Campo-States-Big city Lima-Junin

Where do I even begin??

For starters, sorry for not updating more. I promise that in 2012 I will be better about it because I now have good internet everyday! Please enjoy this entry full of pictures and love!

I am now back in Peru after a wonderful month in the United States. I managed to get my peruvian desert dog to New York, after a very complicated and costly interaction. He is happy and now bonding with my parents while I miss him terribly and all the time. I had a BLAST in the Ithaca, Kentucky and Toronto while I was home. I told Mom that I had about 6 major highlights and she said that is more then she has in half a year sometimes! So I feel very lucky. I saw so many friends and friendly faces, got to visit my Mom´s Montessori school, had a hilarious and fun filled Christmas in Kentucky and New Years full of lantern walks, drinks and dancing. Kentucky was so great because so many of my cousins came this year and we laughed so much I swear I came out it with stronger ab muscles! On new years, Greg and Jackie and I somehow all came together at the same place without planning it and broke in the new year together dancing around and just acting like the crazy Booth´s we always are. I had a visit from one of my best friends in Peace Corps for 4 fun filled days where we explored Ithaca and drank lots of hot chocolate and caught up on our girl talk. I even made it to Toronto to see some of my college buddies and hang out with all my brothers wonderful house mates, accompanied by another Peace Corps girlfriend from Rochester. At the end of the trip I must have wanted to stay longer because I mis-read my plane ticket and completely missed my flight! I don´t know how that happened because I like to think I´m pretty responsible about dates and traveling usually. But, it was solved easily and I ended up leaving the next day, 2 days before I thought I was going to leave. It was a shock to suddenly be going back before I was ready, but it was nice to arrive to a warm climate and a bed that is mine.

Being a volunteer in Lima is a completely different reality. I work 9 to 5pm, I take a bus to work. I speak a mixture of English and Spanish all day. I live on my own, cook my own food and its… well… its like being a grown up again. I take a 40-minute bus to work everyday and usually listen to music or read a book. One day, in the giant city of Lima with almost 9 million people, a guy got on the bus and sat next to me while I was deeply engaged in my book. He didn´t say a word but eventually I looked up and realized he was someone I knew! It was such random meeting; I had just met him that weekend as one of the friends of a fellow volunteer. He proceeded to tell me about his work experiences. Do any of you remember a service that would turn your voicemails into text messages that you could read? Turns out, that is not a computer translating your voicemails to written text, but Young Peruvians who speak English writing them out for you! He told me hilarious things about not being able to understand accents well, all the wild things people would say in voicemails, and noted that the of the voicemails in Columbia he listened to, 90% of them said ¨I bet you are cheating on me!¨ often in much stronger language. Not only that, but he also used to do translations for Hispanic clients in American hospitals. The hospital would call a number and it would go to his phone and he would help to translate the whole medical interaction.

Where I have decided to live is a 10 minute walk from the beach front and right in the heart of one of the nicest parts of Lima. I have a room in a shared house where there is a comical mixture of characters including a salsa dancing polish couple, a writer and internet editing single woman in her 40´s, an 18 year old Peruvian girl who works and is studying to be a chef, and a middle aged man from Canada working in something I can never remember and barely speaks any Spanish. Oh, and of course there is the 40-something owner who is a fun loving, self employed guy taking care of the house. It is a fun and funny family who has invited me in with open arms, taking me out dancing, inviting me to food and offering to teach me to prepare certain plates. They are a friendly and outgoing group and I am content with the situation as it is right now. Soon another volunteer will be moving in as well. I have a great room with internet, tv and a great big window. It is a big change from my tiny, dirt floored, adobe house in the dry forest of the north of Peru.

However, after only 2 weeks in Lima and a month in the states, I had seriously started missing some well-cooked Peruvian food. So, one Sunday I made a voyage to the outskirts of Lima just to visit my training host family and to prepare and eat delicious Peruvian food with them. It was one of my best days in Lima so far! I re-bonded with the family, the sibling all being around my age. We joked around as I helped them around the house and sang along to popular songs. It was great to feel Peruvian again.

In terms of my job, I am considered the

coordinator of the environmental volunteers in Peru, of which there are about 35. I work directly with the director of the environment program in the office, doing any errand he asks while being a contact person for the volunteers when they need materials or advice. Another part of this job is traveling with my boss to every environment volunteers´ site to see how they are doing, see their projects and see if they need any support. I am just retuning from a week long trip t

o Junín, a province of Peru high in the Andes mountains where there really is no escap

ing the cold. There are 9 volunteers there, and we visited two or three

of them each day, using a Peace Corps issued car. We left from the boiling hot summer climate of Lima and by late afternoon we arrived to 3,800 meters and freezing cold temperatures. The first night we all just went to sleep so that we could acclimate to the high altitude and cold. At night I slept in layers of clothing, tons of blankets and never took a shower because it was just too cold to take of my clothes and then at the end have get out of the luke-warm water. The volunteers in this region are some of the most hard core I have seen. They suffer extreme cold without ever being able to enter a warm home or sit by a fire. Some of them don´t bath for weeks at a time because the

water is ice cold and they just don´t feel the need. We even have the highest working volunteer in the world at 4,200 meters! And yet, they work hard and are an incredible group of young volunteers. Almost all of them have started ¨recycling buys¨ where they call on the community to bring in their plastic bottles and tin cans to sell to them. They buy them and then sell them to a big city nearby, making their money back. All the recycling they buy is garbage that previously would have been burned in people´s back yards. Such a small step, with such a big impact! All of that with some of them only having a hole in the ground in the middle of a field for a bathroom! I feel so fortunate to have the position I have, getting the opportunity to see the changes these volunteers are making all over the country despite the hardships of poverty, cold and learning a new language.

