My Mother and Father arrive in two days to visit me for a two week, Peruvian vacation. It seems like the perfect time to post a pair of stories about lessons I have learned from my mother.
Don´t worry Mom, this time I´ll keep it brief!
¨Don´t cry over a broken dish.¨
This lesson came to my mind recently when I had a very unfortunate moment in which I spilled tea on my boyfriends laptop, effectively destroying it. I did cry, a lot. And he responded the same way my Mother did, bringing back my first memory of breaking something in the house.
I couldn´t tell you what I was doing, but I´m sure I was either getting ready to make myself something to eat, or finishing eating and cleaning up my dishes. I´m betting it was a glass, probably of lemonade or juice. Suddenly, it was on the floor, pieces of glass shattered all around me.
And I was crying with fear that I would be in trouble.
Within seconds my Mom found me there, amongst broken glass and crying with fear, shame and confusion. She hugged me and told me it was no big deal, and that a dish is not worth crying over. That idea has stuck with me over my years of breaking things, because they are just that, just things. While it is a horribly traumatic experience to ruin something valuable that belongs to someone else, I am grateful to my Mom for instilling the idea material things are not what is most important in life.
¨Take your pills or I´ll go get the hose and make them go down!¨
I have no doubts that I was an extremely obnoxious child. Even imagining having to raise a child like me makes me have second thoughts about wanting to have kids of my own one day.
So, I must have been particularly annoying one day when, when I was around 8 or 9 years old, the day when I needed to take a pill that you have to swallow and not chew. I can just imagine that I was whining and/or crying and coming up with excuses and horror stories about taking the pill. That is when my Mom told me that if I didn´t take my pills with my glass of water, she would go and get the hose and spray them down.
I am assuming it was not the best day for my poor Mom. I remember being shocked and wide-eyed. I remember being afraid she would actually do it (children really don´t understand sarcasm, do they?). So I took my pills, and that was that. I have always had a really easy time swallowing pills since then. Thanks Mom!
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Parental vacation - the pre-post
I have drafted a dozen posts over the past two months and not published a single one. I am feeling as though they are uninspired, and others perhaps a bit too harsh and judgmental about some of the observations I´ve made lately. I must need a vacation….
Luckily, it is time for a Booth family jungle adventure!
My parents arrive in two days to Peru for their second visit. This time around, we are headed to the north of the country to the cloud forest/jungle of Chachapoyas and then off to Iquitos for a jungle tour. But our first stop in Lima will be a boat tour to see sea lions and Humboldt penguins. I´m so excited to get to travel around this beautiful country with them again!
It comes at a perfect time. I am feeling homesick while I see all my friends and family back home enjoying summer weather and vacation. Here in Lima, the weather is gloomy, grey and drizzly every day. I am ready for some sunshine!
My personal aspirations for the trip are to get updates from my parents about the rest of the family and our friends. I am also hoping for some sage advice about what to do with my future (am I asking too much of them?), taking some great pictures, and making some fun and entertaining memories.
This time around, I planned the entire trip instead of contracting a travel agency to do it… we shall see how it turns out. Try not to panic pops, sometimes life is more fun when it is not planned!
Luckily, it is time for a Booth family jungle adventure!
My parents arrive in two days to Peru for their second visit. This time around, we are headed to the north of the country to the cloud forest/jungle of Chachapoyas and then off to Iquitos for a jungle tour. But our first stop in Lima will be a boat tour to see sea lions and Humboldt penguins. I´m so excited to get to travel around this beautiful country with them again!
It comes at a perfect time. I am feeling homesick while I see all my friends and family back home enjoying summer weather and vacation. Here in Lima, the weather is gloomy, grey and drizzly every day. I am ready for some sunshine!
My personal aspirations for the trip are to get updates from my parents about the rest of the family and our friends. I am also hoping for some sage advice about what to do with my future (am I asking too much of them?), taking some great pictures, and making some fun and entertaining memories.
This time around, I planned the entire trip instead of contracting a travel agency to do it… we shall see how it turns out. Try not to panic pops, sometimes life is more fun when it is not planned!
Friday, May 31, 2013
Lessons from my Mother part 1
This is the first of a series of entries I would like to write about lessons I have learned from my Parents that have stuck with me throughout my life as I have moved into ¨adulthood¨. I am starting specifically with lessons from my Mother.
As a parent, I imagine that a lot of things are said, a lot of actions taken, and you can feel very unsure about what messages are sticking, and which are not. I am not a parent, but I feel that way when I work with youth and kids in schools. Are they listening to me? Will they remember this message that means so much to me? Will they act differently from now on?
Recently, I started reflecting on this thought. The distinct moments of things my mother has said or done that have stuck with me until now. It occurred to me when I realized that within a lot of the way I act or think there is a whisper of my mother´s voice in my head. It occurred to me that these thoughts don´t have to be private, but in fact I could share them with my Mom and let her know how she has shaped me and molded me into the ¨responsible¨ person that I am today.
So why write this now? Maybe it´s because I´m living abroad. I have started reflecting on the different parenting techniques I see used here and wonder if the cultural differences in the treatment of children creates a different culture of adults. I recognize that not all parents are the same, and that I cannot generalize about ¨Peruvian Parenting¨, so I am only speaking from my experience living with two different Peruvian families, one for two years, and from experiences with my friends and their relationships with their parents. Nonetheless, living in Peru has brought my mother´s messages to the forefront in my way of thinking, and contrasts, sometimes glaringly, with the way kids are ¨parented¨ here.
Today's messages are from my teenage years. Not the easiest time for anyone, and certainly not an easy age to care for as a parent. I am confident that this will not be the only entry on lessons from my teenage years.
¨Make fun of yourself, not others, if you want to make people laugh.¨
I could not tell you the exact date, or my age when my mom dropped this sage advice on me, but I know I was a teenager. The theme came up, I´m sure, over dinner or a casual conversation. My Mom casually mentioned that she doesn´t think making fun of others is ever an appropriate way to make people laugh. If you want to play the clown, make fun of yourself! Because when you make fun of someone else, you run the risk of really hurting their feelings, and possibly making yourself look bad for being a jerk. I remember really taking this to heart throughout high school, where making fun of people is an exercise that runs rampant. I specifically remember keeping this advice in mind when we moved to Ithaca and I had to make new friends. I would make jokes about my own incompetence, whether it was in soccer or in school, and try to get a laugh out of these strangers that I wanted to be my friends.
This advice has become particularly important to me in Peru. In my experience with my friends and acquaintances, it is a common practice to make fun of everyone at anytime. Friends constantly rag on each other about their flaws, have nick names like ¨imbecil¨ and ¨stupid¨, admittedly more commonly among boys. Kids tend to create nick names for each other that have to do with some physical characteristic, whether it be ¨fatty¨, ¨skinny¨, ¨pimply¨, ¨dark skinned¨, ¨white skinned¨, etc. Recently I heard of a case of a darker skinned girl getting made fun of. Her classmates were all eating tamales, which have olives in them. To make fun of the girl, they started joking loudly ¨Oh look, an olive escaped from the tamal!¨
This could be harmless, but I don´t think so. I would love to go in to all of the anthropological and social implications of a comment like this, such as the underlying racism that is still going strong in Peru. But, mostly I brought it up because it is something I could not ever say myself. My heart breaks a little every time my friends refer to each other as ¨idiot¨ or ¨fatty¨. I feel powerless to stop it, and wonder if they are used to these kinds of comments, or if they hold on to a little bit of resentment.
The downside this lesson has had on me has been that I am sometimes very self critical. I tend to believe the mantra, ¨whatever you don´t like about another person, is something you don´t like about yourself.¨ Whenever I have a negative thought about anyone, I instantly internalize it as something I must be doing wrong. I think sometimes I start to internalize my own jokes about myself. They become part of my inner-dialogue and this can take a nasty turn if I let these negative ideas run away from me. Fortunately, I have recognized the effect that talking badly about myself can have on me, and I try to avoid it.
¨Hate is a very strong word¨
And it is not a word that should not be taken lightly. This message changed the way I thought about and used ¨hate¨ forever. It was a normal day, and I was a ¨normal¨ teenager in the car with a couple of friends while my Mom drove us somewhere. I imagine was with some of my soccer team teammates, and we were headed to a game, practice or tournament because these were the instances that I passed the most time in a car with my Mom and other teenage girls.
The funny thing about riding in a car with your parents when you are a kid and a teenager, is that you almost forget they are there. It must have been incredibly hard for my parents on many occasions to not comment, laugh or get angry at our ridiculous ramblings, loud singing, or overly excited chatter. I remember not giving my Mom´s presence a second thought as my friends and I began to speak viciously about a girl at school. I must have said how much I ¨hated¨ her, possibly many times, for what I´m sure was a very trivial reason, when my Mom piped in.
¨Carolyn, hate is a very strong word.¨
I honestly think that was it. There was no more explanation or conversation about it. It was the way she said it. She sounded exacerbated, like she was trying to control a bubbling frustration with our hateful speech. I remember going silent. I think it was as much what she said and how she said it, as it was the feeling that it came out of nowhere. As I said, I had forgotten anyone was listening to us. I had a a momentary experience of seeing myself from outside of myself through my Mother´s eyes and realized she was right. Why were we being so hateful? Why was I speaking so casually and without a second thought about what it meant?
That single moment changed me. I would like to say I never used the word ¨hate¨ again in reference to a person. Of course, using the word ¨never¨ is always risky because I couldn´t honestly promise that I never used it again after that moment. I have certainly said and thought other nasty things about people throughout my life. What I do know, is that I am painstakingly conscious of the use of the word ¨hate¨. I always think to myself, ¨it is a VERY strong word¨ and don´t use it unless I´m sure that is how I feel.
