Surreal. That's the only word that really describes the last 24 hours. Since the first quake hammered its way through about 27 hours ago, I feel like I've been having an out-of-body experience. Even though I know that its me going through this intricate set of events, it doesn't feel like it.
At 6:40 pm on August 15th, 2007, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake exploded from the ground and changed the surface of the Earth and the lives of many people that live around it. It affected me as well but not in the life changing (or life ending) way that it did for those that live in the cities of Ica and Pisco. For me, the earthquake took me out of my routine and made me examine more closely what it is that I am doing here in Peru and here in life. Only the experience wasn't truly mine, as I noted that it feels like a completely surreal event in my life - one that is more like a dream than anything else.
This morning I got an email from CBS News saying that they wanted to interview people in Peru about their experience with the quake. I agreed to be interviewed on camera but told them that I doubted my insight would be anything different than what the other 8 million people in Lima went through. In fact, my experience would probably be less dramatic since I live in an affluent neighborhood and damage here was rather minimal. But they said they wanted to interview me nonetheless and as I sat down in front of the camera, I noted how I felt an absence of emotion. It was though I knew what I had lived through but that my experience wasn't a real one. There was no Hollywood soundtrack, no explosions going off in the distance, or fantastic acts that had to be accomplished by the person occupying my body. And as I answered the questions that Miguel asked me, I felt a strange disconnect to everything that was my life for the 18 hours before the camera crew came to my apartment. To this moment, I still feel strangely disconnected from what has happened and the reality of it all is still so surreal.
My interview didn't make the CBS Evening News and I can't blame them for not putting my soundbytes in the segment. I wasn't traumatized, I had no extreme stories of survival, I was just an average person who lived through a large seismic event - just like the other 8 million people in Lima. I also didn't want to sensationalize what I had been through as it wasn't that sensational. All I did was stand in a doorway and wonder when the shaking was going to stop. The feeling of helplessness was shared by each and every person who lived through the quake; I was just one of millions that were reminded of just how powerless we are when dealing with Mother Nature. It has been noted that in news, "if it doesn't bleed, it doesn't lead" and I definitely didn't give them any ammunition to lead their broadcast with. What can I say, I didn't want to give the main stream media an inaccurate representation of what I went through - no sense trying to make my life look bad when it really isn't.
So as today went on, life in Peru took a different turn. Traffic dropped off dramatically as people stayed at home and tended to the frayed nerves that we all share. Those that I did see wandering the street today had the same blank expression that I did; I imagine they were feeling the same surreal moment that I was. Even tonight when I went to dinner with friends (we wanted to be around fellow "survivors"), we each described our day in relatively the same way. We each stayed in and tried to come to grips with the ground shaking and how it affected our lives. We each noted that it made us appreciate our friends and family a lot more, at least for the moment, as it reminded us what truly matters in life.
I've been surfing around the internet, seeing reports of how bad things are in Pisco and Ica, and finding myself grateful for the hand I've been dealt. I know the main stream media is doing its best to make it "bleed" for the viewing audience back in the States but I also know that within a week, the story will be off the headlines and people will have forgotten about it. Its sad really, that life events need to be sensationalized to get coverage but that's the media for ya.
In any case, tomorrow the teachers return to school for an attempt to return to the routine that makes life more real and less surreal. We will get things back to normal and go on because that's what you do. Life goes on...
Thursday, August 16, 2007
surveying the damage
Its the "day after" the big one, although we are still experiencing aftershocks here that are powerful in their own right.
SHIT! Why is it that I we get aftershocks while I'm blogging?! As I was writing that previous sentence, another one rumbled through. It was pretty small, I'll check on the USGS website to see how powerful it was. Hold on... That was a 5.2
Its 10:15 am and Peru is starting to come to grips with the aftermath of the series of quakes that we've had over the last 18 hours. It was a relatively easy night for me, considering what others endured in this country. I got up this morning and did a survey in my apartment to see any damage in the daylight. There is a thin crack in the wall that starts at the ceiling and runs a jagged line down towards the floor that is about 1m (3 feet) long. There is some concrete that crumbled off from where the ceiling and walls come together - evidence of the shearing effect the building withstood. My building was put together pretty darn good and I'm very grateful to the guys who put it together for the wonderful job they did. Unfortunately I fear that the workers who did construct this building may have suffered a lot more than I did as they can't afford to live in places where the brick or concrete is reinforced.
After my tour of my apartment, Lupe (my maid) came in to work for the day. She described some of the damage in her neighborhood and it sounds rather extensive. Not as bad as pictures that I see on the internet of places like Ica, but still a considerable amount of damage. A few houses crumbled to the ground, several houses lost walls, roofs slid a meter or two from where they were placed, etc. It makes me realize just how lucky I was to not only survive such a big series of quakes but come out relatively unscathed.
I hopped on the internet to see what happened throughout the night and found out that the USGS upgraded our 7.7 (what I initially thought) up to an 8.0. The aftershocks were powerful in their own right - as you can see by the list below. (Sorry about the formatting issue - the table seems to have dropped down WAY on the page. Scroll down - I swear its there!)