I spend my free days in Lima (and I´ve had very few) walking along the beach front, meeting up with friends, preparing food

for the week, going to the beach to take advantage of the few months of sunshine and still trying to organize my room and life. I now have access to most luxuries and don´t feel myself missing American foods or culture because I am basically in a mini Spanish speaking America with a Peruvian cultural twist.

On a personal note:

My theme song for January: Adele - ¨Someone Like You¨

¨Never mind I´ll find someone like you,
I wish nothing but the best for you too
¨…sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead¨
¨…regrets and mistakes they´re memories made, ¨
Who would have known how bitter sweet this would taste¨

Not trying to be a downer, but that is just how my year started out and Adele has been inspiring me with that song all through the month. Please don´t get me wrong, I have been super happy lately!

Hasta pronto,
-C

Remembering the Weird

As Peace Corps volunteers (or really anyone who first arrives in a foreign country), we notice all the funky things that are different and/or amusing about our towns and countries. We laugh at donkeys walking across soccer fields during a game, or cringe all night long as roosters crow. After a few months (or years), we become used to these things and don't notice their odd-ness anymore. I cant now sleep through thirteen roosters crowing every hour all night long. I don't notice pigs wandering across my path, or feel fear at the dogs barking aggressively at me everywhere I go. I don't notice goats and sheep tied to carts or strapped to the top of cars everywhere I go, bleating loudly and sometimes sounding like children. However, I recently attended Peace Corps "end of service" conference that they hold for all volunteers three months before we finish our two year service. The goal of the conference is to prepare us for all the paperwork and technical items we will need to know for returning to the United States. It also provides us with an opportunity to get together with our training class and gives us tips for saying goodbye to our communities and winding down our projects. I am not leaving quite yet, so I felt a significant amount less stressed about the paperwork aspect. But, I did take to heart some of the things they said about how to leave our communities because I will be leaving my little norther Peruvian town that was my home for two years. The tips they gave us were to take as many pictures of possible of all the things we had noticed when we first arrived as funny or strange, because anyone we meet in the future will probably enjoy seeing it and hearing about it. So, that is what I have started to do. In the mean-time, I have also paid more attention to the everyday hilarious things that happen to me and would like to recount two funny, recent stories here today.



Airplanes

The other day I was outside sitting in front of my house. I was waiting for a moto-taxi to drive by so that I could wave it down to drive me into the main town to meet up with some fellow volunteers for some organizing and internet work. All of a sudden my two youngest host siblings (7 and 9) yelled at me from a few feet away, standing in the soccer field and staring at the sky, "carol, come here, come here!"
"What is it?" I asked, feeling lazy as they often yell at me so come see weird things like how well they can play with a yo-yo. "A plane!!!" they yelled! I smiled and walked out to see what was actually a helicopter flying over-head. Their eyes were wide and their amazement great as they asked me all kinds of questions like; "where is it going?" "Is that how high you go when you fly in a plane?" I tried to explain that is was a helicopter and I didn't know where it was going.. but my explanations were lost in their amazement. I kept that with me the rest of the day, the pure joy and amazement two (and probably all the children in the town) felt as they watched one simple helicopter fly overhead. Simple pleasures.

Outdoor English in the Rain

I live in a desert. Well, technically a "dry forest," potato patAto, right? It rains about 2-3 months out of the year (sometimes) for the rainy season. So, needless to say, when it is not rainy season, it hardly EVER rains. But, here in Peace Corps we are taught to constantly go with the flow and make the best of things. So, when I couldn't find the keys to the classrooms for my Saturday English and Environment classes this week, I just shrugged and decided I would do the class outdoors. As usual, most kids showed up about 45 minutes late after I had been teaching the 5 or 6 on time kids. As soon as everyone arrived, it started to drizzle and we were forced to scrunch together under the patio area. I gave them coloring sheets and had them all color, outside, under a small roof while it rained lightly and I had only a poster sheet to write on to work with. The rain did eventually stop and the kids promptly spread out onto the concrete and copied down greetings in English laying on their stomachs and propped up on their elbows. I was so happy I brought my camera that day! While that class is always a nightmare in terms of class control because the students bring their 2-3 year old siblings and it becomes kind of like a daycare, this particular class kept me smiling because of the humor of it all.


Sleeping under the stars

The other night, all of us volunteers that are located in nearby locations got together to visit a fellow volunteer for his towns anniversary. We watched soccer and ate ice creams and chatted on his rooftop, a paved rooftop under the stars. Because there are many of us (6) and he has a small room, we decided to unroll our sleeping bags right there on the paved roof and sleep under the stars. Like I mentioned, we live in a desert so it really doesn't get that cold... ever. We had a cuddled together slumber party right out in the open, next to a highway as semi-trucks rolled by all night and the stars shined in the electricity-less town.

Thank you for reading!

Peruvian vacation

Well, I took my time, that's for sure! I am now in Lima for about a week for our two year volunteer medical exams and end of service conference. It is a final goodbye (three months in advance) for a lot of us, and has been a fun reunion so far. It will give me some time to catch up on some seriously set back emailing and updating and contacting!

So to start, I'm sure most of you have already heard but it has been officially announced in the Peace Corps Peru community that I have been selected to stay a third year as a volunteer coordinator for the Environment program in Peru, working out of the capital city of Lima. In other words... I'm not leaving! Somehow, Peru has sucked me in and I wasn't ready to go yet. I was looking for options to stick around for a while (travel, teaching English) and I somehow got offered a great position that will offer me some great office work experience, as well as a LOT of traveling to visit volunteers in the field. Fortunately, Peace Corps offer's third year volunteers a month to go home right around the holiday's! So I'll be around for Christmas and New Years and look forward to seeing as many friends and family as possible before I leave for another year.

So how was that trip I went on with my parents, Jackie, Steve and Carol? It was almost a month ago that it ended and none of us have written a thing about it (that I have seen anyway). Jackie, thanks for putting up a little bit of photographic evidence that the trip DID happen and my aunt, uncle, parents and sister didn't just get lost in the Peruvian wilderness for a month!

