Things are going really well over here in my little town in Peru. I'm actually starting up little projects which makes me feel like a real volunteer! I'm working with the school to start tree planting with some of the students, as well as a trash management/recycling program for the whole school. It makes me feel good to be starting some real things in my town that will hopefully be of some use in the long run!
I guess my thoughts for today are that I have been having more and more trouble thinking of things to write that are funny/interesting as things here are getting more and more normal for me and I don't really notice the funny little cultural differences as much as I used to. I guess what comes up the most in conversation with the other volunteers are the struggles of having friends in site. I feel like I am really really lucky because I do feel like I have some actual friends in my town who I spend time with and talk to about real things like cultural differences, politics, etc. I know that is really hard for a lot of volunteers to find so I feel blessed. I honestly don't know how I would get by without them. But, several of these stated friends are males, and that causes a lot of problems in itself in a macho society mixed with a tiny gossipy song where dancing for more then one song with a boy might mean you like them. However, "problems" is an overstatement, it just means I get a lot of jokes about how I am going to get married and never leave my town. Always a good laugh at the very least.
Most of all, for this email I wanted to share an email I recently got from a friend and she said that even though she has read my emails and seen pictures, she still had lots of questions. I read her questions and laughed at loud at the simple wonderfulness of it and decided to attach them here and respond to them in this email. They are as follows:
Do you have any time for yourself and if yes what do you do?
The answer to the first is something that does get to me from time to time. It is veeeery difficult in my family of 8 and three bedrooms to find time for myself. Combine that with constant neighbors and friends visiting and the fact that bathing is a very public affair and alone time is almost exclusively for when I sleep. However, now that my host siblings have started school again, there is often time when there are only two or three of us in the house and it really feels like down time because I can choose the music we listen to sometimes and can sit at the table and not be talked to for extended period of time. It's been a nice change and I can honestly say its something I (and I think most north americans would agree) needed. So, what I do in my semi-alone time is read, make bracelets, study some spanish, or write. The only other alone time I get is during my runs in the mornings. I really enjoy my routine of running and then going to the river alone (because everyone else thinks you'll get seriously ill bathing so early in the morning). That morning bathing is the most alone I probably ever get.
Are you reading any books?
As I mentioned, I like to read when it is quiet in my house and right now I am read "Grapes of Wrath" which is about the great depression and the migration westward in the U.S. It is really good and I'm glad I am reading this classic. I plan on reading the entire twilight series after that... haha.
Can you even bake things over there with the complicated stove system?
I don't bake anything because my family doesn't have an oven. They cook only with firewood and I shy away from the kitchen for fear of burning food or myself. The only thing I touch is the kettle where the boiled water is! But, I do plan on making pancakes for my family very soon and I am looking forward to that!
How do you listen to music? Do you miss non-Peruvian music?
In my house we listen to music ALL day and night long. My host sister literally sleeps with a portable radio in her bed that I can hear all night long. But of course, this is almost exclusively cumbia, reaggaton, wino or criole music. Luckily, I really like cumbia and reggaeton and can tolerate the others (even enjoy them at times). I don't really get to listen to my own music because I don't have an ipod and cant ever use my computer (due to that no electricity thing....). But, I can make CD's for the family on which I occasionally stick on an english song so I can hear it when I want to in the house, which is nice. But truth be told, I don't miss American music THAT much.... yet. Who knows how I'll feel a few months from now, right?
Is anyone teaching to further your guitar playing skills?
Unfortunately, no one is helping me with guitar. I thought I would have a lot more time to practice then I actually do and whenever I take my guitar out I get swarmed by neighbors and kids to play with it even though none of them know how to play at all. So, my guitar playing is not getting much better, although I am hoping to come up with some plan to progress in the near future. Any tips for learning from my musical readers are welcome (ehem Wendy or Greg).
Do you watch telenovela or is that not Peruvian at all and I'm just being a big ignoramus?
Telenovelas, also known as Peruvian soap operas, are all the rage here and they are TERRIBLE. A lot of people in town watch them in the evenings on battery powered, black and white, fuzzy TV's. I did at first, but mostly to be social and hang out with people. Now I avoid it and am grateful that the TV in my house doesn't work. However, we can play movies on our TV and the other night I got stuck watching the worst movie I had ever seen probably in my entire life. It was a Peruvian evangelical film, the quality of which I probably could replicate myself on my camera video setting. I went to bed early to avoid watching it all.
What's the arts like - performance and visual?
I don't know much about the art scene hear because I don't think there is much going on here in the small towns. I'm sure there is more of an art scene in the city of Chiclayo but I cant say I know anything about it. However, dancing here is a big and important art form. At every concert in the towns, the band they will pause for a little bit to let two kids from the town do a dance to marinera in full out dress and suites. It is always really cool and everyone crowds around to see it.
How is child-rearing different there?
Wow, where to even begin. Child rearing is VERY different here. I'm not sure how to explain it but it feels like kids grow up at a very early age. My older host sisters are like mini-mom's to the other kids. They cook, clean house, take care of the younger siblings, feed the animals, carry water, etc. It's nuts how much work my 14 year old host sister does. There seems to be a lot more yelling in general, and little boys seem to be able to get away with a lot. I guess my general observation is that kids are often treated like mini-adults after the age of 4 or 5. I never feel really shocked or appalled by anything, it just is what it is, a different culture of rearing children.
Does it smell great there when you run around in the rain?
Unfortunately the rain doesn't make is smell that great because the town is a big dust bowl and it just turns to mud. I'm sure if I happened to be up in the green hills right now (summer) it might smell really cool. But the rain definitely makes me FEEL really goo because it breaks the heat for a little while... but also brings out the mosquitoes... catch22 huh?
