Don’t mean to piss in your cheerios, but… September 29, 2008

Today has by far been my best day in Peru so far. I was not upset or sad or frustrated once today. Not even for a second. My language teacher was out sick for the day, so my class got shuffled around a little bit to other teachers, and I felt like I really learned a lot. This morning, we had a presentation by a Peruvian woman on teaching about the environment and assimilating into Sierran cultures. She even talked a little bit about Ayahuesca, much to my happy surprise, so apparently it’s not as taboo of a subject as I originally thought. She is an environmental educator in Lima and the presentation was in Spanish, so I really feel like today was very useful.
We also received manuals today about the world map project – basically incredibly detailed instructions on how to make a large to-scale world map on a wall or ground of a school or playground, etc. with example guides for how to do the project with different age groups and additional projects that can be done one the map is completed. I’m actually pretty excited about it and I’m going to ask Kathleen if I can get a group of us together to make one in the training center, for practice.
I don’t really have much else to say about my day – no whiney observations today.
I have some non-whiney observations, however. First of all – Jason got a calling card and called my house yesterday which was freaking awesome! My family of course thought it was my friend Geoff, that lives 3 houses down, but I knew it couldn’t possibly be, because he wouldn’t call, he would just come over. So all in all, very happy times. It’s awesome to receive calls from the United States!
Second of all, I’ve been noticing a lot about the differences in body image here compared to the United States. I realize that since I’ve been here, I haven’t once thought about whether or not I look fat or whether or not I’m more attractive than the women around me, whether or not I can “compete” (so to speak)… And it’s possible that that’s just because I’ve been too busy to care, but I really think that it has more to do with the lack of social pressure to fit a physical norm. If anything, I’ve felt more pressure to be healthier – to eat well and take care of myself, get enough sleep and exercise, get all of my vitamins. Maybe I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by beautiful people who don’t judge others based on appearance alone, I don’t know – I’ve only lived here for a little over two weeks, so it would be presumptuous to make generalizations about the culture, but I really feel as though the stigma isn’t the same here. Women here are fondly referred to as “gorditas” (fattys) – but it doesn’t have the same connotation as it does in the United States – it’s meant (and usually accepted) with love, as a diminutive term.
Oh! Also a word on chisme – or gossip as you Americans refer to it… it is exactly as rampant as everyone warned us it would be. Volunteers gossiping about other volunteers, our host families gossiping about other volunteers. It’s hilarious. My two best friends here happen to be male (surprised? I’m sure) so when they walk me home from training nearly every day and come over to study or watch American movies or have bro-chats everyone assumes that they are my boyfriends. Geoff’s mom thinks I’m dating Jason. Jason’s mom thought I was dating him from the day we got to Chaclacayo. Whenever Geoff’s mom finds out they’re coming over, she does the immature “ooooooh”. The boys sometimes feel like they have to lie to their parents just to avoid the chisme about us. And that’s just the chisme about me. Other volunteers get talked about too, don’t worry. Luckily, my family is reasonable and understands that men and women can be friends without being more. They are very welcoming of them and insist that they both walk me home when it’s dark out and they don’t gossip like children about other volunteers, either. Again, I win.
I’ve also started looking over the diversity issues powerpoint that Kathleen gave me for the presentation next week, but it’s 112 pages long, so it may take me a few days with the amount of homework I have, but poco a poco I’ll be ready!
I hope everyone’s having as lovely of a day as I am! Love you all the whole way!
And reading everyone’s comments about loving my blog only made my day a billion times better!
xoxo
Sasha

P.S. Ashley – it’s hard to find appropriate lyrics to that song, but: I see you walkin’, but all I can think about is Dianetics, your butt cheeks is warm.

You heard what he said, bushel britches! September 29, 2008

Peruvians are a very accepting people. Even though the country is something like 95% catholic, other kinds of religions are accepted without discrimination (as far as I can tell from living here for two weeks). Today, my three best friends and I went to the Hare Krishna temple to see what their services are like. The building is a gorgeous pink castle a short combi ride away. When you step through the gates onto their property, it’s like being transported to a peaceful Hindu sanctuary. After taking our shoes off, we walked inside and were immediately invited to stay. For the first hour, there was traditional music and dancing and we spent our time taking it all in. The second hour was devoted to a fire/purification ceremony. There was a short service (in Spanish and Sanscrit – and I understood all the Spanish, which was very relaxing). We all participated in the purification ceremony, repeating the mantras and throwing rice into the fire. The high priest and one of the devotees spoke english, so after the ceremony, I got to ask them a lot of questions about what exactly the Hare Krishna religion believes in (one higher power, reincarnation, love, values, etc.). It was a wonderful conversation which was immediately followed by a delicious, heaping free offering of vegetarian food. I found out how Hare Krishna differed from Hinduism and Buddhism, and after having the opportunity to hear the Dalai Lama speak earlier this year, I find myself still leaning more toward Buddhism than anything else.
It was, however, refreshing to see all of these Peruvians come together in a different way and freely say that everyone around is completely supportive of their presence in Chosica. In three weeks, there will be a guru coming to the temple, at which point there will be a cultural festival, so I am definitely not going to miss that.
The english speaking gentlemen also kept repeating that our work with the Peace Corps is great karma because they have a whole section of Hare Krishna devoted to ecology and environmental issues. I’m very interested in finding the book devoted to this and perhaps even reading it in Spanish…
On our way home from the temple, we found a fresh fruit market and I bought myself some mangoes and an apple – I always get either a mandarin or platano with my meals and I wanted to mix it up a little. I also bought my host mama some sunflowers and daisies because I miss having flowers around and from what I keep hearing from the other volunteers, I got really lucky in terms of how my host family treats me, so I wanted to give something back. (For example, one of my neighbors has to do all of her own laundry, even though the PC told our parents we should only wash our own underwear, help the maid with the cooking and cleaning, weed the garden, etc., with hardly any time to do her actual training work – I don’t do any of these things, my host family treats me like an adult, I get delicious food, she boils my bath water, and they help me a lot with my homework). I’m infinitely grateful and keep crossing my fingers that my host family at my permanent site is half as accepting as this one.

