Just stuff we did this week.

Pickup Soccer
In the last 6 months, we have seen the changing of the Peace Corps Country Director and the Program Director (who, along with Jen, make up the 3 American directors at the Peace Corps offices). Parmer, the Country Director, comes from his most recent post in Ecuador and is joined by his Ecuadorean husband, Aquiles. The new Program Director, Dawn, comes with her Pategonian husband Jo Jo and their two kids ages 4 and 11. We would have socialized with them anyway, but the friendship has been accelerated because Aquiles, Jo Jo, Dawn and I all have been going out to the bi-weekly pickup soccer games on the embassy field. The pickup games are casual, though things do get competitive once the ball is rolling. About 75% are Peruvian staff of the embassy, the rest a hodge-podge of Americans and international spouses. For me it has been a great outlet, so I keep going back despite being a big, old gringo who hasn't played soccer since he was 14-years old. I compensate by throwing my size around and trying to foresee the geometry of things and be a gadfly to even the best opposing players.

Aquiles brings his Ecuadorean passion to the game, Jo Jo is serene, always accompanied by his leather-bound terere jug. Paraguayans are known for carrying around this form of iced-tea (a jug of iced water that gets poured repeatedly into a metallic cup of herbs and sipped through a metal straw). Back when we first arrived in Perú, Jen and I realized we were not particularly interested in the embassy social scene. The soccer, however, has been one of my few avenues to connect socially with Peruvians and now when I go to the embassy on errands, I am greeted personally by security guards and gardeners and men in suits I've met playing on the field.

The Ambassador's Residence
Tuesday evening we attended "Jazz Night" at the ambassador's residence, a mansion on the other side of town from the actual embassy, picking up both Parmer and Dawn. Attendance was not obligatory, but everyone seemed to agree that it was best to go despite none feeling particularly so inclined. I have never understood pure jazz, so I was anticipating a slow night. Along with so many others, the position of Ambassador to Perú sits empty because of politics in Washington, but the residence continues to sit squarely in the middle of Lima and periodically host events. Carter and I had been a couple weeks previously for the Easter Egg Hunt (at which Carter and several kids stumbled upon an actual fallen egg, broken open, with a not-ready-for-prime-time baby bird struggling pathetically…the kids seemed to take it in stride though). This night, a hundred chairs had been set out in a grid, turning the jazz experience into something more like going to the symphony. Too bad, too, because the first band turned out to be a little more interesting than I thought: a jazz quintet, but playing a fusion with Andes traditional huayno music and the singer doing most of it in quechua, the language of the Andes. Huayno is foot-stomping music and, if we had been in a small smoky joint, we would have danced. Particularly surreal was the quechua version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

Leif Erickson
Carter spent the last couple weeks getting prepared for his presentation on Leif Erickson, the Viking explorer who landed in North America 500 years before Columbus. He and his classmates all stood at separate stations, dressed as their subjects, delivering short oral presentations to each new set of parents who came up. The kids did great: Einstein, Earhardt, Sacagawea, Franklin, even Jim Henson. For many of the kids, English is not their first language, but they were troopers. One girl ("Clara Barton") even stopped her presentation to explain to us that "ill means sick". Meanwhile Carter in his Viking beard, stationed right in front of Columbus, was finishing each of his speeches by pointing backwards and saying "And the thing is, I discovered America before HE did!"

Peace Corps Soccer
In additions to the regular pickup games, I also got myself onto the Peace Corps soccer team to play in the annual embassy competition, with 5 games over 3 Saturdays. The first game was tied 1-1 when they put me in for the last 5 minutes and, though they all assure me it was not my fault, the other team scored from my side of the field to win. So I was pretty pleased to play the first half of yesterday's game on defense and go into half-time with a scoreless game despite the other team being the champions the last several years running (the security guards' team). I couldn't stay for the whole game; I showered in the groundskeepers locker room and put on a suit for the baptism of our good friend Maureen's baby, Emma. By the time I came out, the guards had scored a goal and the game was lost.

Emma's Baptism

Julito is a ham just like Carter.

