The Georges in Peru

Our toaster broke.  In America I would just throw it away, but in Peru, they fix everything.  So for about $3.50 the 'electrocista' took our toaster apart, soldered a loose wire back in place and reassembled it in about 30 minutes while I looked for a school book for Ben and bought groceries.  So, I saved a few bucks and kept one more toaster out of the landfill.

This morning I went running with Roberto.  I first met him in Abancay about 10 years ago when a Dutch friend and I organized the race, "Race to the Cross", an 8K race with 1K of vertical ascent up the mountain outside of Abancay.  Roberto had a print shop and offered to make certificates for all of the finishers.  Peruvians love certificates.  He also has moved to Arequipa and I ran into him on a city bus a couple of months ago.  He's become a rather accomplished runner since then, running a half-marathon in 1 hour 20 minutes at age 52!  We met at 6:30 sharp (runners are good about punctuality!) about a mile from my house and we ran about 5 miles together.  Luckily, he hasn't run much during the last month so I could keep up with him!  We ran about 8-minute miles.  I think he was being very kind to me.  I'm training for the Lima Marathon May 19th, so this should be a good boost to my workouts.

Ask Amy, "What is the best thing about being a missionary?" and depending on how spiritual she needs to sound, she might answer, "Having a maid!"  Naty is our maid and she comes in once or twice a week to clean and teach us how to make rice better than we've ever made before.  Last week she called in sick on Thursday and on Friday we found out she was getting her ruptured appendix out!  She was having abdominal pain and went to get an ultrasound and they guy doing the ultrasound told her, "You have to go to the hospital right now."  "I don't have any money."  "Here's 200 soles (about $70), pay me back later.  If you die, have your family pay me back!"  Luckily, she was able to pay it back without it being her last living request.

Today is the last day of summer vacation, so we decided to go go-karting.  For just under $1 you get a ticket, wait in line and then drive 3 laps around the course.  The karts have no seatbelts, but are so low they are about impossible to roll over.  Mia tested the rebound characteristics of the tire barriers and was unscathed.  I subscribe to the 'put the accelerator on the floor the entire time' strategy.  I lost my hat on the last lap, shortly after Ben took this picture.

At church tonight, the electricity went out.  We moved the pews outside, to take advantage of what little daylight was left.  Fortunately, the electricity came back on about half way through the service.  I thought, 'Christ Community Church in Omaha never has adventures like this!'

Friday night is chess club night!   We usually get about 10 kids playing chess and another half dozen playing ping pong and other games.  Each week we have a 3-round tournament and the top three players get a small monetary prize (about $1 for first prize).  But this week we changed things.  Instead of those with the highest scores winning the prizes, those who exhibited the best sportsmanship took home the prizes!  1st place went to Chiquitín (which is translated, "Little One" but his real name is Carlos) for reminding his opponent to push the button on the chess clock after he moved and for not getting mad when another kid tried to trip him.  2nd place went to a kid for saying "Thank you," and third place went to another kid for losing graciously.  I've seen the kids do a lot of thinking during chess games, but I've never seen them look so pensive as tonight.