Monday, December 28, 2009

Merry Xmas!

Hey everyone! My first Christmas in Peru was quite an experience. The traditions here are more different here than I had previously thought. First of all, the majority of the celebrating is done on Christmas eve when families get together for midnight dinner and then drinking and talking all night long. I learned a new verb that is very important in Peruvian culture, amanecer. This verb literally translates to "to dawn." In the U.S. only the day can "dawn" but here in Peru, people can too. I didn't realize how seriously they take their staying out all night until I had to politely excuse myself at 3 am due to a stomach ache and they looked at me like I was crazy for leaving before the sun came up. My host family came in around six when the day literally was dawning.
Dinner was excellent. It is traditional to eat at twelve but we were invited to two different dinners so we ate at eight and then again at twelve. The massive quantities of turkey, hot chocolate, and paneton (a Peruvian version of fruit cake) were most likely the cause of my stomach ache. After dinner number two we started the traditional passing of the glass where everyone sits in a circle and passes around one glass and one beer. I actually enjoy this tradition because it makes drinking very communal. When the music came on everyone wanted to see me dance so I did my best cumbia with my host sister while everyone else stayed in their seats and watched. I was shy at first but proud to be the entertainment for my entire extended family.
Christmas day was much different than it is in the United States. First of all, they do not know the Santa Claus "myth." They have Santa Claus memorabilia all over the place but they don't know about the flying reindeer or the gift delivery (most likely because most people can't afford gifts). I explained our traditions to my family and even put gifts out under the tree when I got home at 3 am.
Instead of opening gifts and eating a big brunch with family, I found out that people here spend their Christmas drinking, dancing, and napping. When I went out for a walk around 11 I ended up being invited into a house where the people were incredibly curious about my purpose here. After sharing a bottle of wine and a couple of beers (all being passed around in true Peruvian form), the old, senile uncle started telling me he wanted to be my godfather and baptize me. I decided to stop tiptoeing around religion and explain that I am not Catholic and that, in fact, many people in the United States are not Catholic. This concept surprised them and I don't think my new "tio" totally understood. Since I wouldn't let him baptize me he insisted on taking me to the market to buy me earrings. The woman who sells earrings hadn't arrived so I dodged that bullet. The rest of my afternoon was spent relaxing with my host family similar to any Sunday afternoon.
Although it was neat to see the Christmas traditions here, I definitely thought a lot about home. I miss everyone a ton and I look forward to hearing from you. I have really started to settle in here and it has finally hit me that I will be here for two years. Sometimes that seems like forever but for the most part, I think it will fly by. I hope everything is well back at home! Keep me posted!

Channeling McGyver

Merry Christmas And happy holidays everyone! I am experiencing the Southern Hemisphere summer Christmas here and it is quite odd. The 90 degree weather made it difficult for me to really get into the Xmas spirit but because of the importance of the holiday here, I have gotten my fix of hot chocolate and blinking lights. On multiple occasions I have explained to my new friends that Santa wears a jacket because in some parts of the world it is winter. We came to the agreement that Peruvian "Papa Noel" should be dressed in shorts and sunglasses. My host mother went to Lima for the next month because her daughter is giving birth so I will be spending Christmas Eve with my host sister and her in-laws. From what I have heard, Christmas here is celebrated with mass then a midnight dinner on Christmas Eve followed by partying and dancing until the next day then nursing hangovers on Christmas day. When I inquired about gifts, the response was always the same, "when there is enough money, we buy gifts but this year there is not enough." I think that this approach to Christmas is something people in the United States should think about implementing. I discussed with my host sister how the holidays are stressful in the United States because gifts are expected whether there is money or not. Visa is more than willing to help out in the short term.
Alter a month in my site I am settling in and I am beginning to see the reality of life in Peru. I feel like I have passed the "honeymoon stage" of my Peace Corps experience and I am moving into reality. Everything I do is still thrilling, intriguing, or otherwise exciting purely because it is new but I have also had a lot of time to analyze my role here and the reality doesn't always exactly coincide with my idealistic expectations for Peace Corps service. I live in a town where there are a lot of motivated individuals who want to work with me which makes my job as a facilitator much easier but as reality comes into view, it is daunting to feel responsible for implementing all of the projects that people expect me to become involved in using methods that will be sustainable beyond my service. This week I continued my quest for potential projects within the community and came out with many ideas. Along the way I developed a better understanding of the political climate here and learned the importance of distancing myself from local politics if I hope to be a successful Peace Corps volunteer.
One of my biggest adventures was a trip with one of my new associates in the municipality to a site he wants to reforest using zapote, a bizarre fruit that is used to feed livestock. Some might call my new friend a visionary due to his drive to plant zapote but around town he is more commonly known as loco zapote. He has a nursery that, at its peak, housed 25,000 zapote trees but has fallen into disarray and he wants my help in restarting his project. I will definitely be involved because it seems that this is an appropriate plant to grow here due to its affinity for dry climates. The issue will be avoiding committing my life to growing zapote and thus becoming labeled as a political crony of loco zapote. Our trip out into the countryside was a three-hour tour of an area devastated by desertification due to deforestation. I heard my new friend's opinions on topics including American politics, the English language, Peruvian history, and pretty much any topic that crossed his mind. Many of the ideas that he presented as fact I knew to be false however, I appreciated his wide variety of interests and his frankness. I look forward to having an ally within the municipality but after listening to him talk about the people he is not fond of, I realize that it is very important for me to stay on his good side.
The highlight of our field trip was when we came across an archeological dig that seemed to be straight out of Indiana Jones. The archeologists had come across a Pre-Incan pyramid which they were in the process of uncovering. We got to come right up to the excavation and see the paintings left on the adobe walls by the Mochica culture, which inhabited this area around 500 AD. It is incredible that this type of discovery is still being made despite the continuous search for treasures that has continued since the Spanish arrived. As recently as 1997 huge quantities of gold were taken out of the pyramids in the Bosque de Pomac, right next to where I live.
I spent Tuesday of this week getting to know the lifestyle in Huaca Rivera, the small rural community where I work with the volunteer park guards on a tree nursery. At 8 am I arrived at my friend Soledad's house and accompanied her on her daily activities. First we went to her chacra (plot of farmland) where we picked what seemed like 400 mangoes, avocadoes, lentils, limes, and tamarindo (an amazing fruit that tastes like sour warheads). When we got back we ate mangoes until I felt sick and then started making lunch using firewood that we collected from the forest. After lunch Soledad filled my backpack as full as possible with our treasures from the chacra and we went to work in the nursery. The day was an interesting glimpse into what my life might have been like had I been assigned to a more rural site in the district where I live. My next project is to find recipes that use mangoes so that I can eat some of these before they rot.
This week was not without its glitches. After returning from my long day in the countryside I accidentally locked my keys in my room, which would not have been a problem except my host mother had just left for Lima with the spare key in her pocket. I spent the evening tearing the house apart looking for another spare key until I realized it was no use and went to bed in another room. The next morning I went in search of a locksmith or a criminal with experience at breaking and entering. The closest I found was a carpenter who turned out to be overly eager to break the window over my door and climb in. I should have known when his first idea for getting into the room was unlocking the door from the inside…I don't think he fully understood the situation. My best option was to go in search of my inner McGyver. I finally got into my room after spending an hour with a long pole that had a wire loop and a plastic bottle on the end. Despite the frustration throughout the process, I am pretty proud of my ingenuity.
As I figure out my role here, I am keeping in mind that no matter what happens, I will have an amazing experience. The first two goals of the Peace Corps that were drilled into our heads throughout training are to help Peruvians better understand American culture and to foster a better understanding of Peruvian culture once I return to the United States. I will have no problem accomplishing these two goals. The third goal of bringing technical assistance to developing countries will not be an issue if I continue teaching, working on tree nurseries, and supporting the efforts of the solid waste management committee but it is becoming difficult not to expect long-term, sustainable solutions to big problems. I have come to realize that the biggest thing I could possibly do here is get a few people to be passionate enough about their local environment that they will carry on my efforts after I leave. In my short time here I have already met multiple people who could potentially fill this role. I have a few projects that I will be starting in the New Year but for now, it is time to focus on the holidays and community integration (translation: attending parties and eating).