After I got home, I worked on my mountain of homework until I couldn’t think in Spanish anymore, and so here we are… btw, the Disney version on Robin Hood – highly recommended, especially if you haven’t watched it since childhood.

I don’t usually leave the asylum in the middle of the night… September 28, 2008

Yesterday was a good day. My spanish class went much much better. My teacher listened to all of my frustrations and gave us more examples, more time to process and make associations, and lightened up a little bit, so the four hours in a row didn’t seem as torturous. I definitely retained and learned more yesterday than I had all week so far. At lunch, Kathleen, the training facilitator sat with a group of us and we all got to talk to her about our impressions of Chaclacayo and training so far. After the other people left the table, Kathleen and I got to talk one on one. I told her my concerns about the girls that came in and talked to us about objectification and she completely agreed with me and told me that she would call them and talk to them a little bit about it and encouraged me to apply for a position with WIDGAD (i think that’s what the group initials are) because it would be good for them to have a point of view different from their own in the future. She also told me that she had been looking over my qualifications and had noticed that I had a lot of experience with diversity issues. She mentioned that there were going to be a group of volunteers coming in sometime in week four of training to talk about the topic and asked me to help facilitate the presentation. Kathleen is going to give me a CD with powerpoint presentations they usually use to talk about diversity issues, so I can look over them and give her my impressions. I’m very very excited to be a part of this and hope it doesn’t end up being awkward that I am teaching other volunteers. After lunch, Jared and I did our presentation on working with children. We played a game and presented our powerpoint and everyone was very very receptive, participated, and I definitely got to present all of the points that I wanted. It couldn’t have gone more smoothly. In fact, after class, the one person who hates training the most came up and told me that he really enjoyed our presentation, which is almost the highest compliment. After the presentation I had tutoring, which seemed to go by very quickly and I went home. When I got home, there was nobody there, so I finally got some time to myself. For the first time since I’ve been in Peru. I didn’t realize how constantly I’m surrounded by other people and how amazing it felt to have some silence and time to reflect.
When my host papa got home, he turned on English CNN for me so that I could watch the debate – which was amazing.
Today, we had to be at the training center at 7:30 in the morning. We spent the first half of the day at the Agricultural University, La Molina. It was definitely my favorite thing that we have done in training so far. I got to get my hands dirty – we planted vegetables and fertilized earth. There were cows and horses and cuy – we got to walk around and learn about all the different kinds of herbs and trees and vegetables and lettuce and fruit that they grow on the land (in spanish). We saw a greenhouse which recreates the climate of the jungle so they could grow species native to the jungle. We also got to see (and eat!) traditional Peruvian fruits. We get to go back to La Molina every saturday until the end of training I believe, and at the end of these sessions we get certificates of completion. La Molina is an incredibly competitive agricultural school, and is considered to be one of the best universities in Peru, so it’s pretty awesome that we get the opportunity for the free education, and it’s ESPECIALLY helpful for the environmental volunteers.
After our morning session, we went to “Jockey plaza” because we had heard great things about it. It turned out to be a GIGANTIC incredibly expensive shopping center. I bought a Peru travel book and got to eat some pizza. A group of us played air hockey for about an hour at an arcade. There was also some sort of karaoke competition happening in the food court, which brought out what appeared to be a thousand people with noisemakers and signs, who just stood around yelling at the stage. It was pretty outrageous. All of the volunteers were walking around this shopping center just completely shell-shocked. There were so many choices for consumption. I didn’t realize how fast I had gotten accustomed to the little tiendas we have in our barrios. Walking into a crowded mall was the most stressful, overwhelming experience I have had since being in Peru and now I completely understand why people say that coming back to the United States is the harder adjustment to make. I don’t ever want to have to choose between 80 varieties of maple syrup ever.
We navigated the combi back to Chaclacayo (two combis, actually – there is no direct way of getting back) with absolutely no problem, which made me feel good about our spanish and our training!
Tomorrow, a few of us are going to go to the Hari Krishna temple in Chosica to see what it is all about and the rest of the day will be devoted exclusively to studying and doing my mountain of homework.
This second week definitely flew by compared to the first week and everyday I’m here, I feel more and more like this is my home… except when I was walking home today I saw a little boy getting water out of the stream. The same stream I watched a man urinate into earlier this week and that made me sad.
Oh! and also, there are Peruvian television shows in which the actors wear blackface, which literally makes my jaw drop.
Nada mas hoy….
Con amor,
Sasha

