The Real Reason I'm Here

I don't know if you knew this, but the real reason I joined Peace Corps is to learn how to have and raise babies. It's true. It started like this...first I got my site assignment and the paper I received with the names and ages if my host family listed the age of the youngest member as "baby". When I arrived, I found out that "baby" meant 3 months old. I was a little nervous about this at first, but as it turned out, Victor Raul (aka "baby") is awesome and barely ever cried. Also, at that point he could hold his head up, so I didn't have to worry about the whole supporting-the-head thing that always makes me nervous when holding babies (that and the fear that I'll drop them).

Fast forward to April of this year, I became the godmother of Victor Raul. I'm now a "comadre" (co-mother) with my host mom. Great. But again, it has actually been fine so far since he's an awesome child.

Jump ahead to last week, when, drum roll please, I found out that my host mom is pregnant with her 7th child! I have no words for this. Well yes I do...shock. Holy crap, there's going to be a pregnant woman in my house and a new born come May 2010.

Additionally, I can't tell you have many conversations between señoras I've been privy to in which they discuss in detail pregnancy, child birth and child rearing. They usually joke that they're scaring me off from having kids, which is partly true, but not completely. While child birth does freak me out, I definitely listen to what these women talk about because let's face it, these fertile women know what they're talking about! They dedicate their lives to having and raising children.

So now you know. Maybe when I come back I’ll become a midwife (that's a joke).

On another note, my bathroom project was accepted by the NGO Builder's Beyond Borders. What does this mean? 2 groups of high school students will be coming to my town early next year to build bathrooms for 44 lucky families. I'm thrilled to be a part of this project, but there is a mountain of coordination/planning to get ready for it.

Also, I'll be in Michigan from December 21-30. I hope to see as many of you as possible. I can't wait!

Labor Day

Happy Labor Day to everyone at home! I hope you're all barbequing, drinking beer, out on a boat, etc. It is not Labor Day here - we celebrated that back in May. Still, the weather has been turning nice here so it sort of reminds me of September in MI.

Anyway...wow the past 2 months have been very busy and I feel like I'm starting a new chapter of my Peace Corps experience which is great (for the most part). I'm now involved in 2 major projects in my town and I could not be happier about it. The environment project I'm working on involves planting 100 trees, installing garbage cans around town and 100 families will receive seeds to plant a small home garden. This project was approved by the local government and the idea is to have everything ready for the town anniversary on November 28th.

The second project I'm even more excited about. I just found out yesterday that Builders Beyond Borders accepted my bathroom project proposal! 2 groups of 40 high school students each from the US will come in February and April to build approximately 40 bathrooms in my town. Lack of proper sanitation and higienic practices is the biggest threat facing the health of my community and this project will directly address that problem. We will be building 3 different types of bathrooms with my personal goal being that it generates interest in the rest of the community and others will be motivated to build their own bathroom.

Aside from work, I traveled to Huaraz in the department of Ancash in late July. The trip was amazing and so much fun. Huaraz is a city located in the gorgeous mountains of Peru. Wherever you look you see snow-capped mountains and greenery. The city itself is filled with trekkers/tourists which means there's good food everywhere! I spent the week going on day hikes, spending time with other volunteers that I rarely see and just hanging out.

On September 12th I (along with my training group) will celebrate 1 year in Peru. Then on December 1st we will celebrate 1 year at site. As I approach the end of my first year I, of course, find myself reflecting on the past year. There have been a lot of emotional ups and downs, but especially now that I have projects going and am keeping busy, I realize how fortunate I am to be having this experience. I am meeting a lot of truly amazing people and making friendships that I believe will last many years.

As always, I hope everyone is doing well at home. I hope to see many of you during Christmas. I don't know wxactly what dates I'll be home yet, but I should be in MI for about 10 days. Talk to you soon!