The trip started with my being broke and the family arriving in the Lima airport. I admit it, I cried out of joy (or was it relief? I had just taken the GRE that morning....) when I saw them and wrapped everyone in my arms with a giant smile on my face. We got to our hotel nice and late at night and were soon all asleep after a little night cap of gin and tonic... Oh how I felt like I was in America again! Things started out great food-wise. The breakfast at our Lima hotel was one of the best, complete with the regular bread and egg selection, but including special things like cake! We explored the city by foot, and by the afternoon I was dragging my family to a restaurant/bar to watch Peru play in the America Cup. They ended up placing third out of all the Latin America teams and Peru as a whole was very proud. This served as a great conversation starter from then on with all our guides and people we met. The family as a whole was unimpressed with Lima weather, which is constantly overcast and drizzling. The "bet you cant wait to live here for a year, huh Carolyn?" jokes never got old!

Soon we were off to our first tourist destination, Arequipa. Arequipa is one of the largest cities in Peru, in the southern part and in the mountains. In Peru, the south is much colder then the north (farther from the equator), we we were instantly breaking out our scarves and jackets. We were tired by the altitude, so we did a little exploring and were quickly worn out. Luckily, the tour my Dad planned for us meant that we got to be shuttled around in cars to various destinations most of the time, while different tourist attractions were explained to us (in English). We saw volcanoes and and beautiful churches and listened to more soccer games on the radio. Soon, we were up super early and headed off on a nice long drive through the country-side to Colca Canyon, where we were to bath in hot springs and see condors in flight. The views were beautiful and our guide was a riot. He was my age and spoke great English and had even lived in Kentucky! Small world. He told us all about the llamas, alpacas and vicunas, stopping along the way to let us take pictures and look for interesting wild life. Upon arrival, we were exhausted from the altitude and everyone went to take a nap while my Mom waited for our passports from the hotel reception. However, she herself got tired and went to close her eyes for a minute. That minute turned into an hour, and when she woke up she realized Dad was gone (thinking he had been in the bathroom all that time). Soon, when the haze of the nap faded away, she also noticed that none of her things were in the room! Woops. Wrong room! We managed to mess up quite a few beds that morning! That night was a blast when the guide took us to a tourist restaurant and I ended up dancing a traditional dance (that aunt Carol has named the "shakey shakey" dance). Dad got video footage, and I'm sure some of you have already witnessed it. I get to whip a 14 year old boy, and then get whipped in return. Always appropriate, right? Later that night, Jackie and I hit the "town" (really, just a tiny little village) with our guide and driver and danced the night away in a tiny hole in the wall where we were the only people there. It was a blast. In the morning, only a little exhausted and hung over, we went off to see the Condors! It was a beautiful site, but not the romantic alone "us with nature" that I sort of imagined. There were a TON of people there. But, when you saw the condors in flight, souring in the canyon, it didn't matter how many other people were there, it was a special moment for sure.

We had another day in the city of Arequipa after that where we had a walking tour of the city (I guess they assumed we were used to the altitude by then!) We learned about the different qualities of llama wool and visited a convent where were quizzed on exactly how many nuns lived there, and taught a little about the history of the place. While in the city, the food was delicious and my family got to experience a S./ 3.50 "menu" which is a cheap plate of traditional food that comes with a soup as a starter, a lot of rice and a (most likely) unboiled barley drink.... yum!

Then we were off to Puno! The family did not seem to love the city because the buildings were all half done and it was pretty small with very little to do. However, the main attraction was that it is the lake-side city of Lake Titicaca! The famous lake that Peru shares with Bolivia, the highest navigable lake in the world! We spent one whole day on that beautiful lake on a boat. We visited floating islands, where people actually build their homes and lives on compacted piles of reeds! They made a lot of jokes that when their neighbors don't want to help out with the community work, they just cut off their chunk of the island and watch them float away! My family was the most thrilled, however, when we saw some young boys, not wearing the traditional dress for the tourists for everyone else, chasing after and successfully catching a duck out from their canoes. It was funny and a treat to watch people acting normally. We went to another island called Tequille I believe, where we had one of the best lunches we had in the entire trip of trout while looking at the snow covered mountains of Bolivia across the lake. That night, we ventured out to find cheap-ish food and found a restaurant with giant plates of Peruvian food with the most hilarious translations I had ever seen!

Off to Cuzco!! The biggest tourist destination of them all, because from Cuzco we connected to Macchu Picchu. In Cuzco we requested to have very little guidance so that we could explore on our own. A lot of time was spent shopping shopping shopping, but on our first time we went straight to the central plaza to see some traditional, Spanish influenced, dancing and music from University groups all over Peru. The next morning, we toured around the nearby ruins with a new hilarious guide. We saw more llamas and alpacas, more tourist shops, and more beautiful views. In the evening we headed off to "Aguas Calientes" or "hot waters" where we were to spend the night so that we could to go Machchu Picchu NICE and early in the morning. We arrived at out hotel, Gringo Bills, pretty late and went straight to sleep. In the morning, bright and early before the sun, we chugged back some coffee and joined the masses in lines for buses going up the historical and famous Macchu Picchu. It was, of coarse, beautiful. The view was more incredible that one can imagine and we spent the entire morning walking around it, or just sitting and staring at the view. Jokes were told, stories remembered, but we were all entranced by what the ancient Mayan civilization left behind. I personally kept trying to imagine how they would live so high up! They must have been very strong. Afterwards, Jackie, Dad and I decided to hike down (yes, only down) to get some exercise before we started drinking beer to celebrate a successful trip! None of us could believe that the trip was winding down, but Jackie was getting more and more excited each day because we would soon be going to my home village.