I think this simple motherly comment made a positive impact on me and my outlook and relationship with other people throughout my life. I think that I try to sincerely evaluate my feelings, positive or negative, towards everyone, and never let my anger or frustration cause me to unfairly ¨hate¨ or even ¨not like¨ a person. Now, living in Peru, this is particularly important because it is very easy to feel hateful towards someone you don´t know, treating you in a way that you don´t understand because the cultural context is completely different. I am living in a world where being assertive and even aggressive is expected. Interrupting people is common and also expected in many cases. Telling people they are fat when they gain a little weight is completely normal and acceptable. So you might be able to imagine that feeling negatively towards someone might happen from time to time. Thankfully, remembering that ¨hate¨ is a strong word, I try to reevaluate my feelings and pinpoint what it is exactly that is bothering me about a person or situation.
As I said, these are the first two of a series of ¨lessons¨ in life that my Mother has taught me. Other lessons will be drawn from my childhood years to my early 20´s, and will include lessons on specific themes such as relationships and friendships.
I leave you today with a recent quote from my Mom when talking to her about applying to grad schools and applying to jobs:
¨Don´t underestimate the power of likability.¨
I love you Mom!
As a parent, I imagine that a lot of things are said, a lot of actions taken, and you can feel very unsure about what messages are sticking, and which are not. I am not a parent, but I feel that way when I work with youth and kids in schools. Are they listening to me? Will they remember this message that means so much to me? Will they act differently from now on?
Recently, I started reflecting on this thought. The distinct moments of things my mother has said or done that have stuck with me until now. It occurred to me when I realized that within a lot of the way I act or think there is a whisper of my mother´s voice in my head. It occurred to me that these thoughts don´t have to be private, but in fact I could share them with my Mom and let her know how she has shaped me and molded me into the ¨responsible¨ person that I am today.
So why write this now? Maybe it´s because I´m living abroad. I have started reflecting on the different parenting techniques I see used here and wonder if the cultural differences in the treatment of children creates a different culture of adults. I recognize that not all parents are the same, and that I cannot generalize about ¨Peruvian Parenting¨, so I am only speaking from my experience living with two different Peruvian families, one for two years, and from experiences with my friends and their relationships with their parents. Nonetheless, living in Peru has brought my mother´s messages to the forefront in my way of thinking, and contrasts, sometimes glaringly, with the way kids are ¨parented¨ here.
Today's messages are from my teenage years. Not the easiest time for anyone, and certainly not an easy age to care for as a parent. I am confident that this will not be the only entry on lessons from my teenage years.
¨Make fun of yourself, not others, if you want to make people laugh.¨
I could not tell you the exact date, or my age when my mom dropped this sage advice on me, but I know I was a teenager. The theme came up, I´m sure, over dinner or a casual conversation. My Mom casually mentioned that she doesn´t think making fun of others is ever an appropriate way to make people laugh. If you want to play the clown, make fun of yourself! Because when you make fun of someone else, you run the risk of really hurting their feelings, and possibly making yourself look bad for being a jerk. I remember really taking this to heart throughout high school, where making fun of people is an exercise that runs rampant. I specifically remember keeping this advice in mind when we moved to Ithaca and I had to make new friends. I would make jokes about my own incompetence, whether it was in soccer or in school, and try to get a laugh out of these strangers that I wanted to be my friends.
This advice has become particularly important to me in Peru. In my experience with my friends and acquaintances, it is a common practice to make fun of everyone at anytime. Friends constantly rag on each other about their flaws, have nick names like ¨imbecil¨ and ¨stupid¨, admittedly more commonly among boys. Kids tend to create nick names for each other that have to do with some physical characteristic, whether it be ¨fatty¨, ¨skinny¨, ¨pimply¨, ¨dark skinned¨, ¨white skinned¨, etc. Recently I heard of a case of a darker skinned girl getting made fun of. Her classmates were all eating tamales, which have olives in them. To make fun of the girl, they started joking loudly ¨Oh look, an olive escaped from the tamal!¨
This could be harmless, but I don´t think so. I would love to go in to all of the anthropological and social implications of a comment like this, such as the underlying racism that is still going strong in Peru. But, mostly I brought it up because it is something I could not ever say myself. My heart breaks a little every time my friends refer to each other as ¨idiot¨ or ¨fatty¨. I feel powerless to stop it, and wonder if they are used to these kinds of comments, or if they hold on to a little bit of resentment.
The downside this lesson has had on me has been that I am sometimes very self critical. I tend to believe the mantra, ¨whatever you don´t like about another person, is something you don´t like about yourself.¨ Whenever I have a negative thought about anyone, I instantly internalize it as something I must be doing wrong. I think sometimes I start to internalize my own jokes about myself. They become part of my inner-dialogue and this can take a nasty turn if I let these negative ideas run away from me. Fortunately, I have recognized the effect that talking badly about myself can have on me, and I try to avoid it.
¨Hate is a very strong word¨
And it is not a word that should not be taken lightly. This message changed the way I thought about and used ¨hate¨ forever. It was a normal day, and I was a ¨normal¨ teenager in the car with a couple of friends while my Mom drove us somewhere. I imagine was with some of my soccer team teammates, and we were headed to a game, practice or tournament because these were the instances that I passed the most time in a car with my Mom and other teenage girls.
The funny thing about riding in a car with your parents when you are a kid and a teenager, is that you almost forget they are there. It must have been incredibly hard for my parents on many occasions to not comment, laugh or get angry at our ridiculous ramblings, loud singing, or overly excited chatter. I remember not giving my Mom´s presence a second thought as my friends and I began to speak viciously about a girl at school. I must have said how much I ¨hated¨ her, possibly many times, for what I´m sure was a very trivial reason, when my Mom piped in.
¨Carolyn, hate is a very strong word.¨
I honestly think that was it. There was no more explanation or conversation about it. It was the way she said it. She sounded exacerbated, like she was trying to control a bubbling frustration with our hateful speech. I remember going silent. I think it was as much what she said and how she said it, as it was the feeling that it came out of nowhere. As I said, I had forgotten anyone was listening to us. I had a a momentary experience of seeing myself from outside of myself through my Mother´s eyes and realized she was right. Why were we being so hateful? Why was I speaking so casually and without a second thought about what it meant?
That single moment changed me. I would like to say I never used the word ¨hate¨ again in reference to a person. Of course, using the word ¨never¨ is always risky because I couldn´t honestly promise that I never used it again after that moment. I have certainly said and thought other nasty things about people throughout my life. What I do know, is that I am painstakingly conscious of the use of the word ¨hate¨. I always think to myself, ¨it is a VERY strong word¨ and don´t use it unless I´m sure that is how I feel.
I think this simple motherly comment made a positive impact on me and my outlook and relationship with other people throughout my life. I think that I try to sincerely evaluate my feelings, positive or negative, towards everyone, and never let my anger or frustration cause me to unfairly ¨hate¨ or even ¨not like¨ a person. Now, living in Peru, this is particularly important because it is very easy to feel hateful towards someone you don´t know, treating you in a way that you don´t understand because the cultural context is completely different. I am living in a world where being assertive and even aggressive is expected. Interrupting people is common and also expected in many cases. Telling people they are fat when they gain a little weight is completely normal and acceptable. So you might be able to imagine that feeling negatively towards someone might happen from time to time. Thankfully, remembering that ¨hate¨ is a strong word, I try to reevaluate my feelings and pinpoint what it is exactly that is bothering me about a person or situation.
As I said, these are the first two of a series of ¨lessons¨ in life that my Mother has taught me. Other lessons will be drawn from my childhood years to my early 20´s, and will include lessons on specific themes such as relationships and friendships.
I leave you today with a recent quote from my Mom when talking to her about applying to grad schools and applying to jobs:
¨Don´t underestimate the power of likability.¨
I love you Mom!
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Mothers Day
I´m not a big fan of Mother´s Day.
Now hold on, don´t get mad just yet. I´m not trying to be an iconoclast (like that GRE word??). I love my Mother, and my father, and my siblings and family. I value them and having them in my life every day. What I am not particularly fond of are celebration days in general. Earth Day, Water Day, Fathers Day, Children Day, etc.
Please don´t think of me as a cynic, although sometimes that is how I feel about the events held on these days. What I do like about these days of recognition is exactly that, they recognize something important and call attention to it. However, in my opinion, these things have a special day all to themselves because they are so important that they should be celebrated and concentrated on, EVERYDAY. And, the reason I sometimes get frustrated by the specific day designated to them, is that the events and celebrations on these days often are excuses to try to make different organizations or people look good, even if they are not for the rest of the year.
In Peru, Mother´s Day is a huge event. A whole school day is often dedicated to it. Students prepare cards, signs, posters, etc. They also practice for days, sometimes during class hours, dance rutines and skits to perform on Mother´s Day for their Moms.
What I have seen is that this event, often in a school, can sometimes turn into a party. Parents come, and after the kids have all presented their poems, speeches, songs, dances, etc, the party turns more adult and there is music, food and drink. In some cases that I have seen, there is a lottery drawing of prizes and gifts to different mothers. The food is often prepared by the mothers, or by teachers (who themselves, in many cases, are also mothers). The drink is offered to mothers, but primarily consumed (or ¨quaffed¨ - to make use of another GRE word) by the males. There are sometimes uncomfortable dances, in which many mothers don´t really want to participate. By the end, it turns into a party/drinking event, often requiring the mothers to cook, provide food and clean up, while simultaneously being the centers of attention.
I had an upbeat conversation with a local taxi driver the day before mother´s day, telling him it was not such a big deal in the US. I explained that, at least for my family, it is a more personal thing, and that usually we try to do things for our Mom that day so that she can relax. He laughed and said ¨Here, we all celebrate grandly for our Moms. We go and visit them with gifts, and they make all the food and do all the cleaning up.¨
I think these events have a lot of heart and meaning in them. I also think that it is an excuse to say ¨Thanks Mom¨, once a year, while being ungrateful or even abusive for the rest of the year. I think Mothers should be celebrated everyday, and Mother´s Day should be an extension of that general goodness and caring.
I think that is my general problem with all National and International recognition days. I like them because they call attention to important issues, people or events. But, sometimes it turns into an excuse to act like you care about something for a day, while completely neglecting it the rest of the year.
