PehRu. Phase Cinco. Or Five.

I know. Its been almost a week since the last post. You may be wondering...What is wrong? Is Brittany herself? Well you may want to ask yourself a moral question. Should one post on one's blog, if one does not have time to sleep due to one's TO-DO list being a tad bit longer than it was yesterday? Thats the moral question of the day. So sometimes when I was sick of homework..I wanted to post..I wanted to share with you phase five of peru, but I morally could not justify it when I had some study to read about if parent's talking to their children more actually increases their speech development. Well it does. So talk to your kids more. Unless you dont want them to talk. Then don't. Here is Peru. Love it.


If this is normal. Im crazy. And if I am crazy, then....thats normal. So this must be normal.
Apparently this is normal in Pehru. What is normal anymore? It did become normal. We walked to the orphanage with herds all the time.
We decided to hike to Tore Tore or is it Torre Torre. I am yet to be corrected. Here lies a nice homestead on the way up.

I handed Craig the camera and then ran the opposite direction and then tried to hold still but was still affected from the run, and kinda tipped a little. Then I said, 'that was probably an awkward picture, take another.'
This is the other, non-awkward picture. Oh good. I just told you my secret...Im usually awkward, then I have to try again to not be awkward. I guess it isn't a secret anymore.

 

To abstain from you getting bored, I put these four together. I figured you see one, then they all look the same. I hope you love Tore Torre. Ill just call it that due to me not knowing if it has one R or two RRs.
Felipe, Orange hair Jana, and Giant Megan. Megan you aren't really a giant, and Jana....orange hair is normal in the USA...So when I post pictures of you in the USA, I wont point out that you have orange hair, okay? Okay. Deal. Great. Moving on.
Craig and Phil, Had they fallen...it would have been all my selfish fault. I wanted the picture...and....I would have caused their fall. Great Im glad they didnt fall.
I absolutely adore this picture. It shows Phil and I as little dots, how insignifcantly we resided in the landscape.
Hiking down it got a bit windy. Right after this I put my camera inside my sweater due to rain. No worries, my camera still exists in my room. On my desk, safely home.
Welcome to Peru. Welcome to dog land.

I know you all are Interested. Moma's Words.

Pretty sure you can't go WrONG with this Photo of my MAMO. Ps. she beat Brooke and I's time. For RIzzle.

So my mother what a gem she is. In one of my classes each student is required to give a thought. I chose today. Well I prepared it nicely. I was going to talk about motherhood, then ask my mother some nice questions and share a quote. I know you all love my mother, and I know you all love to hear what she has to say. Even if you are yet to meet her. Get a taste of this.
Here is the desired quote I planned to share.

M. Russel Ballard 'Daughters of God' April Conference Talk 2008 (so recent, so dont say it doesnt apply to our day....cuz it does-not that you were going to say that, but its not like i pulled this quote from 1979)

There is no one perfect way to be a mother. Each situation is unique. each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children. The choice is different and unique for each mother and each family. Many are able to be "full-time moms," at least during the most formative years of their children's lives, and many others would like to be. Some may have to work part-or-full-time; some may work and home; some may divide their lives into periods of home and family and work. What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else.

With this in mind my mother is super unique. But probably right. 16 kids later, this is what she says:

ME:mom i have to give a thought in my early childhood class, i was just wondering if you would answer these questions for me. Ps I hope you know im going to talk about you. Im doing this tommorow. Sorry so short notice, i just got the idea.

1. What has been the most rewarding thing about being a mother?
(i didnt add or delete any words!)
Moma: ok tellme when yuou could have ateeth cleaning again i will work on it today!! and for #1 it would be that I instilled the desire for truth and honesty in the child. like one day lad (click here to meet lad) gets mad and says 'I'm mad I am not going to church i am mad' so Ian (click here to meet IAN) who is only 6 said, 'lad you have to go to church heavenly father and jesus will feel so bad if you dont go to church lad'..more later


2.Who is your favorite child? JK

Moma: (she left this one out..rude)

3. What makes you feel like you did your job as a mother?

Moma: I just did the dishes, tried to cook and always always put the children first!!!

