(Away from) Home for the Holidays

I like the weather here.  Except for a few days, the weather for the past three months we've lived here has been sunny and warm (low to mid 70s) during the day, sun up around 6am, sun down about 6pm, cooler in the evening and early morning hours.  That's nice. 

But....for a Midwestern girl, heading into fall without any cold weather, leaves changing, or frost is just plain weird. (Yes, technically it's spring here, since we're on the other side of the equator.  But I'm sticking with the seasons I know since there isn't much change here except that summer (Jan/Feb) is rainy season and apparently yukky.)

I tried to help by putting up a few fall decorations.  I made two of these felt leaf garlands. And while I was making them, it helped.  But putting up pumpkins and fall leaves when it's 70 degrees out just doesn't do a whole lot.  It seems like you're just pretending. 

I do love the hand sewn acorns and I look forward to putting this up in MN.

It didn't feel like Halloween, it doesn't feel like Thanksgiving is just around the corner, that it is less than one month to my birthday, or that Christmas is just over one month away.  In some ways, I feel like Groundhog Day...we wake up, we do the same stuff, and the weather never changes. I even pass the same people on the way to and from school....  :)

I am curious...what do other people who grew up with four defined seasons and now live somewhere with more temperate weather do to get into the holiday spirit?  I need some tips, people!  I love the holidays but this weird weather is throwing off my groove. 

We did get a couple of packages over the past couple of weeks that included pictures of our extended family.  I hung up a little picture gallery in our stairwell and I LOVE, love, LOVE seeing the family every day as I go up and down.  It's a little piece of home. 

My happy place.  Sometimes A sits on the stairs and talks to the pictures.

I miss being home for the holidays.  I'm sad I can't go shopping the day after Thanksgiving with my BFF.  I'm glad that we have some families to celebrate Thanksgiving with here and that I get to make the pies.  I'm glad that the holidays have a bigger meaning.  But I'm sad to be away from our norms (even the snow). 

Eat an extra piece of pie or whatever food makes the holiday special for you and give your loved ones an extra squeeze!

"Picado" does NOT mean "Fish"

From the Dave Files:

Scene from last week:

“I should try some fish for supper tonight.  Let’s see here… a number of options in this freezer case.  That one looks scary.  That one looks doable, but a lot of work… how about one without a head, tail and fins on it?  Oh, here’s one that’s already prepped – nice bite sized pieces… per usual, can’t tell what those other words mean, but ‘picado’ – fish, and the price seems reasonable… about s/15 a kilo – that’s just north of $2 a pound.  Let’s go with that for supper tonight.  Maybe Flor knows how to make this in some special Peruvian way.”

(rough idea of the conversation in my terrible Spanish)

D: “Flor, can you help me make this fish tonight?”

F: “What fish?”

D: “This fish.”

F: “No, that’s not fish, but it’s good.  I can help you.”

D: “What is it?”

F: (something I don’t understand)

Keturah: “I veto that.”

D: “Veto what?”

F: “It’s really pretty good.”

K: “Yeah, no way.”

D: “What is it?”

 

K: “That’s stomach – pieces of stomach.”

D: “Oh… not pescado?... Oh, it says ‘picado’… pieces… of something.”

K: “Yeah, no thanks.”

Needless to say, Flor’s dog had a special treat that night.

Ed. Note: Sorry I don't have a picture.  It was white stomach that did look a lot like fish.  Also, most of the fish here in the grocery store is on ice, with heads and tails still attached, but gutted.  I'm not sure if they do more in store when you select your fish or if you finish the preparations at home.

Further humor.  When my mom was in Peru 40 years ago as a missionary, she told people they needed to repent of their pescados (fishes); what she actually meant to say was they needed to repent of their pecados (sins).  Clearly, my family has a problem with the Spanish word for "fish."