So we spent another day or two Cuzco, taking it easy, exploring local markets and (me) thoroughly grossing out my family members with things in the market. And of course, shopping and eating! We watched two robberies happen, drank an excessive amount of coffee and talk about the things we had seen. When we headed off to Lima I think we were all happily exhausted. There we had to say good bye to Carol and Steve. It was sad to watch them go, but the silver lining was that it marked our next adventure to the North of Peru! The heat was awaiting!

We spent the night on Peru's luxury bus, the equivalent of $30 for an almost bed-like bus seat, dinner and breakfast. I got the hostess to put in Harry Potter so I finally got to see the second to last one! In the lovely city of Chiclayo, we had a relaxing day of eating some of the most amazing ceviche and exploring their large and famous market. That night, Jackie and I had big plans to hit the town but we ended up sleeping instead, worn out from the long trip we had only recently finished. The next day we jumped in "combis" or vans up to my city of Olmos, where we met up with my closest volunteer friends for lunch. We had a good time chatting and joking around until it was finally time for my American family to meet my Peruvian family. We loaded up all of out things in one moto (my Dad did not believe it was possible), piled my dog Botas on top and were off! We arrived to a soccer game that was about to start right outside of my house, no rest for my family! It reminded me of last year when the second my brother arrived in my town, I threw him in the back of a car to go to a soccer game in another time. No adjustment time with me! My parents were troupers, spending two nights sleeping on a mattress on the floor of my room, with my dog taking up all of their leg room, and roosters crowing all night long! They witnessed soccer game upon soccer game, my Dad attended his very first cock fight where he amused the spectators by attempting to bet only 3 soles! Most people bet above 10! He did manage to loose a sandwich and two beers to my volunteer friend, who also came out for the festivities. They were also good sports about going to a town dance and drinking ten beers with 12 people and only one cup. My Mom struggled a lot not being able to communicate in Spanish, so she decided she would just speak to everyone in English. Sometimes I would walk in on her telling an elaborate story to one of my little host siblings, looking at her blankly but respectfully and I couldn't help but want to burst into laughter. Translation was exhausting but rewarding, and I often found myself forgetting what people could and could not understand. My family also spent two nights in the town of Olmos, hanging out with my volunteer friends. My Mom even cooked us up some white bean chili! We spent a lot of quality time together, attempting to drink Peruvian wines (ouch!) and commenting on the awesome-ness of my adorable puppy!

It was really hard to say goodbye when they finally left. Everything went by way too fast and I felt like I still had way more I wish I could have shared with them. I'm grateful, though, that my family at home now has a link to my family here in Peru. It is something I don't think either family will forget.

On a personal note, things have been moving along fine. I felt a little lag on getting back into my work and now I am again dragged out of my town for Peace Corps reasons (and hence, more time for internet!). But, my local school recently bought its own computer, and I am donating two more thank you to Cornell University and my Dad's coordination! I'm excited to be a part of the technological education that will take place in my final months. My host Mom also had her 7th baby, a little girl, on September 1st at 8:45pm. They haven't chosen a name yet, and want me to make a list of all the girl names I can think of to help them decide. My life feels like its on a fast track and I cant believe that in less than 4 months I will be coming home for Christmas and saying goodbye to my little village for good. It will be a stressful and emotional time to get through the next few months of goodbyes, but I look forward to sharing the, what are sure to be, amusing, comical and tear filled goodbye stories with you all.

Thank you for reading and writing and being always present in my life abroad! All my love,

Carolyn

success stories

This update I want to focus on a few of my and my co-working volunteer success stories. First, I should explain that I live in a town called "O" which is a gigantic town made up of literally hundreds of "caserios" or "pueblos" which are mini-towns but are all governed by the O local government. O is like the city and the towns are the suburbs. It is so big that there are actually 7 of us volunteers living in O. Six of us do environment work, and one does work with youth development. My little town is called S but it is part of this larger town of O.

So my success stories therefore come in two parts: S success' which are more my own projects, and O success' that I share with my fellow volunteers. When I arrived in O we were only 3 volunteers in total. It was a small group and I worked mostly alone. Now, we are a like a unified force and the influence is obvious in our joint project progress.

I mentioned in my last email that I was working on getting running water to the local school in S. Well, I am happy to report that the water is now flowing! It makes me over-joyed to go to the school and watch kids run to the taps and rinse their hands and faces and wet their hair. They no longer have to care bottles of water to the school, or leave class to go to the river to carry buckets of water for their classrooms or for plants they are growing. It was a difficult and lengthy process, but through a few lucky connections and a little bit of charm, I found someone willing to install the pump and even buy the missing parts for free! So, I got the pump donated by an American non-profit group that donates to Peace Corps volunteer water projects called Appropriate Projects. I got the installing and missing parts put in for free and only had to spend the day hanging out with the men installing it. Not really that hard of a job now is it? But I cant even tell you how happy I was to see the water start to flow. The teachers are already starting up all kinds of tree planting projects on the school grounds. You can find pictures and a description of the finished project here: http://appropriateprojects.com/node/738

Also, a personal project that I recently completed was a recycling contest in the S School. I got all the classrooms to compete against each other in who could collect the most Kilo's of recycled goods. The younger kids got more excited about winning because the winning classroom was told they would have a party if they won. I gave them all a week to bring in recycling, suggesting they go for batteries for three reasons: 1) Because they weigh more, 2) They sell for a pretty good price, and 3) To get the batteries full of toxins off the ground and littered all over town. The whole project was very successful. In batteries alone the school collected about 30 kilos. I sold a couple sacks of bottles and paper the other day for the school and got 10 soles for the school (a little more then $3). I loved that the kids got into it and it was fun weighing all their items and watching them get excited about winning. The celebration party is planned for this Friday.

