Tid-Bits from My First Week

-I was interviewed by the newspaper.  And apparently they talked about me on the radio.  Sometimes it seems that people I meet in town already know who I am, and sometimes they don’t.

-Have been doing a lot of housework, including two loads of hand-washing laundry (small loads, but hey I did them all by myself and they included a pair of jeans and a fleece which were big pains).  Also, my family sweeps the entire house and outside walkway twice a day, without fail, even though the dirt is hardly noticeable until the end of the day (if ever).  My host father complained about how he spends something like 4 hours a day just sweeping and mopping, and when I asked him why he doesn’t just do it once a day, he gave some vague answer about “from dust to dust”…

-Found out my host father was one of 24 siblings, my host mother was one of 12.  My host brother has somewhere over 50 cousins.

-At least once, I mistakenly implied that I was romantically involved with my host father, by saying that I lived con Profesor Tesén, instead of con la familia de Profesor Tesén.  Thankfully, my counterpart knew what I meant and warned me to rephrase that next time.

-Almost unknowingly participated in a semi-political rally (a big no-no for Peace Corps Volunteers)… from now on I will ask more questions before accepting invitations.

-Did you know that if you look at a plantain/banana while you are pregnant you will miscarry?  No, it’s not a legend, I’m told.  It really happened to Paulina. 

-Jeff wins the award for funniest and most awkward First Week Story I have heard.  The dear boy, living in a community much smaller than mine in Ancash, was invited to what he thought was a charla (talk/meeting) at the Heath Center.  When he arrived, it turned out that they were having some kind of event promoting breast-feeding.  This event was basically a breast-feeding competition, where half a dozen women were sitting in a circle, with their babies going at it.  Jeff was asked to the “judge,” and God knows what the criteria was- mostly, who went the longest?  After about half an hour of extreme discomfort, trying to figure out where to look and how to act, one nursing baby remained and his/her mother was announced the winner.  Jeff was asked to take a picture with each contestant and her baby.  The breasts were put away for the pictures.

I was fairly productive, met most of the artisans in the artisan park (although I don’t remember any names) and met a few high school Directors while delivering my oficios.  I attended two meetings, both of which were really helpful for my work.  I also did a lot of thinking about my purpose and role in this community, and am starting to feel less anxious about everything, especially about the pressure I was/am putting on myself to be “productive.”  I’m going to focus less on comparing myself to my expectations...if that makes sense.

A Short Anecdote from Site Visit

My blog has been a little deprived of entertaining stories, ya know, the colorful stuff apart from the official business of training and swearing-in.  So, without further ado, here’s a little anecdote from my site visit- this occurred about 2 weeks ago, when I came to meet my family and socias in Monsefú and stay with them for one week before swearing-in.

It was about three days into site visit- so I was just starting to feel at home, my parents and host brother were super nice, and the food was great.  We also celebrated my brother’s 23^rd birthday, and did so with some of his favorite dishes- ceviche and arroz con cabrito (rice with baby goat).  The next day, due to some construction on roads in town, we were without water all day.  Everyone is used to saving water, since we usually only have it for 12 hours a day, but by about 6pm, our reserves had run out.  Even though we had two reserve tanks, everything went dry because of the construction of my room, which involved water for the cement.  So, right around this time, I felt the unmistakable “stab of doom” in my stomach… that ominous deep, sharp, block of pain that can only mean I am going to have a miserable night, suffering from “Peace Corps South America” syndrome.  Keep in mind the water situation that day… yeah.  I’ll let you use your imagination.  So, after some miserable hours of wishing I could vomit, it finally happened.   This was my third time being ill in Peru, and the first time I was able to vomit.  So it felt great and awful at the same time, but mostly great.  Afterwards, feeling quite accomplished, I was able to drink a whole glass of lukewarm water (many Peruvians, including my family, won’t let you drink anything cold when you’re sick).  Thought it was over, but then I vomited up the water.  I went to bed, feeling pretty dehydrated and awful.  A few hours later, I got up to go to the bathroom again. The one I chose is located just outside of the main door of the house.  As I left the bathroom, I suddenly felt like I was going to faint.  I told myself that I just had to make it to the main door, to open it and warn my family that I was about to faint… and the last thing I remember is reaching for the door and thinking “Damnit, I don’t know the verb ‘to faint!’”