*all data courtesy of the USGS website*
And in case you were wondering - yes, I woke for each and every one of those. It wasn't really a night's sleep as brief moments of rest in between waking up thinking I was going to need to rush out of my building. I slept with my clothes on, shoes next to my bed, and keys, wallet, and passport in my pockets (ya never know what you might need). I estimated that the majority of the energy stored in the tectonic plates was released during the 8.0 quake but you never know just how powerful the aftershocks are going to be and prepared for a worse case scenario of needing to flee the country with what was on my back. After seeing scenes of utter devastation in places like Pakistan and Iran, you never know what might happen when you live in a 3rd world country.
Am I justified for being perhaps a little paranoid and thinking the worst? If you've felt Mother Nature unleash her fury on you without any warning, than you know that I probably am justified. There's something that just makes you a little jumpy when the Earth shakes for 2 minutes and the structures you think are rock solid move back and forth by as much as a meter - so thanks for the latitude with my paranoia.
Its now 10:53 am and I've gotten through the emails from friends and family, all are glad to hear that I'm ok (as am I). Phones and cell reception are back in working order for Lima although I doubt it is for the area of Ica that was hit the hardest (and is still getting these wonderful aftershocks right under them!). With school being canceled by Alan Garcia (president of Peru), today is a rare day to get your nerves back to normal and check out the damages that have occurred to buildings - especially school buildings. I'll venture out here in a little bit to see how the rest of Miraflores faired, I'll update more after I go for a walk.
Thanks to one and all for reading and taking the time to send your best wishes. Its nice to know that you are thinking of me in this time of uncertainty. More news as I know it.
SHIT! Why is it that I we get aftershocks while I'm blogging?! As I was writing that previous sentence, another one rumbled through. It was pretty small, I'll check on the USGS website to see how powerful it was. Hold on... That was a 5.2
Its 10:15 am and Peru is starting to come to grips with the aftermath of the series of quakes that we've had over the last 18 hours. It was a relatively easy night for me, considering what others endured in this country. I got up this morning and did a survey in my apartment to see any damage in the daylight. There is a thin crack in the wall that starts at the ceiling and runs a jagged line down towards the floor that is about 1m (3 feet) long. There is some concrete that crumbled off from where the ceiling and walls come together - evidence of the shearing effect the building withstood. My building was put together pretty darn good and I'm very grateful to the guys who put it together for the wonderful job they did. Unfortunately I fear that the workers who did construct this building may have suffered a lot more than I did as they can't afford to live in places where the brick or concrete is reinforced.
After my tour of my apartment, Lupe (my maid) came in to work for the day. She described some of the damage in her neighborhood and it sounds rather extensive. Not as bad as pictures that I see on the internet of places like Ica, but still a considerable amount of damage. A few houses crumbled to the ground, several houses lost walls, roofs slid a meter or two from where they were placed, etc. It makes me realize just how lucky I was to not only survive such a big series of quakes but come out relatively unscathed.
I hopped on the internet to see what happened throughout the night and found out that the USGS upgraded our 7.7 (what I initially thought) up to an 8.0. The aftershocks were powerful in their own right - as you can see by the list below. (Sorry about the formatting issue - the table seems to have dropped down WAY on the page. Scroll down - I swear its there!)
| Local Time | Magnitude | Distance from Lima |
|---|---|---|
| 6:40 pm | 8.0 | 150 km SSE |
| 7:02 pm | 5.6 | 145 km SSE |
| 7:19 pm | 5.8 | 255 km SSE |
| 8:02 pm | 5.8 | 145 km SSE |
| 8:35 pm | 5.4 | 225 km SSE |
| 9:17 pm | 5.0 | 205 km SSE |
| 9:54 pm | 5.0 | 165 km SSE |
| 11:04 pm | 5.6 | 175 km SSE |
| 11:16 pm | 5.0 | 140 km S |
| 11:23 pm | 5.2 | 215 km SE |
| 12:16 am | 6.3 | 260 km SSE |
| 1:10 am | 5.0 | 225 km S |
| 1:43 am | 4.5 | 155 km S |
| 2:46 am | 4.7 | 125 km S |
| 4:02 am | 4.9 | 240 km SSE |
| 4:43 am | 5.3 | 240 km SSE |
| 6:35 am | 6.0 | 270 km SSE |
| 10:11 am | 5.2 | 150 km SSE |
*all data courtesy of the USGS website*
And in case you were wondering - yes, I woke for each and every one of those. It wasn't really a night's sleep as brief moments of rest in between waking up thinking I was going to need to rush out of my building. I slept with my clothes on, shoes next to my bed, and keys, wallet, and passport in my pockets (ya never know what you might need). I estimated that the majority of the energy stored in the tectonic plates was released during the 8.0 quake but you never know just how powerful the aftershocks are going to be and prepared for a worse case scenario of needing to flee the country with what was on my back. After seeing scenes of utter devastation in places like Pakistan and Iran, you never know what might happen when you live in a 3rd world country.
Am I justified for being perhaps a little paranoid and thinking the worst? If you've felt Mother Nature unleash her fury on you without any warning, than you know that I probably am justified. There's something that just makes you a little jumpy when the Earth shakes for 2 minutes and the structures you think are rock solid move back and forth by as much as a meter - so thanks for the latitude with my paranoia.
Its now 10:53 am and I've gotten through the emails from friends and family, all are glad to hear that I'm ok (as am I). Phones and cell reception are back in working order for Lima although I doubt it is for the area of Ica that was hit the hardest (and is still getting these wonderful aftershocks right under them!). With school being canceled by Alan Garcia (president of Peru), today is a rare day to get your nerves back to normal and check out the damages that have occurred to buildings - especially school buildings. I'll venture out here in a little bit to see how the rest of Miraflores faired, I'll update more after I go for a walk.
