Things going on this week:

Mothers Day happened yesterday. Happy belated Mothers Day f-list! My boyfriend organized a barbecue at his house for the whole family which was nice. The idea was that his mum not do any cooking but she still managed to spend at least three hours in the kitchen.

Tomorrow night eight of my colleagues in the Sales team are going on a free trip to Santiago, Chile (free except for the flights). I would have gone too if it had been a different week, but as my mum and sister are coming this weekend I can't make it. I'm still way more excited about them coming than disappointed not to go on the trip - Santiago is close enough for a visit some other time.

Anyway, one of the Sales managers had this great idea to let anyone go that wanted to, so we now have the situation that eight of us are out of the office and the four of us that are left have to cover for everyone else that's on the trip. Gee, thanks, considerate Sales managers. That's four people to cover the office for five days from 7am to 10pm - make that three, because one is refusing to help. I'll just spend 24 hours over the next 3 days answering ten phones instead of doing my actual work - the actual work being what I get paid for. And of course I'm even more delighted to do that just so that everyone else can go wine-tasting.

The first episode of Game of Thrones aired yesterday. I'm behind everyone else and I can't be bothered to do a cut, so I won't go into any more detail. I did think it was great, though, and I loved the lack of adverts all the way through. I'm trying to figure out if I want to start reading the books before I watch anymore. I like having cliffhangers in my life so it's nice not knowing what's going to happen, but I also think I would like to have a better idea of what's going on by reading the books too. But I don't want to read the books if that's going to ruin the show for me.

I've been doing some shopping in anticipation of my mum and sister coming over - hopefully the stuff I'm asking them to bring isn't taking over their luggage too much :/. I've decided it's finally time to get a real phone so that I can be better in touch with people back home. Right now I do all my talking with my mum on Saturday mornings, which is the only time we are both free, and I talk to my dad and sister and friends even less. But if I have a phone that actually calls other countries, I can send them a message or call them or send them a pic anytime. This phone also has a great camera which helped me justify the cost as I needed both a phone and a camera. And it will help me freak out less at night when I'm on my own and I worry about earthquakes and the fact that only three people know where I am. Fun reason, that last one :)

I have also done a huge U-turn on my Kindle policy and realised that it would be perfect for me even though the thought of reading off a machine always seemed majorly wrong. I can't buy books here because they're too expensive and I don't want to end up shipping hundreds of them across the world whenever I do end up going home. I've not been reading much at all in the last couple of years because of that and this will completely solve that problem. I'm going to start with all the classics that I can download for free. Yay culture :D

Last Thursday everyone started talking about a new video that came out promoting Peru abroad. Peruvians are incredibly proud of their country and so it's always a big deal when Peruvians go abroad or when Peruvian places, personalities or delicacies are appreciated outside of Peru.

I just saw the video and absolutely loved it. It's about a visit that a busload of famous Peruvians made to the town of Peru, Nebraska. The concept was that these inhabitants of Peru were actually Peruvian, and they didn't know it, so the delegation of Peruvians pitched up in town with their traditional foods, songs, and animals (the hairless dog, guinea pig, and alpaca) to show them what being a Peruvian is all about. At the end you see some of the Nebraskans getting a copy of their own Peruvian DNI (national identity card).

Very funny and very heartwarming. The delegation consists of some of Peru's most famous chefs (Gaston Acurio, Javier Wong), the world champion surfer Sofia Mulanovich, the Oscar-nominated actress Magaly Solier, TV presenters, footballers, the world-acclaimed tenor Juan Diego Florez, and more. I have no idea how they managed to get all these people together to do this but they've just caused a huge sensation in both Perus :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFtmSE5oPDA

It's been an interesting few days.

First of all I wanted to re-post something that a friend put on Facebook today. It stood out amongst everything else that was written as a beautiful response to the news about bin Laden being killed.

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."
--Martin Luther King, Jr

I wish the crowds that flocked to the White House and Ground Zero on Sunday night had had a little better sense of history and reflected a little more before showing up.

Talking about having a sense of history, I had some disturbing conversations on Saturday night at a friend's party that I haven't been able to stop thinking about since.

