2 years of Peruvian life begins now....

Home for the Holidays!

2010-01-03T11:57:00.000-08:00

I got a little taste of America last week. Yes, that's right. For those of you who didn't know or unfortunately I did not have time to see, I was back in the States for about a week to spend Christmas with my family. I didn't experience as much culture shock as I had thought I would, but what surprised me the most was how distant I feel from Michigan (emotionally, not literally). It definitely made me also realize that I will mostly likely not return to MI after my Peace Corps service. For reasons of work, not wanting to have a car, wanting to maintain my Spanish-speaking abilities, wanting to be near family, etc. MI just doesn't make sense for me anymore. Michigan will always be home for me, but I see my future outside of that great state.

Anyway, here I am back in Peru. Landing in the country made me surprisingly happy and excited to get back to what has become reality for me now. I realized that I missed the fresh, unprocessed food, the climate, the language and the people more than I thought I would. I spent New Year's Eve camping on the beach with other Peace Corps friends which was fun and exhausting. I've spent the last day and a half sleeping and recovering from all the traveling, so that come tomorrow (Monday) I can get right back to work.

Speaking of work...next month the Builders Beyond Borders volunteers arrive! This month will be very busy getting everything ready for that, but I am very excited for the project. After the second group comes in April, a third of the year will already be over! I have a feeling this year is going to fly by which makes me happy and sad all at the same time. I've already thought of what it will be like to say goodbye to this country - the people, food, culture, etc.- and it brings tears to my eyes, so really I try not to think about the end, because I know I'll be a mess.

2010 is going to be a big, crazy year, but I have high hopes and big expectations for what's in store. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and are ready for the new decade!

1 year anniversary

2009-11-28T10:50:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-03T09:51:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-07T11:24:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-19T05:22:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-06T15:40:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-27T12:11:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-06T06:00:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-03-06T05:33:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-02-01T09:24:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-01-13T13:02:00.000-08:00

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.

¡Feliz Navidad!

2008-12-24T09:23:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! I thought I´d write today since I have time and today (Christmas Eve) is really more of a celebration here in Peru than actual Christmas day. I thought I´d also take this time to talk about how x-mas is celebrated down here.

The past couple of weeks I´ve been asking people in my town how Christmas is celebrated here and more than a few people mentioned that it is a rather sad holiday. When I asked why, they said because parents don´t have enough money to buy there kids presents. For this, it´s traditional for the local government and/or other organizations to hold chocolatadas and give out toys to children. A chocolatada is a giving of hot chocolate and paneton - a sweet bread with dried fruit (kind of like fruit cake, but actually very different...and it actually tastes good!). I went to a chocolatada last week held by the Red Cross and it occured to me "these could very well be the only gifts that some of these kids receive - new ones at least." Afterwards, my host-mom asked me if Christmas is celebrated similarly in my country and if the government gives out gifts to kids. I immediately felt awkward and tried to come up with a polite way to tell her that for the most part, parents buy presents for their own children. I actually did tell her this, but then when on to explain that the economy is very different in the United States and often, parents have jobs where they are able to save some money to buy presents. Usually by explaining economic differences between the 2 countries is my skapegoat that most people seem to understand. Most people I´ve talked to here about difference between the US and Peru understand that the economy is very different and that because of the government and the infrastructure the US has, we have many more opportunities to get an education, find a good job, save some money, etc. But I digress...

I guess you could say that this is "sad" but people appear to be pretty happy with their paneton and the kids are excited to have a new toy. I´m looking forward to tonight. Apparently it is tradition to stay awake until the wee hours of the morning, gather with family and at midnight everyone hugs and wishes one another a Feliz Navidad. That seems pretty happy to me.

I am definitely homesick and wishing I could be home with my family and friends for Christmas Day, but at the same time I am happy to be sharing the holiday with another culture. It humbles me and reminds me to be grateful to have a family, friends and my health. I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and be sure to be thankful to be sharing the time together. Oh and eat lots of cookies and other sweets for me!

It´s hot here in the desert...weird

2008-12-18T12:15:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! I hope all is well at home and people are having fun getting ready for the holidays. This is definitely a hard time to be away from everyone, but I´m trying to just keep busy and not think about it too much.

