I hadn't planned on going home during my two years in Peru because we have limited funds and limited vacation time as volunteers but as Christmas rolled around and one after the other of my friends started telling me of their plans to go back to that dreamland we in the Peace Corps refer to simply as AMERICA, I couldn't help but feel tempted to make the journey. I didn't think about it seriously until right around Thanksgiving when I mentioned casually to my dad that most of my friends were going home. I honestly wasn't fishing for an invitation, I was just stating that it surprised me how many were going back. We were chatting online, me in my office (Starbucks) and my dad in his chair and as soon as he offered to bring me home for Christmas tears started rolling down my face. Even now as I think back on it (again in Starbucks), my eyes get a little misty. I haven't been a big crier lately so I took this reaction to mean that I would really like to go home! My dad said "let me think about this overnight" and the next morning when I checked my email the subject heading of the email from my dad was "Lets do it!" we decided to keep it between us and thus set in motion the most exciting trick I have ever pulled off. The first step in our grand scheme to surprise the family was to enlist the help of a trusted person with a credit card my mom wouldn't be tracking. Grandma Betty was the perfect candidate and she kept our secret very well.
I arrived in Portland fresh from one-year medical checks so I knew that I wasn't bringing any mysterious parasites into the USA. I have somewhat of an iron gut so I haven't had any stomach problems yet which meant I was not as well versed in stool sample collection as some of my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers. Now I can say that I have my own strategy for collection and I can check one more thing off my bucket list (this whole reflection on pooping in a cup is probably an overshare but the Peace Corps has clouded my judgment on the line for bodily function talk). Anyway, without worms or cavities, I was ready to surprise the family. My dad dropped my mom at the Subaru dealership to wait for the car to get repaired and then said he had to pick up her gift. He came out to the airport, picked me up, and then we headed back to get my mom. When I walked in she was so engrossed in the quote that the mechanic had given her for the repairs that she didn't even look up before starting to read off to my dad how much it was going to cost. When she finished her list of prices she finally looked up to see me standing over her. She stared at me for a while and I awkwardly smiled waiting for her to smile/cry/hug me/get mad/respond in some way! Finally she jumped up and hugged me and we both let out a few tears of happiness. That was quite possibly my most exciting Christmas moment ever. That night I got to repeat the emotional embrace when we picked my sister up at the airport. My parents hid behind a post while I waited for my sister to walk up the ramp out of the secure area. I hadn't seen her in the full 15 months since I left and during that time she has turned 21, gotten engaged, turned 22, finished college, and is in the process of moving to Manhattan so I was pretty excited to catch up with her.
Over the next few days I got to surprise my entire family. Some reactions were very emotional while others were completely anticlimactic. A couple of my uncles assumed that they had been told that I would be there but just weren't paying attention at the time so they didn't seem surprised at all. All the reactions made me emotional and I just couldn't snap out of my state of extreme happiness at being home.
Aside from seeing family, my top priority while in the US was eating all the things that are either non-existent or unaffordable in Peru. This list included pub food, Mexican food, sushi, and Indian food. I ate everything except the Indian food and I was able to add a few more exciting things like Peruvian food. It was all delicious and the fact that there are now two Peruvian restaurants in Portland makes me be proud to be an honorary Peruvian. I can't wait to tell my Peruvian friends that their cuisine is now a trendy favorite in the U.S.
The most overwhelming food experience that I had while in the States was at Costco. I insisted on going with my mom and the experience turned out to be a shocking welcome home to AMERICA. At my house in Peru there is hardly ever extra food and we would never buy in bulk because we don't have a refrigerator and the mice and flies get into anything hanging around. The strangest thing about Costco was that I wanted everything but I couldn't quite comprehend buying that quantity. The first thing that I was drawn to was a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting topped with nuts. I have searched for an appetizing version of this particular desert since I have been here only to meet with dry cake, bizarre frosting, and other disappointments. The giant cake was only $12.99 so my first thought was "how can I not buy this?" My mom caught up to me and I was holding the cake, ready to put it in the cart but then I got overwhelmed at the thought of SO MUCH carrot cake and I said, "mom, do they have a smaller one?" She looked at me like I was ridiculous and reminded me, "Dani, we are at Costco." I returned the cake to repeat the exact same interaction with the muffins, bacon, cheeses, bagels, trail mix, and pretty much all the other treats in the store all the while trying every sample that I could get my hands on. When it was time to leave, I was nowhere to be found so my sister set out on a search only to find me staring at the 3 lb. pumpkin pies. I had been craving pumpkin pie since Thanksgiving and this giant pie was only $5.99 but there was no way my family could eat it all in a reasonable time period. The dilemma was debilitating and I just stood there weighing the pros and cons until my sister came to drag me out of the store. We ended up leaving with lots of cheese and not much else. I definitely enjoyed my time at Costco but I think the normal grocery store will do for now.
This trip reminded me how much I appreciate the United States with all its respect for racial women and diversity and the general ease of life. The transition back to my Peace Corps life will undoubtedly be a bit rough but I look forward to returning to my work and being a motivated and productive volunteer this year. 2010 was the fastest year of my life so far and everyone says that the second year of Peace Corps goes way faster. I will be back before Thanksgiving next year so this was my final holiday season in the Peace Corps.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Friday, December 3, 2010
Frog Juice for Thanksgiving
I am sitting here with a little bit of a cold choking on the smoke that my host mom just spread through the house to bring in the good and chase away the bad. I find these rituals very interesting and I love participating in them but I had to laugh when my asthmatic host mom and sister say that jello induces their asthma and not filling the house with smoke twice a week. There are many Peruvian beliefs that we volunteers appreciate but tend to joke around about amongst each other. The strongest of these beliefs is that cold food and drinks, breezes, and jello are almost always the reason of the common cold. My host mom gave me jello for lunch in the 90-degree heat and at 6 PM as I begin sneezing and coughing; she tells me that the "cold" jello is what made me sick and then tries to smoke out my room. Now I was very excited to be a part of this custom but when she asked if she could go in my tiny room and fill it with smoke, I couldn't help but think of the itchy eyes and the smell of all my stuff for the next month so I declined. I made the mistake of admitting to feeling sick and now my host mom will be watching my every move throughout the next week to make sure that I don't eat anything they consider "cold" (I still don't understand how foods get this designation as it ranges from obviously cold foods to things like popsicles to random things like the aforementioned jello and even papaya).
