We arrived in Piura city on Sunday morning. Sunday we went and ran errands, went to the market to check stuff out and change our cell phones and all that little stuff. Mostly we relaxed from an intense few days with the swearing in and traveling. We got to enjoy hot showers and comfy beds and a little TV in English. Monday afternoon we traveled to our sites. I REALLY lucked out because our regional director decided to drive us down into the valley in his SUV. Now if you could see the ridiculous amount of stuff I had and this GIANT suitcase that most people laughed at when they saw it, then you would understand the relief I had knowing that I was not going to have to ask to have that transferred between 2 buses and a taxi to get from Piura to Chipillico.
The sad part about of regional director driving us to the valley was that he was really going to deliver some not so good news to two of the communities we were to be working in. In the week after our site visits, one of my friends who was living in the valley with me decided to return to the US, she just decided this wasn’t for her. I was pretty devastated about it, I had become very close with her and was really looking forward to spending the next 2 years with her, but if anyone knows how difficult this is, we do…and I understand if it just isn’t the right time or whatever other reasons. Then, on Monday before we left, another friend of mine decided she needed to go back home too, so that was pretty devastating. Our littler group of 4 living in the valley has become 2, it’s me and BJ (or I have to start calling him William now because his community can’t say BJ). Just like mine can’t say Jillian, I am called Yillian, and have been told it would be best if I spell my name that way here too.
On our journey to our sites we first stopped in the first volunteers who left town, we had a brief meeting with her community explaining what had happened and introducing BJ and I as the new volunteers who would be there to help and support that community. The funny thing is, is that this community had requested a volunteer because the other half of the community had one in the past, and although they are the same community, they divide themselves into two parts and are EXTREMELY competitive with one another. So the first question they asked when given the opportunity was if the other community still had a volunteer, and when the answer was no they were all so happy. It was really funny to watch.
Then we went to my new house. I was very relived when I got here to find that my room now has a cement floor, so that was a big relief. However, I didn’t have a bed so we had arranged for me to borrow one from a neighbor of the previous volunteer until I can get one in 2 weeks. Also, I was really really excited to find that the family had laid a cement floor in the area when I am showering. I was thrilled because before there was just a small broken cement slab and mostly dirt and rocks. I hadn’t asked for that but was really relieved to see it.
My host sisters helped me hang all of my pictures and unpack a little. I still have to buy a dresser and a desk and other things to complete my room, so for the next few weeks I am living our of my suitcases. The really awkward part was that pretty much everything I pulled out of my bags they asked me how much it cost. Even down to the new light bulb I put in my room, because the previous was so terrible. They were fascinated by it and how much it lights things up. So I think when I return to Piura I am going to buy then a few for the house, because the very soft yellow light everywhere is annoying.
Well after all of that was done I went to read and relax for a little in my room, well at some point I feel asleep and it was when dinner was ready. So instead of knocking on my door, I wake up to the youngest sister hovering over top of me not saying a thing. It scared me to death!!! So locking my door is definitely a habit I am going to get into. Fried bananas and avocado and rice of course. It was really good!!
This morning I got up around 6:30, and decided to go for a walk. It was a little intimidating, because pretty much as soon as I walked out of my door people are staring at me. I was thinking that since there were two volunteers here before me that maybe it wouldn’t be so shocking to see a gringa, but apparently that is not true. Everywhere I went I was stared at and the men would make cat calls. They aren’t ballsy enough to do it to your face, just behind your back. I said good morning to everyone except the nasty creepy men. But I refuse to let that stuff scare me, I know this first day would be tough but I had decided to go for it anyway. This is my new home for the next 2 years and I figured I’d just go out there and do my thing. Plus, during the walk I go through the beautiful fields and it is definitely a reminder of how lucky I am to be here. I also live in the valley of Mangos, it’s just beautiful!
When I got back I got to take a shower….I got out to my little space for showering that has the giant trashcan of water and I was looking at brown water. I know it’s taken from the canal, but it’s just hard sometimes to come to grips with the fact that I am supposed to feel clean after bathing with that. But I did. And to answer the question as to whether or not I will ever feel clean here, the answer is NO. I will look forward to the weekends I get to spend in Piura city and those hot showers!
I also found out today that my host Dad is having stomach problems and he and my host Mom left early this morning to go to Ecuador to have him checked out. That is about all I could get out of that, I am not so sure why Ecuador, it is very close, but there are plenty of medical places here. I will just have to ask those questions later.
Well I’m off to explore for a little bit. Sorry these blog posts don’t have pictures the internet is REALLY slow here and it would take hours probably to put up a few, so they will have to wait until I get back to the city.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
SWEARING IN
So I am an OFFICIAL peace corps volunteer now, I’m not longer a trainee. That was a really exciting day. It has been a very intense 10 weeks of cramming in all the practical stuff as to how we are going to do our work in our new communities. Plus, very long and exhausting hours of Spanish class. I was mostly nervous about my Spanish, because I’ve been in the lowest level Spanish class for awhile, but fortunately, I improved enough to move up to the Intermediate Medium group which allowed me to “graduate”!! So I was very excited!!
Swearing in was a really nice day. On the morning of November 26th we went to the other training center. Which I may have mentioned before, I am a part of Peru 16, I am in the health program, but along with the health program there is water and sanitation and environmental groups that make up the 72 of us in Peru 16. The other 2 groups train at a center about a half hour away from where I’ve been training. Their center is beautiful, it’s all open, very tropical, you feel like your in the jungle. It was a beautiful place for our swearing in. That day we got Peruvian tacos which were delicious and we did a few last minute odds and ends. And of course we got all dressed up! And in the afternoon I swore in.
