All I could think about on Friday was how one year on that same date I woke up early in a Holiday Inn in Georgetown to meet my Dad in the lobby with another suitcase for me to take with me later that day to Peru, in tears. Not just a few tears a lot of tears. I hugged my Dad and didn't want him to let go or leave. It was in those moments that I realized how big the decision I had made to join the peace corps was. I was suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling of leaving my family and friends behind and virtually my whole life to spend two years away from them in Peru.
I don't look back on that day and think how crazy I was for being so upset, I look back on it thinking how much one year in Peru has changed me. It has made me braver and stronger. I went from the girl who lived in Maryland her whole life, and the most exotic place she had been was a family vacation in a beautiful resort in Mexico for a week, to the girl who lives in a rural town in northern Peru, where everyone speaks a different language. Wow! What a change a year can make!
I think everyday how welcomed I was into the country, and more importantly into Chipillico. I love my country, but it is very rare that anyone in the United States would let someone live with them for 2 years or walk into their place of work and try and find ways to help the community. The people in Chipillico have done this for me. Along the way they have taught me an amazing amount of things, and as much as I have patience with the cultural differences I am not used to, they have an amazing amount of patience with me stumbling through the language at times and trying to make changes to their way of living (just trying to help out). I am also in shock sometimes as to how used to things I have never experienced before in my life.
Above all, one of the most important things that has happened to me is not a thing it's more of people. I know that I owe a large portion of getting through this experience to the friends that I have made. Brittany, Aman and BJ are my sanity sometimes. As much as my family is 100% supportive emotionally and with stuff, my friends here are the ones that "get it", when a peruvian says or does something crazy it's so easy to talk to them and know they will understand, or a meeting or a presentation goes bad, odds are they experienced the same thing in the same week. Then, when we have the opportunity to get together and be crazy and vent and just have fun it is always more worth it. And of course having Edgar has changed my experience for the better, I do not know what I do without him as well.
I think the most important part of finishing up the first year and starting to feel more accomplished. It has been a year full of trainings and now it is starting to feel like I am completely on my own and making moves to really dive into my own projects. So it feels good, I am a true volunteer at this point and as difficult as it at times to get things accomplished it is still happening and it makes me really happy.
So here goes year number 2, I can't wait to see what happens, and I look forward to what I will have to write about in these next months!
Monday, September 19, 2011
Monday, September 5, 2011
Almost a year....
Here I am a few days away from marking my year in Peru and still I have those moments where I am in awe of my life here. It still seems surreal, but incredible. This past weekend I was with Edgar, he had taken me site seeing a little bit in Peru. We ended up in this one town where there was a parade and it the music, colors, costumes, smells and everything was amazing. It was like watching a movie, except I was a part of it. As we made our way home the sun was setting over the rice fields and I just kept thinking about a year or two ago when I read "Eat, Pray, Love" and was just so envious of an adventure like that. Here I am living mine, and I have done it for almost a year, and I still have a year left. Only so much more to look forward too.
After the home invasion a few weeks ago, things have calmed down, but it has been int he back of everyone's heads. The rumors have also been flying so I am not sure what to believe. However, September is a busy month with the anniversary of the valley including the schools. This has got everyone excited and I can definitely feel that something huge it coming.
The other day I had the honor of serving as a judge in the "Miss Chipillico" contest. That was interesting! There were girls from preschool, elementary and high school in the pageant. There would be a winner from each part. I served as a judge alongside the doctor, Miss Las Lomas, and an engineer from Las Lomas as well. The girls came out in their "sports wear", cutural costumes, and evening attire. They also had to each answer a question. I must admit, I was blown away. These kids acted like they were born to walk the runway. Even down to the little girls. They costumes were amazing, and everyone had great answers to their questions. It was a hard contest to judge. However, some of the girls made it easy for me to deduct points. Even though I know skimpy outfits are apart of their culture, I don't agree with little girls looking sexy, so there were minus points on that. As well as for one girl her came out licking her finger and "dropping it like it's hot", I think she thought it was a music video set. But I believe the teachers were trying to keep it classy!!! In the end I was happy with who we choose at winners and very impressed with how much work each girl, as well as the teachers had put into the contest. However, in true peruvian fashion, they managed to keep an invent that was scheduled to begin at 4:30 going well into the night. I was asked to present the high school Miss Chipillico, however, at around11pm when the band was playing and everyone was drinking and no final crowning anywhere in site, I had to quietly sneak out.
In true fashion of peruvians loving to celebrate everything, we also had a little presentation for the elderly the other day in the health post. Since I have lots of experience working with this population I took the lead. It was really fun actually, they were really intersted, more so because 2 of them were going to win a can of ensure at the end of the presentation. However, this has inspired me to do work with this population, not one of my goals as a volunteer, but I am going to make it a secondary project. I think it could be really fun, I am thinking about starting a mini exercise class like there used to be when I worked at healthsouth. I think they would love it!