My first birthday in Peru September 25, 2008

Well, my first birthday in Peru turned out to be a hilarious day. For my birthday, mi mama got me ahi, in paste form, which is basically like hot sauce, so I could finally eat spicy food yesterday for the first time. She also put a little extra hot water in my bucket bath, so that was right on the money. When I got to the training center, the first thing I had to do was get a rabies vaccine! Happy birthday to me. When we got our rabies shot though, in return, we got to pick a bracelet out of a bag, which was nice. I love bracelets. After that, we broke up into groups and the water and sanitation and environment groups ended up being together in the big room, so 2/3 of the other volunteers had to sing happy birthday to me in both english and spanish and I had to say something to the group after. It was adorable. Additionally, every single volunteer came up to me and wished me a happy birthday individually at some point during the day. And so did all of the staff. The whole group signed a birthday card for me and the staff made a sign that they put up in the training center.
After this we broke up into our environment group and talked about mining and the choice the government has to make between mining and conservationism. The main three things mining companies in Peru work for are gold, oil, and copper. We talked about how mining leads to extreme water pollution, which is obviously a problem. And when communities are affected by mining companies, they often try to protest, but are quickly bought off by the mining companies. Sometimes all it takes is 100 soles per family for them to change their opinion about the company. Other times, the mining company will build a school, or a clinic and the community will be satisfied. However, all they provide is the building – so the village now has a school with no teachers and no additional funding. On the upside, Peru receives a lot of international help with conservation projects. Something called debt for land? I’m not sure of the name, but countries slowly forgive parts of Peruvian debt in return for local national park conservation and reforestation projects. Unfortunately, even though there are conservation laws in place for many protected areas in Peru, there is a serious problem with enforcement due to lack of funding in addition to the difficulty of changing cultural norms. US mining companies in particular – Yanacocha, Antamina, and Pierna are a problem. In the past, US companies have sold off parts of their corporation to Argentinian, Spanish, and Chilean companies to shift the appearance of blame, so there are now companies like YPF, Maple, Repsol, Mobil, and others mining in Peru as well.
And here is the most staggering statistic. 24 million hectares of forest are lost per year in Peru (due to mining in addition to logging and deforestation of other kinds as well). 24 million hectares? Jesus. I can’t plant trees fast enough.
So after I got all worked up about deforestation, our technical session ended and we were supposed to have a charla (chat) with the doctor and a group of firefighters about first aid, but the firefighters got called away on an emergency so Suni, the doctor, ended up giving us a presentation on STDs instead. A very detailed presentation. With pictures. And statistics  – apparently, 25% of volunteers become sexually active within their first three months of service. 90% become sexually active at some point within the two years of service. But only 30% of volunteers use a condom every time. Scary business. And let me tell you, pictures of herpes and ghonnorea of the eye before lunch are awful.
After that lovely charla we had extra time for lunch because it ended early. 3 of the volunteers walked to the bakery down the street and bought me some delicious cake. It was incredibly touching. And then my wonderful old Spanish teacher, Betty, showed up with another piece of cake with a candle in it for me. I ate so much… all delicious. Callie, another volunteer, also gave me a mango with happy birthday written on it, which was cute. All in all, I was definitely feeling the love today in Peru.
After lunch, two girls from the “women’s gender issues group” (not sure about the name at all) in PC/Peru came by to talk about gender issues. They had us break up into four groups to talk about the the differences between gender roles for men and women in Peru and the US. This may have been a good idea in theory. In practice, however, it ended up being lists of stereotypes and generalizations and anyone who knows me knows how much I hate that… just like my psychology class last semester. So I felt like the activity, while well intentioned, was completely counterproductive. After the activity, we broke up into groups by gender and they talked about what is and isn’t culturally appropriate in terms of dating locals and gender roles in the sierra, where most of our sites are going to be. There was a lot about how Peruvian men can be forceful and to be careful about this and that and never drink at your site and don’t do this and don’t do that. I think it’s important to take everything they said with a grain of salt. Not to undermine their presentations, but it all seemed way too extreme. Also, I felt like a lot of what they were saying sounded a little ignorant (can’t think of a nicer word)…. they kept talking about how men use such and such actions and words to objectify women, without taking into account that cultural differences usually drive this behavior and the intention is not always objectification. It just all seemed a little insensitive to me. Or overly sensitive, I guess, depending on how you look at it.
I didn’t have tutoring yesterday because we didn’t have language class, so my teacher didn’t come in from Lima. When I got home, I tried to work on some homework and get online while I had the chance, but all of the internet in Lima went out yesterday, so that was impossible.
