For those of you who are still following our little journey here in Peru I can finally say we do mostly have clarity on how much longer we will be here and what we will be doing in the meantime.

We have decided to come home on November 25th.  That will mean we have been here for a full year which feels like a nice round number.  There are a few reasons for this.  As mentioned in the last blog post Martin will be doing some workshops with local farmers about composting and some other issues to do with sustainable agriculture which go through til the end of the year.  He also got accepted into a masters of sustainable agriculture which he will be doing through Charles Sturt Uni next semester.  We thought if we were to head back and have to find jobs etc etc while he was trying to do that it would be really difficult.

As for me the school was really hoping we would stay through til the end of the year and I am pleased to be able to see the year through.  No to mention my first meeting with the other “promotors of health” was fantastic.  These women are all grass roots leaders in their communities trying to bridge the gap between the people and the health services.  They have decided the best way for me to fit is they will refer pregnant women to me who may want the support of a doula during birth.

It feels good to not be waiting anymore but I think we learned some really important lessons in the time.  And I am grateful for those lessons and think perhaps they will be as important as any lessons we learn while actually “doing”.  As no doubt there will be more times of waiting and trusting in our lives.

We are also very grateful to people who have been able to donate some money to these projects so that we are able to stay.  While we didn’t raise as much as we were hoping we have enough for now and can fully trust that tomorrow will look after itself.  I was reading in Richard Rohr’s commentary on the gospel of Luke yesterday which said this,

“In chapter 5, Luke relates the calling of the first disciples, yet Luke immediately defines discipleship in the story of Peter.  Discipleship is defined in terms of risk and trust.  Jesus said, “Simon, put out into deep water and put your nets out for a catch.”  Simon is the fisherman who should no the sea and understand it.  At this point, there is no reason to trust Jesus but he replies.  “We worked all night long and caught nothing.  But if you say so, I will put out the net.  So this new life, this new church, this new community is going to have to depend on trusting God and risking God’s truth against there own temporary truth.” 

On the weekend we took a spontaneous trip to Trujillo (about seven hours from Chulucanas).  Martin’s beloved soccer team “La U” were playing there so he was keen to go and see them and catch up with some friends.  I thought it was about time I took a trip and saw a soccer game and I read Trujillo was a pretty city and there were some ancient ruins there from Pre-Incan cultures so agreed to go along.

So we arrived Saturday night about 7.30pm.  We put Nina to bed and then ate dinner outside our room on the roof. It had some pretty nice views –

Night

Day

Nina and I

After a typical Peruvian breakfast, a little explore of the colourful city

and the stunning plaza de armas

we went to the Chimu ruins of Chan Chan which was built around 1300 AD and is the largest adobe city in the world.  It was very cool.

Nina loved running around there.

After we made a trip to a local beach for lunch.  I am not a huge fan of Peruvian beaches, usually surrounded by desert and ugly hostels etc but the food is usually good.

And Nina could play in the park.

We went back to Trujillo for a sleep and then off to the game.  Unfortunately La U lost but we had fun.

And Nina got a La U shirt which she looked cute in.

The next day we made a trip to some more ruins.  This time the Moche ruins that were built around 500AD.  Unlike Australia Peru had a number of cultures before the Spanish arrived who all built.  The Incas are the most famous bu surprisingly had one of the shortes reigns.  Anyway here are the ruins.  They  were pretty special.

Last night, we went to the river to play some volley ball

And have a bit of a swim.

Nina loves it there and getting all sandy.

The sun was setting making it all the more beautiful.

I thought it might be nice to take some family shots. I realised the other week that we only have four photos of the three of us together and I don’t really like any of them (except one where you can’t really see our face cause we are looking at Nina). I thought that was pretty slack so I took the opportunity last night to get some photos of three of us.

And finally with the rest of the family (our sister-in-law, niece and their cousin).

This may be the coolest thing that has happened on “She’s a Mil” in her (I guess my blog is a girl) 8 year life.  My friend Jenny (a very dedicated blogger and photo taker, whose blog, “just plodding along” I love to read)  awarded me with:

I have copied and pasted from Jenny’s blog the details.  Liebster is a German word meaning favourite, dearest or beloved. The Liebster Blog Award is given to blogs with under 200 followers who deserve more attention. It’s a great way to discover those undiscovered gems in the blogosphere. As part of accepting this award, there are a few little rules.

1. Copy and Paste the blog award on your blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who gave you the award.
3. Pick your 5 favourite bloggers with under 200 followers who deserve to be recognised and leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have received the award.
4. Hope the 5 chosen bloggers will continue to spread the blog award love.