After the home invasion a few weeks ago, things have calmed down, but it has been int he back of everyone's heads. The rumors have also been flying so I am not sure what to believe. However, September is a busy month with the anniversary of the valley including the schools. This has got everyone excited and I can definitely feel that something huge it coming.
 |
| Me and my host nephew Paul waiting for the contest to begin. |
 |
| The elementary and preschool queens! |
In true fashion of peruvians loving to celebrate everything, we also had a little presentation for the elderly the other day in the health post. Since I have lots of experience working with this population I took the lead. It was really fun actually, they were really intersted, more so because 2 of them were going to win a can of ensure at the end of the presentation. However, this has inspired me to do work with this population, not one of my goals as a volunteer, but I am going to make it a secondary project. I think it could be really fun, I am thinking about starting a mini exercise class like there used to be when I worked at healthsouth. I think they would love it!
 |
| Full house for the chat. |
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Home Invasion
In Chipillico news for the week, there was a home invasion
the other day. Apparently 5 guys came in a car yesterday to a house of a
lady who lives on my street looking for money. They were watching at
the bank and saw she withdrew a large loan over the weekend, 86,000 soles which is roughly 31,000 dollars. For a peruvian in my site, this is an incredibly amount of money. . So they
came to steal it. They pinned her to the ground and tore her house
apart. In the meantime neighbors realized what was happening and came
running with rocks. But the guys had guns and they escaped. 2 in a
car, and 2 with the money took off running for the hills. The word
had spread quick so by the time the car reached another town on the
way out of the valley, the people had set up a rock barricade and were
throwing rocks at the two remaining robbers. Once the police got to
them they were covered in blood from everyone throwing rocks at them.
Unfortunately the money was not recovered but they got a few guys out
of the group. I swear I really wonder where I am sometimes, it´s like
living in a movie. The entire town has been really freaked out. My family and I were joking how if someone came to our house we would just hand over the keys and welcome them to anything that we have. I don't even have anything that valuable so I don't think we will have anyone coming after us.
the other day. Apparently 5 guys came in a car yesterday to a house of a
lady who lives on my street looking for money. They were watching at
the bank and saw she withdrew a large loan over the weekend, 86,000 soles which is roughly 31,000 dollars. For a peruvian in my site, this is an incredibly amount of money. . So they
came to steal it. They pinned her to the ground and tore her house
apart. In the meantime neighbors realized what was happening and came
running with rocks. But the guys had guns and they escaped. 2 in a
car, and 2 with the money took off running for the hills. The word
had spread quick so by the time the car reached another town on the
way out of the valley, the people had set up a rock barricade and were
throwing rocks at the two remaining robbers. Once the police got to
them they were covered in blood from everyone throwing rocks at them.
Unfortunately the money was not recovered but they got a few guys out
of the group. I swear I really wonder where I am sometimes, it´s like
living in a movie. The entire town has been really freaked out. My family and I were joking how if someone came to our house we would just hand over the keys and welcome them to anything that we have. I don't even have anything that valuable so I don't think we will have anyone coming after us.
My 27th Birthday.
I decided to spend my birthday in site, even though I was coming back from a training and there were lots of volunteers in the city who were going out celebrating. My host family and boyfriend were making a bigger deal out of my birthday then I was. Edgar had a countdown. So I felt like since it wasn’t a big deal to me, but it was to them, I would spend my time with them.
The morning of my birthday I got lots of hugs and birthday wishes. They kept asking me what animal I wanted them to kill for my special birthday lunch. I asked them to just pretend it was a normal day and I did not want anything special. But, my host mom had already killed one of her hens that morning for me. She said it even had eggs in side so it was like a special hen, my breakfast and lunch all in one. How disgusting right?!?!
I got tons of text message from Edgar all day, even though he was right down the street. He looks at each holiday or birthday or whatever we spend together as a really big deal. So I thought it was sweet and had plans with him later that night.
I treated the day like normal, went and did my laundry and normal chores. It was really funny, they wanted to know the exact time I was born. So when that time came around, I was outside hanging my laundry and my host sister and host mom coming running out and were really disappointed I was doing laundry at the exact time I was born.
Later, I went and talked to my Dad for awhile on the phone. It was around lunch time. I felt really bad because when I got back to the house, I found out that everyone had been there waiting for me to celebrate my birthday lunch, but I took to long that they all went ahead and ate without me. So I ate my HUGE cold plate alone. She made me noodles, with chicken, potatoes with a sauce I love, and this beet, carrot, salad I like too. So I ate the chicken, potatoes, and beet salad, but they were really upset with me when I didn’t eat all the noodles. They always do this to me, I always eat the more nutritious stuff on my plate and leave behind the noodles or rice and they tell me I don’t eat enough. When you have rice with every meal it comes to the point where enough is enough and I reached that point months ago.
Later that night, I got all prettied up and went to the police station to hang out with Edgar. I had to lie to my family and say we were going to another party, that we weren’t, in order to get a little more time to hang out with him. Usually I try and be respectful and come back to the house between 10 and 10:30 because our front door locks from the inside and I feel guilty waking them up to get in the house. But it was my birthday and the weekend, so they didn’t care about me coming in late. So I went to see what Edgar had planned. He was so excited, he had gone and bought us dinner from someone who was cooking on the street. The chicken when they cook out like that is so good, so I was really excited. So we had our little dinner just the two of us. He gave me a gift and a sweet card. One of the kids of one of my health promoters came by with a gift too, it was a cute jewelry box.
Overall, it was a very simple and quiet birthday. But I really enjoyed it. The only thing that could have made it better would have been a smith island or cheesecake. But I will just have to wait until my 29th birthday when I am home to get that.