Things are going pretty well here. I´m trying to get used to not having a schedule and really be self-motivated, but doing that in Spanish in an unfamiliar place is definitely a challenge. I have to admit that I was a little down the forst week at site, but I decided to be proactive and get moving. Since then I´ve started running (although not as much as I´d like) and I´ve already finished interviewing one sector of my community (there are 8 in total and I decided that I can only do a portion of the community since there are about 1000 houses). I´m excited that the Red Cross is working in my community - although the circumstances (being the earthquake) are unfortunate - so I have already talked to them about working together and they seem excited. They will be here until 2010 as well, so I´m excited to have their support.

I can´t say that anything real interesting has happened. I still feel like I´m settling into my site (this is week 3) and getting to know people. I went to a nearby laguna on Sunday which my town is cleaning up in hopes of turning it into a tourist attraction. The laguna is beautiful and right smack dab in the middle of sand dunes, so the vistas are amazing. I will try to post pictures soon, but I´m still working on an affordable computer situation in my town.

Sorry for the short post, but I´ve already been at this internet cafe for 2.5 hours and I need to get back to my site before dark. I hope you are all doing well and have a wonderful holiday season. I love and miss you all!

2 years...wow

2008-12-03T13:39:00.000-08:00

I´m now in my 3rd full day at site as an official Peace Corps Volunteer.

The swearing-in ceremony was held on Friday at the training center. We were one of the only training groups (I heard the only, but maybe us and one other group) to have all members swear-in, so that was exciting. The ceremony was very nice with speeches from one of the host-moms, a guy from the embassy, and a fellow trainee, Douglas, who gave an amazing speech even though he was very sick and vomitted right before and after his speech. Then we all made our tearful goodbyes to our host-families. I wasn´t sure if I would cry, but as soon as I hugged my 5 year old sister, I could feel the tears welling up. I had thought that my 12 year old sister couldn´t come the the ceremony because she wouldn´t get home from school in time, but I later learned that she did in fact get home in time, but didn´t want to come because she knew she would be upset and cry...I think my heart broke into a million pieces when I heard that. But I was able to talk to her on the phone and of course I will get to see the whole family whenever I go back to the training center over the next couple of years.

So here I am now at site. So far I´m feeling a little lost. I wake up each morning wondering how I can fill my day so as not to get bored. It´s...kind of working. I checked in with the health post, but I always seem to get confused looks when I talk to the people there. My municipality guy, Walter, is always very helpful and accompanied me to Humay (where the municipality actually is - about a 20 min drive from my site) to meet the mayor. Beyond that I´ve been handing out the official letters that my APCD (my WatSan director) gave us to officially present ourselves to various community members. Peruvians are big on having official documents and getting them stamped so, under the advice of Walter, I made sure to get copies of each letter and have the copy signed and stamped for my own files. Now I have credibility...yes!

Tomorrow I will go to Pisco which is the biggest city near me and get a dresser, set up my PO Box and do some other stuff that I can´t do here in Bernales. On Friday I have a introduction at a school in Humay. Beyond that...well I´m not sure. I almost just want to jump in and start my community diagnostic, which I think I will next week, but I need to get the forms which are on a disc, which I can´t access from the local internet cafe. I really need to spend a day or 2 just going through information and getting a plan of attack, but it´s difficult without a computer. it seems strange to say that, I mean this is Peace Corps, right? Computer access doesn´t seem like it would be necessary, but we do actually have a survey with valuable information that my APCD needs for data collection purposes. I also want to add to the survey so that I can have thorough information, but again, I need a computer to really get that all organized. Ugh! In the meantime I feel like I´m kind of at a stand still and I´m worried that people are going to wonder when I´m going to start "working." Maybe I will talk to my municipality guy and see if there´s another computer somewhere that I can use. I´d like to say that I wish I had a laptop, but 3 volunteers have already had thiers stolen since arriving here, so I think I´m better without one. Still, it´s hard.

I finished reading my book today, which was my excuse to go to the plaza and just hang out. That way I was not staying in my house and it gave people a chance to talk to me if they wanted (which a few people did). All of my other books and reading material are in a box in Lima waiting to be sent to me...ugh again. So I guess I will read through my World Map Project manual which we received after swearing in which is the only reason it´s not in the box with the rest of my reading material.

Due to this free time, and in hopes of looking like I´m actually doing something, I´m thinking about starting the World Map Project and possibly start teaching some English classes (I haven´t the faintest idea how to do the latter, but I figure I´ll just figure it out and start with basic conversation depending on the ages of attendees). Maybe I´ll also start a garden in my back yard...we´ll see.