Thanks to one and all for reading and taking the time to send your best wishes. Its nice to know that you are thinking of me in this time of uncertainty. More news as I know it.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
big fuckin' earthquake!
Well, here's something that I don't write about very much - the way the Earth moves under my feet. Literally. And it was a big honkin' earthquake at that, my biggest ever. Having a 7.7 magnitude earthquake roll through while you're eating dinner can sure change how your night goes. (an aftershock just hit while I was writing that last sentence)
The time is currently 7:20 pm local time. My land line and cell phone are both dead but amazingly my internet connection is still working. Its been an eventful last hour. At 6:40 pm local time, the earthquake started to shake the ground beneath my feet. I was reading some worthless article on the internet and eating dinner at the time. At first it was a gentle swaying from side to side, progressing more and more as the seconds passed. Eventually it got to the point where I started to get worried, the world was really shaking in a big way and I was sitting at my computer doing nothing about it.
The time is now 7:52 and I'm not normally a person who types slowly but I've been a little preoccupied with contacting others and seeing how my friends are doing. So here's how things happened next.
As the shaking got more and more violent, I decided that sitting at my computer wasn't the best place to be. I got up and stood in the doorway, thinking that it really wasn't the safest place despite what I remembered from living in California. I noted how the apartment building was REALLY shaking and I felt extremely vulnerable (AFTERSHOCK NOW!!!) while standing in the doorway.
I could hear from outside the breaking of glass from other buildings and car alarms going off. While standing in the doorway, I heard a loud pop and the saw a blue glow emanating from my living room window - a transformer on the street had succumb to the quake. But as I stood there, the shaking got more and more intense. Doors were swinging back and forth while the water I was drinking (next to my computer) was sloshing up and out of the glass. I went and grabbed the water - I didn't want it to spill on the computer - and returned to the protective cover of my doorway.
I stood there for what seemed like forever, what I now estimate to be about 90 seconds. I don't know if my approximation of time is correct, for all I know it could have only been half of that but it did feel like forever. All I did know is that the world was moving quite a bit and I was on one heck of a rollercoaster ride.
Its now 8:22 and I've settled down a little bit - answering a few phone calls on Skype from friends and family in the US but still no phone connection (land line or cell) to speak of. I wonder how long it will take to reestablish those lines of communication. In any case, I can at least tell my family and friends that I'm ok and that my building hasn't sustained any noticeable damage.
After the initial earthquake was over, I grabbed my phones and tried to start calling fellow expats to see how they were doing. I was amazed that my internet connection was still up so I got online and went to the USGS website to see how big it was. Initial reporting said that it was a 7.7 magnitude quake that originated about 160 km (100 miles) from Lima and fairly shallow - 10 km (6 miles).
Initially CNN originally reported that there were 3 earthquakes, a 7.7 and two 7.5s, but that has been since cleared up as a computer glitch at the USGS. Good thing they came out and amended that because I don't remember feeling 3 separate earthquakes, I'd hate to think that I'd lost my mind during the rumbling. ;-) As the night has progressed, there have been a few aftershocks to grace my evening - as you could tell by when I noted them during my entry. I went through and checked about them on the USGS website and they list the aftershocks as 5.9 and 5.8. Hopefully the worst of the evening is behind me and I can calm my nerves for a somewhat normal night's sleep.
Which brings me to now - 8:40 pm, exactly two hours after the initial rocking of my world. Its reminded me of just how exciting life can be - even when you aren't really wanting it to be. I know that being an expat has a certain sense of adventure to it, tonight is just another part of that adventure... right?
The time is currently 7:20 pm local time. My land line and cell phone are both dead but amazingly my internet connection is still working. Its been an eventful last hour. At 6:40 pm local time, the earthquake started to shake the ground beneath my feet. I was reading some worthless article on the internet and eating dinner at the time. At first it was a gentle swaying from side to side, progressing more and more as the seconds passed. Eventually it got to the point where I started to get worried, the world was really shaking in a big way and I was sitting at my computer doing nothing about it.
The time is now 7:52 and I'm not normally a person who types slowly but I've been a little preoccupied with contacting others and seeing how my friends are doing. So here's how things happened next.
As the shaking got more and more violent, I decided that sitting at my computer wasn't the best place to be. I got up and stood in the doorway, thinking that it really wasn't the safest place despite what I remembered from living in California. I noted how the apartment building was REALLY shaking and I felt extremely vulnerable (AFTERSHOCK NOW!!!) while standing in the doorway.
I could hear from outside the breaking of glass from other buildings and car alarms going off. While standing in the doorway, I heard a loud pop and the saw a blue glow emanating from my living room window - a transformer on the street had succumb to the quake. But as I stood there, the shaking got more and more intense. Doors were swinging back and forth while the water I was drinking (next to my computer) was sloshing up and out of the glass. I went and grabbed the water - I didn't want it to spill on the computer - and returned to the protective cover of my doorway.
I stood there for what seemed like forever, what I now estimate to be about 90 seconds. I don't know if my approximation of time is correct, for all I know it could have only been half of that but it did feel like forever. All I did know is that the world was moving quite a bit and I was on one heck of a rollercoaster ride.
