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fudgecake.

all my old blog photos got deleted when i was messing with my settings. whoops.

anyway, we have our official "location" in Peru.


Coordinates: 13° 9′ 47″ S, 74° 13′ 28″ W
Figure it out.




Just kidding. It's Ayacucho, Peru!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayacucho

It's in the Andes.
It's very small.
And it's most famous for two things: the 33 churches representing every YEAR of Jesus's life, and being the cradle of the terrorist group "Sendero Luminoso" or "Shining Path." now that group is completely gone. but here's a fun fact (especially for matt):

"Dr Abimael Guzman, the founder of the Shining Path or Sendero Luminoso lived in Ayacucho. The Shining Path murdered thousands of people in the region and was only stopped recently. Nobody wanted to live in Guzman's house at the edge of town so it's now a animal hospital."

I was going to write "haha" but that didn't feel right. Matt, we found where you're volunteering honey!


SUZ

llamas and quechua!

I am excited to say Matt and I are moving to PERU!

I have been placed with a wonderful microfinance institution (MFI) called FINCA Peru. FINCA Peru was the first MFI established in Latin America and loans only to economically disadvantaged women. FINCA Peru operates in two towns in the countryside, as well as Lima. I'm not sure where specifically (of those three) I'll be placed yet.

Please watch this wonderful video on FINCA Peru, complete with English subtitles!


I am so, so humbled and honored to be a part of this wonderful organization through Kiva.

biotechno-what?

My sister is amazing.

I love her so much. She might not know how much I look up to her. But she should because everytime I start hysterically crying about something, I know I can call her and she will make me feel better; in the same way she shares my joy when I'm really excited. She may be thousands of miles away but shes always the first that comes to mind when I want to talk to someone because I know she understands me. We are actually really similar, despite the fact I wasn't even in advanced chemistry in high school... hahhaha.
She is the best. Chris is a lucky guy... :)



But she is also a genius, and a fricken hard worker, and I couldn't be prouder of her first published article in Nature Biotechnology. She even did the cover art for it!



Unfortunately this is the biggest image I could get of it...



Here is the link to April's issue: www.nature.com/nbt*
*Bear in mind her name is Madeleine Price Ball so when it lists Ball as the author, that's her's.

sacrifice

this blog has been hidden for personal reasons.
it was about my decision to do kiva. if you're still interested in reading, shoot me a msg and i'll email it to you. thanks!

love
spm