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‘Different’ blessings
If I had to use one word to describe Peru so far, I would use “different”. Mediocre I know but let me explain, everything here has been different than my expectations, and most things here: the fruit, the landscapes, the people, the weather are just different to anything I’ve known so far- which until now has been on the other side of the planet in England.
The climate is different pretty much every day (the Lord is so creative to have made these things) sometimes I wake up shivering because it’s cold and sometimes shivering because my body is recovering because the sun had too much access to my poor white skin (hello sun burn my old friend).
On which note: something else that’s different here is that EVERYONE loves to point out that I have red cheeks, literally. Whilst in England we’d maybe make a joke or politely pretend ‘it’s not that bad’. There’s no inbetween here, apparantley to avoid offense people dont withold their opinions and it can be BRUTAL. The worst so far being “your hair looks greasy” and “why are you wearing pajamas in the day?” Something else that contrasts to this would be that people DON’T stick to telling the truth. For example when asked for directions it’s custom to avoid offending someone, and give them directions, even if you actually don’t know the way to the mall. In this instance its culturally ok to fib, yet it’s perfectly fine to destroy their self confidence with the full and honest truth about how “rojo” their cheeks are. Promise I’m not as mad as I sound about this. It’s actually fantastic that God has created SO many different personalities.
If we were to describe this as a different way of choosing your words (and completely confusing Indi what with hopping in and out of honesty), another obvious difference here would be the language. The majority of things I say to others aren’t in my mother tongue which is the craziest thing to me, and I have to give the Lord credit for this blessing! It can also be a pain in the butt as I simply can’t communicate myself as well as I’m used to, which is SUCH a lesson to learn and again something I have to turn to God with! Peru is s l o w l y becoming a place I love, the people here are quickly helping this love to grow - despite the comments about my rosy cheeks, my new amigos are brilliant. I’ve scoffed, laughed, yawned (always tired for some reason) been amazed, learnt, explored and smiled every day that I’ve been here. A few days have had a few tears but in the words of Rend Collective I am counting every blessing, letting go and trusting when I cannot see, because surely every season The LORD is good to me!