Climbing Every Mountain

I just started reading Into Thin Air this evening. I have to write a response for class.

I like Krakauer's writing. Beginning with the actual acent of the summit in the first chapter, then backtracking to the beginning of the entire ordeal in the 2nd chapter is very effective. It created suspense; I am consistently hooked into reading through even the journalistic background he gives of each climber on the mountain with him. However, his writing isn't all reporting, there are many good stylistic phrases that stick out and appeal to the senses:

Retiring to my tent at night, I was serenaded by a madrigal of creaks andpercussive cracks, a reminder that I was lying on a moving river of ice. p 64.

Even though his inflexible new boots had chewed his feet into hamburger, p 140.

I also enjoyed how unromantic Krakauer was about the entire climb. Though I wonder if it is more a result of his own harrowing memories of the tragic outcome of the team's ascent, he is quite honest about the dangers of climbing Everest, his and his team's shortcomings, the slight insanity that accompanies any desire to climb Everest, and even his own fear:

Problem was, my inner voice resembled Chicken Little: it was screaming that I was about to die, but it did that almost every time I laced up my climbing boots. I therefore did my damnednest to ignore my histrionic imagination and grimly followed Rob into the eerie blue labyrinth. p81.

This story is unlike any we have read so far in this class not only because of the dangerous nature of the traveling Krakauer and his team are doing but also because of the outcome we know this journey has. I find myself laughing at some of Krakauer's teammates like Sandy Pittman and her People magazine subscription delivered to her at Base Camp, but it is subdued from a sense of dread that lingers throughout the book. Not only have people died attempting what Krakauer's team is doing, but we already know that some of them do die before the end of the book.

There is another moment I will comment on from the end of our reading for today. On page 143, Krakauer reaches Camp 3 where some of their team's Sherpas were still preparing camp by hewing out another platform to pitch the 4th tent. Krakauer decides to help but soon realizes that, "at 24,000 feet, I could manage only seven or eight blows of my ice ax before having t0 pause for more than a minute to catch my break. My contribution to the effort was negligible, needless to say." This struck me particularly, because it is exactly how I felt a week ago in Perú while we were trying to dig ditches and pits for the foundation of the medical clinic. Basically, there were only two jobs for us, shoveling dirt, often from low levels to high, and wheelbarrowing dirt to and from the site. Wanting very much to contribute, I tried doing both of these jobs, both of which are hard enough on anyone who doesn't normally do manual labor. My back however, would not let me lift more than one shovelfull after the first day withough excruciating pain from my injury last year. And most of the guys (and Eleanor) could haul twice as much dirt in a wheelbarrow as I could. I got so frustrated on Day 3 with my weakness. I went up to the secluded 3rd floor of the church and cried out my frustration and exhaustion. Benjie happened to be coming up there to work on his sermon for later that evening and talked with me a little about why I was upset. He helped me realize that though I might not be as effective in the mornings as we worked outside, I was helping more than I probably realized as I conversed with the neighborhood kids and helped with VBS in the afternoons. Working with kids comes so easily and naturally for me; I don't realize that it might be just as hard for some people to do that sort of ministry, and I don't give those sorts of jobs that much credit because to me they are so enjoyable. In the end, I only hope that God was glorified not only in my play with the kids at VBS, but also in the revelation of my weakness before Him.

And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness " Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

True Trujillo

Ok, a couple of people have been asking me about more commentary about Perú. Unfortunately all my energy has been spent on catching up on school stuff. You are all lucky readers though because now you get two posts, some Perú comments as well as a new short story to critique. The following post is my short story, and I must ask for forgiveness if it needs editing. I am finishing it now at 3am.