The real reason for my cold is that I was recently on a big vacation of the colonial mountain city of Arequipa (the white city because its buildings are made from a white volcanic stone called sillar) with other Peace Corps volunteers who I haven't seen in a while. This vacation consisted of a lot of exploring, artisan shopping, hiking, and our fair share of happy hours but very little sleep. The first day my friend and I went up to Lake Titicaca to see the floating islands that are still home to the Uros people. These people have lived on these man-made reed islands for hundreds of years and are constantly adding more reeds to keep themselves afloat. The concept that these people live like this is incredible although the presentation brings to mind the "It's a Small World" ride at Disneyland as you paddle around in boats and the residents decked out in impeccable traditional costumes dance and sing for you. After living within a foreign culture for so long I can't help but being a little cynical when someone's life is presented in such a kitschy way. Overall, the lake is incredible and the mere existence of the civilizations on both the floating and natural islands is something to be admired. The artisanry was also incredible and I had to resist buying much because this was my first day of vacation and I didn't want to spend my entire very limited souvenir budget.
Directly from our full day boat tour my friend and I boarded a bus to continue our whirlwind tour of the southern Andes. We arrived at our hostel in Arequipa and were put in a room with three sleeping strangers. When we woke up we realized that these strangers were actually Peace Corps volunteers also taking their Thanksgiving vacation in Arequipa. As it turns out, we picked a hot vacation spot as we seemed to run into volunteers everywhere we went. With Peace Corps Peru now at above 250 volunteers, it is a safe bet that you will run into volunteers at the destination spots over our free travel weekends (Thanksgiving and Fourth of July). During our trip we were trying to come up with a list o how to distinguish PCVs from ordinary travelers. The best identifying characteristics we came up with after observing ourselves were:
1. Often talking on cell phones, sometimes in Spanish
2. Constant haggling over prices of everything
3. Using laptops at every opportunity
4. Splurging on ethnic food (other than Peruvian). While other travelers try to save money and get to know the local culture by eating traditional foods, we search tirelessly and spend good amounts of money to get Mexican food, crepes, Pasta, falafel, etc. in order to take a break from Peruvian food. I ate all the aforementioned foods while in Arequipa this trip.
5. We tend to be somewhat obnoxious as all of our politeness and cultural sensitivity gets used up at our sites.
On Thanksgiving day, five more volunteers from our group showed up to take advantage of the weekend off that Peace Corps gives us to celebrate our American heritage (and the indigenous cultures of our own country…?). Our first stop as a group was the frog juice lady. This is exactly what it sounds like and you can check out the facebook album for the photographic documentation of what went down. We had heard of this from other volunteers so we decided to suck it up (pun intended) and give it a try. The frog shake is supposed to relieve any ailment with a focus on stress relief. I felt very stressed while watching the frog juice be made but the amount of laughter that went on as the seven of us passed around our frog shake definitely made me feel good about life. The woman who made us the shake obviously had A LOT of practice. She grabbed the live frog out of the tank, smashed it against the table, and skinned and gutted it all before we knew what was going on. After that, she boiled it and threw it in a blender with other ingredients including milk, honey, pollen, quail eggs, and some supposedly healthy plant products. It all reminded me of a witches brew. She blended this up which brought to mind the joke "what's red and green and goes vrrmmm vrrmmm? A frog in a blender." After straining out the frog bits, she poured it in a cup and we took turns drinking it. It actually tasted mostly like milk, honey, and an Andean tuber called maca. I didn't taste the frog but just knowing it was in there grossed me out a bit. This was an excellent way to start Thanksgiving Day.
The rest of our day consisted of hunting down the famous Arequipeña cheese ice cream, which turned out to be just hand made vanilla ice cream that was traditional cut into cheese-like wedges. It was delicious but I was slightly disappointed not to have another bizarre food experience after the frog shake. Our goal was to find a place to eat a big traditional Arequipeña meal for Thanksgiving but this proved more difficult than we anticipated because these foods are actually lunch foods. After heading out to a highly recommended traditional restaurant only to find it occupied by a bible study group and no fellow eaters, we jumped on a combi to head back to central Arequipa and one of my friends pulled dried cranberries out of his pocket to get us in the Thanksgiving spirit. We had a good laugh over our non-traditional Thanksgiving. Once we got to the center of town we found a traditional restaurant that was willing to stay open for such a fun group as ourselves and ate like gluttons in order to feel more at home.
That night we went to the casino where I came out the big winner in the slot machine with 18 soles ($6) and then we went to bed in order to get up at 3 for our trek into the Colca Canyon. The people who live in this area claim that the Colca is the deepest canyon in the world but this is debated by the people who live at another nearby canyon. Regardless, after a night of eating and gambling, we woke up as the rest of the hostel guests were returning from their nights on the town to get to the trailhead. On the way we stopped to see the famous Andean Condors soaring above the deepest part of the canyon. We took a long route down into the canyon past villages only accessible by foot or mule and beautiful natural scenery. That evening we arrived at "The Oasis," a rustic hotel with natural pools for swimming and good food. The next morning we hiked straight up hill for three hours in order to get out of the canyon. Many people who live in the canyon wait with their mules as struggling tourists pass by and take advantage of their wimpyness to charge whatever they want for a ride out of the canyon. I toughed it out and made it up on my own two feet but even 5 days later I can feel the burn even when I take a small step up onto a curb. The hike was well worth the physical pain for the exposure to a whole isolated culture. This site has become incredibly touristy but the people that live there still bring everything in on foot or by mule. We even say a man carrying a 20 foot long, 6 inch pvc pipe down the trail and moving much more quickly than ourselves. I would recommend this trek to anyone coming to Peru. I only regret not making time to do the three day version that allows time for playing in hot springs and waterfalls along the way.
