Brujeria

I just want to start out by saying that the other night I ate guinea pig for dinner by candle light, and because it was so dark, I almost mistook the meat on my plate for chicken! So, I guess guinea pig really does taste like chicken! But, I figured it out because the skin is much different and my host brother told me we were ¨eating rat¨... which kind of gave it away!

Things in town are good, although I went through a little funk feeling frustrated with my work last week and have been and will be out of site a lot in the next two weeks due to mandatory peace corps meetings. Not to mention it is really hard to feel like a profesional when I am not great at the language and am expected to suddenly know a lot about planting trees, building mini land fills and knowing about organic fertilizers.... Not really what I did in college, but that is what an environmental volunteer is supposed to do. Not to mention my family can really bug me at times, which I guess means I am just more and more a part of their family! My siblings annoy me like normal siblings should with lots of shouting and demands for attention. My host Dad makes an absurd amount of corny jokes that, if I don´t laugh
appropriately, he will reexplain slowly and in detail until he is sure I absolutely understand. My oldest teenage host sister is always just... being an irresponsible 16 year old and try´s to use me to get to do things like watch novelas at night (apparently they can do pretty much anything in terms of getting permission from their Dad if I ask to do it and ask for my sisters to accompany me). I try to do some stuff with them to get them a little free time away from constant cooking and cleaning, but I just really hate novelas and prefer to hang out at the house in the evenings and either play soccer, watch soccer, or wait for friends to come visit or call. Then there is my 19 year old host brother who is convinced I can a) find him a
professional soccer team to play for in the US that will pay him, and b) bring him to the US with me in two year in order to fulfill goal (a). So, that is always a funny and interesting conversation with him, especially since the main reason he wants to do that is to earn money (in dollars) to come back to Peru and buy a car. Yes, buying a car is his ultimate goal, but he is unwilling to earn the money in any other way other than playing professional soccer in the US.

As far as soccer playing for me goes, our next big girls game is on my birthday, May 1st! Oh goody! Luckily, this time we will be prepared... but not because we are training together much at all of because we are playing a different team. No, we will be in luck due to a much better theory. Recently, my host sister came home from delivering the breakfasts in the morning and said ¨carolyn, I just talked to (a friend) and I found out why we lost the game!¨ to which I just looked at her quizzically and thought that we lost because we didn´t play very well. She said ¨the other team was doing witchcraft on us!¨ to which I responded ¨ooooor, we played bad.¨ She denied this and said ¨no no no, my friend just found out they have a witch on the team and that is why you couldn´t score, next time we will be prepared!¨ This was just too interesting so I decided to go and seek out our friend, the source of this interesting news. I found out that the other team does indeed have a trained witch and that is why the other team was so sure they would win (the raised the bets that we always have to make from 100 to 150...). She said that all we have to do for the next game to counter the witchcraft is throw ice on the goal line before the game and put garlic in our shoes. So, on my birthday I am looking forward to have garlicky smelling feet and not being the victim of anymore witchcraftery!

Of course you are all probably wondering about my little joy in my life, my dog! He is growing so much and reminds me of a lanky teenager now. He is still beautiful and always wants to cuddle me. He also makes me proud because he protects me from anything that comes near me or the house... including small children. This would probably be seen as a bad thing in the US (dogs barking as strangers in a vicious manner usually is) but here, it is seen as a protector and people always comment on how much he takes care of me and it secretly makes me feel good inside. Especially since at the end of the day he climbs up in my lap while I´m in the hammock and cuddles with me and never ever barks at me! He has been a little jealous lately though because there is a new puppy in the family that is hard to resist and
my siblings have stopped paying so much attention to my little baby cause he is bigger and not as cute anymore.

So in terms of good fortune, I have my dog and am also lucky enough to have my best friend that seriously keeps me sane when all the tiny Peruvian cultural differences might push me over the edge. I am so happy that I found someone that is smart, patient and gets a kick out of teaching me new vocabulary and helping me with my Spanish. Having someone to have really, interesting conversations with about religion, politics and my project ideas really helps me through the days. However, the drawbacks of having a male best friend include constant jokes about him being my future husband and my host uncles complaining that I will steal one of their soccer players ¨when¨ (not if) I bring him to the US with me. If you cant tell, bringing people to the US and marriage are favorite conversation topics for a lot of the Peruvians I know. The other favorite is commenting on weight gain. I try not to let the ¨you are looking so much fatter¨ comments get to me because I know they mean that I am being fed well and it is a compliment to my family. BUT, when I get it more than once... or even more than twice a day by small children and remarkably skinny teenage boys, it can get to be a bit much. It is just not something an American girl can get used to easily I guess!

Much love!