( Watching history repeat itself )


I'm done for now... but if you got through all that, here's an inappropriate bin Laden death reaction that actually doubles as light relief. Courtesy of the one and only Alan Garcia, Peru's current president: A miracle from Pope John Paul II

Thanks to CNN's round-the-clock coverage (which seems to have employed every wedding planner, florist, cake decorator, etiquette teacher and mad Royals fan in the UK - the toothpick Royal portrait guy might be the looniest one so far) I haven't been able to ignore the Royal Wedding even though I'm still planning to be asleep at the time it happens. Sorry Will and Kate. My mum and my nan are watching though :)

I just saw Mario Testino's black and white photos of them (he's Peruvian by the way!) and I can't believe how much William looks like Diana in one of the most famous portraits that Testino took of her. No doubt he was well aware of that when he took their portrait this time, and it's beautiful. It was very touching actually.

I'm happy for them, they seem like a sweet couple and I can't be bothered to get annoyed about how expensive the wedding is, etc etc. The only thing I can't get over is the idea of her being Queen one day and that's because she is two years younger than me and looks like one of my best friends from university. I'll bet she can't imagine being Queen either. That's like trying to imagine yourself being old, I suppose. I really can't imagine what she must be thinking right now.

These pictures freak me out!

http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/4792392/Peter-Jacksons-hobbit-hole-transformation

It's been nearly 10 years since the Lord of the Rings started filming and Peter Jackson looks like he's 10 years younger! I will never get used to seeing him as a skinny guy!

On the other hand: YAY Peter Jackson is back in a New Zealand hobbit hole :D :D :D

It's been a while since I posted anything, most stuff just seemed too trivial over the weekend, considering that the most worrying aspect of the tsunami alert for my colleagues and I turned out to be the possible cancelation of our beach party weekend, as all the beaches were supposed to be officially closed on Friday and Saturday. Fortunately the waves came and went on Friday night without causing any damage on the Peruvian coast and the beach was still there when we arrived - although it was almost empty. My boss's parents own a beautiful house there and it was fun to live the high life for a couple of days.

A couple of weeks ago, the website team at work asked all of us to send them some of the photos we've taken on our travels round Latin America so that they can give the websites a makeover. Most of my travel photos are back in the UK now but I sent them the best hi-res ones I have. Yesterday, the website manager sent me a link to the new-look website for Argentina because she wanted me to see that all of the new banner photos on the home page were taken from the ones I sent in! There are four of them which fade in and out. They look great. I keep looking at the page now as I'm quite proud that my photos are the first things you'll see when you go to the site.

The company also ran a photo contest, I guess to encourage more people to send their pics in. Another one of my photos was one of the two winners, which has won me a free dinner for two at a nice local seafood restaurant. So that was all good news. The website manager and my Sales manager both told me I should be a professional :) but I'll need to take a proper course first. I'm actually seriously thinking about doing one, as there is a good photography institute just a few minutes' walk from my flat.

In more work news, today marks two years since my first day at this job. When I went for the interview I'd only planned on staying three months. I cannot believe how fast the last two years have gone. It's a pretty crazy job, but at least I'm happy in it right now. My feelings about it change according to whether or not things are going well, so I'm saying "right now" because past experience tells me that I could hate it in a week's time. This mostly has to do with one of my bosses, who always manages to make me feel like I'm skating on thin ice even though I'm one of the most experienced sales advisors in the Lima office (the only people who have been working here for longer have gone back to the US and are working from home, so they don't really count). She does this to everyone though, so at least I know it's her problem and not mine. I've worked really well in the past with a lot of difficult women, but she is in a league of her own.

Can't believe it's already Thursday tomorrow! I wish I could slow things down a bit sometimes!

I just found out about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan - what horrible news, the videos and pictures coming out of there are terrifying. I hope those of you with friends and family in Japan and Hawaii will hear from them soon and that they are safe, and those of you along the west US coast are safe too.

The tsunami path looks like it will arrive in Peru later tonight - the guy on CNN drew a line right at Peru but didn't seem to know what country he was looking at so just called it the southern coast of South America. I live 3 blocks from the coast in Lima but this district is up on high cliffs so there is no danger right here. There is a lot more danger in low-lying areas all along the long coastline of Peru as well as in countries north and south of here, so I really hope there are efficient evacuations even in remote areas. Peru doesn't exactly have an advanced tsunami plan. After the earthquake and tsunami in Chile last year there were some evacuations along the south coast but it really was a small wave by time it hit.

Is it me, or are these terrible earthquakes striking more often than not at the beginning of the year? In the space of a year we've seen two of the biggest earthquakes ever in Chile and Japan, not to mention the horrific tragedy in Haiti last year and the other big one in New Zealand last month. I shudder to even think what one would look like here.

I'm pretty amazed that I haven't seen a reference to International Womens' Day on my LJ or Facebook friends list today, so here it is:

Happy Womens' Day!