Saturday, December 19, 2009

3 day party

These last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of activities that have helped me build credibility in the community and establish myself as hardworking. I have made the leap (at least among the schoolchildren) from gringa to Señorita Dani. I have given presentations in both primary schools in my town about participatory environmental education and it seems that the teachers are responding positively. They are very interested in starting recycling programs, building tree nurseries, and taking field trips. I am very lucky with my site because all the people here need is a little encouragement and facilitation. There is a strong interest in protecting their environment and I am here to motivate people to be confident enough to step outside the box a little.
My favorite activity that I have done so far was to make tipi-taps with some of the high school students. Tipi taps are essentially two liter bottles turned upside down, filled with water, and hung outside the bathroom to encourage hand washing. Since we only have water select hours of the day, I have had trouble washing my hands every time I use the bathroom so I stole this project idea from the water and sanitation Peace Corps program. I made hand washing cool in the high school, which is the most I can hope for as a Peace Corps volunteer.
As Christmas approaches I have been thinking a lot about family and tradition. I look forward to participating in all the traditions here, which I am told include mass and a midnight dinner on Christmas Eve. My host mother will be in Lima because her youngest daughter is giving birth so she will not be present for my first Peruvian Christmas. I will not, however, be orphaned and lonely on Christmas. I have been invited to about ten different houses but I will be accompanying my host sister to her in-law's house.
The amount of socializing that I have done in the past three weeks has given me a pretty good glimpse into the culture of Pacora. It is a vibrant and friendly town where everyone is curious about who I am and what I am doing. In order to meet more people and give off a wholesome and trustworthy image, I started attending mass with my host mother. This achieved the desired effect but now I am back peddling a little bit because now everyone thinks that I am a devout Catholic. I have been invited to pray on many occasions and in some cases I have accepted and asked for health, friendship, and success in the upcoming year. I thought it was pretty good for a first prayer in any language.
Another fact of life that I am getting used to is the fact that there is no separation of church and state. Since the students at the local public high school were required to learn The Lord's Prayer in English for their English class last week, my English class turned into a combination language-religion course. This was not my ideal situation but it was one way to get to know the kids.
When I refer to the people here as vibrant I mean that in many senses of the word. There is a ton of energy everywhere you look. Subtlety is not a concept that exists. The colors are bright, glitter is prevalent, raucous laughter spills out of every house, and the parties last for days. Last week the neighbors had a baptism party that lasted for three days. As soon as I saw the twelve-foot tower of speakers and mototaxi after mototaxi arriving full of beer, I knew I wouldn't be sleeping. When I saw the same speaker tower on the sidewalk outside my house today (it wouldn't fit through the other neighbor's door) I knew what was coming. I definitely respect a culture that doesn't hold back when it comes to partying but I am used to the police showing up if the music can even be heard from the neighbor's house. I tried to explain this to my host mom as the windows visibly shook above our heads due to the volume of the chicken dance and she did not understand the concept. I am pretty sure that I will be coming back to the states much less uptight than I am now (although I never really thought of myself as uptight before coming to Peru).
I am at a point where I am transitioning from the honeymoon stage into the reality. I am figuring out the quirks of the culture that I will be working with and trying to adjust my tactics and expectations accordingly. Punctuality and Ford style efficiency have given way to a less rigid, García-Márquez perception of time. I am starting to see all the Latin American lit I read in college with a new clarity…and it's growing on me even though the chicken dance just started up again for the second time in the last half hour.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Some things you should know about life in Peru...

20 Things I've Learned in Peru

Meat and Food
1. The cute, small guinea pigs that let you pet them aren't being friendly, they are weak and will die soon. Don't get attached.
2. The darker chunks of "meat" in the soup are not really meat, they are mystery organs.
3. Eating mangoes when there is no running water equals sticky hands all day. It is better to save this snack for later when there is water.
4. Too many mangoes leads to an uncomfortable stomach situation.
5. The warm, unpasteurized mile that comes with breakfast, although delicious, does not help the aforementioned uncomfortable stomach situation.
6. It is impossible to eat anything without first adding at least half the weight of the original food in either salt or sugar.
7. On any given day one should consume large quantities of the four main food groups, white rice, noodles, potatoes, and white bread, often all in the same meal.

Language Barrier
8. To collaborate with someone means to pay them, not to share in responsibility.
9. To invite someone to something means you are paying. Be careful about inviting a Peruvian friend to a movie or a meal.
10. In Peruvian Spanish every word ends in the diminutive -ita as a means of showing endearment. My favorite so far was when someone told me the restroom was ocupadita instead of just ocupada (occupied).

Household chores
11. Doing laundry by hand with open wounds on your hands will lead to extreme discomfort.
12. It is possible to remain perfectly clean and ironed after gutting a hen, walking 2 kilometers on a dusty road, and eating an ice cream. So far I haven't succeeded in staying clean through one of these activities let alone all three.

Celebrity
13. Telling the school children where you live will mean constantly being watched through your window.
14. Attending town gatherings will mean giving a public speech and sitting with the authorities as a "representative of the government of the United States."

Culture
15. It is perfectly acceptable to refer to someone by their physical attributes. Weight, race, and skin color are all commonly included in nicknames. It is also possible to convert a defining physical characteristic into a nickname by adding the diminutive or demonstrative, i.e. a cabezon would be a person with a big head or a narizon would be a big nosed person.
16. Being 22 and unconcerned with finding a husband and having kids in the immediate future is almost unheard of (hence the name of the new Facebook album, Confessions of a 22 year old spinster).

Perceptions of American Culture
17. All Americans only eat canned food.
18. Americans come to steal babies.
19. Americans throw their clothes away after very little use.
20. Americans bring swine flu.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Aniversario!

