So, I punched a truck.

I have to start this post off by saying a few things.

#1- I really hope I won't offend any of my family members or other loyal friends who have been reading my blog and supporting me in many ways.  I have the deepest of gratitude for those that dedicate time to listening to my written or spoken Peace Corps stories, and for the patience you have shown in trying to understand what my life is like... but what I have to say, is that it is almost impossible for you understand what I am going through (unless you have also been a Peace Corps Volunteer).  If you have lived in a foreign country, you can understand on one level.  If you have lived in a super "rough" community where you feel constant hostility, you can understand on one level.  But there are very few experiences that really compare to Peace Corps (especially as a female), where:

• You live "alone" in a community with no friends or family from home, for two years.
• In a foreign country with foreign customs and values that you don't understand and often don't agree with, regardless of the amount of cultural sensitivity training you have received
• In a community where many people have very minimal contact with foreigners and have no idea how to treat them
• Most people's ideas of Americans are based on absurd stereotypes based on TV shows (Sweet 16), evangelical groups, and random stories told by their cousins
• The level of education is very low, which affects your ability to communicate others, not only in obvious situations like vocabulary, but in things like explaining directions for an activity... the most basic of activities have to be explained 5 times and in excruciating detail
• Myths and beliefs about nutrition, sex, and illness seem insurmountable
• Your job is 24/7, such that there is never a break from being your "professional self," even less so in a culture that gives you zero personal space
• The community is used to having to "fight" for resources, so people act like children when you start working with a group outside of theirs
• You are a public figure constantly in the public eye, and rumors spread like wildfire
• The machismo is so ingrained in the culture (to me) that even the women don't recognize it as such

#2- The whole part of #1 was written on a separate day.  I am feeling much more tranquila and less intolerant about my site now.

#3- I've been in a PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) Conference for the last two days in Chiclayo, and am there with 4 socias (counterparts) from Monsefú.  To make a long story short, two of my socias have been a complete circus throughout the event; interrupting the speaker, not turning off their cell phones, domineering group work, etc... it's become a joke now between the Volunteers at the event to shake their head at me and say things like "Damnit Monsefú..."   So, while these two women do not represent my entire community, it does give a little more weight to my belief that my site is a little rowdier and crazier than other towns in Peru.

#4- Today, I was thinking about my site-mate I will probably be getting in August (!!!) who will work in Youth Development.  I recommended Monsefú as a Youth site because there is so much work that can be done here with youth and I barely have time to touch that topic/population.  I was thinking about things I want to say to the Program Director, about what kind of Volunteer should be assigned to Monsefú.  And suddenly I remembered something my Tech Trainer told me after I was assigned to Monsefú... I believe she said "I'm glad you like your site because we thought it matched your strengths really well... we needed a female who was diplomatic but firm." This makes me laugh really hard now, because the need to be "firm" in Monsefú seems like a huge understatement.  As you might have been able to tell from this post and my last one, many people are constantly trying to out-do each other, compete for resources, and prove their personal worth... I most certainly have to be "firm" or I would never get a complete sentence out of my mouth without someone interrupting me to say eschúchame, escúchame, no, escúchame... This reality is the complete opposite from some other Volunteers that live in smaller sites, especially in the mountains.

#5- Overall, I think I've been riding pretty high on the Peace Corps rollercoaster up until this point.  These past few weeks have been my hardest in Peace Corps, and I think I've reached a new plateau in my cultural adjustment.  I'm going through a phase of almost complete intolerance to the culture.  I feel like almost every monsefuano I talk to (minus select friends and family) are incredibly rude and I can't relate to them at all.  I can't stand the men in Monsefú and Chiclayo that look at me like they are going to eat me and then whisper things in my ear.  I can't stand the absurd misconceptions people have of who I am and what resources I have, like my socia who today asked me if I came to training "in my car."  I gave a dark laugh and asked her (with a little attitude) with what money am I going to buy a car?   But my "overwhelmed with rudeness" feeling is unwarranted.  When I am around my host family, friends, or artisans, I don't feel any animosity towards them, and in fact quite the opposite... but when I step out of the house, it feels hostile.  It didn't used to feel this way, since I know many of the families in my neighborhood.  I hope this phase goes away soon.

So, with all of this in said, a short story.  

Two days ago, a man made an unbelievably disgusting SLURPING noise at me as I walked by in Monsefú.  Ugggghhhh.  As you may remember from another blog post, I try my best to ignore the harassment, because if you address it, it might just get worse.  But the more I attempt to "ignore" it or contain my anger, the more likely it becomes that I am going to explode an incident or two after a particularly bad interaction.  So, that slurping action was just too much for me, and I was (unknowingly) ready to blow.

Yesterday, I was leaving at 8AM from Monsefú to go to Chiclayo for the first day of the Conference.  I was already really stressed out about the re-programming of this damn artisan fashion show and a few other things.  So I walk down a street to drop something off with an artisan friend and a big cargo truck full of men starts whistling at me.  I ignore it.  I drop off the item, start back down the street, and realize that I have no desire to pass through these men again.  I try to cross the street, but am unable to because of an aggressive stream of mototaxis coming through.  So I am forced to walk right past the truck again, and in my head am having the thoughts of "I swear to God, if they make a sound, I'm gonna..."