Although I am looking forward to spending Thanksgiving at home with family next year, this was one of my favorite vacations that I have ever taken and I can't think of a better way to celebrate the quintessential American holiday than goofing around and seeing incredible sights with a bunch of friends.
The real reason for my cold is that I was recently on a big vacation of the colonial mountain city of Arequipa (the white city because its buildings are made from a white volcanic stone called sillar) with other Peace Corps volunteers who I haven't seen in a while. This vacation consisted of a lot of exploring, artisan shopping, hiking, and our fair share of happy hours but very little sleep. The first day my friend and I went up to Lake Titicaca to see the floating islands that are still home to the Uros people. These people have lived on these man-made reed islands for hundreds of years and are constantly adding more reeds to keep themselves afloat. The concept that these people live like this is incredible although the presentation brings to mind the "It's a Small World" ride at Disneyland as you paddle around in boats and the residents decked out in impeccable traditional costumes dance and sing for you. After living within a foreign culture for so long I can't help but being a little cynical when someone's life is presented in such a kitschy way. Overall, the lake is incredible and the mere existence of the civilizations on both the floating and natural islands is something to be admired. The artisanry was also incredible and I had to resist buying much because this was my first day of vacation and I didn't want to spend my entire very limited souvenir budget.
Directly from our full day boat tour my friend and I boarded a bus to continue our whirlwind tour of the southern Andes. We arrived at our hostel in Arequipa and were put in a room with three sleeping strangers. When we woke up we realized that these strangers were actually Peace Corps volunteers also taking their Thanksgiving vacation in Arequipa. As it turns out, we picked a hot vacation spot as we seemed to run into volunteers everywhere we went. With Peace Corps Peru now at above 250 volunteers, it is a safe bet that you will run into volunteers at the destination spots over our free travel weekends (Thanksgiving and Fourth of July). During our trip we were trying to come up with a list o how to distinguish PCVs from ordinary travelers. The best identifying characteristics we came up with after observing ourselves were:
1. Often talking on cell phones, sometimes in Spanish
2. Constant haggling over prices of everything
3. Using laptops at every opportunity
4. Splurging on ethnic food (other than Peruvian). While other travelers try to save money and get to know the local culture by eating traditional foods, we search tirelessly and spend good amounts of money to get Mexican food, crepes, Pasta, falafel, etc. in order to take a break from Peruvian food. I ate all the aforementioned foods while in Arequipa this trip.
5. We tend to be somewhat obnoxious as all of our politeness and cultural sensitivity gets used up at our sites.
On Thanksgiving day, five more volunteers from our group showed up to take advantage of the weekend off that Peace Corps gives us to celebrate our American heritage (and the indigenous cultures of our own country…?). Our first stop as a group was the frog juice lady. This is exactly what it sounds like and you can check out the facebook album for the photographic documentation of what went down. We had heard of this from other volunteers so we decided to suck it up (pun intended) and give it a try. The frog shake is supposed to relieve any ailment with a focus on stress relief. I felt very stressed while watching the frog juice be made but the amount of laughter that went on as the seven of us passed around our frog shake definitely made me feel good about life. The woman who made us the shake obviously had A LOT of practice. She grabbed the live frog out of the tank, smashed it against the table, and skinned and gutted it all before we knew what was going on. After that, she boiled it and threw it in a blender with other ingredients including milk, honey, pollen, quail eggs, and some supposedly healthy plant products. It all reminded me of a witches brew. She blended this up which brought to mind the joke "what's red and green and goes vrrmmm vrrmmm? A frog in a blender." After straining out the frog bits, she poured it in a cup and we took turns drinking it. It actually tasted mostly like milk, honey, and an Andean tuber called maca. I didn't taste the frog but just knowing it was in there grossed me out a bit. This was an excellent way to start Thanksgiving Day.
The rest of our day consisted of hunting down the famous Arequipeña cheese ice cream, which turned out to be just hand made vanilla ice cream that was traditional cut into cheese-like wedges. It was delicious but I was slightly disappointed not to have another bizarre food experience after the frog shake. Our goal was to find a place to eat a big traditional Arequipeña meal for Thanksgiving but this proved more difficult than we anticipated because these foods are actually lunch foods. After heading out to a highly recommended traditional restaurant only to find it occupied by a bible study group and no fellow eaters, we jumped on a combi to head back to central Arequipa and one of my friends pulled dried cranberries out of his pocket to get us in the Thanksgiving spirit. We had a good laugh over our non-traditional Thanksgiving. Once we got to the center of town we found a traditional restaurant that was willing to stay open for such a fun group as ourselves and ate like gluttons in order to feel more at home.
That night we went to the casino where I came out the big winner in the slot machine with 18 soles ($6) and then we went to bed in order to get up at 3 for our trek into the Colca Canyon. The people who live in this area claim that the Colca is the deepest canyon in the world but this is debated by the people who live at another nearby canyon. Regardless, after a night of eating and gambling, we woke up as the rest of the hostel guests were returning from their nights on the town to get to the trailhead. On the way we stopped to see the famous Andean Condors soaring above the deepest part of the canyon. We took a long route down into the canyon past villages only accessible by foot or mule and beautiful natural scenery. That evening we arrived at "The Oasis," a rustic hotel with natural pools for swimming and good food. The next morning we hiked straight up hill for three hours in order to get out of the canyon. Many people who live in the canyon wait with their mules as struggling tourists pass by and take advantage of their wimpyness to charge whatever they want for a ride out of the canyon. I toughed it out and made it up on my own two feet but even 5 days later I can feel the burn even when I take a small step up onto a curb. The hike was well worth the physical pain for the exposure to a whole isolated culture. This site has become incredibly touristy but the people that live there still bring everything in on foot or by mule. We even say a man carrying a 20 foot long, 6 inch pvc pipe down the trail and moving much more quickly than ourselves. I would recommend this trek to anyone coming to Peru. I only regret not making time to do the three day version that allows time for playing in hot springs and waterfalls along the way.
Although I am looking forward to spending Thanksgiving at home with family next year, this was one of my favorite vacations that I have ever taken and I can't think of a better way to celebrate the quintessential American holiday than goofing around and seeing incredible sights with a bunch of friends.
