making people a priority.

wednesday night here in lima. next week will be my last week of classes at la católica. my year abroad is quickly coming to an end and i’m looking forward to going home. to being around family and friends and snow and christmas. at the same time i know it will be difficult to leave and say goodbye. how does one say goodbye to a place? especially a place like peru that has become so much a part of me? i guess i’ll just have to figure it out as i go. but for now i’ll just enjoy my time and listen to christmas music and imagine that its snowing outside and i’m sitting by my fire place snuggled up in the big comfy leather chair watching “dancing with the stars” or “the amazing race” with my mom ... alright, enough imagining. let me tell you about last weekend.

last weekend was really great. amelia and i took a 13 hour bus ride up to a city called chiclayo on the northern coast of peru. our main purpose of the trip was to visit my compassion sponsorship child, but we did a lot more than that. we told our friends here at la católica that we were going to chiclayo and it just so happened that one of them is from there. so he put us in contact with people from cbu-chiclayo. we met up with them on friday night and they took care of us. we stayed in one of their rooms because he was going away for the weekend. they showed us around the city and took us to various historical sites. it was so much fun! i don't know why we didn't do the whole meet-up-with-cbu-people while traveling for our previous trips. but now we know.

i don't think that words can convey how nice these people are. they basically just dropped their plans and spent the weekend with two random american girls. it really impressed us and we were truly touched by their kindness. at one point amelia and I were sort of debriefing and talking and trying to figure out what was it that made them so nice. we realized that they made people and relationships a priority. i felt like i was important, they asked me questions, wanted to know about me, told me i spoke spanish well, and laughed with me (sometimes at me, but that's alright). after just two days i feel like we're friends. the kind of friends that you can count on to help you out when you need a tour guide, or a place to sleep or different blankets that don't make amelia's eyes blister (yes, there were some pretty interesting moments of the trip).

so i guess you can say that i’ve been inspired by the wonderful people that i met in Chiclayo – inspired to make people a priority. because i think that is what jesus was and is all about. that’s why he hung out with tax collectors, and talked to the samaritan woman at the well. people were important to him, like the most important thing ever. i mean why else would he leave heaven to live on this earth and then die on the cross? because people, humanity is his priority. he thinks we are important, he thinks i am important. so i want to start living in such a way that people are my priority. that i make others feel important, with the hope that they come to realize that they do matter, not only to me, but to the creator of the universe.

// rosa and i // with our new friends from cbu chiclayo // drinking chica de jora en poto - a fermented corn drink served in a carved out pumpkin // me and amelia in front of the museum of señor de sipán // on the longest balcony in south america // amelia and i with raquel and daniel - our two wonderful tourguides - at the pirámides de túcume // jumping picture =) // a peruvian hairless dog - which i think are gross // cebiche! the typical dish of peru - raw fish "cooked" in lime juice served with corn and sweet potato (can you believe i eat that?) //