I thought I would write a blog about what type of things I do in training. We have Spanish class for four hours a day and in class everything is taught orally. We hardly ever have papers, except for homework, but it’s a very involved style of teaching. For instance, the day we learned how to formally and informally greet people, our teacher sent us out into the street to talk to people. When we learned how to tell people our daily routines and who we are, we went to the street to tell random people and ask who they are and what they do all day. Spanish is very different every day.
In my other training classes we focus on a lot of informal education. That means we are teaching class, but it is hands on. You can tell children all day how to wash their hands, but it is more fun and interesting if you are teaching them while having them do it or you show them how to do it. We learn different things like that every day and lately it has been about how to get information from people about their community. We have learned how to do FODA analysis…in English it’s a SWOT analysis. It is the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of a community. I have talked about FREESTOP before and that is basically you just conversing with people asking them random questions out of FREESTOP, but at the same time you are learning a lot of information about the community. Another thing that is a lot of fun is to get kids to all work together on a map of their community, that way you can ask them about certain places in town or see what they really know about their town. Since not a girls go to school, they may not have a school listed in their city, but they may know where all the stores are. One other thing we do is draw a big yearly calendar and ask them questions about certain times of the year. What time of the year are certain foods more popular…what type of sickness do you get during this time of the year…when are you most sick…etc.
Other things we are taught during those four hours are about our safety and security. For example, how to report offenses, how to avoid them, what offenses are most common (in Peru it is said that every volunteer will have some type of theft or robber) and etc. We are also taught about our health. For example, the most common type of sickness (diarrhea in Peru), how to have proper nutrition when all you eat is rice, chicken and potatoes, how to not get sick, what to do when you are sick and etc.
What we do every day is different, but it’s always pretty interesting and fun. They know how to keep our attention here and everything is pretty easy to catch on to.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Salsa, gardening and more
I seriously can’t believe how each day seems to top the day before. It’s amazing! Every day has something amazing happen. Friday I was invited to go to a cock fight that takes place here in Chaclacayo. The guy is American and we are going to have our trainers talk to him to find out the details. The fights are every Saturday night and me and some friends want to figure out the details to go. (It’s legal here, don’t worry) Also, Friday at my training center we learned more about how to cook different styles of food for once we get to site because there are different nutritional values of foods raw and cooked. There were some current Peruvian volunteers who came in and they taught us how fix chicken liver and cook chicken blood. They also taught us how to use chicken blood and chocolate to make chicken blood pancakes! And yes, I did try the liver, blood and pancakes. The liver and blood was ok, but I didn’t like them raw. If I could mix some rice and vegetables with it, I would be good to go. The pancakes were amazing!!!! I got the recipe for that one and I will search Peru top to bottom for some syrup for those. They said it’s good to know how to use chicken blood because if you go to the place that kills the chicken early enough you can get the blood for free.
After training I went with Bj, Nate, Kelsey and Kari to play 4 squares. This is apparently a very popular game in the USA that I was unaware of, but they all taught me to play and I totally won! You draw 4 giant squares about 5X5 feet and put a number in each one. The last person in the number 1 spot wins and the 4 square is where you start. You use a volleyball and smack it with your hands like your hand is a tennis racket, but lines knock you out of the game. It can only bounce one time in your square before you knock it to someone else’s square. It’s hard to explain in a blog, but it’s so much fun. Afterwards Bj and knocked our soccer ball around some and then headed home. For dinner that night I had the Peruvian style Chinese food that was pretty good and somewhat similar to that of the USA style Chinese food. As usual we watched our favorite TV drama, Al Fondo Hay Sitio. It’s so dramatic, but it helps my Spanish out a ton!
Then Saturday I went to Lima to Agraria University to learn how to make a garden. We got down and dirty with some fruits, veggies, dirt and seeds. I leaned what products will be available to me and how to use them. We walked all over this campo and they showed us which leaves we can eat. After how amazing the leaves were on some of these plants my friend Justin and I were picking leaves off everything to eat. We will probably pay for that later, but I did learn tons of new fruits I love. I only know the Spanish names for them though since everything was taught in Spanish (as usual). I swear I can hardly speak English now. I planted so much lettuce and other things today it was great. I feel like I might be growing a green thumb here.
On the way back I went with Bj, Juliet and a ton of the Environmental volunteers to eat at Bembos which is like the Peruvian McDonalds from what I could gather. It was amazing to finally eat some chicken nuggets. Bj, Juliet and I took a combi back and the first ride was in a mini combi. It is meant to hold 10 people and we had about 20 in it. It’s the size of typical minivan basically. We had to stand, but since it’s so small we basically all hunched over each other trying not to fall in the lap of those sitting. The next combi ride that took us the whole way was the kind I am used too. It was funny because in the traffic we got hit by another combi, but since it wasn’t bad we just kept moving. No need to see the damage if no one is hurt.
