randomness

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Hello loves,
I was just thinking that Jules and I haven't updated you in a while on our adventures, so we've compiled some of the random every day stuff...nothing terribly exciting, but just to let you know what we've been up to.

- we just discovered that there is a fruit here called a guanábana, which sounds like (manomana)...so every time we see it, we of course sing the muppet song, doo do do do do guanábana doo do do do do.(if you don't remember that muppet song, you probably think we're crazy, but trust me, it's funny).

-there is a man who walks around our neighborhood, usually in the morning and sometimes at night, who is selling something and yells in a very loud voice something that neither of us can understand, although we think it has something do with Yuca, but we BOTH separately thought that he was saying "HEY YOU GUUUUYS!" just like Sloth does in the Goonies...it sounds EXACTLY the same, craziness.

-On one Sat night we returned home with our friend juan carlos (who sings both old mcdonald has a farm in spanish and bad boys in english, which are both HYSTERICAL) but anyways, when we got here juanita was telling us about how she was scared bcse there was a drunk man at the door earlier asking for money, which she wouldn't give him bcse he was drunk, but he tried to climb over the wall into the house (which would be tough, but not impossible) and she was all threatening to call the police and everything and then he left. then after hanging out for a while, juan carlos left and we were sitting alone in the common room chatting when we started to hear loud noises from the side wall of the house, the kind of noises you would hear if someone were to climb over the wall and land inside the house. so, of course, we tried to rationalize at first that it must have been the window blowing shut in the wind or something. so we stood posed at the door to the kitchen, pretty much scared shitless but trying to be brave. (i just kept remembering that i am much bigger and stronger than the majority of men here, and jules is pretty fiesty for her size, so we probably could take this guy) when we continued to hear the sounds, we knew we had to take action. we searched for something along the lines of a baseball bat (to attack this intruder when we found him) but there was nothing of the sort, so of course, we resorted to frying pans. yeah, that's right, we carefully turned each corner of the house, armed with frying pans, ready to pounce on this guy. we would peer around the corner with our heads, flip on the light, and then advance, frying pans at the ready. i kinda wish someone was secretly videotaping us, bcse it would have been hysterical. we didn't find anyone, but of course, we peed together for fear of being in the bathroom alone. then jules stayed up till like 2 am, listening attentively for more sounds and scaring herself more. i, being the great lover of sleep that i am, got over it and slept well.

-julie and i (in addition to me doing speech therapy and her doing physical therapy in the morning) have started working with the youth here on a little christmas show about the birth of jesus that's going to happen during midnight mass on christmas here. it should be fun, although trying to actually get all these people together for rehearsals is anything but easy (peruvians in general are ridiculously unorganized). but we're excited about it.

-we're also planning a thanksgiving feast at our house for the americans and a few peruvian friends on thursday...we'll let you know how that goes.

-oh and i (kerry) have joined julie in the loser's corner on the who gets sick first game. yesterday, within about 8 hours, i threw up 3 times and experienced explosions on the other end 9 times. Let me tell you, Peruvian bacteria pack quite a punch. I also had a lovely fever to accompany my digestive misery. i barely moved out of my bed all day, but when i did, i always carried a little orange bucket around, just in case. thank the lord, this morning i woke up much better. i'm still not 100 percent, nor am i gonna go eating anything but bread or crackers for a while, but i feel a little more like a human being again. oh and i think i figured out where i got the bacteria from...my friend (juan carlos again) bought ice cream off the street the other day, but couldn't figure out what flavor it was, so i had ONE bite, just to help him determine the flavor, and i think that must have been what did me in. so sad to have been betrayed by one of my most favorite foods in the world. tear.

-oh and on the big Chulucanas news, Bishop Dan Turley who is originally from Chicago but has been here for like 30 years (and was recently voted Man of the Year or something like that on a local radio show and is just an all around sweet guy) was in Bolivia visiting with some other Augustinian priests. they were driving on the side of a mountain, when an avalanche happened. He didn't have time to run away, so he got under the car. Luckily he lived, but he has two broken legs and is currently having surgery on the tendons in one of his legs in some clinic in Bolivia. poor guy!

-also, the last time we were in Piura (the biggest city that's close to us), the normal place we change money was closed, and we needed to change our monthly stipend (which we get in dollars) to soles, so we went to a guy on the street, which is very common here. of course, he gave us a fake 100 bill of soles. so basically our budget for the month was cut down from $30 each to $15 each for november. fun!

-now to reveal julie and my more militant sides. you know that normally we are relatively peaceful girls, but the moment you put a ginormous cockroach in front of either of us, forget it, we are ready to kick some serious butt. my first combat experience began It all started when i walked into the bathroom in the dark with half an eye open, sat down to pee and realized that there was in fact an enormous cockroach on its back a couple of inches away from my feet. this thing was about the size of the palm of my hand. i decided to be grateful that it seemed dead and after i finished peeing, left to get something to dispose of this thing with. however, on my way out the door i actually encountered another cockroach that was flitting about by the door. i was fully awake now and fully grossed out. so i went and got the broom, the dust pan, and a piece of paper. when i went to sweep up the seemingly dead one, he sprung to life and came at me. It was time to do battle. I literally beat the cockroach with the broom with all my strength, but the sucker was still alive, so i dropped the paper on him and then jumped on the paper...I had won my first battle...and left some cockroach juice on the floor as a memorial. Then i turned to face the next enemy, this one (after seeing my mighty broom skills) scurried up the wall as i came after it. I hit him down, but this bug had some serious balls cause then he came straight at me. I of course, was too deft for him, and jumped on the ledge of the shower and hit him with the broom. He stopped so I threw the paper over him, but it was a ploy...he ran from under the paper and i had to hit him a few more times before he was stunned to the point where i could smash him to death. i know that may sound much more violent than the kerry you know, but when it comes to anything alive in the bathroom besides me, it is kill or be killed around here.

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