The second big factor was my SITE VISIT. Yesterday, Alfredo (the Director of Peru's Small Business program) and a third-year Volunteer Katie came to visit in the first of two official visits I will have in my two years of service. As another volunteer put it, the visits are basically just to make sure you doing okay, meaning you aren't suicidal and are doing something productive. They want to meet your family and counterparts, so our schedule was to have breakfast with my family, visit a school that teaches work skills to kids and adults, meet with the mayor and other PC Volunteer in my district, meet with an organization that I want to work with on community banks, and finally meet the artisans as they prepared for a big event happening at noon. The big event was a National Tourism Congress coming through Monsefú for an hour, as part of a 3-day Conference on tourism in our region. I was really excited to have Alfredo and Katie visit on this day, because I felt like I had really directly contributed to making this event turn out well (and I rarely feel that way at this stage in my service). First, I secured the mayor's permission for the associations that don't have stands in the Artisan Park to set up tables, which was really important because the Park has become overrun with commercial stuff and its hard to find the true artisanry. I also held the reins on designing a tri-fold brochure of tourist info on Monsefú, which was LONG overdue- the tourism office has literally zero physical or digital resources on tourism info (except some copy-and-pasted junk on their website), and university students from Chiclayo come every week looking for info in their research. So that was a huge win in my book, especially since the tri-folds promote some websites that give good information too. (www.gastronomiacallanca.com about the restaurant corridor and www.visitamonsefu.blogspot.com which is a blog I am developing to put all the info about Monsefú in one place).
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| The almost-final version of the tri-fold that I developed in collaboration with the graphic designer (from another town) and the rest of the tourism office. |
Today was back to regular Peace Corps life, with the high's and low's that all Peace Corps Volunteers describe. To give you an idea of what I mean, here's a brief summary of my day, which was pretty ordinary (but busy), with my emotions marked in bold:
7 AM: Wake up, go to brush my teeth in the shared family bathroom. My host mom runs into the bathroom in a rush to work, and says that I should move all my things into the half-bathroom outside. I try to explain why I would like to keep a few things in the full bathroom, and she snaps, "Ay, Kim, you're supposed to accustom to our style of life, and you just do whatever you want, don't you?" (Nice way to start the day, eh?) Unlike my first two months, this doesn't set me in tears, I just say "if it really matters to you that much then I'll move everything." I fume internally upstairs, debating whether to say something about it to my dad (who I am much closer with), and decide against it (He won't understand and will probably support or add to her criticisms). (LOW) My dad serves me breakfasts and makes a comment about how Rosa (my host mom) lets the stress at work really get to her, and that before he retired he never let other people get to him like that. Don't know if it's directly meant to address her treatment of me, but I feel better. (MEDIUM-LOW)
8 AM: Visit the high school Diego Ferré for my regular program with the English classes. The teacher and I bring them to the computer lab to write emails to a high school Spanish class in the United States (taught by my old Spanish teacher!) We have the usual problems of failing machines and not all the students finish, but some of them are clearly really into it. They describe themselves in Spanish and then write questions to the students in English. After class, I ask the teacher how she feels about how the exchange program is going- is it taking too much time from her regular classes? She affirms that it's not "wasting" time at all, it's so valuable for the students to hear a native speaker and the exchange program is really opening up their world view. (MEDIUM-HIGH)
9:15 AM: I stop into the Municipality to make some coordinations, then head over to a locutorio (phone-both cafe) to make some calls. I know the morning and afternoon staff well, but the girl manning the desk is someone I haven't seen before. When I finish my calls, she doesn't give me correct change. I argue with her that my screen clearly said 40 cents (not 60 cents) and ask her to check on her machine, she says it's already been erased. I tell her there must be some kind of history she can check, she says no it's been erased. I walk out without saying goodbye to anyone, annoyed at the fact that the over-charging for the gringa never seems to end. (MEDIUM-LOW)
10 AM: While I am walking through the Central Park of Monsefú, a young woman comes running up to inform me that my skirt is tucked into my underwear in the back!! Ohhh yeah- I can't put this on the high-low scale, its just very funny. Now everyone has seen the gringa's underwear, great. I get a comment about it from a man on a motorcycle.