I suppose the message I want to dejar (leave) in this post is that we should all celebrate our Moms, Dads, Mother Earth, Children, Water, etc, EVERYDAY. Be conscious of your actions, and be generous with love.
And to round this little tyrade out, I want to write a special note to my Mom. She is the reason I am who I am. She is confident, proud of me no matter what, loving and nurturing all the time, and always there for us kids when we need her. I´m so happy to have been raised by her and my Dad and feel fortunate all the time to be part of my wonderful family. I could not have asked for a better one. Thank you Mom, I love you!
Until next time.
Now hold on, don´t get mad just yet. I´m not trying to be an iconoclast (like that GRE word??). I love my Mother, and my father, and my siblings and family. I value them and having them in my life every day. What I am not particularly fond of are celebration days in general. Earth Day, Water Day, Fathers Day, Children Day, etc.
Please don´t think of me as a cynic, although sometimes that is how I feel about the events held on these days. What I do like about these days of recognition is exactly that, they recognize something important and call attention to it. However, in my opinion, these things have a special day all to themselves because they are so important that they should be celebrated and concentrated on, EVERYDAY. And, the reason I sometimes get frustrated by the specific day designated to them, is that the events and celebrations on these days often are excuses to try to make different organizations or people look good, even if they are not for the rest of the year.
In Peru, Mother´s Day is a huge event. A whole school day is often dedicated to it. Students prepare cards, signs, posters, etc. They also practice for days, sometimes during class hours, dance rutines and skits to perform on Mother´s Day for their Moms.
What I have seen is that this event, often in a school, can sometimes turn into a party. Parents come, and after the kids have all presented their poems, speeches, songs, dances, etc, the party turns more adult and there is music, food and drink. In some cases that I have seen, there is a lottery drawing of prizes and gifts to different mothers. The food is often prepared by the mothers, or by teachers (who themselves, in many cases, are also mothers). The drink is offered to mothers, but primarily consumed (or ¨quaffed¨ - to make use of another GRE word) by the males. There are sometimes uncomfortable dances, in which many mothers don´t really want to participate. By the end, it turns into a party/drinking event, often requiring the mothers to cook, provide food and clean up, while simultaneously being the centers of attention.
I had an upbeat conversation with a local taxi driver the day before mother´s day, telling him it was not such a big deal in the US. I explained that, at least for my family, it is a more personal thing, and that usually we try to do things for our Mom that day so that she can relax. He laughed and said ¨Here, we all celebrate grandly for our Moms. We go and visit them with gifts, and they make all the food and do all the cleaning up.¨
I think these events have a lot of heart and meaning in them. I also think that it is an excuse to say ¨Thanks Mom¨, once a year, while being ungrateful or even abusive for the rest of the year. I think Mothers should be celebrated everyday, and Mother´s Day should be an extension of that general goodness and caring.
I think that is my general problem with all National and International recognition days. I like them because they call attention to important issues, people or events. But, sometimes it turns into an excuse to act like you care about something for a day, while completely neglecting it the rest of the year.
I suppose the message I want to dejar (leave) in this post is that we should all celebrate our Moms, Dads, Mother Earth, Children, Water, etc, EVERYDAY. Be conscious of your actions, and be generous with love.
And to round this little tyrade out, I want to write a special note to my Mom. She is the reason I am who I am. She is confident, proud of me no matter what, loving and nurturing all the time, and always there for us kids when we need her. I´m so happy to have been raised by her and my Dad and feel fortunate all the time to be part of my wonderful family. I could not have asked for a better one. Thank you Mom, I love you!
Until next time.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
¿Cuál es tú vocación?
What is your calling? Or, what do you want to do with your life?
Isn´t that the question that we all ask ourselves repeatedly as we grow up? Even as adults, or in our elder years, I´m sure this question emerges as our lives shift and our interests change.
For a young, going on ¨late-20´s¨ something like myself, it is constantly on my mind. In school and University, we begin to discover what it is we like to study. Because of that, we chose a degree to persue, and write papers, study and read about a subject that keeps us enthralled. After school, we either persue higher studies to get a more professional degree or join the Peace Corps (those are our only two options.. right?). Some might even get jobs and start bringing in some income, but these jobs usually have nothing to do with the studies we have just finished focusing on for four years.
Through experience, we start to realize what it is we ¨like¨, what makes us happy, what frustrates us. I feel like it is an ongoing and very long process. And I am writing this entry because I am JUST beginning to figure it is what I like.
For two years, I worked ¨in the field¨ with very little experience and even less Spanish speaking ability. I organized projects and taught classes, but what I really loved was talking on the radio once a week. Then, I went and working as the Volunteer Coordinator for the Peace Corps Peru Environment Program. This involved working in an office 5 days a week like a normal full time job, mixed in with visiting volunteers in their sites and planning training events. My favorite parts of this job were time spent with volunteers and planning and participating in training events. Now, I work for two organizations that work with schools and youth. In one, I work three days a week in an office and work on a computer all day, most days. The 4th day (saturdays) we run youth groups with underpriveleged kids from poorer areas in Lima. For the other organization, I run an environmental schools network with the head coordinator and we run workshops for teachers.
Recently, I have had a few opportunities to give talks to teachers and to be in classrooms with students. I have found that every time, I feel nervous about the event, but that during and afterwords I feel incredibly energized and optomistic. I leave feeling full of energy and positivity in a way that nothing else makes me feel. While I already knew I liked working with people, I never thought I would love being a presenter.
And its not just that, it is the newfound ability to identify the positive feelings associated with doing something you like. I feel like I become the best version of myself. Outgoing, positive, optomisitic and energetic. It is the way I would want to live my life all the time, but that I find myself losing when I work indoors, isolated, typing away at a computer all day. When I am with people, on the other hand, particularly youth, I feel motivated. My heart goes out to them and I want to help and teach everyone. I want to be in a million places at once and give them all the opportunities that I can.
So here is to learning what I like, and hoping it guides me to what I will ¨BE¨.
Isn´t that the question that we all ask ourselves repeatedly as we grow up? Even as adults, or in our elder years, I´m sure this question emerges as our lives shift and our interests change.
For a young, going on ¨late-20´s¨ something like myself, it is constantly on my mind. In school and University, we begin to discover what it is we like to study. Because of that, we chose a degree to persue, and write papers, study and read about a subject that keeps us enthralled. After school, we either persue higher studies to get a more professional degree or join the Peace Corps (those are our only two options.. right?). Some might even get jobs and start bringing in some income, but these jobs usually have nothing to do with the studies we have just finished focusing on for four years.
Through experience, we start to realize what it is we ¨like¨, what makes us happy, what frustrates us. I feel like it is an ongoing and very long process. And I am writing this entry because I am JUST beginning to figure it is what I like.
For two years, I worked ¨in the field¨ with very little experience and even less Spanish speaking ability. I organized projects and taught classes, but what I really loved was talking on the radio once a week. Then, I went and working as the Volunteer Coordinator for the Peace Corps Peru Environment Program. This involved working in an office 5 days a week like a normal full time job, mixed in with visiting volunteers in their sites and planning training events. My favorite parts of this job were time spent with volunteers and planning and participating in training events. Now, I work for two organizations that work with schools and youth. In one, I work three days a week in an office and work on a computer all day, most days. The 4th day (saturdays) we run youth groups with underpriveleged kids from poorer areas in Lima. For the other organization, I run an environmental schools network with the head coordinator and we run workshops for teachers.
Recently, I have had a few opportunities to give talks to teachers and to be in classrooms with students. I have found that every time, I feel nervous about the event, but that during and afterwords I feel incredibly energized and optomistic. I leave feeling full of energy and positivity in a way that nothing else makes me feel. While I already knew I liked working with people, I never thought I would love being a presenter.
And its not just that, it is the newfound ability to identify the positive feelings associated with doing something you like. I feel like I become the best version of myself. Outgoing, positive, optomisitic and energetic. It is the way I would want to live my life all the time, but that I find myself losing when I work indoors, isolated, typing away at a computer all day. When I am with people, on the other hand, particularly youth, I feel motivated. My heart goes out to them and I want to help and teach everyone. I want to be in a million places at once and give them all the opportunities that I can.
So here is to learning what I like, and hoping it guides me to what I will ¨BE¨.
Monday, April 8, 2013
April Easter Bunny Chocolate Sweetness
Right before the end of lent, I recieved a package from my Mom full of chocolate! What a wonderful surprise! Amazingly, I have not binged on it like I thought I would after 40 chocolate free days.
Here in Perú, the two week days before Easter Sunday are part of what is called ¨Saints Week¨ (Semana Santa) and it is a national holiday. I decided with my four free days (thursday - sunday) to go traveling to see my host family. I had not seen them since October! I even convinced Alfonso to go with me to meet my Peruvian family!
Exploring my favorite northern city
So we arrived in Chiclayo and planned to have two touristy days because he is not from there. One day we mostly wandered around the city and relaxed after sleeping on buses the night before. But on the second day, we went to a beach town and watched fisherman on boats made of straw pull their catch up onto the beach and sell it to local people who instantly crowded around.
(If a picture is worth a thousand words, this woman says everything I want to say about how awesome seeing this was.... Anyone want to buy an octopus?)
After the beach, we went on a search for the best ¨Arroz con Pato¨ (Duck and Rice) plate that we could find. This is a traditional and very well done specialty from the Lambayeque region, so I was excited to eat the best by the best! We went to a nearby town called Lambayeque, where Alfonso seemed to remember eating at a great restaurant. He didn´t recognize anything because they are replacing the entire sewer system! After a few semi-grosed out minutes of wandering the streets and getting some good photos, we actually found it! The food was amazing, but more importantly, I got this shot while wandering around.
(Raw meat being carried into a local market)
Finally... To Olmos!
We finally got on our way to Olmos on Friday night so as to visit my host family on Saturday morning. We got some great Olmos street food and admired the church and the giant lime hand statue... the two main events in Olmos.