Hey everyone! My second week in site has been crazy busy in part because this week was our district anniversary. Since my town is the capitol of the district of Pacora, it was the center of the action. My motto has been "say yes to everything" which has gotten me involved in all kinds of projects in the community. It is amazing to have everyone so excited to work with me and hang out with me but it has given me a new respect for what it must be like to be a celebrity. Although I love when the school children yell out "hola señorita Dani" every time I walk by, it is not as endearing when I am relaxing in the living room with my family and groups of little kids come up to peek through the window. I am hoping that soon some of the novelty will wear off and people will be more interested in working with me and getting to know me than just staring at me.
Over the weekend I attended various events leading up to the anniversary including the Señorita Pacora pageant and the mass wedding. Both were very well attended events and allowed me to experience a little more of the culture in Pacora. The pageant was a typical beauty pageant without the talent portion. The mass wedding was an opportunity for people who do not have enough money for a wedding to participate in a proper civil ceremony complete with cake and snacks all provided by the municipality. Twenty-one couples participated ranging in age from 15 to 65. It was a happy occasion for everyone but also an interesting glimpse into the lives of the people here. I am definitely an anomaly due to the fact that I am not in any rush to get married or have kids at 22. Many of the people I meet are convinced that I will end up marrying a Peruvian.
This week started off great. Sunday evening I went to introduce myself to the people who own the local equestrian tourism company and give tours of the historical sanctuary Bosque de Pomac. They were thrilled that I am interested in working with them and they said that I could ride whenever I want. I am also invited to accompany them any time they take tourists out into the forest. They also do inn-to-inn type of tours through the forest and to different ruins throughout the area. I am really excited to go on one of these rides one day! For now, they offered me the opportunity to show up any time I like and take a horse out. They have Peruvian Pasos which are horses bred for their incredibly smooth gait. They say that these horses are so smooth you can sip wine while riding. That sounds like my ideal afternoon.
Monday the real work started. My fellow Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) Tyler came into Pacora and we taught an environmental lesson about the biosphere at the local high school. I taught the lesson three times in the morning and then two more times later in the afternoon. It went really well with everyone and at the end of each lesson we created a contract of things we will do to help protect our biosphere. All of the kids came up with excellent ideas and then signed. The teachers and director were so excited about these contracts that they posted them in the quad area so that everyone would see them. I will be teaching every Monday and Wednesday at the high school and I am hoping to coordinate with the local elementary schools to work with them as well. I only hope that I am creative enough to have consistently good lessons.
On the day of the anniversary, I went out into the plaza at 8 am to help run a campaign for world AIDS day. Some nursing students came from a local university to help my friend Rocio and I talk to people in the plaza about HIV-AIDS and pin red ribbons on passersby. We even convinced the local politicians and authorities to wear the ribbons and demonstrate their support for our cause! Rocio is the OBGYN at the health post and has tons of energy. We already have ideas for projects informing the public about adverse health effects of dumping garbage and campaigns for hand washing. I am looking forward to getting going on some of these longer-term projects.
When it came time for the ceremonial part of the anniversary, the mayor requested that I participate along with the authorities. I ended up carrying the flag around the streets of Pacora along with the governor of our district, the mayor, members of the military, and other important figures. I also got VIP seating and a shout out in the mayor's opening speech. It was a little intense and embarrassing but I think it helped me to build credibility with the public.
Once the real parade started, I marched first with the health post, much to the dismay of the women's group that I work with, and then I ran back to march with the solid waste management committee. It was flattering to be in such high demand among the local institutions and organizations.
One of the projects that I will be working on while I am here is maintaining the tree nursery that my predecessor established in a rural area outside of Pacora. So far, our weekly meetings have been very productive in terms of the quantity of trees that we plant but I am trying to figure out how to deal with some frustrating patterns that I have noticed. The women tend to start out every meeting bickering about who forgot to bring a shovel and who brought a small bucket to water the trees. After that, we spend a good amount of time deciding how to divide up the work so that it is fair and then, finally, we begin planting. It is great fun to chat and joke around with them and their children are adorable but I will definitely be learning to have patience from this activity.
This weekend I will be going into the capitol city of Chiclayo for our monthly regional meeting and I am looking forward to debriefing some of my recent experiences. I am also looking forward to meeting all of the other volunteers in the department of Lambayeque as they will be my support network over the next two years. As we move into the Christmas season, I think it will be really nice to have friends that understand what I am going through and give me a connection to my former life. I hope everything is going well back in The States. I am entering summer down here so I hope all of you will go out and play in the snow for me! Miss you!

First Week in Site

Hey everyone! I hope Thanksgiving was great! I was thinking of everyone back home as I finished up my first week here in the town of Pacora, Peru. So far everything here is "tranquilo" (a word that is used in the same way good or chill is used in the United States). My family is really sweet and involves me in everything but doesn't mind if I hang out in my room. This is especially important because I have been reading the last installment of Twilight so I have been absorbed in that most of the time when I'm around the house. My life here is much easier than I was expecting as a Peace Corps volunteer because I have every amenity I could need, running water, electricity, internet down the street, and stores where I can get most things that I would want. I even got the water heater working the other day and had a hot shower! Despite the comforts, I am definitely not living the same life I had in the USA. Every morning I wake up to people and animals screaming next door as they butcher their sheep, goats, etc. to take to the market. As I walk through town on any given morning or evening, I am often almost run over by herds of animals being taken out to graze. I may still be in the honeymoon stage in my new home but I find all of these quirks very endearing.
Although I'm having a great time, I'm also starting to see where the frustrations will come from in my next two years. It will be the little things not working out for example my technical difficulties on Thanksgiving that got in the way of my Skype date with my family. I am slowly realizing that I am no longer in the world of Teflon non-stick pans and running water at all hours of the day (we only get water for two hours at breakfast, lunch, and dinner). Not everything works properly all of the time and this is what I can tell I will have the most trouble adjusting to.
One thing that is going to keep me sane while I am here is the people. In the last week I have met so many people with great ideas for projects and incredible energy to get things done. Since I have been here, I have been teaching daily English/environment classes to a growing group of neighborhood kids. We usually start out with some English and then move to talking about environmental issues at my insistence. Yesterday we even drew posters to encourage people not to litter and cut trees that we will be putting up around the plaza for the anniversary. These kids are so enthusiastic about working with me that I literally have to kick them out of my house after our hour-long sessions.
For the first three days this week I worked with the obstetrician at the health post on materials for an HIV-AIDS education campaign. Her idea is to lighten the mood so that people are more comfortable discussing STDs and AIDS in particular. We made four-foot tall cardboard cutouts of condoms wearing ties, hats that say "put on your hat," and a wheel of risky and non-risky behaviors. The first thing she showed me when I arrived was a huge book of she had made with three-foot tall glittery drawings of various STD infected body parts. It was pretty hard not to laugh at the super sparkly version of herpes she showed me.
One of my secondary projects here will be to help out with the tree nursery that my predecessor started in one of the rural areas outside of Pacora. The trees from this nursery will be used to reforest parts of the National Historical Sanctuary Bosque de Pomac. I can tell that this project will be both a source of joy and frustration after my first week working with them. I showed up on Tuesday for our meeting and it turns out they had decided to have the meeting Thursday so I came back Thursday. When everyone finally arrived and we went to start planting trees, the neighbor came out and started yelling at us that we couldn't plant trees because he wanted to run his animals there. Since we are working in a national protected area, he technically shouldn't be running his animals there anyway but that was irrelevant. After sorting this and a few other details out we began to plant our trees. All of the volunteer park guards that I was working with were so enthusiastic and grateful to have me there so, overall I found this rewarding. I have a feeling that when I go back and find all the trees dead, my frustration might come back but for now, I'm just enjoying the fact that everyone got out there and got their hands dirty with me.
As I finish up my first week in Pacora, I feel like I become more a part of the community each day. Yesterday I started doing my community surveys where I sit down with someone in each household for about 20 minutes and ask them about their garbage, whether they would be interested in planting trees, and whether they would be interested in attending lectures on environmental topics. So far, everyone that I have talked to has been welcomed me into their home and expressed an interest in helping me get to know Pacora. Even though it can be awkward to go into someone's home and start asking them personal questions, I can already tell that this will help me to figure out what types of projects will best benefit the community. After all my training in the theory of participatory community development projects, it is awesome to actually start putting it into action. At this point, I don't think that I could have been given a better site to work in.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