Head over to the other high school, San Carlos, with permission from the Director to apply my youth entrepreneurship surveys. The secretary seems to have forgotten the multiple explanations I have given of Peace Corps and my work in Monsefú. She makes some weird comment asking me if I am speaking English to her (what? no... I'm speaking in Spanish). I sit down and try to re-adjust my attitude towards her. By appearance I guess that she is fairly poor and uneducated, so maybe she was trying to express her surprise that I was speaking Spanish. She asks me again where I am from and why I am visiting Peru (for the millionth time, I am from the United States and I am living and working here in Monsefú). She then says "oh, so you must be carrying a lot of dollars?" My eyes flash and I curtly tell her no, I am a volunteer, I don't have a salary, I don't have any dollars. This conversation is over, and so is my gift of the benefit of the doubt. I quietly fume, telling myself that it shouldn't be okay in any culture to talk to someone that way. I'm SO sick of being looked at as a walking dollar-sign. (LOW)
The Director finally attends to me after 30 minutes, and expresses surprise that the secretary didn't tell him I was waiting. He escorts me to the upper-school rooms and finds a room for me. He personally introduces me to the class (although he can't really remember my name or program, which always happens in these introductions), I explain a little bit more, and we go to work. He and the teacher leave the classroom so when I finish with the surveys, I take advantage of the personal time with the students to ask if they have any questions for me, about my work or the United States. This quickly devolves into side conversations that are clearly about me but I can't hear or understand, but there's a lot of giggling and laughing. Oh well, at least they are interested. (MEDIUM).
11:00 AM: On my way out, I get a call from Charles, who says that he had dinner with the mayor last night and he explained my idea of a artisan workshop/museum in the old Municipality building. She said she wants to put a museum in there too, but only after the sewage pipes in that area are replaced. Tentatively very good news! I arrive at the "technical" high school and watch the students present various projects in science and physical fitness. Really entertaining, and I got to meet one of the Canadian nuns that used to work in Monsefú and is visiting. I also get to see the new computer lab that I've been dying to tour, and it is just as good as I had heard- brand new flat screen Samsung screens and good CPUs, donated by a Korean group. I end up becoming the "godmother" of a flat-screen TV that has been donated- yes, in Peru not only people but also any kind of technology or machine also has godparents. Luckily, being the godmother of the TV didn't mean more than pulling the ribbon off of it, because sometimes it involves financial obligations. I get invited to eat lunch with the teachers and the Canadian nun, which is very enjoyable, and allows me some more time to ask some questions hinting at my hope to use the computer lab during the summer to teach computing classes to the artisans. No direct conversation about it (gotta build this relationship more) but looks promising. (MEDIUM-HIGH)
2 PM - 3 PM: Nap-time and second lunch with the family.
4 PM: Meet up with the Beneficencia Pública (a local charity) who invited me this morning to accompany them to a caserío (outlying community) to hand-out gifts of sugar and charcoal to the really really poor families. I've been wanting to spend more time meeting people in the caseríos, so I'm happy to accompany them even if I don't particularly want to put my face on gifts like that. The Director gives me some time to introduce myself and talk about my work, so I talk about community banks and the room is pretty attentive and seems interested. After the handouts, we stay for a lunch (yes, my third of the day) in the house of the gobernador (a weird non-paying national political appointment), a young guy who is one of my favorite people in Monsefú- he is so humble and so hard-working. Lunch is fun, joking around with Beneficencia staff and the local police officers, although I have a few moments of wondering if they still don't get that I'm not going to donate lots of money to their projects (we discuss the idea of savings and they somewhat-jokingly ask me if I'm going to use my savings to donate lunches). The day before, Alfredo spent lots of time clarifying my role with the Beneficencia, and I think that I really trust them, but I still need to keep an eye out for uncomfortable situations with them. (HIGH AND LOW??)
6 PM: Get an awesome email from Katie, congratulating me on how well I'm doing in Monsefú (based on the site visit). She particularly points out how the size of Monsefú could be overwhelming for a volunteer, that I seem really comfortable and confident, and that she is proud of the way that I look past my family's toughness to see their good hearts. Everything she said I really needed to hear. (HIGH)
8 PM: Church choir practice- I'm exhausted, but I got pulled into this activity by my other favorite person in Monsefú, Evelyn- she's my age, with a fantastic sense of humor and a beautiful voice. And the singing is therapeutic, brings me back to the music of my church in Charlottesville. (MEDIUM-HIGH).
So you can see that nothing extreme happened during my day, but little things set me off- things that I deal with constantly, that I just can't stand sometimes- having a misunderstanding with my family, being taken advantage of being I'm foreign, and being looked at like a walking dollar-sign are the ones I encountered today, and they are some of the most common issues. Just like anywhere in the world, there are people that treat me well and people that treat me badly. The hard part is figuring out people's motivations for how they treat me- if they think they are going to get some financial benefit from befriending me or if they are sincerely interested in supporting my work. It's hard and tiring for me to constantly be distrusting and evaluating people's motivations, but in the end it's necessary for my work.
Oh, and just in case you missed this early, I WALKED THROUGH THE CENTER OF TOWN WITH MY SKIRT TUCKED INTO MY UNDERWEAR. Guess it wasn't such a normal day after all!
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