Its now 8:22 and I've settled down a little bit - answering a few phone calls on Skype from friends and family in the US but still no phone connection (land line or cell) to speak of. I wonder how long it will take to reestablish those lines of communication. In any case, I can at least tell my family and friends that I'm ok and that my building hasn't sustained any noticeable damage.
After the initial earthquake was over, I grabbed my phones and tried to start calling fellow expats to see how they were doing. I was amazed that my internet connection was still up so I got online and went to the USGS website to see how big it was. Initial reporting said that it was a 7.7 magnitude quake that originated about 160 km (100 miles) from Lima and fairly shallow - 10 km (6 miles).
Initially CNN originally reported that there were 3 earthquakes, a 7.7 and two 7.5s, but that has been since cleared up as a computer glitch at the USGS. Good thing they came out and amended that because I don't remember feeling 3 separate earthquakes, I'd hate to think that I'd lost my mind during the rumbling. ;-) As the night has progressed, there have been a few aftershocks to grace my evening - as you could tell by when I noted them during my entry. I went through and checked about them on the USGS website and they list the aftershocks as 5.9 and 5.8. Hopefully the worst of the evening is behind me and I can calm my nerves for a somewhat normal night's sleep.
Which brings me to now - 8:40 pm, exactly two hours after the initial rocking of my world. Its reminded me of just how exciting life can be - even when you aren't really wanting it to be. I know that being an expat has a certain sense of adventure to it, tonight is just another part of that adventure... right?
Friday, August 10, 2007
tale of two meanings
My students and I were working through a problem the other day in class - one where a sign is hanging on a building - and an interesting question came up.
"Mr. Nomad - did you mean SIGN or SINE in your last sentence?"
"SIGN. While we have to take the sine of the number, we are looking for the tension of the wire on the sign."
"OK, just wanted to make sure we were talking about the same thing."
English just happens to be a language where one pronunciation can have more than one spelling. Like their, there, and they're; read and red; and as noted above - sign and sine.
So I turned the question to my group of expert Spanish speakers and asked, "Are there any words like that in Spanish?" I got a response that is quite intriguing.
The verbs casar and cazar in Spanish sound virtually the same but have interesting differences in meanings. Casar is "to marry" while cazar is "to hunt". Now there is one to ponder! Is it pure coincidence or is there a reason why the two words sound extremely similar?
"Mr. Nomad - did you mean SIGN or SINE in your last sentence?"
"SIGN. While we have to take the sine of the number, we are looking for the tension of the wire on the sign."
"OK, just wanted to make sure we were talking about the same thing."
English just happens to be a language where one pronunciation can have more than one spelling. Like their, there, and they're; read and red; and as noted above - sign and sine.
So I turned the question to my group of expert Spanish speakers and asked, "Are there any words like that in Spanish?" I got a response that is quite intriguing.
The verbs casar and cazar in Spanish sound virtually the same but have interesting differences in meanings. Casar is "to marry" while cazar is "to hunt". Now there is one to ponder! Is it pure coincidence or is there a reason why the two words sound extremely similar?
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
dual personality
In an effort to speak more about the things that I notice here in Peru as compared to other places, I took notice of something that happens to me on a daily basis - a taxi ride home. It is an eye-opening experience if you've never taken a cab ride in countries outside North American or Western Europe - mainly because of the way that traffic flows in these locations. Peru is no different in the fact that traffic lines painted on the road as mere "suggestions" as to where to drive and the rules of the road aren't the same ones that appear on the driver's exam.
A cab ride home for me from school is usually around S/10 (10 soles) or a little under $3. Considering the ride is somewhere in the vicinity of 18 km (12 miles), the cost of transportation is fairly cheap - even for a gringo. If I were a Peruvian, prices would be roughly 1/2 to 3/4 of what I pay but I'm not complaining, I can handle paying a little extra on my salary. The cost of the fare is arranged in advance, before you get into the taxi. You and the driver negotiate on a price and when a major difference of opinion occurs, one party or the other can walk (drive) away from the transaction. It's a rather unorthodox way to do things but good in the sense that it doesn't matter the route, time, or traffic involved - what you bargain for it what you pay. It puts a price on your ability to haggle for a deal and I'm not known as being the best negotiator in my circle of friends - mostly because I don't mind paying an extra dollar for going somewhere when they need the money more than I do and $1 extra for a cab ride is pretty good, considering that I'm always paying less than $4 for wherever I go.
But once you get in the car, the typical Peruvian (or Latin) image goes out the window. Latins in general are known for their laid back attitude and ambivalence for being on time. Heck, last year the Peruvian government issued a formal decree to the people to start being on time because business was starting to hurt from the fact that people were late for meetings and losing out on money from cultures where timeliness is a virtue. I've not seen a change in the timeliness of Peruvians since this decree, but at least the realization is there and they are thinking about doing something about it. *Side note - when the average Peruvian was asked about being late for meetings, 93% said that it was always the other person that was late.*
As I said, that image of the Latin/Peruvian goes out the window as soon as the car door closes. Drivers are always hell bent to get in front of the other person at whatever risk it takes. The machismo culture takes over when on the road and the internal fire starts to show. Racing to the front, honking all the time, flashing of the brights - all in an effort to get the car in front of them to move faster. Yesterday my cab driver employed all of these tactics as I headed home. During rush hour. In a traffic jam.