I invited 4 friends over for sandwiches and soda and we all sat around in the kitchen with my host mama and aunt and uncle. Diana wouldn’t give me the bowl of chips which was prepared for my birthday and kept whining for more of my cake. Then she would take chips and put them in her mouth, put them back in the bowls and offer them to my friends. At least I have proof now that I’m not crazy. I usually love kids. She ran around the middle of the room and ripped apart a father’s day card she had made for her father this past summer. Then, she tried to eat the sweets my friends brought over as a gift and got mad when she wasn’t given enough soda. My host mama brought out this liquor with aniz in it, which is 45% alcohol by volume and poured everyone shots. We didn’t know how strong it was when we took the first shot so that was a funny surprise. And I don’t usually drink, so my face turned beet red immediately, which they thought was hilarious. Another shot, some beer, and a few more sandwiches later, it was time to go meet the rest of the volunteers at the pub in Chaclacayo. Nearly every single volunteer showed up. I think only 6 or 7 didn’t show up and they were the ones that weren’t feeling well. We packed up a little restaurant and stayed until close (which was at 11pm). My aunt and uncle came with us and made friends with some of the other volunteers. So now, my aunt is going to take some of the girls out dancing on friday, which should be a ton of fun! Other volunteers also brought host family members – there were a lot of brothers out with us. I got the perfect amount of drunk and we went home. It was an amazing night and I definitely had a lot more fun than I thought I was going to.
I had a little trouble getting up, but didn’t feel hungover at all this morning. The first thing we had to do today was a community diagnostic. We have to do a FODA (SWOT – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats), map, municipality diagnostic, and find out as much information as possible about our barrios. We talked a lot to my family and walked around Huascaran looking at things we hadn’t seen before, which was really interesting. We found out about community programs, gangs, availability of schools, etc. At ten, we arrived at the training center and started language class. Language class has been a little frustrating for me because I have an incredibly hard time sitting still and listening to lecture for hours on end. We get one ten minute break every two hours, which is just unreasonable and she moves through the material so quickly that I don’t have enough time to make associations to retain vocabulary. I definitely felt a little mentally handicapped today. On the upside, my new spanish teacher gave me a cupcake with a candle and a stuffed “pucca” doll wrapped in Hello Kitty wrapping paper as a gift for my birthday. First this was cute, but then it just made me feel more like a small child. After language class, we did presentations on our barrios, which was informative because I have not been to Yanacoto or tres de octubre yet, so it was good to see how differently they are run and perceived by the locals.
After presentations was tutoring. Luckily, my tutoring session is with my language teacher. Tutoring is generally very informal and the point is to increase our conversational skills. So when she asked how I was doing, I just went ahead and told her that I was incredibly frustrated and would prefer 2 minute breaks every half hour to a ten minute break every two hours. In these two minutes, if nothing else, I could sit down and make associations and feel like I’m learning more and stand up and walk around so I don’t feel the need to fidget in her class. I’m trying – very very hard – but being frustrated for most of the day isn’t productive for anyone. She was completely receptive and said that it wasn’t a problem and everyone has different learning styles and we would try it differently tomorrow – which was an incredible relief. So after our little chat about frustration, we walked around the plaza in Chaclacayo and went and got a bite to eat at a local restaurant while we talked. We took a while to eat, so to avoid being late, she asked a mototaxi to take us back to the center. This was my first time in a mototaxi and was a little scary when we almost got hit by a  bus, but I guess this is normal here, so I’m just counting it as an awesome experience.
When I got back to the training center, I met up with my partner, Jared, so we could work on our presentation for tomorrow about working with children. He said he’s already been working on a powerpoint presentation and already thought of a game – which is helpful, but also makes me feel like I’m being left out of the presentation, which seems to happen here a lot. So I showed him the notes I had jotted down on informal education and topics I thought were important to cover and he said he would add them to the powerpoint. Less work for me, but disenfranchising as well. Oh well, I guess I’m just going to have to be extra proactive tomorrow when it’s time to present the topic. And that I definitely have no problem doing. I do not doubt for a second that I can talk for hours on any powerpoint slide that he made about working with kids. And talking about working with kids in an informal setting is very anecdotal anyway, so I think the most useful part of our presentation is going to be answering questions, which you can’t really prepare for and which we will be able to do equally. I’m not too concerned and I’m sure it’s well intentioned. I’m just very tired today. So I got home around seven in the evening and have a ton of spanish homework to do. So family – I probably can’t call anyone until Sunday and you are absolutely not allowed to freak out if I don’t answer your email thoroughly or in a timely manner. I do not physically have time to talk to everyone every day. Still love you times a billion though.
Two more things: first of all, some of the volunteers received letter from home yesterday. These letters were sent the day before we left for Peru, so it takes two weeks for letters and packages to arrive here.
Second of all: People have been complaining that they don’t feel well and have crazy dreams and they think it’s because people here use MSG on nearly everything. Sprinkle it on all their food like salt. MSG in spanish is ahinomoto. I asked my host mama today if she uses it in our food and she looked at me like I was crazy. Because of course not! Why would she ever put that poison on anyone’s food?! So just another example of how lucky I got with my host family. And why I haven’t gotten sick at all yet.
With so much love!!!!
Sasha

