Saturday, January 27, 2007

Preschooler Interlude

It is the prerogative of mothers to relay cute things their kids say to anyone who will listen.

Joffre: "Mom, don't say kids, say children."

(standing up on his chair at Christmas dinner as we're all poised to dig in): "We have to say the thing first (grace)!

Time for eat, time for drink,
Time for eat, time for drink,
All done."

"Mom, you married?"
"Yes, to your Dad."
"Well, I think maybe I can marry with you."

And, then there's Alec, aged 20 months:
"Oh maaaan!"
"Mapa!" (the map, on Dora the Explorer)
"Esto es de Alit!" (This is Alec's)
"Ya esta!" (all done, or there you go)
"Horse."

And yesterday, using a combination of words, babble and gestures, Alec explained to Sonia how Mommy works the coffee maker. Well, he understands what's important.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Summertime Blues

Joffre was so excited to come back to Peru, which made me happy. But since we've been here, he's been rather down in the mouth. The first week was brutal, with all manner of tantrums, definance, naughtiness, and nastiness. Then it got better, although we still have our moments. The biggest issue is this:

Preschoolers don't understand summer vacation.

See, for them, school isn't stress, it isn't tests and expectations and having to learn challenging and possibly boring concepts. It's playing, with a fun teacher who could host her own children's program, and hanging out with all your friends. Summer holidays aren't a break from school, for these kids; they're deprivation of Fun Times. I've talked to other mothers from the school, and all the kids feel the same, asking when school starts and when summer is over. I've been trying to get him together with his friends as much as possible, but a lot of them are away at the beach for the holidays.

The other thing that kids do a lot of here is "vacaciones utiles", or "useful vacations." This translates more accurately to "day camps." The trouble is, I don't think he'd like a day camp without anyone he knows in it, so I've been trying without success to piggyback on one of his friends' day camp. This isn't working as a) most of the day camps began at the start of January and are wrapping up, and b) those I've asked about their day camps are not pleased with them.

So, we keep setting up playdates, going to the park, we've been swimming, and we are waiting for his American buddy to get back from parts North. His school has said they will take him in their new four-year-olds class for the months of March and April, and frankly I can't wait.

The Best Chicharron

Peruvian chicharrones, for the uninitiated, are large chunks of pork - usually belly - seasoned and deep fried, served with toasted dried corn kernels, deep fried boiled potatoes, and sarza criolla, a simple and delicious salad made of slivered red onions, tomatoes, lime juice, salt, and occasionally some herbs.

I love this porky goodness, but more often than not it is sold in very basic restaurants where only the pork counts and the rest of the food is a barely-edible garnish. Or, it's dressed up and revamped in some "Novoandino" ("New Andean") style that destroys its humble greatness. But we found a place, in the Plaza de Armas, where the pork is fabulous, the potatoes warm, crispy, soft, and delicious, and the sarza divine. I would eat there every weekend if I could. Hey! I can!

Good thing I've started going to the gym . . .

Feels Like, Starting Over

Well, not really. But up till six weeks ago, I thought today I would be sitting in a (probably empty) apartment in Vancouver, catching up with old friends, looking for something constructive to do till September, keeping the kids busy, and - in my husband's words - hemorrhaging money.

In the intervening six weeks, we've travelled back to Canada, spent a beautiful vacation over Christmas with our families, and made the trip back here. We're more or less getting settled back in.

I found it easier, obviously, to move back here this time than to make the move for the first time. in the first place, I wasn't deathly ill. In the second place, our house and all that goes with it was not only ready and waiting, but spotless thanks to the ministrations of our lovely housekeeper and nanny. We weren't moving at all, really, just going home after a vacation. Of course, because things can never be simple, the travel agent underestimated how much time we would need in Toronto between flights, and when our first flight from Saskatoon to Toronto was delayed, we missed the connecting flight from Toronto to Lima. As a consequence of this, we had to spend the night in Toronto, fly to Miami the next morning, and then spend a purgatorial five hours in the Miami airport before flying to Lima. The Miami airport is not a pleasant place. I asked the AA agent if we could rent a stroller somewhere (we'd forgotten ours in Manitoba), or if there was a play area in the airport, and she just laughed bitterly and said, "this is not a good airport." It says a lot that the fanciest, most technologically advanced of our four flights in three days was the one on Air Canada "Jazz" (read, "low budget"), out of Saskatoon.

As a result of being rerouted, though, we did get into Lima earlier than expected, which was nice. And, unlike in the USA, families with small kids get fasttracked through customs and immigration, which is nice. And then we stayed at Los Delfines.

Spoiled Brat
Me, not the kids. Thinking of the hotel in Lima makes me realize how utterly spoiled I am. I like fancy hotels - heck, who doesn't? And I have now flown business class a number of times and it has made me kinda down on flying economy, especially with the little monkeys in tow. I like fancy restaurants - although as long as the food is good, I like basic cheap ones too - and have generally cultivated snobby tastes. This is going to suck in Vancouver, where one can go broke quite quickly if one prefers the finer things in life, even if one chooses not to sell one's soul for a few square feet of prime realty.

So, I'm making plans, plans involving dutch ovens, slow cookers, freezers, and general ingenuity to ensure that while we don't eat poorly in Vancouver, we don't eat expensively either. Keep checking for more food posts, coming soon!