first weekend of spring

Minny and me!

     Though fall just started for most of you reading this, last Friday was the first day of spring in Perú! Last Saturday, I rushed to Miraflores with Lauren to get a free latte at McDonalds before the offer ended at 11am. We met Allison and Itza there, then went to look and shop at some Inca markets nearby. Later, we went back to D'Onofrio to get the animal ice cream that I wanted the first time (my "princesa" ice cream was delicious, but not what I originally ordered. I didn't complain though, because it was 50 cents more than what I ordered and it looked so good.) I got the "Minny" and it was so yummy! It was a nice sunny day (hello spring!) so we sat in the park for about half an hour, just taking it in. I need to start wearing sunscreen! I'm a lot closer to the equator here and my face gets red pretty quickly...

     On Sunday I ran in a 4k road race with other athletes from the university, including Laruen, my wonderful roommate, and Allison, my ever-supportive track friend from Boston. The race was really just a run, not for competition, but for participation, because it was Día de la Juventud! The beginning of spring, celebrating youth and fitness… so fun! A lot of Peruvian universities participated; the girls ran a 4k and the guys ran a 10k. I’m pretty sure Allison, Lauren, and I were the only three Americans, and needless to say, we got the stares and the pictures just because. Yup, just because. The race was supposed to begin at 9am, and we didn’t get started until 9:20, because that’s just how they do things here. I actually took the risk while we were waiting and ran from the starting line to a restaurant nearby so I could go to the bathroom before we started! What a rush. Anyway, I got to run through part of Lima, and had no idea where I was going, and looked at the buildings, and it was great! I actually ran across one road with moving traffic (don’t worry, I looked both ways before I crossed) and another road with three lanes of bumper-to-bumper traffic… that never would’ve happened in the US!



all the PUCP runners, with coaches

     After the race, the three of us got on a bus to go see our friend Priscilla in a dance performance! It was mostly of cute little girls in tutus doing ballet, but Priscilla is in an older group of girls and they danced to hip hop. She not only gave us free tickets, but she sat us down with her parents and two sisters. As soon as we sat down her dad got up, and he came back with cokes and popcorn for all three of us! At intermission he bought us Sublimes, (pronounced soo-blee-may) which are chocolate bars with peanut pieces in them. Made by D'Onofrio, just like the ice cream! It was so sweet. I think they were really happy that we came to watch Priscilla. :)

the three runners with Priscilla!



Lima: all about food and running (which allows more food!)





Tio Bigote, working his magic

     There are seven “maravillas” or wonders of PUCP. Squirrels are one, since they are rarely seen on campus. The deer are another, which are the campus pets, and are seen all the time. Tío Bigote (literally Uncle Mustache) is another wonder of the school. He sets up shop every weekday (I’m not sure about the weekends) to feed the crowds of hungry and devoted supporters of his sandwiches. I have recently discovered the tastiness, and have also become a fan. I have tried the chicken with egg and the cheeseburger. All the sandwiches come with papitas, which are thin, short, crunchy French fries (I guess). Yumm! It’s fun to watch him work. His wife and son (maybe) help him every day, serving the customers and taking money and whatnot. I have yet to figure out what the other 4 wonders are…

my chicken with egg sandwich!

Allison and I running!

     I ran in my first track meet in Peru last weekend! I was supposed to run the 5k on Saturday, but the coach didn’t get me to the check-in table on time. I looked over at the track and thought, “these girls are running the 5k, and I’m not with them…” There wasn’t an announcement on the speakers and the coach didn’t realize it was past time. He felt so bad. All was well, however, because he had just so happened to register me for the 10k race the next day! I clearly and purposefully asked not to run that one. But it was fun! Well, kind of. I ran 25 laps around the track… not my kind of race. Put me on a cross country course or in the woods, and I’ll run a 10k for ya. But around a track? Ok it wasn’t THAT bad, but I’m not doing it again. I got to run with my friend Allison, from Massachusetts! And I came in 2^nd though! That was cool! Got a medal and everything! There were only 4 girls running, and the first girl ran an amazing 35 minutes (!! 12 minutes faster than me), but it was great. The coach wants me to run it again, at the next track meet, but I might have to disappoint him. Twenty five laps = too much.



first visit: La Princesa! (name of the chocolate/peanute butter bar in pieces)



      We discovered a D’Onofrio shop in Miraflores (more up-scale, touristy district) that makes animal-shaped ice cream! D’Onofrio is an ice cream company (maybe owned now by Nestle) here that also does chocolate bars and such. There is actually a D’Onofrio factory a short walk up the road from our house! Anyway, really good ice cream! I’ve been to this special location twice so far. This may become a once a week adventure!