She has lobster hands! September 23, 2008

Today was kind of a difficult day. It wasn’t bad – it was just one of those days where a lot of little things throw you off your rhythm and make you feel like you’re swimming against the current. I woke up this morning and walked into the kitchen to say good morning to mi host mama. She asked me if I wanted a bucket bath this morning and I literally stood there for a full minute thinking about it, because I just couldn’t decide. So I decided I wouldn’t waste her time and went to back to bed instead, figuring I could just start over in a few minutes. Well, my indecision didn’t go away and a half hour later, I had no choice but to just get up and get my day started. So I went out into the kitchen for breakfast. And spilled coffee on myself. I reluctantly went back into my room to change. I left the house and got halfway down the street before I realized I was still wearing flip-flops (forbidden in the PC training center). So I turned back around to change my shoes. When I got to the training center, I had to say goodbye to my old Spanish class, which was very sad and started in my new class. Everybody in the new class is so freaking serious all the time. Now, I’ve seen these people outside of class and they’re hilarious so I have no idea why nobody has fun in this class. Next time we have class, I’m going to have to start making joked or something, because it’s so much harder to get through four straight hours of Spanish class when nobody laughs. It was just so different in comparison to my other class experience. And nobody really stopped the teacher to ask questions except for me, which makes me think that either I’m the only one with questions, or they just don’t care enough to ask. Either way, this makes learning a lot harder because we literally run through all the material so fast that I only have time to write things down, but don’t have time to make associations in my head to help me remember words. This is definitely going to take a lot more studying outside of class, which is increasingly difficult with the homework load in addition to getting home an hour later because of tutoring.
Today, a bug fell on my paper and died right in front of me. Not only did it make me sad, but it left a stain.
Immediately after that, I tried to eat a mandarin, but dropped half of it and the other half squirted all over my shirt.
I also got more sunburned today…
Enough wallowing in self-pity though. It could be worse. I could have Diarrhea.
Today we got to talk with our APCDs (Assistant Peace Corps Directors). Diego asked me if I had any concerns – so I told him I felt like I could use a lot more technical training and a lot less general theory. His response was that we would learn more in the field and that we don’t really need much technical training because our job is to be facilitators. Ok. Then, he asked me if I was still willing to be placed in Santo Domingo in Piura, to which I responded, of course, because really, I’m willing to be placed anywhere. We talked a little more about the area and he kept telling me how lucky I am since I will probably have a real bathroom with a brick wall instead of a pit latrine or having to poop into a bucket like many of the other volunteers. I am also supposed to get in touch with Alyssa and get all of her diagnostic materials and the diagnostic materials of the municipality so I can start studying up on Santo Domingo. I’m a little overwhelmed.
After lunch, we had a debate with the entire training class about which type of development organization was “better”. We compared international NGOs, national NGOs, international development agencies, Peruvian governmental agencies, faith based development agencies, and the Peace Corps. It was pretty interesting, but I couldn’t help but think it was a little bit more indoctrination. Maybe it’s because I had to watch that poor bug die.
So after all of this, I had my tutoring session. We went over the differences between ser and estar and conjugations (regular and irregular) in the past tense, which was a great review because I’ve kind of just been guessing on those. The tutoring hour literally flew by, but by the time I left the training center today it was dark out.
I went to go buy a phone card to call my grandpa because it is his birthday, but the store only had 3 sole phone cards, which is not a lot of time. And then when I tried calling it literally took 10 minutes to make the number “1” on the phone work. After which I only got their answering machine.
Then Diana tried to pull the tail off of my stuffed bunny and put my toothbrush in her mouth.
Well, I have an infinite amount of homework and studying to do, so I better go. Tomorrow will be better, I’m sure.
Oh! And everyone’s comments and messages definitely brightened up my day when I was able to see them, so thank you and keep them coming.
Much love,
Sasha

Sundays make me homesick… September 22, 2008

So today we kicked off week two of training. I still can’t believe that it’s only week two! I feel like I’ve been here for months. Walking home from training today, it actually almost felt real – like I live here. In Peru. This is my new home. It doesn’t quite feel one hundred percent real yet, but it seems a little more normal every day. This is going to be a pretty interesting week for me. Last week was nothing compared to how intense things are about to get.
First of all, I found out that I got bumped up from the novice-low spanish level to the novice-high spanish level, which is only two PC levels higher, but four language classes/instructors higher. So it appears as though I’m about to be significantly more challenged in the language department, which will be interesting.
I also found out today that I am going to have to teach the other volunteers in the Environmental Management Program about informal education techniques and how to best teach children on friday.
All of this compounded with turning in a journal about integration on wednesday and all of the regular homework that I get everyday should make for a pretty busy week.
Today, we learned about the Emergency Action Plan for the PC/Peru. It was developed to ensure the safety of PCVs in Peru in the event of a natural disaster, social upheaval, or other emergency. There are four different phases depending on the level of danger, and we received information about how to handle each different kind of situation.
Tomorrow, I have my first session with my new language class and additionally, I have my first private tutoring session for an hour after training. This will continue every tuesday, wednesday, and thursday for as long as necessary, I believe. I’m actually pretty excited for the extra individual attention. It should make my Spanish improve exponentially faster in the future. I also decided that since I am in a higher level Spanish class now, I should probably take some time to study outside of class. So it looks like I’m going to be a super duper busy bee for the next little while, at least.

Better get to work!