What did he think he was going to accomplish by honking his horn and flashing his lights at the car in front of him when we were all going about 5 km/hr (3 mph)? Did he think that traffic was somehow going to magically move faster because he wanted it to? I dunno - I didn't ask.
So he became frustrated and tried to maneuver around the car by cutting over a lane (and another car in the process) when he got the chance. As Murphy's Law dictates, when you are trying to move faster in traffic, you always end up going slower. And sure enough, the car he was trying to pass eventually ended up getting way ahead of us (because he kept trying to pass other cars) and we made our march to the rear. Latin fire only managed to do two things - get him more irritated at traffic and slow our progress.
In any case, I made it home with no battlescars or near-death experiences, so no worries there. But taking note of the small things is what I'm aiming to do and this is just one of those small things that I noticed. :-) Until my next tidbit of Peruvian culture...
A cab ride home for me from school is usually around S/10 (10 soles) or a little under $3. Considering the ride is somewhere in the vicinity of 18 km (12 miles), the cost of transportation is fairly cheap - even for a gringo. If I were a Peruvian, prices would be roughly 1/2 to 3/4 of what I pay but I'm not complaining, I can handle paying a little extra on my salary. The cost of the fare is arranged in advance, before you get into the taxi. You and the driver negotiate on a price and when a major difference of opinion occurs, one party or the other can walk (drive) away from the transaction. It's a rather unorthodox way to do things but good in the sense that it doesn't matter the route, time, or traffic involved - what you bargain for it what you pay. It puts a price on your ability to haggle for a deal and I'm not known as being the best negotiator in my circle of friends - mostly because I don't mind paying an extra dollar for going somewhere when they need the money more than I do and $1 extra for a cab ride is pretty good, considering that I'm always paying less than $4 for wherever I go.
But once you get in the car, the typical Peruvian (or Latin) image goes out the window. Latins in general are known for their laid back attitude and ambivalence for being on time. Heck, last year the Peruvian government issued a formal decree to the people to start being on time because business was starting to hurt from the fact that people were late for meetings and losing out on money from cultures where timeliness is a virtue. I've not seen a change in the timeliness of Peruvians since this decree, but at least the realization is there and they are thinking about doing something about it. *Side note - when the average Peruvian was asked about being late for meetings, 93% said that it was always the other person that was late.*
As I said, that image of the Latin/Peruvian goes out the window as soon as the car door closes. Drivers are always hell bent to get in front of the other person at whatever risk it takes. The machismo culture takes over when on the road and the internal fire starts to show. Racing to the front, honking all the time, flashing of the brights - all in an effort to get the car in front of them to move faster. Yesterday my cab driver employed all of these tactics as I headed home. During rush hour. In a traffic jam.
What did he think he was going to accomplish by honking his horn and flashing his lights at the car in front of him when we were all going about 5 km/hr (3 mph)? Did he think that traffic was somehow going to magically move faster because he wanted it to? I dunno - I didn't ask.
So he became frustrated and tried to maneuver around the car by cutting over a lane (and another car in the process) when he got the chance. As Murphy's Law dictates, when you are trying to move faster in traffic, you always end up going slower. And sure enough, the car he was trying to pass eventually ended up getting way ahead of us (because he kept trying to pass other cars) and we made our march to the rear. Latin fire only managed to do two things - get him more irritated at traffic and slow our progress.
In any case, I made it home with no battlescars or near-death experiences, so no worries there. But taking note of the small things is what I'm aiming to do and this is just one of those small things that I noticed. :-) Until my next tidbit of Peruvian culture...
Sunday, August 05, 2007
change in focus
Ok, so I know that I've been a bad blogger this year - my posts have fallen off considerably from when I lived in Holland but that's the way things go sometimes. Its not that I've been completely ignoring the fact that I have this place to chat with whomever what to read, I actually have been thinking about posting here, its just that I've always found a way to distract myself after coming up with a good idea.
So with the time that I have today, I thought that I would sit down and write something since I've not done so in a long time. At first I thought I would write about the upcoming space shuttle mission, STS 118, in which Barbara Morgan will finally be the first teacher in space. She was the backup to Christa McAuliffe on the Challenger mission in 1986 but never got the chance as the program was canceled after the accident. Since I am a NASA junkie, this seemed liked the way to go...
But then I realized that I should be doing something else with this blog. Plenty of people can go online and read about the launch that is going to take place on August 8th and the AP and NASA can do a better job of talking about the launch and this mission than I can. So I decided to focus on a different topic - the idea that goes into the name of this blog - the fact that I am an expatriate.
An expatriate is someone who is born in one country and lives in another. I am an American by birth but have spent many years of my life (almost 10) living in countries other than the US. This is something that most of the world doesn't have the opportunity to experience and I figure that it is here that I should focus my thoughts more often. I've been known to go on rants in the past and while I still will rant from time to time, I should start going with a more unified theme. So the theme is now going to reflect more about the life that I've led as an expat and how that differs from the culture that most people recognize on the TV as being American.
But that brought me to a mental block to start off with - just what exactly should I talk about? There are so many things that are different about living in another country that its hard to put your finger on one specific topic to talk about. And I've not had anything too "Peruvian" happen to me in the last 48 hours or so that I can comment on so I decided to go with something else - what it feels like to go home.