      I’ve been in Perú for almost 7 weeks! Wow! Lauren and I are still living with the Rosales family, which was kind of up in the air for a few days. The relationships we have with the family are improving, in the direction of feeling more welcome in the home. We really do enjoy living here, we just wish we were more a part of the family. It’s just been hard with lack of conversations (save with sister Carmen) and lack of time spent together, because the family is busy. We’re working on that though, just trying to be blessings to them, taking initiative with conversations and loving them.

     School is going well! The few grades that I’ve received have been good or pretty good. It’s still just a lot of reading though, and it takes a long time to do. Mid-terms are coming up in a few weeks! I’m also excited for the coming weeks because they should include more traveling outside of Lima, and some much-awaited and exciting visits (from Eric and my Mom! And Annie, a dear friend living in Perú about 9 hours away!)

     Sorry for the lack of posts, I will keep them coming more regularly! Thanks to all of you who are reading and keeping up with me and praying for me while I’m here! I’m definitely very thankful for it!

Love,

Sarah

continuation and more pictures of the ceremony

Revelation 21:1-5

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”

sitting behind the Navy and Army watch the Marines present the colors... boy do I feel protected

the youth choir

posing up front

English side of the program

La Punta, ceviche, la playa, ceremonia

     This past Saturday was a big day for me. After going to Restaurando Vidas for breakfast, I stayed for the service that was going on. I’m loving the singing there, and I’m getting to know more and more words in the songs (there aren’t any projectors or hymnals to help me out). The actual messages though, I’m still having a hard time focusing on and understanding. I don’t know if it’s because I don’t have a Spanish/bilingual Bible, because the microphone actually makes it harder to hear the words the pastor is saying, or what. The services are always long though, and if I get tired by trying to listen, I usually spend time in the Bible myself, or pray, which has also been really good.

     After the service, Lauren and I left the church with Maria, Evelyn, Silvia, another woman from the church, Jonatan, two of the pastors, a prophetess visiting from Miami (originally from Lima), a young singer from L.A. (also originally from Lima), and her friend. Don’t worry, we took three different taxis. Our destination was La Punta, in Callao (cah-yah-oh), which is the point of a city right next to Lima.

called "La Punta" for a reason!

     There, we all crowded into a nice little restaurant right near the water, and food just started coming out to us! “El ataque!” (the attack) as Edgar likes to say right after the food has been served. First, plantain chips and toasted corn kernels (called cancha) in small bowls. Then, clams (still attached to the shells) with diced tomatoes, onions, and cilantro piled on the shell. Then, some kind of seafood wontons, with some kind of brown dipping sauce. All appetizers, by the way, but we each only got one… there were a lot of us. THEN! the CEVICHE and the chicharrón! We kind of did just attack the plates, actually. The ceviche was phenomenal. Raw fish of some kind with sauce, onions, corn pieces, and lots of cilantro. I love cilantro. Chicharrón is a lightly fried meat (it can be chicken, pork, fish...), in this case it was fish. Also verrryy good. Another thing, everything was covered in lime juice: delicious.

ceviche, with corn and sweet and regular potatoes

     After we had finished the wonderful, fresh, seafood, the youngsters (Evelyn, Silvia, Jonatan, Lauren, and I) went to explore some beaches. Another wonderful blessing of the day was the sun! It was sunny the whole day! First time since I’ve been here. The beaches were very rocky… there was no sand! The first beach had big rocks, which were hard to walk on. We found a boat that had my name on it! “Sarita Colonial”… Sarita is a term of endearment, kind of like “little Sarah” or “sweet Sarah.” My family here calls me that J

