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We recieved our first real mail yesterday. Thank you, Lynda Mote!! It made it! It made our day!!

One more week under our belt. No spanish class in the morning! Phew! It gets tough thinking so much!!

It looks like we’ll be moving into our more permanent abode in about a week. Also, we take our next advancement exam this Tuesday. We’ll be testing to advance to Basic Level 4. Next stop, Intermediate! I never thought I’d be so excited to say I’m intermediate.

Spanish class wears us out! Today, it was killing me. I couldn’t wait to get out of class. And, I had no idea what time it was which made it a hundred times worse! I didn’t know if I had 5 minutes left or an hour.

I had to get out a bit. I had heard about the Surcillo market and decided to see what they had to offer. It’s straight out on Angamos. I took a taxi there.

This market is defintely worth visiting. You can get everything from dog food to freshly plucked chickens to undergarments. I enjoyed just walking around, looking at the merchandise, and trying to talk to the vendors.

I walked back. I did make one purchase. A funny looking, little tree. I think we’ll name him Tito.

Well, I raked up the nerve to go. My irritation had finally begun to outweigh my anxiety. I went to the barber shop right off of Ovalo Gutierrez. I walked in and sat down and watched the two barbers cut hair.

I had a sudden rush of fear sitting there about what in the world I was going to say to this guy. I desperately searched through the newspaper for someone who had hair that I could live with so I could just point and say “el mismo” (the same). There was none to be found.

Then it was my turn. I sat in the chair and then came the question, “Como something something something.” I only speak a little spanish, I told him in spanish. He just looked at me like, “Ok, I still need to know how to cut you’re pelo you crazy gringo.”

Then, an ingenious thought occurred to me. The guy before me had pretty good hair….I could live with that length. “Como el otro muchacho.” (like the other guy), I said. That was all it took. I got a good haircut at a good price. That makes for a pretty good day in my book!

Before we got our car, we always took a taxi. They are all over the place and fairly inexpensive. One of the interesting things about taxis here is that once you get a taxi to stop, you tell him where you are going and he proposes a price. Then, you either accept and hop in or ask if he’s got anything less (Algo menos?) Sometimes they’ll go down, sometimes they won’t. Being a gringo definitely works against us in this situation. We get the gringo offers.

Last night we were having dinner with the Hughes, a missionary couple working with University students here in Lima. We took a taxi, even though we have a car now, because it was far away and we didn’t know how to get there. We got a good taxi driver, clean car, things were going good. Then, at a red light, steam started coming out from under his hood. Then, BOOM, the radiator cap popped and there was steam and anti-freeze everywhere. We’re at a big intersection (Angamos & Via Expresa). You should have seen me and a peruvian pushing this taxi through the light to a service station! We made it to the Repsol and caught another taxi. Phew! another day in Lima.

Sunset Over the Pacific 

Amanda and I rested today. We needed it. We had church here in our apartment together. Then we decided to go out to the beach. I love to play in the waves. And I even managed to get Amanda in with me. The water is a bit cold, but is easy to get used to.

Tonite we made Chifa (Chinese food). I was the main cook. We had stirfry, white rice, and I tried my hand at fried rice. It was pretty good if I don’t say so myself.

Language school again in the morning. Also, we are house/dog/daughter sitting for the Tabor family this week.

We got our vehicle today! Which was a lot more exciting than I thought it would be. We hadn’t really missed having a car until we got it. It was like freedom! We could go where we wanted without having to try to stop a taxi, explain where we’re going, get him down from the Gringo price. We could just hop in and go. So we did. We drove around Miraflores. We got lost. We went to the beach. It was fun.

We our the proud caretakers of a 2003 (I think) Toyota Hilux. Marroon.

With the Huchison family is where we spend a lot of our evenings. They are some of our very best friends here. So we thought we’d introduce you. Cliff and Grace are serving a three year term here in Lima. They are through the IMB on the Masters program. They brought with them Hannah. Hannah is 6 years old. She was adopted in the U.S. Also, Cliff and Grace have 5 other daughters, Peruvian. They were adopted 8 months ago here in Peru.

Dinay, Jessinia, Diana, Serina, & Helen are from Huaraz, a city 8 hours north of Lima. They are sisters. About 4 years ago their mother and father both died in a bus accident near Huaraz. They lived in an orphanage for several years and asked to be put up for adoption, but together, to be adopted as a family.

Now, they live about three blocks from us. We eat dinner with them quite a bit. Cliff says he cooks for so many that he doesn’t notice it when two extras show up. So we show up! You’ll be hearing a lot about the Hutchison Family. Here’s a picture.