican, I am starting to evangelize. 

Well, once I looked at the facts I realized that my theories were simply wrong.  I do not like being wrong but at least I am not turning into a Republican; they never bother with facts when setting social policy.  The fact is that only 15% of Peruvian children attend private school (compared to 10% in the USA).  The reason the government spends so little on education is that teacher salaries in Peru are among the lowest in Latin America.  From what we hear, this is reflected in the low quality of the public schools; the higher educational indicators are probably being skewed by the private school students who perform quite well.  What does this all mean? Beats the hell out of me but I am trying to get to the bottom of it.

In the meantime, we are lucky to be part of the 15%.  The school Emma and Hannah attend is quite solid. While the school is somewhat diverse, Emma and Hannah are the only ex-pats studying there.  This has created some challenges for everyone, but mostly the girls.  They were not treated so well by their classmates initially. Emma even got so fed up with someone teasing her that she pushed the girl! Emma came home crying because she was mean to someone. I was proud that she stood up for herself and even prouder she felt bad for acting inappropriately.

This was a far cry from their experience in rural Nicaragua where they were treated like rock stars.  Frankly, I am glad they faced some social challenges and even more pleased that they overcame them.  Emma and Hannah have both found their way and are now clearly part of the fabric of the school.  They must be happy there because when we asked if they wanted to transfer to the local American school they both shouted NO! 

Hannah

My school is called Colegio Calienes.  There is lots of stuff you can do there like swimming class, mini-chef, chorus, basketball, computer class, English, religion, social studies, language, math and science.  I like my friends and my teacher.  I have lots of friends in my class like Angela Melanie, Angela Luciana, Luciana, and my kind of good friend Lucia.  I do not like one of the girls in my class because she is kind of mean to me and does not share toys with me.  I also do not like another girl because she calls another boy names.  After school I go home with one of my friends whose Dad picks us up.  Mommy makes a snack for me and sometimes I take a shower with Emma and then I do homework. Sometimes I have five homeworks and that is a lot.  I do not like to do my homework.  I take gymnastics class 3 times a week.  It is very fun because we do lots of exercises like candle, jumping on the trampoline and almost always we have to work on the mats.  We do races called bunny, frog and fish.  I usually win.  And also, on my birthday my Daddy said I can get a violin.  He asked me if I wanted a dog, a big party or a violin.  I said a violin because it is one of my favorite instruments.  I will then go to school, take gymnastics and violin.

Aileen

Education is such a complex issue that there’s no way I can do it justice in a short blog post, so I’ll just share some of our observations, based on our limited experience here.  I think the girls’ school, Colegio Calienes, is quite good, and we’re really lucky our friend Erika works there, or we may have had to homeschool the kids for our time here in Arequipa.  Part of this is related to the formality of Peruvian culture.  Peruvians seem to be accustomed to complying with lots of rules and regulations regarding documentation and things like that.  When we got to Nicaragua, we went to the local school, and they basically wrote down the girls’ names and their birthdays, and said, “See ya’ on Monday.”  Here in Arequipa, we had to have interviews, the girls had to be tested, the schools wanted to see the girls’ notarized report cards from last year, and the Catholic schools wanted an original marriage certificate and an original proof of baptism!  Anyway, to get back to education, this formality carries over into the girls’ school.  The girls lose “points” if they don’t write their capital letters in a red pencil, if they don’t “respetar los márgenes,” (if they write in the two centimeters on the edge of the page), or if they underline something without using a ruler.  I worry a little that the school is a little old-fashioned both in this way and in terms of how much time they spend copying down and memorizing stuff word for word, and not necessarily encouraging critical thinking and creativity.  In the end though, and especially at such young ages, the fact that the girls like their school and are learning a lot outweighs this concern.  They have plenty of opportunity to be creative and think critically since they have to navigate the complexities of another culture on a daily basis.

Children Thrive and Parents Survive

It has been awhile since we have written so here is an update on life in Arequipa.

The girls continue with school, gymnastics and guitar; they also have play dates, school activities and birthday parties to attend.  I continue to do consulting work and Aileen is looking into volunteer opportunities.  Daily housekeeping, cooking, homework, etc. also take up a great deal of our time. As a result, weekdays are pretty busy for everyone.  

Life seems much more "normal" than it did in Nicaragua and I suppose that means more like the USA.  The most notable difference is that I only have to work 4 hours a day and we can still afford a nice apartment, private school and extra-curricular activities.  Come to think of it, that is more "normal" than the 70 hour work weeks and high cost of living in San Francisco.