Not much really

What's been going on lately? Well...mostly spending time at site which has been good since I've been able to get a project going (even though it's more of an enviroment project than water and sanitation, but oh well). But, of course I've been traveling a little as well.

I would say that things in general are going well. I've now been at site for 8 months now and I finally feel comfortable and able to get things going. I'm not really homesick anymore and I don't really miss things about home as much as I used to, which is good.

Truly, I don't know what else to write today. Like I said, things are going well and I'm getting work done. What do you all want to hear about???

The Jonas Brothers Come to Bernales

Ok well not literally, but the young people here have discovered them. One of the coordinators was telling me that her 19 year old son wanted her to buy one of their CDs when we went to Pisco. High School Musical has also arrived. I heard a girl singing along to one of the Vanessa Hudgon's songs about 30 minutes ago. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I have not only seen HSM, but also the Jonas Brothers movie where they're at a summer camp. During training last fall, I was living with 2 young girls (5 and 12), so needless to say, I watched a lot of Discovery Kids and Disney. I even got to see the Backyardagains which I know about due to my little cousin Ava. Truth be told, Discovery Kids and Disney are great to watch when your still not great with Spanish. I also saw Horton Hears a Who and Kung Fu Panda last fall in español...they were great. But when I hear the Jonas Brothers blaring from a house when I walk down the street, it makes me laugh a little to myself.

Anyway, the weather is getting cold here. Yes, it gets cold in the desert apparently. I thought I would have no use for my wool socks, jackets, sweaters, hiking boots, etc., but I've been wearing them daily! Weather.com says it's about 60 degrees, which really isn't that cold, but either I'm becoming a totally wimp or more likely I think is the fact that my house isn't exactly enclosed makes for an all around chilly day. Add to that the fact that I have cold water showers and it makes it a little more undesirable. It's also been raining a little here, not enough to have muddy streets, but enough so that my slanted roof let in a bunch of rain that soaked half of my bedroom floor. Luckily, my host dad put some plastic on the roof, so now my room is a little warmer and only a little rain got in last night.

I don't mean to complain. I actually think the cool weather is making me more productive. I've been running more and I got quite a bit of work accomplished last week. Moving around means getting warmer, so it's working I think. I also have a whole new appreciation for my compañeros in the mountains. One of my friends told me that he grew tired of doing laundry and having mold grow on his clothes (they wouldn't dry due to the constant rain), so he takes his laundry to the capital city every 2 weeks and has it cleaned.

Shoot...gotta run...more later.

Traveling Around Peru

Sorry guys, almost 2 months since my last blog! For the record...I actually tried to update at the beginning of April, but my computer would not let me post it. So I got frustrated and forgot about it. Anyway, it's been a very busy couple of months. Here's a quick overview:

March
1. Reconnect: All the volunteers from my training group got together to talk, vent, see where to go from here, relax, etc. It was great to see everyone and enjoy the beach for a few days.

2. Katie visits: It was great to see someone from home and catch up. We only had 2 days, but we managed to catch up quite a bit (that's what happens when you get 2 talkers together)

3. Behavior Change Workshop: Why people do or do not practice a certain behavior and why...study this for 3 days...exhausting.

end of March, beginning of April
1. Project Design Management workshop with community partner: the title pretty much says it all.

April
1. Holy Week in Ayacucho: Beautiful scenery, awesome religious processions, interesting history, amazing handicrafts (i.e. lots of shopping), good food, a little cold and rainy....amazing overall
2. Ben visits: in a word...perfect! The love of my life comes to see my new life. We ate good food, saw the sites, became godparents, watched TV, walked a lot, had a wonderful time together.

That's the quick summary. It's been an amazing and exhausting couple of months. I'm glad to be back at site and try to start a project. Today I have a feasibility meeting with one neighborhood to see if we can do a latrine project...hopefully it goes well.

I hope to hear from you all soon. I miss everyone dearly and hope you are all doing well back home. Chau for now!

