Thanksgiving Dinner, a New Job, and a Pretty Picture
Greetings again everyone,
I hope life is treating you all well and that you are staying nice and warm up in the States. I promise, I'll try not to rub in the fact that we're currently on the cusp of summer in Peru. I won't go into detail about the beautiful day we enjoyed today, where I was able to go for a long bike ride. It's probably best that I just update you on what's been going on with us here in Peru lately. We've actually had quite a bit going on, so without further ado:
Thanksgiving Dinner
As you know, Thanksgiving is an American holiday, so it is not celebrated by Peruvians down here (their holiday involving people with ties to Spain in their country take on quite a different tone :)). Thanksgiving is right there with Christmas as a favorite holiday, so Marianella and I decided to host a Thanksgiving dinner, which doubled as our first dinner party at the new apartment. We held our Thanksgiving dinner on a Saturday night in December, due to the fact that everyone works here on the Thursday that Thanksgiving is celebrated and also we were still getting settled into our apartment.
We were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with almost all the trimmings-Marianella took care of the turkey, we had a joint effort involved in making the stuffing, and we used my Mom's recipes to recreate the scalloped corn and mincemeat pie (two favorites from our Thanksgiving dinner). Marianella's parents brought the mashed potatoes, Peruvian style and some apple sauce, Peruvian style. Marianella also added her touch with a few salads and we had ourselves quite a feast! We invited Marianella's parents, her brother German, cousins Diego, Patty, and Yori over and we all enjoyed the great dinner; in fact, I think Thanksgiving has become a Peruvian holiday now, at least in the Vizcarra family :). Marianella was so good with the turkey that she earned that job for Christmas, and the introduction of stuffing to Peru was quite popular-I'm on deck for preparing that next weekend.
Towards the end of the feast:
A New Job
We received some great news this week when I was offered and accepted a job as a school counselor at the American school in Lima, Colegio Franklin D. Roosevelt. This story involves a couple of old cliches-"It's a small world" and "It's not what you know, but who you know". Marianella and I had noticed that a job opening was available for a college counselor at FDR earlier this fall, but I had applied last year for a similar opening to no avail. After putting in my application, I explored further into their website and visited the counseling page-much to my surprise, I saw a familiar face smiling back at me. Holli Hebl is a friend from the UW-Stout program and we lost touch over the years; turns out, she was the counselor who got the job last year. So, we connected again, she had a conversation with the right people, I had an interview, and from there, I got the job offer.
As it stands now, I will be starting the job in late July, but there's a possibility I will start the job in late February, once FDR gets back in session. This is dependent upon a counselor currently out on a medical leave-if he stays out, I'm in. Even if that doesn't come through in February, it sounds like they will be looking to involve me somehow when they return from break. With that in mind and also because I need to get some paperwork taken care of so I can legally be a counselor in Peru, I'll be returning to Minnesota for about a month, from mid-January to mid-February. I'm already excited to come home to visit family, friends, and Chipotle (about the only food from home I can't find here is burritos and Mexican food). Marianella is already compiling a list of clothes for me to bring to back to Peru. It's going to be a busy month, as I'll be taking care of our taxes, the necessary paperwork, etc. but I hope to be able to connect with a lot of people upon my visit home. We'll have to see how it all comes together.
A Pretty Picture
I just wanted to throw this in. It's the sunset tonight, taken from our apartment window-pretty spectacular huh? After seeing this, I've got Marianella committed to taking me to the ocean's edge on similar evenings. It was her last day of school today, so she is very happy and ready to start her summer vacation. You will hear from me again very shortly-I plan on posting my annual Christmas letter early next week. I could say that I'm being tech savvy, but it's a combination of expensive postal rates and my procrastination. Anyway, you'll hear from me again very soon. Ohh, and if you didn't receive my new address and phone number from the last blog, just email me and I will send it your way. Take care everyone and talk to you soon~Tim
I hope life is treating you all well and that you are staying nice and warm up in the States. I promise, I'll try not to rub in the fact that we're currently on the cusp of summer in Peru. I won't go into detail about the beautiful day we enjoyed today, where I was able to go for a long bike ride. It's probably best that I just update you on what's been going on with us here in Peru lately. We've actually had quite a bit going on, so without further ado:
Thanksgiving Dinner
As you know, Thanksgiving is an American holiday, so it is not celebrated by Peruvians down here (their holiday involving people with ties to Spain in their country take on quite a different tone :)). Thanksgiving is right there with Christmas as a favorite holiday, so Marianella and I decided to host a Thanksgiving dinner, which doubled as our first dinner party at the new apartment. We held our Thanksgiving dinner on a Saturday night in December, due to the fact that everyone works here on the Thursday that Thanksgiving is celebrated and also we were still getting settled into our apartment.
We were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with almost all the trimmings-Marianella took care of the turkey, we had a joint effort involved in making the stuffing, and we used my Mom's recipes to recreate the scalloped corn and mincemeat pie (two favorites from our Thanksgiving dinner). Marianella's parents brought the mashed potatoes, Peruvian style and some apple sauce, Peruvian style. Marianella also added her touch with a few salads and we had ourselves quite a feast! We invited Marianella's parents, her brother German, cousins Diego, Patty, and Yori over and we all enjoyed the great dinner; in fact, I think Thanksgiving has become a Peruvian holiday now, at least in the Vizcarra family :). Marianella was so good with the turkey that she earned that job for Christmas, and the introduction of stuffing to Peru was quite popular-I'm on deck for preparing that next weekend.
Towards the end of the feast:
A New Job
We received some great news this week when I was offered and accepted a job as a school counselor at the American school in Lima, Colegio Franklin D. Roosevelt. This story involves a couple of old cliches-"It's a small world" and "It's not what you know, but who you know". Marianella and I had noticed that a job opening was available for a college counselor at FDR earlier this fall, but I had applied last year for a similar opening to no avail. After putting in my application, I explored further into their website and visited the counseling page-much to my surprise, I saw a familiar face smiling back at me. Holli Hebl is a friend from the UW-Stout program and we lost touch over the years; turns out, she was the counselor who got the job last year. So, we connected again, she had a conversation with the right people, I had an interview, and from there, I got the job offer.
As it stands now, I will be starting the job in late July, but there's a possibility I will start the job in late February, once FDR gets back in session. This is dependent upon a counselor currently out on a medical leave-if he stays out, I'm in. Even if that doesn't come through in February, it sounds like they will be looking to involve me somehow when they return from break. With that in mind and also because I need to get some paperwork taken care of so I can legally be a counselor in Peru, I'll be returning to Minnesota for about a month, from mid-January to mid-February. I'm already excited to come home to visit family, friends, and Chipotle (about the only food from home I can't find here is burritos and Mexican food). Marianella is already compiling a list of clothes for me to bring to back to Peru. It's going to be a busy month, as I'll be taking care of our taxes, the necessary paperwork, etc. but I hope to be able to connect with a lot of people upon my visit home. We'll have to see how it all comes together.
A Pretty Picture
I just wanted to throw this in. It's the sunset tonight, taken from our apartment window-pretty spectacular huh? After seeing this, I've got Marianella committed to taking me to the ocean's edge on similar evenings. It was her last day of school today, so she is very happy and ready to start her summer vacation. You will hear from me again very shortly-I plan on posting my annual Christmas letter early next week. I could say that I'm being tech savvy, but it's a combination of expensive postal rates and my procrastination. Anyway, you'll hear from me again very soon. Ohh, and if you didn't receive my new address and phone number from the last blog, just email me and I will send it your way. Take care everyone and talk to you soon~Tim
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