Getting pointers from Jaime

Walking home from guitar

Emma and Hannah are doing amazingly well at school.  Emma is pretty close to fluent in Spanish and has a beautiful Peruvian accent.  We are not sure about Hannah's Spanish as she still does not speak the language in front of us.  However, Hannah's teacher says she is doing great which is really impressive given that she started in the middle of the school year with somewhat limited Spanish.  In any event, school ends mid-December and they will both advance to the second and fourth grades when it resumes in March.  

Emma and Hannah are also doing great socially and have made plenty of friends. The adults are not doing as well.  Peruvians are much more formal than Nicaraguans (and Americans) so it has taken some time to meet people.  There is very little opportunity to interact with parents at the school because most everyone sends their children in vans or taxis and there is no real parental involvement encouraged. However, slowly but surely the adults are making friends too.  We still keep in touch with our host family and the owner of the language school the girls attended when we first arrived. In addition we have become friendly with an American missionary, the family that transports the kids to school, and a young couple we met a few weeks ago.  We are also getting to know some of the families who send their kids to gymnastics and guitar, which makes sitting around during the lessons more enjoyable.  It does seem as if we are starting to build a community of friends, but it is slow going.  This really makes us appreciate all of our loved-ones back home!

We continue to find fun and interesting things to do on the weekends.  The last weekend in October there was an anniversary celebration and fundraiser at the girls' school.  Hannah performed in a dance with her class which was very charming (see video).  On this particular occasion, we got to hang out with some other parents, many of whom went out of their way to make us feel welcome. We had a great time and I have to say, it was more enjoyable than most of the school fundraisers I have attended; well, it was certainly more rowdy.  Parents sat around drinking lots of beer and watching a band perform (complete with half-naked dancers) on the school's outdoor stage while the kids were playing in jumpy houses.

The next weekend we took our first excursion out of town, travelling by bus to the Majes River Valley which is about three hours west of Arequipa.  We first visited an area in the desert known for its petroglyphs.  It is called Toro Muerto because ranchers used to lose many cattle there while driving their herds toward greener pastures.  Toro Muerto has over 5,000 rock drawings made by the Wari people over 1,000 years ago.  Nobody knows what they mean or why they chose to carve them in this dry area, especially when there is a beautiful river valley nearby.  That evening we stayed by the river at an interesting hotel where the owner makes his own wine and brandy that he is eager to share.  The next day we went white water rafting with a family we met at the hotel.  Everyone had a great time and we hope to do this again before the rains begin.

Other weekends have included concerts, Emma's first public guitar performance (see video), trips to the library, horseback riding with the folks we met on our rafting trip, and of course homework.  This weekend we a birthday party, breakfast with some friends, a play date, and yes, more homework to content with.  We are also busy planning a thanksgiving celebration and a few weeks later a birthday party for the girls. Next will be exams and before you know it, summer vacation starts.   Hopefully we will do a little travelling before returning to the USA in mid-January to visit family and friends.

In reading this over, life does not seem as exciting as it did in Nicaragua, and I suppose it isn't because we are not doing that much travelling.  We don't have a car and despite the low cost of living, we have to be thriftier this year since we were not expecting to live overseas for this long.  Also, the girls have lots of homework and activities and we cannot just leave town whenever we want.  While I miss that freedom, there is something about this place that makes life so darn enjoyable.  I just cannot put my finger on it (yet) but perhaps these pictures will shed some light.

Sunset at a plaza near our apartment

A 15 minute walk from our apartment

I almost forgot to mention that we also celebrated Aileen's birthday this month. There was lots of presents and Aileen also got to curl up in bed with a romantic comedy while the girls and I did the chores.  Here is our attempt at some Peruvian cuisine along with the wine we bought from the hotel in Majes River.

Life In Arequipa

We have been in Arequipa for about six weeks, two of which were with our new Peruvian family - Theresa, Nelson and company.  We have been in our lovely apartment for four weeks and have settled into a regular routine.  Everyone is loving our life in Peru so far.  Here is our take on it all.

Emma
Every year our family has "Do What You Want Day" and the kids get to do what they want.  We did not do this last year but we did this year.  I really liked it because we did lots of fun things like eating breakfast in a fort, watching the movie "Where the Red Fern Grows," eating whatever we wanted for lunch (tamales), going to the zoo and having Chicken Lo Mein for dinner.

When I got out of bed in the morning I found Hannah showing a fort to Mom and saying that we were going to eat breakfast in it and we did.  We ate tamales at lunch because Hannah loves them.  The zoo was not as exciting as I thought but it was still fun.  There were monkeys and lions and lots of other animals.  We ate Chicken Lo Mein because EVERYBODY loves it.  We also watched some of the appendices of Lord of the Rings because we all love those movies.  I read "Where the Red Fern Grows" so watching the movie was fun.

