It's Ceneguilla baby!

This is the house.

This is Blanca.

Samuel and Lucas just chillin in their baby pools ^^

We were trying to do the whole stilt thing, and together we were quite the team but alone well.. not so much.

Doris and her baby girl Mercedes! We call her Mechita, Bebita, Mercy etc. and she is theee cutest little thing.

 

 

Triplets. Identical triplets. Do you realize how confusing that gets? But from left to right they are: Ducle, Blanca, and Celeste. Such beautiful names.

Samuel swinging away in the hammock. I pushed so many children in this thing. "HIGHER I WANNA GO HIIIGHER! More higher than the WORLD!" but in Spanish.

Aaaand we rode bikes! Well it was broken so I pushed and Dulce steered :)

Ditches! I think it's universal for children to love ditches.

Day 24

My new motto:

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always; pray continually; give thanks in every situation, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

I read this verse a day or two after I decided to stop complaining. It's interesting how you don't have to be happy to rejoice -- it's a choice (notice the unintentional rhyme), and life gets better the more you do it. At least from my two days experience haha.

It's the beach baby.

The beach.

The bridge you saw in the background of the previous picture. These two girls are my homies, and this random dude decided to jump into our picture sooo yeah i can't really tell you who he is.

The only picture I got of the tents and stuff was this one haha sooo yeah :P

Under the tent = SHADOW = love. And clothes blowing in the wind.

And this was the last day, in the background people are being baptized, super awesome.

Day 17

The past 2.5 days:

I SURFED! I SURFED! Oh man it was awesome, for like the whole 5 seconds of it! I did stand up, and I was soaring over the ocean spread eagle style, and then yeah, I’d fall. But it was still suuuperfreaking cool! Since there were so many people there who wanted to learn I only got to go like 5 times, but I bet I’d rock at it if I surfed more. My plan is this: live on the beach in a beach shack and surf for the rest of my life. Somehow my skin will mutate into non-scandinavian skin and I won’t have to worry about the sun. It’s a good plan. On that note, I’m also quite proud because I didn’t burn! I was walking around with my lap lap wrapped around me almost all the time, applying spf 60 sunscreen ritually, and wore a big orange hat I borrowed from one of the kids here at El Refugio. Yeah, the whole surf camp thing was a toon of fun. We got there Thursday afternoon, and the tents were already set up which was soo nice. We ate lunch and got divided into 4 different coloured teams; mine was Red, and our team name was Red Bull haha. Then there were games and stuff, and then dinner, and then like devotional/worship time and then it was around 11 and everyone went to bed. I was so tired I fell asleep right away, in my sleeping bag with no pillow and no mattress thingie. That’s the main difference between camp here  and in Sweden, everyone has massive blow up mattresses with them and a ton ton ton of stuff, but here everyone brought a sleeping bag and one backpack :P then the next day, Friday, we had devotions in the morning, then breakfast, then games, then free time which was when I went surfing, and I hung out with Lila, this girl from my tent who is super awesome. Oh, and I taught her how to swim! It was really fun but scary because there were huge waves all the time, so we’d have to wait for a calm part then practice the swim strokes, then run away, then come back etc. We got dunked and washed around by a couple of big waves and that sort of terrified her (i don’t blame her), but she was a brave one. And now she can swim! Then there were more team games, like kajabe can can and The Great Race. The race was that 8 people from each team hold hands and run to different activities or whatever, and if you let go you had to wait 10 seconds before continuing, and these activities were spread out all over the town we were next to so we were running around town holding hands holding up traffic and stuff, it was great. I didn’t know there was gonna be so much running (I haven’t done anything exercise-wise since I left PNG) but well, I was awesome. Haha. I at least didn’t slow us down. The last activity was eating, and I had to eat a packet of crackers. My mouth was sooo dry but I downed those bad boys. We got second (stupid yellow team), and so we were allowed to go take a shower before everyone else :D We had to pay to use the bathrooms and showers, which was sort of a bummer, but you can’t avoid certain things for too long. Also, everything closed at 10 pm so after that you better not have to pee. Anyways, after dinner we had a frisbe game in the dark with glow sticks and then devotions/worship and then bed. Once again, I was soooo tired and fell asleep in about 2 seconds. Then today, Saturday. Breakfast (they served bread and “coffee”. It tasted nothing but sugar and milk... but there was nothing else to drink. I’m writing this because I want some sympathy from fellow coffee drinkers out there.) and then we packed up our stuff and our tents, and then there was the last game – American football. Uuuhh... okay? I was trying to think back to 9^th grade PE with Mr. Barkman which was the last time I played that game. I guess it worked because guess what, I caught the ball. Twice. But then I let Darcy through the defence and she scored. Ooh weeeell. Then after a watermelon break there was the final message thing, and it was really cool because a bunch of people got saved, and then them plus a bunch more got baptized. Seeing all of that happen was amazing. God is totally awesome. After that we had lunch, and packed up and drove home. It takes about 2.5 hours, and I slept. For the first time in my life I slept in a moving vehicle, and I had this crazy dream I can’t remember but yaay!!! Maybe my transportation-insomnia is over.

