I woke up around 6am this morning. What the heck!?! Ahh too early too early. Unfortunately for me though, the mattress isn’t overly comfortable and the pillows are like stone, so going back to sleep wasn’t really an option. Haha.
I received a call from reception close to 9:15am, informing me there was a call for my room! I wasn’t expecting a call, and not knowing anyone in the country is a pretty good indication that I wouldn’t be receiving any calls. Especially as, unless someone had looked on Facebook at one particular picture caption, (which has since been censored) they wouldn’t know where I was staying. PLUS it was like 1am Saturday morning, in Sydney, so a familiar voice was off the list too. I had the call put through and hello hello! It’s the Elders! That was cool. Elder Eichelberger is the only one in the companionship who can speak English. The other is a Peruvian guy. Whilst Eichelberger is from Bountiful, he has been speaking, thinking, praying etc in Spanish for a year and a half now, so even his English wasn’t the most fluent! Haha. We had no troubles communicating, but there were times when he wouldn’t know a word, or would say things wrong/in the wrong context.
As it turns out, when I emailed mum and dad about not knowing how to contact the Mission Office or the Stake President and that I would try sometime later, they went ahead and contacted the Mission Office for me and gave them my details for them to contact me. Veryyyy convenient. For me.
The Elders said they would come over and give me a blessing; aiming to do so in about 30 minutes. Yeah, well 30 minutes turned into an hour. It didn’t really bother me, but I felt bad afterwards as they are clear over the mountain and this isn’t even their area! They couldn’t get in contact with the Elders who live closer, and look after this area, so they walked over here…bringing with them 2 copies of the Ensign in English and a pass along card, as they weren’t sure if I had any Church literature with me.
They administered a blessing, chatted for a bit, then left. Whilst we were talking, they (when I say I’m really just referring to the Utah-boy) told me of a Bishop from Canada who is here at the moment, with his family and 10 of his daughters friends. Canada. Girls. Tess? I quizzed him about the girls, but he said he hadn’t met any of them, yet thought there was a high possibility that Tess was one of them, as how many Canadian members would be over here, right? Wrong! Haha. I facebooked Tess and asked her if she’s part of this little group and she said she isn’t, but she does know the Bishop and his daughter and her friends! Still pretty crazy though hey. I have the Bishops number, so that I may call him – however I don’t know what to say! I’ll call him and be like…Uhhh hi. I’m from Sydney and I don’t know anyone, and even though you’re only here for another month… Yeah I haven’t quite figured out that conversation yet. It’s still handy to have his number nonetheless. Church this week is Stake Conference, so even though the meetinghouse (that I’ll attend) is not where these Elders usually attend, they will this Sunday. Elder Eichelberger said he’ll try and translate for me (HA!) and that they’ll be able to introduce me to other English speakers. Haha I feel retarded.
So yes, Church is under control, which is great!
Dad also did a fantastic job with contacting IFRE (the organisation I’m volunteering with). I’m pretty sure my emails are not of a very high priority to them, yet when the father gets involved, the respond very speedily and are more than willing to do anything they can to help. Haha. Suckers. So I’m able to move into my homestay/family house/I don’t know what it is exactly on Sunday. Which is also pretty great! I’m going to postpone my trek, so I’ll be able to move in to this other place on Sunday, as well as attend church. I know, right! Cool.
I am still feeling pretty sick and sore. I was going to go up to see some ruins (of the Inca civilisation) this afternoon, however I was unsure as how I would get back, after taking a taxi up there. I figure, I’ve got 2 months here, there will be plenty of time for little day trips, and I’d feel more comfortable, when I’m with IFRE and they are able to help me a little. Yeah? Yeah. So I walked over to Plaza de Armas again, got roped into looking at this little massage parlour and then went exploring past the main plaza into the side streets. Gosh there are so many stores and stalls and people everywhere! I took many photographs, or things I found to be funny. I’m excited for you guys to see them. I like sharing what I’m experiencing, even if the only way I can do that is via the internet. Bit gay, but y’know. I had my first Peruvian meal. Lunch. Three-course. s/15. The chef could speak fantastic English and chatted with me for a while, before serving up 2 great courses, and 1 that I wasn’t so fond of. Haha. I have pictures. This chef has spent the past 15 years living in Naples, Italy. He misses it. Cuzco is QUITE different from Naples, I’m assuming (not having visited Naples). He also informed me of a little gym just up the road and suggested I join (“You look like someone who would enjoy the fitness”). I went and checked it out. It’s little, that’s for sure. And I’m pretty sure they only have 1 or 2 treadmills, no cross-trainer, no bikes (other than in the spin room…which is an additional like s/40 a month to access) and heaps of weights. I could just get massive. Everybody likes big arms, right?
By this stage, I was SORE. My back was aching and my shoulders and my head and blahhhhh I had to go back to my room…and sleep! I woke up around 6:30pm and wanted to use the Internet. So I went and got dinner at McDonald’s…just so I could use their WiFi. So bad. I don’t even like McDonald’s that much, now I’ve had it 2 days in a row…bleughhhh. I’d never been out at night before, and my gosh, the surrounding streets are so much cooler at night. A million different restaurants seem to pop up and there are street vendors cooking skewers of meat and potato. I was just like, I’m not even hungry, but I want to eat you! I think I’ll try out this cute little wood-fired pizza place tomorrow night. It has a little door (see facebook photos to know what I’m referring to). AAAnd I’m thinking of maybe doing Chinese food at some stage. They fuse it with Peruvian cuisine quite well, or so I’ve heard. (NB: Not sure where I’ve heard this…as I don’t understand the language, but nonetheless, it is what I have heard. Haha)
Blah blah blah ate at McDonald’s. Felt gross. Used the internet for like 2hours. Haha. Not many people in Sydney use the net on a Saturday around lunch time, that’s for sure! When I went to leave it was raining! Luckily I had my outdoors jacket with zee hoooood! So up it went, and off I trudged through the puddles to get back to the hostel. I was freeeeezing. When I took my clothes off, to get changed, my gosh, my skin was like ice! Ahh! Brrrrr.
Thank you to those who are being nice and still contacting me. Haha.
Feelings of love and longing to all.
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