Perú! Was awesome, let me tell you. It is taking a lot of willpower not to go back. Just yesterday I was browsing airfair back to Lima for next week. After all, being a missionary doesnt require a degree! But seriously, I was being heavily recruited by Wes Baker and John Ferguson to come back down there after I graduate. They seemed to think it was very possible for me to do the RUF internship down their with John and la Sociedad de San Agustine (RUF in Perú). But now that I am back, we are rethinking its feasibility. I do not want to be down in a foreign country trying to do ministry unless I am a) getting some training on HOW to do ministry and b) being discipled well by a specific person (like and RUF minister). Those two things would not be guaranteed at this point, so it looks like I will probably get to do the internship here in the states. I still have a strong desire to return to work for the Perú Mission at some point, but doing the internship here is not dissapointing at all. I am excited to see where I will be placed (that comes in April).

Okay, I realized I haven't been talking much about Perú. Let's see. Yesterday on my way home to Dallas I had a Perú flashback. I was turning left at an intersection where their are actually two left turn lanes. The guy in the other lane did not see that I was also turning left and he started to cut me off. Without hesitating I leaned on the horn to let him know I existed. This happens all the time in Perú. In fact, it would be considered abnormal to not honk your horn every 2 or 3 minutes. There, it is more a common courtesy to let others know you are coming to pass them. There are no traffic laws (at least any that anyone goes by) in Perú. There aren't real lanes to drive in, everyone just goes wherever they want on the road. Stoplights are ignored. We, of course, did not do any driving around. We took cabs to and from the hotel and the missionary homes. Many of the cab drivers had good working relationships with the missionaries and their families. One of them I rode with quite a bit was named Ronald. He befriended Paul and me and from then on made us ride with him any time we were going somewhere. Paul spoke not a word of Spanish, but I did my best to communicate for the both of us. Overall I was very pleased with my ability to speak with the Peruvians. Though I am sure my language was horrible, it did the job and I was able to speak with pretty much whomever I wanted. I think this was a huge factor for how good this trip was. I had prayed a lot about being able to communicate with the Peruvians before the trip and God was faithful in answering my prayer! Even if I had trouble speaking at times, I was so encouraged by the success I was having that my face was lit up with smiles constantly. I think I found that a smile communicated more to the people I met than anything else. Oh I loved those people so much! The children in the neighborhood of Arrevalo (the community where we worked every day) were so precious. It was easiest and most enjoyable to talk with them. In the afternoons I helped with the youngest Vacation Bible Class (Escuela Biblia de Vacaciones or EBDV). I knew that even if I said something in broken Spanish, it wouldn't matter at all because the kids would be talking fairly simple Spanish themselves. And some of them were so young that I could just babble nonsense to them and it wouldn't matter as long as I was smiling.

Okay, I think that is all I can update for now. One last thing about Perú: even though I bought the t-shirt, Inca Cola is completely overrated. It's only a glorified Big Red. The CocaCola down there, however, was quite supurb with its unrefined sugar. Yum-my.

Team Player

Jenny sat across a row of new, smooth dark green lockers, leaned her back against the wall behind her and closed her eyes. Down the row towards the other end of the small locker room, four girls stood talking as they finished dressing in their practice clothes.

“Whatchu talkin ‘bout Y’Eishia? I aint never heard nothin about Treyshawn Jackson askin anybody to dance with him, least of all a chickenhead ho like you!”

“Hey now, yall don’t have to believe me cause Treyshawn and I know and thas all that matters. Besides, least I got asked to dance at all, Audrey!”
“Yeah whatever, whatever, yall are only talkin cause you too jealous of me and Dontae,” At Nikki’s comment, Audrey and Y’Eishia rolled their eyes. Audrey turned back toward her locker and reached for a hair band to pull back her long braids into a bunch at her neck.

“Uh huh, uh huh, yeah, yeah, Nikki. I don’t even remember yall bein there except when you came in.” said Crystal.

“That’s cause Dontae has a curfew. His momma don’t let him stay out past nine,” cracked Y’Eishia as Audrey whooped in response.

“Yall trippin’ cause you know we did leave before nine, but it sure wasn’t to go see his momma.”

“Is that right? Then were you two run off to? The dairy queen to split a 99 cent ice cream?” Crystal asked, hand on her hips; Audrey and Y’Eishia laughed again.

“Wouldn’t you like to know, Crys.”