Apparently I didn’t fall, but I came to gripping a ledge on the wall, in a very awkward squatting position, with my whole body convulsing and I was breathing really weird.  I came to as either my mother or brother grabbed me, and moved me over to the couch.  I recovered pretty quickly, and in true Peruvian custom, they then covered me in approximately 6 blankets, to keep me from losing body heat (even though I was sweating like crazy).  My adorable host mother then slept on the couch chair all night, to watch over me.

Great first impression I made, eh?  Anyway, haven’t gotten sick since arriving back at site, which is amazing considering the number of raw vegetables I’ve eaten (although they have been washed with a bit of Clorox, as recommended). 

The verb “to faint” is desmayarse, by the way.

Now the Real Fun Begins

Taking our Foreign Service Oath

It's official! Last Friday, August 19, all 51 of Peru 17 were sworn-in by the US Ambassador to Peru as Peace Corps Volunteers.  This marks the first time since 2005 that a training group has had 100% swear-in!

On Saturday, I said goodbye to my training host family, and there were lots and lots of tears.  The most bittersweet part was them telling me that there would be a real vacancy in the house without me, especially because of the way that I cared for the 4 year-old.  They said she (Angeline) had never gotten so close to a volunteer, that I really made an impact on the family in the cariño I gave her, and that they knew she was going to miss me a lot.  I tried my best to explain to Angie why I was leaving and that I would be back to visit, but it was still really hard to leave, especially when I became very accustomed to her hugs and declarations of "Kin! Mi amiga por SIEMPRE!"

My despedida (going-away party), with Angie and her parents, Omar and Marilyn

Sunday, I attended my first regional meeting in Chiclayo so got to meet most of the other volunteers in the region- they took us to an awesome restaurant where I had chaufa con mariscos, fried rice and seafood, yummy.  Today was my first full day at site as a PCV.  My Regional Coordinator knew that I didn't meet the mayor or any other important authorities during my site visit (in general, the Municipality is supposed to reach out and I am supposed to be introduced to everyone then), so this morning she had scheduled a 10am meeting for me at the Municipality, to meet the mayor and all of her staff.  It was great to hear that she (the mayor) had a good idea of what Peace Corps was (thanks to my Regional Coordinator, Program Director, and another Volunteer closeby).  So it was a bit of a relief to feel like I wasn't starting from zero, and the mayor made sure her staff knew that I would be coming in and probably asking for their help in finding documents, records, etc.

So, reality starts now.  I am mentally prepared to take this experience day-by-day and task-by-task, focusing on the little victories, but still the anxiety is setting in.  I am starting to miss my training friends, especially those who won't have cell phone service at their sites.  Also, my host father doesn't want me leaving the house by myself (I'm hoping this will change soon), and especially since I have internet at home, I am worried that I am going to spend too much time in the house.  Hopefully my restless anxiety will propel me towards the door, and with the help of my host family and socias (who came to find me today and also accompanied me to the mayor's office), I'm hoping to get out into the community as much as possible and get my face known.  It's a weird sensation to be in a town where everyone knows each other, and where I stick out like a sore thumb and don't know anybody- definitely a different experience then training.  Anyway, here's my personal to-do list for this first week, which will hopefully keep me busy and non-anxious:

• discuss money matters with my family- how much I will be paying them for food & rent
• deliver oficios (formal letters) to the important authorities, to introduce myself
• get document signed by the mayor to approve my work visa
• get business cards made
• find a detailed map of the city to use in my community map and encuestas (surveys) parts of my community diagnotistic
• meet Paulina's artisan group and hopefully others
• find contact info for PCV Charles who set up my site, and meet with him
• meet the German volunteer who also recently arrived here to work with the church
• get an interview printed with the local newspaper
• present myself in the colegios (high schools), possibly recruit some "interns" for my community diagnostic
• find and buy ingredients to make my breakfast granola
• explore around town for a potential place to run and work out

So, that's my life right now.  As my friend Lucas just put it on the phone, it really feels like we have just been given a completely impossible job.  But I'm hoping that by taking it task-by-task, I'll keep myself busy = happy.