I hope I am not souding negative. I expected the beginning to be like this - a little awkward, feeling a little lost, etc. - and it is just that. I am still very hopeful of future projects and really want to get started doing the community disgnostic so I can really meet/get to know people and start getting an idea of projects to do.

I made the comments section public, so hopefully you all can post comments if you´d like. I would love to hear from all of you. I will set up my PO Box soon (tomorrow hopefully) and send that info out ASAP. Take care and talk to you soon!

Another transition

2008-11-23T14:21:00.000-08:00

Sooo...

2 weeks ago were site vists. I actually saw my site during FBT, so it was great to have some reference going into the town. I received a wonderful welcome from everyone I met and I´m excited to start woking in Bernales. A lot of the work will be as a result of the earthquake that hit the area in 2007 - a lot of higiene work most likely. The Red Cross is also working in my town, so I´m hoping to partner with them as well. Eventually I would love to do a bathroom/letrine project (most likely composting toliets) since the majority of the people just go out to the fields to do what they gotta do. But, like everything we do, we have to spend a lot of time getting to know the community and the people and find out what their wants and needs are first.

I´m excited and also very nervous to go to site. I´ve gotten very used to my little life and routine here in Yanacoto. My new house and family are great, but different of course. My new family seems a little shy around me, but that´s to be suspected. Things I am excited about are:
- we have dairy cows so I get fresh milk every morning
- our pigs just gave birth so there are adorable piglets running around
- there is a 2 month old baby in the family. Normally I would not be excited about this, but so far I haven´t heard him cry, so he´s just adorable and fun to bounce around

This past week was great. We went to the PC office in Lima to get to know that staff and resources there. They served us chinese food for lunch and pizza and apple pie for dessert and we had a dance lesson, so all of that was awesome. This next week will consist of a lot of wrap up, packing, saying goodbye :(, swearing in and then one last night all together in Lima. After that, we all take off for our sites on Saturday. The next time all the volunteers will be together will be in March for ¨Reconnect.¨ Again, it´s so crazy to think that I´ll be living and working in a small rural town in Peru, speaking only Spanish, but it´s exciting to think about the projects I might do and the people I will get to know and work with. I´m also excited about the skills I might learn. Aside from all the professional mumbo jumbo, I´m joining a crochet group, I want to bug the local baker to let me help him, and I would love to find and join an Afro-Peruvian dance class (my region is know for this, it´s not just random)...so we´ll see. My plan so far is just to keep myself busy so that I don´t get bored and lonely.

Anyway, I hope everyone is well at home. I´m missing you all very much right now - Thanksgiving is always hard to miss for me. Eat lots of turkey, Grandma H´s cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie for me. Chau!

To the land of wine and pisco I go!

2008-11-10T07:42:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately emails and facebook have taken up so much of my time today, so this will be a short post, but...I received my site assignment! I will be going to Bernales which is in the region of Ica!!! We actually visited this site during FBT and they told us that is would be someone´s site, be we had no idea whose it woudl be. I´m so excited! I´m a little jealous of the volunteers who have beautiful green sites near the mountains since I´m in the desert, but oh well. I can go sandboarding and go see the Nazca Lines which will both be awesome.

In a few hours I leave for site visits. We go to the regional capital today and hang out and then meet our counterparts and families tomorrow! I´m excited but also very nervous/anxious. I realized that unlike study abroad and training, there are acutally going to be expectations of me and I will have to perfrom and ya know, try to get something accomplished. While rationale tells me that everything will work out just fine and I´ll do great, nerves tell me things will be awkward for a while (and they undoubtedly will be). As always, starting something new is uncomfortable and there´s always an adjustment period, so once I get through that, everything will be fine I´m sure. In hopes of trying to deter some awkwardness this week, I wrote out about a million questions to ask my counterparts (who are a doctor and the mayor of my town). They were a little excessive - I started writing some questions about whether or not teens learn sex education and STIs - not exactly appriopriate for the first meeting I don´t think, not to mention I´m not a health volunteer (I just like to go on tangents).

