I wanted to post the following already for a long time, but didn't get round to it. So, then now.
In Peru you can always meet people with interesting, very unperuvian names. For example once I was driven by a peruvian called "Ivan" or you can meet Pamelas or Shirleys.
But once in a while there are really crazy names too. The people who have these names I don't know, but my teacher Karen told me about it in class - kind of shocked about the 'simplicity' of some peruvians.
According to her there is a peruvian girl which is called Madeinusa. The parents must have read "Made in USA" somewhere on something and thought that this might be a nice name for a girl.
The same with the name of some other girl: Usnavy.
You surely already know where the name comes from. The father read that on a ship and said to himself that this will be the name of his daughter. Im not so sure, if the grown up woman is so happy to be called after the "US Navy".
So, you always should be careful how to nae your children. It could be that you're not doing them a favor...
I myself found out something interesting about my name recently:
I knew for a long time what Wolfgang means. The name is set together from ancient german "wolf" and "waffengang" (walk of weapons) and means to walk into battle like a wolf (what honestly not is really one of my obvious attitudes) ;-).
But I was amazed that my second name Rudolf (oooook, now you know it, my second name is Rudolf ;-)) also is related to wolf and also from ancient german. It means "the glorious wolf".
I really think that is remarkable, because this way my name can get a spiritual meaning (at least I think). I know that I am in a spiritual battle. Until my life is done, I have to fight with me, my sin and Satan. And that is not a fight like playing chess. It's a tough fight, and it's necessary to go into this battle like a wolf.
And now my second name is "the glorious wolf". That means the battle is not unsure, there is no doubt what the result of the battle will be, because I belong to Jesus, to the winner. And when the fight is concluded, I will turn into the "glorious wolf", will be in the glorious presence of god. Isn't that cool?!
I always thought thast my second name is kind of uncool, because he sounds so old. But now I'm really proud of it.
:-)
Thanks Mom and Dad!
Wednesday, 18 July 2007
Just imagine...
Do you have a nephew who is 5 years old? Or a 5 year old son? Or the son of a friend is 5 years old?
Then just imagine this little 5 year old would stand the whole day on a crossroads in the next town at the traffic lights to sell candy or chewing gum to the waiting cars? Or he would clean the front shield of the car hoping to get 10 Cents for it.
Could you imagine that? No? Well, never mind, I have a 5 year old nephew and I can't imagine it neither that he could do something like that for 10 hours or longer per day. But here in Arequipa that's part of everyday life. And I'm always shocked how young these boys are. Hardly can look over the engine hood but have to work hard to support their families.
So next time you see your 5 year old nephew or son or son of a friend just think about these kids and send a prayer to our heavenly father.
Then just imagine this little 5 year old would stand the whole day on a crossroads in the next town at the traffic lights to sell candy or chewing gum to the waiting cars? Or he would clean the front shield of the car hoping to get 10 Cents for it.
Could you imagine that? No? Well, never mind, I have a 5 year old nephew and I can't imagine it neither that he could do something like that for 10 hours or longer per day. But here in Arequipa that's part of everyday life. And I'm always shocked how young these boys are. Hardly can look over the engine hood but have to work hard to support their families.
So next time you see your 5 year old nephew or son or son of a friend just think about these kids and send a prayer to our heavenly father.
Tuesday, 17 July 2007
Public transportation
In my last post I was talking about my taxi-ride and I also told you that you can get the price down. Therefore I'd like to describe shortly how the public transportation works here in Arequipa and in Peru in general. Then you also have an idea how I get from plae to place.
The Taxis:
Here in Arequipa you have a lot of taxis. Mostly very small yellow cars, who drive through the streets on their search for customers. If you need one you just stop one with a sign of your hand. Last week I just stood at the side of the road talking to other students of the institute. And while I was talking I just gesticulated a little. Shortly after that a taxi stood beside us, because the taxista thought I wanted to stop him.
By choosing a taxi you should make sure that it's a "secure" taxi, that it's registered with number and licence and everything. If not, it could happen that you're driven somewhere else and you're robbed then (in Lima it's diferent, there you gotta be lucky, respectively you gotta trust in God by taking a taxi and hope that you have a trustworthy driver). Most of the taxis have a big sign on their roof, telling you the name of the company, phonenumber and so on. "Tourismo Arequipa", "Los Angeles", "PLUS" or "45" are some of the trustworthy taxis. Once I took a taxi of the company "Espiritu Santo". It's nice to have a ride with the "Holy Spirit". :-)
Well, after stopping the taxi you tell the taxista where you wanna go and before you get in, you talk about the price. The taxista tells you what he wants and usually you can get him down at least 50 Centimos. But if he thinks you're a stupid gringo, then he might tell you a just crazy high prize. Then you can't negociate, because he can't reduce the price about 5 Soles without losing his face. And honestly, you just don't want to be taken for a fool.