Jenny smiled inwardly at their banter as she felt someone sit beside her on the bench. She opened her eyes and saw her friend, Molly Hobbs pinning her hair wisps back with bobby pins. Molly was wearing her large white t-shirt with sleeves that hung off her shoulders to almost her elbows; she said it kept her cooler that way. Jenny preferred a more fitted t-shirt so she could roll the sleeves up into the straps of her sports bra more easily. Standard issue green shorts complemented both.

“Hey chica, how was your weekend? Didn’t see you at the dance on Friday.”

“Yeah. I was at my dad’s this weekend. He gets mad if we skip.” Jenny was more than glad to have a reason to miss the dance; she’d only end up making trips with Molly back and forth from the punch bowl to the wall.

Other girls began to drift into the locker room from the adjacent showers and changing rooms. The light smell of deodorant wafted through the air mixed with the fresh paint smell that still lingered from the walls.

“You know what I think?” began Audrey again.

“Girls!” Coach Bailey threw open the heavy metal door leading from the locker room to the gym. Without actually entering she yelled, “School let out ten minutes ago, yall better get your butts on the court pronto!” and continued to hold the door open expectantly until girls started towards the door.

Jenny stood up and waited for Molly to stick in her last pin. As they trailed into the gym with the rest of the team, she undid the white sweatband wrapped around her wrist and stretched it around her head to keep back her own brunette wisps.

Inside the gym, Coach Bailey stood underneath the basket, leather brown ball propped between her upper arm and torso. Around her neck was a whistle, reserved only for drills, as her voice carried easily throughout the tall gymnasium. The crowd of thirty girls circled around their coach . Audrey and her friends stood closest to the coach, while Jenny and Molly stood on the fringe, sometimes arching their feet off the ground to see the coach’s face over Audrey and Crystal’s shoulders.

“Allright, ladies. Congratulations on your first win of the season. I hope you all had a nice weekend rest, because it isn’t going to get any easier just because you won against Lake Meadows, who, if you’ll remember, had the worst record of the district last season.” As she spoke, the coach moved her head back and forth, meeting the eyes of each individual player. “You girls are going to have to step it up if you want to beat Northland this Thursday.” As she paused she let her eyes settle on Jenny, then shifted them directly to Audrey. “You guys have to work as a team.”

“Coach, its all good. We gonna run Northland outta this building before they see us comin’,” smiled Aurey as she knocked fists with Nikki.

Bailey smiled and said “Alright, I like that talk, yall just need to back it up and show me in practice today how yall are gonna play Thursday night. If I see any more hot-doggin like I did last night I will run your butts ragged. When I call the plays you’re gonna follow em, do you hear me?” She still stared at Audrey and the group gave a muffled murmur of assent.

“Alright, let’s go. Line up for lay-ups.” The girls formed two lines facing the basket, one for shooting the lay-up, the other for rebounding. This was followed by passing, defense, and rebounding drills. The team found their practice rhythm easily, talking lowly to each other as they waited their turn, snickering when Nikki did her drills while doing impressions of Michael Jackson.

During one of the passing drills, Jenny found herself paired with Audrey. They passed the ball back and forth as they ran down the court. Jenny sprinted to keep up with Audrey’s long strides. As they neared the basket, she shoved the ball from her chest with all her might out in front of Audrey. Audrey caught the ball easily and gently tipped the ball into the net with a graceful leap. She landed with a bounce and gave Jenny a pat on the back as she retrieved the ball. Jenny sighed with relief that she hadn’t messed up with the team’s best player. Audrey Parker wasn’t just the most outspoken of the girls basketball team, she was the tallest, quickest, and best ball handler they had. She was voted ‘Most Athletic’ in the class two years running and probably would again this year. Most of her teammates teased the guys’ team that Audrey could run circles around them, but for the most part it was true. Jenny did her best to stay out of her way lest she make Audrey look bad.

“Okay, circle up!” shouted Coach Bailey. As the girls circled up Nikki came up behind Audrey and popped the ball from her circled arms and ran past with her stolen treasure. Audrey reached out and slapped the air where Nikki’s quick body had been, and Nikki laughed.