If you don't know why it's important, read this.

From the article I just linked to above:

"Gender-based violence causes more deaths and disabilities among women aged 15 to 44 than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war. Basically it's safer to spend Friday nights chain smoking on the M1 [a major highway in the UK] with a bag of Congolese mosquitoes, in fog, than to be a woman in large swathes of the world. It's not possible to have a daughter ... and ignore the fact that every year, 60 million girls are sexually assaulted at or en route to school. One in five women will become a victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime. One in four women will be a victim of domestic violence in her lifetime – many of these on a number of occasions. Women who experience violence are up to three times more likely to acquire HIV. Indeed, it is now among women and children, not the men spreading it, that Aids is most prevalent. Among national governments, 29% lack laws or policies to prevent violence against women. Women hold only 19% of the world's parliamentary seats, perfectly echoed in our own chamber. Have you had enough yet?"


While I was doing my masters in 2003-4 I did a module in Gender Studies that, to me at the time, was virtually incomprehensible. I got good grades from throwing the right words and acronyms into my essays, but I found the women doing that course almost like another species: angry, anti-men, belligerent. Some of those women are part of what gives feminism a bad name these days, and makes other women shy away from the term. Feminism also means caring about other women, supporting a global cause to end gender-based violence, which is horrifying in its scale even in "nice" countries like England. In Peru, not a day goes by that I don't read about a women being killed by a jealous boyfriend or husband. It isn't that much better in the UK. In other countries, it is much worse. There's no need to hate men to want to do something about that, and hating men doesn't do much to help.

I never used to be much of a feminist before I left the UK, but living in a developing country like Peru has certainly made me aware of the differences in attitudes towards women across the world. Getting whistled at in the street every day is nothing; one of the things that most frustrates me is the moronic television programming made for daytime TV which has a majority female audience and consistently features scantily clad women competing to be models or dancers, as if these are the only employment prospects available for young women. If it's not that, then they're being shown how to cook or make their home pretty. The few times I've seen women at home receive business advice, it's as their husband's secretaries! Fortunately there are some strong female role models, but all too many are corrupt politicians and celebrity TV gossip-mongers.

The only good Peruvian female role models I know belong to my boyfriend's family, which gives me faith that Peru is actually made up of hundreds of thousands of amazing women who are contributing in their own way to give this country the backbone in the absence of good and trustworthy politicians and businessmen. Theirs is a family of women that has experienced plenty of tragedy in their time but come through it all with strength and humour. J's mum brought him up pretty much by herself after his dad disappeared and raised another family. Bear in mind that she was bringing him up in one of the most difficult times possible in Peru, during the 80's and 90's when terrorism had sent the country's development back 20 years, inflation was as high as 300%, and frequent blackouts, water and basic food shortages made life at home a constant struggle for parents. J hasn't spoken to his father in about 10 years.

His grandmother's husband died 50 years ago and yet, at 95, she is still going strong. She hardly walks and virtually never leaves the house, but her mind is sharper than most of ours and she has a fantastic sense of humour. J still lives at home with her, his mum, his uncle and aunt, which is normal in Peru. She is one of the original members of the neighbourhood they live in and is granted a great deal of respect by everyone around her. During the traditional Catholic "Lord of Miracles" march every October, the procession carrying the painting  of Jesus that is believed to be miraculous stops outside their house to pay respects, and his cousins come from other parts of Lima to sing and perform traditional dances.

J's family has more women than men these days due to husbands that have abandoned their familes, and sons/husbands that have died through accidents and illness. I am always amazed by these womens' strength and their successes, whether at work - maintaining their families (their children and parents) by themselves - or at home.

To me, this is always thrown into an even sharper focus when J's elderly uncle comes round. In his time, he was the one to support his family of six children alone, and to help the family of J's grandmother as well when her husband died, and he can rightly be proud of that. But he is part of the machista older generation that gives little credit to womens' opinions about anything other than home life and has such little tolerance and respect for younger generations. J's mum and aunts are not like that - they have had to learn and adapt, and this is always so obvious when they get into arguments about contemporary issues such as delicuency and poverty. They have a broader perspective, but he has never had to learn because he has always commanded respect just the way he is. But I know who is right, and I am glad that J is the product of his mum and his aunts' upbringing and not of his uncle's.