Saturday morning, bright and early, we piled into a moto and headed out to my old Peace Corps village! I was so excited I was shaking. I always feel nervous excited to see my host family, and even more excited that Alfonso was going to meet them after everything I had told him about them. We arrived and the entire family was there, even my host Dad who stayed home from work to greet me.
But soon we were whisked off to an event that the new volunteer in town had planned for me to participate in while I was in town, an Easter Egg painting event with the local kids! It was a blast. I saw all my old students and a lot of their parents came to see me as well. We dyed eggs and played games and generally roasted in the hot northern sun. I was so happy to see everyone and share the experience with the new volunteer in town, who I am happy to say loves the village as much as I do! Afterwards we had a delicious lunch of Duck! My host family killed ducks for our arrival because they knew it was my favorite. They even cooked up some beans! The food was excellent.
Soon, I got to introduce Alfonso to the highlight of the town, the local river. We went at least three times in only a day and half. Playing and enjoying the cool water in the extreme heat.
(Host bro leaping into the pretty shallow water. We had to ask him not to dive in head first! haha)
(Alfonso, myself and my little host sister)
Another highlight for me personally was seeing my youngest baby host sister looking so big and healthy. She was only three months old when I moved out, and she is not a year and a few months and looks fantastic, walks around, and can say a few basic words. She is a real treasure in the house. I also brought a few story books for the youngsters, and was thrilled when they got really excited about them and started reading them to me.
This little guy (left) reminded me that I had promised to bring him playing cards. I had completely forgotten, so I sent him off wish a few soles and told him to buy a deck. I don´t think I´ve ever seen him happier! We played a couple rounds of his favorite game, casino, (not what you are imagining, trust me). Love my little-ist bro!
(Reading the ugly duckling and thumbelina)
Sunday Lunch
On Sunday, my final day with my host family, I decided to take them out to a seafood lunch at the local volunteer favorite for ceviche and Arroz con Mariscos - Rice with Seafood. It was so fun hanging out with them and having a different type of Sunday in which my host Mom didn´t have to cook and the kids got out of the house!
Overall, it was such a happy reunion and good time. I´m glad I got to see my host family again! They are such a wonderful, caring and loving family and I am so happy to have them in my life! Thank you for giving me a fun filled Semana Santa.
Monday, March 18, 2013
So really, what are you still doing in Perú?
Maybe I should have led with this at the start of the year. But in all honesty, I didn´t really know exactly what I would be doing in my posts this year until recently.
So what do I do?
For starters, I work with two organizations: One is an NGO and the other is an Organization. I contacted them towards the end of last year when I realized I wanted to stay in Lima for a longer period of time. I coordinated with these two organizations to see if they would have work for me if I offered myself up as a volunteer. Then, I worked with Peace Corps to see if the position was of value to them. Ultimately, they decided it was, and hopefully a volunteer from the Peace Corps Response program will fill my position once my year is up.
So what do these two organizations do?
The NGO is called Grupo GEA. They are a big NGO that has been around for 30 years. They manage all kinds of projects from clean water campaigns, to helping companies ¨go green¨. I work on one specific project under their ecological schools campaigns. The program is called Buena Voz or ¨Good Voice¨. The idea of Buena Voz is to invest in Peru´s youth, specifically in poor areas in and around Lima. The program presents itself to different schools in these impoverished areas, offering to train teachers and provide reimbursements for transport and food for all the participating teachers in order to start the program. The program consists of sessions that are held every Saturday for the entire school year with a select group of around 30-35 students in the last three years of high school from each school. These students are selected based on their leadership qualities and interest, and not at all for their grades. During the year, they learn about self-esteem, leadership, environmental problems and the history of their area. By the end of the year, the majority are much more outspoken and participative. What really makes the program special is that it offers a space for youth in difficult situations (poor families, no water, a lot of crime in the area, no idea/prospects/funds for education after high school) and are given the opportunity to be heard and to make changes. At the end of the year, the students in the program do some sort of school or community project that they themselves choose, plan and execute.
My role is to help with the teacher trainings before the school year starts (it is just not starting). During the year, I will be meeting once a week with a group of students that have graduated from this program and keep them informed about possibilities for work, study or extracurricular activities that they could participate in. I will also invite professionals, institutions and schools to meet with this group to help them figure out their interests and try to encourage them to go to college when they finish high school. I also help monitor and evaluate the Saturday sessions every Saturday.
The other organization I work with is call ENO - Environment Online. It is an organization whose idea is to create an international learning network through their website. They have campaigns in countries all over the world. The idea is that they find a coordinator in each country who then spreads the word to local schools so that the schools participate in environmental events and education. They select monthly environmental themes that schools should focus on, and they organize two tree planting events per year. Their goal is to plant 1,000,000 trees by 2017 around the world by working electronically with schools. I work with the country coordinator in Peru. We train teachers on how to teach the different environment themes by teaching them fun activities they can incorporate and how to tie it in with different subjects. I also help her find more schools to participate, and will help coordinate the tree planting days.
That is a basic breakdown of my work this year. I seem to like organizations with 3 letter acronyms... haha. The day to day stuff varies constantly, but is seems to always keep me on my toes. Meanwhile, I am still technically a Peace Corps volunteer! Linking Peace Corps to more national organizations so that we have more partners and more outreach. I definitely work many more hours than I did when I was in my small village in the north of Perú! Not that the two are even near comparable. I certainly miss hanging out in the river and playing in the fruit trees!
I plan on writing soon about the day-to-day of living in Lima. With lots of pictures!
Thanks for reading, until next time!
So what do I do?
For starters, I work with two organizations: One is an NGO and the other is an Organization. I contacted them towards the end of last year when I realized I wanted to stay in Lima for a longer period of time. I coordinated with these two organizations to see if they would have work for me if I offered myself up as a volunteer. Then, I worked with Peace Corps to see if the position was of value to them. Ultimately, they decided it was, and hopefully a volunteer from the Peace Corps Response program will fill my position once my year is up.
So what do these two organizations do?
GEA
The NGO is called Grupo GEA. They are a big NGO that has been around for 30 years. They manage all kinds of projects from clean water campaigns, to helping companies ¨go green¨. I work on one specific project under their ecological schools campaigns. The program is called Buena Voz or ¨Good Voice¨. The idea of Buena Voz is to invest in Peru´s youth, specifically in poor areas in and around Lima. The program presents itself to different schools in these impoverished areas, offering to train teachers and provide reimbursements for transport and food for all the participating teachers in order to start the program. The program consists of sessions that are held every Saturday for the entire school year with a select group of around 30-35 students in the last three years of high school from each school. These students are selected based on their leadership qualities and interest, and not at all for their grades. During the year, they learn about self-esteem, leadership, environmental problems and the history of their area. By the end of the year, the majority are much more outspoken and participative. What really makes the program special is that it offers a space for youth in difficult situations (poor families, no water, a lot of crime in the area, no idea/prospects/funds for education after high school) and are given the opportunity to be heard and to make changes. At the end of the year, the students in the program do some sort of school or community project that they themselves choose, plan and execute.
My role is to help with the teacher trainings before the school year starts (it is just not starting). During the year, I will be meeting once a week with a group of students that have graduated from this program and keep them informed about possibilities for work, study or extracurricular activities that they could participate in. I will also invite professionals, institutions and schools to meet with this group to help them figure out their interests and try to encourage them to go to college when they finish high school. I also help monitor and evaluate the Saturday sessions every Saturday.
ENO
The other organization I work with is call ENO - Environment Online. It is an organization whose idea is to create an international learning network through their website. They have campaigns in countries all over the world. The idea is that they find a coordinator in each country who then spreads the word to local schools so that the schools participate in environmental events and education. They select monthly environmental themes that schools should focus on, and they organize two tree planting events per year. Their goal is to plant 1,000,000 trees by 2017 around the world by working electronically with schools. I work with the country coordinator in Peru. We train teachers on how to teach the different environment themes by teaching them fun activities they can incorporate and how to tie it in with different subjects. I also help her find more schools to participate, and will help coordinate the tree planting days.
That is a basic breakdown of my work this year. I seem to like organizations with 3 letter acronyms... haha. The day to day stuff varies constantly, but is seems to always keep me on my toes. Meanwhile, I am still technically a Peace Corps volunteer! Linking Peace Corps to more national organizations so that we have more partners and more outreach. I definitely work many more hours than I did when I was in my small village in the north of Perú! Not that the two are even near comparable. I certainly miss hanging out in the river and playing in the fruit trees!
I plan on writing soon about the day-to-day of living in Lima. With lots of pictures!
Thanks for reading, until next time!
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
¨I´m STILL not in Kansas anymore¨ A friendly reminder
This just in: Perú is still a developing county.
¨We know Carolyn!¨. I know. But I feel like I sometimes forget that fact now because I live in the bustling, work-o-holic city center of the country. I take a bus to work everyday, sit in a office, work with professionals, buy ¨normal¨ food, cook, live in an apartment in a nice area, go out on the weekends and generally live like I always imagined a 20-something young adult would live.
But then one of my bosses set up a meeting in one of the more impoverished regions of Lima. Even though it was with all professional, municipality workers and teachers, it was still a reminder that I am not living in a mini-America like I sometimes imagine I´m in.
Not Exactly Punctual
(Photo credit: incentefalconer.deviantart.com)
First, like most events in Perú, it started an hour late. Normally, that would not be that frustrating. But my boss and I had arrived 20 minutes early after a 2 hour voyage to get there. Plus, we would have to leave around 5:30 because the trip was another 2 hours back! So, around the time the meeting was set to start, we were some of the first to arrive. After going to meetings for the past several weeks that all started on time, I was beginning to forget about this late-coming habit. When it finally did start, all of the authority figures had to give long winded speeches about how important the event was. They said (in my humble opinion) absolutely nothing of substance, and it felt like authoritative rambling... much like I imagine a filibuster to be in the government!