Holiday Series: Halloween- the same but different

Growing up, Halloween was always a favorite of mine.  I'm sorry that I can't post a picture of me, circa 8th grade (since it's in MN and not accessible).  That was the year that I went dressed as the Hardin County Courthouse (and my brother was City Hall).  Yes, we made the costumes ourselves, out of cardboard boxes that we painted with bricks painstakingly hand-drawn.  I messed up a bit on the armhole placement, so I never quite managed to get my head all the way up the tower (my face was one of the clock faces).

Halloween was always about dressing up and using your imagination, not about scary things or gore.  I still hate scary movies and refuse to watch them.  Even suspense movies give me nightmares and I don't like murder mystery shows unless I know who dies and who did it in advance. 

So, with that background, we've been happy to let our girls experience the fun of dressing up and running around getting candy.  Here in Arequipa, there are some things that are much the same as Halloween in the states and some that are pretty different.  And a third category- "claim Halloween for yourself and make it awesome" that we were lucky enough to tag onto here.

Tinkerbell and our little Princess Pea

Girls at the beginning of the party in the park- the little cat kept trying to run away.

 Things that are the Same:

• Kids dress up in uniforms (very similar- mix of princesses, fairies, superheroes, cartoon characters, some "scary" things, esp. for older kids).
• Kids go out trick-or-treating.
• Kids love candy and sweets.

Trick-or-Treating in the mall

Once the kids figured out a store was giving candy, a whole group entered.

Things that are Different:

• Almost all costumes are rented, not purchased (and renting them is pretty spendy, compared to US prices and considering the average income here.)  We used dress up clothes we brought from home for both girls and I bought a wing kit downtown for M's costume.
• Trick-or-treating is mostly at businesses, not at individual homes.  If at individual homes, it's the decision of the neighborhood and (I think) done primarily for kids in that neighborhood and their friends.  We didn't hand out candy or have any trick-or-treaters.
• Businesses hand out mostly hard candy, with a few doing popcorn (not always in a bag- scooped out of a large bin), and some doing small crackers or cookies.
• Kids say "Sorpresa!" (Surprise!) and not "trick-or-treat" or the directly translated equivalent. But in practical experience, most of them just sort of went in, looked hopeful, and were either given candy or waved away by businesses that weren't handing anything out.
• A lot of employees had costumes, which isn't necessarily different, but the grocery store employees had MATCHING costumes....at Plaza Vea (kind of like a Super Target) all the men were dressed as cowboys, for example.

Trick-or-Treating in the mall

Some mall performers (hired by a store)

New thing that was really fun:

There are a lot of ecological, healthy-minded folks that  we've met down here. (Family, don't worry- I can still learn plenty of hippie tricks.)  One of them is wonderfully creative and inclusive and coordinated a kids party in mid-afternoon at the park near her house.  The parents all brought some kind of healthy treat, and the kids had a chance to run around the park, slide on the slides, and trick-or-treat around the park.  We had the cutest little pumpkin fruit cups, papaya/banana smoothies, glove "bags" of popcorn, healthy brownie bites, monster popcorn (with honey and spirulina (a kind of algae) sprinkled on it to make it green), and organic fruit. 

Her favorite treat- papaya/banana smoothie.

Super cute "pumpkin" fruit cups.

We went bobbing for apples (stems picked to be long and give the kiddos a chance to succeed) and it was such a treat to be able to let the kids eat whatever they wanted without worrying about it. 

M's first bob!

A thought apple bobbing was hilarious.

We had a great time out and about and enjoying the holiday experience in a new country.  The not so fun part?  Learning that today is a national holiday AFTER showing up to school with Miss M.  The custodian was at the gate and told me there wasn't any school today.  I had kind of wondered...because there was a school party last night, and often if the teachers work extra there is no school soon thereafter...but I had looked at her school calendar and in her homework notebook (where they have sent such notes before) and it didn't say anything about no school.  I think it's one of those things that everyone just "knows," except we don't.  So M, A and I got some quality bonding time this morning bussing to school and walking home.

Funny sight of the day...they put all the Christmas decorations
up at the mall this past week.  So the kids were in costumes
walking right by a giant Christmas tree and elves.

Halloween (that's this post)

Thanksgiving

Advent

Christmas

New Years

Easter

Mother's Day