On the other hand the prices are crazyly low in comparison to Germany. From my home to the school or to the church I pay 3.50 Soles. That is not even an Euro. And for that money I'm driven through the whole city, directly where I wanna go. You really can't complain!
BUT you can have it even cheaper. And that is by going by
Bus:
Driving the bus is really some experience! And you can't beat the price: 60 Centimos, that's 15 Euro-Cent no matter where you wanna go. Of course within the route of the bus. But sometimes you're on the bus for half an hour.
There are no bust-stops. You just stand at the street and give the bus a sign that you want to get in.
A bus always has a "crew" of two people: The driver and ... the other one. The "other one" is standing at the door of the bus, watches if someone wants to get in, opens and closes the door, encashes the money and tells the driver if someone wants to get out. Another job of him is to "advertise" for his busline. That means, if the bus drives by at places where many people are standing around, he opens the door and shouts (loud, fast and - for me - often not understandable) to what places the bus is going. Doing this he wants to get in as many people as possible.
The Taxis:
Here in Arequipa you have a lot of taxis. Mostly very small yellow cars, who drive through the streets on their search for customers. If you need one you just stop one with a sign of your hand. Last week I just stood at the side of the road talking to other students of the institute. And while I was talking I just gesticulated a little. Shortly after that a taxi stood beside us, because the taxista thought I wanted to stop him.
By choosing a taxi you should make sure that it's a "secure" taxi, that it's registered with number and licence and everything. If not, it could happen that you're driven somewhere else and you're robbed then (in Lima it's diferent, there you gotta be lucky, respectively you gotta trust in God by taking a taxi and hope that you have a trustworthy driver). Most of the taxis have a big sign on their roof, telling you the name of the company, phonenumber and so on. "Tourismo Arequipa", "Los Angeles", "PLUS" or "45" are some of the trustworthy taxis. Once I took a taxi of the company "Espiritu Santo". It's nice to have a ride with the "Holy Spirit". :-)
Well, after stopping the taxi you tell the taxista where you wanna go and before you get in, you talk about the price. The taxista tells you what he wants and usually you can get him down at least 50 Centimos. But if he thinks you're a stupid gringo, then he might tell you a just crazy high prize. Then you can't negociate, because he can't reduce the price about 5 Soles without losing his face. And honestly, you just don't want to be taken for a fool.
On the other hand the prices are crazyly low in comparison to Germany. From my home to the school or to the church I pay 3.50 Soles. That is not even an Euro. And for that money I'm driven through the whole city, directly where I wanna go. You really can't complain!
BUT you can have it even cheaper. And that is by going by
Bus:
Driving the bus is really some experience! And you can't beat the price: 60 Centimos, that's 15 Euro-Cent no matter where you wanna go. Of course within the route of the bus. But sometimes you're on the bus for half an hour.
There are no bust-stops. You just stand at the street and give the bus a sign that you want to get in.
A bus always has a "crew" of two people: The driver and ... the other one. The "other one" is standing at the door of the bus, watches if someone wants to get in, opens and closes the door, encashes the money and tells the driver if someone wants to get out. Another job of him is to "advertise" for his busline. That means, if the bus drives by at places where many people are standing around, he opens the door and shouts (loud, fast and - for me - often not understandable) to what places the bus is going. Doing this he wants to get in as many people as possible.
There also is no limit of how many people are allowed to get into the bus. One time it really was tough, when I was going to the YMCA in Horacio. Luckily I got a seat, because slowly the bus became fuller and fuller. At some point, the people had to stand really tight and I thought that it's not possible to get more people in. But the bus already stopped again and some people got in. And that happened several times more without people getting out. And then at some point the bus was so extremely filled, that the man who manages the door couldn't get into the bus any more. I could see that with his tiptoes he stood on the footboard of the door and grabbed through the window beside the door to get a hold on something. That really was bad. Not to speak of the danger for him and the passengers.