A short interjection-- my interactions with men here have given me some pretty violent daydreams about things I would do to my harassers if there were no physical or other risks for myself.  I don't think I should describe them here because, as I said in Part #1, I don't think it's possible for you to understand where my head is at here... and I might sound crazy!

Continuing on- I start walking past the truck, and of course some intense whistling ensues.  I explode.  I whip around, and (in my head) came somewhat close to physically assaulting someone.  The man standing right next to me appeared to have not participated in the noises, and the guilty ones were unreachable sitting high up in their truck.  I was completely enraged and I must have looked completely ridiculous.  My eyes were bugging out of my head, and my fist were clenched by my sides.  But I also felt completely helpless and couldn't get a word out, so... I punched the truck.  Just full on, fist clenched, punched the door of the truck.

As you might imagine, this set the harassers into a fit of laughter, and as I stomped away, I still felt so enraged that I might faint.

Thankfully, this PEPFAR Conference has been very well-timed to give me some time with other Volunteers, even if two of my socias make me pretty frustrated sometimes.  I'm feeling much better today, and actually had a good meeting about the re-programming of the artisan show, which is bringing my overall level of "intolerance" down a number of notches.

And if any Peace Corps bosses are reading this, I promise I'm not going to physically assault anybody.  I'll just have to work on other ways to be "firm."  ;)

Pueblo Chico, Infierno Grande

This past week has been without a doubt the hardest week of my Peace Corps service, and one of the more challenging of my life.

As you all know, I have been working to bring to life the first Artisan Fashion Show in Monsefú, which happened this past Sunday.  Unfortunately and somewhat fortunately, in the same moment that the show started, it started raining- it only seems to rain in Monsefú during important Peace Corps events!  It was bearable at first, but then a torrential downpour started and everyone had to run for their lives and cover the electrical equipment.

I say somewhat fortunately because we were nowhere near fully prepared for this event.  And I don't mean my Type-A, perfectionist type of unprepared, I mean the sound system was super messed up, the music didn't work until the last 5 minutes, half of the outfits (out of like 80 in total) didn't have descriptions for the announcer to read, and we were probably going to commit enough errors in the descriptions that numerous artisans were going to leave grumpy with me.

A few months ago, I started out working with Señorita Fexticum, a 17 year-old marinera dance champion who represents Monsefú.  She has always been unreliable, but she surpassed herself this time.  She was supposed to be in charge of the whole model aspect of the event, leading the rehearsals and all of that.  Well, while I was out of town for an obligatory training, she skipped two rehearsals, with no warning to me or any of the models.  When confronted about it, she had completely insane excuses about her health (including that she got an ear infection from being near a really loud speaker at a birthday party) and refused to take any responsibility.  She also pocketed 100 soles donated to the event by a contact of mine for her own personal expenses, probably all unrelated to the event.  I found myself in this situation 2 weeks before the event when a guy in his early 30s, Lucho, introduced himself to me when I was meeting with Magguli (Señorita Fexticum).  I found out that the idea for this project that Magguli had presented to me was actually a project of his that he had developed 4 years ago, and had suggested that Magguli get in contact with me to make it happen, since he was occupied with other work.  I explained my complete state of desperation to him and he promised to support me in every way possible.  And he did- we got more done in one day than I had gotten done with Magguli in a month.  Through him we got a big team of young people involved, and we kind of pulled off this event, and much bigger than I had imagined it.

But even with all of Lucho's help, preparation for this event was still complete hell.  I am just not cut out to deal with young, small town aspiring models, stage moms, and psychologically unstable artisans.  There were plenty of amazingly supportive, helpful people involved in this event, but that doesn't erase the egoism, criticism, selfishness, and everything else I had to deal with by the truckload.  And the cultural differences just amplified everything.  Hopefully most of you see me as someone who is organized and responsible, but this week I came to fully realize how much my organizational ability depends on having some private time to think.  There is no such thing as private time in Monsefú, and interrupting is also a way of life.  In the municipality people walk straight up to a desk and start talking, regardless of whether another conversation is going on, and if someone thinks what they have to say is more important than what you are saying, they will just cut you off and say "no, escuchame, escuchame..." (listen to me, listen to me).  So this is the way people treated me during our rehearsals, while I was trying to organize the descriptions and orders of the outfits on my laptop.  Three teenagers/moms talking at me at the same time saying KIMBERLY KIMBERLY even after I told the entire room that I could not be interrupted for the next 10 minutes.  About 3 hours before the event, not having eaten all day, I had a minor breakdown and tried to explain through sobs to Lucho and the university students helping us that I can't think or do anything productive when people keeping accosting me with pressuring questions about "What am I wearing" "When am I going on" "Is this the only thing I am wearing?" "Can I switch bags with her" "Why haven't you gotten the order done yet??!!" and everything else.  The two university students then made me sit down and they made me two cups of chamomile tea and fed me hard boiled eggs and crackers, the only things they could find in the house. 