Women In Development Conference
The Peace Corps experience is determined mostly by the specific site in which a volunteer works but my recent work with the Women in Development committee gave me a chance to mix up my projects by doing some work that reaches out to all communities where the Peace Corps works. This past week the committee released a calendar featuring twelve women from all the departments of Peru where Peace Corps operates who were nominated by the volunteers they work with. In order to celebrate the women featured in the calendar we held a conference at the U.S. Embassy, which turned out to be an excellent way to recognize these twelve women and show appreciation for the work that they do. The embassy is a fortress surrounded by high walls and the entrance consists of multiple metal detectors and eight inch thick doors. I was grateful that the embassy staff was so willing to help us put on this event and lend us not only their venue, but their expertise in event planning. I can definitely say that I learned a lot about paying attention to detail and coordinating between many people from this experience.
Even though the event achieved the goals that we aimed to accomplish, there were a few glitches along the way. The embassy was an impressive and exciting venue for our conference but the high security created a few obstacles. The day started with a workshop on legal rights put on by a prestigious Lima law firm. We didn't warn the lawyers that they wouldn't be able to bring electronics into the embassy so they had to do about an hour of their presentation without powerpoints until we were able to solve the problem. Despite this oversight on my part, the workshop turned out to benefit both the women and the lawyers. The women were completely engaged and asked many questions regarding their legal rights and the process they can follow to ensure that their rights are not compromised. The lawyers seemed to be surprised by the diversity of the women present and learned a lot about the types of challenges people face in the small communities of Peru. We caught them off guard when we asked them to minimize the lawyer jargon because one of our women spoke mainly Quechua and only simple Spanish. Despite a language barrier, this particular woman from the Andes turned out to be the highlight of my conference experience. On this trip to Lima, she got to see the ocean for the first time in her life and at the end of the conference she even stood up and made an incredibly heartfelt speech in broken Spanish about her experience working with the Peace Corps volunteer who invited her. This speech was the perfect culmination for a successful event because it encompassed everything the calendar stands for. I am looking forward to putting on an even better event next year because now I know what details I need to think of ahead of time. This whole process has definitely been a learning experience and I have an incredible respect for those people who plan events for a living.
As it turned out, the man who helped us secure the support of the embassy, the use of the conference room, and the keynote speaker for our event was helping to coordinate a conference for women entrepreneurs for the two days immediately following our event. By working with him, I got invited to the much larger conference that he was putting on at the Lima Country Club and hotel. After struggling to work out the details for our tiny endeavor, I was amazed at the coordination and logistical planning that must have gone into putting on their event. Their speakers included the U.S. ambassador (who had cancelled her talk at our event), the mayor elect of Lima, the head of the Latin American division of the International Trade Commission in Geneva, and many other very impressive female leaders. The other people invited to attend mainly consisted of artisans and small business owners from all over Latin America. My favorite were the artisans from the Lake Titicaca region of Peru who charged the stage after each speaker to get a photo with each of them. I was sitting directly behind these women the entire time and they provided constant entertainment. The one downside was that they were in full traditional dress including hats making it very difficult for me to see the speakers. This conference was an excellent networking opportunity and I even got invited to the (giant) house of the president of the Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Peru the next day for coffee. The connections I made and the inspiration that I got by attending this conference will benefit not only my own work but, hopefully, will help to advance the efforts of the Women in Development Committee in general.
Even though the event achieved the goals that we aimed to accomplish, there were a few glitches along the way. The embassy was an impressive and exciting venue for our conference but the high security created a few obstacles. The day started with a workshop on legal rights put on by a prestigious Lima law firm. We didn't warn the lawyers that they wouldn't be able to bring electronics into the embassy so they had to do about an hour of their presentation without powerpoints until we were able to solve the problem. Despite this oversight on my part, the workshop turned out to benefit both the women and the lawyers. The women were completely engaged and asked many questions regarding their legal rights and the process they can follow to ensure that their rights are not compromised. The lawyers seemed to be surprised by the diversity of the women present and learned a lot about the types of challenges people face in the small communities of Peru. We caught them off guard when we asked them to minimize the lawyer jargon because one of our women spoke mainly Quechua and only simple Spanish. Despite a language barrier, this particular woman from the Andes turned out to be the highlight of my conference experience. On this trip to Lima, she got to see the ocean for the first time in her life and at the end of the conference she even stood up and made an incredibly heartfelt speech in broken Spanish about her experience working with the Peace Corps volunteer who invited her. This speech was the perfect culmination for a successful event because it encompassed everything the calendar stands for. I am looking forward to putting on an even better event next year because now I know what details I need to think of ahead of time. This whole process has definitely been a learning experience and I have an incredible respect for those people who plan events for a living.
As it turned out, the man who helped us secure the support of the embassy, the use of the conference room, and the keynote speaker for our event was helping to coordinate a conference for women entrepreneurs for the two days immediately following our event. By working with him, I got invited to the much larger conference that he was putting on at the Lima Country Club and hotel. After struggling to work out the details for our tiny endeavor, I was amazed at the coordination and logistical planning that must have gone into putting on their event. Their speakers included the U.S. ambassador (who had cancelled her talk at our event), the mayor elect of Lima, the head of the Latin American division of the International Trade Commission in Geneva, and many other very impressive female leaders. The other people invited to attend mainly consisted of artisans and small business owners from all over Latin America. My favorite were the artisans from the Lake Titicaca region of Peru who charged the stage after each speaker to get a photo with each of them. I was sitting directly behind these women the entire time and they provided constant entertainment. The one downside was that they were in full traditional dress including hats making it very difficult for me to see the speakers. This conference was an excellent networking opportunity and I even got invited to the (giant) house of the president of the Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Peru the next day for coffee. The connections I made and the inspiration that I got by attending this conference will benefit not only my own work but, hopefully, will help to advance the efforts of the Women in Development Committee in general.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
New Motivation
My new host grandma, Blanca, has been a defining feature of my new life in my new house in Peru. Blanca grew up hear in Pacora and so did her parents and grandparents. She knows a huge amount of history about the Incans and the Pre-Incan cultures in Peru. She gained her knowledge by reading everything she could get her hands on while working at the post-office that used to exist in Pacora. Doña Blanca had to take learning into her own hands because back when she was a kid, school only went up to third grade. Blanca liked studying so much that once she had gone through her three grades once she started over at first grade and did it again. The other night over dinner Blanca demonstrated her incredible memory by reciting poems that had been in her reader during her two passes through elementary school. Blanca will be leaving for Lima soon to get cataract surgery and her stories will be greatly missed. Hopefully she will be back for Christmas for some stories over hot chocolate and paneton (Peruvian fruitcake that I am wierdly in love with).
