Waiting for the whistle...

As far as racing goes, I can't say I have much experience standing on that line, waiting for the whistle to blow, but I believe I am feeling the same kind of urgent restraint inside right now...
Today is day 5 in Peru, and I wish I could put my Spanish books under my pillow and wake up tomorrow morning being fluent! My plans were to put in about 8 hours of language studies once I got here, but my brain hasn't wanted to co-operated at that pace, at least not yet. Up until now I have only managed to do about 4hours/day but I am hoping to increase that gradually.
I am enjoying my time with friends here in Lima very much, but I am so longing to get settled in Huacho, maybe around Christmas time... In the meantime I am trying to take advantage of all the opportunities and help I have here. Every morning I get to sit in on L's Spanish lessons, led by A, for about an hour, and then throughout the day I study on my own, mixing it up with grammar, vocabulary, P imsleur, R osetta and Mango...
Last night A let me help her make L omo S altado, my favorite Peruvian dish - with meat, rice, potatoes, onions and tomatoes. It was amazing as usual. She is an excellent cook and a patient teacher and I hope I can learn a lot from her while staying here, both Spanish and Peruvian cooking... Last Sunday I got to come with her to her parent's house, meet her wonderful family and have sweet bread and hot chocolate. I felt so welcomed by all of them, and both A and E helped me with translating, so the conversation went a little deeper than just introductions. I'm so looking forward to the day when I can say exactly what I want on my own!!! Whenever I have visited Lima before I have never had the time to visit my friend's families, and I am excited to meet the rest of them during the next few weeks. It is such an honor to be invited to their homes.
A few days ago I went for a walk down to the ocean to take a break from the books, check out the waves and watch the surfers. I met a very friendly instructor whom had lived in the US for 4 years, so his English was great. We talked for almost an hour. Turns out he is also a singer in a punk rock band, and I checked out his band on You tube when I got back to the apartment. Although our lifestyles are very different, I am happy to have made a new friend. Spoke with a few other people down on the beach, and got to practise some Spanish, since they only knew very little English.
When I lived in HI, around the surfing culture, being invited to parties or being offered drugs wasn't an unusual occurrence, but it still threw me off a little when it happened since it's been so long and I am much older now. Instead I got the opportunity to share a little bit about my life & faith and what I will be doing here in Peru, and I know that the guys I met at the beach aren't much different from the disciples that Jesus hand-picked when He chose His fishermen to follow Him... They just haven't met Him yet.