Condom race and interviews!

Sunday ended up being a pretty cool day. Bj, his sister and I attempted to hike the biggest mountain in our area, but because of Saturday night’s shenanigans I was far too dehydrated and tired to finish it. We were so close! He really wanted to keep going, but I think next Sunday I could do it if I had my backpack filled with water and fruit. I’m also going to bring my ipod so when we get to the top we can eat some fruit and just sit on the rocks and hang out listening to music. It will be a good 2-4 hour hike. I was also wearing a tank top and I could feel the sunburn coming my way. Once we went back to the bottom I ran home real quick and my brother was there so he joined the three of us and we went to a juice bar. Lucho and I had a strawberry, banana and milk blend. Es muy rico!! Me gusta mucho. Once we were done there we all headed back to our homes and just visited. Lucho invited me to play some soccer, but I was far too tired for that. Pero quiero bailar la salsa mas! Me gusta bailar la salsa ahora que vivo in Peru!
Tuesday in my Spanish class, Bj’s mom fixed us the best hamburgers ever. It has been so long since I have had one of those and dang it was good. In our class we also made a fruit salad with mangos, apples, bananas, strawberry yogurt, oranges and mandarins. It was pretty awesome. In my tech class we learned how to make toys of out trash and recyclable material. My toy was a women rocket like thing and I basically failed. It was nice and colorful and made sounds, but it wasn’t anything special compared to the others. Haha.
For dinner on Tuesday night I had a nice big plate of potatoes, corn on the cob and tons of chicken heart. I honestly didn’t know what it was until after I ate it all. I was dipping the chicken heart in ketchup and it was pretty good. It had lots of flavor and I won’t lie, I liked it! So now I have basically eaten all parts of a chicken. I have had the blood, liver, heart, legs, breast and potentially etc.
Wednesday was pretty entertaining as well. We had tons of sessions about the do’s and don’ts of dating locals. PC brought in a ton of current volunteers to talk to us about their stories and their friends stories. I won’t go into detail, but it was fun and interesting. Then that night I went back to Chosica with the typical Wednesday night crew. I only stayed for about 2 hours because I needed to head home to finish my laundry and work on some studying and homework type things.
When I got home my mom had folded all my laundry for me which was awesome AND she had bought me some chocolate. I feel like there is a chocolate battle happening right now. Sometimes when I go out places I will buy them a chocolate bar or something just because I want too and they are awesome. Well now it seems as if they are doing the same thing, but they are giving me a little more each time so I feel l need to return the favor. I like this kind of battle though because I get them the same kind every time because I know it’s awesome, but they switch theirs up. (Btw, my favorite chocolate bar here is called Sublime and it’s amazing….pronounced sub-leam-ay…..not sub-lime like the band)
Also I noticed that my mom switched the calendar in my room. My old one had a bus, but this one has a girl showing me her backside with skin tight pants on and a dress hat. Not sure why I needed a new one, but oh well, I don’t mind a sexy girl above my bed I guess. Maybe she is like my Peruvian dream catcher.
Thursday I went to the official PC office in Surco/Lima. We toured it and met everyone who works there. They told us what part they play in our life whether it deals with our security, reimbursements for money or vacations. I had another interview with my APCD who is basically the person I check in with and turn my work into for the next 2 years. The interview went really well and I think the next one is in Spanish. I also had an interview with the country director named Sanjay. He is in charge of everything and even knows a lot about Paducah! Whoot whoot!! We basically just talked about everything in my Peruvian life. We talked if I had been sick, my family here and in the USA, my Spanish, my studies and etc. We also talked about how I plan to incorporate my degree (Music Business) into my work. I gave them my idea which is:
To start a youth group and have a trash pick-up day. Then I want us to keep the recyclable materials and make instruments out of them. After that we can teach each other songs from the USA and Peru. This will allow for me to work on the environmental health (trash pick-up/recyclable materials), integrate both cultures (learning songs and English), and help me with my community diagnostic (talking about FREESTOP)!! Win! (I hope…haha).
To do that is a goal of mine, but that will be a long time from now. Right now I have to focus on what I need to be doing now. This week has been one of my busiest weeks.
Friday was amazing because we learned all about sex!!! 40% of volunteers in Peru are sexually active and 90% of those will eventually get an STD during service! Whoo hooo! Today’s session was all about how to not get an STD and what to do if we get one. The main focus of the day: use a condom! We split up into 3 groups and had a condom race in the yard. My group lost so we everyone told us we would be the first to get the STD since we couldn’t put the condom on our penis the quickest. Don’t worry, there are pictures. It was a fun day, but filled with information as usual. When I give the sex talk in my site I get to do the same thing. The PC gives me a penis and I have my students do a condom race, but a lot more accurate than today’s.
Friday night I went to Chacrasana with a ton of friends because my friend Chelsey’s mom was making hamburgers for everyone for 1.50S each. Everyone got fries, a burger and a beer and we all hung out. There were about 20 of us there and it was a good time all around. Before I went there, I went to the market in Chosica and bought some earrings, a new bracelet, a headband and a notebook for super cheap. My notebook is nice and tiny for my purse, but has a huge picture of baby Jesus in the back of it. No worries though, the inside cover has the silhouette of a naked woman too. Hmmm. I also got a water bottle since mine was stolen on the combi one day. Tomorrow marks one month of being in Peru. Only 26 more to go!