“Settle down,” Coach Bailey brought her voice down to a lower level as the thudding of dribbling balls was silenced. “Okay, before we start going through some plays, I have a few changes to make for this week’s game. You girls remember that if your spot changes, it doesn’t mean you played badly last week. Sometimes it’s a matter of chemistry with your teammates.”

Jenny felt the crowd tense up a bit in anticipation. She wasn’t much worried herself. Last week she had been a second string forward, which suited her just fine. She and Molly were together that way. Deep down she knew she shouldn’t care, but it made her feel better not being the only white girl on the court.

“Alright, second-string now will be Hobbs, Roston, Lawrence, McCoy, Deming. Deming I want you at forward again and McCoy at point.” Jenny turned to Molly and they both frowned. Looks like she’d be riding the bench this week.

Bailey was still looking down at her clipboard from which she was reading, as the group began to murmer about the changes. “Now first string. Parker, Evens, Herndon, Green, and Haywood. Haywood you’re on point, Evans we need you at forward.” The group went silent.

Haywood. Jennifer Haywood. Jenny felt a wave go through her body and knew her face was flushing. First string? Starting point-guard? Was she kidding? Jenny knew Molly had turned to look at her but she stared straight ahead, focusing on a point in the folded up bleachers behind Coach Bailey’s head. The sweat on her temples and back clung to her in cold drops. She saw the heads in front of her darting glances behind them to look at her.

“Okay then, let’s get started. I want first string on offense, running our inbounds plays then we’ll switch. Subs on the sidelines, watching closely, I’ll switch you out too.”

The group broke up and moved towards the court. Jenny finally turned towards Molly, who slung the ball into her stomach. Oohmf! Molly winked at her and said, “Glad I’m not you right now, chica. Don’t throw up in front of the team, okay? Wait till later.” She bounded off towards the court to find her spot on defense.

“Haywood, let’s go!” Coach Bailey shouted. Jenny snapped around and jogged towards the baseline to throw in the ball.

Jenny gulped air into her lungs and bent over, her ponytail flopping down and tickling her nose. She felt her quick, hot breath on the sweaty skin just above her knees.

“Okay that was the last sprint today, good work girls.” Coach Bailey ended practice and headed towards her office.

Jenny straightened up and reached out to lean against the wall. Audrey and Y’Eishia had sprawled face up on the polished wood floor of the gym, eyes closed in exhaustion, like homicide victims. Coach had run them hard. Jenny turned towards the water-fountain and changed her mind after seeing the line of girls, each leaning on the back of the one in front of her. Instead she started walking towards the locker room. Inside the paint smell rushed over her and she quickly spun open her locker and the caged metal door creaked open. She started to pack up her bags to leave, hoping to get out before the rest of the team made it back.

“Whooooo!” shouted Nikki, running in from the gym. Crystal and Audrey followed. “Mmm mmm don’t yall just love coach? I just want to run those sprints all day!” Nikki said this with a wide smile and squinted eyes to indicate she was joking.

“Shutup Nikki,” muttered Crystal.

Y’Eishia banged the door open again, and sauntered into the locker room, with most of the team following in after her. Jenny slowed her motions, and focused on her brown imitation Tommy Hilfiger purse which still sat in her locker. She reached and pretended to search for something inside.

“Hey Tara, you say something to make Bailey mad at you last week?” Y’Eishia asked loudly.

Tara Deming was at her locker, two down from Jenny. “No I don’t think so.”

“Wonder why she bumped you then.” Y’Eishia walked slowly back towards her own locker down the aisle, turning once to give a significant look at Jenny.

Crystal shut her locker and shouldered her bag. In a much soft voice she leaned over to Y’Eishia, who was tying her shoe, one knee up on the bench, “Y don’t sweat it, you do your thang this week and coach’ll put you back on a point.” Y’Eishia didn’t answer but stood up and opened her own locker.