4. In 1998 a book was published by judith rich harris called, 'The Nurture Assumption' Basically she said that Parents Don't Matter, and a child is only influenced by their peers and not their parents. What is your response to this and can you give an example from your own children that shows that parents do matter? Here is a link to read more about dearest judith http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Rich_Harris

Moma: I know that a childs character is formed in the early years, the first time a child tells a lie, a mother needs to be there to say "we tell the truth always!" this is probably in the first yr of speech. When a child hits another child a mother needs to be there to say "we dont hit other children now tell them you are sorry!!,,When a child takes something off a grocery store shelf a mother needs to be there to say " we dont steal or take things that are ours!! If we make these valuable lessons very clear at a very young age, they will gravitate to peers that have their same value system in first grade and you do not have to worry about peers wrongly influencing them.

5. Have you ever felt like you could have done more as a parent? -and what was it?

Yes every day just be there for the child and when the child was feeling down or upset about something give them a hug and reinforce it with kinds words of gratitude for the child!!

6.What is something you wish teachers would teach your children at school?

I wish they would teach a stronger value based system. Integrity, cleanliness, stirve to do your best always, treat others kindly no matter what, etc.

7. What is something you gained a testimony of this week/month in regards to raising your children?

I gained a testimony of childrens deep feelings of needing to feel important and their worth to the rest of the family.. For family night we played a game called apple to apple ammon (click here to meet ammon-he is autistic) of course couldn't play but he wanted to be there and wanted to be part of the game at first we tried toget him to go to a room by himself when the spirit told me no he needs to be with the family and he wants to b e part of your family activities and we kept him in the room he was perfect for about an hour... I had some other instances too personal siiya love ma

listen to my moma! She is not crazy!

Wait.. I take that back. maybe a tad.

My Cultural Diorama

Explanation to the masses:
This is an assignment. We have to choose three objects that represent who we are. This is due today. We can do a blog post. I thought doing a blogpost would be a good idea. Note: this is graded. Note: I will be displaying my blog in class. Note: I hope you like it. Note: You may learn things about me you didnt really care to know. Note: You really dont have to read this. Note: I think I write this hoping people will just skim over...feel free to do that. Really just skim. Its an assignment...so its probably going to bore you if you arent my teacher. Oh hi Dr. Cutri.

My name is BHH. (for purposes to hide my name from google search) I am 20 years old. Wow. I love tortilla wraps. I love the color blue in many different forms. Teal, light blue, sky blue, you know I like blue. I have long hair. I have many shoes. I grew up in a small area called Standrod, Utah. I say area because it of course was not a town, nor a city, nor even really what would be described as a rural area. There is neighbors but they are all related. So we inhabit the mountains. I went to a high school in Idaho. Why Idaho? I live on the border of Utah and Idaho, and the high school I attended was the nearest high school to our home. By nearest I mean 30 miles away most on a dirt road. This seclusion allowed me to develop something I would like to call anti-boredom disease. Meaning: I usually do not get bored when I am alone at home in my room. I actually love being at home in my room. This is because I spent countless hours alone at home, in my room; due to lack of any nearby friends or stores, malls, theatres, or anything that Provo has, basically. I was involved in many different sports which defines a large part of who I am. My absolute dream day would just be to do athletic things with the people I love. Talking about those people I love.....When people ask me oh who is your best friend in the world? I just find myself trying to convince them that it is somebody....when really it is my family. My family are my very best friends. I call my sisters for advice. I cry to my sisters. I cry to my brothers. I laugh with them, I share everything with them. I go to my family first. So they are my best friends. I think about when I have made mistakes, who stays with me? My family. They are the root of my existance, and my personality, and my goals, and my dreams to succeed. On with the artifacts.