The morning of my birthday I got lots of hugs and birthday wishes. They kept asking me what animal I wanted them to kill for my special birthday lunch. I asked them to just pretend it was a normal day and I did not want anything special. But, my host mom had already killed one of her hens that morning for me. She said it even had eggs in side so it was like a special hen, my breakfast and lunch all in one. How disgusting right?!?!
I got tons of text message from Edgar all day, even though he was right down the street. He looks at each holiday or birthday or whatever we spend together as a really big deal. So I thought it was sweet and had plans with him later that night.
I treated the day like normal, went and did my laundry and normal chores. It was really funny, they wanted to know the exact time I was born. So when that time came around, I was outside hanging my laundry and my host sister and host mom coming running out and were really disappointed I was doing laundry at the exact time I was born.
Later, I went and talked to my Dad for awhile on the phone. It was around lunch time. I felt really bad because when I got back to the house, I found out that everyone had been there waiting for me to celebrate my birthday lunch, but I took to long that they all went ahead and ate without me. So I ate my HUGE cold plate alone. She made me noodles, with chicken, potatoes with a sauce I love, and this beet, carrot, salad I like too. So I ate the chicken, potatoes, and beet salad, but they were really upset with me when I didn’t eat all the noodles. They always do this to me, I always eat the more nutritious stuff on my plate and leave behind the noodles or rice and they tell me I don’t eat enough. When you have rice with every meal it comes to the point where enough is enough and I reached that point months ago.
Later that night, I got all prettied up and went to the police station to hang out with Edgar. I had to lie to my family and say we were going to another party, that we weren’t, in order to get a little more time to hang out with him. Usually I try and be respectful and come back to the house between 10 and 10:30 because our front door locks from the inside and I feel guilty waking them up to get in the house. But it was my birthday and the weekend, so they didn’t care about me coming in late. So I went to see what Edgar had planned. He was so excited, he had gone and bought us dinner from someone who was cooking on the street. The chicken when they cook out like that is so good, so I was really excited. So we had our little dinner just the two of us. He gave me a gift and a sweet card. One of the kids of one of my health promoters came by with a gift too, it was a cute jewelry box.
Overall, it was a very simple and quiet birthday. But I really enjoyed it. The only thing that could have made it better would have been a smith island or cheesecake. But I will just have to wait until my 29th birthday when I am home to get that.
Amor
To my surprise, and I think most other people in my life, I have actually met someone here in Peru and have been seeing him for about 3 months. I swore up and down that I would not date a Peruvian, there were just too many differences and I thought it would be really hard to communicate. Well, that changed!
His name is Edgar, he is a police officer in my town, and initially I met him when I got robbed and he was helping me with a police report. But at that point we didn’t really get to know each other, he was really serious. Then, about 2 weeks later we ended up as godparents at the early childhood stimulation center opening. There, he made a lot of effort to talk to me and we had to dance a lot together. So from then on, we would run into each other and sit and talk a lot and it just evolved.
I think the first thing I really liked was that I was able to actually have a deeper conversation with someone in my site. Usually my conversations with people are “going to do your laundry?”, “it is hot today”, “do you like the food”. That is usually as far as the conversations go. No one cares about my life before Peru, let alone my name….I am usually referred to as “gringa”. So when I met Edgar, it was nice to be able to sit down and really talk to someone. The exciting part was that it came easy, my Spanish didn’t seem like a huge mess and if it was, he has the most incredible patience with me.
So fortunately, he is from the city. That has about a million advantages, because the people in my site tend to be a little rough around the edges and very traditional. He is a little more open minded and we both can laugh at the ridiculousness of the people in my town at times. He works in my town 8 days on and 8 days off. So when he is off, I usually schedule my monthly visits into the city so we can spend normal time together.
What I mean by “normal time” is that, not a single person in the city cares about whether or not we are a couple. So we can hold hands, or go on dates, and no one is looking at us. However, in my town every single person cares about whether or not we are a couple and the news of it as well as rumors spreads instantly from house to house. I don’t really care about anyone knowing about us, but I do care that they tend to make up stories that aren’t true. Even my own host family tried to say that he has a wife that lives in my site. Incredibly false, another police officer who works here does, but not him. But that simply can make both of us can look like bad people. Literally, I will be walking around town minding my own business and people will stop me and ask about my relationship with him. He has the same problem, people come to the police station just to ask if I am his girlfriend. We both tell the truth, it is better if they here it from us then their crazy neighbor, just goes to show how simple people in my town.
Recently, I went and met his family in Piura. My host family had been bugging me about this because they wanted me to be sure he didn’t have another family (meaning a wife and kids in the city), this is how crazy and untrusting they are. The visit was really scary for me, not because I believed he had a wife. First, I get nervous about meeting new Peruvians because I am afraid I will not understand them. I get really comfortable in my circle here in my site, that when new people come in I tend to worry I won’t understand their dialect or accent. So I was really worried about being surrounded by his family. Secondly, Peruvians live with their parents until they get married. So it made me think they would be even more protective of their 27 year old son. He also has 3 sisters, and being a sister myself, I know how judgmental we can be of our brother‘s girlfriends. Also, I was the FIRST girlfriend he had ever brought home, so that left me under more scrutiny. Lastly, and most importantly, I am American. This tends to be incredibly intimidating. People think they need to set up their house differently to impress me, and cook an outrageous meal they normally would not. They get more nervous then me, and I don’t like that. Plus, I am an American dating their son, and my time here in Peru has an expiration date so I thought this would be something else that worried them too. People always tell him how lucky he is that I “picked” him. Like I am some queen sitting on my throne and have my choice of anyone I want and he should feel honored that he was the one I choose. Really annoying!!!