The next success story is a shared one. In O we do a radio show every Monday called "La Hora Ecologica" or the Ecological Hour where we talk about environmental issues of our choosing for half an hour. Surprisingly, we have gained a lot of popularity and we all get a lot of comments about people enjoying the show. We try to make it fun by writing environmental song lyrics to n*sync songs like Bye Bye Bye or having poetry contests amongst students in which the winners get to come to the radio and read their poems on the air. Last week, we decided to mix things up by inviting the only two male volunteers in O to do a show about woman's rights. It was an amazing show where the boys explained how we culture woman to stay in the home and be cooks by teaching them the ways of the kitchen early while young boys are given toy cars to go out and play. They mentioned how whistling to girls walking by is disrespectful and that men should imagine those girls being their sister's or daughters, and how they would feel. All things that seem obvious or at least ingrained in us in the U.S. However, I talked to my host Dad about it afterward and he said it was the best show we had put on. He said he had never thought about whistling at girls like it could be his own sisters. And the next morning, he got up at 4am with my host Mom to help her prepare breakfast that he would bring to work at 6am. He was very proud and says that he really liked the topic. That story about my host Dad has touched my volunteer friends, because sometimes we don't realize that we might make an impact on our listeners. But, I feel like our small little radio program really has the potential to share interesting and important information and at least make people think about different issues that are not normally presented to them.

The last story is also shared, and it is about the upcoming Festival de Limon. It is the Lime Festival which is basically a month long party in June in O. There are dance parties, beauty pageants, famous actors and actress presentations (from a famous novela!), moto-cross, bike races, etc. It is a big deal. This year, Peace Corps volunteers will be participating with our own float in the parade that will be decorated with recycled goods. We will also be trying to convince the mayor to install trash cans in the entire city for all the trash that will come of the giant, month-long party. We were lucky enough to somehow find ourselves invited to a live broad-casted meeting with the mayor about the festival in which Peace Corps was mentioned several times and we had the opportunity to mention the trash problem in the city. Side note: right now, O has no trash collection and only has trash cans in the plaza. Trash is generally put in sacks and carried out to the smaller rural areas (like where I live) and dumped on the sides of roads, or burned. We are trying to fight that, hopefully with a large landfill. But, we are taking baby steps and using the festival and the incoming tourists as a reason to deal with the trash problem.

Personally, the things I have coming up in June are the Festival de Limon that I just described and a boys Leadership camp in the department of Lambayeque. That means all the volunteers in the region, about 25 of us, bring two or three young boys from their towns for a three day and two night over-night camp in which we discuss leadership, goal setting, future job opportunities, play games and do a significant amount of sexual education. I have probably mentioned these camps before. Here in Lambayeque we do two camps a year, one for girls and one for boys. It's one of our biggest joint efforts and always is an enlightening and wonderful experience for the volunteers and kids involved. Also this month I am hoping to start up my very own youth program that will work with only upper level high school kids. It will be an integrated program in which the kids will learn about goal setting, job prospects and realities, they'll have to read book and keep journals, reach certain fitness goals and again, sex ed. A volunteer friend of mine is starting this program in her school and calls it the "Iron Man/Iron Woman" competition because it has fitness goals (like running a 5k) as well as educational goals. I decided to present it to the principal at my school and if she agrees, I will be in the school running this program, teaching classes a few times a month.

On a more personal level, June is my last month of training to run a marathon on July 3rd. So on the 4th of July I will be hopefully be celebrating America's independence by sipping beers on a beach after having run a ridiculously long time the day before. My dog, Botas Blancas, is still doing really well and is growing to be strong and a joy in my life. He follows me everywhere in town, going so far as to run with me when I bike places and jumping in moto-taxi's when I am getting rides to O. My volunteer friends in O are a blessing and keep me grounded, motivated and relaxed all at the same time. We often have "ladies nights" that involve a lot of popcorn eating, dancing and wine. And lastly, My host family continues to be a joy for me. We've had our ups and downs of getting to know each other, but we are now at a comfortable place. I get along really well with all of my host siblings and my host parents. My host Dad and I talk more openly then before and I feel more like a family member then a guest in the house.

One last story I'd like to share is a little about my host sister, who is 15 years old and inspiring to me because despite all she has against her (poverty, a so-so education, no free time) she has forged ahead. She is always getting her school work and her house chores done, has a positive attitude and has now convinced her parents to allow her to take computer classes on Sunday's so that she'll be technology savvy. I was so impressed when I heard she was taking these classes on her own initiative. She lives in a land where woman often drop out of school between the ages of 13-17 because of demands in their homes (someone needed to cook and clean), or because they decide to get married, often from early and unwanted pregnancies. Ericka for that reason is incredible because she doesn't let boys or peer pressure waver her from her ultimate dreams of leaving S to study and having a career. And while she is asked to do a lot in the home, she is fortunate to have a Dad that believes in woman's educational rights. She is one of my closest friends in town, despite our age difference, and she is always there to help me when I ask for advice or even just someone to edit my documents written in Spanish. She is really a shining star in the town and even in my host family and I feel lucky to be a part of her life.

For those of you who read my emails and updates, thank you for your support and for keeping me updated about things at home! I miss you and love you all.

elections and my work life

Hello my loyal readers/fans,

Because I know you are all big fans of my "work". Which reminds me, have I ever actually talked about the work I do here in my little town in Peru? In my last post I explained more about Peace Corps (happy 50th anniversary!), but I've never talked about what I do specifically. So, lucky email readers, your getting an email full of real-life Peace Corps volunteer work details, yey!