Well, if you want to get out at some point you just tell the man at the door "Baja escina", that means something like "I want to get out at the corner".
But somehow it's a funny thing. It's fun to get from place to place like a normal peruvian and I like watching people on the bus.
I also heard a funny story. Some years ago a student of the institute, who had just started to learn spanish took a bus to go to school. And it was the right bus-line, but the wrong direction. At some point he realized it, but he stayed seated because he thought that the bus will turn around surely. But - I don't know why - the bus didn't and some time later he found himself alone in the mddle of nowhere, quite far from Arequipa and without good knowledge of spanish. Two days he was missing.. He then had worked at a farmers place to earn some money and to make a call to Arequipa. Then he was picked up. Somehow funny, but that's a reason why I only take buses I know. ;-)
Sunday, 8 July 2007
Lead into prayer
Du you know the feeling, when you're suddenly touched by something and you feel, you have to pray?
Today I had this feeling several times.
Because I wanted to be home from church early today, I took a taxi. And while we drove I asked the taxidriver how much money he earns a day. Well, he saif it depends on his luck, how many people he could drive. Per day he has to pay for having the car, that is 20 Soles (around 6 Dollars) and of course he has to pay the gas. And it takes a lot of his day to at least drive in that money. He told me on a bad day he earns around 8 Soles (3Dollars), what he can keep for himself. On a good day maybe around 35 to 40 Soles (11-13 Dollars). And that really hit me. The taxistas have working times between 14 and 18 hours, sometimes more, and they get starvation wages.
Then I really had to pray that God may change peruvian economics for the better.
My taxista wanted 4 Soles for the ride, I got him go down to 3 Soles. After the ride I gave him 5. It was nice to see a smile on his face, that was so serious before.
The next time was in the late afternoon.
I've been to the centre to get some cash and afterwards I just walked around a little. And as I went through the park of the plaza de armas I recognized two groups.
At first a chanting group of Hare-Krishna, who demonstrative happy advertised for their wrong religion. It immediately made me sad, that they are on a completely wrong way and don't have any clue of it. I had to pray for them right there, that God opens their hearts so that they can see the truth.
Just a few meters from them was a group of political activists who were just packing up their stuff. Just some minutes before I had heard them shout political slogans over loudspeakers. I don't know what it was exactly. I always understood "Abajo...", meaning "Down..." with something. Of course government and stuff. Of course they're not completely wrong. The government is corrupt and makes wrong decisions. But from their posters and bitter faces I had the impression that they are on a wrong way just like the Hare-Krishna-people. If only politics were diferent, life would be good and Peru would be a paradise. Of course you can do better just by human effort, no doubt. But happiness you can only find in Jesus, no matter how good or bad are your politics.
Thanks for your prayer!
Today I had this feeling several times.
Because I wanted to be home from church early today, I took a taxi. And while we drove I asked the taxidriver how much money he earns a day. Well, he saif it depends on his luck, how many people he could drive. Per day he has to pay for having the car, that is 20 Soles (around 6 Dollars) and of course he has to pay the gas. And it takes a lot of his day to at least drive in that money. He told me on a bad day he earns around 8 Soles (3Dollars), what he can keep for himself. On a good day maybe around 35 to 40 Soles (11-13 Dollars). And that really hit me. The taxistas have working times between 14 and 18 hours, sometimes more, and they get starvation wages.
Then I really had to pray that God may change peruvian economics for the better.
My taxista wanted 4 Soles for the ride, I got him go down to 3 Soles. After the ride I gave him 5. It was nice to see a smile on his face, that was so serious before.
The next time was in the late afternoon.
I've been to the centre to get some cash and afterwards I just walked around a little. And as I went through the park of the plaza de armas I recognized two groups.
At first a chanting group of Hare-Krishna, who demonstrative happy advertised for their wrong religion. It immediately made me sad, that they are on a completely wrong way and don't have any clue of it. I had to pray for them right there, that God opens their hearts so that they can see the truth.
Just a few meters from them was a group of political activists who were just packing up their stuff. Just some minutes before I had heard them shout political slogans over loudspeakers. I don't know what it was exactly. I always understood "Abajo...", meaning "Down..." with something. Of course government and stuff. Of course they're not completely wrong. The government is corrupt and makes wrong decisions. But from their posters and bitter faces I had the impression that they are on a wrong way just like the Hare-Krishna-people. If only politics were diferent, life would be good and Peru would be a paradise. Of course you can do better just by human effort, no doubt. But happiness you can only find in Jesus, no matter how good or bad are your politics.