The event started about 75 minutes late (an hour is somewhat standard), the sound was bad, the music wasn't working, all the introductions were off the cuff (not horrible but not really adequate), and we didn't have all of the descriptions printed for the announcer to read.  In that way, thank God it rained because I was dreading the later sections of the show that were not as well organized as the first parts.  But I left the event laughing and happy, knowing that there was nothing I could do about the rain.  As my Peace Corps mob that came out to support (thank you guys!!) was leaving, one volunteer leaned in and said "keep laughing!"

Three days ago, the laughing stopped.  A radio show guy named Felipe, who had originally supported me and the event, brutally criticized the organization of the event, saying that everything that Lucho is involved in turns out badly.  They don't like each other and I don't understand why.  Then an artisan got super defensive about her son's involvement as the DJ and basically told me that he only participated because of Magguli and it is all thanks to Magguli that this event happened (her son is friends with Magguli, so I can only imagine the bullshit she has been spreading about her role in the organization).  Lastly, on the public "Monsefú al Día" facebook page, basically a news/event promoter page for everything local, someone said the following about the event: 

"It was a good way to incentivize the artisans to show their work but unfortunately there are people that are so hypocritical and shameless that they boast to be the promoters of the project, what a shame that these kinds of people exist that hoped this event would serve to show themselves off, but there is a God that judges the bad acts of these people by sending a blessed rain so that they don't complete their objective of being the prominent figures of this event."

This comment (about Lucho) came as a complete shock because it came from someone who I never would have expected to lash out like that, but it again was a friend of Magguli. That girl was telling everyone that Lucho and I had cast her to one side and taken "her" event as ours... when really, she was doing nothing helpful and showing up only to throw hissy fits and give excuses for her tardiness/lateness.  And the worst part about this whole mess is that if I wanted to fix everyone's misconceptions about Lucho's involvement in the event, I could publicize everything that Magguli has done (pocketed money, lied repeatedly, not shown up to even the most basic of responsibilities) but obviously that is not something I could do to anyone, let alone a 17 year-old girl. 

Here's how I responded to the comment, and here's how the person responded to me:

"______, with all my respects and thanks for your help in 1 rehearsal, there is a lot that you don't know about the organization of this event.  The idea was part of a plan developed years ago by this person that you refer to, and it is he who gave the idea to the two organizers recognized in the first stages.  I asked him to directly join the Organizing Committee because I had no human support to achieve the event, and thanks to him and the many days that he and I with other friends worked from 7am-midnight, we were able to complete the first parts of the Show, although we were interrupted by forces of nature.  This event is reprogrammed for April, financed by the Municipality, and hopefully on this date will we find only positive wishes for the success of this event that promotes the work of our artisans."

"My friend Kimberly, there is no problem/obstacle regarding me with the project, we have to recognize that it is a good idea to bring to light the products of all the artisans, we will have time to converse and give you a hand, I hope to have enough time to support you all in the next event, take care."

While that was diffused, the combination of the various comments over the last three days has been just too much for my physically and emotionally exhausted body to bear.  I cried 3 times yesterday, twice publicly, in front of Felipe the radio guy and in front of the mentioned artisan, and that's kind of bad to do in this "be strong, only children cry" culture.  Too bad I was raised by super-sensitive psychologist parents who never taught me how to hold back my tears! Damnit.  Then today my best artisan friend, in a meeting with other artisans and me, said that it made her really uncomfortable that Lucho appeared on stage as an organizer (at my insistence) and Magguli did not, when they thought that they were supporting Señorita Fexticum's social projects.  I told them, in general terms, that Magguli had not participated in any of the organizing in the crucial moments, and that the Show wasn't her idea, as we all thought.  There were more tears, and the artisans assured me that they believed me and supported me, but it was still frustrating.  People keep telling me to not worry about the criticisms or what other people think, but then they keep talking to me about it!

So basically this project refuses to go away, while the logistics were a nightmare, the piece that people saw created a lot of expectativas (expectations) so there's a lot of demand for us to reprogram it.  I also can't leave the artisans hanging, when they worked so hard to finish the products in time for the show.  We are planning on doing it in April with more support from the Municipality, but I have very little motivation to be involved... I have so many other projects I would rather be working on, and I just can't deal with small town bullshit + model attitudes + artisan attitudes.  It's too much.  So we might reprogram it for July instead as part of the month-long festival of Fexticum, so that it could be more of the Municipality's project and I could step away.  This would be better anyways so that the project gets institutionalized and remains after I leave.

I accredit a lot of what I've dealt with not necessarily to the culture here, but probably to factors that are common in a lot of small towns where everyone knows each other.  In talking with my mom, we decided that it seems like whenever someone stands out (like Lucho), people criticize.  I guess that's why people in Monsefú say pueblo chico, infierno grande (small town, big hell).  Previously, I didn't understand why people that had been involved in great public projects in the past now avoid working in any really public way with me.  They always wanted me to do all the talking and them to just work in the background, and now I understand why.  And it makes me sick that when someone here tries to do something good, they have to hide it or people will rip them to pieces.  And I feel guilty for repeated pushing Lucho to put his logo on the invitations, speak on the radio, and speak at the event, because I thought I was giving him his due credit, but turns out all I gave him was gossip.