New Home

This past Sunday I arrived back in Lima after spending three days in my new site and I truly believe that I got the best placement I could have asked for. The little town that I will be living in is the district capitol and has about 3,000 inhabitants. Since I will be replacing two volunteers who lived in the caserrillos (small surrounding villages) of this town, there are already some projects in place that I will get to work on. My community counterparts are the president of the solid waste committee that the previous volunteers established and a teacher from one of the primary schools. I have not yet met the teacher but the president of the trash committee along with all the other members are enthusiastic and motivated so I have a head start on any project that I want to work on.
The house that I will be living in is a typical two story Peruvian home with an open floor plan and mostly cement floors (although we have tile in the living room which is considered luxurious). My room looks over a beautiful flower garden with cherry and plum trees in full bloom. My new host mother is an older woman named Ludivina who works at the municipality. She is at least a foot shorter than I am but has an enormous presence within the community. So far it seems to me that she is related to everyone in Pacora and surrounding areas either by blood or marriage. She is incredibly hospitable and already refers to me as hija (daughter). Her husband works in the neighboring department so he is only around every 15 days but the house is rarely empty because my host sister and her two teenage sons live upstairs. It is an excellent situation because I will be living with a loving family who is also very sensitive to my need for some space and independence.
On my first day in town, I went to the schools where I presented myself to each classroom. There are two primary schools and one high school so I ended up giving my little speech around 25 times. Each time I introduced myself and stated my intention to collaborate with the schools, the woman who was taking me around would add that I am willing to teach English and then would tell the students where I am living. Needless to say that by 3 o'clock that afternoon, kids had started showing up at my door, sometimes to ask for English lessons but more often to stare at me. By the end of the weekend I had taught about four impromptu English lessons but each time I ended with a quick environmental theme or activity. I am planning on teaching English to get my foot in the door with the kids and then I will transition to more environmental classes. I am even thinking that they can "pay" for their English lessons by planting a tree with me.
On Saturday night we traveled to Pimentel, a beach town about an hour away, for my first Peruvian wedding. Since I hadn't brought any nice clothing on my site visit, my host mom tracked down her one niece that happens to be over 4 foot 9 and borrowed a gown for me that miraculously fit. At first I was tired and hungry and a bit uncomfortable in my over the top sequined and beaded quinceñera dress. I was not looking forward to what I was sure to be a long night. Around about 9 pm the food started coming and then around 10 people started dancing. It turned out that everyone wanted to teach me to dance so I ended up on the dance floor most of the night taking breaks to snack on appetizers until dinner finally came at 1 am. We ended up staying at the party until 5 am until my 65 year-old host father was literally asleep in his chair! At this point there were no cars back to Pacora so we went to the after party at the bride's house where there was eating and drinking and dancing. I tried to rally but I ended up falling asleep in a chair. When I woke up it was light out and I was incredibly disoriented so I pretty much demanded that we jump in a car and head home. We got back to Pacora around 8:30 am and went to bed…finally!! Although I had a great time and met a ton of people, I really hope that these events are few and far between because I don't think I can keep up with my host mother!
After a long weekend, I was not ready to head home. I already feel like there will be so much that I can do in my new community. Between working with the solid waste committee, teaching English, and helping the teachers incorporate environmental topics into their curriculum, I will be busy and productive. I already helped my host mom start a compost so that she will have rich soil when she plants her vegetable garden in January. This weekend gave me tons of ideas and motivation for getting my service going. I am looking forward to heading back to Pacora for good this weekend. It is an adorable town and anyone who has the chance should definitely come visit me!

Also, thanks to everyone who has sent me mail! I have a new address now:

Dani Rueter
Cuerpo de Paz
Casilla Postal 208
Oficina Serpost, S.A.
Chiclayo, Peru

Hope to hear from you soon!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

A little dose of the real world...campo style

This past week we left Lima for our official field based training and site visits. For the first three days we traveled around the departments where we will be living with all of the other volunteers going to that area. We were chaperoned by current volunteers who showed us their sites and coordinated activities to introduce us to life as a Peace Corps volunteer. On Saturday I boarded a bus with four other volunteers and on Sunday morning I woke up in the city of Chiclayo, Lambayeque, our regional capitol.
Our first day of field based training started off with a trip to Starbucks, the hang out for PCVs in Lambayeque. After spending an entire day's allowance on a coffee, we headed to the town of Olmos, about 3 hours by combi (a public, very crowded van). Two of the volunteers I was with will be living in small villages in this district. During our stay in Olmos, we ate amazing street food, planted trees, and stayed with local host families. There was no electricity in the village we stayed in which turned out to be relaxing and refreshing. As it turned out, the volunteer who coordinated this part of the training had gotten the entire village excited about a United States V. Peru volleyball game. Upon our arrival, the Peruvians all got really worried because, compared to them, we are all enormous. In the end they had no reason to be nervous since not one of us plays volleyball. We ended up losing all three games but the scores were at least close. I hope that when I move to my site I will be able to start a pickup volleyball game so that I can learn to play.
After two nights in Olmos, we headed back down to a village outside of the town where I will be living to stay at another volunteer's site. This village is located right on the national historical sanctuary so many of the people who live there work as volunteer park guards in exchange for rice and other foods. While the men do rounds patrolling the forest, women volunteer park guards generally sweep the forest floor but, in this village, the volunteer that lives there has gotten them composting and building a tree nursery to help with reforestation of the park. Since I will be living so close I will be helping maintain the tree nursery project for the volunteer who is leaving. I am very lucky to have this project already in place so that I don't have to start from scratch.
After working at the nursery we went for a hike into the national historical sanctuary to see some of the ruins from the Sican Culture. The adobe pyramids dating back to pre Incan times have now eroded substantially but it is obvious that they were massive and of incredible cultural importance. One of the pyramids is called the Pyramid of Kneeling Women because it was found filled with women who had been sacrificed in the kneeling position. This national historical sanctuary will provide excellent opportunities for me to work in reforestation as well as environmental and cultural awareness.
During my three days of field based training I had a few moments where it hit me that I am living in a different world now. The first of these happened when I was riding between one of the small rural villages and the district capitol in a mototaxi (a motorcycle converted into a carriage style tricycle). As we were bouncing along the dusty road, I all of a sudden felt a scurrying over my feet and around my ankles. I shrieked and looked down to see a burlap sack moving around at my feet. As it turns out, this mototaxi was also serving to transport guinea pigs. The next day during breakfast I had a similar moment of realization when, during breakfast, a neighbor boy ran into the dining room with a screaming goat dangling from his arms yelling "it's dying!" The woman who I was staying with calmly stated that it had been that way since yesterday and there was nothing that could be done. Perhaps the funniest of these encounters occurred when, over lunch with all of the Peace Corps volunteers at the house of one of the volunteer park guards, we realized that what we had though was pepper in our rice were actually tons of dead ants. We all got a little extra protein that day along with our dose of reality. The field based training left me with a little better idea of what life in rural Peru is like but, more than anything, the people were so welcoming and gracious that I got more excited than ever to move into my community.