Now we are in school.  It is really fun and I have lots of friends.  Some of them are Camila, Fernando and lots of other ones.  Now I am also learning guitar at Espacio Taller.  I am in a group class and there are five people in the class more or less.  My class is Monday and Wednesday.  I also want to say I am having fun in Peru and I am happy in our house.  Bye bye!  (written by Emma, transcribed by Dad)

Hannah
In the morning we get up early and have breakfast.  We have bread and stuff from the bakery.  Sometimes I go with my Dad to get the bread.  My Dad makes juice and he always makes me drink it.  Before we went to school in a taxi.  Now we go with Camila's Dad and her brother.  School is fine.  I like my teacher very much.  We have cooking class called mini chef and I like it. I do not like Fabiana because she is mean and she ruined my glue.  After school I go to the ice cream place but sometimes we have snack at home.  I have tons of homework and sometimes Mommy and Daddy yell at me to do it.  I have gymnastic class and I like it there a lot.  I have glasses now but I cannot wear them at gymnastics.  My teacher is super-nice and super-strong.  I love you, bye.  (forced out of Hannah by asking her lots of questions she did not want to answer - she was too busy building another fort to be bothered)  Here is a link to a video Hannah's teacher made for the class.  Hannah's Class

Jeff
Life is good.  Every weekday I get up early and pretend to exercise while listening to NPR on our beloved IPad.  I wake up the ladies around 6am and prepare breakfast.  While Aileen is getting them ready for school, I usually walk to the bakery to get some freshly-baked bread.  I enjoy the walk in the crisp morning air under sunny skies with 6,000 meter peaks in the background.  I wind my way through cobblestone alleys, past old buildings made of white volcanic rock adorned with pots of geraniums.  Many of the buildings have modern houses built on the second floor and many of those houses have dogs on the roofs that bark as I walk by - I guess folks leave their dogs on the roof all night for security.  This explains why there are so many lost dog flyers in Arequipa.  Though this is a modern city with all the amenities you might want, I can still hear lambs and chickens in peoples' garages as I walk by.  Loving the urban agriculture!

Fortunately the animals in Arequipa are not crazy-loud like they were in San Ramon, Nicaragua. Unfortunately, Peruvians love fireworks even more than Nicaraguans so we sometimes have to contend with the bombs bursting in air. Speaking of noise, folks in Latin America do not seem to think much about privacy.  All the apartments on our street are packed in pretty close and not built accordingly.  I can hear our neighbors talking, cooking and farting, which makes me wonder what they hear coming out of our apartment!  I am sure our yelling at Hannah to do her homework is much more annoying then the old guy coughing up phlegm every morning.

Despite the closeness, our apartment is still plenty quiet and comfortable which is wonderful for me because I spend a good deal of time here.  After I do the breakfast dishes, I take a shower and go to the office, which is also known as our dining room table.  I work from about 8-3 with a nice long break for lunch with Aileen - which has been really nice).  I am currently working on 4 consulting project and I have plenty of work to do for the foreseeable future (thank goodness).  While I do not want to be a consultant for the rest of my career, I am doing some good work and have enjoyed reconnecting with some of my former colleagues.  After work I used to walk to school to pick up the girls but as Hannah mentioned they are now travelling with another family to whom we pay a nominal fee.  I miss the walks and plan to explore the city when work slows down a bit.

Once the kids get home we are plenty busy with homework, after school activities and of course playing.  Aileen has been cooking wonderful meals every night so we generally spend our evenings at home.  The weekends have been full and enjoyable.  Now that we are all settled in we have time to visit with friends, wander the city, attend concerts, go to book fairs, etc.  On Sundays everyone in Peru seems to go out for a big lunch which is where we are about to go.  I am planning to have some adobe, a pork soup dish which is really delicious and goes well with the  beer I am planning to drink.

Aileen
Like everyone else, I'm enjoying myself here in Arequipa.  A good deal  of my time, when the kids are at school, is spent taking care of our home.  Although our apartment is very nice, we don't have a dishwasher or a clothes dryer, so some of the chores take a little longer than usual.  Also, it tends to get pretty dusty because we are in the high desert and there is a construction boom in the city.  I've also been spending some time looking for and trying out new recipes.  I didn't realize it before, but I guess I kind of missed cooking last year, when I had a job and Jeff was in charge of the house.  I think I'm also more motivated because there are so many more ingredients (fruits, vegetables, spices, etc.) available here than there were in Nicaragua.  The only thing that's been a little frustrating is baking.  We're at almost 8,000 feet above sea level here, and even the "high altitude recipes" I've found online haven't come out too well, because they're designed for baking at about 5,000 ft.  This has made for some very interesting brownie and cake adventures with the girls.