After the ramblings known as ¨speeches¨, the presentations started. They were frustratingly off topic and didn´t touch on any of the goals they were trying to establish. They were followed by asking the professors to write ¨promises¨ to participate in the program in their schools. Since they had not really explained what it was they wanted them to participate IN exactly, the professors wrote things like ¨I promise that my school will help the cause (insert name of program here)¨.
While inwardly feeling extremely exacerbated, I also took in the comedy of the whole thing.
Where´s the Toilet Paper??
This meeting also took place in a public school in their auditorium. I went to use the bathrooms and I realized there was no toilet paper or toilet seat. This is TOTALLY NORMAL everywhere in Perú, but I had forgotten about this because in Lima, most of the professional institutions and work places you enter have well stocked bathrooms. It made me think about what we take for granted in the states.
Can you imagine making sure to roll up a wad of toilet paper and sticking it in your pocket every single day before school because you knew there is no toilet paper there? I cant. I still forget to practice this every time I leave my house like most of my Peruvian friends do.
If it´s cold, you will get sick.
Another reminder that I am not ¨In Kansas Anymore¨ is the creencia or commonly held belief that the cold effects you in very real ways. This can include that eating or drinking cold things make you sick, that a fan blowing on you makes you sick, that air blowing on you from an open car window makes you sick, that a limb getting cold while you sleep will be the reason it hurts all day, etc.
(Image above says ¨Prepare yourself for the Cold! 1. Bundle up, 2. Protect yourself, 3. Get informed¨ from www.indeci.gob.pe)
This is no joke, its serious stuff. When a patient goes to a clinic with a cold, doctors will often/always recommend laying off the ice cream or iced drinks. Doctors! My co-workers commonly reject drinking ice cold water or soda in 100 degree weather because ¨me hace mal¨ or ¨it will make me sick¨. My closest friends have explained to me that if you sleep with one extremity out of the covers, it is very likely that the cold will ¨enter you¨ and that extremity will hurt the next day. Elderly men and women and women with small children often close car windows that have no AC in the scolding heat because the air blowing on them will supposedly make them sick.
For someone raised in the world of ¨prove it!¨ and scientific reasoning of EVERYTHING, these beliefs are often frustrating or sometimes downright angering. During our Peace Corps services in the field, we often have to accept and deal with these beliefs on a daily basis. I remember my host family not wanting us to eat avocado at night because it is a ¨cold food¨ and could make you sick, for example. Here in Lima, the creencias still hold strong, but they are less obvious and less people follow them strictly.
These days, I don´t mind the beliefs because no one dictates what I personally do. Ya, I will drink that cold water while I have a cold, why not?? But living in the educational and working capital of the country has meant that I have made some smart and interesting friends and acquaintances with whom I can now partake in lively debates about these themes. They always go in the same cycle.
Fact stated by friend: ¨When you sleep with a limb exposed, the cold will enter you and it will hurt¨
My debate: ¨How do you know?¨
Friends counter argument: ¨Because its true. One time it happened to me (or insert family member or distant cousin here)¨
Me insisting: ¨But what about all the times you sleep with your arm out and it doesn´t hurt?¨
Friends counter: ¨Oh well maybe it wasn´t that cold... etc, etc..¨
Me: ¨???????¨
(Photo credit from kaylinq.blogspot.com)
They are harmless and fun debates which almost always involve my Peruvian friend being 100% sure of their belief because it ¨happened¨ to a friend, family member, distant cousin, or themselves. I try to bring up the scientific theory and how they cant say that is the only possibly explanation for the hurting limb. Maybe they slept on it wrong or maybe they did something to it the day before, etc. But no, the conversation usually ends with us agreeing to disagree and them looking at me like I am even more alien then I already was to them.
Don´t get me wrong, I also am not the strongest believer that science knows all (sorry Greg!). I find it humbling to hear about beliefs and curing methods passed down from my friends grandparents about certain curing plants and tricks. I also admire the conviction I find amidst said debates. The absolute certainty that drinking cold water while eating will freeze the food in your stomach and give you indigestion (for example). For some debates, I have no real reason not to believe them, I just want to give them a run for their money, so to speak!
Final Anecdote-tita
A women I work with is a strong, independent, University Professor who works in her free time promoting environmental themes and tree planting in schools around Lima. The other day I saw newspaper stick out of the back of her shirt and I politely informed her of it because we were in a public place and I didn´t want her to feel embarrassed and ask me why I didn´t tell her. She laughingly pulled it out and told me that is an ¨old grandmothers trick.¨ She continued to explain;
¨You see, I was sitting under an air conditioning vent the other day while working. The cold air was blowing on me for hours and when I went home, my back was hurting. I put the newspaper in my shirt because it helps take the pain and the cold away.¨
Just a few fun reminders that I am a stranger and a visitor to this wonderful and endearing country. Like any foreigner to a distant land, as much as I want and try to fit into its mold, I will always be confused and flustered by some of the customs and beliefs. I think the trick is to find the humor, fun and acceptance in ways of living and thinking that are different from mine!
¨We know Carolyn!¨. I know. But I feel like I sometimes forget that fact now because I live in the bustling, work-o-holic city center of the country. I take a bus to work everyday, sit in a office, work with professionals, buy ¨normal¨ food, cook, live in an apartment in a nice area, go out on the weekends and generally live like I always imagined a 20-something young adult would live.
But then one of my bosses set up a meeting in one of the more impoverished regions of Lima. Even though it was with all professional, municipality workers and teachers, it was still a reminder that I am not living in a mini-America like I sometimes imagine I´m in.
Not Exactly Punctual
First, like most events in Perú, it started an hour late. Normally, that would not be that frustrating. But my boss and I had arrived 20 minutes early after a 2 hour voyage to get there. Plus, we would have to leave around 5:30 because the trip was another 2 hours back! So, around the time the meeting was set to start, we were some of the first to arrive. After going to meetings for the past several weeks that all started on time, I was beginning to forget about this late-coming habit. When it finally did start, all of the authority figures had to give long winded speeches about how important the event was. They said (in my humble opinion) absolutely nothing of substance, and it felt like authoritative rambling... much like I imagine a filibuster to be in the government!
After the ramblings known as ¨speeches¨, the presentations started. They were frustratingly off topic and didn´t touch on any of the goals they were trying to establish. They were followed by asking the professors to write ¨promises¨ to participate in the program in their schools. Since they had not really explained what it was they wanted them to participate IN exactly, the professors wrote things like ¨I promise that my school will help the cause (insert name of program here)¨.
While inwardly feeling extremely exacerbated, I also took in the comedy of the whole thing.
Where´s the Toilet Paper??
This meeting also took place in a public school in their auditorium. I went to use the bathrooms and I realized there was no toilet paper or toilet seat. This is TOTALLY NORMAL everywhere in Perú, but I had forgotten about this because in Lima, most of the professional institutions and work places you enter have well stocked bathrooms. It made me think about what we take for granted in the states.
Can you imagine making sure to roll up a wad of toilet paper and sticking it in your pocket every single day before school because you knew there is no toilet paper there? I cant. I still forget to practice this every time I leave my house like most of my Peruvian friends do.
If it´s cold, you will get sick.
(Image above says ¨Prepare yourself for the Cold! 1. Bundle up, 2. Protect yourself, 3. Get informed¨ from www.indeci.gob.pe)
This is no joke, its serious stuff. When a patient goes to a clinic with a cold, doctors will often/always recommend laying off the ice cream or iced drinks. Doctors! My co-workers commonly reject drinking ice cold water or soda in 100 degree weather because ¨me hace mal¨ or ¨it will make me sick¨. My closest friends have explained to me that if you sleep with one extremity out of the covers, it is very likely that the cold will ¨enter you¨ and that extremity will hurt the next day. Elderly men and women and women with small children often close car windows that have no AC in the scolding heat because the air blowing on them will supposedly make them sick.
For someone raised in the world of ¨prove it!¨ and scientific reasoning of EVERYTHING, these beliefs are often frustrating or sometimes downright angering. During our Peace Corps services in the field, we often have to accept and deal with these beliefs on a daily basis. I remember my host family not wanting us to eat avocado at night because it is a ¨cold food¨ and could make you sick, for example. Here in Lima, the creencias still hold strong, but they are less obvious and less people follow them strictly.
These days, I don´t mind the beliefs because no one dictates what I personally do. Ya, I will drink that cold water while I have a cold, why not?? But living in the educational and working capital of the country has meant that I have made some smart and interesting friends and acquaintances with whom I can now partake in lively debates about these themes. They always go in the same cycle.
Fact stated by friend: ¨When you sleep with a limb exposed, the cold will enter you and it will hurt¨
My debate: ¨How do you know?¨
Friends counter argument: ¨Because its true. One time it happened to me (or insert family member or distant cousin here)¨
Me insisting: ¨But what about all the times you sleep with your arm out and it doesn´t hurt?¨
Friends counter: ¨Oh well maybe it wasn´t that cold... etc, etc..¨
Me: ¨???????¨
(Photo credit from kaylinq.blogspot.com)
They are harmless and fun debates which almost always involve my Peruvian friend being 100% sure of their belief because it ¨happened¨ to a friend, family member, distant cousin, or themselves. I try to bring up the scientific theory and how they cant say that is the only possibly explanation for the hurting limb. Maybe they slept on it wrong or maybe they did something to it the day before, etc. But no, the conversation usually ends with us agreeing to disagree and them looking at me like I am even more alien then I already was to them.
Don´t get me wrong, I also am not the strongest believer that science knows all (sorry Greg!). I find it humbling to hear about beliefs and curing methods passed down from my friends grandparents about certain curing plants and tricks. I also admire the conviction I find amidst said debates. The absolute certainty that drinking cold water while eating will freeze the food in your stomach and give you indigestion (for example). For some debates, I have no real reason not to believe them, I just want to give them a run for their money, so to speak!