The US Ambassador for Peru came, and she was the person who read our oath. The oath is the same oath that the US military takes as well as federal government employees. It made me feel really official. All of the important Peace Corps people who have helped us along the way were there, as well as the Peru Peace Corps director, and even our host families. The entire day was very surreal, it is so hard to believe how far I have come, and some days it’s hard to believe I am even here. So I was very proud to have made it this far, and to be a part of something so huge.
The rest of the day was filled with crazy emotions. Swearing in isn’t only the passage way into the Peace Corp, it is also the door that closes a chapter of this journey. All of us volunteers were congratulating each other but also starting to say our goodbye because we are all being scattered across the country, and it could be months to a year that we are going to see each other again.
The festivities weren’t over with the swearing in, later that night after running home and trying to get myself packed, I went out with the other volunteers in Chosica. There was a little cantina with an second floor that had decent music so most of Peru 16 was there enjoying our last night together. Which my host Mom explained to me later that cantina’s in Peru are known for alcoholic men sitting and drinking their sorrows away, and discotecas are for dancing. So there really isn’t an in-between here, so us Americans turned that little cantina in our own bar/club. It was my first time going out with everyone since I’ve been here….it was also my first time enjoying a BOX of sangria. We danced a lot, some drank a lot, but it was a really great last night. Again, the end was the hardest we all had to say our real goodbyes and there were lots of tears….which could have been contributed to the drinking, but all in all it was difficult.
The following day, Saturday, meant it was time to get packed and at 6:00 I had a bus that was going to be taking me to Piura. So decided to spend the day with my host family, we watched a video they had made of my little host sisters birthday party I attended my second week here. It was funny and embarrassing to watch me try and speak Spanish back then. They also had their first volunteer call me (she just finished up her 2 years) and she gave me some encouraging words as I was about to start my service. We also went to visit all of their relatives in the neighborhood and they give me little gifts and nice words to send me off. It was so sweet!
Later that day the taxi came to take me away and that was really difficult for me. I have gotten so attached to that family. They have become such a huge part of my life, and when I came to this country and didn’t know a thing or how to communicate with anyone they helped me with it all. Plus, I believe they generally really cared about me too, I have been told the door is always open and to call all the time. Plus….the asked me to be the godmother for their son’s first holy communion next November and I am REALLY excited about that, so I will be going back many times to visit them. So I am happy to know that I will be seeing them again, but at the same time I wish I could have taken them with me and lived with them for the next to years. So when I gave my final goodbyes I was very very teary.
Later that night, we got on the bus to go to Piura, the Peace Corps splurged on our last bus trip from Lima, we got the 180 beds, which means we all had our little cubicles in pairs with a TV and very very comfy chairs that turn into beds. However, stupid me and the guy I was sitting with didn’t realize that the part where our feet rested raised up to make the bed, so the next morning when we discovered that we were pissed!! That would have been a way better 16 hour bus ride with our feet up!
Swearing in was a really nice day. On the morning of November 26th we went to the other training center. Which I may have mentioned before, I am a part of Peru 16, I am in the health program, but along with the health program there is water and sanitation and environmental groups that make up the 72 of us in Peru 16. The other 2 groups train at a center about a half hour away from where I’ve been training. Their center is beautiful, it’s all open, very tropical, you feel like your in the jungle. It was a beautiful place for our swearing in. That day we got Peruvian tacos which were delicious and we did a few last minute odds and ends. And of course we got all dressed up! And in the afternoon I swore in.
The US Ambassador for Peru came, and she was the person who read our oath. The oath is the same oath that the US military takes as well as federal government employees. It made me feel really official. All of the important Peace Corps people who have helped us along the way were there, as well as the Peru Peace Corps director, and even our host families. The entire day was very surreal, it is so hard to believe how far I have come, and some days it’s hard to believe I am even here. So I was very proud to have made it this far, and to be a part of something so huge.
The rest of the day was filled with crazy emotions. Swearing in isn’t only the passage way into the Peace Corp, it is also the door that closes a chapter of this journey. All of us volunteers were congratulating each other but also starting to say our goodbye because we are all being scattered across the country, and it could be months to a year that we are going to see each other again.
The festivities weren’t over with the swearing in, later that night after running home and trying to get myself packed, I went out with the other volunteers in Chosica. There was a little cantina with an second floor that had decent music so most of Peru 16 was there enjoying our last night together. Which my host Mom explained to me later that cantina’s in Peru are known for alcoholic men sitting and drinking their sorrows away, and discotecas are for dancing. So there really isn’t an in-between here, so us Americans turned that little cantina in our own bar/club. It was my first time going out with everyone since I’ve been here….it was also my first time enjoying a BOX of sangria. We danced a lot, some drank a lot, but it was a really great last night. Again, the end was the hardest we all had to say our real goodbyes and there were lots of tears….which could have been contributed to the drinking, but all in all it was difficult.
The following day, Saturday, meant it was time to get packed and at 6:00 I had a bus that was going to be taking me to Piura. So decided to spend the day with my host family, we watched a video they had made of my little host sisters birthday party I attended my second week here. It was funny and embarrassing to watch me try and speak Spanish back then. They also had their first volunteer call me (she just finished up her 2 years) and she gave me some encouraging words as I was about to start my service. We also went to visit all of their relatives in the neighborhood and they give me little gifts and nice words to send me off. It was so sweet!