On their way out Crystal and Audrey paused by Jenny, “Hey Jen,” said Crystal. She glanced at Audrey whose gaze was turned away from either of them, then turned back, “Don’t let us down on Thursday.”

Audrey’s dark lips were set in a line. “Let’s bounce Crys.” They walked out together, followed by much of the team. Molly walked over to Jenny, who finally closed her locker and shouldered her bags. Molly reached out towards Jenny’s head, pulled and snapped her sweatband back onto her forehead. They walked out of the empty locker room smiling together.

The rest of the week’s practices flew by and suddenly it was Thursday. When Molly placed her PBJ sandwich in front of Jenny at lunch, Jenny shook her head and said she couldn’t. Molly thought about pushing the issue, but instead changed the subject to last night’s episode of One Tree Hill.

“Hey Jenny, how’s it going?” Jenny looked up to the tall form of Mark Hodges, starting guard for the boys team. His short, jet black hair was combed towards his tanned forehead and glistened gel. He held his books propped against his side and smiled down at her. “I hear you’re playin point tonight. Nervous?”

Jenny tried to smile back, “Yeah, I guess.”

“Well, I’ll be there to watch with my boys, so make us proud alright?”

Jenny nodded and mumbled, “yeah” but Hodges had already made his way back towards his buddies. Jenny looked back down at the plastic-sealed sandwich and let her forehead fall to the table, smashing jelly out of the bread.

After school the team had free time until the Northlan team arrived at 5:30. Jenny hadn’t seen Molly, so after changing into uniform she took her copy of The Hobbit and found a darkened spot on the unfurled bleachers to read. The slick jersey slipped against her forearms as she turned the pages to find her place.

She looked up when she heard the loud noise of talking girls come from the other side of the door to outside. Looking at the clock: 5:35! The other team must have arrived. She closed her book, carefully marking her page, and hopped down the bleachers back towards the locker room. Molly was inside.

“Hey, where’ve you been Jen? I wanted to go get a Fanta or something from the machines but I couldn’t find you.” She had her arms folded across her chest inside her jersey. Because it’s chilly in here or to stretch out the material? Jenny wondered.

“I was sitting on the bleachers, didn’t you look in the gym?”

“Oh well, I wasn’t hungry anyway.” Molly said. “You wanna go sit outside or something?”

“Nah, we have to be in here soon anyway, the other team just got here.” Jenny sighed and leaned over, her head between her knees.

Molly sat on the bench beside Jenny. “Hey…want me to do your hair?”

Jenny looked up, “Okay.”

The teams stretched and warmed up as the crowds began to arrive. A stray ball went towards the bleachers and Jenny walked quickly to pick it up. She scanned the crowd and located the faces of her parents. The student section was already packed and she could see Mark Hodges surrounded by the rest of his teammates as well as several pretty girls. She looked back down at the ball in her hands and ran her fingers over the bumpy surface, tracing the black lines. She turned back towards the basket, dribbled towards the bucket. Ten feet out she stopped short, bringing the ball snapping up into her arms. Without thinking her right elbow brought itself in, lining up horizontally, left hand on the side of the ball. Her knees bent and legs exploded off the balls of her feet as her right arm extended forward, all one motion straight up. The ball was gone, but her wrist flopped over in follow-through. She waited the split second as the ball arched towards the goal, hoping for a shot clear of other balls. Amazingly they all cleared and the ball dropped easily through the middle of the bucket, the net curling up nicely after the ball slipped through. I can do this, Jenny chanted to herself.

The buzzer sounded to end the warm-up period. Coach Bailey called the girls over for a quick huddle.

“Alright, let’s play some good basketball, ladies. Start with 2 or 3, look to Haywood for the call down the court. Team on three: one, two, three..”

“TEAM” hooted the girls. The circle broke and the starting five headed to midcourt. Nikki, thumbed around the elastic of her shorts and tucked in her shirt. Jenny saw Audrey take her place for tip-off. She had at least four inches on the girl next to her. Jenny saw her smile sideways at Y’Eishia.