My Artifacts:

1. My Pillow


I woke up yesterday to find my pillow clutched between my arms, up against my chest. Usually when I awake my pillow is not in my arms. As you may realize already, my pillow is very important to me. My pillow has become something that defines me. I find it more of a part of me, than an actual object that I am obsessed with. I am in fact not obsessed with it, I just have taken it everywhere with me for the past two years. It really has not left me for but one night at a time. We won't get into those nights. More than just the pillow becoming a part of me. I think that it represents me. It is blue, and I am very in love with the color blue. My eyes are blue, my veins are blue, (so are yours surprisingly) my bedspread is blue, 90 percent of the shirts in my closet are blue, I wish I drove a blue car, I want to paint my fingernails blue. I enjoy the color blue. My pillow is also very relaxed. Meaning: I am very relaxed. I am not sure I HAVE to HAVE any certain brand of shampoo in order to be happy, or any certain brand of milk to be happy. I am sure I can adapt to pretty much anything. My pillow is also very cozy. Meaning: I like to be comfortable, tennis shoes over heels person. I also like comfortable settings. I like to be around people who are flexible and happy with whatever events are occuring. This is my pillow. Pillow has many names, we won't get into those names, but just know my pillow is incredible.

2. My Penny


My dad came to Provo for various reasons earlier this week and I went to lunch with he and my sister Sally. After lunch we hugged and said our goodbyes, and then my dad said, "I have something for you Brit." I stood there awaiting something brilliant. He pulled out a penny and handed it to me. He then went on to tell me this was his lucky penny, in which he found on the ground. He asked, "You know why I picked this up?" I said, "Because our economy is failing and we need all the money we can get?" He said, "Because it says, IN GOD WE TRUST." I put the penny in my pocket, and we said goodbye. Throughout the week I kept thinking. Is it God I really trust? Do I really put all of my trust in God? This battered penny in which my dad picked up and gave to me has now become my lucky penny. In God I trust. Also, this penny obviously has travelled a lot. Come on it is hashed. It has been to New York three times, and back to Utah, then thrown aside, or maybe dropped. Possibly provided the extra cent needed to purchase a snow cone. I want to be like this penny and share experiences from person to person and divulge into learning about new places and people. I feel like I have every desire to travel everywhere in the world and become somebody who knows culture, who knows how to relate to those around her who are different. I love to travel and experience new places and people. With that I know who I am, just like this penny still carries the words, 'IN GOD WE TRUST'. I want to carry my personality and beliefs and values to other cultures, and learn of their culture and beliefs. This penny represents not just luck, but God, diversity, and experience. It also represents someone I hope to become. Someone who is well rounded,experienced and knowledgeable, and someone who still holds true to their heritage. I hope this penny I become allows me to reach out to those I influence especially in my future classroom and home.

3. My Family


I guess I should start from the beginning with this one. My mom married my dad. They had 16 kids. I am number seven of 16. I have eight brothers. I have seven sisters. I love them all. They are why I exist. They are my best friends. I watch my sisters' examples and think, how can I be more like them? I walk the planet everyday and just do not even FATHOM the influence my family has on who I am, and who I am becoming. I could write books about my family. I usually get the basic questions. I will answer those now.
1. Any twins? No.
2. Any adopted? No.
3. Is your mom having more? Ask her. Probably. Why stop now right?
4. How old is the oldest? 28, and her name is Brooke, or number 1, whatever you prefer.
5. Youngest? Youngest is one year old. Her name is Faith.
6. Who is your favorite? Sally, no Landon, no Echo, no Ethan, no Lad. . . no I don't know. No I don't have a favorite.
7. Are you going to have 16 kids? No, because my mom already had a baby and was pregnant at my age, so I'm a bit behind. Don't cha think?
8. How did you do laundry, how did you parents afford it, did you hate it, do you like it...?
All of these questions are very normal. If you are experiencing the desire to ask these questions that is normal too. Basically the point I am trying to address is the fact that my family is my life. My siblings are my main mentors. My parents are my main support. I want to have a family. Large or small does not really matter. I do know the importance and impact my family has had on me, and I will provide my family with that same support. Not just my family but I will reach out to those I teach and hopefully provide experience-related answers for questions their little developing minds address. I love my family and if I were a tree, they would be my roots. Seriously. My roots.

Now my assignment is complete. Dr. Cutri I hope I had third story thinking like you tell me to have.