Thanks for your prayer!
Friday, 22 June 2007
Blogs are gooooood...
Because I have caught a cold, I had to spend the day in bed. And so I used the time to bring my mailbox in order and to write some mails while liing in bed. And I also read through the blog of a friend of mine. And it became so clear that God can really use such blogs. There always was something that spoke to me or made me think.
Of course many posts are only interesting if you know the person very well and understand the insider-jokes, but I realized, God writes history with each and everyone of us and he wants to use us to encourage or speak to others.
Even you and me!
Sometimes hard to believe, but nonetheless very true!
Of course many posts are only interesting if you know the person very well and understand the insider-jokes, but I realized, God writes history with each and everyone of us and he wants to use us to encourage or speak to others.
Even you and me!
Sometimes hard to believe, but nonetheless very true!
Thursday, 21 June 2007
Saying-Goodbye-Sox
This post is written by a sad Wolfie. :-(
There have been a lot of Goodbyes these past days. And all were people who lived with me in this house since I arrived here in Peru in January.
On Sunday Thomas and Stefanie Seefried left. They worked here with the YMCA of Arequipa. We just got to be real good friends. Until now they just were a part of my Peru-world. Now their year is over and they are simply gone. :-(
Just some days before Thomas and Stefanie left, Cara said "Saying Goodbye sucks". A quite strong expression. But then I had the idea, that I could buy Thomas und Stefanie socks for a Goodbye-present. Why socks? Well they just became "Saying-Goodbye-socks". And that both meanings could be read, I didn't write socks nor sucks, but "Saying-Goodbye-Sox" on the socks.
Well, and today my hermanita (little sister) Ryan went back to the USA and my hermanita Cara moved to another peruvian family. They also lived with me here since January. And now only I am left. Of course I do have my peruvian family, but even though it will be so different and I'm just sad for now.
Cool was, that they pre-celebrated my birthday last Saturday. I really had no idea, I thought it was a goodbye-lunch for Thomas and Stefanie. But then everything was for me and I got my first birthday-presents. It really was soooo nice!
Well, Cara still is in Arequipa, but it's just different and I will miss all of them for real!
There have been a lot of Goodbyes these past days. And all were people who lived with me in this house since I arrived here in Peru in January.
On Sunday Thomas and Stefanie Seefried left. They worked here with the YMCA of Arequipa. We just got to be real good friends. Until now they just were a part of my Peru-world. Now their year is over and they are simply gone. :-(
Just some days before Thomas and Stefanie left, Cara said "Saying Goodbye sucks". A quite strong expression. But then I had the idea, that I could buy Thomas und Stefanie socks for a Goodbye-present. Why socks? Well they just became "Saying-Goodbye-socks". And that both meanings could be read, I didn't write socks nor sucks, but "Saying-Goodbye-Sox" on the socks.
Well, and today my hermanita (little sister) Ryan went back to the USA and my hermanita Cara moved to another peruvian family. They also lived with me here since January. And now only I am left. Of course I do have my peruvian family, but even though it will be so different and I'm just sad for now.
Cool was, that they pre-celebrated my birthday last Saturday. I really had no idea, I thought it was a goodbye-lunch for Thomas and Stefanie. But then everything was for me and I got my first birthday-presents. It really was soooo nice!
Well, Cara still is in Arequipa, but it's just different and I will miss all of them for real!
My english blog is on
So now!
This is my first post in my english blog.
Generally the posts here just will be the translations of my german blog. But that's fine as my english-speaking friends will not read the german blog.
Have fun with it.
Wolfie
This is my first post in my english blog.
Generally the posts here just will be the translations of my german blog. But that's fine as my english-speaking friends will not read the german blog.
Have fun with it.
Wolfie
Sunday, 27 May 2007
Lima, what a city
Well, it's sunday evening and I just came back from Lima. Since Wednesday I was there and was able to get to knowlittle a bit of this big city. Actually I only was in Lima to get my „Carné de Extranjeria“, but that was done real quick. Thursday morning, after 1,5 hours everything was done. So I had time to explore Lima. But I only saw the rich and great parts of it. As I was alone in Lima people told me it would be better not to go to poor parts without someone who knows the circumstances. It would be too dangerous, it'd be easy to get robbed or something like that. That's why I mainly can tell of three places I got to know.
