Adapting Again

I arrived to Lima this week, and am in the process of settling in. Since I have been in Arequipa for the majority of my time here in Peru, I am now needing to learn Lima, and the way of life here. Some may ask, "But you have been in Peru, why are you adapting yet again?" My best description for those who have not been to Peru, is if you compare Arequipa, Peru to Birmingham, Alabama (for example) then my new move to Lima, Peru would be about equivalent to moving from Birmingham to New York City, or Los Angeles. Lima is the capital of Peru, and is the largest city in Peru.

But my adjustment again is not only in learning my way around a big city, I may never accomplish that, but I have been living with a host family while in language school, so in that, the food shopping was taken care of, the proper preparation of fruits and vegetables was taken care of, etc.

There are grocery stores here, but I have learned that produce is a lot better from either the market place, or the people who walk the streets with their buggies full of fruit, announcing with their loudspeaker what they are selling. Typically it is cheaper too. For example, yesterday I bought 7 beautiful, ripe, yellow bananas for the price of 1 sol (which is around 29 cents).

Another different thing here, that I didn't have in Arequipa (I think due to how my home there was set in the neighborhood), is the black film that settles on everything here, and how fast it settles in. One reason is that our air conditioner is the system of open windows and fans. It can make cleaning frustrating as one can clean/dust items in the morning, and in the afternoon there is yet more black film/dust that has settled. If you walk around barefooted, your feet will be black after a few minutes, if you walk around in your white socks, you'll have a cheap and easy change of your socks to the color gray. If you walk around in shoes will little traction, the combination of the film on the hardwood floors will take you for a fly (or at least your legs over your head) if you aren't careful.

I was also used to Arequipa and their mild temperatures and dry air. Here in Lima, in their summer, it is quite hot and humid. There are also many different bugs of many different sizes, flying or crawling through my home, making themselves at home wherever they please.

Another adaptation, is that where I lived in Arequipa, it was quite a quiet place, our house was tucked back in a neighborhood, and we didn't get a lot of outside noise. Here, street vendors are walking by at all hours of the daytime, starting early some days, selling ice cream, fruits, buying broken items from homes, etc. There is also the nightly trash pickup that comes between 8-10:30 at night, and their announcement of arrival is that of a guy clanging on a metal object quite loudly. There is also the loud parrot, living somewhere behind me, who loves squawking at any time of the day. Construction noises, random and different sounding whistles, each one indicating the items that they are selling (I haven't learned that whistle system quite yet).

So those are just some of the differences to my life in Arequipa and my new life here in Lima. It was easier too, in my life of just learning the language, to focus on that. Now I am beginning to get started in ministry, and am definitely still in the language learning process too. It will be neat to see what God does here!