Later that day the taxi came to take me away and that was really difficult for me. I have gotten so attached to that family. They have become such a huge part of my life, and when I came to this country and didn’t know a thing or how to communicate with anyone they helped me with it all. Plus, I believe they generally really cared about me too, I have been told the door is always open and to call all the time. Plus….the asked me to be the godmother for their son’s first holy communion next November and I am REALLY excited about that, so I will be going back many times to visit them. So I am happy to know that I will be seeing them again, but at the same time I wish I could have taken them with me and lived with them for the next to years. So when I gave my final goodbyes I was very very teary.
Later that night, we got on the bus to go to Piura, the Peace Corps splurged on our last bus trip from Lima, we got the 180 beds, which means we all had our little cubicles in pairs with a TV and very very comfy chairs that turn into beds. However, stupid me and the guy I was sitting with didn’t realize that the part where our feet rested raised up to make the bed, so the next morning when we discovered that we were pissed!! That would have been a way better 16 hour bus ride with our feet up!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving!
So it's the night before thanksgiving, and I am not going to lie I'm a little bit sad. Although I've had a few thanksgivings when my family was incomplete, it's definitely a different feeling to be the one away. I know a little how Alex feels. The good part is that there aren't any reminders of thanksgiving here since obviously they do not celebrate it. But...as for Christmas, those reminders are popping up everywhere. When I got home from training yesterday my host family had set up their small Christmas tree and navity scene and strung lights in the house. Apparently Christmas trees are a new concept in Peru, they have picked this idea up from watching a lot of movies and seeing what we do in the U.S. Normally they only have large nativity scenes decorating their house. They also celebrate christmas on christmas eve with large parties, and at midnight they have a gigantic dinner. So that will be interesting at my new site. Also, they don't do gifts, which I am happy about because I think that tradition has gotten out of control in the U.S. The only people who recieve gifts are children and it's usually sweets.
So this is the big week...it's WEEK 10 my last week of training. It's very bitter sweet. I passed my spanish exam and am up to par on the level I need to be at to be able to advance to my site. To celebrate our spanish teachers set up a party with snacks and karaoke...it was SO much fun!!! We have also had many little exams. Today we had "situational" training, where we went to 7 stations and practiced practical situations we will encounter at site, we had to pass the stations or repeat. My biggest problem was safe transportation, I failed that station twice before passing. The first time I was in a combi and didn't secure my things enough and one of the security guys came by and snatched me jacket and ran away. The second time, I was in a taxi and I did like they told us, I called a friend before and read the liscense plate numbers and told her I'd be there in 20 minutes, and then I got in the taxi and it was a station wagon, well within a few minutes a guy wrapped his arm around my neck from behind me. I screamed and jumped out of the taxi, all of the trainers were standing around laughing, that should have been my first cue when I saw them there, but stupid me didn't think!!! So again I failed for not checking the trunk of the taxi. It was hilarious!! And on the last time I guess I did everything right and passed.
Tonight my host family took me for my "despidida" which was a mini going away party. We went to the bakery and had cake and inca kola. It was fun. When I said that this swearing in stuff was bitter sweet, leaving my host family is definitely the bitter part. I have really grown to love them and wish I could live with them for my entire 2 years. My host mom is amazing and has taught me so much and they have been the most welcoming and wonderful people I have ever met. I started my first week here in tears and scared to death. Now I end each day with them and look forward to our talks and joking around. They are just wonderful people and I think this experience was made much easier being here with them.
So tomorrow for Thanksgiving we are having our thank you party for our host families, some of the volunteers are preforming various activities and we'll have snacks and stuff for the families. I helped paint some of the ornaments we are giving away as our thank you gift. Then on Friday I swear in, which is a big event! I will officially become a volunteer and I can start the countdown for the next two years of my service. Saturday I move to my new site, well really I'll get there Tuesday or so, we've got a few days of stuff to do in the capital city before we settle in to our new sites. I am nervous and excited. I can't wait to get my life set up there.
For Thanksgiving, even though I cannot celebrate with my family, they are absolutely in my heart. I think this year more then ever I have so much to be thankful for. I am most thankful for my family above all, for their support through my many challenges and just standing behind my while I take this adventure. I could not and would not being doing this if they weren't amazing. Secondly I am thankful for all of the priveleges I've been given in life from my family or simply because I'm an American. Having this opportunity to see how another part of the world lives makes me so thankful for the way I was raised and the opportunites I've had in life. And thank you to all of my friends for the great emails and letters, you've made me laugh many times and lifted my spirits when I needed it. I know that I will never have as great of friendships no matter where I am in the world like I do with all of you.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I love you and miss you and hope that you have a wonderful day! I'll be thinking of you. And family please eat some hand and pretzel jello salad for me!
So this is the big week...it's WEEK 10 my last week of training. It's very bitter sweet. I passed my spanish exam and am up to par on the level I need to be at to be able to advance to my site. To celebrate our spanish teachers set up a party with snacks and karaoke...it was SO much fun!!! We have also had many little exams. Today we had "situational" training, where we went to 7 stations and practiced practical situations we will encounter at site, we had to pass the stations or repeat. My biggest problem was safe transportation, I failed that station twice before passing. The first time I was in a combi and didn't secure my things enough and one of the security guys came by and snatched me jacket and ran away. The second time, I was in a taxi and I did like they told us, I called a friend before and read the liscense plate numbers and told her I'd be there in 20 minutes, and then I got in the taxi and it was a station wagon, well within a few minutes a guy wrapped his arm around my neck from behind me. I screamed and jumped out of the taxi, all of the trainers were standing around laughing, that should have been my first cue when I saw them there, but stupid me didn't think!!! So again I failed for not checking the trunk of the taxi. It was hilarious!! And on the last time I guess I did everything right and passed.
