Adventures in Nicaragua, Peru and the United States

Epiblog

2017-12-25T17:29:00.000-08:00

We lived in Nicaragua from July 2010 - July 2011. In November 2017 we returned to visit our friends and enjoy Thanksgiving on the beach. It was wonderful to see everyone and in some ways it was like we never left.

San Ramon

San Ramon is a town of 2,500 located about 20 minutes outside of Matagalpa. This is where we lived during our family sabbatical in Nicaragua. Below are photos of our neighbors and friends, on the left are photos from 2010 and the right are some of the same folks in 2017.

Matagalpa

Matagalpa is the "big city" (150k residents) we lived close to in 2010-2011. Below are Aileen's former co-workers and their families in 2011 and 2017.

Cuate

Cuate (or buddy) was our dog in Nicaragua; we had to leave him with friends when we moved to Peru. He did not seem to remember us but it was great to see him. He was three months in the picture on the left and 7 years old in the photo on the right.

Esteli

Aileen and Jeff moved to Esteli in 1999, right after we were married. The children below were our neighbors and now they have children of their own! We had lost touch with them but got reconnected on Facebook and had a chance to see them in person. On the left is a photo from 2010 and on the right is the same crew in 2017.

Salale Montanita

When Aileen and Jeff worked in Nicaragua, we did a water project in this rural community. We became very close with the Valle family, who named two of their children after us. On the left is Rene and his oldest son Jerry in 2001, moving clockwise, we see Jefry, Aylin, Hannah, Emma and Jerry in 2011. Rene, Maria, Aileen and Jeff are pictured below in 2017. Next is Aylin with Hannah and Emma in 2017. The village now has electricity, a bridge (we used to have to cross a river by horseback to get there) and everyone has phones. Emma and Aylin have been communicating via social media since we returned. Much has changed but our connection to this community is still strong.

Mechapa

In 2010, we took a vacation at Redwood Beach Resort in the northern town of Mechapa. In 2011, we went back and ran the hotel for a month while the owners were back in the USA. It was a great place to end this trip to Nicaragua. The top photos are from 2011 and 2017. The middle photos depict the bizarre resort tradition of sticking crabs in your mouth after catching them on the beach for dinner. The bottom photos are of Thanksgiving in San Ramon in 2010 and next to that it is our Thanksgiving on the beach in 2017.

We had an amazing time visiting Nicaragua in November 2017. Leaving the airport and walking across the street to our hotel the first night flooded us all with memories - the sites, smells, and smiles were so familiar that it felt like coming home. It was wonderful to be back in this country we love so much, making new memories with old friends.

Final Thoughts

2012-12-30T09:44:00.000-08:00

Kositsky Family 2010

Our first post was on May 20, 2010. Exactly 32 months and 55 posts later we are calling it quits with this, our final entry. Life in the USA is back to "normal" and our adventures in Nicaragua, Peru and re-adjusting to the United States are over.

Emma and Hannah
For our first post, we made a video of Emma and Hannah talking about the pending move to Nicaragua. We also took a video of them a month before moving to Peru in 2011. It seemed appropriate to make a final video about their expat experience. I suppose we were hoping for something profound and meaningful but instead we got something charming and funny (in just one take).

Emma and Hannah 2012
Emma and Hannah 2011
Emma and Hannah 2010

Aileen
We're all getting settled back in, and the novelty of life here is starting to wear off. I'm no longer astounded by bus stops that not only have nice little benches, but alternating digital advertisements, a sign that tells you exactly in how many minutes your bus will be arriving, and a button to push to hear the arrival time, in case you can't see. (I'm no longer astounded, but those bus stops still make me think of our crazy bus trip about a year ago, that was supposed to be 15 hours long and ended up being 29!). And I no longer leave the grocery store with a single piece of fruit, because of the sticker shock. Getting back into the "groove" of everyday life here in the United States has definitely made me appreciate our adventure of the last two years even more. Looking back on all the amazing experiences we shared as a family and all the wonderful people and places we got to know make me want to encourage all of you who've said to us, "wow, I've always wanted to do that!" Go for it! What's stopping you???

In terms of lessons learned, I think I may have mentioned this in a previous post, but looking back, I really love the experiences that accentuate how we're all pretty much the same. Whether it's school in San Francisco, CA, or in Arequipa, Peru, the reaction to the question, "Who wants to be room parent this year?" is the same: averted eyes, squirming, and silence in which to hear a pin drop. And whether we live in a shack with a dirt floor in Nicaragua, or a 3 bedroom house in San Francisco, we all think at times, "It sure would be great if we had more space." And of course, every parent we met in every village, town, and city only wanted the best for their children. I guess that above all else, I hope that Emma and Hannah have learned this lesson in a meaningful way, and that it will influence their understanding of themselves as global citizens.

Jeff
Experiencing life overseas was a blessing beyond measure but perhaps not in the way one might expect. Buckaroo Banzai, one of my favorite movie characters, liked to say, "no matter where you go, there you are." I think that describes perfectly the expat experience. Moving overseas does not change who you are, broaden your mind, fix your weaknesses, make you skinnier, clear up your skin, or solve your problems. In fact, if you really throw yourself into the experience, living overseas tends to exacerbate whatever challenges you have in life while testing your strength and resolve. Fortunately, we came out the other end a bit stronger and a bit wiser, but essentially the same people we were before leaving the USA a few years ago. If there was any transformation that occurred, it was with our family as a whole rather than as four individuals. A friend who came to visit us in Nicaragua observed that we had become something more than a family and he declared us a tribe. We experienced some amazing things during the past two years and it was a joy watching Emma and Hannah become bilingual while moving from place to place with such grace and ease. However, for me, the best part of our adventure was having a special experience as a family. The kids still fight, the adults still bicker, and life is hardly perfect in the Kositsky household. However, having a few years without all of the commitments, complications and stresses of everyday life strengthened our family bonds and appreciation for everything and everyone we have in our lives.

* * *

In May 2010 we wrote....."the purpose of our trip was to help our daughters learn Spanish, to experience another culture together, and to have more family time in a relaxed environment. We would also like to make some sort of contribution to the communities we live in." And while it took a year longer than expected, we achieved all of these goals and came home feeling both fulfilled and relieved. Relieved to be back among family and friends and thrilled to be living in Northern California which despite its faults (literally and figuratively) is a wonderful place to be.

Thank you so much for reading our blog. We started this project to keep a diary of our travels and share some experiences with a few family members and friends. We were very surprised and gratified at the number of people who told us they read our posts regularly. We hope to have a blog-worthy family adventure again someday but for now we are signing off the blogosphere.

With Love and Friendship,

Aileen, Emma, Hannah and Jeff

Kositsky Family 2012

Advice

2012-12-09T22:12:00.001-08:00

Many people have asked us for advice about living overseas with children. This was supposed to be our last post but Aileen thought we should blog on this topic before signing off for good, so here it goes. If you are not interested in moving overseas, just read Emma and Hannah's entries - they offer good advice no matter where you are living.

Emma

Study the country you are living in.
Make friends with people or you will be bored.
Have fun!

Hannah

Don't forget your passport.
Don't bring things on the airplane you are not supposed to, like scissors.
Travel around the county you are living in.
Be nice to people around you.
Be safe.

Aileen

Do not send your kids to a fancy public school or to one of the American schools - you might as well stay home if you are going to do that.
Live in a place where there is not a large expatriate community.
Be mindful of the feelings and needs of each person in your family.
Travel light - you can buy what you need when you get there.

Jeff

Plan for 18 months overseas, one year is not enough and two years might feel too long.
Start your children at the beginning of the school year.
Given items 1 and 2, if we could do it all over again, I would have left the USA at the end of December 2010 and have the girls study Spanish in January. They then could have started elementary school overseas in February, which is the beginning of the school year in most of Latin America. We then could have returned in August 2012. This would have been easier for everyone.
Try not to waste even one day - it goes by so fast.
If you are not working, volunteer someplace or get involved in a group or at your children's school so you can start building a local community.
Just do it. The hardest part is getting up the nerve to step out the front door - after that it is easy. Well, it is not always easy but it is easier than you think and worth the effort.

Random Thoughts on Logistics

In many countries, you can get by without having a work permit or residency if you are willing to leave the country every six months or so. Check expatriate websites for the country you are interested in for advice - the official embassy websites are often confusing and obviously not designed to help you work the system.
If possible, rent or sublet your home furnished while you are away and stuff your personal things in a closet, attic, friends house, etc. Try a website such as sabbaticalhomes.com to find a term tenant needing a furnished place for a fixed amount of time. If you play this right, you can earn some income or at least cover your USA housing/storage costs while maintaining a residence.
You do not need a property manager. We had a home warranty for any repair issues that came up (American Home Shield) and our tenants deposited the rent directly into our account.
It is very hard to open a bank account overseas. Find a USA bank that does not charge for using other banks' ATM machines. Also, find a credit card that does not charge for international transactions. We used Citi as our bank and a Capitol One credit card and never paid any fees. We took care of all our financial needs with our ATM card and credit card without any trouble at all.
Bring 1 or 2 Ipads for books, movies, skyping, educational resources, etc.
Do not try to use your USA mobile phone overseas. It is easier to get one locally. If you want to keep you mobile number, switch your phone to a pre-paid plan while you are away and you have a USA number/phone you can use when you are home visiting and when you return for good. You might also consider getting a Skype number so folks in the USA can call you at no cost.
If you do not have a job, consider consulting if possible. Jeff was able to charge half of what he would have in the USA and still earn over twice as much as he would have in Peru.
We had no idea how we would work out schooling before we moved to Nicaragua or Peru. In Nicaragua, we just showed up with our passports and that was enough. Peru was more complicated and it took some time to find a school that would accept us. In both cases, everything worked out, but we were lucky. Our daughters did not speak Spanish when we moved to Nicaragua and we just tossed them into the school no questions asked. In Peru, the girls had to take a test to get admitted to school and had they not spoken Spanish it might have been a problem enrolling them someplace. It might be worth researching this before you move overseas but there is always a solution if you are flexible.
There is no perfect age to move your children overseas. However, you should take into account where they are in their development as well as whether or not they want to go. This all has to be balanced with professional considerations as well as other family issues such as the need to care for aging parents. Emma and Hannah were 7 and 5 when we left and it worked very well for us. They were excited about the adventure and not too set in their ways that leaving was painful. It might have been a bit easier if Hannah was a year older but given all the other factors we had to contend with, it was the perfect time for us to go,

That is all we can think of right now. If you read all 50-something posts in this blog, you will find the stories behind this advice and probably identify some stuff we forgot to mention here. Regardless, if this is something you might want to do, just go for it. It is not that hard to pull off and totally worth the effort. We will explain why it our next and yes, final post.

Settled In

2012-12-06T20:14:00.000-08:00

Emma:
At first, coming back to the U.S.A. was sort of weird. I made many mistakes like speaking Spanish or putting toilet paper in the garbage can (you don't put it in the toilet in Latin America). I was thrilled to drink water out of a faucet! It is really nice to see friends and family and to know we would see each other again soon. However, I now miss my friends from Nicaragua and Peru!

I am in school at Fairmount Elementary. I really like Fairmount and I am happy there. I've made many really good friends at my new school. Also, I am a junior coach and help at recess. I play volleyball on the development team for the San Francisco Tremors, a competitive volley ball club. I still play guitar but now I have a different teacher named Julie. I started hip hop dance too but it's almost over and my parents said I cannot continue because we are so busy, especially since it is ski season.

I feel settled down and everything feels normal now. I am having my tenth birthday party soon and it is the first time to celebrate in the USA since I turned 7. Although I miss Peru and Nicaragua, I am happy to be home.

Jeff
I cannot believe we have been back in the USA for four months. Time sure flies. Emma wrote and typed her blog post in this edition all by herself. When she did her first post in 2010 she could barely write and I had to take dictation and edit. Same thing with Hannah. It is unbelievable how they have grown and changed.

I have been enjoying my freedom (from work) by bicycling, skiing and hanging out with friends. However, having time to participate in our daughters' daily lives has given me the most joy. Cooking breakfast, taking them to school, and picking them up again has been a treat. Though I got to enjoy all these things overseas, it is nice to be doing them in our own home. In addition, I am volunteering in Emma and Hannah's classrooms and seeing them in action is wonderful. I cannot believe how well they have adapted to life in the USA. It has been a bit harder for me and I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the pace of life here. However, all of the open and generous people around us make the readjustment more then worth the effort. I am glad to be home.

