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.

¡Feliz Navidad!

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

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

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

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!

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!