Much love to all, thanks for reading and sharing with me!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Sunday Markets
As I may or may not have explained, I am living in a district kind of what you might call “suburb” town that is governed under the main town, where there is internet, restaurants and running water! Therefore, the main town is what is referred most commonly as “El Pueblo” and on Sunday’s it is a hoping place! Everyone comes into town from all the surrounding towns like mine in tons of motos and a million little stands and street venders appear from seemingly no where. It is a completely different place then on weekdays. Everything is a little cheaper and haggling is constant. Not to mention how many people you run into! It is a very social day, and I am always entertained by the countless young boys and girls strutting around in the central park (a tiny like “park” of cement and benches and few trees) in their best outfits trying to impress each other and eating 50 cent jello, ice cream or sodas. It is really fun, but also overwhelming to go to town on Sundays. For me, it has become a bonding experience for my oldest host sister, Fanny, and I. We have started going together to shop, walk around, socialize with our friends and famiy and eventually attend a soccer game in the stadium to watch one of our friends play with a big fancy team! These league teams apparently even pay their players a little, and one of my community friends was recruited to play for them so we go out to support him, along with a handful of other people from my town, on Sundays and enjoy a good game of soccer… usually with some 50 cent ice creams too.
Other then Sundays, my days can vary greatly depending on what is going on. I have found out that everything is very last minute, or at least seems that way for me. We will suddenly be heading to the river to wash clothes, or play. So maybe someone will come over and invite me to go hunt for firewood in the hills or go on a fishing adventure. The days are full of a lot of free time for me. I read, write, chat with my host siblings and pretty much wait around for the afternoons when everyone comes home from work and has free time and the heat finally dies down a TINY bit. The afternoons and evenings are full of adventure… if you can call what I do an adventure. For example, this week I spontaneously invited myself to the school with my host Dad and ended up helping all the parents in town sweep, clean desks and chairs, and just generally tidy up the school grounds for a few hours. Afterwards, I was invited by one of my good friends sisters to go “bath” with her, which I took as an honor because it means she wants to spend time with me. Another day, heading down to watch the evening soccer games, I joined in with a bunch of kids playing their own game, girls versus boys. The girls ended up cleaning up with very little help from me! I love that my community is conducive to female soccer playing while so many other communities restrict female sport playing to volleyball. And yet another night I went over to say hi to a friend and neighbor that owns a little shop and farmacy and ended up helping her package up a bunch of candies, listening to music and joking around for a while. I know I have probably mentioned this several times in other emails, but not having electricity really changes social connections because there is just nothing to do but spend time together and joke around. If there is one thing I love almost above all else about the Peruvians I have met and known it is their almost constant upbeat attitude. I feel like whoever I am with is always laughing, joking around or picking on me in general.
Which leads to the other daily adventure for me. Local women LOVE playing matchmaker for me and or telling me how much fatter I am. A regular day will consist of at LEAST one person telling me that I will marry someone from our town and never leave, and/or lovingly proclaiming that I am much fatter then when I arrived. Usually something like “you were SO skinny when you got here and look at you now!” while pinching my arm flab and generally making me feel like a spectacle. The worst is when these comments are combined and then proclaimed to one of my “eligible bachelors” who then have to awkwardly tell me that I am indeed nice and fat and try to get out of the situation. It makes for some very entertaining interactions.
The final notable thing is that mango season has come to an end in terms of having enough work for my family and friends. Which is both a blessing and a curse because a lot of the youth are now out of work and have to wait for the next seasonal job, but means that my friends are back to visiting me! Last night I finally got a long overdue visit from several of my host brother’s friends just to chat with me! It was a great evening of joking around with them and sending ourselves saludos (shoutouts) over the radio and playing with music and cell phones. I still have not gotten over how cell phone crazed people are in my electricity-less, super poor town. They play with them constantly and almost all of them have songs, photos, videos, etc to share and pass around. But mostly, I am just hoping that while my friends are jobless, it will mean a lot more social time and card playing in my life!
Thank you all again for your love and support, keep me updated! Abrazos para todos!
Other then Sundays, my days can vary greatly depending on what is going on. I have found out that everything is very last minute, or at least seems that way for me. We will suddenly be heading to the river to wash clothes, or play. So maybe someone will come over and invite me to go hunt for firewood in the hills or go on a fishing adventure. The days are full of a lot of free time for me. I read, write, chat with my host siblings and pretty much wait around for the afternoons when everyone comes home from work and has free time and the heat finally dies down a TINY bit. The afternoons and evenings are full of adventure… if you can call what I do an adventure. For example, this week I spontaneously invited myself to the school with my host Dad and ended up helping all the parents in town sweep, clean desks and chairs, and just generally tidy up the school grounds for a few hours. Afterwards, I was invited by one of my good friends sisters to go “bath” with her, which I took as an honor because it means she wants to spend time with me. Another day, heading down to watch the evening soccer games, I joined in with a bunch of kids playing their own game, girls versus boys. The girls ended up cleaning up with very little help from me! I love that my community is conducive to female soccer playing while so many other communities restrict female sport playing to volleyball. And yet another night I went over to say hi to a friend and neighbor that owns a little shop and farmacy and ended up helping her package up a bunch of candies, listening to music and joking around for a while. I know I have probably mentioned this several times in other emails, but not having electricity really changes social connections because there is just nothing to do but spend time together and joke around. If there is one thing I love almost above all else about the Peruvians I have met and known it is their almost constant upbeat attitude. I feel like whoever I am with is always laughing, joking around or picking on me in general.
Which leads to the other daily adventure for me. Local women LOVE playing matchmaker for me and or telling me how much fatter I am. A regular day will consist of at LEAST one person telling me that I will marry someone from our town and never leave, and/or lovingly proclaiming that I am much fatter then when I arrived. Usually something like “you were SO skinny when you got here and look at you now!” while pinching my arm flab and generally making me feel like a spectacle. The worst is when these comments are combined and then proclaimed to one of my “eligible bachelors” who then have to awkwardly tell me that I am indeed nice and fat and try to get out of the situation. It makes for some very entertaining interactions.
The final notable thing is that mango season has come to an end in terms of having enough work for my family and friends. Which is both a blessing and a curse because a lot of the youth are now out of work and have to wait for the next seasonal job, but means that my friends are back to visiting me! Last night I finally got a long overdue visit from several of my host brother’s friends just to chat with me! It was a great evening of joking around with them and sending ourselves saludos (shoutouts) over the radio and playing with music and cell phones. I still have not gotten over how cell phone crazed people are in my electricity-less, super poor town. They play with them constantly and almost all of them have songs, photos, videos, etc to share and pass around. But mostly, I am just hoping that while my friends are jobless, it will mean a lot more social time and card playing in my life!