Site Assignments...Finally!

Hola todos! This week started out a little heavier than usual after spending a long weekend traveling around the Andes and then sleeping on a bus. It was obvious that everyone was still in a daze Monday morning. After a day of nearly falling asleep in class, I headed to the local library to volunteer. This week we asked the kids to draw their ideal living situation, a concept which took them a while to grasp. Initially, the kids didn't know what to draw because they most likely have not been asked to think of a future with unlimited possibilities but, after seeing the ridiculous drawings that myself and other volunteers came up with, their imaginations began to shine through. This activity was incredibly satisfying because the boost in self esteem that the students experienced was obvious immediately. By the end of the lesson we had oceans with mermaids and houses on lakes in the mountains. Everyone seemed to get a lot out of the activity so I will definitely be using it once I get to site.
On Tuesday, we got to teach English in a school which is an activity that I intend to use to get my foot in the door with students and parents once I get to site. Many of the volunteers that have spoken to us recommend teaching English to build trust (confianza) with kids and their parents. The students that we practiced on were incredibly welcoming and curious. When we walked in the room they were all standing and waving American flags that they had made in class. I can only hope that some of my efforts in site will be this well received.
On Friday we traveled to the Peace Corps headquarters in Lima where we officially found out where everyone will be for the next two years! To make these announcements, they attached 56 balloons to the wall each with a name and a site placement on it. Each volunteer through a spear at the balloons and read the name and placement from the balloon that they popped. After some screaming, tears of joy, and one close call with the spear, everyone in Peru 14 was officially given a place to live for the next two years. I am looking forward to visiting my new friends all over the country.
After site assignments were handed out, we had the afternoon free so I headed for a little slice of the USA at the mall across the street. I ate Dunkin Doughnuts and spent a good amount of time at the Apple Store checking email before heading back to the center for dance classes. If we hadn't just been given our fate for the next two years, dance class would have easily been the best part of my day. We essentially followed a Peruvian Richard Simmons through a medley of all of the popular dances in Peru mixed in with some of his own moves. I don't know if it was his short shorts, super enthusiasm, or tank top but it was impossible not to follow the instructor's lead and attempt every dance from raggaeton to huaynos (traditional music and dance from the mountains). The dancing that ensued was probably the best workout that I have gotten since I have been here.
When our own "Ricardo Simmons" finally stopped, we had one of our Peruvian Spanish instructors teach us the thriller dance. I intend to find this dance on DVD, learn the choreography, and teach a group of children in my community all the moves. I believe all of this falls under the cultural exchange goal of the Peace Corps.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Life at 10,000 Feet Above Sea Level

Hello from Peru! Last Sunday I started my week off by going to a bullfight. I was hesitant at first because I wasn't looking forward to watching a bull get killed but once I got there I was able to appreciate the culture behind it. The event started out with a marching band followed by a performance by Peruvian Paso horses. The main event got started with some politically incorrect rodeo clowns chasing being chased around by the younger bulls. This was entertaining despite the fact that I was somewhat offended by the man in black face with balloons to give him a voluptuous butt and chest. I still haven't gotten used to the open commentary on race and physical appearance. The idea of political correctness does not exist in the same way it does in the United States
On Wednesday night we left for our first field based training, which means we got to visit the sites where volunteers are currently living. The environment volunteers went to the department of Ancash, home of the most famous Andean glaciers. The most famous climbs and treks in Peru leave from the capitol of Ancash, Huaraz. In order to get there, we took a night bus, which was the most comfortable form of transportation that I have ever used. The seats are much larger than first class airplane seats and recline to almost flat (although you can pay slightly more to have seats that become full beds). I was able to sleep the entire night and wake up to vistas of the Cordillera Blanca, the most famous section of the Peruvian Andes.
We arrived in Huaraz at 6:30 in the morning and went directly to our first site visit. I could feel myself breathing panting as my body tried to acclimate to the lack of oxygen at 10,000 feet. The first site we visited was at the base of the highest tropical glacier in the world, Huascaran. All of the community members that I met throughout field-based training only spoke Quechua amongst each other and would switch to Castellano only when talking to us. This makes the sites in the Andes difficult because the volunteers only speak the second language of the community members. The towns around this area live off of the trekking industry by renting out rooms in their houses and hauling hiker's gear on their donkeys. We went up to a glacial lake to talk to the park guards about park management and look at the tree nursery that is a part of the reforestation project currently underway in Huascaran National Park. We also got a chance to talk to the members of the various tourist service organizations including artisans, boat drivers, and people who sell amazing food. That night, I stayed in a modernized version of a traditional farmer's hut that one of the community members had built to rent out to tourists. When I complimented the building, the owner offered to build me one, which I had to politely decline, a skill that I have acquired since moving to Peru.
The second morning, we woke up for a community trash clean up at 6 am. Every community that I have encountered so far has events called faenas, which are mandatory community maintenance and service days. It was an honor to be able to participate even though I had to get up at dawn. After the clean up, we headed to our next site which was incredible different from the first in that it lacked discipline and organization. We looked at the tree nursery and planted a few native tree species where we could find space amongst the thousands of Eucalyptus trees that have been introduced because of their quick growth and long, straight trunks. One of our challenges as PCVs is to convince people that it is worthwhile to grow trees other than Eucalyptus, a species that dramatically degrades soil quality because of its high levels of nutrient and water uptake.
That evening, we helped the current volunteers to prepare their Halloween costumes for the next night. While I curled ribbons to look like feathers for a parrot costume, my friend Olivia and our technical trainer Lane worked very hard to braid and sew beads into the volunteers beard for a Johnny Depp inspired pirate costume. That night after a meal of guinea pig and about 7 potatoes, I had the pleasure of using a squat latrine for the first time in my life.
On the final day of field-based training, I headed to another small community where I made a presentation on building a micro relleno (a simple landfill) and composting. The talk went very well and the community members even participated in the activity that I had planned at the end. For lunch, I was again served guinea pig (or cuy to Peruvians), but this time I was served the head, which I traded with the language instructor who was accompanying our group because, according to him, it is the best part of the cuy. Personally, I couldn't bring myself to gnaw what little meat there was off of the skull of the cuy. Instead, I got to gnaw a very small amount of meat off the hind leg of the guinea pig (which looks pretty much like a rat when stripped of its fur).
After lunch on Saturday, we headed into Huaraz to hang out until our bus left at 11 pm. From the main square of Huaraz, I was able to see more than 5 snow covered peaks, which made it the most majestic plaza that I have ever seen. During our time in Huaraz I went to the artisan market where bought a necklace of seeds called Huayruros which are said to bring luck and protection. Around dinnertime, Halloween really started picking up and I was caught off guard by the children trick or treating in the streets. We were constantly being asked for candy while we ate at a sidewalk café. When we would tell the kids that we didn't have any, some got pretty insistent and we even got a few death stares from the mothers. I was surprised by how common it was in Huaraz to participate in this American tradition.
Today, I got home at 7 am and am currently resting up for another big week of training. While I write, I am watching the episode of South Park where guinea pigs aided by Donald Rumsfeld aim to take over the world. It is a very appropriate thing to be watching given the amount of guinea pig I have consumed in the last three days. This has been a crazy week and there will be much more to come as I enter the final stretch of training. I am looking forward to getting to site and getting my two years underway. I also received tons of mail last week, which was awesome! Thank you to all who sent it. I can't send much because it is incredibly expensive and I am living on an allowance of about $2 a day but I will try and respond by email ASAP! I hope life is good back in the USA! Keep me posted everyone!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Temblores!