When we got back home I realize that I’m almost completely deaf in my right ear – i think it’s full of water or something; anyhow I have an infection which sort of sucks. You could pray for that if you like. I’m lying here with something called Otalgan soaking into my ear canal as I’m writing this.

Anyhow, I’m going to bed. Somehow It’s already 10 and I am already falling asleep. Goodnight good folk.

I’ll post some pictures later.

day 14

Burn. On my face. Shoulders. Mmm. We went to this place called Seneguilla; it’s a house with a pool and a really big yard that is owned by friends of Doris or something like that, and they go every once in a while, and next week we’re all going to stay for a couple of days! Being there today was a tooon of fun! I played in the pool for hours with all the kids, being a sea horse and a tunnel and giving rides to There and Back, and helping the triplets learn how to swim – I’m quite proud to say that Celeste can swim 10 metres on her own. What a brave 4 year old. My first memory of learning how to swim was at the seaside in Alotau. We didn’t have floaties, but this ghetto blue diaper floaty thing, like a Styrofoam pelvic protection pad or something. I’m not sure, but I felt ridiculous, and mom was way out in the huge (to 4 year old me) waves. I was scared and was standing in my floatie-underwear up to my waist in ocean, crying because I didn’t trust my floatie device. Oh, so back to today, I also hung up a hammock; for this I am proud.

On the way home, we picked up my suitcase from the bible college so now I am living at El Refugio. Yay! I got to unpack :D Usually unpacking is a vice of mine, but after living out of a suitcase for 4 weeks it was really nice to put my now folded, not rolled, clothes in drawers. My room is a bed, a chair, and a small dresser, but I really like it. I hung up my calendar on the wall, and my belongings are in my suitcase under the bed. I also packed for the Surf Camp, to which I am leaving tomorrow. Which means I’m not gonna update my blog for 3 whole days!? You’ll live... somehow you’ll find the strength to go on. I’ll be back.

Have a good one, all you poor souls in cold cold countries. Try not to hate me as you think of me surfing the South American waves, walking barefoot on the sand, shmearing sunscreen everywhere.

Day 13

We went to the park! I handed my camera off to one of the kids so here is what they saw:

"You're so WHITE! I'm taking a picture."

Old man

Thiis is probably while we were playing tag, i'm guessing.

Me and Samuel, but we call him Chamu. I love him!

        

 

 

 

 

Lucas and Josias doing something something

I got burned today, and I've got this really sexy burn line right above my knees. Mhmmmm. So I went and bought aloe vera aftersun, so I'm gonna lotion up after this. Tomorrow we're all going to this place with a pool and we're going swimming and I am planning on putting on sunscreen Ted style haha (Ted, from scrubs... at the bahamas... ya know...).
Oh, so I know something about what's gonna be happening now. I'm going to move to El Refugio and live there until future reference! I'm gonna get to not live out of a suitcase anymore -- don't get me wrong, I like the lifestyle but right now it's a mess and I can't find anything (like my camera charger and nail file). I think I'll move there tomorrow after we come back from that place we're going, and then the next day after that I'm going to surf camp for three days! Translation: SUNSCREEN! And sand and lack of personal hygiene and sleeping on the beach and awesomeness. Anyways, living at El Refugio, it's going to be great.

Proverbs 16:9

In his heart a man plans his course

but the Lord determines his steps.

My bad, today is day 12...