Thank you all again for your love and support, keep me updated! Abrazos para todos!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
sugar cane and wild horses
I’m getting close to having spent 6 months here in Peru, and almost 3 months in my own town that will be my home for 21 more months. Now that I am getting into a routine and understand how things work more and more, I feel like the days fly by in a flash! All my friends in my town told me I would be leaving before I know it, and now I am starting to believe them!
But with routine also has come the feeling that things don’t surprise me anymore. I try to remind myself how little things in my life here used to shock me and make me laugh on a daily basis, but now are just things that happen. But, for example, it is still so amazing to go for a run and have a pack of wild horses walk by, grazing in the newly growing grass that has sprouted seemingly from no where. However, I still feel lucky because everyday brings little surprises. Yesterday for instance, I went to the river with a couple local kids and we played tag in the water for a while, followed by them inviting me to eating pure sugar cane for the first time in my life. I had never even seen sugar cane, let alone eaten it. It tastes like... sugar! But its cool because you suck the sweetness from a plant and it somehow doesn´t seem like eating white processes sugar. I guess it really is ¨pure¨ meaning that it is unstripped of all the nutrients from the plant. Cool stuff! I also have started a new tradition of going to my best friends league soccer games in the main town on Sundays. I get to go to a stadium and watch them play and its really fun and full of people from my town watching. Even better is that his Mom is a lot like my Mom and just sits on the bleachers yelling at every play! It´s a lot of fun and reminds me of home... except now I am watching and not playing!
A few things that have changed in my life lately, for example, it is no longer avocado season… making me very sad at breakfast time when I no longer have my source of green. Luckily, the field is still sprouting bananas, mangos, limes, coconuts, and a fruit called mamai that I had never seen before and don´t know what it is in English. Also, my dog is growing everyday! I went away for the weekend for a meeting with other volunteers and when I came back he had grown considerably! Him growing means he is getting stronger and now follows me around town and everyone knows he is my dog. A lot of people ask me to give him to them because he is so pretty and healthy looking. But I tell them I cant because he is my love and I cant part with him. I have also started learning how to cook. The other day I had a cooking lesson from a local friend on how to make “papa rellena” which is a little bit like fried mashed potato balls. She sells them every night while the local boys play soccer and they are delicious and I was honored to get cooking lessons from her and to spend time with her family. I also learned from my host sister how to make chifles, or fried bananas. It is actually as easy as it sounds, but I didn’t know you needed a special kind of banana! While I know how to cook and have cooked for myself for years, cooking here is a whole different adventure because it is with firewood and without running water. Everything is just a tiny bit more complicated so I am taking my time learning to make local food. Hopefully when I come home to visit I will shock and awe all of you with the wonders of Peruvian food.
In terms of weather, the rain still hasn’t hit us hard yet. I heard it will be crazy in March, so I will fill you in then if I am able to leave town of course! What we do have is lots of clouds and humidity. Humidity like you wouldn’t believe. I feel like I sweat 24 hours a day, even while I’m sleeping. When it actually does rain it feels sooooo nice because it cools down a little and I stop sweating for a very short while. The humidity and little bit of rain has also brought us mosquitos and I find myself constantly coating myself in bug spray in the afternoons to save my poor arms and legs.
Finally, to keep my email relatively interesting, this time I have decided to write a list lifestyle things I have adopted in order to fit in to my Peruvian community:
-I can carry my big bucket for my clothes on my head when I walk to and from the river on laundry days.
-I listen to cumbia music ALL the time… even when I can listen to my own music I sprinkle in my own cumbia. (There is a song named after me about an English teacher call ‘Carito’ by Carlos Vives if anyone is interested…)
-I talk about the weather several times a day (a VERY common conversation filler)
-I go to the chacras (fields) with my host siblings to hunt for fruit from the trees
-I sweep my dirt floor
-I let people abuse and pick on my dog
-I eat lots of shaved ice and ceviche (a fish dish famous in Peru) from people in my town that sell it to support local stuff and because it is delicious!
-I sometimes spend over an hour “bathing” in the river just to play with kids or be social with the local women
-I describe people in a much more physical way, using words like fat, skinny, tall, short, dark, light, etc. It is very normal here to describe someone as fat or skinny, and I am told all the time that I am “engordando” or getting fatter, in a very loving and sincere way.
-Speaking of engordando… I eat plates of rice and cooked fish, onions and tomatoes for breakfast.
I plan on making a photo diary of a week or my meals here in Peru sometime soon to share with all of you. My food is sometimes shocking, sometimes delicious, sometimes overwhelming, and sometimes boring. But I will share food stories for the next email! In the mean time, if anyone every feels like sending me snacks, in particular cliff bars, from the US… I would be forever grateful!
But with routine also has come the feeling that things don’t surprise me anymore. I try to remind myself how little things in my life here used to shock me and make me laugh on a daily basis, but now are just things that happen. But, for example, it is still so amazing to go for a run and have a pack of wild horses walk by, grazing in the newly growing grass that has sprouted seemingly from no where. However, I still feel lucky because everyday brings little surprises. Yesterday for instance, I went to the river with a couple local kids and we played tag in the water for a while, followed by them inviting me to eating pure sugar cane for the first time in my life. I had never even seen sugar cane, let alone eaten it. It tastes like... sugar! But its cool because you suck the sweetness from a plant and it somehow doesn´t seem like eating white processes sugar. I guess it really is ¨pure¨ meaning that it is unstripped of all the nutrients from the plant. Cool stuff! I also have started a new tradition of going to my best friends league soccer games in the main town on Sundays. I get to go to a stadium and watch them play and its really fun and full of people from my town watching. Even better is that his Mom is a lot like my Mom and just sits on the bleachers yelling at every play! It´s a lot of fun and reminds me of home... except now I am watching and not playing!