My life has continued to improve drastically. After a year in the Peace Corps, it becomes disappointing to not be where you thought you would be. Professionally, I feel I have accomplished a good amount but personally, I was starting to feel like I hadn't developed the friendships that I expected to. Now, my new host mom, who I have always considered a friend, has started introducing me to all her friends. My recently started an exercise group with a few ladies and we tend to laugh and joke around more than we run. For the last two days we have first gone on a run/walk and then gone to one of the women's house to do aerobics. I have a couple of videos in Spanish but I also get to lead a little bit of pilates and yoga. There are more women who want to join our group and I am hoping to use this time to promote exercise and healthy eating but also to make new friends. One of the members of the group is the incoming mayor's wife who is quickly becoming one of my very good friends. I thought that I had met everyone in Pacora but there is a whole group of vivacious and hilarious women who I have missed out on getting to know over the first year. I am in the middle of a significant breakthrough in overcoming cultural barriers that I thought had defeated me a long time ago.
Success in the Peace Corps depends on intrinsic motivation. Our work is not monitored very closely which means that I could hang out and chat with grandma Blanca and eat candy all day if I wanted to (which describes my routine my first weekend in my new house). This week I had a visit from the directors of recruitment at Peace Corps headquarters in Washington D.C. The two men that visited had not had much contact with Peace Corps volunteers in action and I wanted to make a good impression for myself, Pacora, and Peace Corps Peru as a whole. I used this visit as a motivator for my municipality to hang three signs we had recently made calling attention to recycling and environmental issues in town. It is amazing how much can get done with the phrase "my bosses from the United States will be visiting and they want to see how much work we have done in Pacora." The combination of my personal happiness, my desire to make a good impression, and the desire of my local counterparts to look productive allowed me to get all kinds of cool stuff done.
Along with the banners I hung up, I got a beautiful mural painted and gave a powerpoint presentation on STDs for the high school teachers complete with gory pictures of sifilis, gonorrhea, and herpes. The shock factor of this presentation will make it difficult for them to forget. The best part of the day was when I busted out the condom and made them all touch it. They loved it and I again felt lucky to have been sent to a site filled with people enthusiastic about learning and open to talking about taboo subjects. As an outsider I can act as the catalyst for changes in attitudes because I have a free pass to say whatever I want. The respect for the United States as a developed country leads them to believe that if openness about sex in the U.S. has allowed us to get where we have gotten, they should welcome it. I am trying my best to take advantage of this idealized perception of the United States to set a good example.
My life has continued to improve drastically. After a year in the Peace Corps, it becomes disappointing to not be where you thought you would be. Professionally, I feel I have accomplished a good amount but personally, I was starting to feel like I hadn't developed the friendships that I expected to. Now, my new host mom, who I have always considered a friend, has started introducing me to all her friends. My recently started an exercise group with a few ladies and we tend to laugh and joke around more than we run. For the last two days we have first gone on a run/walk and then gone to one of the women's house to do aerobics. I have a couple of videos in Spanish but I also get to lead a little bit of pilates and yoga. There are more women who want to join our group and I am hoping to use this time to promote exercise and healthy eating but also to make new friends. One of the members of the group is the incoming mayor's wife who is quickly becoming one of my very good friends. I thought that I had met everyone in Pacora but there is a whole group of vivacious and hilarious women who I have missed out on getting to know over the first year. I am in the middle of a significant breakthrough in overcoming cultural barriers that I thought had defeated me a long time ago.
Success in the Peace Corps depends on intrinsic motivation. Our work is not monitored very closely which means that I could hang out and chat with grandma Blanca and eat candy all day if I wanted to (which describes my routine my first weekend in my new house). This week I had a visit from the directors of recruitment at Peace Corps headquarters in Washington D.C. The two men that visited had not had much contact with Peace Corps volunteers in action and I wanted to make a good impression for myself, Pacora, and Peace Corps Peru as a whole. I used this visit as a motivator for my municipality to hang three signs we had recently made calling attention to recycling and environmental issues in town. It is amazing how much can get done with the phrase "my bosses from the United States will be visiting and they want to see how much work we have done in Pacora." The combination of my personal happiness, my desire to make a good impression, and the desire of my local counterparts to look productive allowed me to get all kinds of cool stuff done.
Along with the banners I hung up, I got a beautiful mural painted and gave a powerpoint presentation on STDs for the high school teachers complete with gory pictures of sifilis, gonorrhea, and herpes. The shock factor of this presentation will make it difficult for them to forget. The best part of the day was when I busted out the condom and made them all touch it. They loved it and I again felt lucky to have been sent to a site filled with people enthusiastic about learning and open to talking about taboo subjects. As an outsider I can act as the catalyst for changes in attitudes because I have a free pass to say whatever I want. The respect for the United States as a developed country leads them to believe that if openness about sex in the U.S. has allowed us to get where we have gotten, they should welcome it. I am trying my best to take advantage of this idealized perception of the United States to set a good example.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
New Family and an Amazing Abuelita
Today, I moved to a new house. This had been a long time coming because my old housing situation had gotten a bit uncomfortable. My host mom who was my closest ally moved out and they needed the room I was living in for visitors. After a day in my new house I am really looking forward to being part of an amazing family for my second year. My friend Mariela happened to have an open room in a little house that her family uses during the day as a kitchen and dining room. I live with my friend, an amazing woman who works on the local archeological project, her 6 year-old daughter, 14 year-old son, and her grandmother.