Final Anecdote-tita
A women I work with is a strong, independent, University Professor who works in her free time promoting environmental themes and tree planting in schools around Lima. The other day I saw newspaper stick out of the back of her shirt and I politely informed her of it because we were in a public place and I didn´t want her to feel embarrassed and ask me why I didn´t tell her. She laughingly pulled it out and told me that is an ¨old grandmothers trick.¨ She continued to explain;
¨You see, I was sitting under an air conditioning vent the other day while working. The cold air was blowing on me for hours and when I went home, my back was hurting. I put the newspaper in my shirt because it helps take the pain and the cold away.¨
Just a few fun reminders that I am a stranger and a visitor to this wonderful and endearing country. Like any foreigner to a distant land, as much as I want and try to fit into its mold, I will always be confused and flustered by some of the customs and beliefs. I think the trick is to find the humor, fun and acceptance in ways of living and thinking that are different from mine!
Monday, February 25, 2013
Quaresma
Saturday night I went out with friends and I didn´t drink a drop of alcohol. I think it might be the first time in many years that I have done that.
You might be wondering, why?
Because it´s quaresma time! Quaresma is a word I just learned in Spanish for ¨lent¨. No, I´m not Catholic. I don´t give up things for any religious reasons. It is more of a personal challenge that I like to do each year. Most years I give up sweets. Once, while living in the desert of Perú, I gave up ice cream during the hottest months of the year! Crazy, I know, but I usually try to give things up that are unhealthy and/or that I have started to eat far too often.
So yes, this year I chose alcohol and chocolate. I chose two very challenging things (for me) because last year I didn´t give up anything, and because it all fits in nicely with my general new years resolution to drink less and be healthier.
Saturday we celebrated the birthday of one friend, and the engagement of another. It was the first time a large group of us all went out together this year, and it was a fantastic time! I have to admit, I was nervous about my second non-drinking weekend, and about being around a lot of people tempting me. So, I made myself coctails of soda water and lime so that I could keep my hand to mouth drinking action up and not feel so deprived. When we all went out to a club, the entrance charge included a free giant beer! I had this large cup of beer in my hand for a good 20 minutes without taking a sip, and then managed to hand it off to a friend. We stayed out until 4am and I remember everything that happened and was so happy dancing and laughing with friends.
Am I starting to sound like a recovering alcoholic yet?
Chocolate hasn´t been any easier. I love chocolate. My passion for this tasty sweet has grown in Perú, where food is not packed with sugar. This means, Americans arriving in this latin land start having sugar cravings that you wouldn´t believe as your body adjusts to not having corn syrup in every single thing you eat. While the lack of corn syrup is a very healthy and positive thing, those sweet cravings are hard to get through sometimes, and my go-to is almost always some sort of chocolate covered raisin, almond, ice cream snack. An unforeseen side effect of this lack of chocolate for me has been the fact of discovering that I don´t really enjoy other types of sweets. Hard candies, lolipops, ice cream bars with no chocolate in them are just not for me. So one of my interesting self-discoveries has been that by giving up chocolate, my intake of sweets in general has also declined.
Anyway, I like the idea of lent. After a week long festival known as Carnaval (see previous post), 40 days of reflection and abstinence begin that last until Easter. These 40 days for me are for challenging myself to do something healthy and positive. For reflecting on my lifestyle and finding out what really makes me happy.
... But I´m really looking forward to Easter this year, because I plan on giving myself a ¨me¨ night of gorging myself with chocolate and a bottle of wine.
Thanks for reading my self reflection for the day! :) Abrazos.
You might be wondering, why?
Because it´s quaresma time! Quaresma is a word I just learned in Spanish for ¨lent¨. No, I´m not Catholic. I don´t give up things for any religious reasons. It is more of a personal challenge that I like to do each year. Most years I give up sweets. Once, while living in the desert of Perú, I gave up ice cream during the hottest months of the year! Crazy, I know, but I usually try to give things up that are unhealthy and/or that I have started to eat far too often.
So yes, this year I chose alcohol and chocolate. I chose two very challenging things (for me) because last year I didn´t give up anything, and because it all fits in nicely with my general new years resolution to drink less and be healthier.
Saturday we celebrated the birthday of one friend, and the engagement of another. It was the first time a large group of us all went out together this year, and it was a fantastic time! I have to admit, I was nervous about my second non-drinking weekend, and about being around a lot of people tempting me. So, I made myself coctails of soda water and lime so that I could keep my hand to mouth drinking action up and not feel so deprived. When we all went out to a club, the entrance charge included a free giant beer! I had this large cup of beer in my hand for a good 20 minutes without taking a sip, and then managed to hand it off to a friend. We stayed out until 4am and I remember everything that happened and was so happy dancing and laughing with friends.
Am I starting to sound like a recovering alcoholic yet?
Chocolate hasn´t been any easier. I love chocolate. My passion for this tasty sweet has grown in Perú, where food is not packed with sugar. This means, Americans arriving in this latin land start having sugar cravings that you wouldn´t believe as your body adjusts to not having corn syrup in every single thing you eat. While the lack of corn syrup is a very healthy and positive thing, those sweet cravings are hard to get through sometimes, and my go-to is almost always some sort of chocolate covered raisin, almond, ice cream snack. An unforeseen side effect of this lack of chocolate for me has been the fact of discovering that I don´t really enjoy other types of sweets. Hard candies, lolipops, ice cream bars with no chocolate in them are just not for me. So one of my interesting self-discoveries has been that by giving up chocolate, my intake of sweets in general has also declined.
Anyway, I like the idea of lent. After a week long festival known as Carnaval (see previous post), 40 days of reflection and abstinence begin that last until Easter. These 40 days for me are for challenging myself to do something healthy and positive. For reflecting on my lifestyle and finding out what really makes me happy.
... But I´m really looking forward to Easter this year, because I plan on giving myself a ¨me¨ night of gorging myself with chocolate and a bottle of wine.
Thanks for reading my self reflection for the day! :) Abrazos.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Carnaval con Carnavaleros
My second time going to the Carnaval party in Cajamarca was MUCH different from the first.
Carnaval is a giant party, a week long, where everyone throws water on each other and sings songs called ¨coplas¨, which are short songs that repeat themselves and are usually sexual inuendos or jokes. One day, there is a big party where people gather in the streets and play music while throwing water and paint all over each other. That is the basic overview of what was one of the best weekends ever!
The first year I went to Cajamarca for Carnval, I was only there for three days and I spent the entire time with other volunteers going to bars and experiencing carnaval games in an American group style. It was really fun, but not at all like what I experienced this time around.
I spent an entire week in Cajamarca. My favorite city in Perú. I went a few days before Carnaval, and a Peruvian friend of mine, who lives in Lima but is from Cajamarca, generously offered his house for me and two of my girlfriends to stay. There, we felt like we were in a family and were treated to breakfast and fun conversations every morning. My first full day was Wednesday. We went out into the hills of the countryside to visit a zoo that doubles as a dairy farm called Porcón. I couldn´t believe they had lions and bears! The next day, we went to a site called Cumbe Mayo, where there are ancient irrigation ditches that pre-date the Incas, a beautiful rock forest and spectacular views. Another beautiful day in the countryside. On Friday, the first night that would be a big party night, we went to the Baños del Inca, the Inca Baths, which are hot pools of water that the Incas used. Now, you can pay an equivelent of $2 and get a private bathing room where you can sit in a tub of the hot sulfur water and relax for half an hour (plenty of time, trust me). It was a wonderfully relaxing experience followed by a delicious ¨campestre¨ lunch in an open air restaurant with live carnaval music and sunshine. Like the previous two days, we followed lunch with locally made ice cream made of local fruits. Cajamarca is famous for its dairy production; cheese, yogurt, manjar blanco, you name it! The ice cream was just as wonderful and like nothing I had experienced in Perú before. Friday night, my boyfriend Alfonso, who is also originally from Cajamarca had finally arrived. He was one of the drummers of our soon to be marching band group, and we all got together in the evening to go to the main plaza. In the plaza, the boys made music and sang coplas all night while us girls danced. We gathered a pretty big crowd at some point, and dragged smiling ladies in to dance as well. I started to learn a few of the coplas and sing along. My favorite, of course, is called ¨Carolina¨ and starts out with the singer yelling ¨CAROLINA¨ and I made everyone laugh when I would answer ¨¿QUE?¨.
I don´t know when exactly we left, but somehow we ended back at home, took showers, naps and ate something, and then were magically drinking and laughing again before heading off to a much dryer round two in the plaza for more singing and dancing.
Who wouldn´t love carnaval???
It was a fantastic week, with wonderful friends and Peruvian families that opened their homes and hearts to us. I had so much fun meeting new people and being party of such a happy, uplifting celebration of fun and sharing. Thank you Cajamarca!
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Carrots and Melons and good Karma
So my roommates have been on a super big juice kick since the new year started. I have been watching them make their concoctions every day, and feeling envious when I am thirsty and hot and have no cool juice to sip on. One day, I wanted a snack and decided to use the supplies I had to make myself a juice. What that meant is I threw a carrot and some melon into the blender with cold water and VOULA! Awesome juice. I highly recommend it. Plus, if your blender doesn´t chop that well like mine, you can get a few yummy carrot chunks as you sip! Yuuuummmmm.
But enough about random juicing.
I believe in karma. I think if you are a good person with positive energy, you will attract good things into your life. I also believe that when bad things happen, the person or people responsible will be punished somehow by the karmic universe. It is my small way of believing that the universe has some sort of balance and equality within all of the maddness, greed and environmental destruction.
Because I am ¨an anthropologist¨ (or at least, that is what I studied in university), I also recognize that when you look for evidence to believe in something, especially religions or things like karma, it is easy to find and to convince yourself it is real. Many anthropologists that want to study and immerse themselves in a religion so as to understand it, fall into a common trend of joining and really beginning to believe in that particular relgion. They start to see things and the world the way the believers see it, and find evidence of it in their everyday lives.