Tonight my host family took me for my "despidida" which was a mini going away party. We went to the bakery and had cake and inca kola. It was fun. When I said that this swearing in stuff was bitter sweet, leaving my host family is definitely the bitter part. I have really grown to love them and wish I could live with them for my entire 2 years. My host mom is amazing and has taught me so much and they have been the most welcoming and wonderful people I have ever met. I started my first week here in tears and scared to death. Now I end each day with them and look forward to our talks and joking around. They are just wonderful people and I think this experience was made much easier being here with them.
So tomorrow for Thanksgiving we are having our thank you party for our host families, some of the volunteers are preforming various activities and we'll have snacks and stuff for the families. I helped paint some of the ornaments we are giving away as our thank you gift. Then on Friday I swear in, which is a big event! I will officially become a volunteer and I can start the countdown for the next two years of my service. Saturday I move to my new site, well really I'll get there Tuesday or so, we've got a few days of stuff to do in the capital city before we settle in to our new sites. I am nervous and excited. I can't wait to get my life set up there.
For Thanksgiving, even though I cannot celebrate with my family, they are absolutely in my heart. I think this year more then ever I have so much to be thankful for. I am most thankful for my family above all, for their support through my many challenges and just standing behind my while I take this adventure. I could not and would not being doing this if they weren't amazing. Secondly I am thankful for all of the priveleges I've been given in life from my family or simply because I'm an American. Having this opportunity to see how another part of the world lives makes me so thankful for the way I was raised and the opportunites I've had in life. And thank you to all of my friends for the great emails and letters, you've made me laugh many times and lifted my spirits when I needed it. I know that I will never have as great of friendships no matter where I am in the world like I do with all of you.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I love you and miss you and hope that you have a wonderful day! I'll be thinking of you. And family please eat some hand and pretzel jello salad for me!
Friday, November 12, 2010
WELCOME TO THE PEACE CORP!
What a trip!!! That is all I have to say...and I got my first taste of what this whole peace corp thing is all about...and WOW my life is about to change drastically. We went to Piura to continue some field based training and then to visit our sites. The first part of our trip was in the mountains of Piura...aka Piura Alta. We went to a small mountain town where two volunteers lived, called Sicchez. It was about 6 hours or so from the capital of Piura...Piura. I liked these mountains better then Ancash because they were lush and tropical and the weather was beautiful. We stayed in a hostal that we also called...the orphanage. It was a room, with creeky wood floors, and beds with hard lumpy straw mattresses...and t
hat was it. However, the hostal did have a luke warm shower and a toliet. In Sicchez we visited the Health center and made mobiles with the moms for their babies, we worked in a garden, built a water filter, and trained some health promoters. It was a good trip. We were there for about 3 days. On the final day, we were really excited to get back to Piura to stay in a nice hostal, eat a good dinner, and take hot showers.
Well...while our drivers were waiting for us, they decided to go get wasted. So our staff member who was with us determined this was incredibly unsafe. We were in the mountains and to get down you travel down windy dirt/gravel roads on cliffs. We were sitting in the van when we got the news and one of the drivers with his red, glazed over eyes, and slurred words, got in the car to tell us he was fine. RIGHT! So after awhile, the drivers finally agreed to let our staff member drive us down the mountain, so we were able to get to Piura.
Once we got to Piura, we stayed in the "Peace Corp" designated hostal, which has an awesome library of books that previous volunteers have collected...so now i´m not so worried about running out of books, they also have collected an awesome DVD collection too. We had a day to explore Piura. I really like this city, it reminds me of a mini Lima, I can get just about all the essentials there, and I am allowed to visit it twice a month. We had another great pizza dinner, and there was a really good hamburger place too. It´s a cute city...as far as cities go in Peru.
Let me preface the next part with letting you know, that it turns out I had been given the wrong folder of in
formation regarding my new city and family. On the first days of our trip, me and another volunteer came to find out that our family and community information was switched. I was actually being sent to a larger community of 1500 people and to a different family then what I had orginally recieved. This was surprising, but since I hadn't met the family or seen the community yet it really didn't matter.
On Tuesday, we had a day to meet our socios..which are our community partners. From my community the doctor and a health promoter came, they were great. But it was an akward day, because not knowing a ton of spanish made it difficult to communicate, but it was good to get to start placing these people in my new community. Wednesday morning we hopped on a bus to come to my new town. There are four of us who live here. We are about 3 hours from Piura, but live really close to Las Lomas, which is a good city with a lot of amentities. I live in a valley. Although my town is dusty, I am surrounded by lush mountains and beautiful beautiful fields of crops. It´s gorgeous!
When I got to my new town I was hustled to the school where they had a "Bienvenidos" party for me. The kids had made american flags and they had signs welcoming me to their school. It was adorable. The community leaders came and there were lots of speeches, and the kids performed a few traditional dances...but the little ones danced to a song from Grease...it was ADORABLE! Then, I had to make a speech...which was interesting....
Afterward, we went back to my new host families house for a lunch with all the community leaders. I kinda got to check out my house a little more which was nice. I have a small room with a dirt floor, and a window that looks out into a common area of the house. I have a latrine...yes...a hole in the ground where I use the bathroom...