Besides all of that, I've been busy researching the different after school opportunities available for the kids.  Exploring the different programs has actually been pretty interesting in terms of what they say about the culture here.  Most of the gymnastics and guitar programs I found are three days a week, usually around 5 to 7.  I've discovered that most kids Emma and Hannah's ages go to bed around 10 o'clock at night!  It is not that Peruvian kids are over scheduled like children in the USA, but it seems that people who do have hobbies are very serious about them.  The other interesting thing has been trying to communicate in Spanish.  Peruvians use lots of words I've never heard before and have different names for food than in Central America.  It has made grocery shopping a learning experience for me.  Anyhow, after lots of leg work, and as you read earlier, Hannah and Emma are now taking gymnastics and guitar and have very full lives (when they are not messing around with the "beloved" Ipad).

Transitions Part 3

Arriving in Peru
After all of the trials and tribulations we experienced in August, September was a welcome change and started out very smoothly. Jeff, Emma and Hannah were reunited with Aileen at the Houston airport and happy to be together again after more than three weeks apart. The flight from Houston to Lima was long but uneventful and we landed on-time at around 11pm. Aileen was able to sweet-talk the immigration official into giving us a 6 month visa (90 days in the norm) which will make things so much easier for us! Our mountain of luggage arrived in-tact and we cleared customs without incident. We were even more relieved that the taxi driver sent by our hotel was standing where he was supposed to be amidst all the chaos of the Lima airport. He whisked us away and by midnight we were at the Hotel Aleman in the same room we had stayed at during our vacation four months ago.  Our room had two bedrooms which gave us all some much needed privacy as well as lots of space to organize our 8 pieces of hastily packed luggage. We spent the next day doing just that and had everything re-packed and ready for our flight to Arequipa. Since Aileen packed up in NJ and Jeff in CA we brought some extra stuff which we left at the hotel, lightening our load and making a hotel staff person very happy. We returned to the Lima airport that afternoon and before we knew it, we were back at Nelson and Theresa’s house in Arequipa.  We did a homestay with this family back in May and they welcomed us like we were long-lost relatives. 

We spent our first weekend in Peru walking around Arequipa, which is even more beautiful than we remembered.  Arequipa is in the Andean high desert and sits in the shadow of three snow-capped mountains which are each very pretty, especially at sunset. The weather is picture perfect -- sunny and dry like the high desert in California. However, at 7,800 feet, Arequipa is much higher than any city in California.  Arequipa is a colonial city with many of the older buildings constructed from a white volcanic rock called sillar and some streets still paved with cobblestones.  One interesting thing we noticed was some very well developed urban agriculture on a scale not usually seen in the USA.   We also saw cafes and restaurants everywhere and like San Francisco, bad food is not tolerated in Arequipa so each eatery looked better than the last. As we wandered around the city we stumbled onto a street filled with music shops and studios which thrilled Emma who wants to continue with guitar lessons and Hannah who wants to study violin. Each alley off the music street was lined with old buildings that each had pots filled with flowers which really appealed to Aileen. While the ladies enjoyed the city Jeff kept staring at the 18k+ peaks trying to decide which one to climb first. During our explorations we also made the acquaintance of some Arequipeños.  People here speak a beautiful, sing-song Spanish that is easier to understand than the staccato Spanish spoken in Lima or the mumbled slang of Managua. Arequipeños are very proud of their city which some refer to as the “Republic of Arequipa.”

On Monday September 4th we started looking for an apartment, a school for the kids and an internet café where Jeff can work on his consulting contracts.  We were pleasantly surprised by the many options available on all fronts and a bit overwhelmed by all the choices.  However, after just a few nervous days it seemed clear that everything was going to work out just fine.  We were able to relax some and enjoyed being around our homestay family.  Nelson and Theresa were wonderful hosts and their children and grandchildren were also very welcoming.  It was crowded and chaotic at their home but also lively and warm.  There were nine of us sharing a flat with one bathroom and to make things more exciting, their daughter lives upstairs with her four children so it was more like thirteen people sharing a small space.  Theresa, or Mama Techi as she is called, cooks 3 meals a day for at least a dozen people and somehow produces excellent food in a kitchen that is smaller than our bathroom in the USA.  They really made us feel like part of the family and had a hard time accepting payment from us when it was time to leave.