Of course, it has not all fun and games. I have been doing consulting work and am still trying to get our house in order after being away for a few years. On top of this I am volunteering for an organization called WRAP and serving as the secretary at the Fairmount Elementary PTA. In addition to taking minutes, Secretary Jeff is trying to develop a program to encourage more interaction among the Latino and non-Latino families at the school.

Having all of this family, volunteer, and personal time has been great, but the party ends in January as I recently found work as the Chief Operating Officer of a nonprofit organization called Green For All based in Oakland. Now, all the pieces of the puzzle are in place.The adults have jobs, the children are in school, we have reconnected with our friends and family, and the house is almost unpacked. In other words, our adventures are coming to a close and our family has entered a new phase. Though there is always some sadness in transitions, our lives are full of joy and blessings and being away for so long made us appreciate how lucky we are to live in San Francisco surrounded by such wonderful friends and family.

Hannah
I feel sad and happy to be in the United States. I did not want to leave my really good friends in Peru but I am happy to see my old friends in the United States and to make new friends in my school. I already have some really good friends - Trudy, Natalia, Micah, Elsie, Ruby, Amelia, Stacy, Ella, Leslie, Brenda, and Lucia. I have also gotten to have play dates with friends from my old school - Nora, Willa, Zoe, Sam, and Helena. My school here in the United States is much easier than Peru because Peru is more advancado. We practice Spanish and now I am even better because they speak mostly Spanish at my school. I also go to gymnastics and violin lessons. I am also going to a class to help me read English better. My Dad asked me to say if it was hard or easy to come back to the USA. I think it was in the middle.

Aileen
In August, Aileen returned to work as an teaching assistant in a special education class and continues to be una madre extraordinaria. Despite the fact that everyone always says they love the blog posts Aileen and the girls contribute to, Aileen continues to be a reluctant contributor and again failed to meet the publishing deadline. However, she promises to contribute to the next (and final) blog post in which we will share our final thoughts and perhaps reveal the meaning of life, the universe and everything.....

It's Not Over 'Til It's Over

2012-11-08T17:06:00.001-08:00

Though we are back in the USA, the adventure of settling in continues and we plan to keep blogging until the end of the year. Hopefully things will be “back to normal” by that time and we will sign off for good. However, we are not even fully unpacked yet and Jeff is still unemployed so who knows when this adventure will end.

We are going to blog about our re-entry to America soon, but this post is the story of my (Jeff’s) journey on the Pacific Crest Trail. The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) is a hiking/riding path that goes from Mexico to Canada through the Sierra, Cascade and other mountain ranges. Let me say right off the bat that I did not get the idea to hike the PCT from the book “Wild” – I did not even read that very mediocre tome until I returned from my hike. In 1994 I hiked most of the California and Oregon sections of the PCT and always wanted a piece of Washington. Since I had the time and Aileen gave me the thumbs up, I decided to go for it.

I could write a very long and boring narrative on my experience (like the book Wild) but instead will just upload a few photos.

After a night of too much steak and scotch, my cousin David dropped me off at Rainy Pass (70 miles south of Canada)

High Cascades

Stopped in a town every week or so to clean up, re-supply and trash hotel rooms

This bull elk started to charge me on the trail and then (luckily) ran off

"Trail angels" sometimes set up parties at PCT trail heads - this is where I got my trail name "Cuate" after waxing poetic about our Nicaraguan dog with the same name

Mt. Ranier

The "knife blade" section of the trail

My friend Jonathan and his lovely family picked me up at the Oregon/Washington border

It was thrilled to be back with my family but I missed sleeping outside so we camped in our backyard

Here are some fun facts about my trip:

Length of the PCT: 2,663
Miles hiked in 1994: 1033
Miles hiked in 2012:* 439
Days on the Trail: 30 (started September 30)
Days I missed my family: 30
Days I hiked with others: 4
Days I felt bored hiking alone: 0
Most miles hiked in a day: 22
Number of rest days: 0
Rain/snow days: 4
Number of times I got lost:** 2
Number of times I stopped to resupply: 4
Showers taken: 3
Beers consumed: 3
Most hikers seen in one day: 22
Fewest hikers seen in one day: 1
Nicest person I met: A women who did my laundry for me (long story)
Oddest person I met: A guy who hiked the PCT in wedding dresses (1 a week for 26 weeks)
Youngest person I met: A 12 year old boy who was hiking from Canada to Mexico w/his Dad

*Actually, I hitched about 10 of these miles due to a fire-related detour on the trail

**I accidentally hiked off trail on the first and last days of my trip

Some folks have asked me what I "got out of" my hike. Truth be told, this was not a spiritual quest - I just love backpacking in the mountains. I had a wonderful time enjoying the outdoors which is the closest thing I have to a church. I feel blessed to have had this opportunity and for all the wonderful people I met along the way (and those I returned to). Speaking of which, if I did have any "revelations" on my trek it was how warm and generous most people are. I received a tremendous amount of assistance and support (big and small) from complete strangers while on the trail. It is amazing how much power there is in small acts of kindness.

Home!

2012-08-26T21:06:00.001-07:00

On July 15, we had our last lunch in Peru and then our entourage escorted us to the Arequipa airport.

The flight to San Francisco was painless (thank you I-Pad) but it was hard to come home and not have a place to live (our house was still being rented out). Fortunately we were welcomed by Aileen's brother and Jeff's sister and stayed with their families for a few days. It was wonderful being reunited with loved-ones.

After a quick week in the Bay Area we left for NJ where we spent some time with Aileen's parents and younger brother. We also visited NYC a few times.

From NJ we traveled to SC to attend Jeff's niece's Bat Mitzvah.

Finally, we returned to our home in SF and began the process of moving back in (which will take at least 6 months!). We also visited with friends and traveled to some of our favorite Northern California locations.

Soon after our return we learned that Emma and Hannah would be attending the same Spanish Immersion elementary school (Fairmount). The first week went extraordinarily well and we continue to be amazed at how gracefully Emma and Hannah can adjust to new situations.

Aileen got a job at another nearby elementary school and started work a few days after the girls started school. Jeff is still doing consulting and sort of looking for work.

We now begin the long process of re-adjusting to life in the USA. Some of this involves simple things like finding the best bike route to school, signing up for lessons (gymnastics, volleyball, guitar, and violin), and of course the never-ending process of unpacking and replenishing the house. It is much more complicated and demanding than it sounds. We have been so busy we have barely had the chance to see friends and family.

Though the physical aspects of returning to the USA have been demanding, the emotional aspects have been even more so. For the adults that is. Where along the way to we lose the incredible resilience that young people have? Anyhow, for Aileen and Jeff, simple interactions such as shopping, going to a restaurant, and dealing with a 4-way stop sign seem at times very challenging. Well, two years was a long time to be away and we imagine it will take some time to adjust. Despite the challenges, we are enjoying being around loved-ones. We also enjoy our beds, clean tap water, burritos, our bicycles, the beauty of Northern California. etc. We do not have the focus, energy or perspective to share any insights into the meaning of our family sabbatical....perhaps another day.

One final note… Jeff has decided to take this opportunity (i.e., being unemployed) to hike part of the Pacific Crest Trail. He has hiked most of the California and Oregon sections and will be doing about 450 miles of the Washington section starting September 5.

Going Home

2012-07-15T08:14:00.000-07:00

In June of 2010 we left the United States for a 12 month stay in Nicaragua. Twenty-five months later we are finally returning home after an amazing adventure that took us all over Latin America. None of us can believe that over 2 years have passed since we started this journey. Even though we are coming back to the USA, we are not moving back into our home until mid-August and have lots of domestic travel ahead of us as we reconnect with family and friends. We are really excited to be returning to San Francisco but sad that our family sabbatical is coming to an end. Once we get settled in we will post more about our thoughts and feelings on our adventure. In the meantime, here is everyone's commentary on their last few weeks in Peru.

Jeff
In late June I returned to the United States for job interviews. While I was not happy to be leaving 3 weeks before my family, there appeared to be some good opportunities that would start right away so it seemed worth the effort. Unfortunately, things did not work out as well as expected. I did not get the job I wanted and was offered a job I was not interested in. I had a few other interviews and those irons are still in the fire. Regardless, the trip felt like a very expensive waste of time. To add insult to injury, I took a friend to a Peruvian restaurant to cheer myself up and not only was it terrible, it cost as much as we spent on groceries each week in Peru. I left my lunch for a meeting and was feeling pretty darn depressed until an idea popped into my head - I have enough frequent flyer miles to go home! "Wow," I thought, "I am calling Peru home." Without giving it any more thought, I booked a ticket and the next day was on my way back to Peru to surprise the family. I landed in Lima around 10pm and had to wait until 5:30am to get my connection to Arequipa. While trying to sleep in an airport hallway, I felt someone pulling at my bag. I sat up quickly, ready for a fight, and saw a friend of mine from Arequipa grinning at me. We passed the long wait together and it made my return feel even more like a homecoming.

When I got back to our apartment building at 7:30am, I rang our unit from the front gate and hid from the security camera. Hannah buzzed me in without knowing who it was, (going against our repeated warnings), and I ran up to our door for a game of knock-knock zoom-zoom. When they finally figured out who it was, we all started screaming and crying and hugging. It was a wonderful reunion and I was so happy to be back in the White City (I am referring to Arequipa, not Gondor). Aileen and the girls had an amazing surprise waiting for me - a painting of Emma and Hannah walking up my favorite street. They planned to give it to me when they arrived in San Francisco but I got to see it in Peru and was even able thank the artist myself. I did not do a whole lot during my last few weeks in Arequipa but was so happy to be back and have the opportunity to end our 2 year adventure together. Like Emma used to say when she was 3 or 4 and we tried to give her a time-out, "it is just not a family if we are not all together."

Emma
Here is a poem that I wrote:

Feelings - by Emma Kositsy

     My feelings are complicated, especially when I am in nature.

     When I am in nature I feel free and alone.

     When I am in the city, I feel trapped, trapped as a mouse.

     Warm, cold, warm, cold; that is how feelings are.

   Feelings are a rainbow of colors.

   Feelings are all different, that is how they are.

In this poem, I am trying to explain the way I felt in Huaraz. Free and alone is how I felt, surrounded by glaciers, mountain, lagoons, natural vegetation, etc. Trapped is how I felt when I came back to the city. I felt even worse when Daddy went back to the USA. It made me feel like two days was a week and one week was a month. On Sunday July 1, Daddy came back! I was really excited to see him and he really surprised me.

Two weeks later I had my goodbye party at school. It was really hard to say goodbye to my friends and I cried. Actually, I did not think I would be so sad to leave and how many things I would miss. It is really crazy how the time passed so fast with my friends in Peru.

Today we are getting ready to leave and will be on a plane tonight at 5:45pm. We will not get home until tomorrow afternoon. I can't wait to get back to the USA because I miss my family and friends, house, big parks like Golden Gate Park, Science Academy, Atlas Cafe, bagels, pickles, drinking water out of the faucet, burritos, putting toilet paper in the toilet, etc. I will miss my new friends, the Meza-Romero family, the weather, etc. I will not miss my English teacher, the food, everybody being late, etc. Thanks for reading this.

Hannah
Today I am kind of sad and kind of happy because I am leaving my friends but I can see my family and start a new school in San Francisco. In Peru, some friends are really nice to us and they try to do play dates with us but we could not always do it because we were busy. It was very sad at my going away party because my friends said don't go and my teacher was crying. I will miss Mama Techi, Don Nelson and all my friends. I will really miss this restaurant called Cebillano and we are going there today before we leave. I will miss other food too and the restaurant called Nami. Also, I will miss my violin teacher Carina who is sad I am going. My gymnastics teacher Jaime was really nice to me and is sad too. On my last day, all the girls in gymnastics lined up to say goodbye and they were pushing each other so they could hug me. I am happy to go home and see my friends like Nora and my family like my cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmothers and grandfathers. That is all I want to say.

Aileen
Like everyone else, I have a lot of mixed feelings about leaving Peru. On one hand, I am very excited to be going home, and really looking forward to seeing our family and friends. On the other hand, there are also a lot of people and things I will really miss. Of course, we will sorely miss the fun-loving Meza-Romero family, who've included us as part of their family since we first came here last year. Also, the other moms at Hannah's gymnastics program were so sweet about saying goodbye to me, bringing in treats and presents for our last day at the gym. I guess some kind of solidarity formed after sitting together for hours in that frigid gym on those concrete bleachers.