Jenny turned back towards the bench and jogged towards her coach. Bailey looked up from her white-erase clipboard.

“Coach I gotta ask you – “

“What is it Jenny?” she asked sharply.

“Why am I starting?”

“Do you have a problem, Haywood? Plenty of these girls want to get off that bench and play.”

“No, that’s not it. I guess – well, never mind,” she started to turn back to the court.

“Hey,” the couch grabbed her arm and squeezed lightly. “All you gotta do is play ball.” Bailey’s wide eyes zeroed in on Jenny’s, raising her voice to be heard over the crowds. “Run the plays, listen to my calls, and play ball. Go!” She gave Jenny I final pat on the arm and turned towards her seat by the score table.

Jenny turned towards mid-court, both teams looking at her expectantly. A referee held the game ball in his hand, lifted between Audrey and another tall girl. His other arm raised in the air as if to start a race, his whistle held between his lips, his eyes followed Jenny as she found her spot on the other side of Audrey, ready to catch the tip.

The ref blew the whistle and lowered his arm. He bent his knees and slowly lobbed the ball into the air. It floated at the top of its arc and Audrey’s fingers reached skyward.

Jenny heard the loud buzzer signaling the game was through. She stopped dribbling and casually threw the ball towards the nearest ref. The crowd was clapping loudly for the winning team. Jenny was exhausted. She joined the line to brush hands with the opposing team and declare monotone “good game’s” to each player.

Molly came up behind her and squeezed her shoulders as they turned towards the locker room.

“Now that wasn’t so bad was it?” she asked, still squeezing her cold palm to Jenny’s slick shoulder. Jenny didn’t answer, just turned her mouth into a smile for her friend. “I gotta go quick, Mom needs to get home and feed my brothers. See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, bye Molly.” Jenny waved her arm towards her friend as they parted at the door to the locker room. Inside, most of the girls were talking, but Jenny just tuned them out. Her whole body was sore; all she wanted was a hot shower and some peace and quiet to read. She emptied her locker with jolted movements, tipping items to fall over the edge into her bag sitting on the bench below.

The door to the locker room opened and Coach Bailey walked inside.

“Good game girls, we’ll talk more on Monday. Jenny, I want to see you in my office before you go.” The room got a little quieter, and Jenny slammed shut her locker and walked out of the locker room as quickly as she could, not meeting anyone’s eyes.

Jenny followed Bailey to her office. Inside, she fell into a grey folding chair opposite the coach’s grey desk. Bailey turned and leaned against the desk, looking at Jenny. Jenny didn’t look back. For awhile Bailey didn’t say anything. Finally, Bailey turned and settled herself into her brown desk chair.

“How did you play, Jenny?”

Jenny looked up at the coach and didn’t answer.

“Haywood, you asked me before the game why I put you as a starter. Point guard isn’t all about ball handling; it’s about smarts, seeing the whole court.” Jenny’s body jerked with an incredulous laugh.

“That doesn’t mean you gotta be tall. It means you can see the whole picture, and make good decisions about how to play the ball. You’re the playmaker, you make everyone else look good. And most importantly, the starting guard has to have an ego that lets her listen to the coach.” Bailey leaned forward and placed her arms on her desk.

“Jenny. You played good tonight.” Jenny let her chest rise with a deep breath. “Keep it up; you’re still starting next week. Now go home, see you Monday.”

Jenny stood up and left. Walking slowly back towards the gym she let her soles slide across the floor. She gripped the bag strap cutting into her and lifted it higher on her shoulder. From around the corner she heard a voice.

“Hey, we got these fools next time, right? Come March, we’ll get ‘em when it counts!” Audrey was turning around the corner towards the offices Jenny had just come from. Seeing Jenny, she stopped, letting her bag sway forwards and backwards, hitting her knees. Jenny stopped too, then moved to the side to let her go by so their bags wouldn’t hit.

“Good game, Rip,” said Audrey. Jenny winced.

“Yeah, you too.” Jenny started walking slowly again towards the gym.