Sasha

Diarrhea is funny when it happens to others…. September 21, 2008

We went into Lima yesterday. It was nothing like what I expected it to be. I guess now that I’ve been there I’m not even sure what it is that I expected it to be, but I know it was something different. It was crowded and busy and smoggy and expensive. There are 10 million people in Lima – that’s 1/3 of the entire Peruvian population. I much prefer the calm pace of Chaclacayo to the center of Lima. On the upside though, the architecture is outrageously beautiful. The bus ride to Lima is a little over an hour long, which seems a little longer so early in the morning in a country with no such things as speed limits or turn signals. It is stressful looking out the window. When we got to Lima, we met up in a district called Barranco with our language classes and were told that we had a mission. We were given a sheet of paper and had to go around asking strangers where the dangerous parts of Lima were and why. We also had to find out where the touristy parts of Lima were and get directions there. This is kind of awkward to do in a big city, so I mostly tried asking police officers and people with children that looked friendly. After our activity, we all went down together to see the Pacific Ocean. Then, we broke up into smaller groups and took a bus down to the center of the city. This was a much longer bus ride than I thought it would be, so really I have no concept of where in Lima exactly I was. When we got off the bus, we were warned endlessly about how dangerous the city is and how we should be extra extra careful with our things and basically just scared into compliance. We met back up with the rest of our language group and were given the grainiest, most poorly drawn map I have ever seen in my entire life. We were told to be careful about taxis and then we were left on our own. So we decided to get lunch. Unfortunately, the only things we could find that didn’t contain rice and potatoes was a McDonald’s and a KFC. We chose KFC. A single meal there cost more than the daily allowance given to us by the Peace Corps, but at that point, we were so freaking hungry, it didn’t even really matter. There were some other things we needed, like towels, for instance, and I needed a surge protector, so we started looking at all of the different stores. It took us nearly 5 hours to find a freaking towel in Lima. We asked everyone and we could find a lot of cheaply made washcloths, but no actual towels. Finally, at the end of the day, we ended up going into a store called “Metro” which is a lot like a WalMart and bought towels there. I also bought some stickers, because stickers that say super bien are priceless to me.
The director of the language program also took me aside yesterday and told me that she was going to have to move me up to a different level Spanish class. Apparently, I remembered a lot and learned a lot since the time we had our language interview, so on Monday after my normal language class I am going to have another language interview to determine which class I need to be moved into. I’m excited, because I really want to be a little more challenged and it will be better for my Spanish, but I’m also sad to leave the group I’m in because I’ve already grown attached to the other people in my group and to my teacher, Beatriz (Betty).
To get back to Chaclacayo from Lima, a group of us decided to take a combi. It only took a little over an hour and cost a lot less than a taxi would have, so it wasn’t so bad.
Today, I slept in and it was the most wondrous experience of my time here yet. I still woke up a little after 6, but I stayed in bed until about 11am until I heard Geoff and Jason knock on the door to come over and do our homework. So I got up and ate some breakfast and hung out for a little while and went and got them from their houses a few hours later. We worked on our family trees and our adorable wordsearches at my house for a while and then walked around for a little bit. It was a really relaxed Sunday for me.
I also found out today that my family has a washing machine. So it looks like nobody’s going to be handwashing any clothes around here. Which is both good and bad. I’m glad my host mama doesn’t have to handwash any of my clothes, but I’m sad that I’m not actually really learning anything about how to live without amenities. Oh well, I suppose I’m just trying to take advantage of the things I have while I have them.
All in all, things are going pretty freaking well.
Peace,
Sasha

I would rather spend my life close to the birds than waste it wishing I had wings September 19, 2008

Today was a good day. It started with language classes at Sarah’s mansion again. This time the director of the language program came to observe. We did presentations on our homework, where I described Gian Marco in more detail than they expected, so that was good. I also learned that in Peru, unlike in other Spanish speaking countries, the word novio means fiance, not boyfriend. So apparently I’ve been going around telling everyone I have a fiance back home. So I came home and told my host family that I learned that the word I was trying to use was enamorado and they thought it was hilarious. I love laughing at myself here. Everything is ten times funnier when it’s in another language.
We also got a lot more details about our technical programs today which is always incredibly excited. That’s the stuff that really really gets me excited about being here! We learned a little more about micro landfills and about battery recycling and disposing of medical waste. We also got a manual on sustainable solid waste management programs and effective ways of implementing them in our various potential sites. When it comes to environmental education, we received a manual of sample lesson plans and activities for children, which will be extremely helpful at our sites. It was all incredibly exciting to look over. Have I mentioned that this is exciting? We talked a lot about tree nurseries and how to facilitate their creation and how to turn them into income generating projects. And lastly, we received sample handouts that explain what our jobs as PCVs are that we will be able to hand out to people in our villages. Everything (all of the manuals and whatnot) is written in Spanish, so they’ll be even more helpful later, but my Spanish has gotten 80 billion times better since I’ve been here. Talking to my host family is no longer exhausting, it’s a pleasure and I’m always looking for ways to practice more.
As for the Bolivianos… The PC/Peru program will be absorbing about 18 volunteers into our programs. About 4 or 5 into the water and sanitation program, 5 or 6 into the environmental management program, and 7 or so into the health program. I don’t know what is happening to the rest, but the Peru program seems to be going incredibly strong.
After classes, a big group of us gringos went to a different barrio (I can’t remember what it was called, but the combi stop is portada del sol). Matt (Mateo)’s host sister has a hamburger street stand and we all wanted a little change from the rice we eat for every meal every day. A delicious hamburger absolutely hit the spot. We felt really bad for the vendor just down the street though, so a bunch of us went down there and bought some french fries to spread the American wealth around. I know we were told not to eat food off the street, but I haven’t had any stomach problems yet, so I’m just testing my luck I guess. Matt says he eats those hamburgers all the time and never has stomach problems so it seems safe enough. We had some friday night Pepsi and Cristal (we splurged, it was awesome) and then the other people from my barrio and I took a combi back to Huascaran. I had been on a combi a few times at this point, but it was always pretty calm. On the way back to Huascaran, it was completely packed – worse than a NY Subway. I had someone else’s hair in my mouth. And all of the gringos on the combi are too tall to see out of the windows (even me) so it was hard to know when we needed to get off. But we made it with absolutely no problems and I got to walk home to my wonderful family. Like I said, I had a good day!
Oh! And I also talked to some people from other barrios and heard some awesome stories. For instance, one of the volunteers in my group – her host family didn’t go to the town meeting last week, so the “town president” (just some other family) shut off their water. So she hasn’t had water in three days. They have two outlets in their house and only flush the toilet once a day, so she has been pooping into plastic bags. Other people have hot water. Another volunteer has a desk made out of cardboard. Others have broken homes (no host papa, grandmothers with dementia, incredibly religious families, or disabled host mamas in families that don’t believe in Western medicine… etc) Our experiences here are extremely varied. I got really progressive, relaxed, happy, loving, comfortable host family experience and holy crap am I grateful.
Well, tomorrow we are meeting at the training center at 7:30 in the morning so we can all go to the actual city of Lima! I’m going to have Indian food for lunch and it’s going to be freaking awesome. Looks like it’s off to bed early for me tonight.
Peace,
Sasha

