genealogical obsession
i am currently obsessed with genealogy. it's not an entirely new interest, but rather something that began way back in elementary school when i had to do projects about my heritage. it seems to me now that my teachers were always most interested in knowing from where my ancestors came, but maybe i just remember it this way because it was something i could never answer satisfactorily. when asked this question i would go home, ask my mother, "what nationality are we?" to which i received the following answer, without fail: "heinz 57." this answer probably has you as stumped as it had me at the age of 12. heinz 57? like the ketchup? yes. exactly like the ketchup.
i guess she said this to indicate that we're made up of so many nationalities that you can't distinguish one from the other anymore. the modern day melting pot? the most recent immigrants in my family were my great-great grandparents on my father's side (my grandmother's mother's parents, to be exact), whom i always thought came from russia, but which i recently learned were actually from the ukraine. maybe it was russia whenever it was that they immigrated to the united states. we obviously have very little clue about these things, which only goes to show that we are americans to the core, just like heinz 57.
i abandoned the idea of figuring out from whence i came shortly after discovering i wouldn't get much beyond my great-grandparents, people with whom i had actually had a relationship at some point in my life, but lately, the desire to understand my family's history has resurfaced. maybe it's being married and contemplating children and the growth of our family tree, or maybe it's living abroad and feeling further from my family and my roots than i've ever been before. maybe it's just a phase (to which, according to j.j., i am apparently prone).
thus, after my trip home last month, i returned to lima with 50 pages of our family history in hand, typed by some great-so-and-so in 1945. i've been retyping the entire document and simultaneously entering each name, birthdate, marriage, date of death and more recently photo, i have for each name in my family tree on
myheritage.com. one of the more interesting features of this website is that it matches your entries with entries on other members' trees, thus connecting families and allowing for the sharing of knowledge of ancestors long past. the information that i have dates back to 1617, the birthdate of my great-great-great-great-etc.-grandfather who emmigrated from england to the united states and fathered jonathan gilbert, the first american-born member of this side of my family, in 1648.
thanks to sarah vowell's "assassination vacation," to which i am currently listening on audiobook, i was clued into her favorite website:
www.findagrave.com, which i immediately visited, typing in the name of my most historical ancestor. she says in her book that this site is for finding the burial sites of important historical figures, listing not only where their body lies, but also where any pieces of their body rest (the fragments of abraham lincoln's skull, for example, lie in ford's theatre in washington d.c. while [the rest of] his body lies in illinois, as vowell notes in her book). from the looks of this very low-budget (ghetto, j.j. says) website, it seems it has since been extended to include just about anybody. you can even request photos of a particular person's grave, for which someone is employed to then visit and photograph the requested grave. thankfully, no such request was necessary for
jonathan gilbert, 1648-1698.
my husband tells me i've entered the "CREEPYASHELL" realm.
aside: the above jonathan gilbert is purported to be the nephew of sir walter raleigh, half-brother to jonathan gilbert's father, john gilbert. when i called my mother shortly after my discovery of www.findagrave.com (she's always had an unhealthy interest in graves, taking many a picture of family headstones herself) her first search was for sir walter raleigh. after reading the first comment on sir walter raleigh's page, "I didnt think murderer's memorials were open here..? (sarcasm) Thank you for killing my people (Native Americans) and robbing them of their land. (MORE sarcasm) And ,,,oh yea,,,God Bless Ireland you thieving murdering Brit scum bag. -
Stacy"
she simply said, "People are so weird," after which i had to wonder, "who is weirder? the person who left this comment, or the person who claims some sort of diluted association to sir walter raleigh and thus searches for his grave on the internet?" either way, both have obviously entered my realm.Labels: family, genealogy, j.j.
spanish class, pot roast and brown hair
i started the second level of advanced spanish this past friday at
idiomas catolica, leaving only two more levels until i have completed the entire program.
i already feel a premature sense of pride at this accomplishment, learning spanish being one of the principle reasons i wanted to move abroad in the first place. also, i'm in class with a peruvian. which only serves to inflate my ego even further.
i have had at least one "peruvian" in every spanish class i've taken since arriving in lima. "peruvian" in these cases has usually meant the child of one peruvian parent who spend the majority of his/her childhood in the native country of the other parent, but amelia, my current classmate, has lived in the united states so long reading, hearing, writing and speaking only in english that she has forgotten bits and pieces of her native language. this means she speaks pretty much perfectly, but i can still do better than her in listening and reading comprehension.
our first day in class she mentioned pot roast 4 times followed by drawn out stories about how she has cooked this typical american dish for many of her peruvian friends, all of whom have found it to be absolutely delicious. next comes a story about meatloaf along with knowing glances thrown in my direction from across the room. the next time i come to class she sits by me and in addition to the knowing nods i get from her at every vaguely american reference she makes, she also uses these opportunities to lightly pat my hand and gently giggle, as if we are sharing in some girlhood secret.