A Note About Baking in Peru

Post #2

Things made (food-wise) while in Peru and how they turned out:

Item: yellow cake with chocolate frosting
Result: the cake didn't reallyg rise and the frosting was incredibly sugar-y

Item: banana carrot bread
Result: again, it didn't really rise, but tastes delicious

Item: peanut butter
Result: very good, but a little burnt tasting

In the US, one of my favorite things to make are brownies. When I was studying abroad in Ecuador I tried to make them twice, and both times the turned out terrible (granted I forgot to do the whole high altitude conversions). With the cake and bread attempts here, I think it might have to do with the sugar. The sugar I buy here is the big granule type (kind of like Sugar in the Raw) and a friend told me this may be too heavy for the cake to rise...interesting.

In general, it's just hard to make conversions. Ingredients are different as well as oven-devices. The ovens that do exists here are generally gas powered and cost way to much to use. When I baked the bread and cake, I used an electric portable oven that did not have a temperature setting.

I am going to keep trying to make things until I can figure out some successes. The next thing on the list to make...oatmeal cinnamon raisin pancakes...I can't wait!

2 Posts!

I'm taking full advantage of the free internet use in the hostal in which I'm staying to write 2 posts today! The first is about being here in Lima.

I was actually feeling a little anxious about coming to the "big city", but as soon as I arrived, that anxiety left me. The biggest surprise I felt being here, was the stark contrast to my town and even Pisco (the closest city to my town). I mean, obviously it would be different from my town, but I just couldn't stop comparing at how different it is. My town is about 3 hours away from Lima and yet it feels like a different country. Lima, is by all means, a developed city (well the parts I've seen at least) and I'm sure would be comparable to most other big cities. There's fancy clothes shops, malls, movie theaters, museums, Starbucks, McDonalds, etc.

I was walking around Miraflores (the very touristy part of the city) most of the first day looking for potential hostals for future trips when friends and Ben come to visit. I kept being mesmerized at how pretty houses were, how flat and paved the sidewalks and roads are, the street lights and pedestrian walkways. I should note that the 2007 earthquake was very destructive and I imagine that is much the cause for why Pisco still has a very "torn up" look. When I go to Pisco, I check my mail, check my email, go to the market to buy some fruit, and leave. In contrast, I could just wander around Lima for a couple of days and eat good food and be perfectly content.

I was also surprised at how "accustomed" to my site I am. Like everything in life, you get used to change. I was pretty miserable my first week (few weeks really) in my town just wondering how I was going to live there and what I'd gotten myself into. Now, I like it! I have my routine, I know where things are and most of all, I enjoy the simplicity. Even better, I don't spend money in my site. The first day in Lima I probably spent at least S/. 100 (about $33, but in comparison to maybe spending S/. 20 when I go to Pisco, this is a lot)! One thing I thought was rather ammusing, was how "campo" I am when is comes to appearance. In my town, with the weather being the way it's been, I'm getting used to sweating all day long and it doesn't bother me anymore. Also, I don't wear makeup. As I was walking around sweating through my shirt in posh Miraflores with people in their designer jeans and looking very clean, I felt so dirty (and I had showered that morning!).

I have to admit...I love being in a city. The first day here, I ate shawarma with hummus, got drawn into the coffee-rich aromas froma cafe, and gazed into the store windows. I love the endless possibilites of things to do, the parks, and just the general busyness of a city. At the same time, just like traveling in the US, I look forward to going home and getting back to my routine.

I'll be back to the city in 1 week to travel up north to the beach for "Recennect" (getting together with all 46 people from my training group) and then again to hang out for a few days when my friend Katie and her sister come to visit. This next month is going to be full of traveling which I am both excited about and dreading a little (I hate living out of a suitcase). The time is going by much faster now, but I have an inkling that'll drop off around May. Anyway, things are good and I'm very happy with how everything has been working out recently. Now to just make sure this continues...