So there you go, a nice little negative post for you.  I feel like overall I give a pretty rosy picture of Monsefú, because I don't want to criticize the culture or the people or anything in general terms... but if you want a realistic idea of my challenges here in site, here is the somewhat abbreviated version of it.  No worries, I will be fine, I'm just desperately in need of some personal and vacation time.  Luckily I'm going up to Piura (3 hours away) this weekend for a mix of work and pleasure, so I'll have some time to get out of here.  Through this event I also got to know some incredibly supportive and selfless people, so I've gained some great friends and work partners... and we are going out tonight to celebrate and dance with Grupo 5!

Does this look like anybody you know?

Does this face look familiar to you? ... that's right, ladies and gentlemen, I am now a saint.  Kidding, sort of, my face was just used in a religious mural inside Monsefú's chapel.  Last week, I was standing outside of the church when my friend Edgard, who works there, asked if we could talk for a second.  He introduced me to two artists that are painting murals all over the walls of the chapel.  They said they were almost done with one mural, but needed one more face for a female figure... they asked me if I would pose for a picture.  I found this pretty funny, but I also asked them why they were interested in using my face, when I'm not from Monsefú or even Perú... because I'm really against the obsession with featuring white people in TV shows, advertisements, everything here.  I told them I couldn't participate because I can't promote more gringo-ization.  They promised me it wasn't because I was white, it was just that they didn't want to use faces of people from Monsefú because of the animosity and jealousy between different families and groups (which makes some sense).  So, after a lot of pleading from Edgard, I caved.

Here's a wider view.

At least the other faces aren't too white.  Have a nice Sunday, everybody.

So... what exactly do you do?

For good reason, I am asked that question by a lot of people, both at home and in Peru.  I haven’t given too many details here about what kind of projects consume my days, weeks, and months, so here’s my best attempt at a broad overview of my projects and goals in site.  I apologize in advance for the length!

The cover of the invitations to the Artisan Fashion Show

Artisan Fashion Show

In January, the 17 year-old girl who is basically Miss Monsefú (Señorita Fexticum, the name of our annual festival) came to me with the idea to put on a fashion show in Monsefú with artisan products.  I had wanted to do a similar project for the National Day of the Artisan (March 19th), so we decided to combine efforts to make this happen for Sunday, March 18th.  The idea is to promote innovation of the artisan products (away from traditional dresses and more towards things you can wear every day), to market the innovative products locally and to Chiclayanos, and to get the youth interested in artisan work.  We started working in early February, me handling the artisan aspects and her handling the model aspects.  With my trip to the United States plus a mandatory training from March 6 – 10, it has been quite a challenge to get the details of this project together (the stage, decorations, sound, music, matching artisans with models, invitations and advertisments, etc. and financing for all of that).  And working with this 17 year-old beauty queen (with an attitude and lying problem) has been soooo much worse than you might already imagine.  Thankfully, a young guy named Luis, who apparently this girl took the idea from, has appeared in my life to save the day.  The two of us have 7 days to pull together everything that’s missing, which isn’t very much time considering 1) that I just lost my cell phone and 2) how long it takes to get things done in my town…

As an example, I tried to print the 50 invitations before leaving for training.  This was supposed to be all done through the Municipality, who were financing the printing, but they “didn’t have time” to buy the paper for it.  The nice, thick paper for invitations only exists in my site in posterboard-size, so I had to buy that and cut it into 50 A4 pieces with a hand-blade and ruler (that was the best technology my Municipality could offer).  After 3 hours of that, I had to print them out on a regular inkjet printer that is shared with the whole Public Relations office.  Also, my entire Municipality is under construction, so the “office” was actually just a few desks and a lot of extension chords in the center of the main auditorium.  The electricity was cutting in and out, so I lost a number of valuable pieces of paper to the printer shutting off unexpectedly.  When I was able to print both sides of the invitations, almost all were turning out crooked because of imperfect cutting.  So, I got to about 20 invitations before I had to run home and get ready to leave for training.  I’m hoping the electricity will be more stable tomorrow and maybe I can print on a Sunday when there are less people in the office…

Artisan Council

There are about 12 artisan associations in Monsefú, with no central point of communication or coordination, even though the artisans could achieve a lot in terms of trainings, participation in fairs, etc. if they worked together more.  As part of the goals from my Community Diagnostic, we are in the process of creating a COLOFAR (Consejo Local de Fomento Artesanal), an artisan council that will represent all of the formal (legalized) associations (wish it could represent all but this is mandated by law).  Working with the Municipality I was able to bring an expert from Lima in January to explain the process to about 40 artisans and the whole Municipality staff.  Since then, the associations have presented the names of their representatives and hopefully this month we will officially swear-in the COLOFAR.   Working with another Peace Corps Volunteer that lives close, we might hook up this artisan council with an NGO that wants to help them improve their production capacity and complete some big orders.