did i mention she's 65? or did the pot roast give that away?
today in class she took to throwing random english words into her banter, which is not only annoying, but also really confusing. she looks at me as she's talking at length about her sister's preference for something or other when she says, "satisfación, you know, satisfaction," as if i, a student of español avanzado 2, would need this translation. now it's understandable when a server at a nice restaurant speaks to me in english, - although it is no less annoying - but in my own spanish class? really?
jj tells me this is a consequence of my blonde hair: when people look at me, they see an american, so they speak to me in english. i usually resent this, but try to look somewhere deep inside of myself to see that they are going out of their way to help me, that they are not to try to impede my language acquisition.
this is but one of the many sad truths for english speakers living abroad whose main goal is to learn the language of the country where they are living: english is inescapable.
so at least dye your hair brown.
Labels: class, language, peru, spanish
deliciously fake cheese products
i have recently developed a bizarre fascination with buying american snacks. i generally prefer those of the salty variety, paired with a "coca zero" (say it with a spanish accent to get the full effect) served over ice.
the weird thing about this new fascination, though, is that i'm not interested in buying my usual stand-bys (nacho cheese doritos, cheese pringles and the like), not are my favorite snack readily available on the local market (cheese nips, white cheddar popcorn, puffy cheetos, etc.), which leave me buying the random, individually packaged american snacks that one can easily find in any major grocery store in the city: cheddar cheese combos (made with real cheese!) and snyder's pretzel sandwiches (of the jalapeno cheese variety).*
i attribute this odd behavior to homesickness. or maybe it's just life abroad in general. it's missing the familiar. an entire aisle at the grocery store filled with products i know, most of which i've probably tried at some point in my life. it's not that i have anything against peruvian snack products, in fact, i am quite in love with a number of them (chifles, canchas, and those really crunchy huge kernels of corn, that just happen to come in sabor queso, as well), it's just that i don't know them. i may have tried them, i may really like them, but my brain/body/heart/soul is not accustomed to seeing them in the aisles and on the billborads and in the commercials and tasting them on my tongue and therefore, i just don't crave them. at least not lately.
the real irony of this whole scenario is that when i leave peru, i will surely crave a chifle or two. and where will i be able to find relief for my longing?
i face a great quandary: to eat as many peruvian products as i can while i have them readily available, or to indulge my bizarre craving and enjoy a little slice of home when i miss it most?
em readily available, or to indulge my bizarre craving and enjoy a little slice of home when i miss it most?
*i am obviously addicted to anything cheese flavored, which one might wonder whether this comes as a result of living in a city in which a reasonably priced, decent tasting cheese in non-existent, to which i would answer, no, i have always loved fake cheese. i like the real thing, too.
Labels: cheese, peru, snacks
the things i haven't bought
i realized yesterday that in the past year i have only purchased 5 items of clothing.
1 pair of jeans
1 skirt
1 pair of shorts
1 pair of shoes
1 dress
as satisfied as i felt after coming to this realization, i was also quite surprised: i achieved a feat i never even set out to accomplish, and felt quite proud of myself for doing so.
according to the environmental protection agency,
the average american gets rid of 68 pounds of clothing every year, and on this front, you can definitely count me in. i have gotten rid of more clothes than i can remember this year - donating to local charities, giving some to friends or family and throwing the rest away. and you wouldn't believe how much stuff i still have in my closet. piles of t-shirts and jeans and sweaters that i rarely even wear, but am determine to use until they can be used no longer.
this new mentality is, for better or for worse, in great part due to my husband. he is thrifty, to put it kindly. he wears every article of clothing he owns until they have holes and/or no longer fit, and then he goes to the tailor and has them repaired, continuing to use them at least twice as long. in a developing country this is much more economical than it might be in the united states (simple shoe repair here in lima costs less than $1 and simple tailoring costs less than $3), but it's a practice that not only saves money, but also the earth's resources.
"Although 10 million tons of unwanted duds per year puts pressure on U.S. landfills, it's the origin of the clothes that does the greatest harm. Production of synthetic fabric consumes petroleum, blows out greenhouse gases and spews wastewater bearing organic solvents, heavy metals and poisonous dyes and fiber treatments."i want to buy fewer things.
the average household spent $,1760 on clothes in 2007. i spent less than $100.
clothes are just the beginning. another way i've used and reused what i already have is through
www.bookmooch.com. this is an amazing, free website that allows you to trade books with other members. a) sign up b) add books you want to give away (you will earn 0.1 point for every book added and 1.0 points for every book of yours requested) c) request books you want to read (one book costs 1.0 point and you receive 0.1 point for acknowledging when you recieve the book). the only cost to you is the cost of shipping the book, which is $2.38 for anything under 1 pound sent "Media Mail."
needless to say, i still buy plenty of things and have more stuff than i need, but i'm glad announce that my spending has greatly decreased in the last 12 months, thanks to all the things i haven't bought.
midway
having passed the halfway point of my two years in lima, i'm already looking forward to what's next as i cherish all that i love and bid good riddance to all that i hate.