Below is a picture from the classroom at Unamonos, the school for special needs children where I volunteered. The teacher, Giovanna, has worked there for about 15 years, and she'll be managing a classroom of 8 moderate to severely disabled kids on her own. Martita, on the left, is one of the higher functioning kids in the classroom. She can speak, feed, toilet, and dress herself independently, and is very helpful with the other kids and keeping the classroom tidy. But sweet little Martita is also as stubborn a kid as you'll ever meet. On the right, Nicole is also very high functioning, and is surprisingly good at doing jigsaw puzzles. Unfortunately, the teachers say that in the years she's been there, her eyesight has gotten steadily worse, and the decline hasn't shown any signs of slowing. These are just two of the sweeties who gave my experience here in Peru extra meaning.

The other night we spent a few hours looking at all of the pictures from our last two years. It was incredible to see how much Emma and Hannah have grown in every way. This has been an amazing experience for them and in some ways I am sorry it is coming to and end.

A New Adventure

2012-06-22T20:35:00.001-07:00

Back in March I promised myself that I would not start looking for a job until we returned to the USA and got settled in. Well, to make a long story short I did not keep that promise and now I am heading home three weeks earlier than planned in order to do some job interviews. This all happened very quickly and I still have a million things to do before I leave tomorrow. I feel like someone pulled a rug out from under me; actually, it feels more like I just stepped on a rake.

I have not had much time to say goodbye to Arequipa and all the people we have met, and that has been difficult. I am going to miss waking up in the shadow of 18,000 foot volcanoes and then walking to the neighborhood bakery while listening to a flock of wild parrots. I am going to miss our neighborhood, with its cobble stone streets and old granite buildings squeezed between snazzy new apartment buildings. I am going to miss the perpetually sunny skies. I am going to miss all of the friends we made during our 10 months in Peru. I am going to miss the lady who sells newspapers, they guy at the corner store, the illegal DVD salesman, and all of the wonderful people we have crossed paths with. Mostly, I am going to miss my family and though we will only be part for 3 weeks, I know it is going to be a lonely time for me.

Though there are many things I am going to miss, I am very excited about what comes next (whatever that may be). In the meantime, Emma, Hannah, and Aileen are going to have some quality girl time together and I have some really exciting job opportunities. Also, I get see our friends and family in the Bay Area three weeks earlier than expected.

I have many more things to say but now is not the time to ruminate on our two years away from the USA...that will come later. Instead, here are some photos

Jeff

Breakfast in bed for fathers day

Marco Guitarco

Karina Violina

Maria + family

Hannah as class leader

Familia Meza-Romero

Jaime the gymnastics guy

Friend Marcio + family

Trekking in the Cordillera Blanca

2012-06-15T08:53:00.000-07:00

The Cordillera Blanca is one of the highest and most beautiful mountain ranges in the world. It was made famous by the book and movie "Touching the Void" in which British climber Joe Simpson makes and incredible self-rescue after being left for dead by his climbing partner. We were not planning any death-defying adventures - just a 5 day trek on the Santa Cruz trail, considered one of the best hikes in the world. Unlike many Kositsky-Huang adventures, this one had no major travel delays, forgotten items, or unexpected surprises - just an amazing week in the mountains.

We only had a limited period of time as the girls were on school vacation, so we flew to Lima on a Saturday and spent the night near the airport (rather than take the bus). The next day we flew on a small plan to Huaraz, the biggest town in the northern Andes of Peru. Once we got settled into our Bed and Breakfast we strolled around town, got some supplies for our trek, and rode an alpaca around the plaza.

On Monday we took an acclimatization hike to a lagoon with Milagros, an employee of the guide service we used for the trek (Adventure Travel Agency Huascaran). It was a nice easy hike but the altitude definitely tired us out.

The next day we were picked up at the Bed and Breakfast around 6:00am and drove a few hours to Huascaran National Park to start our trek. We set up camp (well, our guide Epi set up camp) and then did another acclimatization hike to Laguna 69 which was at about 14,000 feet. It was an incredibly beautiful spot.

On Wednesday we took public transportation to the town of Vaqueria where we met the mule skinner Hoshe and assistant guide/cook Fidel (all 3 guides were from the Andes and spoke Quechua as their first language). This was the real start of our trek. We hiked through a few mountain villages before making it to our camp at Paria. As you can see in the photos, camp was a pretty luxury set up - we had sleeping tents, a kitchen tent, dining tents and a potty tent. It was also pretty darn beautiful.

Thursday was our hardest day, walking from Paria to Taullipampa.The hike took about 8 hours and brought us over a pass called Punta Union which is at 15,600 feet.The girls did great, but Hannah took advantage of the "taxi service" (aka a horse). While walking with the guide managing the horse, I got to listen to his anti-Jewish tirade. I then realized the "shaloms" as he called them were not Jews in general, but Israeli tourists (who can be quite obnoxious). I explained the difference between Jews and Israeli's but did not have the heart to tell him I am Jewish as he would have been horrified.

We were allowed to sleep late the next day because it was so cold in the morning. When we finally got up, we had breakfast and hiked about five hours to our camp at Llamacorral.We passed some beautiful mountains, including the famous Alpamayo.We then hiked for miles through a valley that was devastated by a huge landslide, offering us a glimpse of the awesome power of nature. I hate to use such a cliche, but there is no other way to describe it.

Saturday we made the five hour hike to Cashapampa where we were met by a van that took us back to Huaraz.We said goodbye to all of our guides and of course the horse that made Hannah's trip more enjoyable.

That evening we had an amazing meal at a pub that serves British-style curry as well as some Mexican food.

It was an amazing trek through some stunning mountains. As usual, our pictures do not do it justice but it is a trip we would highly recommend. Actually, if had more time (and money), we would have opted for a longer trip. One of the best parts of our week in the mountains was watching Emma and Hannah delight in the wilderness and in each other. They had a wonderful time making up stories and games as they hiked, exploring the mountains, and building fairly habitats at each of our campsites (there are some very lucky Andean fairies out there). They also spent a great deal of time just being goofy, entertaining hundreds at restaurants, plazas, villages and airports throughout Peru.

Month in Review

2012-05-27T14:28:00.003-07:00

Since our adventure in the Valle de Volcanes last month we have not had any monumental expat experiences. Life just chugs along and we now feel very settled here; this makes the fact we are leaving in just 2 months seem a bit sad. Here are some photos of our everyday life in Arequipa.

Being overseas often feels like an extended vacation but nothing brings one back down to earth than a trip to the hospital. Here is a picture of Hannah after she sprained her ankle in gymnastics.

Bullfighting is a big thing in Arequipa and Jeff got dragged off to a championship event and he won enough money gambling to buy beer for his entire section.

Mollendo is the Wildwood of Arequipa (sorry for obscure the PA/NJ reference) so we felt obligated to visit this beach resort; we waited for the off season and though the weather was not great we enjoyed having the place to ourselves.

Homework takes up much of our waking hours (even on the weekends). Here is one of Emma's time-consuming school projects that she is clearly very proud of. She only got a B because she refused to include Pluto as a planet in her solar system model.

Mothers’ Day is the biggest non-religious holiday in Latin America and we were more than willing to participate in the Peruvian national pastime of mother worship. Our weekend-long celebration started with a school performance that the girls participated in and of course included breakfast in bed (photo deleted to preserve marital harmony).

We were thrilled to have a visit from our friend Elizabeth who did a great job entertaining our children; she also entertained the adults by dragging us on a rafting trip in the nearby Rio Chili.

We were also thrilled to have our friend Maurcio and his family visit us for lunch as we have been trying to get together for over a month.

There you have it - a pretty typical month in Arequipa. Our next post should be more exciting as we will soon be trekking in the Cordillera Blanca, one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the world.

On Immigration

2012-05-08T12:34:00.004-07:00

“How does it feel, to be on your own, with no direction home, like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone” -Bob Dylan

“It's no fun being an illegal alien, I tell ya, it's no fun being an illegal alien, no no no no no” -Phil Collins

Many people have strong opinions about borders, immigration laws, being an expatriate, etc. Some of those opinions are insightful and brilliant and others, not so much (is that the best you could do, Genesis?). For us, living overseas has been an adventure and a challenge. We have 2 months left in our 25 month expat experience and we are each going to share some thoughts about being “foreigners.”

Hannah

Hannah has had some ups and downs while living overseas. With Hannah it is all about the people – she loved making new friends in Nicaragua and Peru but really misses all of her peeps in the United States. Regardless, she really stretched herself and managed to find her way without too much difficulty. Click here to see her video and the positive spin she puts on the expat experience.

Emma

Emma seemed to really enjoy living overseas and has clearly put some thought into the matter: click on this link to see her video. While she also had her fair share of challenges, she found her way too and seems to have benefited from the experience.

In both cases, the girls adjusted very quickly to Nicaragua and Peru. I suppose that things like cultural identify, patriotism, borders, immigrations laws, working papers, and other artificial barriers between people have not yet tainted their world view. The parents are a different story.....

Aileen

I can´t believe we only have 2 months left! I think that on some subconscious level, I am getting ready to head home. I still really appreciate the warm and friendly people, the awesome weather, the beautiful views, and the very affordable cost of living (gymnastics for U$2/hour and private guitar lessons for U$7/hour). And of course it has been a great opportunity for the kids to learn Spanish and for all of us to experience different countries and cultures. But I have to admit that about 23 months after originally leaving San Francisco for Nicaragua, I´m really looking forward to living in America. Some of the things about being an expatriate that were initially amusing for their novelty are now starting to get on my nerves. Like, if you´re going to serve dinner at 11 pm, why tell us to come at 5? And would it kill the teachers to give us more than one day´s notice that we need to send in obscure arts and crafts materials, like 30 centimeters of silk ribbon and styrofoam balls that are 2 centimeters in diameter?

There are some less tangible aspects to the expat experience. One of the biggest benefits about living in another country is the opportunity to see things through a different lens. This has been a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the world and each other. On the other hand the hardest thing about being away from home is not being a “regular person.” It can be a little bit tiresome- the feeling that everything I do and say is put in the context of my being a foreigner. "She thinks that way because she´s from the U.S." "She dresses like that because she´s a tourist." "She washes the dishes like that because that´s how they do it where she´s from." I´m sure once we´re back in the USA I will laugh at myself for whining about these very minor annoyances. However, like anything else being an expat has its pros and cons. Ni modo.

Jeff

When we moved to Nicaragua, the transition was quite easy for me. I had lived there before, knew the culture and had friends in the country. The Nicaraguan government is pretty laid back about enforcing immigration laws which also made life easy for us. Peru has been a very different story. The culture was new to me, the social-economic climate is hard to understand, and Peruvians are very formal so making friends is more challenging. All of this led to some culture shock that manifested itself in the usual ways – like deciding that a broken traffic light was a metaphor for everything that was wrong with Latin America.

Despite some challenges, I have lived in other countries before and knew how to work through the various phases of culture shock. However, the one thing I was not prepared for was dealing with the fear of deportation. Unlike Nicaraguans, Peruvians love their rules, regulations and paperwork - including those related to immigration. Furthermore, the new President of Peru is a populist (of the worst sort) and during his campaign promised to kick all foreigners out of "his" country. As a result of all this, going through immigration control was a frightening experience; fortunately, we were very good at getting in the line with the nicest immigration officer (tall men under the age of 40) and never had any problems crossing the border. That does not mean it has been easy.

Technically, we are not breaking (m)any immigration laws. However we were never able to get national identification numbers (DNIs) and this has created some real issues. For example, the kids could not get report cards last year because the federal Department of Education had not accepted them into the computerized student registration system due to our lack of DNIs. When I found out that we were in a centralized government database, I half-expected the police to knock on our door and I suppose they still might. To make matters worse, trying to do things like get a telephone line, join a gym or visit the doctor without a DNI can be complicated and sometimes unpleasant. In fact, I recently got harassed by a clerk for being an “illegal;” I am not sure if he was joking but it was sort of belittling and frightening at the same time.

Living in another country is wonderful but also has many physical and emotional challenges. Adding the fear of having the carpet pulled out from under you can make it even harder. It is not as if we were cowering in our apartment but that constant concern can be pretty hard to deal with sometimes. I cannot begin to fully understand the plight of undocumented workers in the USA, but I have certainly developed more empathy for their situation. Some very generous people have gone out of their way to help us navigate and enjoy life in Peru. When we are back in the USA I hope to return the favor by reaching out to others in much the same way.

The Road Less Traveled

2012-04-11T18:36:00.000-07:00

I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference – Robert Frost

Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason – Jerry Seinfeld

When we set out on our trip to the Valle de Los Volcanes, we figured one of these two quotes was going to prove true. The Valle de Los Volcanes is a rural area in the State of Arequipa that is only a few hundred miles from the city we live in. While not too far as the crow flies, it is a 10-12 hour bus journey to the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately we could not find much information about the area despite looking though guidebooks, the internet and visiting I-Peru the (national tourist office). Jeff even tried calling the Mayor's office in Andagua, the Valle's only town, but nobody ever called back.

