When we’re in the States, it’s easy to get lulled into the familiar routine and forget that we’re heading back overseas soon. By the time we leave in May, I’ll have been here...
Peru
This is a collection of posts from our tour in Lima, Peru from May 2012 to April 2014.
In the life of a Foreign Service Spouse, there are certain involuntary breath-holding moments that occur in response to the ambiguity of this lifestyle. One of those moments is the day you get a post...
Hola from Peru! It’s been a chaotic 48 hours of transit and orientation to our new home. I had forgotten how humbling it is to struggle with communication and completing basic tasks. That being...
You know me, I’m not much for wasting time. Might as well just jump right in. I woke up Friday morning feeling energized and ready to see the town. Nia and I started our day with a walk to a...
As I’ve mentioned before, Nia is VERY popular here. Almost too popular, if I’m being honest (although who am I to shy away from attention). This outpouring of love for her shows up in a...
On Thursday Nia and I took our first taxi cab ride (our car won’t get here for three more months). Sounds simple, but as with most things in a 3rd world country, it proves to be far more...
Well folks. One week down, 103 to go. As with any new place I arrive in, there’s always a few things I love, a few things I hate and a few things that just make me scratch my head in...
Can you believe it? Little Nia is 7 months old! Where did the time go… My little girl is getting big – and FEISTY! :) She refused to sit or lay on her back long enough for me to get more...
Hola Blog Readers — Hope you had a wonderful, relaxing Memorial Day Weekend (for those who celebrate it). We were initially going to go away this weekend for our first official getaway but...
Today I’d like to tell you a little story. Once upon a time there was a girl named Sarita. Sarita began taking Spanish as a freshman in High School. She initially loved the subject, dreaming...
So, so proud of Mr. Nicholas. Yesterday he found out that he got tenured, which essentially means he can’t get canned (unless he does something so bad he loses his security clearance). When you...
This week might as well have been called the “Week of Gluttony”. I swear, all we did was eat amazing food. It started back on Monday with our lunch date at Pescados Capitales. As...
I am trying so, so hard NOT to compare everything here to the Philippines. And the harder I try not to, the more I miss the Phils. The funny thing is, I really like Lima. It’s just not Manila...
This week’s Saturday date coincided with an Embassy-planned outing to La Mar Cevicheria. Instead of going solo, we met up with 10 other ceviche-lovers at what could arguably be called the most...
I was more than a little nervous to start up Spanish classes again. I mean two hours a day, five days a week is a LOT of Spanish. That two hours could really go by slowly, especially if I’m...
At every post with a hardship designation, there is inevitably something that the Security Team scares the bejeezus out of us about (with the intent of keeping us safer, of course). They go over-the...
We’ve been in Lima for over a month now and decided it was high time we did some ‘touristy’ stuff and saw the rest of the city! We picked the oh-so-popular Turibus Tour (complete...
A little something new from Ms. Nia that we have termed “Lizard Tongue”…
My first month of Spanish came to an end today. The sad part is that most of these amazing people won’t be in my next class (they’re staying in the morning, I’m going to try...
These are about 10 days late – oops! She’s definitely starting to explore her world, as reflected in these photos.
This video is dedicated to Auntie Emily, who has been begging and begging to see footage of Nia on the move!
I woke up on my birthday in a foul mood. I had decided in advance that it was going to be a crap b-day because: a.) My bday fell on a Monday this year b.) I have no friends here yet (please note the...
My daughter is a drama queen. Drama queen with a CAPITAL D. Her intensity is unparalleled. She can go from dawn to dusk and has recently decided that she isn’t interested in sleeping (LUCKY US)...
Peru’s Independence Day is coming up on July 28th. People have been showing their pride all month long, with many wearing pins, some adorning their car with a flag and EVERY house putting up a...
No, we’re not leaving the country, but we are moving to a new place in Lima. We were very lucky to have a great condo in the heart of Manila for our first tour and were totally digging our...
“Hollywood has its film stars. We have our cooks and Mistura is like the Oscars.” Guess who has tickets to this food festival in September??? It will surely be the highlight of my...
Sorry for the lack of blogging lately, I’ve been doing a ton of writing during the day for my upcoming business launch of CanceRevolution and I just don’t have the energy to do more...
Nia and I recently started going to a weekly music class in our Miraflores neighborhood. It’s a steal of a deal at $4 a session for an hour of music. Carlos, the musician, is quite versatile...
One of our traditions is to collect a piece of art from each country we are posted to. We always purchase it at the beginning of our stay, prior to the Embassy coming over to hang up all our wall art...
So last Wednesday I went to the doctor because my nose piercing was infected (I’ve had it four months and it’s been infected on and off throughout). During the appointment he removed the...
Last Saturday was our long-awaited visit to Mistura, the Peruvian Food Festival. This is a relatively new festival (one cabbie told me it’s three years old), but it’s already made a major...
It’s hard to believe, but our little girl just crossed the one year mark. I’m not going to lie and say that the entire year flew by because there were days in those first three months...
Here are the best of Nia’s 1 Year Photo Shoot! We had them done by Vanessa of Luz + Letra here in Lima. It was a fantastic experience that yielded over 100 beautiful shots of Nia! If...
It’s been non-stop Halloween around here the last few days. Although not my favorite holiday, I have to admit that it’s a ton more fun with a kid. Cuteness just becomes magnified in silly...
I biffed it BIG TIME today. Here’s what happened: I was lying in the bedroom, attempting to grab a quick one-hour nap to make up for my 4:45 AM wake up (thanks Nia). All of a sudden our...
Yesterday I had the amazing good fortune of joining the Canadian International Society (Not just for Canadians!) for a morning of volunteering at Casa Hogar, a home for single mothers under the age...
Tis the season for holiday parties! Saturday was one of our first Embassy ones, a “Morning with Santa” for the kiddos. It was beautifully done – bouncy castles, face painting...
I have a confession to make. I’m addicted to social media. It started innocently enough. I mean, I didn’t even get my first Facebook account until 2008 and even then, I was incredibly...
There’s never a dull day on the Malecon (our ocean-side park near our house) and since we go out there several times each day, we inevitably run into lots of fun adventures. Like yesterday, for...
One of the activities Jenna was most excited to try during her stay in Lima was a Chocolate-making Workshop at the Choco Museum in Lima. This was my first time going as well, so we made for quite an...
January has been plum full of visitors! My sister Jenna was here from January 2nd to the 12th and then my dear college friend Rachel arrived on the 12th and stayed until the 21st. Talk about non-stop...
I get a lot of comments about how much Nia looks like me because of the blue eyes/blond hair thing. What you can’t tell however, is how much Nia looks like Nick when he was a child. Check out...
It’s summer here and we’ve been capitalizing on the good weather by doing lots of fun outdoorsy stuff. One of our adventures this week was a trip to Granja Arriero (Arriero Farm), a small...
As I’ve mentioned before, Embassy Lima does a great job of putting on festive holiday celebrations. Holidays tend to bring up additional feelings of homesickness and events like this really do...
We’ve had helper drama lately. I haven’t written about it because I wasn’t sure how it was going to be resolved, but I’m ready to give you the full lowdown now. In early...