1 year anniversary

I made it half way...YAY!

It's definitely been a tough year, but also one of the most amazing and eye-opening year's of my life thus far. Ok ok, that's sufficient cheesyness.

Things have been going well the past few months and I've been staying extremely busy. About 25 volunteers got together for Thanksgiving a few days a ago and we all had a wonderful time. We decided to do that traditional going around the table and saying what we're grateful for, which again, although cheesy, was really touching and wonderful. It was especially nice to have volutneers from up north, the new volunteers down in my region, Lima 3rd year volunteers, and other US friends/family memebrs all share the day together.

Today is the anniversary of my town and my host-mom's birthday as well...basically there's a lot to celebrate. It's definitely nice to just relax and blow off some steam for a little while. Next week I'll be in Lima for the whole week to get 1 year medical check ups (I really hope my teeth are ok, I've not heard good reports from the Health volunteers). After that I'll have 2 weeks at site to try and get a lot accomplished and then I fly to Michigan for a week!

I would say that's the summary of recent events. If you have Facebook, check out recent pictures I posted. That's another way to see what I've been doing work-wise (yes, I do actually work).

I hope all is well state-side. Cuidense!

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...

A new year off to a good start!

Wow! I guess I haven't written on my blog for a while...sorry about that. It's mostly because the internet connection in my town is slow and I don't go into the city as much as I was before. Anyway...here are some of the highlights of the past month...

New Years. Well I wasn't really sure what to expect for this holiday. People in my town told me that people stay up until midnight and then burn dolls made of their old clothing. This did in fact happen. If I remember correctly, people burn their old clothes to signify getting rid of the bad things of the past year and welcome good things for the new year. After that, my family and I went to the town complejo (kind of a communal area where people can play sports and hold meetings) where they had a DJ and people were drinking and dancing. The way people usually drink is to form a beer cirlce and pass a glass and a bottle of beer (note: not hygienic at all). Typically, I feel a little uneasy during these holiday celebrations because people tend to get very drunk. Even as I entered the complejo...with my family...a drunk man approached me and was asking to dance with me. I said "no thank you" and luckily my family helped to steer the man in another direction. I danced a little bit, but mostly felt awkward since I was getting a lot of looks which I interpreted as, "Oh look at the gringa dance." Around 2AM, I returned to my house and went to bed. It was a fun holiday, but very laid-back as well. The interesting part was that my family told me that Christmas was a holiday more for kids and New Years was for family to be together. So it was nice to just spend New Years Day with some family and relax.

Since New Years, I've been busy doing surveys and continuing to get to know the people and my town better. My mom (biological that is) asked me to write about what a typical day might be for a volunteer. As you might guess, I don't think a "typical" day exists. Furthermore, volunteers in Peru are scattered along the coast, some being in the mountains, and therefore the weather and culture makes their daily life different from mine. That being said, I can tlak about what a "typical" day has been for me lately:

- 6:30 or 7AM: wake up, sometimes go for a run, then have a breakfast of bread, coffee, and either an egg, avacado or on Sundays a tamale

- 9AM: check email, go talk to one of my counterparts (person I work with to get to know the community) read through Peace Corps materials for community projects and/or prepare for English classes

- noon or 1pm: eat lunch that consists of soup, rice, meat (usually chicken) and potatoes

- Between that time and about 3 or 4 PM I usually just hang out since it is too hot outside (the temperture isn't so bad, but the sun is very strong and beats down like you wouldn't believe)

- 4PM: meet up with one of the sector coordinators to do surveys/interviews with community members

- 8PM: finish surveys and head home, eat dinner - bread and tea - and then read before going to bed

- 10PM: asleep

February and March are probably going to be pretty busy for me which I'm actually looking forward to. My town and another volunteer's town near me were chosen (since they are similar populations) to do a behavior change study so I will have to work with the people in my town to get people coordinated for that. Additional there's a US military group down here studying diseases and they want to study the quality of water and number of cases of diarhea in my town. Needless to say, between working on these 2 projects plus continuing to do my surveys and community disgnostic, I will be veyr busy. Then March will be filled with meeting, Reconnect (where all the Peru 12 volunteers get together at the beach for a few days) and a visit from my friend Katie. Then in April Ben comes to visit! He and I will mostly likely spend most of the week in Lima with a quick visit to my town (since I've practically told everyone that he's going to visit and that yes, they can meet him).

Things having been getting much more comfortable and "normal" feeling. I still miss home and everyone there, but I feel more and more motivated to get to know people in my town, talk about some of the needs and begin conversations about what we can do to meet these needs.

Anyway...I've been at this internet cafe for a while now and I have some shopping I need to do. I hope all is well in the states and that you are all staying warm! Chau for now!

Fotos: 1.) My host-brother Juan and cousin burning dolls on New Years Eve. 2.) Celebration to kick off an environment project in my town

Oh to be a PCV!

It´s funny how you can guess and predict how things might be, but you will never really understand what it feels like until you experience it. Does that make sense? What I mean is, before I came to Peru, I knew being a volunteer would be difficult, I would get lonely and frustrated, etc., but I really had no idea what that would feel like. My friend Giorgi and I were just talking about this exact topic the other day - specifically homesickness and lonliness - when someone said they knew how she felt to which she respond, "actually you really don´t." I´m not feeling as homesick as I was a few weeks ago, but lonely, yeah maybe a little. Frustrated...definitely.

I find myself missing my old routine. By that I mean, I went to work every day (I should say that I certainly do not miss working 7 days a week) and knew exactly what was expected of me. Being a PCV is different. I have to make my own work. Furthermore, I constantly get the questions, "What is your work here?" or "When are you going to start working?" When I explain that by having a conversation with them about the water system in the town or just local customs, I am actually working, I tend to get blank stares. Staying busy is also a challenge. I´ve been setting goals for myself and trying to do at least one water and sanitation realted activity a day, but that often does not occupy much time.

One interesting thing about the area I live is that after the earthquake in 2007, there has been an abundance of NGOs that have come through to give the community things like food and shelter. I´m often asked with a smile, "What NGO are you with?" and when I answer, "Oh I´m not with an NGO, I´m with an organization that focuses more on education," the smile usually goes away. I should say however, when I go on to explain what my goals and the goals of PC are, people are generally very receptive and grateful. So, to keep myself busy and to be sure I look like I´m working, I have been trying keep moving forward with the surveys and other tools to do my community diagnostic, but I have to admit, being self-motivated is hard.

We learned during training that things move slow and to not expect that projects and ideas will just take off and get completed easily. Again, I know this and I try to remind myself of this, but it´s still a challenge. At first I thought I would stay busy by working with the local woman´s weaving group and the local JASS (group that manages the water system), but the woman´s group ended and the JASS in the adjoining town only meets once in a while (aka next meeting date unknown).

At the moment my saving grace is the Red Cross that is working in town to build houses for 50 beneficiaries (200 total in my district). They give charlas (lecture-type talks) on topics like family planning, self-esteem, hygiene, etc. and they seem very excited to have me help give charlas. Also, there is a knew environment campaign (the Peruvian Vice-Minister of Envirnment was even here yesterday to kick it off) with a group or promoters so I hope to tag along with them in their work.

When I try to be Logical/Rational Karen, I know that there is a need for me here and that I just need to keep plugging along and eventually there will be results, but these first months of get-to-know-your-community have proved to be challenging in a way that I did not expect.

Sorry for the rather sad entry, but part of the purpose of me doing this blog was to try and share my "real" experience. I hope to write soon about New Years and include some pictures. Chau for now.