We heard about the Valle de Los Volcanes through a Peruvian tour guide we met back in December. Unfortunately, all he could really tell us was that it was charming, beautiful and had very few tourists. Neither our tour guide friend nor anyone else we spoke to could tell us if there was a functioning hotel in the area; we read about a hotel called Casa Blanca but it was rumored to have closed. We were a bit nervous about arriving in Andagua at 2:00am with no idea where we were going to sleep but everyone was still very excited about the trip.

Despite our cautious enthusiasm, things did not start out well. About fifteen minutes out of Arequipa city we realized that we had forgotten some medicine Jeff needed, half of Emma's clothing and our camera (all of the photos in this post are from the web). Things got worse as the bus continued to fill up with folks packing the aisle.The overcrowded bus was hot, slow and very uncomfortable. The guy standing next to Aileen's seat kept falling asleep and slumping on top of her and Jeff had the pleasure of sharing the ride with a guy having sweaty DTs. Fortunately the kids had the window seats and were able to get some rest. It was nearly impossible for the adults to sleep and due to the extra weight, the bus was 2 hours late arriving in Andagua. We stumbled off the bus and into the cold around 4am; a very nice woman we met on the bus took us to a hotel called Casa Grande (not Casa Blanca as we had heard). After about 10 nervous minutes of banging on the door, someone finally let us in.


The lobby of Hotel Casa Grande at 4am

Day 1

We slept until ten in the morning and wandered down to the hotel's interesting and somewhat dilapidated courtyard. The caretaker told us that the Casa Grande is oldest building in Andagua and owned by a wealthy family who used to control the entire valley. They moved from the area over a generation ago and didn't bother installing a decent bathroom before leaving. No bother, we still loved the charming old place.

We were very excited when we stepped out the front door and into the plaza. The natural beauty of the valley was immediately apparent - with beautiful high-desert scenery surrounded by snow-covered mountains. The town of Andagua is very quaint and well maintained; someone even took the time to trim about 100 bushes in the town square into various shapes. We quickly found a (the) restaurant and arranged to have our morning and afternoon meals there. Everyone was very welcoming and seemed genuinely glad we were visiting. News travels fast in a small town and by the time we finished our breakfast, Maria - a local guide, was waiting to show us around.

Mt. Corpuna

The Andagua town square

Once we got our pack ready, Maria, her son Fernando and their two dogs took us on a hike to the Mirador de Antaymarca which sits on top of an old volcanic cinder cone. The most interesting part of the trip was looking down upon the ruins of the pre-Columbian town of Antaymarca which had been destroyed by volcanic eruption. We could see the remains of old structures that were protected by a hill while the rest of the town was clearly wiped out by the lava flow surrounding it.

Mirador


Ruins of Antaymarca

On the way back to town we saw an ancient burial cave (complete with bones). We also tried shanky - a very sour but delicious cactus fruit that we ate incessantly during our trip. After another meal and a walk around town, we went back to the hotel to get some sleep. On the way into the hotel Jeff smashed is head on the very low threshold, much to the amusement of the town folk watching from the plaza. He did this about 4 times before the rest of the family (and random strangers) started warning him every time he even got close to the hotel entrance.

Day 2

The next day Maria and her entourage met us at the hotel around 9:00am and we hiked to the 120ft high Izanquillay Falls (or Shankayla Falls depending on who you ask). The falls are formed where the Río Andagua runs through a narrow lava canyon. Attention ice climbers - the falls freeze up around May and probably create some cool mixed routes. From the falls we went to climb a volcanic cinder cone. The Valle is carpeted with lava flows from which rise some 80 cinder cones ranging from 300-700 feet high. The cones are aligned along a major fissure, with each cone apparently formed from a single eruption. There are two big cinder cones near town called "the twins" and we decided to climb the larger one. Since there were no trails, our ankles got attacked by small cacti on the way up - but the view was worth the pain. Luckily we had a Leatherman with pliers to pull out the thorns.

The twins from above Andagua

When we got back to Andagua we wandered around a bit before eating. We met some ridiculous policemen who were clearly from out of town and also managed to find a relatively new hotel (Hostal Trebol). The owners showed us around and though it seemed comfortable and had private bathrooms, we still liked the Casa Grande better.

During dinner, folks asked us why we had missed mass the previous evening (the rain, we told them). They encouraged us to join the Good Friday mass and said we should not miss the procession. Around 7pm or so we heard a commotion in the plaza. Emma and Jeff went out to investigate and saw one half of the town watching the other half of town act out the scene of Jesus carrying the cross to his crucifixion. At the end of the performance, the Romans stripped down a poor guy to a loin cloth and tied him to the cross - it looked freezing and really uncomfortable. Though a bit hokey, the procession was a touching demonstration of community and faith in this economically poor part of the world. Unlike what you might expect in small town America, Andaguans were very happy to have outsiders (even Jews) celebrating Easter with them. Try that in rural Oklahoma. After the procession we joined everyone in the church and felt guilty sneaking away before mass actually began. However, we were really tired after the full day's hike and did not want to wear out our welcome by falling asleep during services.

Andagua's Catholic church

Day 3

Maria, Fernando and the dogs again met us at 9:00am. We hiked to an impressive pre-Columbian stone bridge built over a narrow canyon called something in Quechua that we were not able to figure out (pahareta, paqareta, paccareta, or perhaps pajareta). We crossed the bridge and hiked to the ruins of old village that shared its name with the canyon. The little town once consisted of a temple on a hill surrounded by small houses. Maria's Dad lived just below the ruins and he let the kids ride his mule while the adults marveled at the beautiful scenery. We found pottery shards and all sorts of interesting things that you might see at an archeological dig. Normally when you go hiking in the wilderness, all you see is nature. In Andagua we could enjoy a mix of amazing mountain scenery, working farms, cultural artifacts and very warm people - all in the same place!

Unfortunately, we could not find any photos or information about this part of the Valle on the internet (probably because we have the name wrong). Instead, here are some random photos of the Valle that provide pretty good examples of the areas we hiked through.

We got back to the hotel in time to clean up and get some lunch before the afternoon bus. Everyone in town seemed awfully sorry to see us go, especially Cenizo, one of the hotel's dogs we befriended. The bus ride home was uneventful (but tiring) and we were back in our house around 2:30am. This is our first long bus trip that did not involve at least one major delay or other transportation-related challenge. Perhaps our luck is changing!

We hope you enjoyed reading about our little adventure. The Valle de Los Volcanes is a spectacular place and we feel very lucky to have visited this part of Peru. The natural beauty rivals the more popular spots around Arequipa but the remoteness and lack of tourists make it a really special place. Robert Frost was right, at least this time.

Adios Andagua

Hats

2012-04-01T07:17:00.000-07:00

Everyone has settled back into their routine. Emma and Hannah are going to school, participating in their after school activities, going to parties, visiting the orthodontist, etc. The adults are working, volunteering and dealing with everyday life (cooking, cleaning, getting older, buying new glasses, etc.). We are very settled in our life here and do not have as much to blog about as everything seems well....normal. This is the perfect time to blog about hats.

Yes, hats. We really love Peruvian cultural and its fascinating combination of Spanish, African, Amazonian and Andean traditions. The food, music, customs and of course the hats are all interesting and wonderful. Hats are a big thing in the Andes. Some have important social meanings (i.e., marital status, class, etc.), some are fashion statements, and others are just practical. I cannot tell you much more about hats in Peru, but here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Some of the hats you find in the Andes have been worn for a thousand years and others are from modern times.

The chullo has been worn since pre-columbian times and is a bit hit with the tourists

The bowler has been popular with Andean women since the 1920s


The cristina is pretty modern too and is supposed to be worn every Monday at school

Here are some hats that are common in the Arequipa area.

Very traditional hats that are common in rural communities

Traditional costumes from the Carnaval parade

Dressed up for a visit to the big city

These are the hats we saw in the Lake Titicaca area.

This type of hat is only found on the heads of married women in the community of Llachon

Other hats in Llachon are just to keep the sun off

Woman from the reed islands of Uros

Only single women wear this type of hat.

More cool hats

Every region in Andes has different types of hats.

Young girl outside of Cusco

My favorite hats can be found in the Cajamarca region and I am bummed that I did not buy one when the opportunity presented itself.

I hope you enjoyed the hats as much as we do. Next week is a short one due to Easter and we are planning a trip way off the beaten track; we are also planning a Peruvian Passover Sedar. All this and more will be part of our next blog so stay tuned for some more more rip-roaring tales of high adventure and comedy.

Jeff

March Madness

2012-03-18T14:52:00.000-07:00

March brought the start of school for Emma and Hannah and lots of bad craziness (and shopping) for Aileen and Jeff. Here is some commentary.

Emma

Starting 4th grade was scary because in Peru you don’t know what teacher you are going to have until the 1st day. I have a teacher named Giuliana Pinto Villegas, she is very nice and is a good teacher. I am glad that school started again because I was getting a little tired of Hannah. I am also happy that my best friend, Mafer Sanchez is in my class. I am not happy about homework. Over all I have had a good first week of school.

Hannah

My school started and it’s really fun and we get to do lots of fun stuff. We get to play fun stuff at recess. We played a game called “Find the Treasures” and it’s really fun. I like my teacher and she’s really nice but she kind of screams a lot. I still like her. Also, we have to write cursive a LOT, like four pages almost every day. It’s definitely harder than first grade. I am happy to be at school with my friends again.

Jeff

School got off to a rough start this year. The first week was really crazy as nobody knew what was going on – including the administration, teachers, students and parents. After a week of everyone figuring out what books are needed on what days and which uniforms to wear when, things seemed to be shaping up. We celebrated the first week of school by going out for a special lunch. We took some friends out for “pachamaca,” an indigenous meal of meat and potatoes cooked in a hole filled with hot rocks. On the way home from the restaurant we hit a major thunderstorm and our friend told us school would be cancelled on Monday due to flooding. We figured that was just histrionics and looked pretty stupid Monday morning as we stood on the street waiting for our ride to school. Someone finally told us that all school in the city had been cancelled.

We were very relieved when school was back in session the next day but that rug was pulled out from under us when the phone rang around noon. Hannah had thrown up at school and was sent home early; Emma came home sick later that afternoon. The girls spent the next two days at home with amebic dysentery (perhaps related to the food cooked in a hole??). They want back to school that Friday and we had a fun day Saturday. However, everyone is a bit under the weather again so who knows what will happen next. To add insult to injury, the San Francisco school district just informed us that Emma and Hannah got placed in different elementary schools and we are not very happy with their assignments. Aileen is supposed to visit the USA next week to register the girls in school and now we are not sure what we are going to do.

March always seems to be a down month for me. I recall writing a pretty negative post from Nicaragua last March after having been attached by fleas. This post seems pretty negative too so I’ll add a silver lining to my cloud. Hannah started violin lessons a few weeks ago and is showing a real talent for it and is already doing guitar-violin duets with Emma. I was also tickled to find out that some of the girls’ teachers did not realize Spanish was their second language. Hannah’s second grade teacher is new to the school and for some reason was not giving Hannah the same level of help she got in first grade. When Aileen went to talk to the teacher she was shocked to learn that Hannah was not Peruvian. A few days later Emma’s new English teacher wanted to know why she could speak English so well. While it is a bit weird that the teachers were so clueless, we are thrilled that Emma and Hannah are so well integrated in their school.

It feels like we have really settled into life in Arequipa. I guess part of settling in means that the vacation in over and you have to take the good with bad. While I did enjoy the vacation phase, it is nice to be living a more “normal” life again.

Aileen

I am the anti-blogger and have nothing to say about any of this. Here is a cute photo of our daughters

The Long Road Home

2012-02-28T15:25:00.000-08:00

Our bus trip from Lima to Arequipa was quite the adventure. What was supposed to be a 15 hour overnight trip took 29 hours! About eight hours outside of Arequipa a river had risen up over a bridge and we had to wait for the water level to go down before crossing it.

About three hours from Arequipa we encountered a washed out bridge and had to wait half the night for bulldozers to make safe the river crossing. Trucks, buses and cars were backed up for miles.

Even though we were stuck along the scenic coastal desert, waiting around with little to do got kind of old.

The bus did not have enough food for a 30 hour trip and we did not bring any extra supplies. If it was not for the kindness of strangers we would have ended up like this poor dog.....