Getting Settled
After less than two weeks in Arequipa we signed a lease on an apartment. Our new home is in a historic section of the city in a district called Yanahuara.  Our neighborhood is full of colonial buildings and old, narrow streets. However, our apartment is practically brand new and fully furnished -- equipped with more stuff than we have in the USA.  It is a 3br/2.5 bath affair in a small building with a total of five apartments. We are on the second of 4 floors but have our own outdoor space on the roof with great views.   We moved in on September 15 and the place already feels like home.  Here is some information on our neighborhood http://www.muniyanahuara.gob.pe/ and photos of our apartment.

Finding the right school was a bit more challenging.  Most folks in Peru who have any resources at all do not use the public school system.  We also opted for the private school route as Emma and Hannah did not get much of a formal education in Nicaragua and have some catching up to do. We visited quite a few schools and had a pretty interesting time of it.  Just like in the USA, there are multiple levels of private schools and the “elite” schools are impossible to get into mid-year but were not really our style anyway. 

There are an abundance of excellent Catholic schools in Peru but they did not really welcome non-Catholics.  Some were very open about this fact and others beat around the (burning) bush.  We were invited to apply to a very good Catholic school and had to buy new clothing for the testing/interview process.  We also had to buy special folders for our application and all the related paperwork. When we showed up all scrubbed and ready to go, the admissions director gave us a long speech about how this might not be the right school for us for religious and other reasons.  Half way through her monologue, Jeff diplomatically asked for refund of our application fee and we left.  Ironically, this school told us they would never deny a child education due to their religion which was clearly not true.  We honestly had no hard feelings but it would have been nice if they called us before we got all gussied up to meet with the Madre Directora.

Fortunately Arequipa has “secular” schools of many different shapes and sizes.  We put secular in quotes because they all have some form of religious education which makes sense given the country is 95% Catholic.  We were accepted to some smaller, solid schools but it was hard to get into the larger schools we were most interested in without a contact. Fortunately, Nelson and Theresa’s daughter Erika is a teacher at a very good (but not elitist) secular school called Colegio Juan de La Cruz Calienes (named for a 19th century bishop).  Through her connections (and our girls’ exemplary performance in the testing process) we got accept and chose to enroll. 

Calienes goes from pre-school thru high school and has about 800 students.  It is 15 minutes from our house by taxi and we will work out transportation via mini-bus with the school once the girls get settled in.  The teachers provided us a very detailed list including things like toilet paper, soap, and binders we had to contribute to the school.  We had to spend two entire days getting all of the uniforms, books, supplies and other materials we were required to purchase and another day getting it all organized. After much preparation we were finally ready for the girls to start school on Monday September 19.  Mom and Dad were very nervous the first day and the children were a bit apprehensive too.  Calienes is a far cry from the friendly little school in rural Nicaragua and we expected some tears after the first day.  However, the girls came home very happy – never ceasing to amaze their parents. They really enjoyed their first day and were excited about all of the different classes they will be attending, including all of the basics along with religion, English, music, art and PE.  They also have electives during the last period:  Emma chose volleyball, chorus and cooking and Hannah signed up for chorus, cooking and sports. Here is some information about the school: http://www.colegiocalienes.edu.pe and a few photos:

Some First Impressions
It is impossible to avoid comparing life in Peru to our most recent experiences.  Things in Arequipa are very different from life in San Ramon, Nicaragua.  Arequipa is a city of nearly 1 million people (versus about 3,000 in San Ramon) and the poverty rate in Peru is less than 50% (versus over 80% in Nicaragua).  Living in a large and relatively affluent city means that we have access to some of the creature comforts and entertainment options available in the USA.  On the other hand, Peruvian culture is not as influenced by the USA compared to what we saw in Nicaragua.  Years of US military occupation and the close proximity to Miami mean that Nicaragua was permeated by American culture.  This is not the case in Peru where architecture, clothing, design-sense, food, politics, music and interpersonal relationships seem very different from what we are accustomed to.  On first impression it seems this year will bring us the benefits of living in a very different culture without some of the physical hardships we experienced in Nicaragua. 

We do not want to give the impression that we stumbled upon some sort of ex-pat nirvana.  It is not as if America hasn’t reached out and touched Peru; for example, the other day I heard the Ramones being played in the mall while looking at a poster for a Pearl Jam concert posted next to a McDonalds.  Despite having malls, Peru lacks some of the efficiency we Americans are so fond of.  For example, phones, texting and email is not the preferred way of doing business so you need to show up if you actually want to get stuff done -- this can be a serious hassle at times.  Also, some of the infrastructure (roads and phone service) are even less developed than we found in Nicaragua.  Simple things like crossing the street and getting a telephone are crazy complicated for some reason.  You’d figure a country savvy enough to play the Ramones in a mall would have discovered traffic lights and crosswalks.