It turned out that his family was really nice, and I understood them easily. He also didn’t leave my side because he knew how scared I was. They did pull out their nicest of nice things that day for lunch. There were also a few questions as to whether or not I was going to marry him and if I was going to take him back to the United States with me. Just a little uncomfortable, but Edgar diffused that for me and the conversation moved on. Overall it was a good day. I liked hanging out with them.
Just recently, another volunteer told me that by dating a Peruvian, that I am going to have an experience different then other volunteers that I will probably find very valuable. I agree, I am learning so much and having a lot of fun. He has helped change my experience right here in my site, definitely has become more fun having someone to spend my time with. Plus, I really like this guy, he puts my ex-boyfriends to shame. He is just way more attentive and caring, and I do not believe he has a selfish bone in his body. We will see what happens!!!
His name is Edgar, he is a police officer in my town, and initially I met him when I got robbed and he was helping me with a police report. But at that point we didn’t really get to know each other, he was really serious. Then, about 2 weeks later we ended up as godparents at the early childhood stimulation center opening. There, he made a lot of effort to talk to me and we had to dance a lot together. So from then on, we would run into each other and sit and talk a lot and it just evolved.
I think the first thing I really liked was that I was able to actually have a deeper conversation with someone in my site. Usually my conversations with people are “going to do your laundry?”, “it is hot today”, “do you like the food”. That is usually as far as the conversations go. No one cares about my life before Peru, let alone my name….I am usually referred to as “gringa”. So when I met Edgar, it was nice to be able to sit down and really talk to someone. The exciting part was that it came easy, my Spanish didn’t seem like a huge mess and if it was, he has the most incredible patience with me.
So fortunately, he is from the city. That has about a million advantages, because the people in my site tend to be a little rough around the edges and very traditional. He is a little more open minded and we both can laugh at the ridiculousness of the people in my town at times. He works in my town 8 days on and 8 days off. So when he is off, I usually schedule my monthly visits into the city so we can spend normal time together.
What I mean by “normal time” is that, not a single person in the city cares about whether or not we are a couple. So we can hold hands, or go on dates, and no one is looking at us. However, in my town every single person cares about whether or not we are a couple and the news of it as well as rumors spreads instantly from house to house. I don’t really care about anyone knowing about us, but I do care that they tend to make up stories that aren’t true. Even my own host family tried to say that he has a wife that lives in my site. Incredibly false, another police officer who works here does, but not him. But that simply can make both of us can look like bad people. Literally, I will be walking around town minding my own business and people will stop me and ask about my relationship with him. He has the same problem, people come to the police station just to ask if I am his girlfriend. We both tell the truth, it is better if they here it from us then their crazy neighbor, just goes to show how simple people in my town.
Recently, I went and met his family in Piura. My host family had been bugging me about this because they wanted me to be sure he didn’t have another family (meaning a wife and kids in the city), this is how crazy and untrusting they are. The visit was really scary for me, not because I believed he had a wife. First, I get nervous about meeting new Peruvians because I am afraid I will not understand them. I get really comfortable in my circle here in my site, that when new people come in I tend to worry I won’t understand their dialect or accent. So I was really worried about being surrounded by his family. Secondly, Peruvians live with their parents until they get married. So it made me think they would be even more protective of their 27 year old son. He also has 3 sisters, and being a sister myself, I know how judgmental we can be of our brother‘s girlfriends. Also, I was the FIRST girlfriend he had ever brought home, so that left me under more scrutiny. Lastly, and most importantly, I am American. This tends to be incredibly intimidating. People think they need to set up their house differently to impress me, and cook an outrageous meal they normally would not. They get more nervous then me, and I don’t like that. Plus, I am an American dating their son, and my time here in Peru has an expiration date so I thought this would be something else that worried them too. People always tell him how lucky he is that I “picked” him. Like I am some queen sitting on my throne and have my choice of anyone I want and he should feel honored that he was the one I choose. Really annoying!!!
It turned out that his family was really nice, and I understood them easily. He also didn’t leave my side because he knew how scared I was. They did pull out their nicest of nice things that day for lunch. There were also a few questions as to whether or not I was going to marry him and if I was going to take him back to the United States with me. Just a little uncomfortable, but Edgar diffused that for me and the conversation moved on. Overall it was a good day. I liked hanging out with them.
Just recently, another volunteer told me that by dating a Peruvian, that I am going to have an experience different then other volunteers that I will probably find very valuable. I agree, I am learning so much and having a lot of fun. He has helped change my experience right here in my site, definitely has become more fun having someone to spend my time with. Plus, I really like this guy, he puts my ex-boyfriends to shame. He is just way more attentive and caring, and I do not believe he has a selfish bone in his body. We will see what happens!!!
