okay, okay, okay, I SUCK.

see, when things get busy back in north america, they indeed GET BUSY...and i hate it...but i'm going to strive on and continue updating this thing...even if it's gonna take me months...but i don't want to do that, do i?

anyways, you're wondering why i skipped a few days...well, for the days after my first journal entry, i was just pretty much at the MARK centre, getting my mind and heart ready for this missions trip...it was a time of silence on the second day of training, and well, i'd rather do an entirely different post on that, on my actual freak diary blog.

after 3 days in abbotsford, we left for peru on july 12...and arrived there july 13, at midnight.

this were my thoughts the "morning" after.

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DAY 4
07/13/06


my friend laura reflecting outside the Prada's enclosed urban garden...the place where i too frequently wrote my journals and just sat.
© Carmen Wiebe



i'm in Peru! let's see if i can sum up what i feel so far...

TOP 3 THINGS I MISS:

1. water - oh my, i never realized how much i took this for granted...i can't just drink it, can't just use it for an extended period of time...i almost ran out of it as i was taking my shower...looks like i might be missing these once in a while.

2. my bed - i haven't been really able to sleep properly since my day of rest a few days back at the MARK centre...but i think i can manage...maybe insomnia a week before helped me to work sleep-deprived?

3. my family - i never thought i would actually miss my family...that last time i talked to my mom was on Tuesday, before we left..i'll have to e-mail them sometime today...

TOP THREE THINGS I DON'T MISS:

1. work - ha!...for a moment, i don't have to think about my schedule or shift...i just gonna work on my own drum these next few days...so liberating...i have to get used to not looking at my watch every five seconds!

2. fast food - there is McD's here, but i refuse to eat it..while i'm here, i'm going to try THEIR food...woohoo, i'm having fingerling bananas for breakfast...soooooo good.

3. being busy - see # 1...i just feel so free.

(and PLANES...no more cramped places!)

for some reason, as i look at the city from last night (i mean, early this morning, we arrived at the Prada's* at around 1:30 AM), i have a mixed sense of both fear and excitement...i feel so far away from home..and yet Lima strangely reminds me of being back home in the Philippines...waking up today, all i heard were cars driving by, honking their horns, kids shouting...like when i was 12, in my grandma's house...i also never though that i had to adjust back to a more "warm culture" mode...i am familiar with their culture, but because i haven't practiced it in such a long time, i have to re-learn once again to be a bit more aware of things...i am, in many ways, in a culture that is pretty much foreign to me...even though i knew it so well.

i know i'm scared, but this is what God want's meto feel...slightly uncomfortable, but ready to just jump into whatever may happen...even though right now i feel slightly homesick...i need to be here, ready to whatever God wants me to do...i am eagerly looking forward to meeting the community, even the in the short time we will be here.

get ready to take the plunge...i can't wait to see the rest of the city...i can't wait to see what's going to happen next.

and hopefully i can actually take showers...i will be employing a water basin washing technique...SOON.

*the Prada's were our host missionary family...we were in their home for the entire trip...and good thing...all the girls were in beds, the guys slept on the floor...ha!

...

and by the way, i've uploaded my trip photos!...the rest of team's will follow...this uploading is taking AGES.

peru trip photobucket album.

till next...week?

:D

alright, as i said earlier, i didn't get a chance to realistically do a blog update during my trip...and so, at a week after i got back from peru, i shall start my peru travel journal, part one of i don't know how many...hope you all enjoy and check out every week (?) or so...we'll see how this goes...i shall hopefully soon be updating with a full album of ALL our trip photos (that's about 1000 pics between the 12 of us from the trip) online through photobucket or something...so watch out!

anyways, without further ado, here's part one...i mean, uno.