But first, as some of you may know, the Peruvian presidential elections (first round) just passed by on April 10th! Although I know almost nothing about any of the 5 candidates, it is an exciting time and the atmosphere is contagious. In my town, where access to news and information is limited, what I have understood of the candidates is that there is: a woman who's Dad was president a while back, a guy who has already been president and running again, and an "American" (who is really a dual citizen, born in Peru) that they call "PPK" because no one can pronounce his last name and his first two names are "Pedro Pablo". The woman is really popular among the women (shocking) in my town. My environment program boss says he likes PPK and got annoyed when I asked if he was American, saying that is what his opponents are trying to spread to get people who don't like the US to not vote for him. I watched the Debate the other night but found it mostly comical because I don't know much about the issues. I don't like admitting my lack of knowledge about all of this, but as a side note, Peace Corps has a strict policy against us volunteers getting involved with any political groups in order to keep us safe. So, for me that means knowing as little as possible so that I don't get opinionated or upset about the results. I guess the only thing I'm worrying about is the supposed anti-american candidate called Ollanta (his last name) because he might not want Peace Corps in the country anymore if he wins. Election day is Sunday, April 10th and it is mandatory voting in Peru or else you have to pay a fine. When I wrote this originally, it was before the elections, but just to update, Ollanta and Keiko are the two winners who will go on to the second round of voting in June for President.... interesting.

Ok, now going back to what I'm actually up to in my town. So, because the only real institution in my town is the local school, I do almost all of my work with them. In the city of Olmos, we (the group of volunteers in my region) have started a network of environmental schools that meets monthly and each participating school tries to do environmental classes and projects. Most of my work last year revolved around this. I helped them build a little tree nursery that was successful until summer vacation came around and no one watered them except for me once a week. I did a few little talks in the high school level classes about trash management and my school was motivated to buy out-door trash cans for the school where before everyone just threw it on the ground. Then we needed something to do with the trash so we sorted recycling to sell and built a mini-landfill for the non-recyclables. One of the more motivated teachers had her classes expand the tree-nursery and also started compost piles. Then, for fun and for "cultural exchange" I played for the girl soccer team, went to local parties and events and did a lot of laundry in the river with women.

This year is starting out with a bang and things are moving fast and I feel great about it! I was awarded money from an NGO in the US called Kids to Kids to do my summer school classes and that was incredible! My classes were really popular, growing almost every week. We did mostly English, with time set aside each class to do environmental lessons and sports/games. It was tiring and took almost all of my energy and time planning and executing the classes, but I loved doing it and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves as well. Summer for them was December, January and February. At the end of my classes, I took them on a field trip to a nearby local zoo! The kids and a couple parents were thrilled because they rarely get to leave town, let alone see exotic animals. So I was really grateful to Kids to Kids to give me enough money to sponsor that trip. Now school is back in session, classes started in March. So, we have another year of the environmental network that I'm excited about because we have a new volunteer in the region organizing it and she has some great ideas. I had the idea in February to start up a radio show for the entire city of Olmos and got my volunteer regional buddies together and we started a weekly, Monday afternoon show where we talk about the environment, health and other fun things. If you ever want to listen to it (even though its in spanish) you can find it at this site: http://superwfm.com/

at 4:30 (5:30pm in the US because of daylight savings time) on Monday's. You can at least listen to hear my voice and my sexy spanish talk, right? I love doing the show, and a lot of people in my town listen to it and even call the radio station sometimes to say hi while I'm there!

Other then that, I had money left over from my Kids to Kids grant, so I decided to buy things for the school. After talking to the principal, we decided on trash cans for every classroom and new soccer and volley balls. Because Kids to Kids gave me money for an environment and sports based camp, I feel these things are appropriate. I presented the new trashcans and blue paper recycling bins to every class in the school just the other day and it was really fun and exciting! Also, because my school doesn't have any running water but does that the infrastructure (piping, sinks, bathrooms, etc), I applied for another grant from an NGO called "Appropriate Projects" (http://www.appropriateprojects.com/) that gives money to volunteers in the field doing water project. They gave me enough to buy a new electric pump that will pump water from a nearby well into the tank of the school, effectively giving them running water!!! I was really excited about this as well, but the installment has been taking some time because the organization called the "fathers of the family" that works with the school wanted to fix up the piping and stuff first. But, hopefully sometime this month that water will be flowing and it will be MUCH easier to take care of all the trees I want to plant in the school!!!

Finally, this month I am organizing a poetry contest for Earth Day which is the 22nd of April for all the high school students. The winners get a movie, a trip to the town of Olmos with me, and they get their poems read on the radio show. Also, starting this Saturday I am starting an environmental camp for the elementary kids, and I will be doing monthly environment workshops with a group of selected high school students.

That is my work in a nut shell. There are obviously a lot of day-to-day things and failures and new ideas bouncing around all the time, like the annual boys and girls camp that we organize as a department (the whole "state" of Lambayeque) where we bring a few selected youth to a three day camp about leadership, health, etc. Right now, I am loving my job and feel happy and successful. I guess that is the goal with any job right?

Oh... and I learned how to milk a cow the other day! :)


So, I will be writing again soon but I wanted to send a little update saying hello to all of you. I hope everyone is doing well and I hope to hear updates/responses! I miss you all, thank you for being supportive.

Love and hugs,

Carolyn

cuentitos

March 8th is “dia de la mujer”, or international woman’s day. While I didn’t do anything special this year (last year was marked by a woman’s soccer game that I played with my community team), I still had it in mind. That day, my new “host niece” was born. My host sister had her first daughter, a little girl. My family was excited, but mostly relieved that the baby was born healthy and my host sister was ok. My host Mom had spent almost a month with her in the city of Chiclayo awaiting the due date and helping out. That meant my 15 year old host sister, Ericka, was left to watch over the house. I actually had a fun month having just her and me as the only two women in the house (my youngest host sister also went to the city with her Mom). We controlled the music in the house, watched American TV (Glee!) in English (which she enjoyed despite not being able to understand anything), and just hanging out more together. Sometimes, hanging out with teenagers, I forget that I, myself, am now an adult and am soon turning the even more adult age of 24.