My wonderful community bank partners, Susana and Juana,
and I in Trujillo for training 

Community Banks

In January I brought two socias (counterparts) to a training on “Community Banks,” our savings and credit program.  The idea is that a group of friends, family members, or whoever meet every week to deposit a pre-established amount of money into a small, wooden safe.  Starting the 5^th week, the money in the safe can be loaned out to members of the “bank” for 4 weeks, under rules set by the group (maximum amount, interest rate, etc.).  The individual returns the loan and interest to the bank.  After a pre-established amount of time between 6-12 months, the bank is then liquidated, and everyone gets an equal portion of the interests according to how many “actions” they have- for example, if the minimum weekly amount is 10 soles (1 action) and someone is depositing 20 soles/week, they have 2 actions and get 2 portions of the interests.  Hopefully the bank will then start again for another 6-12 months. 

This has been a very successful and sustainable program in Peace Corps Ecuador and Peru, for developing the habit of saving (which is essentially non-existent in most communities) and giving access to small, affordable loans for people who otherwise might not have that access.

Working with my counterparts, we held a couple preliminary meetings with artisans and asked them to return with family members if they were interested in forming a bank.  After dragging 4 friends out of another meeting to attend mine, we had a sufficient number of people to start the bank (about 11) and we’ve now grown to about 15 members.  The members seem very happy so far and are really looking forward to taking out loans to buy in bulk for the upcoming high season of tourism in Monsefú (July).  Someone who works in the local market also heard about the bank and wants to start one with those who work in the market, who also desperately need access to small-credit, so I am excited about the possibility of starting a second one!

Youth Entrepreneurship

Our transportation to the EcoCenter

For 8 weeks this summer (January-early March) I worked with Hallie and Rob, two Volunteers that live within 30 min of my site, to teach entrepreneurship to a total of about 15-18 kids, 5 being from my site.  They were between the ages of 13-16 and learned about the basic ideas of a feasibility study, SWOT analysis, mission and vision, marketing, and other business topics.  A lot of the learning was done through visits to an EcoCenter in Hallie’s site, where they learned about “eco-bricks” (plastic bottles stuffed with plastic wrappers, that can serve as bricks), sweet potato products, and harvesting and spinning organic cotton.  At the end of the program, the kids marketed and operated a movie night in each of the 3 sites, using a borrowed projector and space while selling entrance and snacks.  It’s hard to tell how much the kids really learned from the program (our post-course conversation wasn’t too encouraging) but I hope it’s one of those things where they just didn’t realize they were learning… either way, it was a really fun project, it was GREAT to work with other Volunteers, and I absolutely love the girls who participated from my site that I am now very close to.

I just got back from training for our Somos Emprendedores, Somos Perú (We are Entrepreneurs, We are Peru) youth entrepreneurship course and competition.  Starting in April, I will be teaching 9 weeks of this course to youth between the ages of 16-24, to teach them to fully develop plans for businesses they want to create in Monsefú.  I’ll then coordinate a local competition to pick the best plan, to then compete in Lima against all the other Peace Corps communities to win money to start their business.

Lastly, I might be teaching entrepreneurship seminars in a newly-created private school… the director is my host sister’s boyfriend.  I hope to use these seminars for some other topics that would be fun for me, like international politics.

Organic Fertilizer

In January, my former supervisor from an internship at CIPE was visiting Chiclayo for business.  Through some contacts I made through him, my name was given to an MBA student in Lima.  This guy, Pino, is originally from my area and his family has land in Monsefú.  He is super interested Muhammad Yunus and the idea of social business, so his thesis project is just that.  He wants to work in a caserío (outlying area, almost shantytown) of Monsefú called Santa Rita, to teach the farmers to make organic fertilizer from animal and vegetable waste.  This product would then be sold under one label, but almost all of the profits would go directly to the farmers.  He also wants to accompany the program with various kinds of trainings, which is where I come in, since he doesn’t live in Monsefú.  I’m super excited about the prospects of this project, and the opportunity to give some trainings on various health and personal finance topics.  I also hope to create another community bank in Santa Rita.

Museum and Artisan Workshop

As I’ve described before, my big dream for my second year in Monsefú is to create a public artisan workshop and museum.  I was originally set on having it in the old Municipality building in the center of Monsefú, but now I’m considering the possibility of using a comedor (public kitchen) or other unoccupied space in a more rural area that is still convenient for tourists and artisans.  I haven’t moved much on this project because I’ve been occupied with other things, but I have continued to talk it up and am finding a good deal of potential support.  I might have university architecture students willing to draw up the plans and budget, some university tourism students that would probably help with the marketing, and a political science professor who would be really helpful on the content of the museum.  There is also a government social-project-fund that might be willing to finance part of it.  I would be incredibly content to see this dream become a reality, but I have to get working soon in order to get it done!

As you can see, I’ve been very busy over the past few months, and as a result I’ve been very happy, with the exception of a very stressful last few weeks, trying to coordinate this artisan fashion show.  After I lost my phone traveling back from training today, my friend Luis suggested I take today and possibly tomorrow off to relax, and that we will figure everything out starting Monday. 

