Feliz Navidad!

Hello all!

Happy holiday season! I don´t think I will be back to the internet again until the new year, so I just wanted to wish everyone a VERY Merry Christmas and Happy new year! Here in Peru, I will be celebrating with my lovely new host family of 8 people in our tiny house of three bedrooms and a community full of their reatives! We will be eating and drinking at midnight on the 24th, and I´m looking forward to trying out this new tradition... althought I´m sure I will be very tired Christmas day!

As far as updates go, things are going very well in my tiny Pueblo and I couldn´t be happier. I had a short stint of unfortunate incidents including me getting pretty sick and staying in the capital city for a few days to recover, followed by me returning to my town and trying to play barefoot soccer with my siblings, ending with me burning the bottoms of my feet to the point of blistering! I learned my lesson, and my host Dad now thinks I am ridiculous for not listening to his advice to wear shoes. Now I know that my feet are not as strong as the locals!

I also had a happy experience the other day where I attended a meeting of the mothers and fathers of the family, meaning all the parents of kids in the school which includes more than 50 people and was a good chance for me to be seen. I got to introduce myself to the community members publicy, which was terrifying, but I managed to handle public spanish speaking with a little bit of grace. After which, I organized a summer school with community input about when it should be. Then, the icing on the cake, my host Dad has been elected the new president of the fathers of the family and, when presented at this meeting, took the opportunity to also introduce me to the community members and tell them to invite me to meetings and talk to me when they can. I was thrilled to finally be introduced to a big handful of people who probably had no idea why I was there. I still have lots of people to meet and explanations to give about my work, but this tiny step really boosted my confidence.

I also had the opportunity to attend the moving up ceremonies on my town from the Inicial school (for 5 year olds) and from primary to secondary schoo (secondary is highschool). The parties are a big deal here, where all the little kids thare moving up have to wear suites or dresses and come with a paraja, or partner girl or boy. They have to walk out in front of their families with their dates and we all give a champaign toast, eat dinner (I had to eat two because I went to two parties the same night) and watch them dance with their partners for a while. It was so much fun, and later turned into a big dance party for the aduts. I got to talk to a lot of people, and was even mentioned in one of the speeches from the director of the school. I felt special, but also a little awkward. It is almost impossible to get used to getting stared at, and knowing everything you do is being watched by everyone. But, I had a great time, staying until the wee hours of the night with my host parents and walking home in the pitch dark, using my cell phone as a flashight!

Other than that, my daily life consists of getting up early to blasting music from the raido (around 6 30am) and usually try to go for a quick run (to the amusement of just about everyone). I spend time playing cards with my host siblings, reading, and studying my spanish. Sometimes I make plans for things I want to do or read my manuals. Eventually I go to the river with a family member and we ¨bath¨ and swim around and soak up the sun. In the evenings I go with my entire family to watch the local guys play soccer for abour 2 hours. A lot of community members are there, and there are always bets placed on the small pick up games. Slowly but surely, people are getting to know me. Although, I am happy to say that most kids that live near me now know my name and I even have a nick name now, Caro or Carito.

Finally, my last fun piece of news is that I came home one evening after a day in the capital city picking up my mail and buying a mattress to a brand new gift from my host brother. And would you believe, it was a puppy!! Now I have this tiny little month old thing that loves me and follows me around the house. It is tortured by my younger host siblings and neighbors, and has a diet of rice and milk. I have named it Brandol, after much debate with two of my host brothers, and I think my host family approves of the name. I love my little Brandol and am happy to have a little thing to train to protect me from other dogs! haha.

Again, I am wishing you all a VERY happy holiday season! I miss you all and I cant believe I´m spending Chistmas without my wonderful family. I want to thank you all for your support, emails and phone calls. It really makes this experience a lot more enjoyable to know I have caring family and friends back in the U.S. I hope you all wil continue to keep me updated and send me stories and photos! As a side note, I have upoaded some photos to facebook for those who are interested to see what is going on here in my Pueblo.

Much love, hugs and kisses to everyone.
Carito