So far, getting to know the grandma has been a great time. She doesn't hear very well so talking to her is a big strain on the voice but she talks a lot so I don't have to do that much yelling. She has told me all about her childhood here in Pacora and her adventures on riverboats and mudslide prone highways. She even got as personal as to tell me about eloping or "being robbed" as she explained it. All her stories are like something out of a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel. I used to think Latin American literature is far fetched with all of the magical touches but after a couple hours of conversation with my new Peruvian grandma I start to realize that the magical twists on reality are not considered so outlandish. Even my good friend who is very modern told me about her experiences with a witch doctor. My favorite of her stories is about having the cuy (guinea pig) passed. This is when the cuy is rubbed over the entire body to absorb all the negative energy. According to my friend, after the cuy passing was completed, the animal died in her hands signaling that it had absorbed all the negatives. I am thinking of having this done just for the experience but I must admit that I am interested in starting off my second year as free from negativity as possible. I was excited to hear that my new host family recently had a ritual performed on the house involving soaking corn and rose petals to fill the space with happiness. Even if I don't really think anything is physically changed by these rituals, I believe in their potential to change attitudes, which is many times more valuable than physical changes.
Another bonus of my new house is that we have a little dog, poopy. This is actually his name. I am tempted to tell them what the name means in English but I don't want them to feel like they should change the name. I like the fact that I get to chuckle every time I call him over. He looks kinda like a rat and he is losing hair on his back but he is so sweet that I can't help but pet him. I will probably end up diseased from playing with poopy.
The danger of moving to a new house in Peru is that Peruvians tend to show their love through food, incredible food. My new host "mother" (more of a good friend) is particularly inclined to demonstrate her excitement about hosting me through less than healthy food. In order to show my appreciation, I have been eating everything she gives me from candy to large breakfasts of chicken and bread to doughnut type deserts covered in honey. We cooked Sunday family lunch yesterday and since I was involved in the purchase and preparation, Mariela made sure I got my share of the leftovers for breakfast. I got a huge plate of spaghetti for breakfast instead of my usual fruit salad. For now I am enjoying the excuse to eat all the sweets and carbs I can handle but soon I will have to make some sort of effort to get back to healthy eating without offending my new family. Overall, my renewed love for the people of Pacora will dramatically increase my motivation to help the community thus increasing my effectiveness as a volunteer.
So far, getting to know the grandma has been a great time. She doesn't hear very well so talking to her is a big strain on the voice but she talks a lot so I don't have to do that much yelling. She has told me all about her childhood here in Pacora and her adventures on riverboats and mudslide prone highways. She even got as personal as to tell me about eloping or "being robbed" as she explained it. All her stories are like something out of a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel. I used to think Latin American literature is far fetched with all of the magical touches but after a couple hours of conversation with my new Peruvian grandma I start to realize that the magical twists on reality are not considered so outlandish. Even my good friend who is very modern told me about her experiences with a witch doctor. My favorite of her stories is about having the cuy (guinea pig) passed. This is when the cuy is rubbed over the entire body to absorb all the negative energy. According to my friend, after the cuy passing was completed, the animal died in her hands signaling that it had absorbed all the negatives. I am thinking of having this done just for the experience but I must admit that I am interested in starting off my second year as free from negativity as possible. I was excited to hear that my new host family recently had a ritual performed on the house involving soaking corn and rose petals to fill the space with happiness. Even if I don't really think anything is physically changed by these rituals, I believe in their potential to change attitudes, which is many times more valuable than physical changes.
Another bonus of my new house is that we have a little dog, poopy. This is actually his name. I am tempted to tell them what the name means in English but I don't want them to feel like they should change the name. I like the fact that I get to chuckle every time I call him over. He looks kinda like a rat and he is losing hair on his back but he is so sweet that I can't help but pet him. I will probably end up diseased from playing with poopy.
The danger of moving to a new house in Peru is that Peruvians tend to show their love through food, incredible food. My new host "mother" (more of a good friend) is particularly inclined to demonstrate her excitement about hosting me through less than healthy food. In order to show my appreciation, I have been eating everything she gives me from candy to large breakfasts of chicken and bread to doughnut type deserts covered in honey. We cooked Sunday family lunch yesterday and since I was involved in the purchase and preparation, Mariela made sure I got my share of the leftovers for breakfast. I got a huge plate of spaghetti for breakfast instead of my usual fruit salad. For now I am enjoying the excuse to eat all the sweets and carbs I can handle but soon I will have to make some sort of effort to get back to healthy eating without offending my new family. Overall, my renewed love for the people of Pacora will dramatically increase my motivation to help the community thus increasing my effectiveness as a volunteer.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Obi Wan
After two robberies in two days and a confrontation that led me to find a new host family last weekend, I was having a bit of a rough time with my Peace Corps experience. The best way to get through tough times here has been giving myself little things to look forward to. Right now, I am looking forward to the women's empowerment conference that I have been helping to organize at the embassy. After this, I will be traveling to Arequipa or "The White City." An Andean city that is famous for architecture, food, and gorgeous surroundings. During this vacation, I will also travel to the Colca Canyon, home to the Andean Condors and Lake Titicaca. I can't wait for these events.
It is not only large-scale travel that keeps me motivated in tough times. There are certain personal and professional activities that I look forward to. Personally, I look forward to reading and watching almost disgusting amounts of movies and tv on my laptop. Right now I am watching all the Star Wars movies including the prequels. I have also become addicted to Lost, the Sopranos, House, Modern Family, Glee, Gossip Girl, and Friends. It is really funny watching friends because in some alternate reality that could be my life, hanging out with a group in a coffee shop all the time and having the comical adventures that twenty somethings have. Thanks to my cousin I have an entire external hard drive full of of movies and tv, which will definitely last me until the end of my service here. The first thing I thought when I got my stuff robbed last weekend was how happy I was not to lose my laptop. I don't know what I would do without my programs.