It was a long trip but we got home safe and sound. We found out that two of our friends had similar bus experiences and that there was a state of emergency in southern Peru due to the worst rains in 40 years. Some of the resulting problems facing poor folk, especially in rural communities, make our bus delay seem pretty insignificant.

Despite the state of emergency, city officials decided to continue with the planned carnaval parade which celebrates the culture of the Arequipa region. We got to see hundreds of dancers, musicians and floats, 90% of which were playing the same song "Carnaval de Arequipa."

The parade was also a chance for young and old, performers and audience, Peruvians and Gringos, to spray each other with water, white foam and other liquids. Everyone got into the action and had a great time at this very interactive parade. The girls were attacked by a man on stilts and Jeff was ambushed by an old lady (the retaliation was fierce).

After recovering from our trip and the parade, we started looking for ways to keep busy before school starts on March 5. Aileen has a fair amount to do to get the girls ready for school and Jeff is back to work. Hannah started violin lessons (and resumed gymnastics). Emma continues with guitar and took her first step on a long road toward straight teeth. Though we have plenty to do, Mom and Dad are counting down the days until summer vacation is finally over.

We are a bit burned out on traveling but are taking the time to visit some of the famous cultural sites in Arequipa. We recently toured the beautiful Convent of Santa Catalina which is like a city within a city.

We have also been reconnecting with friends. The girls have enjoyed play dates and sleepovers and we recently celebrated Mama Techi's birthday with a big plate of guinea pig.

One of the best things about Arequipa is the weather and we were bummed to come back to very cold temperatures, grey skies and rain. However, after about ten days of that mess the sun came back out. Our beloved mountains are now covered in snow and just walking outside is once again a treat.

Here are some final thoughts on our travels and subsequent return to Arequipa.

Well, when I went to America I really had fun. I loved Trujillo because the hotel had a swimming pool we could go to after the beach. I was excited to come back to Arequipa to see Picachu and Bunny (stuffed animals) and my friends. I had a sleepover at my friends' house and we stayed up until almost midnight. That was fun. I am happy school starts soon.

I was a bit surprised about how good it felt to be back in Arequipa even though this has only been our home for a few months. On the other hand, because we were back in the USA for so long I am really missing our friends and family. I am looking forward to getting back into a regular routine, especially having the kids off at school five days a week.

It is wonderful to be back home after five weeks of travel (about 1 week too long I think). I missed Arequipa but being away helped me better understand Peru, including some of the more negative aspects. Upon our return I really started to notice a certain type of racism/classism that exists in this country (more on that in a future post). During our trip I also realized how much I miss our friends and family in the USA. Living overseas has been an amazing experience and we still have much to see and do. Sometimes the idea of coming home seems horrifying to me (especially after watching the Republican debates). However, when July rolls around I think that we will all be anxious to return to the motherland (but if Rick Santorum wins the nomination all bets are off).

I had a really good time in the United States, especially because we got to see our friends and family. Still, I was happy to come back to Peru because I missed my friends, my school and also my apartment. I loved going to carnaval in Arequipa, that was really fun. Our vacation in Peru was fun too. I liked Huanchaco because we made nice friends there. Still, I am excited about moving home to San Francisco in a few months.

Back in Peru

2012-02-17T14:06:00.000-08:00

After an enjoyable but exhausting 3 weeks in the USA, we were very happy to return to Peru. We arrived late at night and made it through immigrations/customs with no trouble (despite my irrational fear of being arrested by some activist government bureaucrat with a chip on her shoulder). The driver from the ever-reliable Hotel Aleman was waiting for us at the airport and whisked us away to our favorite hotel room in Lima (it has two attached rooms for the price of one). We were thrilled to be back in the warm weather and even happier to not have any places to go, people to see or things to do for the next few weeks.

Lima
After a good night's sleep, we decided to buy bus tickets for Trujillo a city in northern Peru that is close to a well-known beach town. The hotel offered to get the bus tickets so we decided to hit the busy streets of Lima with grand plans to visit some historical sites. After visiting one church and having lunch, it was clear we were exhausted from our travels. Emma and Hannah were both whining (which is very uncharacteristic of them) so we went back to the hotel and relaxed before heading to the bus terminal.

Huanchaco

We took an overnight bus and were met at the Trujillo bus terminal by a driver from the Hotel Bracamonte. He got us to the hotel in short order and before we knew it, we were on the beaches of Huanchaco. Huanchaco is a fishing village near Trujillo and a popular vacation spot for Peruvians. It is known for reed boats, the second oldest church in Peru and one of the longest left breaks in the world. It was great to relax for a few days, have some amazing seafood and recuperate from our travels. We all felt rejuvenated and ready for some more adventurous travel.

Cajamarca
We took a day bus into the mountains, and after 8 hours or so, we arrived in the city of Cajamarca. We decided to stay a few miles out of town so we could enjoy the countryside and made reservations at a hacienda/hostel in the nearby hills. However, when we arrived there was nobody at the hacienda; I walked around the grounds in the pouring rain, fell down in the mud a few times and finally gave into the idea that we had been forgotten. Fortunately the taxi driver waited for us but unfortunately he got stuck in the mud and Aileen and I got filthy pushing him out. He told us the Hacienda Portada del Sol was owned by the area's congressman and he was not at all surprised that this happened to us. We found a decent hotel in the historic district of the city and crashed out for the night.

Cajamarca is in the northern highlands of Peru and is the capital of the region. It is located at 8,900 feet and has a population of about 250,000 people. The city is known for its dairy products, protests against the foreign mining companies, and eally cool hats. It is also known for its churches and hot springs, both of which we really enjoyed. Historically, Cajamarca is remembered as the place where the Inca Empire came to an end with the capture, abuse and murder of emperor Atahualpa.

I loved visiting this part of Peru. The city and surrounding countryside were beautiful and we saw some amazing pre-Inca ruins (including an ancient aqueduct that was an engineering marvel). The northern highlands are very different from Arequipa and the other places we have traveled. There is much more of an indigenous presence and unfortunately much more poverty. We heard a great deal about how the mining companies and corrupt local government officials have gotten rich while local communities have barely benefited from the billions of dollars worth of minerals extracted from their lands. Despite the many hardships, people in Cajamarca are friendly and spirited. They are also politically active, having shut the city down for over a week to successfully delay the opening of new mine. Things have been calm since December but I expect there will be further disruptions once the government tries to move the project forward. There was much to see and learn about in Cajamarca and we only scratched the surface. Though we wanted to stay longer, our time was running out and we had other places to visit.

Trujillo

We back tracked (via bus) to Trujillo. Our main purpose in returning was to see some of the pre-Inca ruins in the area (it is also the safest way to travel back to Arequipa). During our stay we visited the Temples of the Sun and Moon which were built by the Moche people. One of the sites consisted of five different temples built on top of one another. The other place we visited was Chan Chan, the largest adobe city in the world built by the Chimur. Both of these sites were amazing to behold and our photos do not do them justice.

Lima Part 2
We returned to Lima mainly to catch the bus back to Arequipa. However, we decided to spend some time exploring this city which has a bad (and undeserved) reputation. We enjoyed some great food, cool street performers and diverse neighborhoods. We also visited some religious sites that the girls had studied about at school, including a church housing the skulls of Santa Rosa de Lima and the first black saint, Martin de Porres. The highlight was visiting the monastery of San Francisco de Lima that contained catacombs full of bones. Emma and Hannah were pretty freaked out by the place and (literally) jumped for joy when they escaped the spooky place. We finished up the day visiting the famous Parque del Amor where Aileen and I engaged in some rare PDA. Onlookers cracked up while the girls tried to get a photo of us making out. We would kiss for a while, stop and then they would say "should we take it now?" Was this an accident or where they messing with us?

We left Lima around 5:30pm on a luxury overnight bus for Arequipa that was supposed to take about 15 hours. The bus was equipped with seats that became beds, videos, food and even internet access so we were not too worried about the journey. Boy were we wrong! Read the next post for the stunning conclusion to our travels.

Only in America

2012-01-30T17:14:00.000-08:00

We returned to the United States on January 10th to take care of some business, apply for public school and visit our loved-ones, especially Aileen's mom who has been ill. We visited the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern New Jersey during our three week whirlwind tour. Here is everyone's take on the trip.....

Jeff
Our trip back to the United States made me think of my great grandfather's favorite expression "only in America." Only in America will you find:

someone ingenious enough to use a urinal while talking on two different cell phones
someone as clever as Newt Gingrich, who manages to be taken seriously by so many people
someone who refuses to make eye contact when you say good morning to them at the bus stop
so many damn Starbucks (though that is changing fast)
a room full of children that is completely silent because everyone is using electronic devices

Snarky social commentary aside, we loved being back home because only in America do we have such wonderful friends and family. Thanks to everyone who let us sleep in their homes, cooked us meals, bought us drinks and took time away from their busy schedules to visit with us during our brief stay. Super special thanks to Joseph who hosted me during a brief mancation to Toronto and Nick who took a bus from DC to NYC just so we could hang out for a day.

Hannah
We had a really good time in the United States. We visited our friends and saw Mommy and Daddy's friends and went to a park and had play dates. We had to take an exam in Spanish for our school next year and we got an A+. We visited Aunt Lauren's house, Uncle Andrew's house, Cousin Ann's house and Grandma's house. We played a lot. Peru is stupid, no, just joking but I am sad to leave America.

Emma
I had a really good time. I really enjoyed visiting my friends, cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. I also had a really good time visiting my friends. I did not like all the boring things like shopping and taking my Spanish exam. I am sad to go away from America but I can't wait to go back to Peru.

Aileen
The past three weeks have really flown by. It's been great seeing so many friends and family members, a lot of whom have been super-flexible and understanding, letting us stay in their homes, treating us to wonderful meals, and driving long distances to see us. We especially appreciated "Grammy and Pop Pop," who flew all the way from Florida to see us in CA, and were so understanding about our inability to stop off in FL during our trip home. It's been great spending time with so many loved ones, but I have to admit that I'm also looking forward to getting back to Arequipa.

An Amazing End to the Year

2012-01-06T15:03:00.000-08:00

There were many reasons we decided to move to Peru but the big one was to continue Emma and Hannah's education in Spanish. While I am thrilled the girls are doing so well at school, it has been frustrating to have so little time to see the country (which was another reason we came here). Summer vacation in the southern hemisphere has changed all that and we recently had the opportunity to take a fantastic vacation to Cotahuasi, the deepest canyon in the world.

Travelling to and around the canyon is time consuming and challenging, making it difficult for tourists and travelers to visit; actually, it is difficult for anyone to get there, including the residents! We took advantage of the long school vacation to make the trip and it was well worth the effort (and effort it was).

We left our house for the bus terminal around 3pm. Despite being told there would be no problem getting seats on the bus, the only ones left were at the very back (i.e., the ones that do not recline). After some debate, we decided to take the seats and hope we could sleep sitting straight up during the 12 hour bus ride. Actually, the seats were not that bad compared to our driver. At about 1am, he drove us into a ditch and everyone had to exit the bus in the freezing cold + snow flurries. Fortunately, another bus came along and pulled us out after about an hour. We arrived in the little town (also called Cotahuasi) at dawn and found our way to the hotel where we had reserved some rooms. After a nap, we explored our surroundings and found a little chicken restaurant for a much needed meal. We later found out that chicken was pretty much the only meal you could get.

The town of Cotahuasi is actually inside the canyon and is a charming place with stunning views which more than made up for the lack of culinary diversity.

The next day we took a "combi" or mini bus to the town of Alca. From there we hiked out of the canyon and up to a farming village. We then looped back to the main road to enjoy the Luchio Hot Springs. Unfortunately our photos do not come close to capturing the incredible beauty of the canyon or the village nor do I have the words to describe them.

After another chicken dinner we sacked out early so we could catch the 6:30am combi that drives toward the deepest part of the canyon, passing a waterfall and a cactus forest. Our plan was to take the bus to the end of the line, hike back to the waterfall and catch the afternoon bus back to town. The drive was beautiful but treacherous and the driver kept having to stop to clear the road of rocks. We were both scared and frustrated so we decided to get off early and walk back to the falls. It was a stunning hike through some of the most beautiful canyon country I have ever seen. The bus was two hours late on the return trip but at least we made it back in once piece (barely) and just before the afternoon rains started. Again, the photos do not capture the splendor, but they do show how tired we were after the day's adventure.