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Family Visits- Part 2
We finally reached my house. This part I was most nervous about. Mostly because I knew it would be difficult for my family and my host family to communicate since neither of them knew the other's language. Also, I was nervous because I knew my host family would be nervous to have my family in the house, as well as there are so many cultural differences I was hoping no one would offend the other. So after the warm introductions and awkward pauses, I went straight for the ice breaker and brought out all of the toys and gifts my family brought. Starting with the stove top my parents bought for my host Mom while we were at the market in Piura. She was thrilled and had it hooked up in time to prepare dinner later that night. Next we got into the toys. The kids were thrilled. My Mom and I had gone through all the toys in advance while we were in the city and we had a bag prepared for each kid with their name on it. It seemed that the most popular toys were the babies. The little girls absolutely loved their baby dolls. There also was a really excited moment from my 6 year old host nephew about transformer shaped bubbles, he ran into the room holding it up like a prize and screaming for everyone to look. I think the kids were so overwhelmed with some of the toys they didn't even know what to do with themselves. My parents had brought babies and barbies, and trucks that made noises and drove, nerf guns, action figues, play doh, games. So much stuff these kids were in heaven. I would like to say it was like Christmas, except these kids don't even get gifts on christmas, and they barely get one on their birthdays. So more then likely it was like nothing they had ever experienced before. And they were all so excited to see what eachother got. Even Iker, who is only 11 months old got a brand new truck and he was on the floor playing with that.
Next, my Mom had brought a few more things for the girls, she brought a bunch of old navy flip flops in all kinds of colors. So all of my host sisters got those too. They seemed really excited, especially since they are always trying on my flip flops and saying how comfortable they are. Also, my Mom had brought lots of chocolate, so sitting by the pool the night before in Piura, my Mom, Dad and I put together over 50 bags of chocolate to be passed out in my town during their visit. My host family probably would have been happy with the chocolate and no more.
My Mom's buddy Leo came by too. He is my 3 year old neighbor who doesn't have a mother. She was only 12 when she had him and left soon after. My Mom has heard the story and even talked to him on the phone, so she brought some special stuff for him. Part of it was a plastic rifle that came with a cowboy belt and bandana and a few pairs or clothes. At first he acted shy, but with time, and in Leo fashion he warmed up quickly. He showed up first thing the next morning while we were still in bed with his rifle in his hand ready to shoot at us. It was really cute. Then, when my Mom gave him his new clothes I put them on him immediatly and he walked around showing everyone his new stuff. Sadly, his new clothes look just like his old clothes only 2 weeks later....hopefully with a nice wash they will look good again.
After all the gift opening hype, my host Mom served us lunch. It was a lunch I had never seen before. The table was set really nice, with the folded cloth napkins and matching tablecloth I had given her when I first came to live there. And we got the good chicken I never get to eat served realy pretty with rice in the shape of a circle. After 10 months of living there, I have NEVER seen her put on a show like that. It was really nice of her to go out of her way to impress my family with all of that. Later on, I took my family to see the sites of Chipillico. We saw all the places I always talk about, and they got to see a little bit of life in Chipillico, where we wash our clothes, get water, the donkies, the pigs, the goats, everything! I loved seeing their reaction to all the parts of Chipillico that have become my life and normal to me.
Later on that night, we headed over to BJ's town so they could meet him, as well as see what a Peruvian party is like because BJ's town as celebrating it's anniversary. I was even surprised to see his town in party mode. There were all kinds of vendors from all over. We were there kind of early so not a whole lot of was going on, but there were a good amount of people out. We even ran into his host Mom who was carrying the prize winning rooster from the cock fight earlier that night. Alex was really excited to get his picture taken with the rooster. We ended the night there by showing my family a true peruvian drinking circle, but kept it between us since I didn't think anyone would be too excited about having to share the glass with random strangers. Afterwards, we rode back to my town in the dark in moto taxi's. My Dad said the bumpy ride was not as romantic as I had made it out to be!
When we got back to my site, we prepared my room for the night. I had bought air mattresses and we blew them up and Alex and I slept on those on the floor. My parents hopped in my double size bed, and in the end that left about 2 feet of walking room. I had told them that for the 2 night we were in my site that we might just have to become a little bit of a closer family and share the little potty they had sent me. No one was down for peeing in the same room, so at multiple times during the night everyone would get up to use the bathroom outside either alone, or sometimes we went in groups, because usually when one of us got up, we were all up. At another point during the night, I hear my Dad say "something is crawling one me", next thing I know he is up with a flashlight looking around. He claims it was a scorpion.....I am no so sure about that!!!
After a pretty sleepless night, we woke up the next morning to begin a full day in my site. It started off with everyone using my shower, my nice solar shower, they sent me filled with creek water. No one seemed really excited about that like I was. I think it was an adjustment for them to be outside with the turkeys and chickens taking a shower. I thought it was hilarious!!!