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DAY ONE, 11:20 PM
07/08/06


© Carmen Wiebe

well, looks like no 'net for me for the next few days...somehow it's easier for me these days to just type stuff up rather than think and write them down...maybe that's the reason why i've been restless these days...i'm highly stimulated by all this techie stuff...anyways, i haven't completely relinquished myself of all things that will remind me of homely comforts..i'm listening to my brother's MP3 player (thanks EJ, don't have to worry about the iPod)...and guess what i'm listening to? (didn't think i have to write that down, do i?)

okay, that above paragraph had NOTHING to do with what i'm really doing here right now...i'm in Abbotsford, at the MARK centre for a 3-day training session before i head off to Peru on Wednesday...but i'm technically starting my journey now...no contact with family, no internet, no immediate phone (it's long distance calls only)...it's a true retreat before the actual work begins.

i'm quite relieved to be gone now, to just be by myself in some way...i'd like to think that this trip will somehow get me out of this little rut i'm in...or maybe make me realize that things aren't as bad as i think they are.

to be honest, i still don't know why i really chose to go...or if indeed God was the instrument that brought me to this very trip...but i'd like to thing that He will "break the spell of the typical"...that there's something far greater than all these things...maybe i don't know that now, but it will be something revealed to me in the next 2 weeks...

i hope it will.
i KNOW it will.

well, my arms hurt (see, i'm not used to this hand-writing thing)...and i realy need to stop being an insomniac now...i'm going to bed...it's been a long day.

P.S. for being the the biggest pack rat on earth, i sure had the SMALLEST luggage out of the entire group...craziness.



me enjoying hot cocoa and tim tams in one of our of nights at the MARK centre...gosh, i look maniacal...must be the chocolate.
© Kevin Wittenberg

i MISS being here.

as you may have noticed, i didn't get a chance to update my blog during the trip...however, i do have a written journal up and ready...and once i have all my digi-pix sorted out and the full final details of what just transpired 11 days ago in order, i shall update this blog as a regular, don't-know-how-many-parts travel journal series.

anyways, i go back to work tomorrow, and now i have to worry about paying bills, dealing with my stupid journalism schedule (okay, how am i supposed to start my sociology minor if i can't take any of the classes i need to fulfill that?!), and also any other non-sensical stuff i'd really like to forget about.

i miss having no worries.

i want to travel again.

gaaaaash.

okay, bye.

past midnight...it's my final day of training in abbotsford...and i FINALLY got some internet time (thanks!)...i am trying to get some sleep, but somehow i'm really getting too excited about leaving...

i've never really been relaxed and restful until now, until this very day...i was really looking for rest, and God finally gave me some time to just be silent and listen to Him...and i could finally just keep all the bull out of the trip so that i could just focus on the actual purpose.

this may be my last opportunity to have 'net access in the next few week and a half of the trip, which is good because it has been such a distraction for me for the last few months... but at the same token i'm missing the communication with people...but i need to cut off the typical in my life for a while...silence is golden at times, i guess.

anyways, i can't really stay long in this computer...it's not mine, and i still have to wake up in 6 hours time...but that's cool...i'm absolutely energized.

(i really don't know if i'm making sense...i'm typing this and half-listening to a conversation with two of my tripmates...aaah, whatever...i think i have to go now.)

(also, if i don't update this everyday, i'll post all my written journal entries, edited, for all of you guys to see...hopefully this should work.)

hasta manana!

yo folks.

well, i have about 5 hours to go before i have to leave the house and go to my destination...

PERU!

i'm definitely excited, and i hope you will all join me as i share with you folks the things that i will doing in this latin american country...it's definitely going to be an experience, don't know what to expect at all, but i know that it's going to nothing but good times.

i will still technically be in the country until wednesday morning, as i will be in abbotsford for three days of training...but since calling from there is long distance, in a sense i am already gone by then.

anyways, i'm praying to God that there will be internet access there (our translator alberto has assured us of 'net cafes), so i will hopefully be updating this, at the most everyday.

well, i guess i'll keep it short for now...i'm want to make sure that i've got everything packed and ready to go...wouldn't want to forget anything and make people drive to abbie...not a good idea.

hasta luego for now!