(some of) all that i love:my apartmentit is oh, so very lovely and i can't imagine that whatever comes next will be any better. beautiful wood floors and an entire wall of windows looking over swaying trees in our practically personal park. amazing.
the foodi love it and i can't get enough of it. where else in the world am i going to be within walking distance of some of the best restaurants in the country? i'm 5 minutes away from pollo a la brasa, causa, ceviche, sushi, anticucho, conchas a la parmesana and so many plates i haven't even tried yet that i'm sure i'd love.
domestic travel
there's basically no end to it and i've yet to be disappointed. peru has so much more to offer other than machu picchu, my favorites being iquitos, islas ballestas, hucachina and puno.
the mccono
50 cents for the perfect little answer to any sweet tooth's craving, and you can find one of nearly every corner! (see "american chains" under "all that i hate")
(some of) all that i hate:my kitchenby far the worst part of our apartment, perhaps mostly because we don't have a dishwasher! two years without a dishwasher is two years too long, but aside from this i will not be missing our cavernous, grey, cold, hallway of a kitchen.
garuathe foggy mist that covers the city for half the year. aside from making one feel groggy and depressed almost everyday it also seems to induce a constant mild cold (runny nose, sore throat, you know the deal).
american chains
i kinda left the country to get away from mcdonald's, chili's, tgifridays, papa john's, dunkin donuts, kfc, pizza hut and subway, only to come here and be within walking distance of all of them. american capitalism at its best?
what peruvians like to use instead of pavement or grass
i don't know what to call it, but it goes at the top of my list of things i hate most about peru. instead of paving an area or leaving it au natural, they like to put in these cement t's that when laid together make for these square holes that aren't quite big enough to completely step into, but neither are they comfortable to walk on top of. they are everywhere and they make my life as a pedestrian more than annoying.
jerusalem 2010 here we come!
places i spent the night in 2008
lincoln, ne
omaha, ne
washington, dc
las vegas, nv
cincinatti, oh
san juan, puerto rico
vieques, puerto rico
barranquita, puerto rico
la parguera, puerto rico
boston, ma
montreal, canada
mexico city, mexico
queretaro, mexico
lima, peru
puerto maldonado, peru
mancora, peru
beijing, china
shanghai, china
seoul, south korea
sokcho, south korea
arequipa, peru
iquitos, peru
cusco, peru
it seems i've come full circle since october. no longer am i turning my nose up at christmas decorations and music in stores more than two months before the holiday, but instead i find my heart aching for the christmas season i've always known: winter.
this will be my first christmas outside of the united states; more importantly, it will be my first christmas south of the equator.
during college i spent a summer in argentina, and while i found it odd to spend the months of june, july and august wearing sweaters and scarves, it was a bit easier to handle knowing i'd still catch a few days of sun and humidity upon my return to nebraska. christmas in peru is a different story altogether. i will not wear one scarf during the month of december (apart from fashion's sake); i will not see one snowflake (aside from the fake ones hanging in every store window); nor will i hear one ringing salvation army bell (but will take great pleasure in imagining my mom and sister ringer those bells outside of the hy-vee on cass st. as they did this year).
having also spent my first thanksgiving outside of the united states/south of the equator this year, i discovered the great practicality of such a feast occurring in november. when one thinks of thanksgiving dinner images of freshly baked pies and a perfectly browned turkey and steaming mashed potatoes come to mind. these are all perfect dishes for cooking when it's blustery outside and one desires comfort and warmth and using an oven for two days straight accomplishes just that. making the same meal when it's already sunny and warm outside just doesn't seem quite right. what's the point of cooking a turkey all day just to open every window in the house and still sweat upon entering the kitchen? when the fourth thursday of november came this year all i wanted to do was drink iced lemonade and snack on some fresh fruits or a light salad; my body just doesn't desire such heavy eating during the warm months. similarly, those warm smells the christmas season usually begets (vanilla and cinnamon and cocoa bean) just aren't quite right for a limeñen christmas. i crave citrus and cotton and flowers. this week we attended a christmas carol ceremony at a church in our neighborhood that offers services in english and as i looked at the lighted advent candles and listened to the choir singing "ring christmas bells," i enjoyed the deliberate wafting of fragrant begonias throughout the sanctuary: a wonderful marriage of what's familiar and what's new.
so when my family arrives in lima on december 22 you can bet your bottom dollar we'll be cooking up all the fixings yet again come christmas day, perhaps we'll just come up with a way to employ our new grill this time. even though we don't have a christmas tree (they sell them here, but the smallest one runs a little over $100...) or many decorations (just one, actually), and even though we'll probably be spending our days surfing and walking through parks and relaxing in the hammock in the warm afternoon sun, i'm becomming accustomed to the south side of the equator, and more and more am learning how to integrate the old with the new.
christmas in lima 2008: 11 days and counting...