And all of this was done in Secret.

So as many of you know I attend BYU. Yep I do. I told you my classes a few posts down. Welp today I wore a jacket, and I hung my camera around my neck like you see on the very top picture. And then I put on my jacket and secretly documented my day. Secret. I dont think anyone knew when or if I even took pictures. They may have seen my camera. But it was silent. I turned off all sound and didnt use a flash. Some were taken while I was walking. i was utterly disappointed when I missed the girl on campus with zebra tights, and other zebra apparel and accessories that matched her tights. I was also upset when I missed the girl with a sequin top and large shoulder pads in her jacket. You may have seen these people on campus today if you were there. If not..I am sorry just create an image in your mind.

The following photos were all taken without me even looking at the viewfinder. It was a secret mission to secretly (not awkwardly) document my lovely day. For those of you who live across the way many hours afar.. . . you are about to go to BYU, and work for BYU, and get your vending machine refunds from BYU.

i had to work at 6 am today. This was what greeted me after i parked and began to walk up the stairs of death. broken trampoline, and a deer. the deer had no idea what i was doing when i didnt look through the viewfinder and snapped a quick one at waist level.
this is a coworker, for the sake of my private secret mission, he will not be named. but he knows who he is.
she is a queen bee. she had no idea of my secret mission.
i may have been doing my art quiz at work, and eating some nice tootsies that the queen bee brought to me. she didnt throw them. she said she is a bad thrower.
if you read my quiz you will see something about is there ugly art. yes there is. now this is how to criticize art for all of you who didnt know. please do not picture me taking this foto. this was the first class of the day, three hours long..and i felt a little uneasy about my decision to document my day and almost gave up.
music class, we were learning a fun little jig. my music teacher said, here let me take your spot, i said awesome...then i snapped a quick one from my waist. you know how that is.
meet brittany. she is my friend. not to be confused with me brittany. we are in many classes together. we laugh at things. she had no idea this was going up on my blog. hope she loves it.
she is a gem. how you wonder? she bounces. bounces when she talks, bounces all the time. randomly will burst into song. she is a music star. ask her about pitch. she will tell you.
you wonder how i got the professor in most of my pictures. well i took a hundred pictures today. and most were out of focus and had nothing in them. every once in awhile i got lucky and caught the professor.
i thought this quality and had to include it in the archive of my day. Doctrine and Covenants. Great memories. Today Tanner left (my bro) to go to the restroom. When he came back he scared me quite a bit because I was asleep against the wall. 2PM does that to me.
oh language development. today we watched a film on studies done on babies. 12 hours old a baby has a pacifier...do you really wanna know this. skip over if you dont. baby is introduced to a foreign langauge,the language in this study was the Philippine language which starts with a T and my bro in law jeremy speaks it. (tagolig? something) baby sucks slowly on pacifier which is hooked up to a machine to measure sucking. then baby is introduced (by introduced i mean listens to) to the baby's own language english. The baby sucks much faster and harder for a long period of time while listening. this means babys recognize familiar sounds...in their language. there is much more i could teach you. but i wont.
now i needed to do some things in the administration building. the kimball tower is what you see on my walk. oh what we call the swicket. Spencer W. Kimball Tower, Or the swkt, which is how it gets its name swicket.
as i continue to walk i pass the jfsb. Joesph F. Smith Building. Get with the acronyms. come on. please.
one year this indian was transformed into a snowman a very large snowman, 20 ft high, the BYU police dismantled him. If you read the police beat, this dismantling was very exciting for the police im sure. this indian represents the indian that helped the mayflower people. im pretty sure. correct me if i am wrong. also thats molly with the red backpack. she has no idea. we just left language development.
welcome to our library.
i had to get a wavier for living off campus. when i said document my day. i meant it.
if you look in the upper left you will see grass, with this grass is a sign that reads 'please dont walk on me, im trying to grow' upper right is the vending slip in which i lost $1.40 to the vending, and went to the office and filed a claim and got my money back. get rich quick. I didnt even have to have proof. just my word. lower left is me walking. i wasnt kidding about documenting my day. lower right is the administration building where i handed all this good stuff....or the ASB for abraham smoot building. He donated a lotta money to byu. they made a building.
walking out of the ASB we have Brigham Young. As you can see not many of my pictures are straight. Thats because I never took my camera up to my eye, all day long....and so this is the best we got. that building is the harold b lee library. its pretty awesome. and is 5 stories. i like a lot of places in the library. depends on my motive for going. to converse but maybe get some homework done..no shhhh zone..meaning you dont have to be quiet there. to sleep...places with soft chairs, then you slide them facing each other and climb in and pretend like you are reading a book and fall slowly to sleep. to really bare down and get some stuff done, the quiet lrc. yep thats where i go.
i was walking home when this friend appeared. We talked. he wanted to know why i had a camera. he had no idea what was going on. he will now. do you know now? do you love it my friend?
when i got home i realized i had just had 6-5pm straight with nothing to eat. so i made this, and ate it. didnt look through the viewfinder on this one either. how could i? it would ruin my post.