This weekend I got to attend a Peruvian wedding. It was a bittersweet event in that it was my friend's 17 year-old host sister's wedding resulting from her unplanned pregnancy. This young woman will not be finishing high school and will not have much say in how the rest of her life plays out due to cultural expectations and machismo. Seeing this firsthand inspired me to keep working with young women particularly on sexual and reproductive health and general self-esteem and empowerment to pursue personal goals. There was a mood of sadness during the entire ceremony and I couldn't help but note the contrast between this wedding and my idealistic and perhaps naïve view of how weddings should be. Despite all this, after the ceremony ended the fun began. There were six of us volunteers at this fiesta and we were in high demand as dancing partners. I went to bed around 4 am but the party was far from over, in fact, when I left the house at 9 am the next day, the party was still far from over.
After I went to bed crazy things started to happen that I did not learn about until the next morning. For no apparent reason, the huge group of dancers turned into a brawling mob. The other volunteers came into the bedroom where I was sleeping and watched through the window. Everyone present got involved. The groom was throwing punches and the bride was trying to break things up while still wearing her gown. There was even a woman with a child in one arm throwing punches with the other man. After putting the child down, she picked up a beer bottle and proceeded to chase him around the soccer field in front of the house. It was quite a way to finish an already emotional day.
After a wild wedding, I am ready to get back to work so in the upcoming weeks I will be building a model improved cook-stove. This model will hopefully inspire more people to do the same in order to use less firewood and not inhale so much smoke. It is unbelievable to me that so many people here still cook on open fires in their kitchens. Along with this, I look forward to giving my HIV/AIDS prevention workshops and classes and watching my gardens grow. This week I will be selling a bunch of recycling which always feels good because I get to turn over cash to the schools that they can spend to improve their school. I am lucky to have so many people to work with so that I can stay active and motivated.
The Peace Corps is a roller coaster both professionally and emotionally and the key is to ensure that there will be plenty of ups to balance out the downs. I got hit with a few unexpected free falls on this roller coaster last weekend and now I am on a slow climb back up by using the combination of personal and professional successes and, of course, THE FORCE.
It is not only large-scale travel that keeps me motivated in tough times. There are certain personal and professional activities that I look forward to. Personally, I look forward to reading and watching almost disgusting amounts of movies and tv on my laptop. Right now I am watching all the Star Wars movies including the prequels. I have also become addicted to Lost, the Sopranos, House, Modern Family, Glee, Gossip Girl, and Friends. It is really funny watching friends because in some alternate reality that could be my life, hanging out with a group in a coffee shop all the time and having the comical adventures that twenty somethings have. Thanks to my cousin I have an entire external hard drive full of of movies and tv, which will definitely last me until the end of my service here. The first thing I thought when I got my stuff robbed last weekend was how happy I was not to lose my laptop. I don't know what I would do without my programs.
This weekend I got to attend a Peruvian wedding. It was a bittersweet event in that it was my friend's 17 year-old host sister's wedding resulting from her unplanned pregnancy. This young woman will not be finishing high school and will not have much say in how the rest of her life plays out due to cultural expectations and machismo. Seeing this firsthand inspired me to keep working with young women particularly on sexual and reproductive health and general self-esteem and empowerment to pursue personal goals. There was a mood of sadness during the entire ceremony and I couldn't help but note the contrast between this wedding and my idealistic and perhaps naïve view of how weddings should be. Despite all this, after the ceremony ended the fun began. There were six of us volunteers at this fiesta and we were in high demand as dancing partners. I went to bed around 4 am but the party was far from over, in fact, when I left the house at 9 am the next day, the party was still far from over.
After I went to bed crazy things started to happen that I did not learn about until the next morning. For no apparent reason, the huge group of dancers turned into a brawling mob. The other volunteers came into the bedroom where I was sleeping and watched through the window. Everyone present got involved. The groom was throwing punches and the bride was trying to break things up while still wearing her gown. There was even a woman with a child in one arm throwing punches with the other man. After putting the child down, she picked up a beer bottle and proceeded to chase him around the soccer field in front of the house. It was quite a way to finish an already emotional day.
After a wild wedding, I am ready to get back to work so in the upcoming weeks I will be building a model improved cook-stove. This model will hopefully inspire more people to do the same in order to use less firewood and not inhale so much smoke. It is unbelievable to me that so many people here still cook on open fires in their kitchens. Along with this, I look forward to giving my HIV/AIDS prevention workshops and classes and watching my gardens grow. This week I will be selling a bunch of recycling which always feels good because I get to turn over cash to the schools that they can spend to improve their school. I am lucky to have so many people to work with so that I can stay active and motivated.
The Peace Corps is a roller coaster both professionally and emotionally and the key is to ensure that there will be plenty of ups to balance out the downs. I got hit with a few unexpected free falls on this roller coaster last weekend and now I am on a slow climb back up by using the combination of personal and professional successes and, of course, THE FORCE.
Monday, October 18, 2010
The last couple of weeks have been filled with my first Peruvian election experience, a trip to Lima to help train new volunteers, and a few personal challenges. The mix of professional success personal obstacles has been typical of the Peace Corps experience. While I work to change host families due to "irreconcilable differences," I am focusing on the professional triumphs that I have had lately. Along with advancing in my HIV/AIDS work, I have gotten closer to getting environmental murals in one of the schools, I have started recycling in another school, and I am getting closer to actually constructing a model improved kitchen in one of my counterpart's houses. I know there will be obstacles but for now I am happy with what I have accomplished recently.
I am in the process of submitting a grant for starting a recycling collection project and soon I will have funding to make real progress on that but right now I am looking for ways to spend money for my school recycling project. As a PCV who supposedly has no money, it is nice to find that I stress over how to spend all the money I currently have and will be receiving in the near future. In the next year I will have money coming from the participatory budget and the Peace Corps Small Projects Assistance program, which I am thrilled about but now comes the hard part, finding a group of people who will voluntarily help me execute these projects. One big challenge is that when people see that you have funded projects, they expect that there is funding to pay those who work on the projects. I have a core group willing to work with me but, just as it is anywhere, it is difficult to get people to give up their leisure time to sort recycling and go to educational presentations about the environment.