My New Home

So, I wasn't expecting to be in contact with people all this week while I was at site visit, but... I HAVE WIRELESS INTERNET in my new home!  What?!

We arrived in Chiclayo, the department (state) capital, Sunday morning, and had the day to relax and meet some current volunteers in the area, all of whom are really chill.  They gave us a short tour of the city and some tips on money, groceries, etc.  I already like Chiclayo soooo much better than Lima.  It's walkable and more traquilo, but still more lively than the sleepy city of Cajamarca that we saw during field-based training.

Monday we met our socios (counterparts) in the Municipality building.  For me, two artisan ladies showed up, and they were so, so sweet.  The one who was my official socia, Paulina, can't be much more than 4 feet tall, her feet didn't touch the floor while sitting a chair, but she has the personality, energy, and motivation enough for someone twice her size.  An official from Monsefú's mayor's office was also supposed to attend the meeting but didn't show.  Since Paulina and Margarita were so awesome, I wasn't concerned about it.

After the meeting, Paulina accompanied me by taxi and colectivo (shared taxi) to Monsefú.  As a side story, I apparently almost got robbed on the way there- as we were sitting in the colectivo about to leave Chiclayo, I was on the phone trying to locate something I left in the hostel.  Then someone knocked really hard on my window and the driver yelled at me to put my cell phone away.  Apparently, a choro (thief) had attempted to run up to the window and steal my phone, but thankfully the glass was up (I guess it was so clean that he didn't realize?).

Anyway, Paulina accompanied me straight to my family's house, since she knew exactly where they lived.  I can't begin to explain how awesome my family is.  The father, Augustín, is 67 but doesn't look that old.  Both he and his wife are local professors, but he is retired and does all of the housework and cooking while his wife works all day.  So that was not an image I expected to see all day- this man walking around the house with a broom in his hand, always smiling and cracking jokes.  His wife, Rosa, is 57 and equally good-natured and always smiling when she gets home, after working all day in Chiclayo.  Their son, Agustín Jr., is only two months older than me and is the person I can thank for the wireless internet in the house! He's a thesis away from receiving his systems engineering degree, and has started his own business of distributing computer equipment in Peru.

As you may have guessed, this family is definitely in the top economic tier of this town.  I felt kind of guilty about living with them at first, since they have so much more than many others in this town- internet, a nice TV, refrigerator, washing machine (although they are different and kind of useless here), multiple bathrooms (with working toilets) and ...wait for it... a hot water heater in the shower.  Um yeah, did not see that coming.  I do want to add the caveat though that this family shares many of the experiences of the rest of the townspeople, for example there is only running water from 6am-1pm, and 3pm-6pm.  And today, there is no water at all in the town because they are fixing roads and had to shut it off.  However, my family has two reserve tanks on the roof, so we are still able to cook and bucket bath. They also have the same customs as other Peruvian families that are super conscious of electric bills, so they only use the lights when completely necessary and unplug everything when not in use.

So, I thought a lot about why they placed me with this family.  I've already mentioned how incredibly well-natured they are, but they are also very well connected, known, and respected in this town.  Especially as a new site, its really really important for me to have an "in" to meeting people, and this family is definitely it.  The importance of this has become even more evident this week, as the mayor's office hasn't reached out to me at all.  Apparently a group of townspeople are filing a denuncia (denouncement, first step to impeachment) against the mayor, so that's definitely going to be a challenge to my work.  Volunteers are supposed to work somewhat hand-in-hand with the Municipality and it's still quite possible that the mayor will publicly present me at a later date, but the politics of it all makes it even more important that I have other reliable ties.  Sooo, that's what I'm telling myself to feel less guilty about all my amenities.  Also, having a more relaxed and comfortable home life will allow me to have more energy for my work outside of the house, I think.