Police Beat

Now I work for BYU and I have been here in this secretive work place since 6AM. Well...this morning when I opened the newspaper, which is called the a name I dont want people at byu to search the newspaper and find my blog so for the sake of this i am going to type it with spaces. dont be annoyed. d a i l y u n i v e r s e. Okay so this happened. Me opening the newspaper. I thought I would share todays 'police beat' These are the things that happen on campus in which are reported to the police. Then the police give them to the du to print. im sure they give their most exciting ones. Remember this is my college/university. BYU.

NUISANCE
SEPT 11: BYU police received a phone call complaining of a band playing music too loudly at 10:30 PM in the Foreign Language Housing. The police arrived and the band was quiet.

my notes: of course the band was quiet, i wonder what language they spoke

SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY
SEPT 12: A custodian reported screaming near the MCKB at 4 a.m. The screams were later discovered to have come from a female student sprayed by a sidewalk sprinkler.

my notes:a sprinkler? how devastating did those screams sound in order to call the police?

SEPT 13: Police responded to a call reporting suspicious characters at the construction site on the south end of campus. Upon arrival, the suspects were discovered to be construction workers.

my notes:I wonder if the police told the Construction workers that somebody was reporting them as 'suspicious'

SEPT 14: Concerned residents reported a suspicious male student in Helaman Halls at 1:30 AM. The student was knocking on the ground level windows of John Hall and then holding a cardboard mask up to the windows. When the police arrived the suspect had fled.

my notes: What mask did he have? Why John Hall and not Stover, or Merril, or Taylor? Why the freshman?

CRIMINAL MISCHIEF
SEPT 13: Some people at Wyview Park were shooting off fireworks when they started a fire in the bushes and a resident had to smother the fire with a fire extinguisher. A suspect wearing a white hoodie was seen in the bushes and is believed to be involved.

my notes: Im quoting my coworker Boy Kelly on this one: 'when i read this, a cartoon image comes to my head.'

Now I apologize if any of you did not find this funny. I am not making fun of my university. I am just talking about things that are actually reported to the police. Something to consider: Other colleges have real theft and real problems...do we? or are we just reporting the small stuff to show how wonderfully Mormon we are? hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Phase Four of PEru!

Let me tell you a story. Philip Ryburn is from Austrailia. He likes to pretend he is from New Zealand too. Thats a different story. In peru they call him Felipe. Oh phil. Or sometimes I would throw in Philip. No I never did. Basically he is an incredible volunteer and spent three months in Peru and did a number of brilliant (I may have stole that word from him) things. But I know he will read this entry and be embarrassed if I tell you all the things he did. One thing he did was take Jana, Megan and I on a jungle trip. We got on a bus and rode 5 hours throughout the night. A man sitting across from Phil and I tried to buy my blue pillow. To read more about this pillow and its meaning to me once you click scroll down to my comments. click here to follow a link to Brookes blog where I had to defend my pillow.