.and a shower which consists of a giant trashcan with canal water and a container to pour it over my head. And this is all outside with the chickens, turkeys, pigs, and donkeys. Literally I have to shoo the turkeys out of my way when I get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, which at night is covered in cochroaches. I am going to have to get some RAID! I also found out that in order to do my laundry, I will have to go to the canal and wash my clothes there. This is an adventure! I did however, leave money for the family to put in a cement floor in my room, because the peace corp does recommend it for health reasons, so when I return I should have a cement
floor, and then I plan on painting the walls. So it will be very exciting to make it all my own. I have also asked my parents to send me a solar shower, which will making taking a shower much easier.
So during my visit, Lindsey, the volunteer I will be replacing took me all over the town to meet all kinds of people that I will be working with. We visited the Health Post, the Muncipality buidling, we went to several stores so I could see where to buy things. We also attended a meeting for a mother's club that I will be working with. We walked all over the place, it is so beautiful. The pictures I post here DO NOT do it justice, because I didn't get any pictures of the green valley, the town is rough looking but everything surrounding it is gorgeous.
So let me tell you all about my family...my new parents (Santos and Paola) are the same age as my real parents. But I have 6 siblings that live near me, but 9 in total. The 6 include 2 brothers and 4 sisters.
I think the oldest brother is around 30, the second is 28 then a sister who is 27 Betty, 25 Liliana, 21 Mirta, and 12 Milena. All the older siblings are married with kids, and the 27 and 25 year old sister live next door, and both have the cutest babies in the world. One of the babies, Janella, is 10 months, and she is beautiful, her middle name is also Beyonce...and yes it's after the singer. Betty has a 2 month year old son I believe is named Ictor...but the names are really hard for me. There are many more kids...but I can't remember their names. Ictor had a baptism while I visited. Apparently there are two parts of a baptism. The first part
takes place in the house, and that is when the godparents bless the baby by washing water over the babies head with a leaf and saying the hail mary and our father prayers. Then, afterward they have a GIGANTIC dinner, which consists of literally a CASSEROLE dish of food for each godparent. This dinner was the TRIFECTA of peruvian carbs...rice...pasta..potatoes...and of course chicken. I ended up VERY sick after this dinner. And I went with my host sister to get the chicken, we chased it around her friends yard until they caught it, then carried the live chicken home, which they later killed and we ate for dinner.
So after the baptism and dinner, the drinking begins. Drinking in Peru is different then in the states. Basically, you buy 40's and have one glass. You pour yourself a glass, drink it, throw the last sip on the floor, and then pass the bottle and the glass to the next person. Thenthey do the same thing. So you share the same glass with everyone there. Well, I saw that my host family had 3 beers, so stupid me assumed the party was over after those 3 beers, but no...when it came time to finish the third one, one of the husbands came in with a crate of 12 more forties. I personally have decided that I am not going to be drinking while I am here, at least not in any settings in my community. My host family was a little weirded out by this, but that is okay, I'm fine with being the weird American. So anyway, I went to bed and didn't participate...I was exhausted.
The following day I spent with Lindsey, learning more about the community and hanging out at her host families house, which are amazing people. I see myself spending a lot of time with them in the beginning because they have dealt with 2 volunteers and have a little better understanding of how hard the adjustment can be, and simply just speaking to me. My host family talks so incredibly fast I can't catch anything, and when I ask them to repeat things, they just say it louder..not slower!
After the 3 days, we went back to Piura, and were reunited with the rest of the group and I got to hear about everyone's adventures with their new host families. There were some funny stories, one of the guys woke up to a goat in their room, another friend of mine who is black found that on the beginning of the trip people were fascinated by her, at one point we were in the street and a woman came up to her and told her how beautiful she was and asked to touch her hand. At that time we just thought it was a wonderful compliment, however, after her site visit, she found out that they believe black people are good luck, so they just want to touch her all the time. (Peruvians in certain areas are not exposed to many different races if any at all).
After all of this, we made the 15 hour bus trip home to Lima, I was glad to be back with this host family, they were so excited to have me back too. I have 2 weeks until graduation and then I'll return to my site permanently.
I really thought that this site visit would make me so much more nervous about starting my service. There are so many things I am not used too, like the latrine, washing my clothes in the canal, almost no internet and phone service. But surprisingly, the visit made me really excited. I think some of the adjustments will be difficult, but when I look at overall how this experience is going to change me life, I only see the postive. I have a lot of faith in the community I am going to be working with. I am the third volunteer there, and the previous two have had a lot of success and the community really seems to embrace them. So wish me luck!
For anyone who doesn't have facebook here are the links for my pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2148516&id=38005919&l=fe5b6e684e
hat was it. However, the hostal did have a luke warm shower and a toliet. In Sicchez we visited the Health center and made mobiles with the moms for their babies, we worked in a garden, built a water filter, and trained some health promoters. It was a good trip. We were there for about 3 days. On the final day, we were really excited to get back to Piura to stay in a nice hostal, eat a good dinner, and take hot showers.Well...while our drivers were waiting for us, they decided to go get wasted. So our staff member who was with us determined this was incredibly unsafe. We were in the mountains and to get down you travel down windy dirt/gravel roads on cliffs. We were sitting in the van when we got the news and one of the drivers with his red, glazed over eyes, and slurred words, got in the car to tell us he was fine. RIGHT! So after awhile, the drivers finally agreed to let our staff member drive us down the mountain, so we were able to get to Piura.