As for me, I wanted to do something to mark  Womens Day at work, since our female manager and office managers didn't seem to notice it, so I sent all the girls I work with an email to suggest we go out for a drink tonight. I'm not normally the organizer of social events but it worked out well as six of us were able to go out, and we have just come back from a fun time at the Radisson hotel's rooftop bar. It felt like we pampered ourselves a little, and I would like to take more opportunities to celebrate women, even if it is in such tiny small ways as giving the girls a reason to chill out together outside the office.

At the weekend I read a line that said in a newspaper article which read, "An idea doesn't exist unless you do something about it". I typed that onto a sticky note for my desktop to remind me of that because I think of things all the time that I never do. I'm not aiming big here. If all it means is remembering to bring J's mum some cookies on Womens Day, then at least I will show one woman that I appreciate her. Today, I'm pleased that I made several other women aware that they should be celebrating being a woman in Peru. If I can do more than that, then all the better!

While I was on LJ last night, the power went out. Not sure what time it came back on again, but my fridge had already inconveniently de-iced itself. I found the blackout a bit unnerving, partly because my boyfriend is away and partly because I'm completely unprepared with the most basic supplies like matches, flashlight, etc. I keep meaning to get together all the things I need in a situation like this (or a worse one, like in an earthquake) but I've got a bit complacent as there haven't been any tremors, blackouts or even water shortages in a while. Before I went home for Christmas I often woke up thinking I could hear a tremor coming and then just realising it was the noise of a bus going past, or even just my fridge. Fortunately, the paranoia seems to have gone away, although complaceny isn't that much more useful. 

In the 80s, blackouts in Lima were common thanks to a particularly nasty domestic terrorist group, which has still not gone away completely. My boyfriend's childhood was characterised by hosepipe baths, car bombs going off in neighboring streets, blackouts, curfews, super inflation, and long lines at the supermarkets for even the most basic products (oil, rice, sugar). The leader of the terrorist group had actually been in hiding for several months only a few blocks away from J's house, before he was eventually found and imprisoned in the 90s.

Despite all that, I know that J is glad that he grew up in the 80s when kids still used to play in the streets, the best Latin American rock groups were at the height of their fame, and everything was a lot more simple in a way - rather than in the last decade, which he just dismisses as a cultural blackhole.  Affluence in Lima is more unequal than ever and those that have, have more than any average family in the 80s could ever dream of. Those that have not, often suffer from even more grinding poverty, and are far removed from the daily lives of people who would rather pretend they belonged to a different country.

I'm all for Peru's new-found political stability and prosperity, of course, if only it could be spread around more evenly. Part of my love for Lima is witnessing the sheer pleasure and pride people have in their amazing gastronomy and the growing fame that it is enjoying worldwide; conversations about food dwarf any other subject and when people talk about food they are also talking about their country, because every new restaurant is an investment in its future. Twenty years ago, J and his mum had to walk for more than half an hour to get to the nearest restaurant, and be back for curfew. Now there is a choice for everyone on every block.

Kids growing up now in Peru have no idea how the previous generation even lived without cellphones, let alone running water, electricity, and basic food supplies. It's a good sign, but with Presidential elections coming up in two months it's only too clear that things can change quickly in a country that has such a volatile history. I wish I had a vote, so I could give it to the only candidate that I think will keep Peru moving forward.

*HUGS*

I think Friendship Day is the proper traditional day here, but everyone has amiably adopted Valentine's Day too as though it's kind of an obligation now that Creole Song Day has already lost out to Halloween in the popularity stakes.

So my Valentine's night has involved having a one-way webcam conversation with the BF (I could see him, he couldn't see me, we couldn't hear each other, at least we could type), going to the gym for an hour and coming out all sweaty and wobbly-legged while all the couples walked past, and making the silly mistake of opening my work emails to find my January payroll which has so many numbers and columns and colors I'm supposed to check that I really almost despair of getting paid the right amount. Oh well. That conversation can wait until tomorrow.

On the other hand, my BF is in Rio de Janeiro enjoying barbeques in the forest surrounded by animals and waterfalls (this may or may not look like a scene out of Bambi - it does in my head) and climbing Sugerloaf Mountain, so it's a good thing that Valentine's Day has never been my thing, or I'd be comfort eating and drinking my way through the rest of the night. I can't even remember what we did last year; the year before that it was our first Valentine's Day and we didn't realise it until it was already the evening and we were sitting in a backpacker's hostel in Colombia having beers with a ton of strangers. Just another night... and it really doesn't matter as long as we somehow spent a bit of it with each other.

And I think I'm going to be getting some red Brazilian flip-flops when he gets back, so there's my Valentine's present :D