Saturday night was just amazing too. I went with about 10 people from the health group to Santa Eulalila to a place called Kis Kas for Cubano fest. They played salsa music all night long. There were about 25 trainees there and this club was huge and it’s outdoors. It was beautiful. I’m not going into much detail about the night because we were there for 4 hours. Haha. I am amazing at how some of the PCT guys can salsa! We flipped, turned and spun all over that dance floor. I am now officially a salsa dancing girl! I also met a local guy who taught me how to salsa dance. The music was so loud I couldn’t hear his name so I called him La Bamba all night. He taught me how to flip and turn faster! Haha. I can’t get over how much fun and somewhat easy salsa dancing is. The slick floor helped everyone slide around. Thank you South America! But Saturday night was probably my most favorite night there. I love my Environmental and Wat San people! My family gave me a key to my house so when I came home I could get it, but it was so hard to open that door. It’s like the lock and key would turn, but the door never opened. Bj and I even considered hoisting me on the roof and I could climb down my latter. Luckily on my final try I was able to open the door and head to bed. Best. Night. Ever. I love PC, my fellow PCTs, salsa dancing and everything here!
After training I went with Bj, Nate, Kelsey and Kari to play 4 squares. This is apparently a very popular game in the USA that I was unaware of, but they all taught me to play and I totally won! You draw 4 giant squares about 5X5 feet and put a number in each one. The last person in the number 1 spot wins and the 4 square is where you start. You use a volleyball and smack it with your hands like your hand is a tennis racket, but lines knock you out of the game. It can only bounce one time in your square before you knock it to someone else’s square. It’s hard to explain in a blog, but it’s so much fun. Afterwards Bj and knocked our soccer ball around some and then headed home. For dinner that night I had the Peruvian style Chinese food that was pretty good and somewhat similar to that of the USA style Chinese food. As usual we watched our favorite TV drama, Al Fondo Hay Sitio. It’s so dramatic, but it helps my Spanish out a ton!
Then Saturday I went to Lima to Agraria University to learn how to make a garden. We got down and dirty with some fruits, veggies, dirt and seeds. I leaned what products will be available to me and how to use them. We walked all over this campo and they showed us which leaves we can eat. After how amazing the leaves were on some of these plants my friend Justin and I were picking leaves off everything to eat. We will probably pay for that later, but I did learn tons of new fruits I love. I only know the Spanish names for them though since everything was taught in Spanish (as usual). I swear I can hardly speak English now. I planted so much lettuce and other things today it was great. I feel like I might be growing a green thumb here.
On the way back I went with Bj, Juliet and a ton of the Environmental volunteers to eat at Bembos which is like the Peruvian McDonalds from what I could gather. It was amazing to finally eat some chicken nuggets. Bj, Juliet and I took a combi back and the first ride was in a mini combi. It is meant to hold 10 people and we had about 20 in it. It’s the size of typical minivan basically. We had to stand, but since it’s so small we basically all hunched over each other trying not to fall in the lap of those sitting. The next combi ride that took us the whole way was the kind I am used too. It was funny because in the traffic we got hit by another combi, but since it wasn’t bad we just kept moving. No need to see the damage if no one is hurt.
Saturday night was just amazing too. I went with about 10 people from the health group to Santa Eulalila to a place called Kis Kas for Cubano fest. They played salsa music all night long. There were about 25 trainees there and this club was huge and it’s outdoors. It was beautiful. I’m not going into much detail about the night because we were there for 4 hours. Haha. I am amazing at how some of the PCT guys can salsa! We flipped, turned and spun all over that dance floor. I am now officially a salsa dancing girl! I also met a local guy who taught me how to salsa dance. The music was so loud I couldn’t hear his name so I called him La Bamba all night. He taught me how to flip and turn faster! Haha. I can’t get over how much fun and somewhat easy salsa dancing is. The slick floor helped everyone slide around. Thank you South America! But Saturday night was probably my most favorite night there. I love my Environmental and Wat San people! My family gave me a key to my house so when I came home I could get it, but it was so hard to open that door. It’s like the lock and key would turn, but the door never opened. Bj and I even considered hoisting me on the roof and I could climb down my latter. Luckily on my final try I was able to open the door and head to bed. Best. Night. Ever. I love PC, my fellow PCTs, salsa dancing and everything here!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Wednesday Night Celebrations
Hola! The fun just keeps coming here and that’s the way I like it. After our training sessions last night a giant group of health volunteers met up with a giant group of water and sanitation/environment volunteers in Chosica for dinner and cervezas! We found a little bar and it was as my mom called it, an invasion of gringos! We totaled about 38 people and filled up one entire bar. It was great to see some of the people I haven’t been able to talk to for about 2 or 3 weeks. We had a great time sharing stories and just getting to hang out all over again. When I was chatting up some of the wat san/enviro people, a guy asked me, “You’re the girl from KY right?” I told him yes and asked why and he informed me that, “Oh I heard that there was a girl with an awesome country accent.” What the heck??? Word has spread all the way to the other center that I have a “cute” country accent. I asked which words in particular and they said all of them, but insured me it was horrible, but it was, “charming.” Oh well. They also broke the news to us that their pet llama at their center died.