Code Name: Radiador September 18, 2008

So today we had what was called: Mission Impossible. So here’s the deal. We were supposed to meet up with our counterpart (one other person to whom we were assigned). My counterpart was Brian, who happens to be 6 foot 5 with blonde hair and blue eyes. We seriously stuck out. First we had to go to a car dealership/mechanic. We were not given any clue as to where this place might be and we were supposed to ask them a bunch of questions like… how many people work here? Do you have a fire extinguisher? What times are you open? What kind of services do you offer and how much do each of them cost? You get the point. This was the easy part. There are like 5 places walking distance from my house where we could do this. Next, we needed to go to a “basural”. Here’s where the confusion set in. I asked my family where there was a basural in the area (a basural is like a small dump where people go and throw their trash – not a landfill, a dump). My family had no idea what a basural was because there isn’t one in our barrio and they had no way of knowing where the one in the other barrio was. So they thought that most likely, the assignment was to really find a recycling center. So they drew me a little map and helped me write down the questions I would need to ask. It was adorable. So Brian and I hop on a combi (a van bus of sorts that works a lot like a taxi – you flag it down and tell them when you want to get off). We found the recycling center without ANY problems. Asked them how much it costs to buy and sell different materials (like copper, iron, plastic, paper, etc.), who owns it, how they are funded, where the materials come from, where do they go? etc. It was a little awkward because they really did not want us there. Apparently two other volunteers had already been there and they wanted us to just go ask the volunteers for their answers. But Brian and I weren’t having any of it. So we stood there silently and awkwardly waited until the owner finally decided to answer our questions. He wouldn’t give us his name and clearly thought we were ridiculous. So we quickly wrote down all of our answers and decided that we were finished. It was only ten in the morning and we didn’t have to be back at the training center until three o clock.
Brian and I decided this was a good time to have a beer. So we sat down and had a good chat. It was really relaxed and a lot better than sitting through four hours of language classes. Then, we went back to my house for lunch and worked diligently on the most beautiful powerpoint presentation ever made in Spanish. We called our trainer to receive our password to get back into the training center and went back.
So first of all, nothing here is Mac compatible, so I wasn’t able to plug my computer into the projector. And when we tried to put the presentation onto a gig stick, the videos wouldn’t transfer. So all of the work we did was basically in vain. Moreover, the speakers stopped working partway through our presentation so technology failed us today. Then, we figured out that we went to the wrong place completely. Apparently, the “basural” was in tres de octubre, which is a neighboring barrio about 10 minutes away from the training center by combi. Mission failed. A for effort.
A note about how people react when they see gringos walking down the street. Yesterday, I was walking home and a taxi stopped on the street and started honking at us. We weren’t sure why, until the driver started blasting “thriller” at maximum volume out of the car. Awesome. And today as I was walking, a taxi slowed down just so the driver could yell, “hola, gringos!”… It probably also doesn’t help that I had a little bit of a sunburn so I look extra gringa right now.
Other people had pretty interesting missions as well – they had to go to duck farms, cuy (guinea pig) farms, the river, a bar, a soup kitchen, a veterinarian… it was definitely one of the better days of training so far.
In tres de octubre, there is a futbol tournament starting today and there is a Peace Corps team competing. There will be ten games in the next two weeks. It’s cold and I’m sleepy so I’m not going tonight, but I’m definitely going to go down there and cheer them on as best as I can sometime within the next several days.
My uncle brought me one of his CD/DVDs to listen to. It’s of the Pat Metheny Group – Jazz music. It’s freaking beautiful and if you happen to like Jazz I highly recommend it.
Hasta Luego,
Sasha