Despite these minor and silly inconveniences we are all very happy with our decision to move here.  We love Arequipa and are excited about all it has to offer.  We have an extra room with a sofa bed if you care to join us!

Transitions - Part 2

Our trip back to the United States in mid-August and preparations for Peru were much more hectic than we had planned given Aileen’s mother’s surgery.  Aileen was very busy caring for her mother in New Jersey while Jeff was in San Francisco preparing for our move to Peru.  Emma and Hannah were very busy enjoying everything San Francisco has to offer, especially all of their friends and family.  Everyone had a very different experience during our brief visit to the USA so we will each tell our own story.

Jeff

It was beyond weird coming back to our house, especially without Aileen.  However, it was blissful being in a comfortable room with a nice bed, no mosquito net and no blaring music, barking dogs nor cackling chickens to disturb my sleep; hot showers, good coffee and delicious breakfasts every morning were even better.  We were of course very worried about Aileen and her mom and missed them terribly.  To make matters worse, we were not even sure if we would go to Peru but had to move forward as if we were.  During our first week in the United States I needed to focus on getting some consulting contracts to help pay for our living expenses in Peru, so I met with numerous nonprofit organizations and foundations to try and find work.  Thank goodness my sister lives nearby and was able to watch Emma and Hannah for a few days while I was running all over the city.  My folks then came to visit and we spent some quality time with them and all of the west coast Kositsky family.  The next week was a frenzy of packing, shopping, preparing our house for the new tenants, taking care of paperwork and more.  It finally seemed as if Peru was a go and I was scrambling like a madman to get ready before we left for NJ.  The night before we were going to leave was to be a sleepless one.  I had the house all ready but did not start packing until after dinner and had much to do.  This changed abruptly when I received a notification that our flight to NJ was cancelled due to Hurricane Irene.  We were all devastated not being able to see Aileen and her family.  I tried mightily to get us on a flight but it was not to be.  After two very stressful days trying to get through to the airline I finally got us tickets from SF to Houston where we would rendezvous with Aileen and head to Peru.  Once our travel arrangements were set we had time to do some last minute shopping and visit some friends we thought we would miss during this trip.  Seeing my dear friend Tyrell was a special silver lining to the change in our travel plans.  After all of the hassles we had this past month I never expected to actually see Aileen in Houston so we had all sorts of contingency plans in place.  I cannot describe how thrilled I was to see her running down the gangway toward our plane and even more thrilled that airport security was not chasing her for this clear violation of TSA regulations.

Hannah

My time in the United States was super good – I loved it.  I visited lots and lots and lots of my friends.  I saw Nora, Zoe, Rowan, Elias, Toby, Jasmine, Milo, Justin, Helena, Sam, PJ, Maya, Margret, Liv and Liesl.  I am very sad we did not see my friend Willa.  I am really sad I could not see my Mommy or my Grandma.  I did get to see my Grammy and Pop Pop and my Aunt Lauren, Uncle Josh, Uncle Andy (and his girlfriend Cindy), Uncle Andrew, Aunt Christy and my cousins Ann, David, Maya, Diane, Matthew, Sarah, Nadia, Jordan and Arielle.   We bought ice cream and chips and ate lots of good food like carrots and potatoes.  My Daddy got an Ipad and other stuff.  The airplane trip to Houston was okay.  We were just talking about Mommy and she came running to us.  I was very excited.  The flight to Peru was bad because my ears were so plugged I could not hear.  They gave us food on the airplane and it was pretty good.  I was scared to be going to Peru because the teachers might pull my hair if I am bad.

Emma

I really had a SUPER good time in America, especially with my friends and family.  I thought it was very nice when my school friends made a party for me at Zoe’s house.  I also had a really good time at the Academy of Science with Liesl and hiking with Sam.  I also had a really good time at my Aunt Lauren’s house when everybody came over.  I liked when Grammy and Pop Pop came over to my house.  But the most exciting part was seeing Mommy in Houston before we went to Peru.