Today, I got back to Monsefú just in time to attend a funeral, the father of my best artisan friend (Jacky, about 45 year old).  The last few days I have felt almost sick with stress, and today, being with so many other people waiting outside her house to give their condolences and express their love for the family, I was brought back to reality about what is really important in this experience and in life.  It also made me really miss my family, and made me re-think my plan about coming home for Christmas… while that might sound contradictory, what I mean is that if I come home for Christmas, I'm not sure I would have the vacation days or the money to come home in case of an emergency, and with my only grandparent being 94 years-old, I don’t feel comfortable taking that risk.  And I couldn’t bear not being there with my family, especially my mom, if something was to happen. 

Sorry to end on dark thoughts… I love you dearly, family and friends!  PLEASE come visit me sometime soon, especially if I might not come home for Christmas!

Lastly, if you're not on Facebook, you can still check out some of my photo albums here:

Training in the Gorgeous Land of Ancash

Summer, Work and Fun (January - February)

Christmas Season

Meet my (new) Host Family!

My family from left to right: Mayra (sister), Martha (Mom), Karina (sister), Tiago and Elson (nephews), Gilberto (Dad), Erick (brother), Bruno (nephew)

This is my extended host family, in the 1st birthday of Bruno, my host nephew.  Not pictured is Bruno's mom, Amy, and her 6 year-old daughter Daniela.  Daniela is the "Niña Fexticum" of Monsefú, sort of like a junior Miss Monsefú, and she is pictured at the top of my blog.  Amy became a friend of mine through events with the Muncipality, and I went to her when I was looking for a new host family, and she immediately suggested her in-laws.  And now here I am!

I live with Martha (58), Gilberto (~59), and Mayra (26).  Martha is the sub-director of a public elementary school in Monsefú and Gilberto is a history/geography teacher in a public high school.  Mayra is studying criminal law at a private university in Chiclayo.  


Martha and Gilberto have two other adult children:

Karina (married to Fernando, not pictured) with kids Tiago (3) and Elson (1 1/2)

Erick (married to my friend Amy, not pictured) with kids Daniela (6) and Bruno (1)


Karina's family lives in Chiclayo but they visit every Sunday for family lunch, so I get to play all day with Tiago and Elson (!!!).  Mayra's boyfriend of 3 years, Lucho (nickname for Luis) also joins us every once in a while.  Lucho's friends, Mayra's friends, and all their cousins are all around my age and surprisingly not too many have kids, so this family change is drastically changing my social life too.  As much as I love my older friends who have kids, it is nice to hang out with people I can very easily relate to.


I love, love, love this family.  They are easy-going, positive, and funny.  And they love to have a good time.  On less than four hours of sleep from Lucho's birthday, we celebrated Bruno's 1st birthday and baptism starting at 12pm with the baptism, family lunch after that, short break, huge kids' party for 3 hours, followed by family party until late in the night.  At around midnight I desperately wanted to leave to sleep, but leaving early is virtually not an option at Peruvian parties, especially family ones.  Peer pressure is a super fun game to them, regardless of whatever you have to do the next morning!  "What, you want to leave?  Ohhh, my god, but listen to how GREAT this song is, let's dance!  And here's a full beer for you!"  So with Mayra's help I snuck out while everyone was dancing, to walk the quick (and safe, I promise!) 3 blocks home to my wonderful bed.


I've been drowning in details for a work project, an artisan fashion show, but once I come up for air I intend to give you guys a better update of what I've been up to work-wise.  This week I'm off to Huaraz, the capital city of the department (state) of Ancash, for a Small Business training on our youth business plan course and competition.  Can't wait to see Ancash, it is one of the most beautiful areas of Peru!

Order in the Disorder

I'm HOME!  That is, I am back in Monsefú.  After visiting my other home, Washington DC!  It was obviously a much anticipated visit and I can't even begin to explain how wonderful it was to see my family and friends in the flesh.  I was particularly touched by family and friends that traveled from New York, Richmond, Charlottesville, and San Francisco against all odds to make this the most amazing homecoming ever.  I was completely overwhelmed with thankfulness for the love and support that I have around me, whether we are in the same city or thousands of miles away.  This weekend was proof that no matter the distance or time, we can always pick up where we left off.  And that was a great feeling to have as I returned "home" to Peru.

Some amazing Charlottesville, New York, and San Francisco people. And John looking awkward in the back.

Nothing can keep us apart for long.

My brother who I love dearly and I can't wait to have come visit me!

So, I of course got the question "is it weird to be back??"  Yes, it was.  For the first two days, it felt like a dream- I know this place and am completely happy and comfortable in it, but this isn't my life.  I also had a couple other more specific observations:

• People in the United States obey so many rules.  People wait quietly in line and listen to directions. What?
• My friends and family have really nice watches.
• The highways around DC and Virginia are so smooth and nice and huge.  The cars seem to be floating... they drive along at a constant speed, they signal and change lanes at a constant speed, and they take smooth exits at a constant speed.
• Customer service is so weird.  I mean, I am really enjoying this conversation, but why are you being so nice to me?   I'm just here to buy something...
• Technology is amazing.  Smartboards in classrooms.  Everyone on an iPhone.  Bar codes and credit cards and electronic check out.