Anyway, I have to put the last few things in my backpack and head out. Hope everyone is well in the US. I think about you all constantly! Chau!

quarter century...weird

2008-11-02T12:38:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. Sorry I´ve haven´t written in a while...the one post a week isn´t really happening and I kinda doubt it ever will. Anyway, so much has happened since my lat post, so I´ll try to summarize it all in a short post. I´m going to start with the most recent (since it´s the freshest in my mind)...

This past week was FBT (Field Based Training...Peace Corps is a little crazy with all the acronyms). My WATSAN (Water and Sanitation) group went to Paracas in the province of Ica, which is just south of Lima - about a 3 hour bus ride. The week was really wonderful except for Friday when about 75% of the group got food poisioning and could barely move except to go to the bathroom to give it a workout of a lifetime. Aside from that, the week was great experience in working with NGOs, doing manual labor, and talking with families door to door. I definitely feel more prepared to go to site now! I´m already so excited to get to work to promote some of the things we´ve been learning during the past few months of training.

As mostly of you know, last Sunday was my birthday - thank you for all of the birthday wishes! One of my fellow aspirantes gave me a bouquet of flowers on Friday whish was awesome and totally unexpected. I woke up Sunday morning to ¨Feliz Cumpleaños¨ hugs and kisses from my host family. Soon after my extended host family came over to celebrate. I´ll tell you what, there´s nothing like delicious chocolate cake at 9am...I loved it! After that I packed to get ready for FBT. My WATSAN group wished me a Happy Birthday and we all ate dinner together in Paracas, they sang to me and I got to try my first pisco sour (Paracas is about half an hour away from Pisco, so you pretty much have to drink pisco sours). All in all it was a great birthday!

Last we we had 2 days of feria (not sure what the translation is) which was each language group being assigend a Peruvian province and doing a presentation on it in Spanish. My class got Arequipa which is a beautiful province in southern Peru (Arequipa is also the second largest city in the country). My group decided to present in the form of a TV news program. I was the announcer and the others were reporters. It went very well, but the best/most embarrassing part was dressing up in traditional ariquipeño clothing and doing a dance with a classmate for the entertainment of the other aspirantes and training staff. I felt ridiculous, but people seemed to enjoy it and the clothing was amazing.

I´m sure I´m leaving out some other things that have happened or that I´ve done, but those are all the highlights I can think of for the moment. In general, things are going very well. I am getting homesick which I´m pretty sure is because of the upcoming holidays, but I know I´ll be fine and get through it. I hope all is well in the US. I miss you all and am thinking of you all at home. Chau!

Earthquake!

2008-10-08T13:58:00.000-07:00

I experienced my first temblor (tremor/small earthquake) on Monday night...it was awesome! My host mom and 5 year old sister were kind of scared so I hid my excitement. It really was tiny. I heard a noise, which I thought was a large truck, and then I started feeling th ground shake a little. So normally you´re supposed to go into a doorway during an earthquake, but my whole family ran outside, so I followed suit (considering my entire house is made out of concrete, I think this was actually a pretty good idea).

Today is the bday of a fellow aspirante (we´re called this for now since we aren´t officially volunteers yet) so last night he and his host family threw a big party...grafitti that is. It was awesome. I was a little worried that it might get a littl out of control, but it was fine. Everyone had a great time and no one got out of control. It was pretty hilarious to see the expressions on the faces of the Peruvians, but when I asked them what they thought of the whole thing, they said they thought it was fun. For those of you who don´t know what a grafitti party is...you wear a plain white t-shirt and write on one another with markers. So now I have a crazy t-shirt that I´ll probably use for pajamas.

Today is a holiday celebrating the victory of some battle, so we have the day off. It´s nice to have a break, but I think I actually prefer to be busy. I´ve been feeling a littl down the past few days and I think it actually has something to do with that fact that I´m not working. I´ve gon from working about 60 hours a week to not working at all. While I dfinitely love what I´m doing and feel so grateful for the amazing training I´m receiving, I´m somewhat frustrated that I´m not contributing to Peruvian society (yes, I know, PC is also about cultural exchange, but still). One of my biggest regrets from my study-abroad experience was not volunteering and just going to school, traveling and partying. I know I will have 2 full years to make wonderful contributions to my Peruvian community, but for now I guess I´m just feeling antsy.

Well that´s all for now. I have some studying to do and I need to get ready for my language interview tomorrow. Chau!

I´ll eat anything with cinnamon

2008-10-05T14:50:00.000-07:00

This past week in Peru was the best one thus far!