As an expat, we all get the opportunity to go home to our native culture sometimes and when we do, it can be a mixed bag of emotions. For me, my 'round the US tour that I did in July on my motorcycle was an interesting experience for me. I spent 3 weeks riding from California to Ohio and back, spending the time riding on small highways and seeing old friends. As I did so, I tried to get back in touch with my American roots as I will be leaving Peru at the end of this academic year. I didn't want to be too much of a stranger in my own country when I return.
The trip was magnificent and I can hardly wait to do something like that again. Riding on the open road is more a zen experience than anything else. You are so concentrated on riding and the road that most of the mundane things that float through your head when driving a car just don't exist. The problems I had in my head made their way back to my subconscious for processing there while I spent my time making sure I didn't get hit by any cars or fall off the twisty roads (like Colorado) I was riding upon. A truly cleansing time for me.
What I noticed and remarked upon my return to Lima was the ease of which I had with being in the US. I even felt a bit guilty for how easy it was; I don't know why, I just did. I made sure to challenge myself a little when I was in Manitou Springs, CO by speaking in Spanish to a Peruvian whom I met there - just to refresh myself as to the language I was going to return to and also to let this vendor feel a little more at ease by speaking in his native tongue. I know I appreciate it when people speak English to me here in Peru, so I thought I would return the favor.
But when I got back to Lima, I chatted with some of my friends who had returned to their places of origin and they made the same comment that I did - being home was very easy. In a way, being an expat is difficult in that there is a challenge to the way you live on a daily basis. You are immersed in a culture that is foreign to yours, speaking a language that isn't native to you, and dealing with people who have a different set of norms and values. It can be a little scary at times and I will admit that it can be overwhelming occasionally in trying to deal with that every day. But in another way, we all get into a rhythm and tend to forget about the differences we feel day to day. You get accustomed to a new routine and that's what makes this all feel so normal even though its so different. Its when you return to a place where you don't have to think about the differences that you begin to realize just how easy life can be.
My life has been enriched as a result of being an expat and I cherish the fact that my father had the gumption to leave rural Illinois and make a choice to try something different. I hope to give my children the same opportunity (when I have them) and allow them to see what the world has to offer. There's something gratifying about knowing that you've been able to experience and grow from something that most would dislike and can't even fathom trying. I'm not trying to pat my own back and say how wonderful I am; rather I'm saying that I feel lucky to have had the chances to make the choices that I have over my life so far. And from those choices, I've become a more knowledgeable person who has a set of unique experiences to share. My goal for the next year is to share more of these expatriate experiences with the world, wherever my readers may be. So tune in for "Life in Peru" over the next 10 months, I'll see what I can share with you.
So with the time that I have today, I thought that I would sit down and write something since I've not done so in a long time. At first I thought I would write about the upcoming space shuttle mission, STS 118, in which Barbara Morgan will finally be the first teacher in space. She was the backup to Christa McAuliffe on the Challenger mission in 1986 but never got the chance as the program was canceled after the accident. Since I am a NASA junkie, this seemed liked the way to go...
But then I realized that I should be doing something else with this blog. Plenty of people can go online and read about the launch that is going to take place on August 8th and the AP and NASA can do a better job of talking about the launch and this mission than I can. So I decided to focus on a different topic - the idea that goes into the name of this blog - the fact that I am an expatriate.
An expatriate is someone who is born in one country and lives in another. I am an American by birth but have spent many years of my life (almost 10) living in countries other than the US. This is something that most of the world doesn't have the opportunity to experience and I figure that it is here that I should focus my thoughts more often. I've been known to go on rants in the past and while I still will rant from time to time, I should start going with a more unified theme. So the theme is now going to reflect more about the life that I've led as an expat and how that differs from the culture that most people recognize on the TV as being American.
But that brought me to a mental block to start off with - just what exactly should I talk about? There are so many things that are different about living in another country that its hard to put your finger on one specific topic to talk about. And I've not had anything too "Peruvian" happen to me in the last 48 hours or so that I can comment on so I decided to go with something else - what it feels like to go home.
As an expat, we all get the opportunity to go home to our native culture sometimes and when we do, it can be a mixed bag of emotions. For me, my 'round the US tour that I did in July on my motorcycle was an interesting experience for me. I spent 3 weeks riding from California to Ohio and back, spending the time riding on small highways and seeing old friends. As I did so, I tried to get back in touch with my American roots as I will be leaving Peru at the end of this academic year. I didn't want to be too much of a stranger in my own country when I return.
The trip was magnificent and I can hardly wait to do something like that again. Riding on the open road is more a zen experience than anything else. You are so concentrated on riding and the road that most of the mundane things that float through your head when driving a car just don't exist. The problems I had in my head made their way back to my subconscious for processing there while I spent my time making sure I didn't get hit by any cars or fall off the twisty roads (like Colorado) I was riding upon. A truly cleansing time for me.
What I noticed and remarked upon my return to Lima was the ease of which I had with being in the US. I even felt a bit guilty for how easy it was; I don't know why, I just did. I made sure to challenge myself a little when I was in Manitou Springs, CO by speaking in Spanish to a Peruvian whom I met there - just to refresh myself as to the language I was going to return to and also to let this vendor feel a little more at ease by speaking in his native tongue. I know I appreciate it when people speak English to me here in Peru, so I thought I would return the favor.