Y así soy yo con karma. A few months ago, I went to Iquitos for the Great Amazon Raft Race (more on that in another entry) and at the end, during the awards ceremony, I had my camera stolen. This was my third camera that was stolen in Perú. I was frustrated and sad for weeks because I had spent all of my birthday money on picking out and buying that camera. I decided it was a sign that I shouldn´t buy another one, and therefore spent the following months without one. I thought it was karma for buying a camera in the black market that I knew had probably been stolen from someone else. I´ll never forget how my boyfriend took my aside and warned me very seriously ¨Carolyn, before you buy this, you should know that it was probably stolen¨, to which I replied ¨Ya well, I´ve already had two cameras stolen that people probably ended up buying in the black market too!¨ Bad Karma Carloyn, bad karma.
One day, a few months back, I had people over for a little get together for Halloween. Someone left a camera case for a small cannon camera in my room. I asked around, but no one ever claimed it or came looking for it. I kept it there in my room, in a place I could see it so that if anyone came over and recognized it they could claim it. But after several weeks and then months passed and no one said a word, I kind of forgot about it and it blended in with my things.
Then I went home to America. My parents were generous enough to offer to buy me a new camera when they realized I didn´t have one and had no intention of buying another one. So, I went to the store and scanned the cameras for sales. I wanted a cannon or a lenux because I find they tend to take better pictures, so I asked the person working at Target that day if there were any on sale. He stuttered and didn´t seem to know so I looked around, and saw on the bottom shelf a sign for a cannon camera on sale for $80. I asked him to take it out, and he seemed surprised to find a the last little camera on sale for so cheap. I played with it and decided it was perfect for what I needed; cheap, clear and with a good zoom.
I have enjoyed that camera since then (thanks again, Mom and Dad!). I was keeping it in a sock to protect it. Yesterday, I noticed that camera case again on my shelf while I was shuffling things around and it hardly registered in my mind. But then I paused.... I noticed the brand was Cannon. I picked it up and examined it closer and realized it was the exact size of my new camera. I took my camera out of the sock and put it in the case and wow! It was the perfect fit. So random. Such a sweet realization. Such a small thing that made me feel so good, like it was all meant to happen that way.
Karma.
***Of course, if you were at my house for a halloween party last October and forgot your camera case and you are reading this, please come claim it from me at any time!
But enough about random juicing.
I believe in karma. I think if you are a good person with positive energy, you will attract good things into your life. I also believe that when bad things happen, the person or people responsible will be punished somehow by the karmic universe. It is my small way of believing that the universe has some sort of balance and equality within all of the maddness, greed and environmental destruction.
Because I am ¨an anthropologist¨ (or at least, that is what I studied in university), I also recognize that when you look for evidence to believe in something, especially religions or things like karma, it is easy to find and to convince yourself it is real. Many anthropologists that want to study and immerse themselves in a religion so as to understand it, fall into a common trend of joining and really beginning to believe in that particular relgion. They start to see things and the world the way the believers see it, and find evidence of it in their everyday lives.
Y así soy yo con karma. A few months ago, I went to Iquitos for the Great Amazon Raft Race (more on that in another entry) and at the end, during the awards ceremony, I had my camera stolen. This was my third camera that was stolen in Perú. I was frustrated and sad for weeks because I had spent all of my birthday money on picking out and buying that camera. I decided it was a sign that I shouldn´t buy another one, and therefore spent the following months without one. I thought it was karma for buying a camera in the black market that I knew had probably been stolen from someone else. I´ll never forget how my boyfriend took my aside and warned me very seriously ¨Carolyn, before you buy this, you should know that it was probably stolen¨, to which I replied ¨Ya well, I´ve already had two cameras stolen that people probably ended up buying in the black market too!¨ Bad Karma Carloyn, bad karma.
One day, a few months back, I had people over for a little get together for Halloween. Someone left a camera case for a small cannon camera in my room. I asked around, but no one ever claimed it or came looking for it. I kept it there in my room, in a place I could see it so that if anyone came over and recognized it they could claim it. But after several weeks and then months passed and no one said a word, I kind of forgot about it and it blended in with my things.
Then I went home to America. My parents were generous enough to offer to buy me a new camera when they realized I didn´t have one and had no intention of buying another one. So, I went to the store and scanned the cameras for sales. I wanted a cannon or a lenux because I find they tend to take better pictures, so I asked the person working at Target that day if there were any on sale. He stuttered and didn´t seem to know so I looked around, and saw on the bottom shelf a sign for a cannon camera on sale for $80. I asked him to take it out, and he seemed surprised to find a the last little camera on sale for so cheap. I played with it and decided it was perfect for what I needed; cheap, clear and with a good zoom.
I have enjoyed that camera since then (thanks again, Mom and Dad!). I was keeping it in a sock to protect it. Yesterday, I noticed that camera case again on my shelf while I was shuffling things around and it hardly registered in my mind. But then I paused.... I noticed the brand was Cannon. I picked it up and examined it closer and realized it was the exact size of my new camera. I took my camera out of the sock and put it in the case and wow! It was the perfect fit. So random. Such a sweet realization. Such a small thing that made me feel so good, like it was all meant to happen that way.
Karma.
***Of course, if you were at my house for a halloween party last October and forgot your camera case and you are reading this, please come claim it from me at any time!
Friday, January 25, 2013
Piropos
I highly recomend putting grapes in the freezer. I know its winter state-side, but for the summer, it is an awesome, frozen fruit treat! And now....
I once heard a quote on an NPR interview broadcast:
¨How can any woman say that they are NOT a feminist? Do they not agree with equal rights and opportunity for women? Do they not agree that women have the right to vote?¨
She went on to explain that the Feminist movement has gotten a bad name associated with butch, outspoken and overly agressively oppinionated women that people don´t want to associate themselves with. But these few spokes people do not represent the ideal of the movement, which are what I highlighted before.
Therefore, I most definitely see myself as a feminist. Even more so now that I live in a country where ¨machismo¨ or male-centric culture still exists. You can find it in the simplist of things, like people casually refering to ¨woman´s job¨ vs a ¨man´s job¨. Or maybe it is the way your seemingly open-minded boss makes reference to the fact that you or another girl in the office are probably emotional from your periods, or that older, single women are lost causes who will be alone forever. Comments like this get under my skin, but I´m not outspoken about it yet. That is something about myself I would really like to change.
But the topic at hand today is Piropos. A piropo is a cat call. It can come in the form of slow whistle, a comment about how you are so beautiful, a kiss out the car window, or even those lingering stares that watch you as you walk by, a call to you and comments when you leave a bar, a restaurant or pretty much anywhere, men winking and raising their eyebrows at you if you make eye contact, and even men trying to make flirty conversation with you on buses, when your walking somwhere, whenever you are sitting alone. You can encounter a piropo anywhere, I´m sure, in the US as much as in Peru. I just think that in Peru, it is a lot more common. I have seen some American women driven almost crazy by the piropos in Peru, sometimes to the point of saddness, extreem frustration, or even anger bordering on rage. Most of us foreign women living abroad handle this attention by ignoring it, laughing at it, or just king of letting it roll off of our shoulders. But that doesn´t mean we don´t think about it.
I just read a fantastic article about how women feel with this type of harassment on the street. How we clutch our car keys in fear of violence, and cross the street when we see shady characters. It was moving and resonated with me a lot, you can check it out here: http://www.rolereboot.org/culture-and-politics/details/2012-12-a-letter-to-the-guy-who-harrassed-me-outside-the-bar
When I walk around in Lima, piropos are common. I honestly don´t think I´ve gone a single day in Lima without hearing some kissing sound from a cab driver that goes by, or a comment from strangers on the street. It is one of the more unpleasant things about living in a latin mega-city. The attention makes me uncomfortable and sometimes scared. On days that I´m feeling particularly fat or unattractive, the first whistle might make me smile, but by the 4th or 5th time, I just feel annoyed and anxious to get wherever I am going.
It makes me sometimes want to react. I always think of an episode of Sex in the City when Miranda walks by a group of construction workers and they say call to her day after day as she goes to rent movies in grubby overalls. One day, she finally stops and yells back ¨Ok, lets go, I haven´t had sex in 3 months!¨ and the construction worker looks shocked and says... ¨Woooh, calm down honey, I have a wife.¨ I remember thinking, THEN WHY THE PIROPOS??????
So why talk about this? I like to think of it as a type of awareness raising. As the article I put a link to suggests, men probably don´t think about how this simple acts affects us. They probably have no idea its the 8th time that day someone has creepily called to us on the street. They probably have no idea that the whistles or slowing car as it passes makes us want to run, or clutch whatever sharp object we have a little tighter.
In Peru, I honestly think that men think of it as a way to compliment us. Worse, I think that women in general like it. Or at least it doesn´t seem to bother them as much. I have absolutely no evidence to support this statement, EXCEPT for what I hear in all the media. On the radio, I heard a women with a young girls voice having men call in and flirting with them, asking them to send her ¨piropos¨. At a giant event for the anniversary of Lima, the hosts acknowledged the crowds whistles at the lovely woman on stage, saying ¨thank you for the piropos!¨ and then asking the male host to send some piropos to the pretty women in attendance. The host proceeded to say he was falling in love with several beautiful sets of eyes he could see in the crowd. I watched the entire thing with a rising sense of frustration. Why are they promoting the idea of harassing strangers you don´t even know? Why are they promoting the objectification of women?
This is something about Lima, and a part of the culture here that really bugs me sometimes. I would love to send a message to the radio stations, to public figures, that it is not ok. I want to be part of that struggle for equality and fairness, for less objectification. But first, women here have to decide that it´s not ok. I cant decide for anyone as an outsider that it is a frustrating and angering thing to be harassed on the street for everyone, I just know that it is for me. The first step is that women want things to change. That will be a long road, and a fight for more equality. It should start with public figures and media streams, because.... really??? Common public radio, TV and local events, please don´t promote and encourage piropos.
For now, guys, don´t be that guy.
More fun thoughts coming soon.
I once heard a quote on an NPR interview broadcast:
¨How can any woman say that they are NOT a feminist? Do they not agree with equal rights and opportunity for women? Do they not agree that women have the right to vote?¨
She went on to explain that the Feminist movement has gotten a bad name associated with butch, outspoken and overly agressively oppinionated women that people don´t want to associate themselves with. But these few spokes people do not represent the ideal of the movement, which are what I highlighted before.