Buenas tardes from Peru! Yet another week of Peace Corps training has flown by. This week went especially quickly because it was packed with opportunities for practical experience and field trips. I also got to spend a significant amount of time bonding with my host family and getting used to daily life in Peru. For the most part this was fun but, as in any adventure, not everything was smooth sailing. On Sunday night while I was preparing for bed, I felt a slight shaking and heard a rattle. At first thought that it was a chicken on my tin roof or a truck going by but within seconds my heart started racing and I realized that I was experiencing my first tremor. I ran out into the hallway barefoot and by the time I got there it had already ended but my entire family was in the hall in time to make fun of me for coming out with no shoes on. Apparently the protocol is to run out into an open space but I was having flashbacks to climbing under desks during earthquake drills at Ainsworth Elementary. Now I know what to do which is good since apparently I will be experiencing at least one tremor if not an earthquake every time the seasons change. I don't know if this is something that I will get used to.
On Monday I went to the local library for my usually volunteering but this week was particularly exciting because we facilitated a self-esteem building exercise rather than just playing games. We asked all the kids, age 6-16, to draw what they want to be when they grow up and, of course, we did the same. Even though these kids come from difficult home situations, they overcame their initial hesitation and drew excellent pictures of themselves as singers, doctors, accountants, veterinarians, fishermen, and other ambitious professions. All of them were proud that their drawings were better than my stick figure of an environmental lawyer. This was a great activity that I will definitely be using at my site to get kids to think about their future and their dreams.
On Tuesday, I also got to work with local children as an activity for my environmental education training. My friend Peter and I designed a lesson about different types of pollution and delivered it to the 14 and 15 year olds in the community colegio (school). The lesson went very well because the kids were knowledgeable and engaged. At the end we wrote up a list of things that we would do to help stop pollution in our communities and we all signed it. It was an incredibly successful activity and I look forward to using it in my site.
On Thursday, we got to go on a field trip to Lomas de Lachay national protected area about 3.5 hours from the training center. This protected area is a pocket of vegetation on the otherwise arid coast. This phenomenon occurs because the hills capture the fog that rolls up off the Pacific Ocean. There is enough fog that these hills are completely green during the wet season while everything around them stays sandy and dry. After hiking the perimeter of the park, we helped in their reforestation efforts by planting about a hundred seedlings. This was excellent practice for our task of planting a thousand trees once we get to our permanent sites.
On Friday we went on another field trip to a protected area called Pantanos de Villa which is a wetland located on the outskirts of Lima. It is an interesting protected space because it is surrounded by young communities where poor people have recently invaded and built houses without any legal claim to the land. Any land that is not directly being used in Peru is at risk of being invaded due to property laws that are less than clear. This concept has been incredibly difficult for all of the trainees to wrap our heads around because we are so used to every inch of land being accounted for by a legal contract. Despite the problems that face this protected area, it is the home to many species of beautiful birds, some of which we got to see during our short visit. It was wonderful to get to see some of the wildlife and get a first hand look at the challenges that Peru faces in protecting the important ecosystems that exist here.
Overall, it has been a wonderful week. I got to go on adventures, meet new people, see a variety of ecosystems, work with children, and I even got mail from home (thanks to mom, dad, and grandma Betty). Next week I will be heading up into the Andes for field based training and I will even be staying at the site of a current volunteer! These experiences should be very eye opening as I look ahead from my very well supported life as a trainee into the more rugged lifestyle of an actual Peace Corps Volunteer. I hope all is well back in the states! Eat some extra pizza for me!

P.S. I am reading the most incredible book right now that I would recommend to all of you. It is called Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder and it is the true story of Paul Farmer, a doctor who worked extensively in Haiti and Peru

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Half Way Through Training

Hola todos! I just finished week 5 of training which means that I am exactly half way through Peace Corps training and well on my way to becoming an actual Peace Corps volunteer. As a side note, I am currently sitting in my dining room with my dad and brother watching WWF on TV. They have no idea that it is staged and are, therefore, shocked that the guy wasn't quick enough to get out of the way before the chair came down on his head. I am a little bit embarrassed by the cultural exports of my country at the moment.
This week, we made the transition from more language oriented training into the technical, practical experience oriented phase of training. Since it was more hands on, the week was a lot more fun than past weeks have been. We had a trash management practicum on Thursday, which consisted of every student bringing a day's worth of trash to the center to be sorted. As if our host families and communities already didn't think we were weird, now we ask to bring their trash to the center and then take it with us on public transportation. Between this and WWF, I can't imagine what they think of the US. Once we got our trash to the center, we spent the day digging through it, sorting it, weighing it, and talking about it in order to find out what people are throwing away and how this could be reduced by implementing a recycling system. This is a tool some volunteers use to have numbers to back up waste management plans that they propose once they get to site.
On Friday, we went to a small rural town, which was supposed to be similar to a site we might encounter. The original plan was to walk around and talk to the local people about natural resources in order to practice doing a community diagnostic (our fancy term for getting to know a community). We got in the Peace Corps van and started our slow and steady drive up the Carretera Central to an altitude of about 8,000 ft. We only had to stop once along the way to wait for our overheated engine to cool off. Once we got there, things did not go exactly as planned because everyone in the community was working on remodeling the community center so no one could really talk to us. We ended up going on an amazing hike up into the hills to a waterfall. Since we live in a desert type ecosystem, it was great to get up into an area where there is vegetation.
One of the highlights of my week was returning home to find that my sister had been given a new kitten. I was immediately deemed the godmother of the kitten and asked to name it. I decided to name it Vampiro (I would be lying if I said this has nothing to do with my current obsession with Twilight). The name then got extended to Chucky (named after the doll from the horror movie) Vampiro Vazquez Zevallos (my family's last name).
Today, Sunday I woke up and went to teach English at the grade school in my small town. Two friends and I ended up teaching about ten kids some of whom were more excited to be there than others. After English class, I cooked French toast and an omelet for my family. It wasn't amazing but they definitely enjoyed it, especially the mango-strawberry topping I made for the French toast. After lunch I did laundry with my host mom which is great because we get to chat and laugh while she watches me struggle to scrub spots out of my old socks. I am definitely not as much of a perfectionist as she is when it comes to getting whites their whitest by hand. I got some great pictures of my mom, abuelita, and I drinking beers over the wash tub which I will put up once I find a fast enough internet connection.
I hope all is well!! Please keep me updated on your lives! Also, if you have a different email that you would like me to email you at, please let me know. I want to keep in touch with everyone for the next two years. Keep it real for me in the states, miss you all!!