But when I got back to Lima, I chatted with some of my friends who had returned to their places of origin and they made the same comment that I did - being home was very easy. In a way, being an expat is difficult in that there is a challenge to the way you live on a daily basis. You are immersed in a culture that is foreign to yours, speaking a language that isn't native to you, and dealing with people who have a different set of norms and values. It can be a little scary at times and I will admit that it can be overwhelming occasionally in trying to deal with that every day. But in another way, we all get into a rhythm and tend to forget about the differences we feel day to day. You get accustomed to a new routine and that's what makes this all feel so normal even though its so different. Its when you return to a place where you don't have to think about the differences that you begin to realize just how easy life can be.
My life has been enriched as a result of being an expat and I cherish the fact that my father had the gumption to leave rural Illinois and make a choice to try something different. I hope to give my children the same opportunity (when I have them) and allow them to see what the world has to offer. There's something gratifying about knowing that you've been able to experience and grow from something that most would dislike and can't even fathom trying. I'm not trying to pat my own back and say how wonderful I am; rather I'm saying that I feel lucky to have had the chances to make the choices that I have over my life so far. And from those choices, I've become a more knowledgeable person who has a set of unique experiences to share. My goal for the next year is to share more of these expatriate experiences with the world, wherever my readers may be. So tune in for "Life in Peru" over the next 10 months, I'll see what I can share with you.
Monday, July 09, 2007
living off the land
I'm currently on a road trip around the US on my motorcycle and visiting old friends along the way. One such stop in Amesville, Ohio put me at Brad and Svea's house (Svea and I knew each other from our days as undergrads) and my stop there was quite an eye-opener.
Brad and Svea have a farm and really do live off the land. The meat comes from cows and pigs that they feed and maintain, the veggies are in a garden that are less than 20 meters from their backdoor. There are trees planted for apples and pears (maybe more, I can't remember) and soon fruit will be abundant for their family's use. The food is all homemade and comes from what they have and truly is organic in every way, shape, and form. Meals are made completely from scratch and love goes into everything that goes on the table. It is something that completely amazed me.
Grocery shopping doesn't happen very often and when it does, its nothing too dramatic - just grains and things that they don't grow at the house. I am in awe of this family of five in what they do and how they do it. It comes mostly from necessity but I'd like to think that they'd continue to do it no matter what; its just wholesome living. People who live in cities (such as myself) would love to have such amenities as having a garden with fresh food to eat but alas, that isn't the case. We rely on others to do it for us and pay them in return. The exchange of money seems to take the love out of food and somehow lessens the nutritional value of what makes it to the stores (or maybe its the pesticides...).
Whatever the case, Brad and Svea are rock stars in my opinion for doing what they do and it makes me wish I could do things a little different with my life. With this being said, I'd probably flop at the notion of doing a garden myself and would kill everything in a garden of my own if given the chance. But at least I got the chance to see someone doing it for real and doing it the way it was done less than a hundred years ago. Its amazing how technology has changed our world in so many ways.
Brad and Svea have a farm and really do live off the land. The meat comes from cows and pigs that they feed and maintain, the veggies are in a garden that are less than 20 meters from their backdoor. There are trees planted for apples and pears (maybe more, I can't remember) and soon fruit will be abundant for their family's use. The food is all homemade and comes from what they have and truly is organic in every way, shape, and form. Meals are made completely from scratch and love goes into everything that goes on the table. It is something that completely amazed me.
Grocery shopping doesn't happen very often and when it does, its nothing too dramatic - just grains and things that they don't grow at the house. I am in awe of this family of five in what they do and how they do it. It comes mostly from necessity but I'd like to think that they'd continue to do it no matter what; its just wholesome living. People who live in cities (such as myself) would love to have such amenities as having a garden with fresh food to eat but alas, that isn't the case. We rely on others to do it for us and pay them in return. The exchange of money seems to take the love out of food and somehow lessens the nutritional value of what makes it to the stores (or maybe its the pesticides...).
Whatever the case, Brad and Svea are rock stars in my opinion for doing what they do and it makes me wish I could do things a little different with my life. With this being said, I'd probably flop at the notion of doing a garden myself and would kill everything in a garden of my own if given the chance. But at least I got the chance to see someone doing it for real and doing it the way it was done less than a hundred years ago. Its amazing how technology has changed our world in so many ways.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Alternative Rugby Commentary - The Tri Nations
Since I've not posted in forever, I thought I would put a little something that's grabbed my attention lately. A short that highlights a little about the ongoing Tri-Nations, which the All Blacks took the first match 26-21 over the Springboks in SA. In any case, I've enjoyed all of these shorts that were put out and I'll be posting more of his work (Frasier Davidson) later. Enjoy!
Monday, May 28, 2007
a day without english
So yesterday was a day that I learned so much while being completely out of my comfort zone. I wanted to sit down and write about it last night but didn't have the mental capacity to put the words together that I wanted to. Why? I was out of my native tongue for pretty much the entire day.
A friend of mine named Erica is a Peruvian and she invited me out to the local zoo with her son, Joaquin, who is 4. I was a little uneasy about it but eventually said yes to the date and headed off into the unknown. I didn't know what I was getting myself into but that's part of the fun of trying a new experience - jumping out of the comfort area and seeing how things turn out. The key to my trepidation was the fact that she speaks no English and my Spanish isn't exactly the best; ok, its worse than that and I just don't want to take responsibility for it being as bad as it is.