So my new home life is no challenge at all (so far), but my work life is definitely going to be.  I am the first volunteer ever in this town (which is what I preferred), so a few people have heard of Peace Corps before but virtually none understand what I am doing here. (Side note: Paulina's first question to me was, "So, are you Canadian?")  There are a ton of artisan associations here but beyond that I don't have many pre-established starting points.  I'm going to have to figure out my own way to approach people and work, and I've started strategizing a bit on that.  It's definitely going to be a challenge, but that's what I wanted.

Back to Lima on a 11 hour bus ride tomorrow night, then I'm in for my last week of training!  Swearing-in as a Volunteer August 19, then arriving permanently at site August 22.

I've updated some of the other pages on this site, specifically "My Site and Work"- check it out and scroll to the bottom for a great video of my town!

Also, we just ran out of water from the reserve tanks.  Haven't showered since Tuesday morning, so look s like I am going to be quite dirty until tomorrow.  Hope that meeting with the mayor doesn't happen today!

SITE ASSIGNMENT!

Site assignment was yesterday, here´s a brief info to where I will be living for two years!!

Community Name: Monsefú (Mohn-say-FOO) http://www.lambayeque.net/chiclayo/monsefu/ (check out the YouTube videos with awkwardly translated English subtitles)
Department (State): Lambayeque
District: Chiclayo  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiclayo

Population is about 22,000 or possibly 30,000 (not really sure), which at first I thought was bigger than what I wanted, but I realize now will probably be perfect for small business.  There is a ton of artesan groups and some good NGOs that work with them, and I will probably be doing a lot of networking for them in Chiclayo, which you can see at the top of the map is only about 20 min away! I´m also less than 10 min from the coast, so get some good breezes- Pimentel and Eden are good beach towns, I believe.  It rains about 4 days out of the YEAR, and is consistently around 60 (low) to 75 degrees F (high), with occasional days up to 90 deg F.  Did I get paradise or what?! The food is also supposedly awesome, with a great market of fruits and vegetables, plus good local fish.  My friend Hallie from training will be in Reque which you can see is very close (about 20 min) and I think an older volunteer lives somewhere closeby as well.

Sorry this post is shorter than this news deserves, but I am quickly posting from an internet cafe since the phone-internet lines were cut or stolen in my community.  I´ll be visiting Chiclayo and Monsefú next week from Monday to Friday, so will have more info on my work and counterparts, family, and hopefully pictures to share then.  For now I really couldn´t be happier with my assignment!

Poco a Poco (Little by Little)

I’m back! This past week I was traveling in Peru for Field-Based Training.  All of SBD 17 (Small Business Development, Group 17) traveled to Cajamarca, a department (state) of Peru to the North… by way of a 17-hour bus!  It was actually way better than it sounds.  There are pretty affordable options for comfortable overnight seats, which are kind of like business class airplanes- the seats go back really far, a footrest comes up, and you get served multiple meals.  We were able to afford those seats on the way there but not the way back.  With my awesome Brookstone eye cover, I got sufficient sleep both ways.

10 of us went to a town called Tembladera, somewhat close to the coast so it was pretty warm.  It was surrounded on one side by a lake (man-made, a dam released overtop of a town that used to exist there) and on the other side by a mine of some sort, for an ingredient in cement.  It was about 7,000 people in the town with 3,000 in the caseríos (outlying villages), and I loved the size- I’d like a site about that big, maybe slightly larger, and that would qualify as a “medium”-sized site for Peru Small Business.  I figure at that size I can have the benefits of gaining confianza (trust) with the community while also having enough economic activity to be productive as a Small Business Volunteer.  I’ll be finding out my site in a week and a half!