A few things that have changed in my life lately, for example, it is no longer avocado season… making me very sad at breakfast time when I no longer have my source of green. Luckily, the field is still sprouting bananas, mangos, limes, coconuts, and a fruit called mamai that I had never seen before and don´t know what it is in English. Also, my dog is growing everyday! I went away for the weekend for a meeting with other volunteers and when I came back he had grown considerably! Him growing means he is getting stronger and now follows me around town and everyone knows he is my dog. A lot of people ask me to give him to them because he is so pretty and healthy looking. But I tell them I cant because he is my love and I cant part with him. I have also started learning how to cook. The other day I had a cooking lesson from a local friend on how to make “papa rellena” which is a little bit like fried mashed potato balls. She sells them every night while the local boys play soccer and they are delicious and I was honored to get cooking lessons from her and to spend time with her family. I also learned from my host sister how to make chifles, or fried bananas. It is actually as easy as it sounds, but I didn’t know you needed a special kind of banana! While I know how to cook and have cooked for myself for years, cooking here is a whole different adventure because it is with firewood and without running water. Everything is just a tiny bit more complicated so I am taking my time learning to make local food. Hopefully when I come home to visit I will shock and awe all of you with the wonders of Peruvian food.
In terms of weather, the rain still hasn’t hit us hard yet. I heard it will be crazy in March, so I will fill you in then if I am able to leave town of course! What we do have is lots of clouds and humidity. Humidity like you wouldn’t believe. I feel like I sweat 24 hours a day, even while I’m sleeping. When it actually does rain it feels sooooo nice because it cools down a little and I stop sweating for a very short while. The humidity and little bit of rain has also brought us mosquitos and I find myself constantly coating myself in bug spray in the afternoons to save my poor arms and legs.
Finally, to keep my email relatively interesting, this time I have decided to write a list lifestyle things I have adopted in order to fit in to my Peruvian community:
-I can carry my big bucket for my clothes on my head when I walk to and from the river on laundry days.
-I listen to cumbia music ALL the time… even when I can listen to my own music I sprinkle in my own cumbia. (There is a song named after me about an English teacher call ‘Carito’ by Carlos Vives if anyone is interested…)
-I talk about the weather several times a day (a VERY common conversation filler)
-I go to the chacras (fields) with my host siblings to hunt for fruit from the trees
-I sweep my dirt floor
-I let people abuse and pick on my dog
-I eat lots of shaved ice and ceviche (a fish dish famous in Peru) from people in my town that sell it to support local stuff and because it is delicious!
-I sometimes spend over an hour “bathing” in the river just to play with kids or be social with the local women
-I describe people in a much more physical way, using words like fat, skinny, tall, short, dark, light, etc. It is very normal here to describe someone as fat or skinny, and I am told all the time that I am “engordando” or getting fatter, in a very loving and sincere way.
-Speaking of engordando… I eat plates of rice and cooked fish, onions and tomatoes for breakfast.
I plan on making a photo diary of a week or my meals here in Peru sometime soon to share with all of you. My food is sometimes shocking, sometimes delicious, sometimes overwhelming, and sometimes boring. But I will share food stories for the next email! In the mean time, if anyone every feels like sending me snacks, in particular cliff bars, from the US… I would be forever grateful!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
The joys of the Campo
I have to say that I feel very fortunate that I can get up early, go for a run in rolling hills of green (this time of year) and return to jump in a river to bath/cool off, followed by hunting my families field for fresh bananas and mangos. Life without electricity and running water can really bring out little joys and pleasures.
But it is interesting to note that Peruvian campo kids are just as obsessed with cell phones and technology as American youth. They constantly crave putting music on their phones and trade songs and games and pictures with their fancy phone technology. They have me beat, because my phone doesn't take pictures or upload music... which they find very distressing.
Otherwise I am enjoying my daily doses of cumbia music, dancing in my house, learning how to sweep up my dirt.... At first I thought throwing water on and sweeping dirt was counter-intuitive but I have learned the error of my thinking. Water keeps the dirt more solid, instead of dusty. Sweeping after you have thrown the water on the floor gets rid of the excess dirt and keeps your floor more solid and neat looking.
My puppy is looking good, the envy of many because he is so cute and healthy looking. However, it was difficult for me to argue when they told me he got sick because too many people were playing with him and joking around with him. Even more confusing when I was feeling sick and my host Dad asked me if I felt shy the other day when I was hanging out with people by myself... because obviously that would be the reason I wasn't feeling well. Oh how I love the illness theories here. It would make for a great anthropological study! Maybe in the future I'll look into it further. In the mean time I will keep you all updated on my ups and downs in health and health theories.
Did I mention the purchasing of animals to kill for birthdays? My host Dad's birthday came and went with the killing of a sheep (pictures soon to come on facebook). The sheep was eaten for the next few days, its organs and meat floating around the kitchen and its skull sitting in a bowl in the kitchen watching me. I have started to think about what animal I will buy to share with my family and friends for my birthday, but I feel they will laugh when I tell them I want to buy ducks because it is so small. But man do I love duck! Vegetarian gone wild.
Much love to all!
But it is interesting to note that Peruvian campo kids are just as obsessed with cell phones and technology as American youth. They constantly crave putting music on their phones and trade songs and games and pictures with their fancy phone technology. They have me beat, because my phone doesn't take pictures or upload music... which they find very distressing.
Otherwise I am enjoying my daily doses of cumbia music, dancing in my house, learning how to sweep up my dirt.... At first I thought throwing water on and sweeping dirt was counter-intuitive but I have learned the error of my thinking. Water keeps the dirt more solid, instead of dusty. Sweeping after you have thrown the water on the floor gets rid of the excess dirt and keeps your floor more solid and neat looking.
My puppy is looking good, the envy of many because he is so cute and healthy looking. However, it was difficult for me to argue when they told me he got sick because too many people were playing with him and joking around with him. Even more confusing when I was feeling sick and my host Dad asked me if I felt shy the other day when I was hanging out with people by myself... because obviously that would be the reason I wasn't feeling well. Oh how I love the illness theories here. It would make for a great anthropological study! Maybe in the future I'll look into it further. In the mean time I will keep you all updated on my ups and downs in health and health theories.