We met at a nearby gathering place where she promptly got a cab to the park that would have cost me triple the bargained price. Being a large white man in a Hispanic populace means that I tend to pay more for things that what locals do and I was grateful for her expertise in that regard. When we got to the zoo it became rapidly apparent that the attraction that day wasn't to be the animals, rather the Peruvian woman who was walking with a pale Sasquatch next to her. I think I was stared at for the majority of the day but after the first hour, I stopped noticing as I was too busy trying to keep my brain from melting. Was it hot? Not even close (its winter here) but rather it is because I was trying to make conversation in a language that I'm not very good at speaking.
Erica was nice and patient with me for the day but the day didn't end after just a few hours. Her son was getting ready to meltdown (he's 4 and needs time to do such things) so we grabbed a cab and I was taken to her place for an introduction to the family. I wasn't anxious about meeting them at all, I really wanted to see what living conditions were like for a middle class Peruvian family. So I headed in to meet the 4 generations of people that lived in their tiny 3 bedroom apartment.
Grandmother, mother, daughter (Erica), and her son (Joaquin) all live in what would be considered "low income housing" in some cities in the US. The conditions aren't the greatest but they make the best of the cramped living spaces that they can afford. I was quickly introduced and welcomed into the house where I was inspected by the family, for reasons that need not to be mentioned. In any case, it was only a few minutes before the decision was made to go to dinner at a local restaurant - I'll let you guess who was doing the buying (my choice actually, I wasn't going to let them pick up the tab!). And during dinner, it was more Spanish and more fumbling for words, the status quo for the day. But it was getting easier as Erica did a decent job of helping me out and I was understanding more and more as the day progressed.
When the day was done, I got into a cab and headed home - having not spoken a word of English in the entire day. I felt relieved to get home as I no longer had to think about what I was going to say but also grateful for the experience of being able to truly be immersed in a foreign culture. That is one of the things that I truly enjoy about being an expat - being able to do things just like that. There is just something unique about being in a completely foreign environment and not only surviving but enjoying the experience.
The spell was broken however, after I got home. I just needed to do something in my native language and so I called my sister so I could catch up with her, and speak a little English. So while it wasn't a complete day without English, it was pretty darn close and while I enjoyed the experience of immersion, I gotta admit that sometimes hearing your own language can be quite soothing...
A friend of mine named Erica is a Peruvian and she invited me out to the local zoo with her son, Joaquin, who is 4. I was a little uneasy about it but eventually said yes to the date and headed off into the unknown. I didn't know what I was getting myself into but that's part of the fun of trying a new experience - jumping out of the comfort area and seeing how things turn out. The key to my trepidation was the fact that she speaks no English and my Spanish isn't exactly the best; ok, its worse than that and I just don't want to take responsibility for it being as bad as it is.
We met at a nearby gathering place where she promptly got a cab to the park that would have cost me triple the bargained price. Being a large white man in a Hispanic populace means that I tend to pay more for things that what locals do and I was grateful for her expertise in that regard. When we got to the zoo it became rapidly apparent that the attraction that day wasn't to be the animals, rather the Peruvian woman who was walking with a pale Sasquatch next to her. I think I was stared at for the majority of the day but after the first hour, I stopped noticing as I was too busy trying to keep my brain from melting. Was it hot? Not even close (its winter here) but rather it is because I was trying to make conversation in a language that I'm not very good at speaking.
Erica was nice and patient with me for the day but the day didn't end after just a few hours. Her son was getting ready to meltdown (he's 4 and needs time to do such things) so we grabbed a cab and I was taken to her place for an introduction to the family. I wasn't anxious about meeting them at all, I really wanted to see what living conditions were like for a middle class Peruvian family. So I headed in to meet the 4 generations of people that lived in their tiny 3 bedroom apartment.
Grandmother, mother, daughter (Erica), and her son (Joaquin) all live in what would be considered "low income housing" in some cities in the US. The conditions aren't the greatest but they make the best of the cramped living spaces that they can afford. I was quickly introduced and welcomed into the house where I was inspected by the family, for reasons that need not to be mentioned. In any case, it was only a few minutes before the decision was made to go to dinner at a local restaurant - I'll let you guess who was doing the buying (my choice actually, I wasn't going to let them pick up the tab!). And during dinner, it was more Spanish and more fumbling for words, the status quo for the day. But it was getting easier as Erica did a decent job of helping me out and I was understanding more and more as the day progressed.
When the day was done, I got into a cab and headed home - having not spoken a word of English in the entire day. I felt relieved to get home as I no longer had to think about what I was going to say but also grateful for the experience of being able to truly be immersed in a foreign culture. That is one of the things that I truly enjoy about being an expat - being able to do things just like that. There is just something unique about being in a completely foreign environment and not only surviving but enjoying the experience.
The spell was broken however, after I got home. I just needed to do something in my native language and so I called my sister so I could catch up with her, and speak a little English. So while it wasn't a complete day without English, it was pretty darn close and while I enjoyed the experience of immersion, I gotta admit that sometimes hearing your own language can be quite soothing...
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
the domain name is mine!
Well, it took me some time because I just wasn't sure if I wanted to do it or not but I finally made the choice to visit Go Daddy and buy the name of my blog. Effective immediately, this blog is expatnomad.com!
So change your links and come on back when you wanna see if there is something new here. I've been a little lax with posting this year but that will happen. Welcome to a new name with an old look.
- Expat
So change your links and come on back when you wanna see if there is something new here. I've been a little lax with posting this year but that will happen. Welcome to a new name with an old look.
- Expat
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