Therefore, I most definitely see myself as a feminist. Even more so now that I live in a country where ¨machismo¨ or male-centric culture still exists. You can find it in the simplist of things, like people casually refering to ¨woman´s job¨ vs a ¨man´s job¨. Or maybe it is the way your seemingly open-minded boss makes reference to the fact that you or another girl in the office are probably emotional from your periods, or that older, single women are lost causes who will be alone forever. Comments like this get under my skin, but I´m not outspoken about it yet. That is something about myself I would really like to change.
But the topic at hand today is Piropos. A piropo is a cat call. It can come in the form of slow whistle, a comment about how you are so beautiful, a kiss out the car window, or even those lingering stares that watch you as you walk by, a call to you and comments when you leave a bar, a restaurant or pretty much anywhere, men winking and raising their eyebrows at you if you make eye contact, and even men trying to make flirty conversation with you on buses, when your walking somwhere, whenever you are sitting alone. You can encounter a piropo anywhere, I´m sure, in the US as much as in Peru. I just think that in Peru, it is a lot more common. I have seen some American women driven almost crazy by the piropos in Peru, sometimes to the point of saddness, extreem frustration, or even anger bordering on rage. Most of us foreign women living abroad handle this attention by ignoring it, laughing at it, or just king of letting it roll off of our shoulders. But that doesn´t mean we don´t think about it.
I just read a fantastic article about how women feel with this type of harassment on the street. How we clutch our car keys in fear of violence, and cross the street when we see shady characters. It was moving and resonated with me a lot, you can check it out here: http://www.rolereboot.org/culture-and-politics/details/2012-12-a-letter-to-the-guy-who-harrassed-me-outside-the-bar
When I walk around in Lima, piropos are common. I honestly don´t think I´ve gone a single day in Lima without hearing some kissing sound from a cab driver that goes by, or a comment from strangers on the street. It is one of the more unpleasant things about living in a latin mega-city. The attention makes me uncomfortable and sometimes scared. On days that I´m feeling particularly fat or unattractive, the first whistle might make me smile, but by the 4th or 5th time, I just feel annoyed and anxious to get wherever I am going.
It makes me sometimes want to react. I always think of an episode of Sex in the City when Miranda walks by a group of construction workers and they say call to her day after day as she goes to rent movies in grubby overalls. One day, she finally stops and yells back ¨Ok, lets go, I haven´t had sex in 3 months!¨ and the construction worker looks shocked and says... ¨Woooh, calm down honey, I have a wife.¨ I remember thinking, THEN WHY THE PIROPOS??????
So why talk about this? I like to think of it as a type of awareness raising. As the article I put a link to suggests, men probably don´t think about how this simple acts affects us. They probably have no idea its the 8th time that day someone has creepily called to us on the street. They probably have no idea that the whistles or slowing car as it passes makes us want to run, or clutch whatever sharp object we have a little tighter.
In Peru, I honestly think that men think of it as a way to compliment us. Worse, I think that women in general like it. Or at least it doesn´t seem to bother them as much. I have absolutely no evidence to support this statement, EXCEPT for what I hear in all the media. On the radio, I heard a women with a young girls voice having men call in and flirting with them, asking them to send her ¨piropos¨. At a giant event for the anniversary of Lima, the hosts acknowledged the crowds whistles at the lovely woman on stage, saying ¨thank you for the piropos!¨ and then asking the male host to send some piropos to the pretty women in attendance. The host proceeded to say he was falling in love with several beautiful sets of eyes he could see in the crowd. I watched the entire thing with a rising sense of frustration. Why are they promoting the idea of harassing strangers you don´t even know? Why are they promoting the objectification of women?
This is something about Lima, and a part of the culture here that really bugs me sometimes. I would love to send a message to the radio stations, to public figures, that it is not ok. I want to be part of that struggle for equality and fairness, for less objectification. But first, women here have to decide that it´s not ok. I cant decide for anyone as an outsider that it is a frustrating and angering thing to be harassed on the street for everyone, I just know that it is for me. The first step is that women want things to change. That will be a long road, and a fight for more equality. It should start with public figures and media streams, because.... really??? Common public radio, TV and local events, please don´t promote and encourage piropos.
For now, guys, don´t be that guy.
More fun thoughts coming soon.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Kicking off 2013
It´s time to keep this thing updated!
I would say it´s a New Years resolution, but really it didn´t make the list. It is just something I really want to do. The slacking off in the blogging department is probably because I feel like my life is no longer an exciting, electricity-less, tiny village in Peru fun filled story. But that doesn´t mean that life in Big, Bad, Lima isn´t constantly full of pleasant and unpleasant surprises!
But let us start at the beginning.
Happy New Year!! We are now in 2013, and according to my internet investigations of my yearly horoscope, it will be a good year for me. Last year was the year of the dragon, and I am a rabbit, so it felt like constant stress and struggle. I started the year 2012 with a breakup and my third ACL tear, and had a job that challenged me in ways that sometimes left me bitter and frustrated.
Things have already started out differently in 2013! I made the decision to stay in Lima Peru another year. It was not a decision made lightly, and included many factors including getting more work experience, improving my spanish, not being sure about what I wanted to go back to the states for (job? Grad school?) and my boyfriend of now almost a year. I stayed with Peace Corps as a 4th year extension, something virtually unheard of. I am developing a Peace Corps response position in environmental education here in Lima.
But backing up again, I went home for the holidays! It was a nice trip that I broke up with a lot of side trips to see friends and family. I flew to Kentucky to see my Grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins and family. We had a lovely, calm Christmas together. My Mom even brought my dog, Botas Blancas, to the airport to greet me! We got filmed the local news and ended up on the news that night because of my Christmas eve re-uniting with my puppy. It was cute. I managed to visit a very good Peace Corps friend of mine in Connecticut, as well as my sister and many friends in Toronto all during my time home. I loved my Mom´s home cooking, as usual, and flew back to Peru with a few extra holiday pounds just in time for Lima beach season!
So what did I resolve for new years? Well, as always I resolved to eat better and lose those holiday pounds as quickly as possible. That was not helped by my boyfriend bringing me cheese from his home town! Some of the most well known and delicious cheese in Peru. It is too good to refuse! But I also resolved to be more assertive, and to make some real decisions about what I want to do with my life. I´m 25, still young but going on ¨old¨-er. I want to come up with some direction, something I want to strive for. I already have my ideas bumping around in my head, I just need to organize them and stop putting off making tough decisions for my future.
Now back in Lima and in the middle of my second week at work, I am feeling good and motivated. I feel like the tension of starting a new position wearing off. I´m loving sunny days, hot weather, cold drinks and ice cubes. I cant shake the feeling that this is going to be a good year!
My next entry will come shortly and I have decided to make it about something called ¨Piropos¨ or cat calling, a favorite past-time of Peruvian men. It should make for an interesting read and will highlight the more negative aspects of latino city living.
After that, I´m hoping to keep this thing updated regularly, back to my 2010 blog entry levels! I will probably focus on issues around Peru that interest me, as well as fun life andecdotes to spice it up.
Abrazos!
I would say it´s a New Years resolution, but really it didn´t make the list. It is just something I really want to do. The slacking off in the blogging department is probably because I feel like my life is no longer an exciting, electricity-less, tiny village in Peru fun filled story. But that doesn´t mean that life in Big, Bad, Lima isn´t constantly full of pleasant and unpleasant surprises!
But let us start at the beginning.
Happy New Year!! We are now in 2013, and according to my internet investigations of my yearly horoscope, it will be a good year for me. Last year was the year of the dragon, and I am a rabbit, so it felt like constant stress and struggle. I started the year 2012 with a breakup and my third ACL tear, and had a job that challenged me in ways that sometimes left me bitter and frustrated.
Things have already started out differently in 2013! I made the decision to stay in Lima Peru another year. It was not a decision made lightly, and included many factors including getting more work experience, improving my spanish, not being sure about what I wanted to go back to the states for (job? Grad school?) and my boyfriend of now almost a year. I stayed with Peace Corps as a 4th year extension, something virtually unheard of. I am developing a Peace Corps response position in environmental education here in Lima.
But backing up again, I went home for the holidays! It was a nice trip that I broke up with a lot of side trips to see friends and family. I flew to Kentucky to see my Grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins and family. We had a lovely, calm Christmas together. My Mom even brought my dog, Botas Blancas, to the airport to greet me! We got filmed the local news and ended up on the news that night because of my Christmas eve re-uniting with my puppy. It was cute. I managed to visit a very good Peace Corps friend of mine in Connecticut, as well as my sister and many friends in Toronto all during my time home. I loved my Mom´s home cooking, as usual, and flew back to Peru with a few extra holiday pounds just in time for Lima beach season!
So what did I resolve for new years? Well, as always I resolved to eat better and lose those holiday pounds as quickly as possible. That was not helped by my boyfriend bringing me cheese from his home town! Some of the most well known and delicious cheese in Peru. It is too good to refuse! But I also resolved to be more assertive, and to make some real decisions about what I want to do with my life. I´m 25, still young but going on ¨old¨-er. I want to come up with some direction, something I want to strive for. I already have my ideas bumping around in my head, I just need to organize them and stop putting off making tough decisions for my future.
Now back in Lima and in the middle of my second week at work, I am feeling good and motivated. I feel like the tension of starting a new position wearing off. I´m loving sunny days, hot weather, cold drinks and ice cubes. I cant shake the feeling that this is going to be a good year!
My next entry will come shortly and I have decided to make it about something called ¨Piropos¨ or cat calling, a favorite past-time of Peruvian men. It should make for an interesting read and will highlight the more negative aspects of latino city living.
After that, I´m hoping to keep this thing updated regularly, back to my 2010 blog entry levels! I will probably focus on issues around Peru that interest me, as well as fun life andecdotes to spice it up.
Abrazos!
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