We had planned to visit the remote village of Pampamarca and spend the night but ran into some more transportation challenges. We found out (by accident) that local buses were not running the following day because it was a holiday. We decided to make this a day trip and though it was lots of bus travel (3 hours one way) it was worth the effort. It was lucky that we did not plan to stay overnight as it turned out there was really nowhere to stay! We did find two young guides who showed us around a bit but spent more of their time tossing large rocks over a cliff. The fog and clouds made it hard to see much, but it was still a beautiful place to visit. When we got back to Cotahuasi that evening we bought a bottle of homemade wine (sold in plastic bottles) to celebrate the new year.

We spent New Year's day visiting a lagoon and a branch of the canyon close to town. After our hike we went back to the hotel to get ready for our trip home on the afternoon bus.

Unfortunately a major landslide blocked the road to town. We were told to be in the main plaza around 3pm to catch a combi to the landslide area. After that we would have to walk to where the buses were waiting. We arrived at 3pm but all the combis had left! After Aileen did some yelling at the ticket agent and a did some nervous pacing, another combi came and got us there just in time. After an hour ride in the back of a smelly van with no seats, we had to run over rocks and mud in the pouring rain with all our luggage in order to make it to our bus. We then had to kick some people out of our assigned seats and deal with the consternation of the driver who was annoyed that we were late. However, we managed to get settled in for a long and largely sleepless night. We got back to Arequipa around 4am, exhausted, happy to be home and thrilled with our adventure.

Everyone looks forward to some more travels before school resumes on March 1. Hopefully the transportation will be a bit easier, but I doubt it! No big deal because getting there is (sometimes) half the fun. Happy New Year!

Observations

2011-12-24T10:17:00.000-08:00

The summer rainy season has officially begun in Peru; as a result, snow has returned to the mountains, everything has become more colorful, and the city is a bit less dusty. The beginning of the rainy season also heralds the end of school and many people are heading to the beach for the summer. Everyone tells us the city will be less crowded in January and February but for now it is total mayhem due to the holidays. Last night we took a taxi to the closing ceremony for Hannah's gymnastics program and what is normally a fifteen minute ride took over an hour due to the traffic.

Speaking of ceremonies, we have been very busy with all kinds of year-end activities. The girls had final exams at school which was quite a long haul but they both did very well. Then of course came all the various parties, closing events and holiday festivities.

December is also a big birthday month for us. We organized a birthday celebration at the girls' school but since parents are not allowed into the classrooms, we only got to hear about it. Not wanting to be left out, we also held small party at home and the girls invited a few close friends. Hanukkah was celebrated with a homemade menorah and potato latkes and Christmas will be spent with some friends.

The end of the school year also marked the beginning of what the kid's call "Mommy and Daddy School." We are trying to home school the girls to help them get ready for the next academic year in Peru and the USA. We have done a few fun projects, including a marble track which is still a work-in-progress. The I-Pad has come in handy as there are many excellent educational apps when one of the "teachers" gets frustrated. Don't worry, our summer break will not be all work and no joy. We are planning on travelling to the countryside before our visit to the United States in January; we also hope to visit Northern Peru in February. Everyone is looking forward to these upcoming adventures and a MUCH needed break from Mommy and Daddy School.

As part of our home schooling efforts we asked Emma and Hannah to practice their writing by sharing some observations about Peru.

Emma

People in Peru are very creative with Christmas decorations. I have seen Santa on a ladder and "Santa stop here" signs.
I have never seen a lawn mower in Peru. I have only seen alpacas and llamas eating grass.
The Peruvians speak differently than Nicaraguans. They still speak Spanish but many words are different. For example, if I say "mecate" (rope) people do not understand me but if I say "cuerda" they do.
Almost everybody in Peru has bread for breakfast. When we go to the bread store in the morning there are always lots of people there.
Almost everybody in Arequipa goes to private school. There are hardly any public schools.

Hannah

I like my school because I have lots of friends there.
I like to sing at school with my music teacher.
I like the people in Peru because they are very good people.
My gymnasium in Arequipa is very good because I am learning lots of things.
The food in Peru is very good, my favorite is tallarin (noodles).

The adults will add a few observations to the list:

There is a constant struggle over small change in Peru; if you buy something for 9 soles and give the store a 10 sol bill, they still ask if you have exact change.
Like much of the world lines mean nothing in Peru and unless you are vigilant about getting to the front, you never will. However, if you are really rich you can apparently walk to the front of whatever line you want.
Peruvians hate lines but love rules. Conformity seems to be rampant so it is very exciting when we see folks dressing or acting outside the norm.
Once you get to know most Peruvians, they treat you like family; our friends always invite us to their celebrations and shower us with warmth and affection.
There is no such thing as bad food in Peru (unless you go to KFC).

Well, those are all the observations we have for now. It is has been an absolutely wonderful year and we are looking forward to 2012 with great anticipation. We hope you all have a lovely holiday season.

News from Arequipa

2011-12-10T15:10:00.000-08:00

Jeff

One of the reasons I wanted to move to Arequipa is the mountains. There are three peaks over 19,000 feet very close to the City. Unfortunately, I have not met any climbers and the guide services do not run many trips this time of year due to low demand. I could not wait anymore and decided to attempt a solo climb of a nearby volcano called Misti. I bought a few items that I needed (including a map and compass) and arranged for one of the guide services to transport me to the trail head shown below.

The route uses the prominent rib to the left of the sign

My chosen route was very easy, with the altitude and route finding being the only real challenges. However, on the way to base camp, I got stuck in a snow/hail storm so I decided to stop at a lower camp that had some small ledges I could sit under since I did not have a proper tent. I went to sleep around 5:30pm but was so worried about not having made the upper base camp I got up four hours later to start my summit attempt. It turns out I was way too worried about time. I reached the summit in the dark and made it back to my camp by 6:00am. It was a nice hike and a very beautiful mountain to spend some time on.

View from the summit

The hardest part of the trip was getting home. The long hike back to the trail head was followed by an even longer hike to the road. However, I loved the high desert scenery and the previous night's storm brought out some beautiful wildflowers. Once the walking was over, I had to sit in the middle of nowhere praying for a bus to show up on a seemingly deserted highway. After nearly two hours in the hot sun, I finally saw a bus! I started jumping up and down frantically to ensure the driver stopped for me. Everyone was cracking up when I got on board; I am not sure if they were laughing because I was waiting in the middle of nowhere, had been jumping up and down like a maniac or that my face was covered in volcanic ash. Once I settled into my seat, an old guy reached over and patted me on the shoulder. He said something in what I think was Quechua. My Quechua is very limited; he was either telling me "congratulations on the climb you strong north american hero" or "don't worry crazy and stupid gringo, everything will be just fine."

Emma
A couple of days ago I competed in a swimming competition at school. I was 1 of the 4 people that competed for my class. I won a silver medal for speed, velocidad, below is the medal.

I won another silver medal for relay, postas. In the photo below is my team. The boy in the towel is Sergio Tadeo, the boy next to him is Brandon, I am next to Brandon & to my left is Maria Fernanda.

My medals are now hanging on my closet door.

Aileen
A few weeks ago I mentioned to a friend that I when I get back home to the U.S., I wanted to get back to working in Special Education, because I really loved it. She said that she knew someone who worked with a special education program and could arrange a volunteer placement for me. She said somewhat flippantly, "I believe that if you really love doing something, you should do it." Even though she said it off the cuff, I've been thinking about it a lot. Anyway, her aunt brought me over to Unamonos, a privately funded program for special needs children, and since then I've been volunteering there a few times a week.

It's been really interesting for me, to see both the similarities and the differences between special education in the U.S. and here. I find that on Monday mornings as I walk to the school, I'm looking forward to seeing the kids I've been working with and helping out however I can.

Hannah
We had Thanksgiving at our house. When we were cooking the turkey it was kind of weird but we had to give it a shot to get the juice in there. We had to stick carrots and celery and onions in the turkey's butt which was weird too. Mommy and me cooked everything.

After we cooked all that stuff our friends came over: Sammy, Francesca, Ximena, Mafer and the adults - Erica, Nelson and Teresa.

We played with them in our garage and did hide-and-go-seek and los paises. I really loved the turkey. Thanksgiving was so good!

School Dayz

2011-11-26T19:49:00.000-08:00

There is nothing too exciting to report on since our last post, just business as usual. Everyone continues to be happy and healthy and we are still very pleased with our decision to move here. Since school is such a big part of our experience in Peru, education will be the focus of this blog post. We hope you enjoy all the different perspectives.

Emma

I am going to describe my school, Juan de la Cruz Calienes. In my school I am in 3^rd grade. We are not in the U.S.A., we are in Peru and we are here for a family adventure.

Part of my adventure is going to school! I am in section 3-A and the teacher is named Ursula Gonzales Leon. In my class there are 32 students. My classroom is close to the school office so there are always meetings there.

We have lots of classes like, Language, Science, Social Studies, English, Math, Catholicism, and Computers. We also get to pick our own workshops. Volleyball, chorus, swimming and cooking are all the workshops that I chose.

My school is very big and we have to wear uniforms. For a girl the fancier one is a grey jumper, a white shirt and a blue tie. The other uniform is for sports and is a blue jacket, a grey shirt, blue shorts and blue pants. The shorts go under the pants so you can take off the pants when we do sports.

I feel really good at this school. I have lots of friends, the teachers are nice, and we all play together. Sometimes there is teasing and I don’t like that. I like my school but it is still different from the U.S.A. My school is a lot bigger, because of that there is a lot more stuff like a swimming pool, 3 basketball courts, a computer lab, etc. Instead of having photo copies of everything like I did in the USA, we have to write everything down. Sometimes Miss Ursula copies things on the whiteboard and other times she says it out loud for everyone to write. There are also lots of sports like volleyball which we did not have in the U.S.A. The big difference is that everybody speaks Spanish.

Overall I like my new school. So far I have had a really good experience here. However, I still miss the USA.

Jeff

The Peruvian government spends relatively little on education and ranked in the bottom 20^th percentile in a World Bank study of public expenditure on schools. Despite the low spending levels, Peru is above the 50^th percentile in most educational indicators. I thought that this was because most Peruvians with regular incomes send their children to private school and thus the government did not need to spend as much money on public education. I then started thinking that the Peruvian government should just get rid of public schools (except in rural areas) and implement a voucher system. Lots of people I spoke to hear thought that sounded great. OMG, not only do I sound like a Republican, I am starting to evangelize.

Well, once I looked at the facts I realized that my theories were simply wrong. I do not like being wrong but at least I am not turning into a Republican; they never bother with facts when setting social policy. The fact is that only 15% of Peruvian children attend private school (compared to 10% in the USA). The reason the government spends so little on education is that teacher salaries in Peru are among the lowest in Latin America. From what we hear, this is reflected in the low quality of the public schools; the higher educational indicators are probably being skewed by the private school students who perform quite well. What does this all mean? Beats the hell out of me but I am trying to get to the bottom of it.

In the meantime, we are lucky to be part of the 15%. The school Emma and Hannah attend is quite solid. While the school is somewhat diverse, Emma and Hannah are the only ex-pats studying there. This has created some challenges for everyone, but mostly the girls. They were not treated so well by their classmates initially. Emma even got so fed up with someone teasing her that she pushed the girl! Emma came home crying because she was mean to someone. I was proud that she stood up for herself and even prouder she felt bad for acting inappropriately.

This was a far cry from their experience in rural Nicaragua where they were treated like rock stars. Frankly, I am glad they faced some social challenges and even more pleased that they overcame them. Emma and Hannah have both found their way and are now clearly part of the fabric of the school. They must be happy there because when we asked if they wanted to transfer to the local American school they both shouted NO!

Hannah

My school is called Colegio Calienes. There is lots of stuff you can do there like swimming class, mini-chef, chorus, basketball, computer class, English, religion, social studies, language, math and science. I like my friends and my teacher. I have lots of friends in my class like Angela Melanie, Angela Luciana, Luciana, and my kind of good friend Lucia. I do not like one of the girls in my class because she is kind of mean to me and does not share toys with me. I also do not like another girl because she calls another boy names. After school I go home with one of my friends whose Dad picks us up. Mommy makes a snack for me and sometimes I take a shower with Emma and then I do homework. Sometimes I have five homeworks and that is a lot. I do not like to do my homework. I take gymnastics class 3 times a week. It is very fun because we do lots of exercises like candle, jumping on the trampoline and almost always we have to work on the mats. We do races called bunny, frog and fish. I usually win. And also, on my birthday my Daddy said I can get a violin. He asked me if I wanted a dog, a big party or a violin. I said a violin because it is one of my favorite instruments. I will then go to school, take gymnastics and violin.