It was great to get out of the classroom and do hands-on learning (aka non-formal education...a theme for one of the days). It started Wednesday with Spanish class. We spent the morning in the market in Chosica (about a 20 min bus ride) getting ingredients needed to make lunch on Thursday. Then on Thursday we made lunch! We made rocoto relleno (spicy stuffed peppers) and arroz con leche (rice pudding). They were both amazingly delicious and made me disgustingly stuffed. I don´t think I would be able to make the stuffed peppers on my own - they take forever and have a million ingredients - but I plan to make the rice pudding for sure. So far there have been a few dishes that my host mom had made that I´d like her to teach me how to make.

I guess now would be a good time to discuss Peruvian food (well at least what I´ve had so far). Every meal (well, not bfast) contains rice and potatoes. We eat a lot a chicken which I´m actually pretty happy about. Usually every chicken, potato, rice combo has some sort of sauce, so I usually just end up mixing them all together which is also pretty delicious. Also, Peruvians love aji (hot sauce) so if my rice is just too bland to eat alone, I just put some aji with it. I´m soooo glad to be back to a land of delicios fruit! Every morning I have some sort of juice. So far I´ve had pineapple, orange (I know not exciting, but it is fresh squeezed), strawberry and papaya - I´m even starting to like papaya! There are so many amazing fruits that just don´t even exist in the US (at least I haven´t seen them in Meijer).

After cooking and eating our amazing meal on Thursday, our WATSAN (Water and Sanitation) group split up and went out into ¨the field¨ to do a diagnostic. My group went to a little town about 30 mins away by car. We talked to the president of the town city council and some people from an international NGO that implemented the water system 6 years ago (as in, this town has only had running water for 6 years). We also got to see composting toliets which was really interesting.

In summary, it was just awesome to actually get to do things out of the classroom that will help us directly with what we´ll be doing when to get to our sites.

Training has been going really well in general and it seems like everyone is really settling in and get used to the routine. I´ve been really enjoying my time lately and I feel like I´m really starting to get to know people and feel comfortable with the routine as well.

Ok that´s all for now. I hope all is well at home! Un abrazo!

todo tranquilo.

2008-09-28T14:34:00.000-07:00

Above is a foto of my host family: Ana Cristina (5), Adolfo, Eufemia (it was her b-day), and Kiara (12).

I feel bad that I haven´t really done any blogs yet, but most days I am just too exhausted from Spanish and technical clases, that I just go home, hang out with my host family and go to bed. I slept until about 10am this morning and layed in bed until about noon, so I feel pretty good today.

Peruvian life so far has been pretty good so far.

The past couple of years when I thought about what my 2 years in the PC would be like, I really didn´t think about what training would be like. I am very grateful for what I am getting - I have awesome teachers who are very well versed in their fields - but it´s just so exhausting. Furthermore, it definitely feels like I´m back in high school.

I´ve been pleasantly purprised and how easy it was to get back to my relaxed self like I was in Ecuador. It´s just so nice to not have to worry about so many different things going on at once. At the same time, I feel like I haven´t really had time to truly process what´s going on, but I think I´m maintaining a ¨come what may¨mind-set.

Well enough of that. Here are a few random facts/highlights of my time so far:
- I practically climb a mountain everyday to get to my house which is awesome because of the amout of carbs Peruvians (and in turn, I) consume.
- I started taking yoga. 2 volunteers offered to lead classes 3 times a week.
- I´ve already eaten ceviche (raw fish dish) and cuy (guinea pig).
- I got to go to a quiceñera yesterday and dance salsa/cumbia which was sweat.
- Yesterday we went to this organic farm and planted lettuce. We get to spend 6 Saturday´s there and learn how to do stuff...I´m pretty excited.
- Our training center is awesome. They converted this old house/masion into classrooms and offcies. There are a bunch of gardens and huge patio in back. It´s awesome. I´ll put up pics soon.

Well I think that´s it for now. I´ll try to write soon about my family and my house. More to come!!

Estoy aqui

2008-09-18T16:27:00.000-07:00

I don´t have much to say at the moment mostly just because I´m exhausted after today´s ¨mission impossible¨assignment, but I´m here, I´m well, everyone is wonderful, etc.

I promise to write more later. I love and miss you all back in the states. I hope all is well!