Pictures! I brought my little camera and let the kids play with it, so here are their phototos :)

Estefany is such a cutie, and talks to me so much and so fast that I barely understand what she's saying but I love it.

And this is the roof! And Lucas. To the right (you can't see it) is where we eat lunch. I love that almost all the roofs here are like terraces, and that we can just hang out up here :)

Estefany told us to sit here. This is Celeste and me and a pig. Celeste is one of three identical triplets; Dulce and Blanca are the other two. They are 4. It gets crazy but they are the most adorable things I've ever seen :D

The view from the twin's bedroom

And Lucas, playing Quadrapop on my phone. It was the most sought-after thing to do today, that and run around with my camera :P

Day 12

So today when I got to El Refugio at 10, I realize it's Sunday and they're all at church for another 1½ hours. Oops. I should start remembering what day it is. With some time to kill I went to the park nearby and sat under a really nice tree, and decided to write down some spanish words I had heard that morning in my notebook. I have a language-learning notebook, where I write down new words and phrases etc. It's the second half of my old diary (thanks to Rebecca Price I have an awesome new red one. anyways, really not important). Instead of studying Spanish I ended up reading my diary; the quote from The Importance of Being Earnest comes to mind, "I always keep my diary with me, one must always have something sensational to read on the train." Basically, I read about my life from November to December last year. Would you like an excerpt?

"Icecream.... glaaarghlgr *drool*"

Sensational, is it not? I also took a walk around the block to the grocery store just to see if I could find it -- good thing I did because otherwise I might have gotten lost. At 11:30 I walked back to El Refugio and everyone was back! Yay! Doris had thought that I wasn't going to come today, because people don't usually come and work on Sundays, but it's not like I have anything better to do, and I can't remember what day it is anyway. She was really happy about my appearance though, because she was about to leave to Huancayo with a couple of the children to talk to Samuel's (an adorable 2 year old boy) aunt, and she said if I could come and look after the kids while she talked that would be great. Okay! Samuel comes from a really harsh background -- his mom is handicapped and mentally at the level of a 9 year old. Doris likes to keep in contact with the kids' families which is wonderful. Huancayo is in the outskirts of Lima, and is the poorest place I've ever seen. Driving away from the city, the houses were getting more and more rundown with crumbling brick walls and trash everywhere. The landscape outside of Lima is all the same -- mounds of dirt. Dust. But taking a second look you can see tiny little houses scattered across the hillsides, some painted in bright colors to brighten up the view, and that is Huancayo. We drove up the side of the mountain on a tiny little dirt road that reminded me of roads in PNG, minus the mud, into the streets of the town. There we found the house of Samuel's aunt, but she wasn't there, only some other woman who lives there as well. There had been some miscommunication, and they didn't really know where she was. So that was pretty sad, for Samuel (well, he's still pretty small and didn't really understand why we were going there) and Doris who had some legalistic stuff to discuss with her... but I'm really glad I got to come and see this part of Lima. The contrasts between our lifestyle and theirs... it's a little painful. There were some poorer areas in PNG too, but not like this. In PNG at least there was water, and there were plants and the jungle. Here the earth is dead.

This is a really bad quality picture from my phone that I got driving away, but you can sort of see what it looks like. I should post pictures of the place I'm acctually at eh... another day.

Day 11

I'm going to try to make this short, because it's late again. I never have time to write during the day because I'm at El Refugio, and at night something else is usually happening, so I always end up staying up late to write. Whoever reads this, you should feel loved.

I went downstairs this morning, and one of the mission trip men from Sandiego had made pancakes! It was a good start for the day, then I talked with José and Jesús and the man who made the pancakes -- they are like 60 somehting years, and here for construction work, and we talked about books. I now quite the addition to my list of books I need to read :)

Then switching over to El Refugio: today we went to the park. Each of the kids had a tiny little water gun (I have no idea whose idea that was), so that was fun, haha, there was a ton of running and chasing and tackling and water. Then when we were done we collapsed into a pile, and the kids were like "tell us a story!" Uhm... yeah I can do that I guess... So I told them I would tell them a story from my life and they were all like, "YAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY!" and had super high expectations or something. This was my "story":

"When I was little, and living in Papua New Guinea, my friends and I built a house, in a tree (all of them look super amazed) and it was such a beautiful tree house. It had two stories, and a swing, and oonly me and my friends were allowed up there. We would play in it all day long."