Aileen

When I think about my last minute trip to New Jersey because of my mom’s heart attack and her subsequent need for a quadruple bypass operation, mostly I think about all the love and support surrounding me and my family.  First and foremost, Jeff really stepped up to the plate and was super-supportive in encouraging me to be there with my mom.  I’m not sure if I know any other dads who would have volunteered to take care of two kids on their own for three weeks, much less getting them and all our stuff from a remote beach in Nicaragua, to Managua, to San Francisco and then to Houston, getting the house in San Francisco ready for our new renters, and taking care of all the shopping and logistics necessary so we could still embark on our adventure in Peru.  Also, the many friends who helped out with childcare and of course Jeff’s sister, Lauren, who was so incredibly helpful in so many ways, all made it possible for me to be in New Jersey with my family.  In New Jersey, my brothers and sisters-in-laws, nieces and nephew, our cousins, Nick, Rich, and especially Ed, made the response to the situation really feel like a team effort where everyone was trying to do whatever they could to help out.  This feeling, and the kind home health aides we were able to find for my mom made it possible for me to leave for Peru, secure in the knowledge that my mom is in great hands.  (The ease of international communication via skype and cell phones, and the existence of direct flights between Peru and Newark didn’t hurt, either.)  It was really special for me to spend so much time with my mom and despite the difficult circumstances we both enjoyed being together.  (I was also glad that Hurricane Irene chose this period to strike the northeast, so that I was there to help my parents remove the water from their basement!)  I am looking forward to going back to New Jersey in January, this time with Jeff and the girls, to spend some more time helping out and being with my family.

Transitions - Part 1

On July 14, 2011 we left San Ramon, Nicaragua for the Redwood Beach Resort (aka RBR) in Mechapa, Nicaragua.  Aileen and Jeff got a “job” caretaking this beach hotel while the owners returned to the United States for a few weeks.  We were planning to rent a house by the beach or something like that because we had to move out of our house in San Ramon in mid-July but did not have tickets back to the USA until mid-August.  We lucked into this awesome opportunity to spend our last month in Nicaragua in such a beautiful location.

The trip to RBR was a bit complicated.  We got up bright and early on our last day in San Ramon to finish packing our things and clean out our house.  We already said our goodbyes and planned to sneak out of town without any more drama or hoopla.  That of course did not work.  People started coming over around 7:00am including our maid, the daughter of our landlady and our neighbors.  We finally got our truck packed and out of dodge around 8:00am.  We arrived at Aileen’s office an hour later to return her work truck and say our goodbyes to the staff of SOL (for the second or third time).  Our friend Douglas arrived around 9:15 and we transferred all of our possessions into his truck.  Coincidentally, his truck was the first vehicle Aileen and I used when we worked here in Nicaragua ten years ago.  The nonprofit we used to work for sold the truck to Douglas years ago and he has managed to keep it going.

Douglas drove us about 3 hours to the town of Chinandega where we stopped to buy supplies and have lunch.  The plan was to call the owners of the hotel when we were ready to leave Chinandega and they would meet us at a fork in the road about an hour away.  From there, we were to transfer to yet another truck that would take us on a very rough dirt road to the hotel as Douglas’ vehicle would never have made the final hour of our journey.  It seemed like a good plan but when we called the owners they were nowhere to be found.  To make a long story shorter, they had decided to come meet us in Chinandega to meet us but were not able to find us there. After just a little fuss we finally met their driver at the designated spot and he took us to the hotel.

We spent a day getting trained by Mike and Stacy (the owners of the hotel) and found out their large staff did most everything so there would be very little work for us.  In the mornings Juan, Jesus and Ramon arrive at 6am to do repairs and work the grounds.  Sarah arrives at 8am to cook breakfast and lunch for guests, wash dishes, do the laundry and clean the rooms.  They all leave at 1:30pm.  Martha arrives at 5pm to cook dinner (if there are guests).  Michael also arrives at 5pm to wash the dishes, mix drinks and close the place down.  Everyone is off on Sundays unless there are guests in which case some will work.  Like I said, there was not much for us to do other than cook for ourselves – we don’t even have to do our own dishes!  Moreover, there are no reservations in the near future because this is the off-season so we have the place to ourselves. 

RBR is a small hotel on an isolated beach just outside a small fishing village called Mechapa in far northwestern Nicaragua close to the Gulf of Fonseca.  Mechapa is a hard scrabble town that is very poor and can be pretty rough when the fishermen get to drinking (which is often).  However, the hotel is outside of town and right on a beautiful stretch of beach.  We stayed in the owner’s two-room house while they were away and a cabana when they returned.  The hotel has five cabanas for guests, a small restaurant and a bar/movie theatre (both open air affairs with thatched roofs).  The hotel used to be bigger but the ocean recently took 3 of the cabanas due to beach erosion.  Despite the threat of being washed away by the sea the place is pretty darn comfortable and relaxing -- with air conditioning, TV/DVD and the coldest beer fridge in Nicaragua.  Frankly, it is way cozier than our set-up in San Ramon.  However, Mechapa is very remote and we were pretty much stuck there during our stay.  The owners have a telephone that only works sometimes, satellite TV that goes off when there is a breeze and internet access that was down for most of our stay.  Furthermore, they took their car with them to the airport and the closest supplies (beyond the most basic) are two hours away by private vehicle.  In a pinch, we could take the bus to town (3.5 hours) and during low tide you can walk into the ocean and use a mobile phone if it is not too cloudy. 