I am not sure I can really do number three as the only blogs that I read are on blogfeed. Therefore I am just going to say my five favourite blogs are blogfeed, blogfeed, blogfeed, blogfeed and blogfeed and award blogfeed with the Liebster award.

Honestly, I love blogfeed and I think Ryan rocks for staring it.  I especially love it here in Peru where I often feel far away from people.  It makes me so happy when I log onto the feed and someone has made a post.  I am especially grateful to Jenny, Howie, Tom and Lesley who blog very regularly and I wish Stella, Keith, Gem, Jo, Andreana, Ryan and Andrew would blog more and that David would blog at all.

Thanks so much Jenny for the award.  I feel inspired to blog more and I hope others on blogfeed too.

Our friends Michelle and Eliu are visiting from the states for a month and are staying with us.  They have two kids, an 11 month old and a 6 year old.  SO our house is very full now with four adults, two babies and child.  It feels a bit like community living again.  Nina is happy she loves other babies and kids.

The hospital called, yay, someone actually called me back.  They said that I can support women in birth if I want.  To fit within their system they are going to call me a “promtor of health” that is basically people in the community trying to build bridges between the people and the hospital.  I am not fully sure what that means, I have some training on Friday afternoon but I am excited I finally have permission.  I have a birth in June.  I guess I will see how that goes and then maybe start looking for some more people.

Martin also finally seems to have some clarity on what he will be doing.  As no one ever got back from the municipality about the compost project we decided it wasn’t really viable.  However, in the process of exploring this project Martin has been meeting with many farming associations in the surrounding areas of Chulucanas. Farmers who mostly only have between 1 to 5 hectares of land and while they certainly have better working conditions and salaries than the men working in the tips they still struggle on a daily basis to make ends meet even without luxuries we take for granted in Australia such as running water or concrete floors. As mentioned, while meeting with them they would often seek Martin’s suggestions on soils and water management. They were also very interested in the organic waste project and are keen to learn how they could use their own organic waste and the organic waste in their town to possibly produce their own fertiliser to use and/or sell. It would significantly reduce their costs on fertilisers as well as help them appeal more to the growing organic market. Thus in consultation with various farming associations, Martin will be organising and assisting to run a series of 15 workshops over the next 6 months with these farmers on their land. He will be working with 5 different associations each receiving 3 practical workshops. The first session will be talking about OH&S (while in Australia this topic is over done here it is pretty much non existent and thus very necessary), organic fertiliser (we will produce compost), soil and water management (including activities such as, a soil profile study, taking soil and water samples for analysis and water use efficiency). Subsequent sessions will continue to discuss organic fertiliser (we will produce Humus) as well as interpret the results of the soil and water analysis and how to use these results in sustainable fertility programs for specific crops. We really believe what these farmers are already doing is very interesting and we want the workshops to be a space for them to share their methods as well. They have a real thirst to learn more about different farming methods for they know education is power and many have had fairly limited formal education. Martin has also got two other engineers from the university involved in the hope there will be continued relationship between the university and the farmers and continued support.

It’s funny how everything all seems to happen at once after 5 months of talking, exploring ideas, praying and waiting.  While this wasn’t exactly what we planned to do we are excited as we are not just doing what we wanted but what came out of discussion with people here and what they really want.  Therefore, while these are not huge things we hope they will be significant.  Now we are just waiting and praying that we will be able to get some financial support to be able to see it through. Please join us in prayer.

I am the sort of person who loves having my life in a bit of a routine.  Most people find it boring but I really like waking up knowing in general what will happen that day.  It works for Nina as well who like most children seems to be happier when there is a bit of a routine.  I guess I’m a bit like a child in this way.  So I have a bit of a weekly routine that I like.  Of course things often come up so it doesn’t always look exactly like this and there is some flexibility but in general this is what my week looks like (times general guide):

Monday:

• 8.00 – get up, get Nina ready for day care and run to the pool for my swim.
• 9.30 – breakfast and quiet time
• 10.30 – clean the house, cook, wash etc.
• 12.00 – pick up Nina from day care, play for a bit have lunch.
• 1.30 – put Nina to bed, have a cup of tea or plan classes or check out the internet or even have a siesta if nothing else to do
• 3.00 – Nina wakes up, play some more and then go to the park or plaza or for a walk in the hills.
• 6.00 – Nina has dinner, bath etc
• 7.30 – Nina goes to bed and we chill out with dinner and some TV or hang out on the roof or visit some friends.
• 10.30 – bed

Tuesday

• 6.00 – get up with Nina, play and breakfast etc.
• 8.30 – drop Nina at daycare and go to the shcool to teach
• 12.00 – pick up Nina and come home
• 12.00 – 10.30 – same as Monday