Next, my host mom made us a nice bread and fried egg and coffee breakfast, and we hit the town. First stop was the cementary, where we had a photo shoot with a preganant donkey on top of a gravesite. Next, we headed towards the center of town where my Mom and Dad snapped a few pictures of a dog eating a pig right there in the middle of town. Next we started running into my people and passing out candy. My Dad and Alex nailed the peruvian cheek kiss with all of the women. I was really proud of them. We then headed to the health post so they could see where I worked and meet my coworkers. Everyone again was excited to recieve chocolate. At the end of the street we stopped off at the school. I checked to make sure it was okay if we walked around a little, except I didn't expect what happened next. Little by little the kids and teachers started coming out of the classrooms and windows to take a look at the "gringos" walking around. Usually I get a little attention when I am there, but it was more so with my Mom and Dad and Alex. They got to see a few classrooms and take lots of pictures, I just kept handing out the candy to make sure the teacher's didn't mind the disruption too much. We went to one class and took pictures, and a few minutes later all the students came running out with their tests to take more pictures. It was so cute. They absolutely loved seeing my family, and even more they loved having their pictures taken.
Finally, my parents realized we needed to escape because they kids were coming at us from every direction. It's funny, even though they know my family can't speak spanish, they don't hesistate to talk to them constantly. My host family did the same thing, even when I wasn't around to translate they would just go talk to my family, and I would walk in and both parties would be looking at eachother confused. My Dad tried really hard to use hand signals to explain...i am not sure if it worked.
The rest of the day we saw a few more sites, took lots of pictures, and headed back to the house for a real peruvian lunch. I asked my host Mom to cook all my favorites and she did. They even killed a turkey to celebrate the occasion. My Mom had witnessed my host Dad sharpening his knife on a rock outside that morning, that same knife was probably used to kill our lunch. I think this was a first for my family.
The rest of the day we just hung out in front of the house, BJ came by, and many other kids and people, mostly just to look at us. We pulled out their new candy land to play, and even play doh. Turns out my host family is incredibly creative and came up with some pretty cool stuff for the play doh. It was just so great to see them enjoying all their new toys, and it was fun having my family spend time with them too.
Later that night when it got dark the frogs came out, and my host family is deathly afraid of frogs. So I had Alex pick up one of the frogs and taught him how to ask my host sister in spanish if she liked it. So he went into the house with the giant frog and held it to her face and asked in spanish if she liked it. All she did was scream. My whole family started running outside and made him put it down and wash his hands right away because they believe it causes warts. It was probably my favorite part of the visit to my house.
Overall, that part of the trip went way better then I expected. My two families not being able to communicate wasn't as big of a deal as I thought it was going to be. It was amazing how much they could both communicate without knowing their languages. My mom was telling at one point in the morning my host Dad waved her over while he was feeding the guinea pigs to show her. My Mom really liked it and took lots of pictures. Just everything, they each sensed how happy the other one was, and there was a sense of understanding and affection even though they couldn't speak to eachother. It was actually a really great experience for me to witness and it made me really happy that my family could be there to share this part of my life with me. I think it is a memory we will all have forever.
All in all things were great, but after 2 nights in my site, I was ready to move on and start the real part of the vacation. The next stop was the beach!!!!!!
Next, my Mom had brought a few more things for the girls, she brought a bunch of old navy flip flops in all kinds of colors. So all of my host sisters got those too. They seemed really excited, especially since they are always trying on my flip flops and saying how comfortable they are. Also, my Mom had brought lots of chocolate, so sitting by the pool the night before in Piura, my Mom, Dad and I put together over 50 bags of chocolate to be passed out in my town during their visit. My host family probably would have been happy with the chocolate and no more.
My Mom's buddy Leo came by too. He is my 3 year old neighbor who doesn't have a mother. She was only 12 when she had him and left soon after. My Mom has heard the story and even talked to him on the phone, so she brought some special stuff for him. Part of it was a plastic rifle that came with a cowboy belt and bandana and a few pairs or clothes. At first he acted shy, but with time, and in Leo fashion he warmed up quickly. He showed up first thing the next morning while we were still in bed with his rifle in his hand ready to shoot at us. It was really cute. Then, when my Mom gave him his new clothes I put them on him immediatly and he walked around showing everyone his new stuff. Sadly, his new clothes look just like his old clothes only 2 weeks later....hopefully with a nice wash they will look good again.
After all the gift opening hype, my host Mom served us lunch. It was a lunch I had never seen before. The table was set really nice, with the folded cloth napkins and matching tablecloth I had given her when I first came to live there. And we got the good chicken I never get to eat served realy pretty with rice in the shape of a circle. After 10 months of living there, I have NEVER seen her put on a show like that. It was really nice of her to go out of her way to impress my family with all of that. Later on, I took my family to see the sites of Chipillico. We saw all the places I always talk about, and they got to see a little bit of life in Chipillico, where we wash our clothes, get water, the donkies, the pigs, the goats, everything! I loved seeing their reaction to all the parts of Chipillico that have become my life and normal to me.
Later on that night, we headed over to BJ's town so they could meet him, as well as see what a Peruvian party is like because BJ's town as celebrating it's anniversary. I was even surprised to see his town in party mode. There were all kinds of vendors from all over. We were there kind of early so not a whole lot of was going on, but there were a good amount of people out. We even ran into his host Mom who was carrying the prize winning rooster from the cock fight earlier that night. Alex was really excited to get his picture taken with the rooster. We ended the night there by showing my family a true peruvian drinking circle, but kept it between us since I didn't think anyone would be too excited about having to share the glass with random strangers. Afterwards, we rode back to my town in the dark in moto taxi's. My Dad said the bumpy ride was not as romantic as I had made it out to be!