Did I mention the purchasing of animals to kill for birthdays? My host Dad's birthday came and went with the killing of a sheep (pictures soon to come on facebook). The sheep was eaten for the next few days, its organs and meat floating around the kitchen and its skull sitting in a bowl in the kitchen watching me. I have started to think about what animal I will buy to share with my family and friends for my birthday, but I feel they will laugh when I tell them I want to buy ducks because it is so small. But man do I love duck! Vegetarian gone wild.
Much love to all!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Valentines Day Amor
Hello everyone,
So I thought I might just send a few little antecdotes for Vaentines day. Fun stuff really, easy read... haha.
Everyone in my town has told me that everything will be green after the rains (right now it is pretty brown and dusty... except in the feilds). So, I have been looking forward to see this tropical greenness I have heard so much about... while not really forward to the rainy season. Well, we finaly had a day of about 26 hours of straight rain and everything turned to mud and guck. The river grew about two or three sizes and the roads became amost unpassable for the motos. I was wondering how I would survive three months of that kind of rain. I was shocked when that day of rain happened to be a day of my classes and I marched through the rain a little late to my class to find 11 students waiting for me! What a pleasant surprise! Especially since my host sister told me no one would go, haha. Luckily, we haven´t had another rain like that, and in fact, it has been pretty dry. The river shrank a little bit and the water is clear again, bathable and cloths washing'abe! AND, everything is turning green! How cool it is to watch grass sprout up and the trees turn greener. It is making the hills beautiful and I will be sure to take pictures.
My wonderful little spunky puppy had got really sick the other day. I was very concerned when he was laying on the floor crying, with diarreah and would drink or eat anything. I was very concerned he might die, which is not uncommon for dogs here. That morning I went for a run, and when I returned, my host sister told me my dog is really sick! I said, ya I know, but what has changed? While I was gone, she had ¨passed the egg¨ over him to find our what was wrong. This consists of rubbing an egg all over his body and then cracking in a glass of water which they the ¨read¨ to find out what is wrong with the person or, in this case, animal. It is also supposed to help absorb the sickness. I guess it must have worked because he pulled through and is looking ten times better! He is playing again and biting everyone. The other day, he even followed me all the way across town for the first time... which leads to another story.
I was martching through town with my host sister to watch the boys play soccer and my little puppy Brandol follwed me there. Everyone got a kick out of meeting my dog and the kids a played with him. The funny part was, my puppy was greeted by a couple of guys that I don´t know personal by the name of ¨Cachimbito¨ which means ¨little Cachimba¨ which is the name of one of my friends here. Cachimbito spurred from a joke of when I first met my friend Cachimba and liked his nick name so much that I told him that was my dogs name (obviously not really, but a joke). The joke has spread like wildfire... hurray for little towns! haha. So now my little puppy has been givin the full name of Brandol Cachimbito Capitan, lovingly called Brandito by me.
My host Dad´s birthday came and went this Thursday, and he was very sad that none of his family from the City came to see him. He had even bought and killed a sheep for all of us to eat! The head of which is still sitting around in the kitchen which is jaw and big eyes taunting me. I tried hard to make up for his lack of family by drinking more than I usually do in site (which is still not much) and dancing with my host parents and siblings, trying to energieze them and keep up the celebratory spirit. I told him we will all celebrate again on Sunday.
Finally, I hope you all have a wonderful Valentines day! Here in Peru I will be celebrating at a Valentines Day dance (feels like grade school... just a little) where I´m sure attempts to marry me off will be made and I will have a good old time practicing my Peruvian dance moves. I also made Vday cards with my students which turned out to be a lot of fun, we wrote in engish loving expressions and everything and they got a real kick out of it. Also, there are rumors that my oldest host brother will be coming into town, so that should be a good time all around, the whole family together!
Hugs and kisses all around, lots of love, and I miss you all!
So I thought I might just send a few little antecdotes for Vaentines day. Fun stuff really, easy read... haha.
Everyone in my town has told me that everything will be green after the rains (right now it is pretty brown and dusty... except in the feilds). So, I have been looking forward to see this tropical greenness I have heard so much about... while not really forward to the rainy season. Well, we finaly had a day of about 26 hours of straight rain and everything turned to mud and guck. The river grew about two or three sizes and the roads became amost unpassable for the motos. I was wondering how I would survive three months of that kind of rain. I was shocked when that day of rain happened to be a day of my classes and I marched through the rain a little late to my class to find 11 students waiting for me! What a pleasant surprise! Especially since my host sister told me no one would go, haha. Luckily, we haven´t had another rain like that, and in fact, it has been pretty dry. The river shrank a little bit and the water is clear again, bathable and cloths washing'abe! AND, everything is turning green! How cool it is to watch grass sprout up and the trees turn greener. It is making the hills beautiful and I will be sure to take pictures.
My wonderful little spunky puppy had got really sick the other day. I was very concerned when he was laying on the floor crying, with diarreah and would drink or eat anything. I was very concerned he might die, which is not uncommon for dogs here. That morning I went for a run, and when I returned, my host sister told me my dog is really sick! I said, ya I know, but what has changed? While I was gone, she had ¨passed the egg¨ over him to find our what was wrong. This consists of rubbing an egg all over his body and then cracking in a glass of water which they the ¨read¨ to find out what is wrong with the person or, in this case, animal. It is also supposed to help absorb the sickness. I guess it must have worked because he pulled through and is looking ten times better! He is playing again and biting everyone. The other day, he even followed me all the way across town for the first time... which leads to another story.
I was martching through town with my host sister to watch the boys play soccer and my little puppy Brandol follwed me there. Everyone got a kick out of meeting my dog and the kids a played with him. The funny part was, my puppy was greeted by a couple of guys that I don´t know personal by the name of ¨Cachimbito¨ which means ¨little Cachimba¨ which is the name of one of my friends here. Cachimbito spurred from a joke of when I first met my friend Cachimba and liked his nick name so much that I told him that was my dogs name (obviously not really, but a joke). The joke has spread like wildfire... hurray for little towns! haha. So now my little puppy has been givin the full name of Brandol Cachimbito Capitan, lovingly called Brandito by me.