For the week, I worked in a pair with my friend Chris, teaching 18 students (17 female and 1 male) who were ages 16-30 and in school to be secretaries.  For three days we taught them basic business themes, like market/feasibility studies, accounting/finances, marketing, and business plans, and at the end of the 3^rd day they presented their ideas of a 1-day business to the “Banco de Paz,” with a business plan and loan application.  After an grilling interview with the "bank" (our program staff), each group (Chris and I had 4) received a loan, varying from 15 to 100 soles, to execute their business on the 4^th day.

With some of my students, Manuel and Claudia on Business Simulation day

Chris and I with all our students right before graduation.  Do I blend in??

One of our groups won, because they had the highest margin of utility out of all 12 groups!  As much as we tried to convince them otherwise, almost all the teams made food, and our winning team made tallarín con pollo (chicken and noodles, a standard Peruvian dish) and papa a la huancaína (another traditional and DELICIOUS dish).    But in the end it seems that they knew best, because in one day they had a margin of utility somewhere around 250%!

It was a great and useful week, as we were forced to teach in Spanish for about 5 hours a day.  Chris and I were a great team because our levels of Spanish were pretty equal, and we were both able to speak off the cuff and help clarify what each other was saying.  Too bad we have to manage classes by ourselves at site!

During Field Based Training I also had some time to reflect on the last 6 weeks and how I have been acostumbrando (becoming accustomed) to Peru:

Some Things I Have Gotten Better At

·      Remembering to throw toilet paper in the trashcan, not the toilet

·      Spanish!  At the end of Week 4, I tested into Advanced/Fluent, which I am very happy about :) Still have plenty of room for improvement though, since I still blank on important words.  Example from last week: Regrets… it’s  Lamentos, in case you were wondering.

·      Thinking in two languages or switching back and forth between English and Spanish.  Although I definitely blank on English words for things every once in a while.

·      Ignoring the smell of burning trash… ugh.

·      Sleeping through chicken screetches, mototaxi horns, and bus-rides

·      Drinking yogurt and oatmeal… and I actually like it.

·      Being hungrier at lunch and less hungry at dinner

·      Running with a rock in my hand, for the dogs.  I thought I was a dog person until I came to Peru.  With a few exceptions, I now hate dogs.

·      Hand-washing clothes.  Today when I got back, my host mother helped me do my first full load of hand-washed laundry, and good Lord my back and neck hurt.  According to my host mother I’m still pretty bad at this, although I “have advanced a lot.”

·      Using diminutives as often as Peruvians do (adding –ito to the end of nouns to make them sound smaller or cuter, like cerquita instead of cerca to mean really close).  This is really important because diminutives are often accompanied by a distinct persuasive/slightly whiny voice when you are trying to convince someone of something, like telling a taxi driver that you’re not going very far so it shouldn’t cost very much.

·      Eating chicken (alllllll of the chicken) off the bone- In my first few weeks, my host mother said I eat like a gatita (kitten), which I thought was ridiculous since I have never considered myself a very delicate eater.  However, compared to most people here who eat a full quarter of a chicken with only a fork, fingers, and teeth, it does appear that I was delicate.  Little by little, I’m getting there!

·      Eating lots and lots of potatoes and rice. I think my stomach is stretching.

Just as I’m starting to get comfortable here, it’s almost time for site assignment (August 3).  I’ve been assured that I will be in for a whole new round of culture shock when I depart for site in 4 weeks… but for now, I’m quite contenta.

If you want to see more photos of my adventures so far, here are my albums!