Silvia, Lauren, Jonatan, and me

     On the way to the second beach we got some ice cream! My first ice cream of Perú: I got a chocolate covered lúcuma bar = yumm! The second beach had smaller rocks, which were actually comfortable to sit and lie on. I actually tried to take a nap! We tried to skip rocks, which didn’t really work very well. We stayed until the sun started to set, which was beautiful.



this one's for you, dad :)

      Last week, I was invited to the ceremony for the tenth anniversary of September 11^th at the US Embassy in Surco, Lima. Lauren and I went to that yesterday, and it was a very sweet ceremony. Both Spanish and English were spoken, a young choir singing, two Peruvian families that had a loved one killed in the Twin Tower attacks present. It made me a good bit homesick… especially as I watched four US Marines present the colors at the beginning of the ceremony. I got teary-eyed thinking of my daddy. I also got teary-eyed later, when the ambassador was talking about honoring those who died… I was just heartbroken by the evil that caused all this heartache. The world is not supposed to be like that.

   

official invite!

fun stuff!

So this post is a little late... but it's about two of my fun days last week! Yay!

     Tuesday, August 30, was a holiday for Lima: dia de Santa Rosa de Lima. The celebration is something about the first Catholic saint in Lima, perhaps Santa Rosa, and people go to a certain place to write messages or prayers to her, asking her for things. I didn't partake in this activity, but I did go with friends to a restaurant called Crepes y Waffles! I got the Havana crepe, which had coffee ice cream, whip cream with a chocolate drizzle, pecans and a sweet caramel-like sauce. It was so incredibly sweet, but very delicious. We enjoyed our brunches and then went to an Inca market to search for treasures. I got a stylish hat for my forever-cold head, and saw all kinds of cool things, including alpaca yarn!!!



"combi" (I didn't take this picture haha)



     While we were PERUsing the little shops (haha), Lauren and I got an invitation via text to go to Vicente's house (the first house we lived in) beacuse it was Estefania's 15th birthday! We succeeded in making it all the way to the house in a combi, which we were so proud of. The family and friends at the house were also surprised and proud of us! The birthday celebration was fun... Estefania had "happy birthday" sung to her in three different languages: Spanish, English, and Quechua. Lucky girl. And the cake was really yummy!



Estefania and some uncles (?) and the cake!

     After that we went from the house to the Plaza de San Miguel with our friend, Jonatan (who sings and helps out with a youth ministry at another church), and met his brother, sister, and some friends. We all went to Papa John's for supper... also very yummy. It was really awesome to be outnumbered by Peruvians in the group that we were hanging out with! The pizza was good and the fellowship was good. It's such a blessing to have friends that really care for us, and really enjoy our company :)

Silvia, Lauren, me, Evelyn, and Edgar in the tunnel

     Last Thursday, September 1, Evelyn, Silvia, and Edgar (friends from the Restaurando Vidas church) took Lauren and I to a park in Lima with a bunches of awesome fountains! It was a LOT of fun. We watched a show with a long fountain with lights, music, and lasers that pointed at the water to create videos of people doing different Peruvian dances. There was a really cool tunnel fountain that you could walk through. When we were almost out of the tunnel, Silvia stuck her finger into one of the jets of water and it splashed all over me! But it was all in good fun :) Good thing I wore my waterprooof ski jacket--yes, it is sometimes necessary to wear here. Another fun fountain was a "labyrinth" that you could run into, trying not to be caught by a stream of water. Once you were in the middle the water would pop up in different areas, creating a maze that you had to find your way out of. That was quite the adventure, and by the end of the night my shoes were wet. So much fun!

(the video is doesn't show the picture show of dancers in the water, but it was the shorter of the two)

address!

If you want to send me a letter, here is what you'd write on the envelope! (Make sure "air mail" is indicated somewhere on the envelope!)


LAURO ROSALES ALVARADO
Atención: Sarah Hart
Jr. Nicolas Comacho Mz B2 lote 8
Urbanización Las Brisas, AVEP-Lima
Pueblo Libre, Lima
PERU