During my visit home, I got to visit two classes that I have been working with from a distance, one Spanish class at my high school with my old Spanish teacher, and one 6th grade class taught by my UVa friend Elizabeth.  Here I am with Elizabeth and some of the kids from her class!

Check out their Peace Corps board in the back, you are so awesome ET!

I also got to present my mom with a gift from my host mom... she did this embroidery by hand!  She may not know American/my mom's style very well, but you can't deny how sweet it is!  Oh, and don't you worry, if you want more, she says this is only the first part of the set... the tank cover and toilet paper holder and still on the way.  Lucky Mom!

So, it was amazing be home with my friends and family, craft beers, and brunch food, and thankfully I left feeling very reassured by the love and support around me, and ready to return to Peru.  And it was strange how I felt like I was returning "home."  I talked to a Peruvian friend in Lima about this, especially about the difference between the order and disorder between the US and Peru.  During my time in the States I was so struck by how orderly everything and everyone was.  The disorder in Peru is often a stressor for me, but at times it also feels liberating- when I'm flying down a highway in a van from the 1980s, with 14 other people, 3 babies, a sack of guinea pigs, and a few buckets of fish crammed in there with me, blaring cumbia music, the chaos of Peru sometimes feels just right.  As my Peruvian friend in Lima said, there is order in the disorder.

So, in honor of this lovely, disorderly country that I have come to claim as my own, here is a list I have been working on, things that I love about my life in Peru (in no particular order):

• Eating cake for breakfast is completely appropriate.
• We say “thank you” to each other and to God after each shared meal, and say excuse me before leaving a room.
• Long lunch hours that leave time for a nice nap.
• A mango always makes things better.
• During the “hora loca,” the midnight hour of every birthday or other party, everyone grabs hats, masks, whistles, confetti, and fake snow from a can, and dances around in a circle to electronic music.
• Family parties are the best parties, especially when an abuela (Grandma) is hazing me to drink more beer and an abuelo wants to dance cumbia with me.
• Everyone from 9 months old to 90 years old dances at family parties, and none the men are ashamed to show how much they love dancing.
• My morning runs take me through the dirt paths to the caseríos (rural communities), with cows and chacras (crop fields) in the landscape.
• People tell me that I am super flaquita (skinny).   They also occasionally call me caderona (big-hipped), but whatever, at least I hold my weight there instead of my stomach?
• I have beach time, mountain camping, rainforest adventures, and ancient ruin explorations all within a bus-ride distance.  I really think Peru is a contender for coolest country in the world.
• I often see the town women chatting in the plaza holding a live turkey, chicken, or duck upside down, held by the feet.
• Fried plátanos (plantains), fried eggs, and picarrones (fried dough).
• I have time, in theory, to read- even though I usually end up choosing to Facebook, gChat, or watch a TV show.
• I have an endless source of TV shows, movies, and music through the external drive system that is quite popular among Volunteers.
• Whenever I’m having a terrible day or am feeling pessimistic, someone is always there as an example of all the amazingly good people I have around me- my host family, friends in site, other Volunteers, and friends and family in the States.
• I love the way people say “Kimberly” in Spanish (KEEM-bearrr-lee), and how often I get to hear it screamed across the street or park, as someone gives me a cheerful wave.  (I go by “Kimberly” here because people know the name because of “Kimberly Clark” and a brand of paper, whereas “Kim” sounds a lot like “Quien,” which means “who,” which can get very confusing.)   
• Everyone leaves their doors open to the street, so it feels like one big family when conocidos (people I know) walk by the house or I walk by their house.
• Fresh passion fruit or papaya juice with breakfast and lunch.
• I love my friends in site, which are mostly women between 16 and 50 years old.  And I am constantly amazed by the support they give me personally and in my projects.  And I love the moments when I can feel the cultural-language barrier between us break completely.
• My fellow Volunteers are so, so inspirational.  Peace Corps Volunteers are a group of people with incredible energy, integrity, intelligence, sincerity, and heart.
• Peruvians love always being around other people, talking (even if it's about nothing), and just enjoying each other's company. 
• I am constantly challenged.  I push myself to express myself more intelligently in Spanish, to make a better "sell" for why someone should participate in my project, to get better at the culturally necessary "schmoozing" and relationship-building before asking for anything work-related, and to wake up and do it all over again.
• Lastly, I love these faces.

My host nephews, who visit from Chiclayo every Sunday, for family lunch and mangoes on the stoop.

My life is not always romantic and fun, there are absolutely times where a dark cloud is cast over this entire country and everyone who lives here... but, as another Peace Corps Volunteer put it, "when you are feeling down, just remember to go outside and let [Peru] save you."

Thank you to my family and friends, who also, in a very important way, "saved" me this past week.  You all give me the strength and support to believe I can do this for two years.  I love and thank you!

Water

I'm baaaaaack!  As always seems to be the case recently, a lot has happened since my last post.  I am happily moved in with my new host family, and most noteworthy I JUST GOT BACK FROM VISITING THE UNITED STATES.  It was a glorious, incredibly wonderful and comfortable week.  I want to get immediately to talk about my trip home and my return, but first I'd like to cover a topic I've been meaning to blog about for the last month.