Aileen

Education is such a complex issue that there’s no way I can do it justice in a short blog post, so I’ll just share some of our observations, based on our limited experience here. I think the girls’ school, Colegio Calienes, is quite good, and we’re really lucky our friend Erika works there, or we may have had to homeschool the kids for our time here in Arequipa. Part of this is related to the formality of Peruvian culture. Peruvians seem to be accustomed to complying with lots of rules and regulations regarding documentation and things like that. When we got to Nicaragua, we went to the local school, and they basically wrote down the girls’ names and their birthdays, and said, “See ya’ on Monday.” Here in Arequipa, we had to have interviews, the girls had to be tested, the schools wanted to see the girls’ notarized report cards from last year, and the Catholic schools wanted an original marriage certificate and an original proof of baptism! Anyway, to get back to education, this formality carries over into the girls’ school. The girls lose “points” if they don’t write their capital letters in a red pencil, if they don’t “respetar los márgenes,” (if they write in the two centimeters on the edge of the page), or if they underline something without using a ruler. I worry a little that the school is a little old-fashioned both in this way and in terms of how much time they spend copying down and memorizing stuff word for word, and not necessarily encouraging critical thinking and creativity. In the end though, and especially at such young ages, the fact that the girls like their school and are learning a lot outweighs this concern. They have plenty of opportunity to be creative and think critically since they have to navigate the complexities of another culture on a daily basis.

Children Thrive and Parents Survive

2011-11-18T12:56:00.000-08:00

It has been awhile since we have written so here is an update on life in Arequipa.

The girls continue with school, gymnastics and guitar; they also have play dates, school activities and birthday parties to attend. I continue to do consulting work and Aileen is looking into volunteer opportunities. Daily housekeeping, cooking, homework, etc. also take up a great deal of our time. As a result, weekdays are pretty busy for everyone.

Life seems much more "normal" than it did in Nicaragua and I suppose that means more like the USA. The most notable difference is that I only have to work 4 hours a day and we can still afford a nice apartment, private school and extra-curricular activities. Come to think of it, that is more "normal" than the 70 hour work weeks and high cost of living in San Francisco.

Getting pointers from Jaime

Walking home from guitar

Emma and Hannah are doing amazingly well at school. Emma is pretty close to fluent in Spanish and has a beautiful Peruvian accent. We are not sure about Hannah's Spanish as she still does not speak the language in front of us. However, Hannah's teacher says she is doing great which is really impressive given that she started in the middle of the school year with somewhat limited Spanish. In any event, school ends mid-December and they will both advance to the second and fourth grades when it resumes in March.

Emma and Hannah are also doing great socially and have made plenty of friends. The adults are not doing as well. Peruvians are much more formal than Nicaraguans (and Americans) so it has taken some time to meet people. There is very little opportunity to interact with parents at the school because most everyone sends their children in vans or taxis and there is no real parental involvement encouraged. However, slowly but surely the adults are making friends too. We still keep in touch with our host family and the owner of the language school the girls attended when we first arrived. In addition we have become friendly with an American missionary, the family that transports the kids to school, and a young couple we met a few weeks ago. We are also getting to know some of the families who send their kids to gymnastics and guitar, which makes sitting around during the lessons more enjoyable. It does seem as if we are starting to build a community of friends, but it is slow going. This really makes us appreciate all of our loved-ones back home!

We continue to find fun and interesting things to do on the weekends. The last weekend in October there was an anniversary celebration and fundraiser at the girls' school. Hannah performed in a dance with her class which was very charming (see video). On this particular occasion, we got to hang out with some other parents, many of whom went out of their way to make us feel welcome. We had a great time and I have to say, it was more enjoyable than most of the school fundraisers I have attended; well, it was certainly more rowdy. Parents sat around drinking lots of beer and watching a band perform (complete with half-naked dancers) on the school's outdoor stage while the kids were playing in jumpy houses.

The next weekend we took our first excursion out of town, travelling by bus to the Majes River Valley which is about three hours west of Arequipa. We first visited an area in the desert known for its petroglyphs. It is called Toro Muerto because ranchers used to lose many cattle there while driving their herds toward greener pastures. Toro Muerto has over 5,000 rock drawings made by the Wari people over 1,000 years ago. Nobody knows what they mean or why they chose to carve them in this dry area, especially when there is a beautiful river valley nearby. That evening we stayed by the river at an interesting hotel where the owner makes his own wine and brandy that he is eager to share. The next day we went white water rafting with a family we met at the hotel. Everyone had a great time and we hope to do this again before the rains begin.

Other weekends have included concerts, Emma's first public guitar performance (see video), trips to the library, horseback riding with the folks we met on our rafting trip, and of course homework. This weekend we a birthday party, breakfast with some friends, a play date, and yes, more homework to content with. We are also busy planning a thanksgiving celebration and a few weeks later a birthday party for the girls. Next will be exams and before you know it, summer vacation starts. Hopefully we will do a little travelling before returning to the USA in mid-January to visit family and friends.

In reading this over, life does not seem as exciting as it did in Nicaragua, and I suppose it isn't because we are not doing that much travelling. We don't have a car and despite the low cost of living, we have to be thriftier this year since we were not expecting to live overseas for this long. Also, the girls have lots of homework and activities and we cannot just leave town whenever we want. While I miss that freedom, there is something about this place that makes life so darn enjoyable. I just cannot put my finger on it (yet) but perhaps these pictures will shed some light.

Sunset at a plaza near our apartment

A 15 minute walk from our apartment

I almost forgot to mention that we also celebrated Aileen's birthday this month. There was lots of presents and Aileen also got to curl up in bed with a romantic comedy while the girls and I did the chores. Here is our attempt at some Peruvian cuisine along with the wine we bought from the hotel in Majes River.

Life In Arequipa

2011-10-09T21:21:00.001-07:00

We have been in Arequipa for about six weeks, two of which were with our new Peruvian family - Theresa, Nelson and company. We have been in our lovely apartment for four weeks and have settled into a regular routine. Everyone is loving our life in Peru so far. Here is our take on it all.

Emma
Every year our family has "Do What You Want Day" and the kids get to do what they want. We did not do this last year but we did this year. I really liked it because we did lots of fun things like eating breakfast in a fort, watching the movie "Where the Red Fern Grows," eating whatever we wanted for lunch (tamales), going to the zoo and having Chicken Lo Mein for dinner.

When I got out of bed in the morning I found Hannah showing a fort to Mom and saying that we were going to eat breakfast in it and we did. We ate tamales at lunch because Hannah loves them. The zoo was not as exciting as I thought but it was still fun. There were monkeys and lions and lots of other animals. We ate Chicken Lo Mein because EVERYBODY loves it. We also watched some of the appendices of Lord of the Rings because we all love those movies. I read "Where the Red Fern Grows" so watching the movie was fun.

Now we are in school. It is really fun and I have lots of friends. Some of them are Camila, Fernando and lots of other ones. Now I am also learning guitar at Espacio Taller. I am in a group class and there are five people in the class more or less. My class is Monday and Wednesday. I also want to say I am having fun in Peru and I am happy in our house. Bye bye! (written by Emma, transcribed by Dad)

Hannah
In the morning we get up early and have breakfast. We have bread and stuff from the bakery. Sometimes I go with my Dad to get the bread. My Dad makes juice and he always makes me drink it. Before we went to school in a taxi. Now we go with Camila's Dad and her brother. School is fine. I like my teacher very much. We have cooking class called mini chef and I like it. I do not like Fabiana because she is mean and she ruined my glue. After school I go to the ice cream place but sometimes we have snack at home. I have tons of homework and sometimes Mommy and Daddy yell at me to do it. I have gymnastic class and I like it there a lot. I have glasses now but I cannot wear them at gymnastics. My teacher is super-nice and super-strong. I love you, bye. (forced out of Hannah by asking her lots of questions she did not want to answer - she was too busy building another fort to be bothered) Here is a link to a video Hannah's teacher made for the class. Hannah's Class

Jeff
Life is good. Every weekday I get up early and pretend to exercise while listening to NPR on our beloved IPad. I wake up the ladies around 6am and prepare breakfast. While Aileen is getting them ready for school, I usually walk to the bakery to get some freshly-baked bread. I enjoy the walk in the crisp morning air under sunny skies with 6,000 meter peaks in the background. I wind my way through cobblestone alleys, past old buildings made of white volcanic rock adorned with pots of geraniums. Many of the buildings have modern houses built on the second floor and many of those houses have dogs on the roofs that bark as I walk by - I guess folks leave their dogs on the roof all night for security. This explains why there are so many lost dog flyers in Arequipa. Though this is a modern city with all the amenities you might want, I can still hear lambs and chickens in peoples' garages as I walk by. Loving the urban agriculture!

Fortunately the animals in Arequipa are not crazy-loud like they were in San Ramon, Nicaragua. Unfortunately, Peruvians love fireworks even more than Nicaraguans so we sometimes have to contend with the bombs bursting in air. Speaking of noise, folks in Latin America do not seem to think much about privacy. All the apartments on our street are packed in pretty close and not built accordingly. I can hear our neighbors talking, cooking and farting, which makes me wonder what they hear coming out of our apartment! I am sure our yelling at Hannah to do her homework is much more annoying then the old guy coughing up phlegm every morning.

Despite the closeness, our apartment is still plenty quiet and comfortable which is wonderful for me because I spend a good deal of time here. After I do the breakfast dishes, I take a shower and go to the office, which is also known as our dining room table. I work from about 8-3 with a nice long break for lunch with Aileen - which has been really nice). I am currently working on 4 consulting project and I have plenty of work to do for the foreseeable future (thank goodness). While I do not want to be a consultant for the rest of my career, I am doing some good work and have enjoyed reconnecting with some of my former colleagues. After work I used to walk to school to pick up the girls but as Hannah mentioned they are now travelling with another family to whom we pay a nominal fee. I miss the walks and plan to explore the city when work slows down a bit.

Once the kids get home we are plenty busy with homework, after school activities and of course playing. Aileen has been cooking wonderful meals every night so we generally spend our evenings at home. The weekends have been full and enjoyable. Now that we are all settled in we have time to visit with friends, wander the city, attend concerts, go to book fairs, etc. On Sundays everyone in Peru seems to go out for a big lunch which is where we are about to go. I am planning to have some adobe, a pork soup dish which is really delicious and goes well with the beer I am planning to drink.

Aileen
Like everyone else, I'm enjoying myself here in Arequipa. A good deal of my time, when the kids are at school, is spent taking care of our home. Although our apartment is very nice, we don't have a dishwasher or a clothes dryer, so some of the chores take a little longer than usual. Also, it tends to get pretty dusty because we are in the high desert and there is a construction boom in the city. I've also been spending some time looking for and trying out new recipes. I didn't realize it before, but I guess I kind of missed cooking last year, when I had a job and Jeff was in charge of the house. I think I'm also more motivated because there are so many more ingredients (fruits, vegetables, spices, etc.) available here than there were in Nicaragua. The only thing that's been a little frustrating is baking. We're at almost 8,000 feet above sea level here, and even the "high altitude recipes" I've found online haven't come out too well, because they're designed for baking at about 5,000 ft. This has made for some very interesting brownie and cake adventures with the girls.

Besides all of that, I've been busy researching the different after school opportunities available for the kids. Exploring the different programs has actually been pretty interesting in terms of what they say about the culture here. Most of the gymnastics and guitar programs I found are three days a week, usually around 5 to 7. I've discovered that most kids Emma and Hannah's ages go to bed around 10 o'clock at night! It is not that Peruvian kids are over scheduled like children in the USA, but it seems that people who do have hobbies are very serious about them. The other interesting thing has been trying to communicate in Spanish. Peruvians use lots of words I've never heard before and have different names for food than in Central America. It has made grocery shopping a learning experience for me. Anyhow, after lots of leg work, and as you read earlier, Hannah and Emma are now taking gymnastics and guitar and have very full lives (when they are not messing around with the "beloved" Ipad).

Transitions Part 3

2011-09-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

Arriving in Peru
After all of the trials and tribulations we experienced in August, September was a welcome change and started out very smoothly. Jeff, Emma and Hannah were reunited with Aileen at the Houston airport and happy to be together again after more than three weeks apart. The flight from Houston to Lima was long but uneventful and we landed on-time at around 11pm. Aileen was able to sweet-talk the immigration official into giving us a 6 month visa (90 days in the norm) which will make things so much easier for us! Our mountain of luggage arrived in-tact and we cleared customs without incident. We were even more relieved that the taxi driver sent by our hotel was standing where he was supposed to be amidst all the chaos of the Lima airport. He whisked us away and by midnight we were at the Hotel Aleman in the same room we had stayed at during our vacation four months ago. Our room had two bedrooms which gave us all some much needed privacy as well as lots of space to organize our 8 pieces of hastily packed luggage. We spent the next day doing just that and had everything re-packed and ready for our flight to Arequipa. Since Aileen packed up in NJ and Jeff in CA we brought some extra stuff which we left at the hotel, lightening our load and making a hotel staff person very happy. We returned to the Lima airport that afternoon and before we knew it, we were back at Nelson and Theresa’s house in Arequipa. We did a homestay with this family back in May and they welcomed us like we were long-lost relatives.

