Foreigner's Best Friend

Ok.  I won't lie.  I've been wanting a dog since...forever.

And now that I'm back in the US and will be here for quite some time (thank you college loans).  I thought it was only fit that I have a companion.  Plus I think that all the stress of culture shock had shaved a few years off of my life, and since dogs help people be healthier and live longer, I figured it wouldn't hurt to tip the old life expectancy scales back in my favor.

So I've had dogs on the brain for the past month, and then by sheer coincidence,  I accidentally walked into the Denver Dumb Friends League Adoption Center.

Then I accidentally strolled along seeing a lot of really really truly adorable dogs.  Big Dogs, Small Dogs, fat dogs, skinny dogs All sorts of dogs is what I'm getting at here..  And then.  I saw him.

Kennel 3C.  Staring up at me with dark eyes, a wagging tail, and hair that looked like it had recently gone through electroshock therapy.   Meet my new BFF and culture shock companion-

Moche

Moche, the canine formerly known as "Thunder" was a stray picked up in Pagosa and brought to Denver.  I don't know for sure his thoughts on being taken to a new city without necessarily wanting to go there; but I think I can commiserate with him, which is why he is my new friend forever. 

He's a 3 year old terrier something or another and is just cute as a darn button.  At least I think so.  From what I can tell he's a good dog, and likes long walks on a leash, reading love poems, piña coladas and getting caught in the rain. 

I decided to call him Moche after a very long brainstorming session with Jamesson.  I wanted to call him something that reminded me of Peru, and was easy enough for any given gringo to say.  Runner up names were Chato (shorty in spanish) and Mr. Taco (a mexican restaurant we frequented in Peru).  Moche was the name of an ancient Peruvian civilization that left quite a few ruins in the city where I grew up in my Peruvian life.  I figured Moche was also good because we could call him Mo for short.  Here's a link to some more Moche culture information for all you history buffs out there.

Moche is available for photo shoots and playdates.  But call soon, as I'm sure his schedule will be filling up fast. I mean...just look at him. 

Oh the marvels

This is what I learned from weather.com about Denver's weather.




98 degrees =  Hot.  Period.




What did we ever do before modern meteorology reports?

Dear Random Readers in the Netherlands (both of you), Philippines, Germany, Hungary, and Australia.

I would just like to take a moment to thank you for either mistakenly clicking on a link to my blog, or involuntarily being taken to my blog in a way that I'm not sure of. 

Every time I see a new red dot from a foreign country on my visitor location map, my heart sings a little. I don't really claim to know a lot about your customs, but gosh darnit if I wouldn't love to learn them and visit your country someday.  I very much hold onto the hope that I will be visiting some of those countries.  Oh heck, I'd love to visit all of them, and if I do, you can count on it having something to do with the fact that you stumbled across my blog, and it sparked my interest. 

So you know what?  Thank you.  You keep my wandering spirit thirsty for more adventures. 

Gillian

I went on a search today...

A search to find the best witch doctor that North America has ever seen.

I tried to call ABC to pitch it as a new reality show but nobody has returned my call.

Their loss.

So I really did go try to find a US version of my beloved Nacarino.  I come from a family with small sinus passages and therefore prone to a lot of sinus infections..   It's kind of like a family curse.  I'm not sure when, but somewhere in my family's past, a Cordova made someone mad enough to put a sinusitis curse on us for generations.  Whoever did that really was trying to make us suffer. Anyway,  my Peruvian "doctor" (no comments from the western medicine crowd please), was the only person who successfully helped my ailment for a long time.  And then I moved back to the US and ran out of his magic liquid healing.  And then 3 months later, my sinusitis came back.   I didn't think that there were any curanderos in the US, but was informed that there actually are and right here in Denver.

My heart skipped a beat.

However, this turned out to be one of those moments in life when you thought there was no hope because you thought that nothing like what you had in Peru existed in the US, and then you find out that in actuality there may be a little hope that there is an equivalent, and then you spend your Saturday morning looking for that equivalent, and then you find what is supposed to be the equivalent, and then you see it, and then you hear a horn in the distance playing the "Bwa bwa bwaaaa" tune that lets you know you've just lost and should now be disappointed.

Ok fine, so they do have herbs, and supposedly can help my sinusitis.  But strike one- They're US prices.  Strike 2- They're not in liquid nasal spray form.  Strike 3-  They contain no Peruvian moonshine...and they're just not from Nacarino!!!!

Oh well...at least I know to stock up next time I go to Peru.

Did I ever tell you about the witch doctor?

I miss my peruvian friend, the witch doctor.

I missed him 3 days ago when I had a fever

I missed him 2 days ago when I figured out I had laryngitis.

I missed him yesterday when my voice was still gone.

And I miss him today, when it's raining and gloomy and I have nasal congestion.

Oh Nacarino...donde estarás?   I need you to shoot ginger moonshine pepper spray up my nostrils again.


Anyway, beyond that wistful memory.   I'm starting to teach english again!   I'm volunteering with a group called Intercambio, and I will be teaching my very first group class tonight, after ooooh...about a year of not teaching.  Do teaching skills get rusty?    I guess we'll find out.   I'm excited to get back into the classroom, and perhaps there is some Gringo Bingo in these students' future.  You never can tell when Gillian gets in front of the whiteboard.

3 Day weekend...

Well...it's July fourth weekend.  Independence day for the USA.  Last night, I went to a barbecue at a friends house and then we watched some fireworks from a park nearby.  I give the fireworks a 7.   Overall good show, but when it came time for the grand finale...it turned out to be more of a mediocre finale.   But fireworks are still pretty...And I saw a shooting star, so you know...Bonus!

Anyway, I don't really have a lot to say, nothing extraordinary happened this week, nothing terrible either.  So instead of posting 15 random and boring things I've done, how about I just share some fantastic artwork I saw while walking around today at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival?  What do you say?  Deal?    Ok.   Deal.

Goldfish photogram 

by Ethan Jantzer

Dandelion silhouettes photogram 

by Ethan Jantzer

Red poppies, photogram 

by Ethan Jantzer

Green grass photogram 

by Ethan Jantzer

Nice, huh?   You can read more about the photogram process and the artist by clicking here