My host Dad´s birthday came and went this Thursday, and he was very sad that none of his family from the City came to see him. He had even bought and killed a sheep for all of us to eat! The head of which is still sitting around in the kitchen which is jaw and big eyes taunting me. I tried hard to make up for his lack of family by drinking more than I usually do in site (which is still not much) and dancing with my host parents and siblings, trying to energieze them and keep up the celebratory spirit. I told him we will all celebrate again on Sunday.
Finally, I hope you all have a wonderful Valentines day! Here in Peru I will be celebrating at a Valentines Day dance (feels like grade school... just a little) where I´m sure attempts to marry me off will be made and I will have a good old time practicing my Peruvian dance moves. I also made Vday cards with my students which turned out to be a lot of fun, we wrote in engish loving expressions and everything and they got a real kick out of it. Also, there are rumors that my oldest host brother will be coming into town, so that should be a good time all around, the whole family together!
Hugs and kisses all around, lots of love, and I miss you all!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
updates!
Hello everyone!
I find myself wondering when I wrote my last big email, and I cant remember if it was recently or weeks ago! I´m sorry to be so neglectful, but internet time has become very valuable and I find myself rushing through it for more and more Peace Corps related work things then personal things. Which I guess is a good thing, I´m actually working!
Things are more of less lovely as usual in my little Pueblo. I get to know more and more people every week, and ever new interaction I have leaves me in a good mood and smiling. I have gotten closer with a few friends in my site, leaving me with one girl to girl talk with and a couple of guys to chat with in the electricityless evenings. It really makes the time fly having buddies and people to talk to and I am so very grateful to have that. A third year volunteer from my area who actually chose my site for me told me that she things my town is the best town in all of the volunteer peace corps sites in Peru. When I asked her why, she said it was because the people are so nice and open here, and its not like that in most other places. For that, I am so grateful I can not even put it into words. I don´t know how will I would fare if I was in a town with very reserved, quiet and unfriendly people, as I´m sure is the circumstance for some of our volunteers! I would like to say I´m lucky, but Peruvians have trained me to say ¨Gracias a Dios¨ so I will stick with that.
But what am I up do on a daily basis you might ask? Well, it changes everyday, but there are some emerging patterns. Almost every single morning I get up early to go for a run before breakfast. This always brightens my morning with lots of hello´s, greetings, and sometimes even people stopping me to ask about my summer school classes or to invite me to things. Afterwards, I head to the river, often with my little puppy companion tagging along to keep me company, and always acompanied with a lecture about how I am going to get sick because it is too cold to bath in the mornings (I will get to that later). For breakfast, I try not to be bummed out when there is no avacado and look longingly at my pile of white rice with a tiny piece of either pork or fish on top and will it to be a bagel with cream cheese. But, it makes days WITH avacado seem that much greener and better! After this typical morning, I either stay in the house and prep for one thing or another (upcoming class, who I should go to interview, etc), or I read. Or, I go with my host sister to deliver the breakfasts to our hard working Dad, sister, Mom and brother. This consists of a half an hour walk in the sun to the mango feilds where we might stay for half an hour or an hour chatting with the workers and watching them pile up more and more green mangos that will be headed for the US (enjoy Peruvian Mangos! They are in season and delicious!). A lot of the young boys from my town also work there, so we usually walk by to say hi to them, and try to not to get caught in a Canavales game of water splashing.
Afternoons are more idle, usually spending time playing with my host siblings, listening to cumbia music and visiting neighbors. Things vary sometimes when I have to do laundry or go into town for work or internet things. By the time evening roles around, the family starts to come back from a long day of mango picking and we chat, eat, and joke around. Sometimes we go to watch the boys play soccer, althugh that has died down ever since my oldest host brother left to work in the capital city for a while. At night I get visits from friends or wander around talking to people (especially on Sundays). I find myself feeling happy most days and love the laid back atmosphere of small town life. Although, I am starting to learn gossip and am sure the horror stories about people will eventually pile up.
And how is my little puppy doing? Wonderful. He knows I am his loving mother and comes to me anytime he is hungry. I´m also the only one he will follow to different places, and the other day I discovered that he has taken on a protective role of parking at other dogs and people from my feet. To the eyes of the locals this is a ver good thing, because he is protecting me. I can see how this could be endearing, although I´m not looking for an attack dog.
But backing up a bit to the hot and cold beliefs here in Peru. The belief here is that people need to be balanced by hot and cold substances and that it is very bad in particular to be too cold. So, in the mornings when the sun isn´t out and its not hot yet, me bathing seems crazy because I am most deffinately going to catch a cold. Not matter how much I am soaked in sweat, the locals who see me going to the river early in the morning think I am nuts. But, this hour of bathing gives me some of the only alone time I get and is very refreshing for me, so I stick to it despite doubts from the locals. This hot and cold balance belief also applies to food, leading to all kinds of theories like people being sick from eating a popsicle at night, or eating avacado when they had a cough.
Today is also the first day that I think the rainy season might actually be starting. It is the first time I´ve seen rain here so early, and it led to less motos traveling in and out of my town and the main town (with the internet) being filled with water. I am interested to see what will happen in a few weeks when the real hard rain comes and I will apparently be unable to leave my town due to the mud and the rising of the river. Only time will tell!
The last bit of fun news is that this upcoming week is going to be a lot of fun because it is my host Dad´s, sister´s AND brother´s birthday! As well as another gift tree cutting party with dancing and music on the 14th (yey for valentines day party!). Apparently they celebrate valentines day here too and I have had my fill of jokes about finding myself a boyfriend for or at this party. I will never tire of the local women being stunned by my singleness and wanting to fix me up for marriage right away.
I guess I will leave you all with links to my favorite songs here in Peru so that you can know what I listen to almost every day! But if you are interested, just look up Grupo Cinco (5), Hermanos Yaipen, Grupo America, or los Astros Del Peru. Always a good start for good old Peruvian Cumbia. Because unlike the U.S., in peru they have a handful of home bread groups that play all the time on the radio and actual come to small little pueblos like mine to play! Very exciting. Enjoy! I love you all and miss you to death. Please please please keep me updated, I love getting emails!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMknaRGpm5I (my favorite song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pavXtx6_A7o&feature=related
I find myself wondering when I wrote my last big email, and I cant remember if it was recently or weeks ago! I´m sorry to be so neglectful, but internet time has become very valuable and I find myself rushing through it for more and more Peace Corps related work things then personal things. Which I guess is a good thing, I´m actually working!