On another note, I have decided to dedicate this blog entry to funny/interesting things that occur here in my daily life. I think a fun little list would be the best way to get this message across:

1) Now, when I see ducks or chickens I size them up for their fatness and think about how tasty they would be. I often fantasize about killing certain chickens that annoy me by sneaking into the kitchen and trying to steal food off of temporarily abandoned plates. They are a source of constant annoying, noise and food stealing… and I sincerely want to learn how to kill, pluck and prepare a chicken so that I can bring that skill back to the U.S. and have my own chickens. I feel as though this is a long way from when I left for Peru as a vegetarian of six years.

2) Keeping in mind that electricity is still new to my little Peruvian community, TV and movies (in color) are slowly being discovered. The whole culture of Disney, comedies, and horror movies has yet to be discovered here. The most popular movies here are Asian fighting movies. I cannot stress the obsession with ninjas and constantly fighting and killing. Surprisingly, these are actually NOT my favorite kinds of movies, and also not originally English films (as many of my Peruvian friends believe). So, I have taken it upon myself to personally introduce my friends and family to the wonderful world of Disney and popular movies like ‘Black Swan’ and ‘Slumdog Millionaire.’ It has been a rocky road because any movies without constant action or songs and dancing are considered boring and often I am demanded to turn it off or fast forward through the “talking parts” (and yes, I put the movies in Spanish). It is a common practice when watching the popular Asian fighting films to completely ignore the plot by fast forwarding through all the dialogue and only watching the action scenes. However, I have won over the host family with Disney films like ‘The Lion King’ and ‘Mulan.’ The other night I had all of my host sibling piled on my bed while I set up a home theater of sorts with my computer and portable speakers and we watched ‘The Lion King’ together as a family, including my host parents and siblings ranging from six years old to 20. It was a good time, and even some aunts and uncles came in to watch for a while.

3) Privacy: There is none. At any moment in the day I will probably be asked what I am doing, where I am going, or what I am going to do. While this could be viewed as annoying (and honestly, often is), I have finally come to understand it as common practice among all of my community members, not just directed at me. It is a conversation starter, and a way to seem interested in someone. I originally viewed it as an invasion (I don’t want to tell everyone exactly where I’m going and why all the time), but now I have started to understand that people here don’t have the same ideas about privacy and there are different ways to have it. First of all, being alone is very rare here. Kids share bedrooms with a few or all of their siblings their entire lives until they move out (often to start their own families). Those who move away from my town often leave with someone or move in with family in other towns or in the city. So, wanting to do things alone is considered strange. Where am I going with this? I have long since discovered the benefits of always having company, usually keeping my door open and allowing my siblings to feel welcome to come in and hang out while I do whatever I want to do (read, type this email, watch Glee…. Or prepare work materials of course). However, we all want to be alone sometimes and through observation I have figured out that people who want privacy or just don’t want to tell you all of their plans use evasive language like: A: “What are you doing.” B: “Nothing.” A. “Where are you going.” B. “Over there.” There is just not arguing with the logic of “por alla” or “por aqui” which means “for there” or “for here.” There are incredibly common responses for where are you going and what are you doing. Evasive and vague language is key if you want to keep anything to yourself. Also, as a side note, often flat out ignorance is used if you want to keep something to yourself. I find this response more than frustrating, but it is certainly effective. In a culture that is not at all abrasive or confrontational, I can see how ignoring someone is preferred over getting in their face.

4) Carbo-loading. Yup, I eat LOTS of carbs. That is probably the reason for the initial weight gain, followed by my inspiration to train for a marathon to stay healthy. In a world without refrigerators or a nearby local market, my only real option is to eat every meal with my family. Some volunteers have the joy of preparing a lot of all of their own food. I often fantasize about this possibility, but to keep myself sane I think of the down sides. Peruvian families often feel like it is a personal affront on their cooking or their ability to take care of you if they cant feed you or if you turn down their food. Therefore, if I cooked for myself (and I did try a brief fling with making oatmeal for breakfast), it would most likely only cause confusion and unneeded stress between me and my host family. So, I stick to eating my white rice with spaghetti on top. Oh yes, that is a typical plate. Sometimes there is chicken on top of all of that or an avocado to eat with it. But the super carb-loading is no exaggeration. I like to think about atkins dieters coming to my community and seeing the panic in their eyes and the confusion in Peruvians eyes when they cant find a single carb-free plate! Lucky for me, I love the food but just try to keep it in moderation. Without getting into my own personal eating habits, I thought it would be interesting to list a few delicacies that my host mother and sister (excellent cooks if you are asking me!) like to prepare:
a. Arroz con pollo – a classic lunch of dinner of white rice with a small piece of chicken on top. Often this is accompanied by what only can be described a ‘tinee-tiny’ onion or onion and tomato salad.
b. Sopa con arroz – this is a typical lunch, hot soup (in 100 degree, full sunshine afternoons) and a plate of white rice on the side. There soups always consist of noodles (sometimes only noodles), and occasionally special things like carrots (just a tiny bit) and potatoes. They taste amazing but you health nuts have probably noted the lack of vegetable portions…
c. Chifles y huevo frito – this is my favorite dinner that consists of fried bananas and a fried egg. Everything fried but ooooh so tasty… and hey, there is no white rice in this one right? Wouldn’t want to overdo it.
d. Arroz con pescado y yuka o camote – this is my absolute favorite breakfast. It consists of white rice with some boiled either yukas (a kind of potato) or sweet potatoes on the side and stir fried fresh fish with onions and tomatoes on top. It is incredibly delicious and probably the most nutritious meal I get. On Sunday’s they almost always serve this and ditch the rice!

So there are four classic meals, just to give you all examples. Canned tuna and beans were not mentioned but are also staples, served at least every other day. More rarely we get things like a little bit of pork or beef meat, ray meat. My overall favorite things to be prepared are beans, any kind. Lentils, white beans, brown beans, whatever, they always prepare them perfectly and they complement rice really well. In fact, I think rice and beans were meant to be served together! Just to wrap up all the food talk, I know that this part might come off very sarcastic but the truth is I do honestly love the food I am served. It might lack in some important vitamins and minerals that come from vegetables and leafy greens, but it tastes really amazing every time and does the trick (if the trick is making you full and giving you energy to perform physical labor all day)!