Once we got to Piura, we stayed in the "Peace Corp" designated hostal, which has an awesome library of books that previous volunteers have collected...so now i´m not so worried about running out of books, they also have collected an awesome DVD collection too. We had a day to explore Piura. I really like this city, it reminds me of a mini Lima, I can get just about all the essentials there, and I am allowed to visit it twice a month. We had another great pizza dinner, and there was a really good hamburger place too. It´s a cute city...as far as cities go in Peru.
Let me preface the next part with letting you know, that it turns out I had been given the wrong folder of in
formation regarding my new city and family. On the first days of our trip, me and another volunteer came to find out that our family and community information was switched. I was actually being sent to a larger community of 1500 people and to a different family then what I had orginally recieved. This was surprising, but since I hadn't met the family or seen the community yet it really didn't matter.On Tuesday, we had a day to meet our socios..which are our community partners. From my community the doctor and a health promoter came, they were great. But it was an akward day, because not knowing a ton of spanish made it difficult to communicate, but it was good to get to start placing these people in my new community. Wednesday morning we hopped on a bus to come to my new town. There are four of us who live here. We are about 3 hours from Piura, but live really close to Las Lomas, which is a good city with a lot of amentities. I live in a valley. Although my town is dusty, I am surrounded by lush mountains and beautiful beautiful fields of crops. It´s gorgeous!
When I got to my new town I was hustled to the school where they had a "Bienvenidos" party for me. The kids had made american flags and they had signs welcoming me to their school. It was adorable. The community leaders came and there were lots of speeches, and the kids performed a few traditional dances...but the little ones danced to a song from Grease...it was ADORABLE! Then, I had to make a speech...which was interesting....
Afterward, we went back to my new host families house for a lunch with all the community leaders. I kinda got to check out my house a little more which was nice. I have a small room with a dirt floor, and a window that looks out into a common area of the house. I have a latrine...yes...a hole in the ground where I use the bathroom...
.and a shower which consists of a giant trashcan with canal water and a container to pour it over my head. And this is all outside with the chickens, turkeys, pigs, and donkeys. Literally I have to shoo the turkeys out of my way when I get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, which at night is covered in cochroaches. I am going to have to get some RAID! I also found out that in order to do my laundry, I will have to go to the canal and wash my clothes there. This is an adventure! I did however, leave money for the family to put in a cement floor in my room, because the peace corp does recommend it for health reasons, so when I return I should have a cement
floor, and then I plan on painting the walls. So it will be very exciting to make it all my own. I have also asked my parents to send me a solar shower, which will making taking a shower much easier.So during my visit, Lindsey, the volunteer I will be replacing took me all over the town to meet all kinds of people that I will be working with. We visited the Health Post, the Muncipality buidling, we went to several stores so I could see where to buy things. We also attended a meeting for a mother's club that I will be working with. We walked all over the place, it is so beautiful. The pictures I post here DO NOT do it justice, because I didn't get any pictures of the green valley, the town is rough looking but everything surrounding it is gorgeous.
So let me tell you all about my family...my new parents (Santos and Paola) are the same age as my real parents. But I have 6 siblings that live near me, but 9 in total. The 6 include 2 brothers and 4 sisters.
I think the oldest brother is around 30, the second is 28 then a sister who is 27 Betty, 25 Liliana, 21 Mirta, and 12 Milena. All the older siblings are married with kids, and the 27 and 25 year old sister live next door, and both have the cutest babies in the world. One of the babies, Janella, is 10 months, and she is beautiful, her middle name is also Beyonce...and yes it's after the singer. Betty has a 2 month year old son I believe is named Ictor...but the names are really hard for me. There are many more kids...but I can't remember their names. Ictor had a baptism while I visited. Apparently there are two parts of a baptism. The first part
takes place in the house, and that is when the godparents bless the baby by washing water over the babies head with a leaf and saying the hail mary and our father prayers. Then, afterward they have a GIGANTIC dinner, which consists of literally a CASSEROLE dish of food for each godparent. This dinner was the TRIFECTA of peruvian carbs...rice...pasta..potatoes...and of course chicken. I ended up VERY sick after this dinner. And I went with my host sister to get the chicken, we chased it around her friends yard until they caught it, then carried the live chicken home, which they later killed and we ate for dinner.So after the baptism and dinner, the drinking begins. Drinking in Peru is different then in the states. Basically, you buy 40's and have one glass. You pour yourself a glass, drink it, throw the last sip on the floor, and then pass the bottle and the glass to the next person. Thenthey do the same thing. So you share the same glass with everyone there. Well, I saw that my host family had 3 beers, so stupid me assumed the party was over after those 3 beers, but no...when it came time to finish the third one, one of the husbands came in with a crate of 12 more forties. I personally have decided that I am not going to be drinking while I am here, at least not in any settings in my community. My host family was a little weirded out by this, but that is okay, I'm fine with being the weird American. So anyway, I went to bed and didn't participate...I was exhausted.
The following day I spent with Lindsey, learning more about the community and hanging out at her host families house, which are amazing people. I see myself spending a lot of time with them in the beginning because they have dealt with 2 volunteers and have a little better understanding of how hard the adjustment can be, and simply just speaking to me. My host family talks so incredibly fast I can't catch anything, and when I ask them to repeat things, they just say it louder..not slower!