Everyone was sharing beers, food and pisco sours (like mini margarita shots). We stayed at the bar for about 3 or 4 hours and around the time everyone was going to get their last beer, they informed us that we had drank them all and were going to purchase more. Haha! Win. After finally finishing the last drinks everyone split ways and headed home. Bj and I went to the park to eat more food and then we finally boarded our combi home. When walking up our street we thought throw a rock near the dog who almost barks himself off the roof to see if maybe we can finally see him fall off the roof, well Bj overshot it and it hit beside the house and made a loud noise when smashing other rocks so we took off at a dead sprint to our homes. Both groups of trainees decided we are going to make this a Wednesday night tradition!
It was pretty entertaining that today’s tech session was about alcohol and drugs! They taught us about the do’s and don’ts of drinking, health issues that could be involved and where to go if we think we have a problem. PC doesn’t discourage drinking, but they encourage responsible drinking. At the end they passed around 10 drinks and told us what they are and said we could only smell them.
Side note: I am still sick and at any given moment, I might cough up a lung.
Another thing I really love about my Peace Corps experience right now is being with other people who have similar opinions, desires and understandings. We are all so like-minded that it makes me feel normal for once. We can see the USA from another country’s eyes and from non-American eyes. Once a person has the ability to do that, the world is an entire new place to them, especially America. I feel like anytime I slightly criticize the USA I am shamed on by others, but I believe every country has their problems and many Americans refuse to believe that the USA isn’t perfect. I won’t get political or continue talking about this, but in my sessions today this subject was brought up and for once in my life I was surrounded by others who has similar thoughts to me and it just made me feel normal and at, home.
“Development has a purpose; that purpose is the liberation of People. We talk a great deal about the economic development and about goods and services. But the good are needed to serve the people. Political, social and economic organization is needed to enlarge the freedom and dignity of people. Always we come back to People – to liberated People – as the purpose of activity, the purpose of development. But People can only liberate or develop themselves. The expansion of consciousness and therefore of power over one’s self, one’s environment and one’s society must therefore ultimately be what we mean by development. The same is true of education. Its purpose is the liberation of people from the restraints and limitations of ignorance and dependency. Education has to increase physical and mental freedom to increase control over one’s self, one’s life and the environment in which one lives.” –from “Liberated Man – the Purpose of Development”, Julius K. Nyerero, President of United Republic of Tanzania.
Also, this is happening where I live and it's very interesting to see how it's being played out:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11490238
Everyone was sharing beers, food and pisco sours (like mini margarita shots). We stayed at the bar for about 3 or 4 hours and around the time everyone was going to get their last beer, they informed us that we had drank them all and were going to purchase more. Haha! Win. After finally finishing the last drinks everyone split ways and headed home. Bj and I went to the park to eat more food and then we finally boarded our combi home. When walking up our street we thought throw a rock near the dog who almost barks himself off the roof to see if maybe we can finally see him fall off the roof, well Bj overshot it and it hit beside the house and made a loud noise when smashing other rocks so we took off at a dead sprint to our homes. Both groups of trainees decided we are going to make this a Wednesday night tradition!
It was pretty entertaining that today’s tech session was about alcohol and drugs! They taught us about the do’s and don’ts of drinking, health issues that could be involved and where to go if we think we have a problem. PC doesn’t discourage drinking, but they encourage responsible drinking. At the end they passed around 10 drinks and told us what they are and said we could only smell them.
Side note: I am still sick and at any given moment, I might cough up a lung.
Another thing I really love about my Peace Corps experience right now is being with other people who have similar opinions, desires and understandings. We are all so like-minded that it makes me feel normal for once. We can see the USA from another country’s eyes and from non-American eyes. Once a person has the ability to do that, the world is an entire new place to them, especially America. I feel like anytime I slightly criticize the USA I am shamed on by others, but I believe every country has their problems and many Americans refuse to believe that the USA isn’t perfect. I won’t get political or continue talking about this, but in my sessions today this subject was brought up and for once in my life I was surrounded by others who has similar thoughts to me and it just made me feel normal and at, home.