When we got back to my site, we prepared my room for the night. I had bought air mattresses and we blew them up and Alex and I slept on those on the floor. My parents hopped in my double size bed, and in the end that left about 2 feet of walking room. I had told them that for the 2 night we were in my site that we might just have to become a little bit of a closer family and share the little potty they had sent me. No one was down for peeing in the same room, so at multiple times during the night everyone would get up to use the bathroom outside either alone, or sometimes we went in groups, because usually when one of us got up, we were all up. At another point during the night, I hear my Dad say "something is crawling one me", next thing I know he is up with a flashlight looking around. He claims it was a scorpion.....I am no so sure about that!!!
After a pretty sleepless night, we woke up the next morning to begin a full day in my site. It started off with everyone using my shower, my nice solar shower, they sent me filled with creek water. No one seemed really excited about that like I was. I think it was an adjustment for them to be outside with the turkeys and chickens taking a shower. I thought it was hilarious!!!
Next, my host mom made us a nice bread and fried egg and coffee breakfast, and we hit the town. First stop was the cementary, where we had a photo shoot with a preganant donkey on top of a gravesite. Next, we headed towards the center of town where my Mom and Dad snapped a few pictures of a dog eating a pig right there in the middle of town. Next we started running into my people and passing out candy. My Dad and Alex nailed the peruvian cheek kiss with all of the women. I was really proud of them. We then headed to the health post so they could see where I worked and meet my coworkers. Everyone again was excited to recieve chocolate. At the end of the street we stopped off at the school. I checked to make sure it was okay if we walked around a little, except I didn't expect what happened next. Little by little the kids and teachers started coming out of the classrooms and windows to take a look at the "gringos" walking around. Usually I get a little attention when I am there, but it was more so with my Mom and Dad and Alex. They got to see a few classrooms and take lots of pictures, I just kept handing out the candy to make sure the teacher's didn't mind the disruption too much. We went to one class and took pictures, and a few minutes later all the students came running out with their tests to take more pictures. It was so cute. They absolutely loved seeing my family, and even more they loved having their pictures taken.
Finally, my parents realized we needed to escape because they kids were coming at us from every direction. It's funny, even though they know my family can't speak spanish, they don't hesistate to talk to them constantly. My host family did the same thing, even when I wasn't around to translate they would just go talk to my family, and I would walk in and both parties would be looking at eachother confused. My Dad tried really hard to use hand signals to explain...i am not sure if it worked.
The rest of the day we saw a few more sites, took lots of pictures, and headed back to the house for a real peruvian lunch. I asked my host Mom to cook all my favorites and she did. They even killed a turkey to celebrate the occasion. My Mom had witnessed my host Dad sharpening his knife on a rock outside that morning, that same knife was probably used to kill our lunch. I think this was a first for my family.
The rest of the day we just hung out in front of the house, BJ came by, and many other kids and people, mostly just to look at us. We pulled out their new candy land to play, and even play doh. Turns out my host family is incredibly creative and came up with some pretty cool stuff for the play doh. It was just so great to see them enjoying all their new toys, and it was fun having my family spend time with them too.
Overall, that part of the trip went way better then I expected. My two families not being able to communicate wasn't as big of a deal as I thought it was going to be. It was amazing how much they could both communicate without knowing their languages. My mom was telling at one point in the morning my host Dad waved her over while he was feeding the guinea pigs to show her. My Mom really liked it and took lots of pictures. Just everything, they each sensed how happy the other one was, and there was a sense of understanding and affection even though they couldn't speak to eachother. It was actually a really great experience for me to witness and it made me really happy that my family could be there to share this part of my life with me. I think it is a memory we will all have forever.
All in all things were great, but after 2 nights in my site, I was ready to move on and start the real part of the vacation. The next stop was the beach!!!!!!
"Iraq has got it going on compared to here"...Family visits-PART 1
I was almost surreal when I hoped on the plane heading for Lima to go meet them. It had been 10 months since I had seen them. Although we get to talk all the time, I have never been seperated from my family for that long. At first when I got to Peru all I wanted was for them to be with me. However, after 10 months I have established a life here, and it just felt really strange that in a short amount of time they were about to see it and be apart of it.
I got to Lima much earlier then them, so I checked into the hotel and enjoyed a nice hot shower and some pizza hut while I waited to go back to the airport to pick them up. Once at the airport I realized it would probably take them awhile to get off the plan and out of customs, it just ended up being much more time then I anticipated. I was so anxious, and there were so many crowds in the airport waiting for their loved ones too. Finally after getting pushed further and further away from the ropes, I went to the second floor so I would get a better look when they came through. The first person I saw was Alex, he had anticipated I would be up there looking down, so I ran to give him a huge hug. Then my parents came out a few minutes later. That was a moment I had long awaited for. Very emotional, but happy emotional. We had talked about that moment for a really long time. Then, I noticed the ridiculous amount of luggage they brought. My Dad had been telling me for weeks how they were planning on packing light. From what I saw, it was just the opposite!!!! I knew they brought some things for me, and some things for my host family. But WOW!