     End of story. Haha, but they liked it! I guess it's a good thing that the attention span of children isn't very long and they are content with a 2 minute story (yes, it took me about 2 minutes to say that in Spanish). Then Mercedes pointed to a tree and asked me if I could climb it, and I said yes automatically without really seeing if I in fact could climb it. But I ran over to the tree and started climbing it and I got waaay up super high; it was so much fun! I haven't climbed trees in foreever. Then Julio (9 years old)  joined me. He's a tiny little boy so he only got half way, which was still really good. When I got down, Blanca told me she wanted to climb (she's 4), so I put her on my back and we climbed part way up this other tree. Maybe that wasn't super responsible, but it wasn't that high, and she loved it :)
     For lunch there was Yuka, it's tapioca with a type of hot sauce, it's reeeally good. And it was awesome because it was tapioca, one of the potatoes I grew up on in Makwawkalumona. Good stuff. I didn't have anything else to say about lunch...
    I usually do something with the four older kids in the afternoon, because the get bored the easiest. The house is really big and there is a big yard, but they don't go out a lot, and don't really have friends outside the orphanage. Anyways, this afternoon we painted with watercolours, and I taught them that if you use oil pastels on your paper first, then you can paint with watercolours overtop and the oil pastels still shining through. These kids are super artistically talented. I painted a picture of a starry night with silhouetted tree tops with some birds. When I was finished, Rahel told me that I had painted what death looks like. I've decided to take it as a compliment.
     Before I leave I always water the garden, which I did today as well. Lucas and Rahel helped me, which was super sweet of them, except for that I was sort of teasing Rahel while she had the hose (I was turning the water on and off), which was a really stupid idea. Because the next thing I knew I was soaked. Haha.

Tonight was spent in Miraflores. Tamara was going to meet a friend of a friend there, and I went with her so she wouldn't go alone. So we talked to this friend and his group of friends who were all from Chile, went out and got some french fries that were super tasty. Like, they tasted home made from real potatoes you know? Anyways, so that was a nice little outing. There was a little market in the middle of the park, so we walked around looking at jewlery and hats and peruvian stuff. Fun fact, a ton of people think my bilum is Peruvian... something about the pattern of it or something. So I fit in then, I guess :)

And that was my day! Now I shall sleep. Goodnight.

Day 10?

Dear readers of this blog,
You have no idea how happy I was seeing my stats when I signed in. I have readers! Plus also, I really like saying "stats".

This morning when I went down for breakfast, I found a group of white people circulating the coffee area. I was like "wow... white people. What do i do..." so I talked to them, and they're here to help out with some ministry and also a Surf Camp thats happening in a couple of days. Then I talked to this old man José from Mexico, and he had this really cool devotional by Oswald Chambers. His wife compiled it from his sermons after he died (strong woman), and we read todays devotion, based on Isaiah 6:8 Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me." I just really liked it because God didn't "send" Isaiah, he was willing to go and God used him. So... that was really encouraging :) Because it doesn't matter who we are -- if we are smart or outgoing or talented or whatever, just the fact that we want to be someone God can use.

It seems that I'm staying here in Lima at El Refugio for a while. I was supposed to go down to Chaclacayo today, but I just heard that the parents came and took their kids away from there, and that it's sort of chaotic with regulations and paperwork and stuff, so until there are kids there, I'll be here, at El Refugio. Today I gardened like I've never gardened before! One of the boys, Angel, had done something wrong earlier that morning and had to do cut the grass, so I de-weeded the garden while he did that. I put on sooo much sunscreen, but im still a little pink. After lunch it was too hot to be outside so Irene and I played "chapado" (tag) with the kids, and musical chairs, etc. Oh, one of Doris' friends came by -- and american lady. She's really pale and a redhead like me, and we got talking. She works with like... youth ministry for disabled children or something, I'm not quite sure what it's called. Anyway, I think I'm going to see if I can join her sometime and see what she does, because I would love to do something like that in the future... In the afternoon I did more gardening... my jeans got super muddy so I chopped them off into shorts. Now I can show Peru what pale scandinavian skin looks like. mmmm.