Wednesday

• 8.00 – get up get Nina ready for day care
• same as Monday

Thursday

• 6.00 – get up with Nina, play and breakfast etc.
• same as Monday
• 7.30 – Quaker silence with Martin

Friday

• 8.00 – get up, get Nina ready for day care and run to the pool for my swim.
• 9.30 – breakfast and quiet time
• 10.30 – cook, wash or plan classes or get on the internet or do some doula stuff.
• 11.45 – go to the school to teach
• 1.15 – come home, have lunch and put Nina to bed
• same as Monday

Saturday

• 6.00 – get up with Nina, play etc.
• 8.00 – have family breakfast and take Nina to the pool and the market
• 11.00 – get home, cook have lunch
• Afternoon free for visiting etc, sometimes if Lida is around we might even go out in the evening

Sunday

Sabbath – day of rest, no cooking, cleaning (light tidying allowed), washing, shopping, drinking.  If we can we try to go exploring the areas around Chulucanas or visit Piura and have lunch out with family or friend or just ourselves.

I was reading the other day that at 18 months toddlers can usually understand and/or speak about 50 words.  But by 2 years that number increases to about 300 which I think is amazing.  We were told that language development for bi-lingual children was slower but I think Nina understands at least 50 words and can say about half probably more.  At this stage everyday she seems to learn a new word everyday.  It is so exciting.

Last week we had our first real conversation.  It went something like this.  She had just woken up and was a bit cross so I was suggesting things she might like.

Me: “Nina do you want water?”                                                                                     Nina: No                                                                                                                          Me: Do you want to go to the plaza?                                                                             Nina: No                                                                                                                          Me: Do you want to listen to your songs?                                                                          Nina: yes

On the way to find the computer to listen to the songs.  She asked, “Donde esta” (where is it) and I said “alli esta” (there is it is) and pointed to the table.

She began to make her way to the table and passed the fridge where she pointed and said, “uvitas” (grapes which are currently her favourite food).  I said “yes go get your plate” which she did.

This is probably a fairly boring conversation and if I had have had it with Martin I wouldn’t be so excited but to be having your first conversation with you child is very special time.

She is now going to daycare for 3.5 hours per day so I can work as well as have a bit of free time.  The first week or two was pretty heavy going, she cried a lot and I cried maybe even more but she’s settled in well now.  When we get there she says, “chau mama” and heads off with the worker happily enough.  And picking her up is always lovely.  I try to sneak in and watch her play with others for a little while but then when she sees me she says “mama” and comes running over to me.  It makes one feel very loved and appreciated.

She is still happiest outside.  She loves walking in the hills with us or going to the park.  She is amazing at climbing slippery dips.  Nobody believes me when I tell them she’s only 19 months.  She also likes saying “hola” to everyone we pass by.  And of course they all love that too.  She still gets heaps of attention.

We have begun toilet training.  It seems like a good time as it’s still really hot and she likes been naked anyway so I thought I’d take advantage before it got cooler.  Not to mention she was always pointing to the potty and saying wee wee and poo poo so seems to know what she has to do but most of the time we miss.  It’s a messy time.  The two times we have made it were very exciting.  Never thought I’d be cheering so much about poo.

She is sleeping really well.  She was sick a few weeks back with a cold and started having naps for over and hour which have stayed.  I cannot tell you how nice that is.  Although I am trying not to get too used to it as then I’ll get frustrated when she reverts back to her much shorter ones.

She is eating like a horse which I am also grateful for as well.  Although she never sits still to eat so I have to follow her around the house and up and down stairs etc.  I think I should probably train her to eat in her seat but it becomes such a drama and then she doesn’t finish that it’s easier this way.

So that’s my girl.  She is as gorgeous as ever and we just love her to bits.

I seem to have come down with something nasty again. Second time in less than a month. Nausea, vomiting and everything aches all over.  I imagine I just ate something but I have to confess getting very sick in foreign country always does make one worry a little bit.  However, last time it was over within 24 hours so I am hoping it’ll be the same this time around.

Yesterday Martin and I celebrated 9 years since we met and fell in love. Well maybe it wasn’t love that night but it was certainly the beginning of love, very strong like at least. It was wonderful been here in Chulu where it all began. We climbed the hills that we climbed that first weekend and looked over the town. It would have to be one of my favourite places. In the evening we ate pizza on the roof and remembered the good times as well as the more challenging times, which we have learned from too.

Less significantly, but cool none the less is that this blog is now 8 years old.  Happy Birthday “She’s a Mil”.