Weeks 0-5

Week 6, Field Based Training

Peruvian Snow Day, a "Hearty" Breakfast, and Musical Sampling

So training was cancelled today due to a "paro," or strike, by the combi drivers.  I've described the combis a bit before, but they are basically "micro-buses" (they are called micros in Chile and elsewhere) that travel up and down the main roads in Lima and to the suburbs.  They are privately owned and poorly regulated- the cobradores (money-collectors) can be super pushy and sometimes take advantage of customers, some chofers drive really dangerously, and many combis are really rundown.  I don't know all the details about what the proposed new law from the Municipality of Lima says, but from what I gather it adds a lot of new regulations that are going to be very costly to combi companies (there's about 400 companies) if the law is passed.  Regulations include combi size, safety standards, and pollution/exhaust limits.

In training yesterday, while discussing our "emergency" plan for today, we got to hear a bit of the history of the combi system.  The transport system started under Fujimori, who was a strong advocate of privatization.  The system provides really cheap and somewhat reliable transportation (I've never waited more than 3 minutes for one, but they often get pulled over by police to check for appropriate documentation).  However, many Peruvians think there are too many combis and that the loosely regulated system has resulted in a lot of mechanical failures, fatal accidents, and mistreated customers.  It's amusing to me to contrast this system to DC's Metro, since I was always complaining about how terribly run our public transportation was... for example, waiting 30 minutes for a train on a Saturday night, and the annoyance of switch lines to get where you want to go.  And DC Metro had it's fair share of safety hazards and accidents too.  So clearly both kinds of systems (public and private) can cause problems.

Apparently strikes like this, for one cause or another, happen about every 2-3 months, and school/work/everything shuts down.  Snow Day!

A couple food updates:

-Our Tech Trainer, a former Volunteer, directed us to a closeby market that sells NATURAL PEANUT BUTTER, for cheaper than Peter Pan.  Major win.

-My family liked my veggie-chicken-pineapple stirfry, although it didn't turn out exactly how I wanted without a wok.  I was told that I'm allowed to marry now, since I know how to cook.  Woohoo!

-Watching how everyone at the table scraped their plates clean when I cooked reemphasized to me how important it is to them to show respect by appreciating/eating all the food given to you.  I knew this before, but watching them show respect to me that way made me feel really bad about my inability to finish the chicken and rice plates I always get.  Of course, it is quite different when I am served an amount of food that I couldn't eat in three sitting let alone one, but I decided to try harder to eat everything on my plate.  For example, not leaving any chicken on the bones.

-The next morning, right after I had made that promise to myself, the family sat down to eat a very strange looking soup for breakfast.  It was called patasca, and I was able to gather that it was made from choclo (big corn) and patas (feet/hooves) of some animal.  They said it was a really traditional dish and is great for hangovers (the whole family had gone out the night before).  Then they used the word "vísceras" as another ingrediente, which I didn't know, but I figured it out after they said they "make sure they are washed very well."  Yup.  Intestines.  That's definitely what it looked like too, but I decided to leave the identity of the soup as a mystery in my mind until I finished it.  It wasn't as bad as I would have imagined, but the texture of the intestines definitely wasn't my favorite.  I finished it though, except for about 2 small strands that I just couldn't handle.

-For lunch on Monday, I was floored to find BROCCOLI with my chicken.  My host mother had made a comment during my stir-fry dinner, asking if I was an "almost-vegetarian."  She already knew that I don't really eat red meat, but I said yes, I prefer a lot of vegetarian dishes.  I don't know how many times I have talked to her before about how much I love vegetables and that my doctor said I need to eat more vegetables to help my digestive problems, but it finally seemed to click for her with the stir-fry.  She's sending me to training with loads of vegetables in my lunch bag now, and it is such an awesome change to my day.

That's all I've got for now, back to preparing session plans for Field-Based Training next week- I'll leave you with some more music-  you know Jennifer Lopez's "On the Floor" recent pop hit?

If not (parents, parents' friends), here it is:


...then check out this old Bolivian song, Llorando se fue, from 1981:


...and then this Brazilian hit song, La Lambada, from 1989:


...and then this other current hit on Latin Billboards (which I gather from the video was featured in Fast 5):


That tune is generally known as La Lambada and apparently is really popular in Latin songs of all genres, from traditional folklore to reggaeton.  Pretty cool!