After so much preparing and planning it all seemed to go really well. I tried to take it easy on them, because I knew there would be point that it became a little more difficult (my site!). So we spent the first few days at a really nice hotel sitting on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Lima has become a place I look forward to going too because it's like being back in a little mini-america. There we are in a city that resembles any other city I have ever visited, with American restaurants, stylish people and all the other small things I sometimes miss about home. We did lots of shopping in the artesians market, and Mom bought everyone she knows a gift. But I realized, once I was sitting in Chilis with my family eating a hamburger that they didn't come to Peru to do everything they did in America, so after a few days there seeing the sites, I and them were ready to move on. Plus, Lima is really ugly and cold this time of year, like London, and they didn't come on vacation to wear jackets.
The next part of our big adventure was going to be the overnight bus trip to Piura, this trip can usually be anywhere from 14-16 hours. I don't have to do it often, but I have become acustomed to traveling this way. I was really worried about my family doing it, just because I knew they probably wouldn't like it. So I bought the best seats the bus line had to offer in hopes I could make them as comfortable as possible. Fortunately, it worked! They all absolutely loved the bus ride, they thought it was really cool and much nicer then they expected. Even more so, my Dad liked that it meant no paying for a hotel or meals for the night because we also got dinner and breakfast on the bus.
The other part, that I knew would happen was in that overnight bus ride we would quickly leave my little America part of Peru and head out to a place that looked drastically different then they were used to, this part I was most excited for. In the morning when we woke up, there were no more city buildings, instead we were in Chiclayo, a town in Northern Peru, about 6 hours south of where I live. The first thing Alex said was how it reminded him of Ramadi, one of the places he visited during his deployments to Iraq. He said the buildings and the sandy dirty town was identical.
Once we arrived in Piura after the 16 hour trip, everyone was excited to get off the bus, mostly because after a night of traveling the bathrooms had become really disgusting and my Mom and Dad were grossed out and ready to move on. The bus station is located on a strip in Piura where there is nothing but bus stations and the market, it is not the safest part of town, and it is definitely farthest from the prettiest part of town. They said how it reminded them of something they would see on a travel show. Just pure craziness. My Mom took lots of pictures while we piled into two tiny taxis headed or our hotel. All of this was making me nervous. I am so used to doing all of these exact same things alone. I have gotten accostumed to making sure I keep a close eye on my things and I know the language and feel comfortable enought to get around. But doing it with people who don't know a word of Spanish and weren't taking me seriously enough on some of the safey issues made me a little nervous. Same with splitting up in taxi's...I just hoped my Dad and Alex ended up at the same place. They did, however, they said they believed their taxi driver was yelling about the constuction or something the whole time.
Our stay in Piura city was only for the night, we went and got laundry done, relaxed by the pool, went to one of my favorite spots for dinner. I even took them to the market, which I think was the most stressful part of the trip for me. The market is a disgusting dirty place filled with tons and tons of vendors. At the market you can buy almost anything you could ever even think of. However the market is dangerous. I have witnessed a friend get robbed a foot away from me and have had more friends get robbed there, one even had her earrings stolen right out of her ears. For those reasons, as well as the crowds I just hate being there. On the other hand, my family loved it! They loved seeing how it all works and just the craziness of it. I was able to get them out of there after I took them to the meat section and they saw the many many animals that were gutted and hung all over the place, the smells the flies and all of that made them ready to leave.
The next morning I knew the "real adventure" was about to begin. I was going to be taking my family to my site. Every part of the visiting my site experience is truely an experience. We first headed over to the bus station. Normally I might pass on one of the really really nasty buses, especially in the summer when it's really hot, because normally the seats are really small and it's hard to get comfortable when you are crammed into the seat with someone else, and it is kind of a long ride. But on this particular day, with all of our luggage, there wasn't room to be picky, we took the bus that was waiting. It was kind of fun, it added more to the experience. We sat in the back. My parents were actually in the seat behind Alex and I that fits 5 people because it goes across the entire back of the bus. My Mom unfortunately was on the end that meant she had to sit next to someone else, and with her luck it was a smelly person. Alex and I were smooshed into the seat in front of them. Depending on the day, it can be a 3 hour ride. However, my family saw how quickly the city of Piura faded into rural towns that all look exactly alike. Once we reached Las Lomas, we switched all of our luggage into a taxi. I found a taxi driver who agreed to take the 4 of us an no one else because normally that means one of us would have to share the front seat with someone else, and I don't think anyone was willing to do that.
The trip to my site is about a 30-45 minute ride, and it's a really really bumpy rocky road. It was so hilarious having them make the trip with me. I have gotten so used to it, at points I even fall asleep. But seeing their expressions reminded me of the first times I had made that trip. There are parts where the car goes through water and sometimes it even gets into the car, and they worried about it the same way I did my first time around. Fortunately in all the parts that are the most interesting people were out putting on their usual show. At the part where the water gets in the car, there was a guy cleaning out his truck engine in his underwear, it was a beautiful day so when we got to the lake it looked amazing, and the taxi drivers always drive like maniacs so they got to experience that too.
At one point, when we were getting closer into my town, my brother said "Jillian...Iraq has got it going on compared to here", I think that was the most surprising statement of the entire trip. His deployments in Iraq sounded absolutely horrible. But he said they had it more together over there. He said my town looked like it was poorly built and people just throw things together. He said it looked really really rough. I was shocked!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)