I assume most of my readers are in cities or towns in the United States.  Next time it rains in whatever city you are in, take note of where all that water goes.  Notice that the streets are paved with a slight bump in the middle, so that the water flows to the sides, downhill, into a gutter, drain, or some other system.  Maybe you live in a suburban area where houses are built on hills, and storm water collects in pre-planned  retention ponds or other environmental solutions.  Also, take note of the fact that when it rains, it only rains outside your house.

Now imagine you are in a place where roads have no angle to manage the water, and there are no gutters or drains.  The water goes wherever the lowest point is.  Also imagine that your house doesn't have a cement roof, only sheets of metal and plastic, if you are lucky.  Your neighbors have no roof in some parts, and in others have only tree stalks meant to give shade.  If you're lucky, you live on a paved road, and your doorway is above a sidewalk.  If you're not lucky, a lot of rain will turn your dirt road into a mudpit that feels a lot like quicksand, and your house (made of dried mud bricks) may flood.  Also imagine that your livelihood is agriculture, and your land happens to be the closest to the riverbank.  With a sudden, unexpected rain, all of your crops are now underwater.

Yes, this is what it's like when it rains in Monsefú.  You may remember me complaining about living in the desert and how it only rains 4 days a year, but it turns out that might not be exactly true.  Truth is a very relative thing here.  Some tell me the amount of rain we've had recently qualifies this as an El Niño year, and others tell me this is completely normal.  Whatever the case is, the entire city infrastructure operates on the assumption that it is never going to rain.  When it does rain, EVERYTHING is cancelled.  As if it was a snowstorm.  And I'm not talking about, like, hurricane rain, I mean a completely normal shower at most.  Everyone in my town is terrified of rain, and so far have been given the following reasons: 1) you will fall and slip  2) you will get sick  3) you won't be able to cross any of the roads, and 4) since the streets are more deserted, the thieves are more active.

So, now that you have a basic idea of what the attitude towards rain is here, imagine you are in a 3-Day Girls Camp.  You are a 14 year-old Peruvian girl, spending your first night ever away from your family.  You are at a recreation center with 50 other Peruvian girls and 20 American volunteers, and you are sleeping in a tent outside.  It begins to rain, and rain hard- you wake up to find yourself and all of your belongings soaked, and you look up to find a gaping hole in the top of the tent where a rain cover should have been.

Yes, this was our ALMA Camp, a leadership and health-focused camp that we held February 8, 9, 10, and some of you donated to (thank you!!!).  In the middle of our first night sleeping in tents out on the lawn of a recreation center, it began to rain, and really rain this time.  Those who didn't have rain covers on their tents (almost everyone) evacuated inside, and slept on the cement floor or on a few couches.  I was lucky (and lazy) enough to be sleeping in the middle of a tent that did have a rain cover, so once we got that cover correctly attached, I was able to more-or-less sleep for a few hours.  I could go into way more detail with this ridiculous story, but basically the girls were initially scared but eventually looked back on it and a crazy, fun, bonding experience.

Me with Nataly, Fátima, and Leidy, three amazing ALMA girls

Lastly, on the topic of water, Carnavales has just ended in Peru.  Basically during the entire month of February, in most cities in Peru (and other Latin countries including Brazil), you have to be on the lookout for water balloons, water buckets, and other worse things (paint, wine, etc.) that kids (and adults) will try to attack you with.  Most people in my town are normally conscious enough to avoid calling me "gringa" (white girl) to my face, but all bets have been off this month.  Girls are the usual target in my town, and being white makes me that much more fun to attack.  Fortunately/unfortunately I have been traveling a lot recently so have only been attacked a few times- the first time my former host-brother and I were riding our newly fixed bikes when we got attacked with water balloons from behind.  I ducked and he got hit, which he found incredibly unfair, since he is neither American nor white (as if I deserve it more??).  The second time was with my youth entrepreneurship summer camp, a group of about 12 of us girls (2 volunteers and 10 girls) got ambushed by a group of chivolos ("boys," literally means little goats) with water balloons, buckets, and bottles.  A mom was helping them fill the balloons back up while my girls were screaming at the top of their lungs and hiding inside stores, when I decided to see what happens if I reversed the power on them and sprinted directly at one of the boys filling a balloon.  What ensued was one of my favorite moments so far in site, as all the girls started cheering me on, the boy's expression totally changed as he started running away, and then he eventually realized what had happened and turned back around to squirt me with what was left in the balloon.

Zach getting some revenge at ALMA

We also had some Carnavales fun at Camp ALMA, which I mostly avoided, but you can see above.  I wish I had more time to describe the awesomeness of Camp ALMA, but these blogs are getting a little unmanageable as it is!  If you want to read and see pictures from the real Carnavales in Peru, check out my friend Amanda's blog: http://amandagoespc.blogspot.com/  She along with seemingly all of Peace Corps Peru went to an area called Cajamarca while I was in the States, and there they enjoyed the biggest Carnaval celebration in the country.

That's all for now, next update coming very soon regarding my visit to the USA!