So, there was little work, no reservations and limited access to the outside world.  You might be wondering what we were doing all day?  Well, we got up around 5:30am to the sound of the ocean and dogs waiting to be feed.  Jeff goes down to feed t dogs (Coqueta and King), a lazy cat (Lluvia) and the cranky parrot (Don Guido).  Ramon (the lead staff member) usually had a few questions/concerns that he has to share before we even got the coffee going.  Jeff usually made breakfast while Aileen was dragging the girls out of bed.  After breakfast we walked down the beach with the girls to the two-room schoolhouse.  They attended classes for a month and really enjoyed it.  On the way back we usually bought some fish and or tortillas for the day’s meals.  This involved fighting through the crowds that line up at the fishermen’s coop when the boats come in or sitting around while the tortilla lady cooks ‘em up fresh.  This whole process can take anywhere from ten minutes to an hour depending on the lines.  By the time we returned to the hotel the dishes were done and staff members were half way done cleaning the grounds.  Jeff then went surfing and Aileen usually read or swams.  There were usually a few things to do or issues that come up (calling the electric company when the power went out, fixing the satellite dish that wild horses knocked out of alignment, inquiring about some repairs, etc).   Not what you would call a stressful morning.
When the girls return from school we had lunch and while Sarah is cleaning up our dishes we did some homework, guitar practice, tutoring, writing, etc.  The rest of the afternoon was spent swimming, hiking and/or playing games with friends.  If dinner is early enough, we retire to the bar and lay in the hammocks watching a movie while staff was cleaning up and the sun was busy setting.

We had some amazing adventures during our trip as well.  Aileen and Jeff went ocean kayaking and tried to get out past the waves which led to an amazing wipe out that the whole town was talking (laughing) about.  Jeff and the girls took a more serene but sublime kayaking trip through a mangrove. We also explored both ends of the peninsula we were on and visited a river on one side and some amazing tide pools on the other.  Not all of our adventures were fun.  Jeff had to take an excursion to town by bus to buy supplies.  It was stressful running around town shopping and then packing everything for bus for the trip home (not to mention hauling everything to the roof of the bus).  During the 3.5 hour bus ride (standing room only) Jeff saw people start cursing and closing their windows.  He noticed some white rain coming into the windows and quickly realized it was the milk he bought.  Jeff tried to hide behind his Kindle as he stood silently between a drunk guy an very large woman; however, his cover was blown when the conductor yelled out “gringo, is that your milk.”  “Not anymore,” he answered amidst the grumbling and laughter (which was not good natured). 

Other than the bus trip, we had a wonderful time in Mechapa.  Unfortunately the trip was cut short for Aileen when she found out that her Mom needed open-heart surgery.  She left immediately and powered her way to Managua and then New Jersey which was no easy feat.  Jeff, Emma and Hannah stayed for a few more days which were filled with some tearful goodbyes.  It was very touching to know that the hotel staff and the girls’ classmates were genuinely sad to see us leave.  Some of Emma and Hannah’s new friends even brought them gifts which I wanted to (but could not) return given how poor the town is.  It was amazing how fast the girls could develop friendships without having to navigate the busy schedules, play dates and competition so prevalent in the United States.

Daddy and daughters had their own trying trip back to the United States.  Being apart from Aileen was hard enough and the trip was pretty challenging too.  Jeff, Emma, Hannah and all their stuff took a truck andthen a taxi to the closest city and our friend Douglas picked them up the next day.  On the way to Managua, Douglas’ truck broke down and three hours later we finally found a taxi to take us to Managua.  We spent a few days at the Holiday Inn, visiting with friends and doing some last minute shopping. Before we knew it we had dragged ourselves and all our bags back to the USA and were in San Francisco again.  Our time in Nicaragua was over.

Our month at the beach was a wonderful way to end our year in Nicaragua but the departure was a bit overwhelming given the circumstances.  However, one thing we learned in Nicaragua is that things do not always work out as planned and you have to roll with the punches.  Mom and Dad managed to make it through the experience thanks to our awesome daughters who have learned many things this year, especially how to be flexible.  It was an emotional and challenging time for everyone and Emma and Hannah really rose to the occasion.  They missed their Mom and were a bit dazed by all the commotion but were good natured and helpful throughout.  The poise, self-reliance and maturity they developed during the past year are simply phenomenal.