“Hey,” Audrey called to her from behind; Jenny turned around. “Their guard was pretty good tonight, huh? And that one other girl, you know she ran me hard too.” Her eyes drifted and she shifted her weight. “You got some hustle, bring it out next game and we’ll see.” Not waiting for answer, Audrey turned and continued on towards Bailey’s office, her lanky legs moseying down the hall.

Jenny turned around again and wobbled with the weight of her bag.

Peru Preview

Flash Slideshow

Here is a sampling of some of my Peru pictures. I will write more commentary soon!

Una Composición: La Historia Oficial

La persona central en la película es Alicia. Su mejor amiga es Ana. Alicia es mas sumisa que Ana, pero Alicia es tan habladora como ella, especialmente cuando ellas beben vino. Ana está mas triste que Alicia porque ella está torturado en el pasado. Peru cuando Ana dice a Alicia que ella está torturada, Alicia está triste también.

También, es una escena clave de la película. En el pasado, Ana está encarselada y torturada por la Junta Militar. Ella salió del país por muchos años. Entonces, Ana volvió a Argentina y visitó con Alicia. En una escena triste, Ana dicho a Alicia sobre ella experiencias en la carcel. Alicia estaba muy sporendida y triste y pidió "¿Porqué hicieron esto?"

En conclusion, yo recomiendo que todo el mundo mire la película. Es una película muy buena. Especialmente, yo recomiendo que la gente mire la escena entre Ana y Alicia, porque las actrices son muy talentosas. También, yo recomiendo la pelicula a mi compañera de cuarto, porque ella entiende español. Ella quiere que yo preste la pelicula a ella este fin de la semana.

What will these books say about America?

Here are the seven books I am taking to Peru to donate to the San Agustine Language Institute's English Library:

Dixieland Sushi is a book my stepsister wrote, so of course I had to bring it. Plus it has plenty of American culture in it, which is awesome. I love Barbara Kingsolver, so I ordered a $0.99 copy of it off the internet, and am hoping it arrives by Thursday. I read Horseman, Pass By this semester in my Southwestern Literature class, and it is going to totally fulfill every stereotype those Peruvians have about Texans, and I love that. The rest are all from the bargain bins at Half-Price Books. My favorite is "The Naked Olympics: The True Story of the Ancient Games."

Oh Peru, I love you

I am thinking about moving my blog to this website. Xanga has been having some issues, and I like the look of Blogger much better anyhow. But I would like some help redesigning the way it looks. Could I post my own picture/banner thing at the top of the page? Does anyone know how to do that? There is a bunch of code available to modify in the "settings" section, but I am completely incapable of managing that.

I gave a small presentation over the Moche Valley prehistory and ancient civilizations at our last Peru meeting yesterday morning. Here is the handout I made. I concentrated on the Moche people because we will probably be seeing two ruins which were made by them. The Moche were a long-lived civilization and were the precursors to the Chimú, who were then conquered by the Incas. The rest of the meeting was great. I cannot believe how much money people have sent in to support my trip. Christ be praised! I am well over 130% of what I needed to raise. Thank you to everybody who helped make this happen!



This is a picture of Eleanor Reynolds and me; she is one of my fellow team members who will be coming to Peru.

The Peruvian Daffodils have peeked their heads out of the dirt finally! Thelma was the last of my babies to start growing. The rest have been sprouted for about two weeks now.



Thelma is the one on the left, you can barely see her. I haven't yet named the bluebonnets and tomatoes, because I am going to have to pick the ones I want to live (they will be too crowded) and I don't want to get too attached.

This evening I am going to talk with Benjie in front of Redeemer at a meeting about our forthcoming trip to Peru. I am a little nervous, but hopefully I will have plenty of poise. My mom gets back from Aruba tonight, she told me that they were having a super time. I am so jealous. Maybe I will choose something like that as my graduation trip. I keep going back and forth between a relaxing-sit-in-the-sun-spa-massage-on-the-beach kind of trip or a sightseeing trip to Europe or somewhere. It will be in June. Any suggestions?