Life is Misky Misky (delicious in Quechua)

Hola todos! It has been a crazy and eventful week here in Peru. It started off last Saturday night with a wild party in my neighborhood celebrating the saint of this region. The festivities started around 10:30 pm and consisted of local food, beer, and dancing. I even got to participate in the traditional passing of the vaso, which is where everyone passes around a glass and fills it with beer for themselves. You hardly ever see anyone drinking out of the bottle here because it is a communal activity right down to the shared germs. I was honored that my host dad included me in the activity. The party didn't really get started until about 12 when they started lighting the toros locos which, are towers covered in fireworks that spray sparks in every direction. This got to be a bit nerve wracking when I was standing within 15 feet of one and the sparks headed in my direction. There is not the same healthy respect for fireworks here as there is in the United States. After dancing (rather comically) until 2:30 my younger siblings and I headed home while my host parents continued to party until 5 am! It was quite an experience.

After the fiesta the night before, I assumed that the community had gotten their fill of fireworks but I grossly underestimated Yanacoto's appreciation for explosions. The next day I attended the 32nd anniversary of the local grade school. Prior to the fireworks display, each class performed a traditional Peruvian dance. Interspersed among the traditional dances were routines choreographed by the student's themselves including a Michael Jackson tribute, a breakdance routine, and a routine set to a techno version of the Titanic theme song. The last two dances included some amateur stunt work resulting in two unconscious students. I was pretty unnerved watching one student after the other dragged off the dance floor while the others continued dancing. As if this wasn't enough excitement, the graduating class then proceeded to light the toro loco and frolic in the sparks. My gringo friends and I were unsure what to do with ourselves but we were the only ones who seemed very concerned. Attending community events like this one has been my best strategy in getting accustomed to the culture and enjoying myself.

On Monday and Wednesday after training, I had the opportunity to volunteer at the community library with some other trainees. The director of the library is an amazing woman who invites local children, many of whom have alcoholic or drug addicted parents, to spend time after school socializing, doing homework, and just relaxing. Her goal is to take their minds off of their difficult circumstances for a few hours and hopefully build some self-esteem. The children range in age from 6-16 and were incredibly excited to see us. This week our activities included lots of introduction games but my favorite activity was drawing with them. We asked them to draw their favorite thing about Peru and then we drew our favorite things about the United States. From their reactions to the questions, it seemed as if they had never been asked this type of question before. Many of the kids ended up drawing the Andes Mountains ,which, as an environmental education volunteer, was a very satisfying result.

Thursday of this week was a holiday and my host mother's birthday. We had a half-day of training so I returned home to celebrate with my family. We ate a very special, traditional dish called Pachamanca which consists of pork, chicken, multiple kinds of potatoes, and beans all placed in a pit of hot rocks, covered in more hot rocks and leaves, and then buried in dirt to cook under ground for 45 minutes. The result is an incredibly flavorful mix of traditional Peruvian meats and vegetables. During the process of cooking and eating the Pachamanca, I sat around with my family and passed the vaso of cerveza, all around a great way to spend a Thursday afternoon.

On Saturday, after our visit to the Agrarian University I headed into Lima to meet up with my host sister and get my camera fixed. The good news is that it now works but the bad news is that I spent 2 weeks allowance to get it fixed. I just hope that it lasts me my entire time here. Although I am a bit frustrated by having to spend so much, I got to spend an excellent day walking around Lima with someone that lives there and now I will be able to document my adventures.

So far I have spent all of my Sundays with my family going to the market, cooking lunch, and relaxing. This week, I decided to go on a short hike about an hour away from the town I live in with my friend Raija. The plan was to get there early, hike up to the ruins and the waterfall, and get home for lunch. The hike was beautiful. It wound up through an arid hillside along a stream passing by a rather disappointing and fake looking ruin and then ending at a picturesque waterfall. We soaked our feet in the water and chatted for a while and then were about to head out when we met a group of friends who had come in from Lima the night before and set up camp. They invited us to join them for snacks and beer at the base of the waterfall and we couldn’t refuse the offer. After an excellent conversation about what we are doing here and environmental issues in Peru, we thanked them for their hospitality and once again attempted to head down the hill and back to Yanacoto. This time, we were intercepted by a man, his daughter, and his 6 year-old grandson who all spoke English and were familiar with the Peace Corps. We ended up hiking out with them and, as it turns out, they had traveled extensively both within Peru and around the world. They invited us back for lunch at the family compound they are building where we met the rest of the family and hung out for hours. This family had such an interesting background completely distinct from what we have seen thus far. The matriarch of the family had even spent time at Middlebury and in Raija's home state of Indiana. They were equally interested in us and we even managed to teach them to make their own compost!

Overall, my day spent chatting with Peruvians that we met on the hiking trail is one of my favorites so far. The hospitality and approachability these people demonstrated gave me a much needed confidence boost in my ability to strike up conversations with strangers in Spanish and develop friendships and confianza (Spanish word meaning trust, the key to the Peace Corps community integration strategy. I hope to have many more experiences like this and I'm sure I will because the Peruvian people are so gracious and approachable.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Time is Starting to Move Quickly

Hey everyone! It was an eventful week in Peace Corps training. Some days were more boring than others but we definitely had some exciting moments. We had our first two volunteer birthdays and the group went above and beyond to help our friends celebrate. On Monday, we started the week off well when a very serious lecture about STDs in Peru (complete with graphic pictures) was interrupted by a full mariachi performance in honor of one of the volunteers to celebrate his birthday. All of the girls danced around him while the band proceeded to serenade him. We all agreed that it would be hard to live up to the bar that had been set for birthday surprises. On Thursday, we used the creativity and enthusiasm that got us into the Peace Corps to live up to expectations on another volunteer's birthday. We had the usual cake and singing but we added a ukelele serenade to the mix. At the last minute we found a Barney the dinosaur costume which one of the boys dressed up in and proceeded to perform a rather ridiculous (and mildly disturbing) dance. All of the thought and effort that went into these gestures made me somewhat sad that my birthday doesn't fall during training but I'm sure that my host family at my site will help me to celebrate in January.

Perhaps the most exciting thing that happened this week was when the US ambassador to Peru visited our center for lunch and a question and answer session. He requested to meet us because he believes strongly in the Peace Corps as a tool for sustainable development. People asked about all different aspects of his life including his background, his opinion on the challenges we will face as volunteers, and those faced by the Peruvian people. I came away motivated to work in international development in some capacity after I finish here in Peru.

Today we went to the Universidad Agraria for the second in a 6 part workshop. We learned how to build miniature greenhouses which I look forward to doing when I get to my site. From now on our training will be comprised of more hands on, technical training rather than the theoretical and background classes that we have focused on so far. I can't wait for this because I love to be out working with my hands!

Tonight, all the local neighborhoods are hosting parties to celebrate a saint's day. I can't wait to participate in my community! My host family was telling me that last year all the gringos danced really funny. I'm sure my group will uphold this stereotype of Americans considering that none of us have even half the rhythm of the people here who grow up dancing. I have been attending dance classes once a week after school but it hasn't really made any difference. I'm hoping to be at least competent in one or two of the popular dances before I leave here.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Settling In

Hello from Peru! I have officially completed two weeks of Peace Corps training and time seems to be speeding. This week went faster than the first one because we had many more activities and kept pretty busy. I have settled in pretty well and I now feel like a daughter in my host family. We usually spend about an hour sitting around the dinner table chatting and joking around. I can tell that I am getting more comfortable speaking Spanish all the time since I am able to make a lot of jokes. Humor and sarcasm require more finessed language skills than I had anticipated. We also spend time every night watching telenovelas, fear factor, and lots of dubbed American movies. It is quite an interesting experience to watch movies like Aladdin and Spider Man 3 with my abuelita who only speaks Quechua. At the moment I am watching Samuel L. Jackson beat the crap out of a bad guy with my host father and brother. At times I am in awe of the bizarre intersection of generations and cultures that I am a part of. I just hope that I have a host family that is as welcoming and accommodating as the one I have here during training.