Things are more of less lovely as usual in my little Pueblo. I get to know more and more people every week, and ever new interaction I have leaves me in a good mood and smiling. I have gotten closer with a few friends in my site, leaving me with one girl to girl talk with and a couple of guys to chat with in the electricityless evenings. It really makes the time fly having buddies and people to talk to and I am so very grateful to have that. A third year volunteer from my area who actually chose my site for me told me that she things my town is the best town in all of the volunteer peace corps sites in Peru. When I asked her why, she said it was because the people are so nice and open here, and its not like that in most other places. For that, I am so grateful I can not even put it into words. I don´t know how will I would fare if I was in a town with very reserved, quiet and unfriendly people, as I´m sure is the circumstance for some of our volunteers! I would like to say I´m lucky, but Peruvians have trained me to say ¨Gracias a Dios¨ so I will stick with that.
But what am I up do on a daily basis you might ask? Well, it changes everyday, but there are some emerging patterns. Almost every single morning I get up early to go for a run before breakfast. This always brightens my morning with lots of hello´s, greetings, and sometimes even people stopping me to ask about my summer school classes or to invite me to things. Afterwards, I head to the river, often with my little puppy companion tagging along to keep me company, and always acompanied with a lecture about how I am going to get sick because it is too cold to bath in the mornings (I will get to that later). For breakfast, I try not to be bummed out when there is no avacado and look longingly at my pile of white rice with a tiny piece of either pork or fish on top and will it to be a bagel with cream cheese. But, it makes days WITH avacado seem that much greener and better! After this typical morning, I either stay in the house and prep for one thing or another (upcoming class, who I should go to interview, etc), or I read. Or, I go with my host sister to deliver the breakfasts to our hard working Dad, sister, Mom and brother. This consists of a half an hour walk in the sun to the mango feilds where we might stay for half an hour or an hour chatting with the workers and watching them pile up more and more green mangos that will be headed for the US (enjoy Peruvian Mangos! They are in season and delicious!). A lot of the young boys from my town also work there, so we usually walk by to say hi to them, and try to not to get caught in a Canavales game of water splashing.
Afternoons are more idle, usually spending time playing with my host siblings, listening to cumbia music and visiting neighbors. Things vary sometimes when I have to do laundry or go into town for work or internet things. By the time evening roles around, the family starts to come back from a long day of mango picking and we chat, eat, and joke around. Sometimes we go to watch the boys play soccer, althugh that has died down ever since my oldest host brother left to work in the capital city for a while. At night I get visits from friends or wander around talking to people (especially on Sundays). I find myself feeling happy most days and love the laid back atmosphere of small town life. Although, I am starting to learn gossip and am sure the horror stories about people will eventually pile up.
And how is my little puppy doing? Wonderful. He knows I am his loving mother and comes to me anytime he is hungry. I´m also the only one he will follow to different places, and the other day I discovered that he has taken on a protective role of parking at other dogs and people from my feet. To the eyes of the locals this is a ver good thing, because he is protecting me. I can see how this could be endearing, although I´m not looking for an attack dog.
But backing up a bit to the hot and cold beliefs here in Peru. The belief here is that people need to be balanced by hot and cold substances and that it is very bad in particular to be too cold. So, in the mornings when the sun isn´t out and its not hot yet, me bathing seems crazy because I am most deffinately going to catch a cold. Not matter how much I am soaked in sweat, the locals who see me going to the river early in the morning think I am nuts. But, this hour of bathing gives me some of the only alone time I get and is very refreshing for me, so I stick to it despite doubts from the locals. This hot and cold balance belief also applies to food, leading to all kinds of theories like people being sick from eating a popsicle at night, or eating avacado when they had a cough.
Today is also the first day that I think the rainy season might actually be starting. It is the first time I´ve seen rain here so early, and it led to less motos traveling in and out of my town and the main town (with the internet) being filled with water. I am interested to see what will happen in a few weeks when the real hard rain comes and I will apparently be unable to leave my town due to the mud and the rising of the river. Only time will tell!
The last bit of fun news is that this upcoming week is going to be a lot of fun because it is my host Dad´s, sister´s AND brother´s birthday! As well as another gift tree cutting party with dancing and music on the 14th (yey for valentines day party!). Apparently they celebrate valentines day here too and I have had my fill of jokes about finding myself a boyfriend for or at this party. I will never tire of the local women being stunned by my singleness and wanting to fix me up for marriage right away.
I guess I will leave you all with links to my favorite songs here in Peru so that you can know what I listen to almost every day! But if you are interested, just look up Grupo Cinco (5), Hermanos Yaipen, Grupo America, or los Astros Del Peru. Always a good start for good old Peruvian Cumbia. Because unlike the U.S., in peru they have a handful of home bread groups that play all the time on the radio and actual come to small little pueblos like mine to play! Very exciting. Enjoy! I love you all and miss you to death. Please please please keep me updated, I love getting emails!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMknaRGpm5I (my favorite song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pavXtx6_A7o&feature=related
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Poco a poco
Poco a poco is how everything feels these days. Little by little. The language, the culture, daily ruitines, etc.
I feel like it has been a while since I wrote an update, but I´m sure in reality it hasn´t been too long. I know you all have been anxiously awaiting my stories! haha. Just kidding. But in reality, I do anxiously await email updates from you all, so keep them coming!
Things have been going well in my site, with the regular ups and downs of anxiety that accompany new volunteers in their work. In terms of my family life, everything is going very well. I get along really well with my siblings and usually it feels just like a real family. Of coarse, it has been a LONG time since I lived with a 5 or 7 year old, and at times I just don´t know how to deal with my two youngest siblings. Not to mention the differences in child rearing here and the amount of work they do around the house makes me sometimes forget that they are kids! My host Dad has been a big help in daily life, bringing me to meetings and always introducing me to people and helping me in conversations when I don´t understand. He is a great guy and I am grateful to have his help.