5) This will be the closing tale and it is more of a fun story. The other day I went to visit a friend of mine in my community. She is a 26 year old, married pre-school teacher who goes to the city every Saturday (a 3 hour journey, one way) to study in the university to get her degree in teaching and move up to be an elementary school teacher. In other words, she is super cool. She invited me over to cook with her, but it mostly turned out to be her cooking and explaining relatively simple cooking techniques to me. People in my town do not actually believe I know how to cook even the simplest things and are afraid to let me be in charge of things. So, she cooked me delicious meal of spaghetti with tuna on rice with a side of ceviche (raw fish “cooked” in lime juice... a Peruvian classic) and we downed it with an ice cold pepsi (her family has a refrigerator). The fun part was afterwords, when she decided to put on dance instruction videos and we burned off our super carbo meal with dance moves and jumping around her room like crazy people. It’s moments like those that I remember we are all people who like to have fun, even with out different languages, foods, customs and manners. We all like to get down and boogie!

So I think those are my most current updates and stories although I could continue on tangents about awkward river bathing experiences, my dog’s belief that he is bigger and stronger then 300 pound pigs and things my cat is a stuffed animal, or the fact that apparently small children “beat me” in mango eating skills. But, I’ll save those for the next entry.

Until then, keep drinking fresh coffee, eating bagels and cheeses, and overdo it on those vegetables for me! Love you all, thanks for reading!

Summer School

Sorry for the long delay in updating! Sometimes I want to put up an update and I cant figure out how to sign in and I loose patience in my limited internet time and thats that. But, I have to say that I’m feeling really good these days and things seem to be looking up. Everyone told us volunteers that things move faster and are easier (but more busy!) when the second year of service starts, and that couldn’t be more true! I feel like I cant keep up with the amount of ideas I have, applications I want to write, and projects I want to get started and it feels great! I am even more grateful for regular electricity in my community and the outlet I recently got installed in my room because I can now do computer work in my house. Although, admittedly I still seldom use my computer in my town because there are always a swarm of children around who come in and want to touch the keyboard and learn about computer use… which really interrupts my train of thought. Not to mention I’ve decided to take on a strict running schedule and am teaching classes and am utterly exhausted by 9pm every night and don’t want to do anything else but sleep.


I am enjoying my host family, and feel like our relationship has improved largely to my improvement in attitude after my trip home to the states. Also, I am much busier and go to bed earlier then before, meaning the time I spend with them is less but more meaningful. I may not have mentioned clearly before, but food in a constant stress for every volunteer because we live in areas where nutrition is always a problem. Not to mention it is difficult to feel a lack of control over your own diet and life in a foreign country where you can hardly control anything at all. Therefore, food becomes a stress and focal point for many volunteers, whether they attempt to cook for themselves but still get served their families meals making for uncomfortable confrontations, or be it you’re your family gets angry when you don’t finish your plate, thinking you don’t like it or are insulting their cooking. For me, food continues to be a stress because it is the regular choice between hot soup with only noodles in it on a blazing hot afternoon, or pasta with maybe some chicken bones and white rice on the side. However, I am happy that it is fruit season and can acceptably chow down on mangoes, bananas and avocados all day long. While I still cant quite face cooking with firewood and expect to succeed, I have taken a more active role in the kitchen by constantly being on cleanup crew, and bringing in things that I enjoy to prepare to the family, like eggs for omlettes or carrots for carrot salads. This change is mostly due to the fact that the new kitchen is in a more central location and where we all are. Before, the kitchen was a backroom that I felt a little unwelcome in. Everyone is always in the new kitchen and I like to be a part of food preparation, even if it is just washing the dishes once or twice a day.


My big piece of news is that my best friend’s family decided to give me a new dog. They chose it for me because it has green eyes like mine. He is absolutely precious and a well received new joy in my life. I have decided to call him “botas blancas” which means “which boots” because he has four white feet like he’s wearing boots. However, my community gets a kick out of it because the term “white boots” is commonly used as slang for the “other woman” or man that someone is cheating with due to a very popular cumbia song. So whenever I announce that I’m going to the rive with my “botas blancas” I get the expected roar of laughter and walk away with my tiny like 2 month old puppy following in tow. But, he is incredibly amusing and adorable and make me happy every day. I am even more protective of him then I was of my first dog and have made rules very clear to my siblings like no torturing him to make him into an aggressive dog, and no bathing him with detergent in the river because it destroys his young, fragile skin. I also pamper him with flee medicine and dog food. He is a lucky little pup!


Finally, I would like to talk about a new project of mine. Now, normally I am not one to advocate for donating to causes, I think that is a personal choice and people should not feel pressured. However, with no pressure what-so-ever, I would like to make all of you aware that I recently was awarded $500 from a water charity that donates specifically to Peace Corps volunteer water projects. Their policy is to front the money so that the project doesn’t have to wait, and relies on friends, family and random people from the American community to donate to the project afterward, slowly paying back the amount. I applied so that I could buy an electric water pump for my school so that the school in my community could finally have water flowing during school hours. The infrastructure is all there because there used to be a gasoline powered pump, but due to lack of money and government help, the pump went mainly unused. Now it is completely non-functional and kids are forced to carry gallon jugs of water from the river for any hand washing, plant watering or drinking water needs. This uses up their class time and hinders and reforestation projects or sanitation projects the school undertakes with its students. I don’t want to ramble on about it, so if you are interested in donating or just reading about my project (it’s got a picture of me, some kids and my name one it!), here is the web-site: http://appropriateprojects.com/node/531