“Development has a purpose; that purpose is the liberation of People. We talk a great deal about the economic development and about goods and services. But the good are needed to serve the people. Political, social and economic organization is needed to enlarge the freedom and dignity of people. Always we come back to People – to liberated People – as the purpose of activity, the purpose of development. But People can only liberate or develop themselves. The expansion of consciousness and therefore of power over one’s self, one’s environment and one’s society must therefore ultimately be what we mean by development. The same is true of education. Its purpose is the liberation of people from the restraints and limitations of ignorance and dependency. Education has to increase physical and mental freedom to increase control over one’s self, one’s life and the environment in which one lives.” –from “Liberated Man – the Purpose of Development”, Julius K. Nyerero, President of United Republic of Tanzania.
Also, this is happening where I live and it's very interesting to see how it's being played out:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11490238
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Election Day/Mira Flores
Sorry for the lengthy post. I have been too busy to upload my blogs so here are two days worth of blogs:
I can’t believe I have been in Peru for two weeks now. Part of me feels like it has been 2 days and another part of me feels like it has been 2 months. I’m having a great time though. This last weekend was pretty low key (we didn’t go to Lima as planned) because the election was today and they stop serving and selling alcohol three days before Election Day which means no alcohol Friday-Sunday. Needless to say, but there weren’t any big gathering of volunteers because of that. Haha. Yesterday (Saturday) me and Bj went to an internet café for about 3 hours and just showed each other pics of family and friends, watched YouTube videos and downloaded some stuff off of iTunes. We meant to do our Spanish homework, but it was time for dinner. After dinner we went to that coffee shop again and had the best coffee ever. We planned to split cake, but we were still full from dinner. There were some strange looking people in that coffee shop too, one person had their butt crack showing the whole time and it was slightly distracting.
Today (Sunday) was the most interesting day, just as it was last week too. Ha. I knew it was Election Day and my brother’s 22nd birthday. While my mom was voting, Lucho and I played soccer for a little bit and then my mom, Lucho and I had lunch together. My dad and sister were somewhere in Lima I think. After lunch it didn’t seem like anything was really going to happen so I went with Bj to Chosica on a mad search for picarones.
So because it was Election Day I knew the combis would be full, but not this full. I thought they shoved a lot of people on these combis before, but I was soooo wrong. We had at least 50 people in a 22 person bus. I was chest to chest with everyone and breathing down everyone’s neck. Every time the bus slammed on its breaks (which is every 5 minutes) I was slung right into Bj. We were the only people laughing about it. We finally arrived to Chosica and people were EVERYWHERE. We decided to go check out some of the stores before hunting for picarones. We found a DVD store that Bj’s sister showed and I bought 3 DVD’s for 9 soles ($3). I bought Alice in Wonderland, Despicable Me and Letters to Juliet. The quality is amazing AND they are in English. Win.
After wondering around to many stores, I realized that I can find basically everything and then some in Chosica for a pretty good price. I plan to get some shoes, a pillow and a few other things in the near future. In the park I did buy an awesome headband, new bracelet and necklace. Near the plaza we not only found an old lady pooping in the grass, but picarones and some other dessert similar to picarones. Now after hearing me talk about picarones many times I am sure you are wondering what they are. They are basically funnel cake with syrup and they rock my world. As if that wasn’t enough, we then got ice cream from this little old lady. While I was paying for my ice cream this random man started talking to Bj and we were a little weirded out and the old lady started giving me this look like we needed to go because that guy was a creeper. He kissed my hand (which was weird, but is common here) and then I grabbed Bj and we left. I came back and told the lady thanks. We aren’t sure if he is one of those people whose job is to distract you and his buddy robs you, but we were fine. It was just strange.
We went to the grass with our ice cream and played rummy. I lost 2-1 and then we shoved ourselves into combis one more time and it was even fuller than the last. Every time we stopped, we kept laughing and saying, “Al Fondo Al Sitio!!! Al Fondo Al Sitio!!!” In English it means, there is room in the back, but the people who collect the money in combis shout it all the time when there obviously isn’t room. It’s basically a big joke and people around us were laughing. Finally after a funny/horrible ride to Chaclacayo we hopped off later than we needed because we couldn’t see out of the windows to tell them where to drop us. In a combi they have one route and they pick people up anywhere on the street and you just scream baja when you need to get off. It’s really organized.