In the community I am starting to feel more and more at home. With a few of my neighbors I feel comfortable dropping by their houses and chatting for. My name gets yelled by local kids in most parts of town instead of Gringa. And with my closer neighbors and friends I get called Carito affectionately, and it makes me feel at home. I am even starting to make some friends in site... mostly my oldest host brothers friends and my host aunts, but slowly but surely I am progressing in the friend department! My little puppy is doing well, he is getting fatter and is tortured daily. But, today he got his first vaccination and I got a bunch of tips and flea medicine from the vet, so he will be in good health! He makes me smile and I´m glad I have his tiny company sometimes.
For those of you who are wondering, which I think is most people, I feel like I should explain exactly what I am doing here besides playing with my puppy and making friends. The goals of the Peace Corps are to develop sustainable community projects (for my in the environment) and cultural exchange. The cultural exchange is easy and a daily process. Thank you Mom and Dad for the book on Ithaca, because everyone loves it... although they think it represents all of the US and I have to explain that it is only one place! In terms of projects, we are meant to start them after 3 to 4 months to give us time to develop a diagnostic of the community and to understand better what the problems really are. That is the stage I am in, which means a lot os stress in terms of researching, but also a lot of fear about how to go about this diagnostic thing. It is scary sometimes to go and ask people pointed questions about their trash and the environment, and I honestly hate doing it. But, as my boss always says, it is very important becasue I wont be able to help if I don´t know what is going on. This is something I really like about the Peace Corps, is their attempt to really integrate and understand a community before diving in with random projects and throwing money at communities without and long terms sustainable goals. So... heres hoping I can develop something long lasting and sustainable!
Right now, I have started a little summer school with the local kids teaching English and Environment. It is fun and easy going, I teach two days a week, two different classes. My older kids are really great and I think they enjoy the class. The younger ones are a struggle because I didn´t realize at first that a lot of them cant read. Now that I know, I´m hoping to make the class a lot more interactive and fun for them. It also gave me the side project of working one on one with my younger host sister to help her learn to read. So, if any of you have good ideas about teachig english, tips, games or songs... let me know!
I guess my last piece of news is that I am learning to spear fish! It is really fun and pretty tiring but I love it! I usually tag along with the boys while they chuck their fish to the shore for me and the other girls to collects (which I also had to learn to do... its not so easy to hold on to a fish!) until the boys are tired or finished and then they let me go at it! My total caught amount is 5 fish! I´m very proud. Pictures are soon to come of my fishing adventures.
Other than that, I am on a very slow terrible computer, so I will finish this email for now. I love and miss you all and I hope you can send me updates soon!
I feel like it has been a while since I wrote an update, but I´m sure in reality it hasn´t been too long. I know you all have been anxiously awaiting my stories! haha. Just kidding. But in reality, I do anxiously await email updates from you all, so keep them coming!
Things have been going well in my site, with the regular ups and downs of anxiety that accompany new volunteers in their work. In terms of my family life, everything is going very well. I get along really well with my siblings and usually it feels just like a real family. Of coarse, it has been a LONG time since I lived with a 5 or 7 year old, and at times I just don´t know how to deal with my two youngest siblings. Not to mention the differences in child rearing here and the amount of work they do around the house makes me sometimes forget that they are kids! My host Dad has been a big help in daily life, bringing me to meetings and always introducing me to people and helping me in conversations when I don´t understand. He is a great guy and I am grateful to have his help.
In the community I am starting to feel more and more at home. With a few of my neighbors I feel comfortable dropping by their houses and chatting for. My name gets yelled by local kids in most parts of town instead of Gringa. And with my closer neighbors and friends I get called Carito affectionately, and it makes me feel at home. I am even starting to make some friends in site... mostly my oldest host brothers friends and my host aunts, but slowly but surely I am progressing in the friend department! My little puppy is doing well, he is getting fatter and is tortured daily. But, today he got his first vaccination and I got a bunch of tips and flea medicine from the vet, so he will be in good health! He makes me smile and I´m glad I have his tiny company sometimes.
For those of you who are wondering, which I think is most people, I feel like I should explain exactly what I am doing here besides playing with my puppy and making friends. The goals of the Peace Corps are to develop sustainable community projects (for my in the environment) and cultural exchange. The cultural exchange is easy and a daily process. Thank you Mom and Dad for the book on Ithaca, because everyone loves it... although they think it represents all of the US and I have to explain that it is only one place! In terms of projects, we are meant to start them after 3 to 4 months to give us time to develop a diagnostic of the community and to understand better what the problems really are. That is the stage I am in, which means a lot os stress in terms of researching, but also a lot of fear about how to go about this diagnostic thing. It is scary sometimes to go and ask people pointed questions about their trash and the environment, and I honestly hate doing it. But, as my boss always says, it is very important becasue I wont be able to help if I don´t know what is going on. This is something I really like about the Peace Corps, is their attempt to really integrate and understand a community before diving in with random projects and throwing money at communities without and long terms sustainable goals. So... heres hoping I can develop something long lasting and sustainable!
Right now, I have started a little summer school with the local kids teaching English and Environment. It is fun and easy going, I teach two days a week, two different classes. My older kids are really great and I think they enjoy the class. The younger ones are a struggle because I didn´t realize at first that a lot of them cant read. Now that I know, I´m hoping to make the class a lot more interactive and fun for them. It also gave me the side project of working one on one with my younger host sister to help her learn to read. So, if any of you have good ideas about teachig english, tips, games or songs... let me know!
I guess my last piece of news is that I am learning to spear fish! It is really fun and pretty tiring but I love it! I usually tag along with the boys while they chuck their fish to the shore for me and the other girls to collects (which I also had to learn to do... its not so easy to hold on to a fish!) until the boys are tired or finished and then they let me go at it! My total caught amount is 5 fish! I´m very proud. Pictures are soon to come of my fishing adventures.
Other than that, I am on a very slow terrible computer, so I will finish this email for now. I love and miss you all and I hope you can send me updates soon!
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