Since today was Friday, there was youth group here, and now I actually recognize faces! And can go up to people and start talking without having to introduce myself or explain my lack of Spanish skillz :D So I'm reeeeeally glad I'm getting to know people here. After youth group me and a group of people went out to eat; it was this really small cute place called Leles Chicken or something, I don't know. I'm never going to be able to find my way around Lima... as we were walking I was trying to be observant and look for land marks so I could find my way back if I got abducted or lost, but there were so many turns and corners and lights and plastic mannequin dolls and street vendors that everything started looking the same. Anyway, I ate a shredded chicken and frenchfry sandwich. It was massive and delish, and all for only 3 Soles.

Oooooooooooh I forgot to mention it earlier, it turns out that I'm going to be able to go to the Surf Camp!!!!!!! A bunch of the girls I know from here are going; we're gonna be living in tents, surfing/swimming/sunscreening during the day, and meetings or services or whatever during the evenings I think. It's a ministry type of thing, and is super cool. The whole thing only costs 30 Soles, and that includes the trip there and back, tents, and all the food. However, toilets and showers have an entrance fee, and close at 9:30 pm. So I guess drinking anything after 7 pm won't be an option. Anyway, I'm really exited! I asked Doris if I could go, because I didn't want to leave if it was going to be too much work at El Refugio for Doris and the rest of the people there, because Tamara is going too, but she said that I could :D I think its the 18th tho 21st or something. When I come back from that I'll be telling you guys about my awesome surfing experiences, just you wait.

Okay, it is waaaay too late. It's 1 am. It's weird, here I actually have a healthy sleeping schedule where I go to bed at around 11 or 12 and wake up at 8. Every day.

ps. I'm switching around the words in my blog title... i think it sounds better with ponderings first. Juuust a heads up so nobody freaks out (if I figure out how to do this, that is)

In case I haven't mentioned it:

I HAVENT BITTEN MY NAILS IN............ 22 DAYS!

oh, and the lip ring is gone. I took it out when I first got here (promised my mother I would), and overnight it sort of healed, and the next morning I realized it was healing too fast, so I sort of shoved the ring through the healed parts and this white gunk came out, and i sprayed hand sanitizer on it, but it got infected and had to take it out. I didn't wanna walk around here and work at the orphanage with an infected lip. But don't worry, it'll be re-peirced when I get to Sweden :')'  that's supposed to be a smile with a lipring haha

Day 8

I finally have a nickname! Serenita, it means little mermaid – all thanks to my hair. Okay, so no one has called me that to my face, but this one girl told me that’s what my nickname is and I’m sticking to it. 

This past week I’ve been living at the bible college, because El Refugio is just 3 minutes away. It’s not like a typical school – the layout is like an oval, with dorms all around, and with a small courtyard in the middle which is also a volleyball court. Then there is a small library and 3 classrooms or something. The whole place is really cute. Classes don’t start until February sometime, so right now it’s being used to have different meetings and conferences and services; I sit in on some of them to practice my Spanish, and I usually understand the larger part of what is being said :D Every morning at 8:45 there are devotions, and yesterday I worked up the nerve and even commented on a verse, in Spanish. It was a stuttery sort of comment, but people understood what I said! Babysteps.

Today we took the kids to the “beach”. There is no beach, only rocks. But rocks have their own charm too, I guess. Anyway, getting 12 kids all sunscreened, bathing suited, and into the van to leave is a feat in itself (I’m never having 12 kids btw). I think it took 1½ hours, but it was worth it – chillin out on the rocks, eating apple wedges, surrounded by super tan Peruvians wondering what sort of family we are, standing up to my knees in water whilst holding a million tiny hands and trying to not fall into the surge of the ocean. The water was freezing, might I add. FREEZING. I think the current that goes by is from the North Pole, in all geographical seriousness. Neither I, Tamara, Irene, or Mercedes (all us who are working at the orphanage) brought bathingsuits so we weren’t planning on getting wet, but there was a lot of splashing and holding and catching and jumping and pouring etc. So now my clothes are hanging up in the bathroom, and I’m hoping they’ll be dry by the time I leave tomorrow... I still don’t know what time exactly. No importa. That means not important, in Spanish. 

Words learned today:

Wet – Mojado

Dry – Seco

Empujar – push

Arreglar – to clean up

Pipi – pee

Popa – poo

Disculpar – to apologize

Uña – nail