Then we arrived in La Merced and got in a moto taxi. Oh did I say got in? I meant SHOVED ourselves in there. Where Megan was falling out of the front seat, which really wasnt a front seat. And..we all had bags and this moto taxi is basically a motorcycle with a backseat and a fancy cover over it. I may attach a pic. It was probably like 2 in the morning. We walked down the streets of La Merced trying to find a hostel. All full. So we turned and followed our trusty guide...whom was Phil whom had been once before. Then we found a hostel. Four twin beds in one small lovely room. With a shower. It was okay. What kind of description did I just give you? It was okay? Ha. It was an experience. And there was a rooster.

The next morning we found our jungle tour and experienced the jungle. Here is Phil describing the aftermath of the jungle. I know he loved me taking videos of him endlessly. So did Jana and Megan. For reals. Jana and Megan are just the most wonderful pair ever. They got me through my orphanage experience. Dont worry I went to Peru for a reason, and the orphans are coming. Probably Phase 5. Sorry to distract. Here is Phil.


Our living quarters. Notice my blue pillow. Notice Megan.
ONce we got locked out of our hostel. The key wouldnt work. So the man helping us said something in Spanish and then left. Phil assumed he said, oh lets climb over. So PHil climbed into our room like this. I assisted. Later the man clarified he was going to get something to reach over and unlock the door. Why? WE have Phil. Duh. He can climb into hostels. I felt super safe leaving my passport there during the day after this. Passport..not stolen. Phil...not hurt. All wonderful news.
We are set out to begin our trip. Lions and Tigers and Bears. Be afraid.
we were so afraaaaaaaaaaiiiddd!
in peru, we swim in big rivers. with tires as tubes. not inflated tires, but just rubber tires.
a river of love in the jungle
climb so you can see the most wonderful waterfall Brittany, climb.
our guide struck a pose before he did...........look below
this! before he assisted me into climbing this!
while i was climbing i instructed phil to take pictures. He decided it would be a good idea to put a hundred pictures of his face on my camera. Phil be glad I chose this one over the nose hole shot. If you click on this picture you can also see braids in his hair, in which I did. In random places. It was to make him look...rugged?
if cold had a bigger and better word to describe it. .. . i would write that word.
swimming in this garbage waterfall water. lots of visitors apparently. not clean water.
once i thought we would be done climbing it just happened all over again..and again.
after the jungle experience we got back to la merced and didnt really have a lot to do, after Phil said the word busker (a word I love a lot) and it means to perform on the street for money, I decided we needed to do something so we didnt have to busk. So we raced down a normal street powerwalking. Phil won of course because he is really good at dorky powerwalking, maybe its all the hours we sat and watched the olympics of powerwalking in peru. Then after that since Jana was the loser we made her drink some cheese. Thats right. Cheese. Megan was sleeping. With a plan to wake. She never woke. Well she did..but not till morn. So next adventure..we decided or PHil decided we would buy water and straight arm drink it..apparently they do this with beer, considering my circumstances...I didnt want beer, so we chose water. And got really wet. I dont think Jana wanted beer all over her either, Phil didnt mind im sure.
SO Janas punishment was drinking this cheese, then Phil and Jana decided I had to as well...it tasted like a liquid version of the mac and cheese packs of powder cheese, except they threw in a cow salt licking block for flavor. SALTY.
Jana attempted at capturing the cramminess of the moto taxi on the way to the bus station when it was all over.
i captured this sneak preview of the mototaxi. And phil.
This was the food I ate the morn we left. French fries, basically.
I tried to just you know stick my arm out in the mototaxi and take a pic..this is what we got. Have? This is what we have. Whatever.
We arrived at this butterfly/rescue zoo and Phil let this little creature crawl on him. The creature kept making squeeking noises. Like a baby.
Jana and Phil just loved the little thing, me and Megan chose to abstain from the creature. (notice Megans face in the background her mind is thinking, "oh my Heck (come on she doesnt say heck, only I say heck) Jana are you really? is that really touching you? Are you really my friend? Did we really come to Peru? Oh I feel sick")
Just to prove we really did see butterflies in the rescue zoo, and PHil really did try to translate. The girl would talk for three mintues and Phil would translate it all into one sentence. Thanks PHil. You are awesome.