Grupo cinco, grupo gringo. September 17, 2008

Yesterday was a pretty intense day for me. I had a weird dream that I got in trouble (nothing major, like in trouble with my parents… as though I were a little kid) and woke up in the middle of it and then didn’t have enough time for my bucket bath. I ate breakfast really fast and basically ran down to the passage to our barrio (I’m already forgetting English) to meet up with the other eleven people that live within a block of me. We had all agreed to wait for each other because it was our first time walking to the training center without our host familias. And I got left behind. So I was feeling a little salty. My day was off to a bad start. I started walking to the center and ended up passing a large group of the volunteers that left me behind which was a little awkward since I was still feeling a little slighted. When I got to the training center, I got a couple of very very sincere apologies though and we all hugged it out so that was fine. But this is the third time I had been left behind in six days. It kinda made me feel like the other volunteers didn’t really have my back. It’s all better now though. I know where I’m going and I realize that everyone was just as confused and overwhelmed as me.
It was the first day of our language training classes as well. We are split up into grupos of five people and have Spanish classes for 4 straight hours – 8am to noon. It’s a lot of new vocabulary and a lot to process. We have an amazing teacher, Beatriz, who is very good at speaking slowly and explaining things to us in simple ways. It’s also not just straight lecture – we play a lot of group games and do a lot of activities. Today we played “Simon Says” to help us learn body parts. It was a riot. We aren’t really learning conjugations or anything either – they just want us to pick it up as we go, which may very well be a better way of learning a language. The hardest part about the language class is that we’re learning a lot of Peruvian slang and we’re also learning the differences between the way Peruvians speak in the city and the way they speak in more rural areas. It’s just a lot to process.
After lunch, we had a session about security. Learned some interesting things. We were told that we should not hesitate at all to use self-defense as much as necessary (if the situation warrants it, obviously). Not going to write much more about it because I don’t want anyone to worry unnecessarily. Let’s just say I’m safe and will remain so and not to worry about that at all.
When I got home, I got to meet my aunt, Karen. She lives in the jungle (la selva) part of Peru, but is visiting for a couple of days. She seems really nice and Diana (my little sister) adores her, which is really cute. I also got to meet my brother, Luis. He is twenty and doesn’t live with us because he goes to university, but he stopped by for about a half hour. He seems like a good kid. Adorable. He looks like he’s 14 and when he gave me a kiss on the cheek (as is the custom when saying hello), he blushed. My host family did a good job.
A couple of volunteers got together for a little over an hour and tossed the frisbee around until it got dark out, which was a nice relief from all the Spanish. There is nothing better than playing frisbee on the side of a mountain. I also already had homework so these next ten weeks are going to be pretty intense, I’m sure.
Diana is warming up to me a little, but not all the way yet. Yesterday she wouldn’t let me in the house when I knocked and when my uncle came to open the door, she ran up behind him and closed it in my face. Adorable.
Here’s an interesting tidbit: A lot of the people en mi barrio keep their dogs on their roofs. They never let them down. Because none of the dogs are neutered or spayed, if they’re kept on the roof isolated from all the other dogs, they’re not going to get pregnant. So yeah – lots of dogs of roofs. It’s great. They bark at me as I walk by and I just laugh, because what the hell are you going to do from up there on the roof, little doggy? nothing. exactly.
Also, for some reason there is a big pile of bricks in front of my house and they say INCA on them in big letters. For some reason this makes me smile every time I walk by them. Thought I should share.
I got really lucky with my host family. They are very nice and patient and supportive and my host mama is a teacher, so she is amazing at helping me with my homework. Also, the first day, I told her that I like fruits and vegetables and to please not feed me only rice and potatoes and she has been awesome about it. I get a plate full of lettuce with every meal. I call it a salad and it makes me happy and she always puts a lot of cooked greens in our chicken. She has also been making me papaya milkshakes and fresh-squeezed orange juice and fruit salad with plantains and mandarins and papayas… Oh and I also talked to her about portion size and we have an agreement that she won’t serve me more than she would serve herself, which has been working out really well. I’ve actually been getting very reasonably sized portions (for the most part – sometimes I still get a large lunch, but i can share that with other volunteers). Also, their dog, Pepita, eats all of my leftovers so she’s warmed up to the fact that I live in the house now and no longer barks at me when I walk by.
This morning we had our language class at Sarah’s house, which is only about four houses away from mine. When the rest of the group walked into her house we were freaking amazed. She basically lives in the mansion of the barrio. They have three stories and a basement and we were all oohing and aahing because they have paint on their walls and tile floors and glass cabinets and beautifully upholstered furniture. It’s insane. She doesn’t even know how lucky she is. Apparently, Huascaran is one of the poorer barrios in the area. Other volunteers that live in tres de Octubre and Yanacoto have hot water and lush surroundings (or so I hear). I would be jealous, but I lucked out in the supportive awesome host family department, so it’s just fine.

I got a little bit of pink on my face because the language class was held on the roof of Sarah’s house. Just makes me look like more of a gringa. My host family thinks its hilarious.

After language classes, I got to walk home for lunch, which was much better than eating lunch at the center, because sometime being around so many people all the time can be overwhelming and lunch at home was very relaxed. It also leaves me a lot more time to relax and reset before the next session because I don’t have to spend the time microwaving my lunch or waiting in line. It’s divine.

After training today Sarah and I decided to climb up to the top of one of the little mountains we live on and see the big cross that overlooks Huascaran. It was beautiful but a lot harder than it looked because there were a lot of loose rocks on the way up. Which was nothing compared to trying to walk down. There are pictures on facebook.
Tomorrow we have an assignment called mission impossible. It is basically as difficult as the name suggests. But more on that tomorrow when I can also tell you whether or not I succeed at it. Well, it’s getting late here so I’m off to bed.
Happy anniversary mom and dad!
Much love,
Sasha