We spent our first weekend in Peru walking around Arequipa, which is even more beautiful than we remembered. Arequipa is in the Andean high desert and sits in the shadow of three snow-capped mountains which are each very pretty, especially at sunset. The weather is picture perfect -- sunny and dry like the high desert in California. However, at 7,800 feet, Arequipa is much higher than any city in California. Arequipa is a colonial city with many of the older buildings constructed from a white volcanic rock called sillar and some streets still paved with cobblestones. One interesting thing we noticed was some very well developed urban agriculture on a scale not usually seen in the USA. We also saw cafes and restaurants everywhere and like San Francisco, bad food is not tolerated in Arequipa so each eatery looked better than the last. As we wandered around the city we stumbled onto a street filled with music shops and studios which thrilled Emma who wants to continue with guitar lessons and Hannah who wants to study violin. Each alley off the music street was lined with old buildings that each had pots filled with flowers which really appealed to Aileen. While the ladies enjoyed the city Jeff kept staring at the 18k+ peaks trying to decide which one to climb first. During our explorations we also made the acquaintance of some Arequipeños. People here speak a beautiful, sing-song Spanish that is easier to understand than the staccato Spanish spoken in Lima or the mumbled slang of Managua. Arequipeños are very proud of their city which some refer to as the “Republic of Arequipa.”

On Monday September 4th we started looking for an apartment, a school for the kids and an internet café where Jeff can work on his consulting contracts. We were pleasantly surprised by the many options available on all fronts and a bit overwhelmed by all the choices. However, after just a few nervous days it seemed clear that everything was going to work out just fine. We were able to relax some and enjoyed being around our homestay family. Nelson and Theresa were wonderful hosts and their children and grandchildren were also very welcoming. It was crowded and chaotic at their home but also lively and warm. There were nine of us sharing a flat with one bathroom and to make things more exciting, their daughter lives upstairs with her four children so it was more like thirteen people sharing a small space. Theresa, or Mama Techi as she is called, cooks 3 meals a day for at least a dozen people and somehow produces excellent food in a kitchen that is smaller than our bathroom in the USA. They really made us feel like part of the family and had a hard time accepting payment from us when it was time to leave.

Getting Settled
After less than two weeks in Arequipa we signed a lease on an apartment. Our new home is in a historic section of the city in a district called Yanahuara. Our neighborhood is full of colonial buildings and old, narrow streets. However, our apartment is practically brand new and fully furnished -- equipped with more stuff than we have in the USA. It is a 3br/2.5 bath affair in a small building with a total of five apartments. We are on the second of 4 floors but have our own outdoor space on the roof with great views. We moved in on September 15 and the place already feels like home. Here is some information on our neighborhood http://www.muniyanahuara.gob.pe/ and photos of our apartment.

Finding the right school was a bit more challenging. Most folks in Peru who have any resources at all do not use the public school system. We also opted for the private school route as Emma and Hannah did not get much of a formal education in Nicaragua and have some catching up to do. We visited quite a few schools and had a pretty interesting time of it. Just like in the USA, there are multiple levels of private schools and the “elite” schools are impossible to get into mid-year but were not really our style anyway.

There are an abundance of excellent Catholic schools in Peru but they did not really welcome non-Catholics. Some were very open about this fact and others beat around the (burning) bush. We were invited to apply to a very good Catholic school and had to buy new clothing for the testing/interview process. We also had to buy special folders for our application and all the related paperwork. When we showed up all scrubbed and ready to go, the admissions director gave us a long speech about how this might not be the right school for us for religious and other reasons. Half way through her monologue, Jeff diplomatically asked for refund of our application fee and we left. Ironically, this school told us they would never deny a child education due to their religion which was clearly not true. We honestly had no hard feelings but it would have been nice if they called us before we got all gussied up to meet with the Madre Directora.

Fortunately Arequipa has “secular” schools of many different shapes and sizes. We put secular in quotes because they all have some form of religious education which makes sense given the country is 95% Catholic. We were accepted to some smaller, solid schools but it was hard to get into the larger schools we were most interested in without a contact. Fortunately, Nelson and Theresa’s daughter Erika is a teacher at a very good (but not elitist) secular school called Colegio Juan de La Cruz Calienes (named for a 19th century bishop). Through her connections (and our girls’ exemplary performance in the testing process) we got accept and chose to enroll.

Calienes goes from pre-school thru high school and has about 800 students. It is 15 minutes from our house by taxi and we will work out transportation via mini-bus with the school once the girls get settled in. The teachers provided us a very detailed list including things like toilet paper, soap, and binders we had to contribute to the school. We had to spend two entire days getting all of the uniforms, books, supplies and other materials we were required to purchase and another day getting it all organized. After much preparation we were finally ready for the girls to start school on Monday September 19. Mom and Dad were very nervous the first day and the children were a bit apprehensive too. Calienes is a far cry from the friendly little school in rural Nicaragua and we expected some tears after the first day. However, the girls came home very happy – never ceasing to amaze their parents. They really enjoyed their first day and were excited about all of the different classes they will be attending, including all of the basics along with religion, English, music, art and PE. They also have electives during the last period: Emma chose volleyball, chorus and cooking and Hannah signed up for chorus, cooking and sports. Here is some information about the school: http://www.colegiocalienes.edu.pe and a few photos:

Some First Impressions
It is impossible to avoid comparing life in Peru to our most recent experiences. Things in Arequipa are very different from life in San Ramon, Nicaragua. Arequipa is a city of nearly 1 million people (versus about 3,000 in San Ramon) and the poverty rate in Peru is less than 50% (versus over 80% in Nicaragua). Living in a large and relatively affluent city means that we have access to some of the creature comforts and entertainment options available in the USA. On the other hand, Peruvian culture is not as influenced by the USA compared to what we saw in Nicaragua. Years of US military occupation and the close proximity to Miami mean that Nicaragua was permeated by American culture. This is not the case in Peru where architecture, clothing, design-sense, food, politics, music and interpersonal relationships seem very different from what we are accustomed to. On first impression it seems this year will bring us the benefits of living in a very different culture without some of the physical hardships we experienced in Nicaragua.

We do not want to give the impression that we stumbled upon some sort of ex-pat nirvana. It is not as if America hasn’t reached out and touched Peru; for example, the other day I heard the Ramones being played in the mall while looking at a poster for a Pearl Jam concert posted next to a McDonalds. Despite having malls, Peru lacks some of the efficiency we Americans are so fond of. For example, phones, texting and email is not the preferred way of doing business so you need to show up if you actually want to get stuff done -- this can be a serious hassle at times. Also, some of the infrastructure (roads and phone service) are even less developed than we found in Nicaragua. Simple things like crossing the street and getting a telephone are crazy complicated for some reason. You’d figure a country savvy enough to play the Ramones in a mall would have discovered traffic lights and crosswalks.

Despite these minor and silly inconveniences we are all very happy with our decision to move here. We love Arequipa and are excited about all it has to offer. We have an extra room with a sofa bed if you care to join us!

Transitions - Part 2

2011-09-13T18:09:00.000-07:00

Our trip back to the United States in mid-August and preparations for Peru were much more hectic than we had planned given Aileen’s mother’s surgery. Aileen was very busy caring for her mother in New Jersey while Jeff was in San Francisco preparing for our move to Peru. Emma and Hannah were very busy enjoying everything San Francisco has to offer, especially all of their friends and family. Everyone had a very different experience during our brief visit to the USA so we will each tell our own story.

Jeff

It was beyond weird coming back to our house, especially without Aileen. However, it was blissful being in a comfortable room with a nice bed, no mosquito net and no blaring music, barking dogs nor cackling chickens to disturb my sleep; hot showers, good coffee and delicious breakfasts every morning were even better. We were of course very worried about Aileen and her mom and missed them terribly. To make matters worse, we were not even sure if we would go to Peru but had to move forward as if we were. During our first week in the United States I needed to focus on getting some consulting contracts to help pay for our living expenses in Peru, so I met with numerous nonprofit organizations and foundations to try and find work. Thank goodness my sister lives nearby and was able to watch Emma and Hannah for a few days while I was running all over the city. My folks then came to visit and we spent some quality time with them and all of the west coast Kositsky family. The next week was a frenzy of packing, shopping, preparing our house for the new tenants, taking care of paperwork and more. It finally seemed as if Peru was a go and I was scrambling like a madman to get ready before we left for NJ. The night before we were going to leave was to be a sleepless one. I had the house all ready but did not start packing until after dinner and had much to do. This changed abruptly when I received a notification that our flight to NJ was cancelled due to Hurricane Irene. We were all devastated not being able to see Aileen and her family. I tried mightily to get us on a flight but it was not to be. After two very stressful days trying to get through to the airline I finally got us tickets from SF to Houston where we would rendezvous with Aileen and head to Peru. Once our travel arrangements were set we had time to do some last minute shopping and visit some friends we thought we would miss during this trip. Seeing my dear friend Tyrell was a special silver lining to the change in our travel plans. After all of the hassles we had this past month I never expected to actually see Aileen in Houston so we had all sorts of contingency plans in place. I cannot describe how thrilled I was to see her running down the gangway toward our plane and even more thrilled that airport security was not chasing her for this clear violation of TSA regulations.

Hannah

My time in the United States was super good – I loved it. I visited lots and lots and lots of my friends. I saw Nora, Zoe, Rowan, Elias, Toby, Jasmine, Milo, Justin, Helena, Sam, PJ, Maya, Margret, Liv and Liesl. I am very sad we did not see my friend Willa. I am really sad I could not see my Mommy or my Grandma. I did get to see my Grammy and Pop Pop and my Aunt Lauren, Uncle Josh, Uncle Andy (and his girlfriend Cindy), Uncle Andrew, Aunt Christy and my cousins Ann, David, Maya, Diane, Matthew, Sarah, Nadia, Jordan and Arielle. We bought ice cream and chips and ate lots of good food like carrots and potatoes. My Daddy got an Ipad and other stuff. The airplane trip to Houston was okay. We were just talking about Mommy and she came running to us. I was very excited. The flight to Peru was bad because my ears were so plugged I could not hear. They gave us food on the airplane and it was pretty good. I was scared to be going to Peru because the teachers might pull my hair if I am bad.

Emma

I really had a SUPER good time in America, especially with my friends and family. I thought it was very nice when my school friends made a party for me at Zoe’s house. I also had a really good time at the Academy of Science with Liesl and hiking with Sam. I also had a really good time at my Aunt Lauren’s house when everybody came over. I liked when Grammy and Pop Pop came over to my house. But the most exciting part was seeing Mommy in Houston before we went to Peru.

Aileen

When I think about my last minute trip to New Jersey because of my mom’s heart attack and her subsequent need for a quadruple bypass operation, mostly I think about all the love and support surrounding me and my family. First and foremost, Jeff really stepped up to the plate and was super-supportive in encouraging me to be there with my mom. I’m not sure if I know any other dads who would have volunteered to take care of two kids on their own for three weeks, much less getting them and all our stuff from a remote beach in Nicaragua, to Managua, to San Francisco and then to Houston, getting the house in San Francisco ready for our new renters, and taking care of all the shopping and logistics necessary so we could still embark on our adventure in Peru. Also, the many friends who helped out with childcare and of course Jeff’s sister, Lauren, who was so incredibly helpful in so many ways, all made it possible for me to be in New Jersey with my family. In New Jersey, my brothers and sisters-in-laws, nieces and nephew, our cousins, Nick, Rich, and especially Ed, made the response to the situation really feel like a team effort where everyone was trying to do whatever they could to help out. This feeling, and the kind home health aides we were able to find for my mom made it possible for me to leave for Peru, secure in the knowledge that my mom is in great hands. (The ease of international communication via skype and cell phones, and the existence of direct flights between Peru and Newark didn’t hurt, either.) It was really special for me to spend so much time with my mom and despite the difficult circumstances we both enjoyed being together. (I was also glad that Hurricane Irene chose this period to strike the northeast, so that I was there to help my parents remove the water from their basement!) I am looking forward to going back to New Jersey in January, this time with Jeff and the girls, to spend some more time helping out and being with my family.