First of all Jockey Plaza. That place is really nuts. I have never been to a bigger shopping center ever. I would estimate 6 times as big as the Brückencenter in Ansbach and 5 times as big as the Lago in Constance. I was really knocked over and sometimes I felt lost in this big complex of a building. And it was hard on the one side to know of all the poverty in Peru and on the other hand to see this pomp and wealth.
Here are some impressions:
On Friday I took a lot of time for the Larcomar. Basicly it also is a shopping center, but with a lot of restaurants and cafes and - and that's the important bit - it's built directly at the sea with an absolutely great view.
Some pictures here:
On Saturday I was able to meet a young peruvian. Jorge, who was in Arequipa for one month. He lived at my house and was helping the YMCA Arequipa in its summer-program. At First he showed me the YMCA-Center. They have a lot of sport-oportunities. Quite professional. This is meant to be a point of contact to reach peruvians with the gospel. And with the money they earn here, the Y finances its christian-social projects in Lima.
Afterwards we visited the monastry San Franzisko.
Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures. If so, you would see fotos of the catacombs with sculls and a lot of bones.
On sunday I flew back to Arequipa. As Margo Morrow, a student from Northern Ireland at the same intitute as I am, was in Lima too, we flew back together. It was really funny. We have a similar sense of humor and get along really well.
Well, that was my first bigger impression of the 8-milion-city Lima.
On sunday I flew back to Arequipa. As Margo Morrow, a student from Northern Ireland at the same intitute as I am, was in Lima too, we flew back together. It was really funny. We have a similar sense of humor and get along really well.
Well, that was my first bigger impression of the 8-milion-city Lima.
Tuesday, 22 May 2007
Die Carné
Well, now it's gonna happen. Tomorrow I'm off to Lima to get my "Carné de Extranjería". That will be my peruvian ID, kind of. So then I'm official and I only will have to go to Lima once a year to extend for another year.
Actually I only need to be in Lima for one day and I could be back in Arequipa the same day. But then the week is just done and so I take the chance and try to explore Lima a little. And I hope to meet a young peruvian, Jorge, who was here in Arequipa for one month and worked with the YMCA Arequipa.
I will have my Camera with me, so hopefully there will be fotos of Lima on my website soon.
Saturday, 12 May 2007
Frustrated
My new start at the language-school wasn't really good.
The first days were nice, just some repeating. But on Thursday Karen did a written test with me and two other students. And compared to those two I was really bad. I don't know why, usually I don't take it that serious, but this time, I was really frustrated. Before everything was so easy and good, but this really got my down. But it also motivated me to work on the things who are not that good.
The next day, Friday, yesterday, Karen asked me some questions just to make me talk and that she can hear where my weaknesses are.
So I just talked, once in a while Karen took some notes, and I felt quite good and secure. But then she told me everything that's wrong and what's not good in my language. And that really knocked me out. Of course this is just to make me better, I know that, but I was really down then. And she felt that. I felt stupid, unable and - I admit - I felt like crying (but I'm a man, and men don't cry... (at least not in public)).
But Karen was really nice then. We talked about it and she encouraged me, but also tod me clearly that I'd have to worl on it.
I just came back from playing football, and I really spent me (doen't mean much), and I have to say that this was good for me. I feel better now and I'm motivated to learn again.
But although thanks a lot for praying for it!
The first days were nice, just some repeating. But on Thursday Karen did a written test with me and two other students. And compared to those two I was really bad. I don't know why, usually I don't take it that serious, but this time, I was really frustrated. Before everything was so easy and good, but this really got my down. But it also motivated me to work on the things who are not that good.
The next day, Friday, yesterday, Karen asked me some questions just to make me talk and that she can hear where my weaknesses are.
So I just talked, once in a while Karen took some notes, and I felt quite good and secure. But then she told me everything that's wrong and what's not good in my language. And that really knocked me out. Of course this is just to make me better, I know that, but I was really down then. And she felt that. I felt stupid, unable and - I admit - I felt like crying (but I'm a man, and men don't cry... (at least not in public)).
But Karen was really nice then. We talked about it and she encouraged me, but also tod me clearly that I'd have to worl on it.
I just came back from playing football, and I really spent me (doen't mean much), and I have to say that this was good for me. I feel better now and I'm motivated to learn again.
But although thanks a lot for praying for it!
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