After the 3 days, we went back to Piura, and were reunited with the rest of the group and I got to hear about everyone's adventures with their new host families. There were some funny stories, one of the guys woke up to a goat in their room, another friend of mine who is black found that on the beginning of the trip people were fascinated by her, at one point we were in the street and a woman came up to her and told her how beautiful she was and asked to touch her hand. At that time we just thought it was a wonderful compliment, however, after her site visit, she found out that they believe black people are good luck, so they just want to touch her all the time. (Peruvians in certain areas are not exposed to many different races if any at all).
After all of this, we made the 15 hour bus trip home to Lima, I was glad to be back with this host family, they were so excited to have me back too. I have 2 weeks until graduation and then I'll return to my site permanently.
I really thought that this site visit would make me so much more nervous about starting my service. There are so many things I am not used too, like the latrine, washing my clothes in the canal, almost no internet and phone service. But surprisingly, the visit made me really excited. I think some of the adjustments will be difficult, but when I look at overall how this experience is going to change me life, I only see the postive. I have a lot of faith in the community I am going to be working with. I am the third volunteer there, and the previous two have had a lot of success and the community really seems to embrace them. So wish me luck!
For anyone who doesn't have facebook here are the links for my pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2148516&id=38005919&l=fe5b6e684e
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
PIURA PIURA PIURA
So I got my site assignment today after months of anticipation, excitement and nerves, and I am going to the department of Peru, this is one of the most northern departments of Peru, it's a coastal department and much of it borders Equador. I will be living in the district of Las Lomas in a small rural town of only about 500 people called Pampa Elera Alta. I actually got a little profile on my new host family today. Weirdest part is that I am older then my new host Mom, she is only 24, the husband is 33 and there are two sons one is 6 and the other is 2, so that is going to be so much fun. Now here is where I have suddenly gotten nervous, we don't have running water, we will be using the water from a nearby canal for cooking, bathing, and washing clothes. Fortunately I've been trained on how to treat the water so it's safe for drinking, but it makes me realize how lucky I am in my current host family situation. Also, no bathroom, I will be using a Latrine and continuing to take bucket baths. Great news.....I live within a few mile radius of 3 other volunteers, so I'm really excited about that too, I was worried about being isolated in a rural area. Also, great news, there is an international airport only 2 1/2 hours away...so start planning trips, the beaches in my region are amazing!!!!
So tomorrow I leave for the next 10 days to train in my new site, I'm a replacement volunteer, so there has already been a volunteer in my town working, so I'm excited about that too to see what she has done and get her advice.
We just got back from a trip to Ancash, which is a region in the Andes mountains. That was a really interesting trip. It was about an 8 hour bus ride to the capital city Huaraz, and we didn't spend much time there at first, we traveled about another 3 hours to a small town in the mountains called Chavin. Now transportation in Peru is a scary situation as I've mentioned before. Just imagine those crazy buses now traveling on dirt/rock/gravel roads at high altitudes on the edges of mountains. I was gripping my seat the entire time, I never once felt comfortable during out travel time, it was horrible! I felt many times that my life was going to end in a Peruvian bus that drove off the cliff...it was scary and I have a tremendous fear of heights on top of it.
Once we got to Chavin, we stayed in a hostal with HOT showers and TV....with one english channel. It was great! Another thing I need to mention is that altitude sickness is no joke, we were given pills ahead of time to take and I did. But once we got into the mountains I started having this weird tingling in my feet and hands that came and went the entire trip, and for the first few days I just had general malaise, but once I ran out of pills it got worse. I missed two days of activities due to some of the symtoms related to altitude sickness that I won't mention here.
The point of this trip was to do field based training, which is learning some of the stuff we will need to do in our new sites. So the first day we went and learned about health promotes and forming a youth group. So we went to a school and worked with kids and painted a mural. The following day, we went to build latrines for families who needed them...I missed this day because I was really sick. Then saturday we went to a town and interviewd women who had recieved these improved cooking stoves called "cocinas mejoradas"...they are an adobe brick built raised cooking stove that has a chimney that moves the smoke outdoors, because before the women would cook over an open flame on the floor of their kitchens. The smoke was hurting their lungs as well as their backs, and the same for the rest of the families. So after attending 8-10 information sessions put on by the volunteer these households were provided with materials from a peace corp grant to build these improved cooking stoves. So we went to interview these mothers about information pertaining to health as well as see if they were using their new stoves.
Now to preface how these interviews went, I have to tell you about the people who live in the mountains. They are very very traditional and conservative, their way of life as well as their clothing is different then other parts of Peru. Many of them do not speak spanish, they speak another language known as Quechua. So the women we interviewed were very timid. Unfortunately the women couldn't tell us much information in regards to health, for example they were unsure about balanced diets and hygiene. I actually felt uncomfortable asking them many of the questions because they were so shy, I felt like I was intruding and that it must be very intimidating for them. However, this was all apart of their agreement for recieving the "cocina mejorada".
After the interviews, we went and actually built a cocina mejorada. The family is usually required to build the first part, and then we come in and build the level where the stove is going to be. To do this, we use adobe bricks and this weird mud mix that contains: horse and donkey feces, salt, sugar, cactus water and broken glass. So after we put all that together we finished it up with the stove top, and after a fews days of drying the family can add the chimney and use it. The mother of the house came and saw it when we were finished and seemed really excited which was great!!