The baptism was small, held in the chapel of Julito's school, with a small circle of family and friends that we have gotten to know through Julio, Maureen and Julito. Julito has lost all but one of his top front teeth, and the one left is jutting forward over his bottom lip…a comical snaggle-tooth if there ever was one. Afterwards, we all went to Julio's parent's house for lunch. Jen and I lunched at a table with Julio's younger sister, Milly, and her friend who are both going soon to Vancouver, Canada, to get their Masters. It was fun to see their eyes light up with excitement as we talked about the Pacific Northwest; it's sometimes easy to forget that someplace we know so well can seem as adventurous to them as the Andes seem to us. Milly mentioned that the two of them were possibly going to a music festival that night; by coincidence, this was something Carter had mentioned to us a couple weeks prior when he saw a billboard.

Festival de los 7 Mares
It's not really like Carter to suggest something like that, so we decided we ought to do it. After the baptism, got tickets and got ourselves there. The festival was held at a park in central Lima, and I was surprised to find easy parking. As with almost all parking near anything significant, a guy had taken it upon himself to watch all the cars, for a tip at the end. Out in front of the gates to the park was a strange gathering of around 50 people trading World Cup 2014 player trading cards (I have seen these before recently, they are actually stickers and people try to collect all the players to fill up a special sticker book they have). How did this corner come to be the underground place for sticker trading? We went inside and put up our chairs and, over the next 4 hours, were treated to 4 very different bands, from caribbean rock to Peruvian creole to Peruvian rap. Good idea, Carter!

Another Day at the Hogar

Edilberto, horsing around
with my sunglasses.

I literally got peed on twice today. Getting a little ancillary pee on you is par for the course, as is wiping a few butts. But today Esly, a 5-year old palsy kid currently in full leg casts, had his lunch next to him when he started to ask for the "papagayo", the pee jugs used for less mobile kids. He seemed to need it fast, so I quickly stuck it between his legs. I should have moved the lunch because Esly just let his wiener go, and the arc not only hit my hands but he also peed in his pudding. To Esly, I think, this was the funniest thing he had ever seen. Later, one-legged Victor needed to go to the bathroom. He's 14 and pretty damn good at getting things done with his one foot, but still needs someone to pull down his underpants, getting them down over his prosthetic. I was doing just that, saying "Espera. Espera." ("Wait. Wait."), but he let loose too and hit my hands. And with him it's just possible that he did it on purpose…I think it must get frustrating to have to ask for help for every pee and messing with a volunteer like me might help him regain some sense of control. Still, it was fun to see all the kids after not seeing them for a while, for one reason or another. Jen's crew of tween girls were particularly glad to have her back and even the normally taciturn Doctor said we had been missed. Paola, a 3yr-old girl with severe club feet that was not walking when she first arrive several months ago, is walking now…albeit not far and with feet still turned far inward. Very sweet how some of the 8yr-old girls mother her, take her around with them, help her to walk. Also sweet, but heartbreaking too, is Edilberto, an 8yr-old palsy boy with a dearth of brainpower; he's spends most of his time in a chair on the landing upstairs because his brittle legs are set and reset in progressive casts and braces. Right now there are new casts and uncomfortable bolts jutting up out of his knees and I am told these casts will remain for 4 months. He would love for someone to sit and play simple games with him for hours and hours but there are other kids to see and, honestly, it's pretty boring with him. As I was standing next to him, distracted and talking to someone across the room, he took my hand and started to nuzzle it until it got slobbery and I yanked my hand away. He just smiled at me and said "Papi!" (Dad!). Now, that might seem sweet, but I know that I am not filling that role for him…rather, he just wants to be able to say it, feel it for a moment. In Perú, using 'Papi' and 'Mami' is a more generic term than in English, but it's still sad. Meanwhile, the three siblings who may not yet know that their mother is dead and their father dying, had a visit from their uncle. The youngest, Valentina, wailed when he left, but Kiara and Aldair are a bit older and took it in stride. Afterwards, Aldair simply ran in and joined Carter and I and Bruno in a game of Operation.