Day 031 Randomocity

Day 031 – August 22, 2011

Random Observations (upon celebrating one month in Peru…)

Walkus Non Interruptus
On this Monday, after the children were on their bus and on their way to school, I took a stroll down to our local grocery store. During this particular walk, I was able to accomplish something for the first time.

I approached the bust of the man, Raul Ferrero, who gave his name to the street I was about to cross. I was about to stop on the curb and look both ways before crossing the usually busy avenue when I noticed that there were absolutely no cars coming in either direction. Without breaking stride, I bounded across the west-bound lanes, skipped across the traffic island containing the homage to Senor Ferrero, and ambulated leisurely across the street that would have had east-bound cars.

For the first time since arriving in Peru, I was able to cross this normally car-clogged street in a single bound without stopping.

It truly is the little things that give me pleasure.

Paper Size Does Matter
Once at the local grocery store, I made a purchase but didn’t realize my mistake until I arrived home. I had bought printer paper and it didn’t even dawn on me that I needed to look at the labels. I had been burned before when buying napkins, so I really should have known better.

Back in the States, when I went to my local office supply store, the only choice that I had to make regarding printer paper was whether the paper was for an inkjet, laser printer, scanner, or combo (Pedantic Aside: I am an avid follower of the Oxford comma. I think it clarifies things, feelings, and sentiments.). I would simply grab my 8.5 x 11 ream of paper and be on my way. Which is what I did here in Peru, except the size of the paper used here is quite different.

Who knew there was a paper format called “A4”? Well, according to this Wikipedia article, the entire world (save the United States and Canada) uses this format as their standard. Thankfully, my printer is smarter than I am and is able to use this format, but I have to keep selecting the “A4” option from my “Print” menu.

New Paper
The start of the week also means the start of a new newspaper for me to read and digest. For more on that, you can jump over here.

Wrong Number, Please
Along with the format of the printer paper used here in Peru, I also need to learn the proper format of providing a phone number.

In the United States, I (and I’m guessing you also) give out my phone number one digit at a time. For example, with a phone number of 202-456-1414, I would say (omitting the area code) “four-five-six-one-four-one-four”.

As you may have already surmised, the tradition in Peru is quite different. Given a seven-digit number, the way a phone number is orally provided is by giving out the first number and then saying the rest of the numbers in pairs. The example given above would be said as “four-fifty-six-fourteen-fourteen”.

Since I am struggling with my ability to say and understand numbers in Spanish, I still revert to my method of saying phone numbers one digit at a time. Thankfully, all the Peruvians I have had to give my number to have been extremely patient with me.

Right Number, Thank You
Poco a poco, the saying goes, which means “little by little”. This is how I am learning to be comfortable with speaking Spanish.

Today’s experiment was to pick up the phone and call our local bottled water dealer. In my third-grade Spanish, I ask the woman on the other end of the line that I need bottled water. She asks for my direccion and I start to tell her how to arrive at house until I catch myself and remember that direccion means “address” in Spanish. I tell her our street name and number (Digression: In Peru, addresses are said by stating the street first and then the number. So one here says “Javier Prado 804”. Go fig.). She asks me how many bottles I need and how many empty bottles I have. I provide those numbers and she says the truck will be by in the afternoon (la tarde).

Now, la tarde can be anywhere from noon to 6pm, so I was expecting a bit of a wait since I made my call at 9am.

The water truck arrived at 12:30pm.

I love this place.

Re-Busted

Day 134 – December 3, 2011

Back in September, I posted about the bust that adorns the busy street near where we live.

The street, and the person honored by said bust, is Raul Ferrero.

As mentioned in the previous post, and as can be found in this Wikipedia article, Senor Ferrero was…

…Dean of the Faculty of Law at the Catholic University of Peru;
…Dean of Colegio de Abogados de Lima;
…a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration of the Hague; and
…from 1967 to 1968 he was Prime Minister of Peru and later served as the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.

As I wrote on the centenary of his birth, the city was in the process of refurbishing the monument that honors him.

Well, on this Saturday in December, I am pleased to say that the tarps have been pulled down and the newly restored head of Senor Ferrero is now available to the public.

Nice new brick for the walkway.

No explanatory plaque as of yet.

Looking good.

On my walks back and forth across the street that bears his name, I give a nod and a tip of the hat to Senor Ferrero. Of course, I only do this on the traffic island as when I am on the street, 100 percent of my attention must be focused on the cars, taxis, and combis whizzing up and down the avenue.

Street Bust

Day 004 – July 26, 2011

From our house to our closest shopping area, we have to cross a four-lane road that can be fairly busy at times. While a post about the joys (and terror) of ambulating from one side of the road to another is in the future, this post is about the place where we rest in the middle of the road.

Thankfully, I and the family do not have to cross all four lanes in one go. We can cross two of the lanes and then we can stop on one of the many traffic islands that dot our area of Lima, Peru. One particular spot that I like to wade across our sea of asphalt is where there is a bust of the man to whom the street which we cross is named after.

Our Oasis

The Head Man

This plaque below tells you about this gentleman…

Nasty plaque buildup

…but since a) you probably don’t understand Spanish and/or b) the wording is so faded that you can’t read it anyway (or c) the picture is so bad, you couldn’t read the words had they been engraved today), I can tell you that this gentleman is Raúl Ferrero Rebagliati, who is so popular that he has his own Facebook page.

According to the Wikipedia page that I link to, Señor Ferrero served as…
…Dean of the Faculty of Law at the Catholic University of Peru;
…Dean of Colegio de Abogados de Lima; and
…a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration of the Hague

In addition, from 1967 to 1968 he was Prime Minister of Peru for the Christian Democrat Party and later served as the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.

For all this, he had a street named after him.

>>>>>>
UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

Today (yes, this actual day) marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Raul Ferrero. In honor of his birthday centennial, the city officials have decided to spruce up the bust and surrounding area that you see in the pictures above. Here is where things stands today…

Keeping it under wraps

Looking forward to the unveiling and spending more time with Señor Ferrero as we wait to cross the busy streets.