After we left Chavin, we returned to Huarez for our last night in Ancash, we all ended up finding this little pizza place. It was a really cute hole in the wall kinda place that was decorated with international flags and played american 80's music and classic rock. It was so much fun. There was a guy in there who asked me to take a picture of his table, so once I did he realized I was American and he was as well, he was from Lousiana, so that was kinda cool!
For our very last day in Ancash we traveled up another mountain to go to a team-building retreat scariest mountain of them all was so freaked out the entire time. It just doesn't seems safe or natural to be driving around on those cliffs. Unfortunately I ended up really sick the night before and was so dizzy and lethargic I couldn't participate and slept through the entire thing. I heard it was fun, they did some treking through mud and some interesting stuff. The location was beautiful so I was sad I didn't get to really be a part of it. However, after it was all over, one of the tech trainers pointed out the giant trantula that was hanging out on the bed I was sleeping in all day. I didn't realize there were trantulas here roaming around like that!!!
So that is the short version of everything....I am in week 7, so I have only 3 weeks left of training and the weekend after thanksgiving I'll be moving to my new site for the next 2 years. Its a very crazy and busy time right now, and I find myself getting emotional now that I am leaving the comforts of my current home and host family, whom I love and will cry when it's time for me to go. I'm excited and nervous to start the real part of this adventure.
So tomorrow I leave for the next 10 days to train in my new site, I'm a replacement volunteer, so there has already been a volunteer in my town working, so I'm excited about that too to see what she has done and get her advice.
We just got back from a trip to Ancash, which is a region in the Andes mountains. That was a really interesting trip. It was about an 8 hour bus ride to the capital city Huaraz, and we didn't spend much time there at first, we traveled about another 3 hours to a small town in the mountains called Chavin. Now transportation in Peru is a scary situation as I've mentioned before. Just imagine those crazy buses now traveling on dirt/rock/gravel roads at high altitudes on the edges of mountains. I was gripping my seat the entire time, I never once felt comfortable during out travel time, it was horrible! I felt many times that my life was going to end in a Peruvian bus that drove off the cliff...it was scary and I have a tremendous fear of heights on top of it.
Once we got to Chavin, we stayed in a hostal with HOT showers and TV....with one english channel. It was great! Another thing I need to mention is that altitude sickness is no joke, we were given pills ahead of time to take and I did. But once we got into the mountains I started having this weird tingling in my feet and hands that came and went the entire trip, and for the first few days I just had general malaise, but once I ran out of pills it got worse. I missed two days of activities due to some of the symtoms related to altitude sickness that I won't mention here.
The point of this trip was to do field based training, which is learning some of the stuff we will need to do in our new sites. So the first day we went and learned about health promotes and forming a youth group. So we went to a school and worked with kids and painted a mural. The following day, we went to build latrines for families who needed them...I missed this day because I was really sick. Then saturday we went to a town and interviewd women who had recieved these improved cooking stoves called "cocinas mejoradas"...they are an adobe brick built raised cooking stove that has a chimney that moves the smoke outdoors, because before the women would cook over an open flame on the floor of their kitchens. The smoke was hurting their lungs as well as their backs, and the same for the rest of the families. So after attending 8-10 information sessions put on by the volunteer these households were provided with materials from a peace corp grant to build these improved cooking stoves. So we went to interview these mothers about information pertaining to health as well as see if they were using their new stoves.
Now to preface how these interviews went, I have to tell you about the people who live in the mountains. They are very very traditional and conservative, their way of life as well as their clothing is different then other parts of Peru. Many of them do not speak spanish, they speak another language known as Quechua. So the women we interviewed were very timid. Unfortunately the women couldn't tell us much information in regards to health, for example they were unsure about balanced diets and hygiene. I actually felt uncomfortable asking them many of the questions because they were so shy, I felt like I was intruding and that it must be very intimidating for them. However, this was all apart of their agreement for recieving the "cocina mejorada".
After the interviews, we went and actually built a cocina mejorada. The family is usually required to build the first part, and then we come in and build the level where the stove is going to be. To do this, we use adobe bricks and this weird mud mix that contains: horse and donkey feces, salt, sugar, cactus water and broken glass. So after we put all that together we finished it up with the stove top, and after a fews days of drying the family can add the chimney and use it. The mother of the house came and saw it when we were finished and seemed really excited which was great!!
After we left Chavin, we returned to Huarez for our last night in Ancash, we all ended up finding this little pizza place. It was a really cute hole in the wall kinda place that was decorated with international flags and played american 80's music and classic rock. It was so much fun. There was a guy in there who asked me to take a picture of his table, so once I did he realized I was American and he was as well, he was from Lousiana, so that was kinda cool!
For our very last day in Ancash we traveled up another mountain to go to a team-building retreat scariest mountain of them all was so freaked out the entire time. It just doesn't seems safe or natural to be driving around on those cliffs. Unfortunately I ended up really sick the night before and was so dizzy and lethargic I couldn't participate and slept through the entire thing. I heard it was fun, they did some treking through mud and some interesting stuff. The location was beautiful so I was sad I didn't get to really be a part of it. However, after it was all over, one of the tech trainers pointed out the giant trantula that was hanging out on the bed I was sleeping in all day. I didn't realize there were trantulas here roaming around like that!!!
So that is the short version of everything....I am in week 7, so I have only 3 weeks left of training and the weekend after thanksgiving I'll be moving to my new site for the next 2 years. Its a very crazy and busy time right now, and I find myself getting emotional now that I am leaving the comforts of my current home and host family, whom I love and will cry when it's time for me to go. I'm excited and nervous to start the real part of this adventure.
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