It’s like putting pants on a baby March 12, 2009

I know, I know… I’ve been terrible about updating lately. Things just suddenly got really busy. Since my last update, I have moved houses, been to a monthly meeting, worked on my projects, and started preparing the ridiculous amount of paperwork and powerpoint presentations I need to complete by the time Reconnect rolls around next week. So, you know… sorry.
Let’s see – at the monthly meeting Jenna and I presented our peace corps week radio ad, which was clearly a hilarious mistake as people continued to sing “te vas te vas te vas con cuerpo de paz” at us for the rest of our time there.
When I got back to site, it became evident that my current living situation wasn’t going to work out, so the very next day I moved into Teo’s house. And holy crap have things turned out to be way better. I have to pay a little more for the room, but it is much bigger, I have more privacy, and there is a window to the outside so I actually get natural light now! We still have two dogs, but these dogs are way cuter. They aren’t confined to the roof – they are well fed and have room to run around and as a result don’t spend the whole day barking and making my room smell like poop. Awesome.
Teo also happens to be the absolute best cook in Peru that I have encountered. I get balanced reasonable meals and have already started to feel healthier.
Moreover, the house is just always full. Teo runs a “pension”, which means she cooks for a bunch of people every day. Most of the people are doctors, since the health post is next door, so I am getting to know a lot of them much better. The dental intern (Carol), who I did the dental charla with lives here too, which is sweet because she’s 21 and from Lima and we have a lot in common, so it’s a huge breath of fresh air to finally have a friend my age in town. Unfortunately, interns rotate out every 3 months, so she will be leaving soon, but it’ll be good to have a constant young presence in the house.
Teo’s full name is Teofila (which I think is awesome) and the pension is a huge source of income for the family. Her husband, Salo (Salomon), is quite possibly the sweetest person I have ever met. He is just sooo nice and you can really tell that he loves her. It’s pretty much adorable all the time. They have two kids, MariCarmen, who is 17 and going through her last year in secundaria and Pedro, who lives in Piura. Salo’s father also lives in the house, but I really hardly ever see him. Salo works on their granja (farm) – they have ducks and chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs, and currently are growing corn.
The house is pretty huge – even with all of those people living there, there are extra rooms and I don’t feel at all crowded.
Plus, the yard is amazing. We have canaries and a lime tree, which Teo makes fresh lime-ade from every day and there is a little gazebo-type area where they set out a couch after rainy season.
So moving and settling in took up some time, but I’m really happy there now.
I’ve been going around with Nilda presenting our project to everyone that needs to know, which in a bureaucracy, is everyone. We are trying to find funding for the 3-ply and paint we will need for the final slogans, but unfortunately, due to the economic crisis, all municipalities have had their funding cut immensely – ours alone was cut something to the tune of 120,000 soles. So no more little handouts. Money goes ONLY to essentials.
I’ve also started working on helping figure out how to get the animals (horses and donkeys) that people bring from the caserios off the streets. Apparently it’s actually illegal and there is a fine for tying large animals up in the street, so what needs to be done is a training campaign and a search for safe alternatives of places where people can put their animals.
On the upside, the medical post has exceeded all expectations in trash separation and now is doing things literally perfectly. Apparently all it took was buying some red trash bags. Sweet.

For International Women’s Day, which was March 8, Jenna and I made 2 more radio programs. We didn’t sing for this one, but it involved Christina Aguilera singing in Spanish (almost as bad), and a few interviews, a few kids yelling about women, and some poetry. All around, it was pretty adorable.
And beside all that, I’ve been preparing for reconnect. Reconnect is a 3-day program in Pacasmayo where everyone from the training group gets together and we talk about what being a volunteer is all about. We get help with our diagnostics and we all get to see each other again. This is great, but it also involves a lot of paperwork and presentations. I have to do a site locator form for where I live… which may not prove very difficult for others, but they want us to draw three maps: a birds eye view of my town, a map of how to get to my site from Lima, and how to get to my house in the middle of the night… an unreasonable thing to ask of someone who couldn’t navigate her way out of a paper bag. There are questions like “where would be the best place for a helicopter to land?” and “what is the number and street address of your house?”. Where do you think our sites are, PC? We don’t have house numbers and a helicopter can land quite literally anywhere – it’s all open fields, as long as you can land on a mountainside. It’s a little frustrating.
In addition to the site locator form, I have to do a powerpoint presentation on the progress of my diagnostic, which I’ve been procrastinating on, and we have to make a little poster presentation about our progress in site. As if that weren’t enough, my APCD called me a few days ago to inform me that this year they have decided to have one person from each technical group (health, environment, and wat-san) do a presentation on what they have been doing in site so far, so that everyone can get an idea of projects that people do and he has chosen me to do this presentation. Just another thing to add to the list. I’m happy to do it, but it doesn’t leave much time for blog updating, as you can see.
At any rate… I’ve been a busy bee. Lucho (the man that called me fat), received his present (the photoshopped picture of him) and luckily thought it was hilarious. He jiggles my arm fat as I walk by, so I ask him when his baby is due… same old, same old.
Other than that, not much has changed. Now that I’ve moved, I have to walk farther up the mountain to get anywhere, so it’s good exercise. I’m leaving tomorrow to go back to Piura. Instead of paying my family in soles, I’m buying things for the house… like a toilet seat and a microwave. I don’t understand how a house with two T.V.s doesn’t have a toilet seat, but whatever, that’s about to change. Then, I’m going to Pacasmayo for reconnect and hope to spend a few days after doing all sorts of shenanigans before the Grupo 5 concert on saturday the 21st. I’m about to give March Madness a whole new meaning
Missing and loving everyone who cares.
Paz,
Sasha