That One Time In Peru

I have to say, I've written things over the past month but nothing has been worthy of your time or energy. What I do want to say, even briefly is, happy Thanksgiving to all. While the roots and history of Thanksgiving are borderline deplorable, what it stands for in my life is something so beautiful. Being from the suburbs of the United States doesn't always have the best rep, but the truth is I was raised in a very culturally aware and adventurous community. I love when Thanksgiving transcends cultures. We all eat something a little different on this day, we celebrate who we are, what we love, where we come from, and at every table no matter what, everyone is taking a break to say thank you, and to be grateful.  Today was my first Thanksgiving celebrated abroad and it did not let me down. If anything I realized how profound the idea of celebrating a day to come together and give thanks, and to say what we're grateful for, is, especially cross culturally. One of m...

I left home 4 months ago, and yet a lifetime has passed. It's been a lifetime since that middle of the night ride to my friends' home in Lima. A lifetime since I walked along the Pacific Ocean and learned the word faro, lighthouse. It has been a life time since I tried my first taqueño and tried my first slice of Andean cheese. A lifetime has passed since I was in Huamanga, Hualla, and Sacsamarca. Surely a lifetime has passed since I was last in Lima. Field school feels like a year ago, spending time with my Limeño friends feels like two. Flying from Lima to Cusco for my very first time with giant furry hairy moths fluttering my stomach (definitely stronger and worse than butterflies), eons ago. A lifetime. And I can say a lifetime, because I'm not that person anymore. As my family and my friends' phones say back home: I'm Peruvian Bri now. My contact actually appears as "Peruvian Bri." And trust me, she's kind of a badass.  Work has been a whirl...

I've decided I really love Urubamba. It reminds me of Nepal, and Mexico, both places I love. It's a much bigger city than Ollantaytambo with much less tourism and yet it is home to some of the friendliest and kindest Peruvians. While in the market today I was searching for an eggplant, which I had seen before so I was hoping I'd be able to find. I stopped near a woman with vegetables to try to search around for something plump and dark purple. Finally as the woman continued to look at me in confusion I muttered "estoy buscando algo específico pero no sé como se dice en Español"... "I'm looking for something specific but I don't know how to say it in Spanish" rather than ignoring me, or thinking 'while that's your problem isn't it,' she patiently asked me to describe it. "It's big and purple..." I trailed off losing my vocabulary and creativity to describe an eggplant... "berenjena, quiere una berenjena," ...

Today marks two full months in Ollantaytambo. It is crazy how it is possible to feel as though I have been here for two weeks and two lifetimes at the same moment. This week will also mark my third full month in Peru. I've never been anywhere besides Michigan and Ohio for a full three months. I think I like adding Ollantaytambo to an exclusive list consisting of only Novi and Athens. It is starting to feel like home, even though it is all still so foreign and new.  It makes it so confusing that in my memory I knew Kathmandu so well, and in some ways Toledo, and perhaps even more than Toledo, Rabat. I want to question, how could I have known Kathmandu better than Ollantaytambo, but I know the answer. In Kathmandu I was journalist. I worked everyday, at least six, sometimes seven days a week to venture into that amazing valley and explore. I witnessed a wide array of life in Kathmandu, everyday something a little new. I also had a deadline, and I knew that at the end of 10 week...

Bonita Springs Paddle boarding My dogs Lakes Traverse City My family Athens, Ohio Root beer Grocery shopping My car Going to the movies Coney Island (the restaurants) Salads College Corn on the cob Running in my neighborhood Doing yoga outside by the lake Saturday morning breakfast with my family Panera bread bagels Swimming pools Wearing shorts and tank tops Taking my dogs for walks Having internet access all the time Asian restaurants, Indian, Thai, Chinese, etc. Dinner at my granny's Greenfield village Apple orchards and cider mills Great harvest bread company Farmers markets Good cheese varieties Spending time in the south My friends Holland, Michigan Kayaking Dinners with mom that involved creme brûlée for dessert  General tsao's and sweet and sour sauce Heinz and hunts ketchup Macaroni and cheese Pedicures Slurpees My moms crepes with strawberries My backyard, bonfires, hammocks, and the g...

Being a foreigner makes you humble. You point to a bag of grains at the market and ask the woman selling it "is this for popcorn?" and she politely responds ... "no that's for chickens, this is for popcorn." "Chickens" She was polite at least, and honestly, you don't think anything of what an ass you just made of yourself, it all happened in another language, which obviously means it didn't really happen at all... Right?... ... I went through a phase when I was in elementary school where I loved the Dixie Chicks. Which is pretty comical if you know my current tastes in music. My favorite song of theirs is Wide Open Spaces , downloaded on my phone to this day. It's things like that, little hints and clues of what my life would become, that sometimes freak me out. Like maybe listening to the lyrics while dancing around in my best friend's bedroom in fourth grade taught me something. Maybe I was actually listening. ... I ...

Not feeling particularly inspired by any of my grocery items at home, I decided to splurge for a S/. 2.50 bottle of Inca Kola on my way home to sip while I made dinner. I wanted the sugar to comfort me, it did. I love Inca Kola.  In turn I'm also wide awake late at night again. Oops. Only now am I remembering why I hadn't had Inca Kola in such a long time... #noregrets Seems there's no better time to keep you all posted on the recent goings of my Peruvian life. I'm having writers block. I'm not feeling exceptionally witty or charming.  Besides my blog suffering, I'm actually okay with it, because in the meantime my communications brain, which is much needed for my work, has been flowing. I've had three days in a row when I just had to whip out a pencil and paper and write frantically and sketch to get my flowing ideas out of my brain and into some stable form of permanence. Visual things are just coming to me, and it feels exciting.  ...