One upside of my recent experience is that the regional elections went smoothly and we have a new very motivated mayor who actually gave me shout outs in his campaign speeches. I am hoping that he will consider trash management more carefully than the previous mayor has. It is also encouraging that his family and friends are some of my best friends in town so I am optimistic about the open lines of communication that I will have with the local government. Peruvian politics is fascinating because, like Latin America in general, they have experienced a lot of corruption, upheaval, and even a couple of coups. Their political reality is so different than what I am willing to accept as a functional democracy that it is hard to grasp how people can be complacent with some of the things that occur here. For example, there are tons of examples from this most recent election of candidates literally paying people to come in from different municipalities and giving them an id document with a new address so that they can vote for the candidate. Every time I talk politics here, I realize how lucky I am to live in such a stable country where, even if I don't agree with the leadership, I do not live in fear of collapse and/or government overthrow. The Peace Corps has made me realize what a bubble the United States is and I feel lucky to have been born there.
Probably the most exciting project that I have been working on is not in my site but on a national level. I am part of the Women in Development/Gender and Development Committee, a PC worldwide initiative meaning that it operates in many countries where PC has a presence. I recently became what we refer to as the "point of contact" or head of the committee. Our big project this year has been putting together a calendar featuring twelve women nominated by PCV's from all the departments where PC works. In order to unveil the calendar and celebrate the women who were selected, we will be holding a conference and empowerment workshop in November. So far, we have a family law organization who will be giving a workshop about women's rights, a celebratory luncheon, and an address by the US ambassador who happens to be a woman. The conference is being held at the embassy, which will make it all the more special. Some of the women have selected and invited to the conference have never left the villages where they live and one even speaks Quechua (an indigenous language from the Andes) and not Spanish. I am thrilled to be a part of such a huge project. Our dream is to make this calendar and celebratory empowerment conference an annual event and in order for it to be sustainable, we will be selling future calendars to fund what we cannot get donated and put the rest of the money in a scholarship fund for young women. I will be notifying all of you as soon as we have calendars for sale. THEY ARE REALLY COOL AND IT'S FOR A GOOD CAUSE SO GET EXCITED! That is my plug, I hope everyone is interested.
In less happy news, I experienced my first robbery since being here in Peru. I have let my guard down quite a bit after living here for a year and I felt the consequences yesterday when my purse was snatched from my shoulder in broad daylight with tons of people watching. I was walking from the hostel we stay at to Starbucks after a regional meeting, a walk that I have done 1,000 times, and I felt a tug at my purse. I thought I had caught it on something. When I turned around to look, there was a man behind me yanking on it and I resisted. He tripped me and dragged me on the ground while over a hundred people watched. I finally let go of the bag and am in the process of getting my passport and other important items replaced. I guess life isn't all sunshine and rainbows in developing countries…
I am in the process of submitting a grant for starting a recycling collection project and soon I will have funding to make real progress on that but right now I am looking for ways to spend money for my school recycling project. As a PCV who supposedly has no money, it is nice to find that I stress over how to spend all the money I currently have and will be receiving in the near future. In the next year I will have money coming from the participatory budget and the Peace Corps Small Projects Assistance program, which I am thrilled about but now comes the hard part, finding a group of people who will voluntarily help me execute these projects. One big challenge is that when people see that you have funded projects, they expect that there is funding to pay those who work on the projects. I have a core group willing to work with me but, just as it is anywhere, it is difficult to get people to give up their leisure time to sort recycling and go to educational presentations about the environment.
One upside of my recent experience is that the regional elections went smoothly and we have a new very motivated mayor who actually gave me shout outs in his campaign speeches. I am hoping that he will consider trash management more carefully than the previous mayor has. It is also encouraging that his family and friends are some of my best friends in town so I am optimistic about the open lines of communication that I will have with the local government. Peruvian politics is fascinating because, like Latin America in general, they have experienced a lot of corruption, upheaval, and even a couple of coups. Their political reality is so different than what I am willing to accept as a functional democracy that it is hard to grasp how people can be complacent with some of the things that occur here. For example, there are tons of examples from this most recent election of candidates literally paying people to come in from different municipalities and giving them an id document with a new address so that they can vote for the candidate. Every time I talk politics here, I realize how lucky I am to live in such a stable country where, even if I don't agree with the leadership, I do not live in fear of collapse and/or government overthrow. The Peace Corps has made me realize what a bubble the United States is and I feel lucky to have been born there.
Probably the most exciting project that I have been working on is not in my site but on a national level. I am part of the Women in Development/Gender and Development Committee, a PC worldwide initiative meaning that it operates in many countries where PC has a presence. I recently became what we refer to as the "point of contact" or head of the committee. Our big project this year has been putting together a calendar featuring twelve women nominated by PCV's from all the departments where PC works. In order to unveil the calendar and celebrate the women who were selected, we will be holding a conference and empowerment workshop in November. So far, we have a family law organization who will be giving a workshop about women's rights, a celebratory luncheon, and an address by the US ambassador who happens to be a woman. The conference is being held at the embassy, which will make it all the more special. Some of the women have selected and invited to the conference have never left the villages where they live and one even speaks Quechua (an indigenous language from the Andes) and not Spanish. I am thrilled to be a part of such a huge project. Our dream is to make this calendar and celebratory empowerment conference an annual event and in order for it to be sustainable, we will be selling future calendars to fund what we cannot get donated and put the rest of the money in a scholarship fund for young women. I will be notifying all of you as soon as we have calendars for sale. THEY ARE REALLY COOL AND IT'S FOR A GOOD CAUSE SO GET EXCITED! That is my plug, I hope everyone is interested.
In less happy news, I experienced my first robbery since being here in Peru. I have let my guard down quite a bit after living here for a year and I felt the consequences yesterday when my purse was snatched from my shoulder in broad daylight with tons of people watching. I was walking from the hostel we stay at to Starbucks after a regional meeting, a walk that I have done 1,000 times, and I felt a tug at my purse. I thought I had caught it on something. When I turned around to look, there was a man behind me yanking on it and I resisted. He tripped me and dragged me on the ground while over a hundred people watched. I finally let go of the bag and am in the process of getting my passport and other important items replaced. I guess life isn't all sunshine and rainbows in developing countries…
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