One of the best bonding experiences that I have had so far was learning to do laundry with my host mother. She made sure that even my old stained socks were perfectly white and insisted on rewashing everything that I tried to wash myself. She prides herself on being able to get my clothes whiter than the washing machine ever has. While we washed she told me about her youth in the Sierra without shoes and using firewood to cook. She moved to Lima at 12 to work in a rich woman's house where she had to learn Castellano because up until then she only spoke Quechua. She often talks about the struggle that every mother goes through to provide for their children. She has achieved so much purely through hard work and sacrifice and is very proud to be able to provide her children with everything they need to live comfortably and receive excellent educations. She is a driven and inspiring woman and has taken me in as if I was her own daughter.

This week, training was a bit more exciting than last week mainly because we got to go on two different field trips for language class and one for environmental technical training. For language, we went to the nearby town of Chosica (Quechua for owl) on Tuesday to practice asking for directions from random people and learn about some of the typical fruits and vegetables at the local market. On Friday we ventured into Lima, a colonial city centered around a main square where the government palace and national cathedral are located. This area is rich with history because it was the center of the Spanish colony and the catacombs of the churches contain the remains of the tens of thousands of Incans murdered during Pizarro's inquisition. Pizarro himself is buried in the national cathedral.

Today we went to the Universidad Agraria to learn about Peruvian agriculture, plants, and nutrition as part of a six-week workshop. We will use this information to help our host communities build organic gardens filled with nutritious vegetables to supplement a diet based around rice and potatoes. I look forward to working on this type of small side project once I get to my site.

Talking to strangers is an integral part of the Peace Corps and most of our assignments are aimed at developing this skill. Within our first three months at site we will have to produce a diagnostic, which is essentially a detailed report on the status of solid waste management, infrastructure, health care, and other aspects of the community that will help us determine the focus of our projects. We are also supposed to spend this time integrating into our communities and developing a network of community resources so it is important for us to feel comfortable seeking out potential leaders in our communities by talking to everyone we possibly can. After this week, everyone in the community I live in has most likely been interviewed and annoyed by mobs of us "gringos" completing practice community diagnostics. Now, every time I walk out the door I run into a neighbor I have chatted with at some point and I am looking forward to using these same strategies to establish myself within my host community.

I have found my life here incredibly satisfying because even in just two weeks I have established strong bonds with my host family and my fellow volunteers. I am still acclimating to some of the minor discomforts like the roosters outside my window that like to get going at 3:30 every morning and the cold showers, but these factors only add character to the experience. Between cultural and language barriers, differences in food preferences, and hours a day spent talking about health, safety, and bodily functions, I have found myself with no shortage of things to laugh about. A sense of humor will definitely be my most important ally as I continue this experience.

P.S. I have uploaded some pictures to facebook so everyone should take a look. Let me know if you don't have access so I can send you a link.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

First week in Peru

Everything has been a bit overwhelming but amazing all the same so far here in Peru. I have been attending school from 8-5 everyday so I have been exhausted most evenings but I have been getting to know my family quite well. The family consists of 3 girls and 3 boys that live at the house full time and a boy and one girl who are older and live at the house part time. Our abuelita also lives with us but she only speaks Quechua so I have not been able to chat with her too much. She is from the Sierra which is the mountainous region of Peru and therefore, is very traditionally Peruvian with the full skirt, apron, and fedora style hat. I have been trying to learn a few phrases in Quechua to communicate with her but it has proven difficult. I am hoping to have a few greetings down before leaving for my site since I will most likely be in a place where everyone speaks both Quechua and Castellano (the spanish that I know). My host mom and I get along very well. It is nice having someone taking care of me and showing me the ropes. She packs my lunch every morning before school and makes sure that I have everything that I need. Everyone I have met so far is incredibly hospitable and more than willing to give me food, advice, and more food.

The food so far has been excellent. I have tried many of the traditional dishes and even learned to make some of them. Today we went to the market and bought a bunch of fresh ingredients to make ceviche and various kinds of potatoes. My diet generally consists of a lot of starch but my host mom has been trying to add some more green vegetables. It was a very good decision to give up on being a vegetarian because otherwise I would be eating white rice and potatoes most of the time. My family has chickens and guinea pigs that live on the back porch. I was not sure what to expect but the guinea pig was surprisingly tasty once I got my host family to stop taunting me that I was eating my pet. A lot of jokes ensued when I told them that there is a movie out in the U.S. where guinea pigs are the heroes.

Every day I get up a little before 7, eat breakfast with the family, and jump on the combi (a crowded mini-bus) to go to the training center which is located in the small city of Chaclacayo. Each day we have four hours of language classes and four hours of technical classes and other lectures that usually address health related issues (last Friday the title of the presentation was diahrea and dental health, not a good combination). After school we usually go for group runs or do yoga which has been a nice way to stay active and decompress after a long day of classes. After exercising I go home and spend some quality time with the family. I can already tell that my spanish is improving because I usually speak it more than I speak english on any given day. I am looking forward to finally speaking flawless spanish.

In our environment lecture last week we were told that our main goals will be reforestation, environmental education, organizational strengthening, and solid waste management. We also learned about composting and created a compost pile at the training center. It is so nice to finally have some idea as to what our goals as volunteers will be. We were also told of the 5 departments of Peru where we could potentially be placed. They are Lima, Ica, Lambayeque, La Libertad, and Junin. All but Ica are in the Sierra so I am most likely going to be in the mountains or, as my director described it, Siberia.

Alright my computer is about to die but I would love to hear from everyone so please email me back and let me know what is going on in your lives! Miss you!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

The Beginning

Hey Everyone! I decided to start a blog to keep friends and family updated on my life as a Peace Corps volunteer. I don't have much to write about yet but I figured that I should get this thing going while I am still in the states waiting to get my adventure going. I am currently in Washington D.C. waiting for the official Peace Corps staging registration. I flew in from Portland yesterday afternoon and immediately started hanging out with a few other volunteers who came in from the West also. So far there are a few from Oregon, one from Utah, and one from California. I am glad to see my home state so well represented! Last night I walked around the city with some of my new volunteer buddies and played tour guide while showing them around the monuments, the hill, and the White House. We stopped in at one of my fave spots from this summer, Union Pub, to have a beer and watch the Obama speech to congress. On our walk to the pub we even saw the motorcade drive up! Between the Budwiser, burgers, American flags, and presidential addresses on Capitol Hill we are definitely getting our fill of patriotism in this last stint in the U.S.A.

I am looking forward to meeting everyone in the next few hours before heading to Lima tomorrow morning where I will begin three months of intensive training. I am expecting that training will be somewhat like my study abroad experience in that we will be super busy and hanging out with fellow trainees a lot. I still have no idea what exactly I will be doing and where in Peru I will be for my official placement so I am feeling anxious to get going! I hope everything is well for all of you! Keep in touch!