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!