The rest of my night will now consist of Oreos (thanks to the donation from Bj) and one of my new movies! Another thing that is funny, I am still sick from my sinuses and cold that I have. Well that part isn’t funny, but what is funny is that my uncle and Lucho have heard me cough a lot and they keep asking me if I am ok or need to go to the doctor. I haven’t coughed that much either, but what I really need is a good pillow to prop myself up at night. I am going to Plaza Vea real soon for one. My pillow here is like a mini bag stuffed with cotton balls and my bed still has the bounce of a dining room table. Thanks to my iPod and sleep mask I can tune out the dog fights, roosters, sunlight and forget about the lack of a pillow and concrete bed! Tomorrow is Mira Flores in Lima for my Spanish class assuming it doesn’t get canceled again. Choa!!
Yesterday was Mira Flores and let me tell you that it was a crazy day. We took a combi ride to the main plaza area and once I met up with my Spanish class we learned how to talk to taxi drivers. Our first mission was to go talk with taxi drivers, which basically meant screw with them. We would ask them how much it was going to cost to go to certain areas and lead them to believe we were going to go and then just say no thanks. It was entertaining for a while. After that we were given pages with certain markets within 10 blocks of where we were. We had to figure out how to get to them and then answer all these questions about the market, what they have, how much it costs and who works there. It was fun , but we needed a lot more time to finish everything. I was in a group with Bj and our friend Kari and we did a pretty good job. Mira Flores is so beautiful and there is a lot to do. It would be awesome to live there one day. After our group finished Kari, Laura, Isa (my professor) and Juilet wanted to eat a Pizza Hut. Bj and I wanted to get something different and not so homey so we went to a sandwich place and had turkey and chicken sandwiches with these weird sauces. They were pretty good, plus it was fun trying to figure out all the things on the menu.
After dinner we figured we would be meeting with the rest of the health group and ride a combi back to Chaclacayo, but no, that was not the plan. Our professor told us what stops to take to get back to Chaclacayo and wished us luck. It is the first time for all of us to be in Mira Flores, our Spanish isn’t superb and we have to find out how to get to Chaclacayo which is an hour away. Awesome. We hop on an over packed combi and take off. We are squished in and ride for at least 30 minutes until we find our first stop. The next combi ride me and Bj snagged a seat which was awesome because it was a 2 freakin hour ride. We listened to music and comedians the whole way back on his iPod. Our combi stopped at least 200 times to pick and drop off people, but I assure he was one of the best drivers in town. One time I thought we were turning, but no, we were just going around the cars that were waiting for the light to turn green.
Once we arrived at Chaclacayo we had a good 30 minute hike up to our houses in the dark. I am glad I have an easy going family because it was 9PM and I told them I would be home around 6PM. They were totally ok with everything and laughed about it all. My family is seriously great and I am so happy I live with them. They never have a problem with me going anywhere at any time and if I am going to be out late they have offered to give me a key to get back in. I haven’t had to use the key yet, but it sounds like Wednesday nights I will need it because the health group and water and sanitation (at the other training center) are going to have pizza and beer nights in Chosica. Since we aren’t done with training until 5 or 530 we won’t be able to get to Chosica until 630 or 7ish and I won’t be back to my house until 1030 or 11ish. At least tomorrow while I am in Chosica I can get a pillow to replace my sandbag like pillow that I have now.
I am still pretty sick with a cold right now so my running routine has taken a downward spiral. Right now I am taking my showers at night to see if that helps, plus taking showers in the morning is making my hair look a lot nicer. Usually I look like I am about to audition for a role in Lion King. That is all for now, but tomorrow in Chosica should be a good time. Actually, anytime in Chosica is usually a good time. Que te vaya bien!
I can’t believe I have been in Peru for two weeks now. Part of me feels like it has been 2 days and another part of me feels like it has been 2 months. I’m having a great time though. This last weekend was pretty low key (we didn’t go to Lima as planned) because the election was today and they stop serving and selling alcohol three days before Election Day which means no alcohol Friday-Sunday. Needless to say, but there weren’t any big gathering of volunteers because of that. Haha. Yesterday (Saturday) me and Bj went to an internet café for about 3 hours and just showed each other pics of family and friends, watched YouTube videos and downloaded some stuff off of iTunes. We meant to do our Spanish homework, but it was time for dinner. After dinner we went to that coffee shop again and had the best coffee ever. We planned to split cake, but we were still full from dinner. There were some strange looking people in that coffee shop too, one person had their butt crack showing the whole time and it was slightly distracting.
Today (Sunday) was the most interesting day, just as it was last week too. Ha. I knew it was Election Day and my brother’s 22nd birthday. While my mom was voting, Lucho and I played soccer for a little bit and then my mom, Lucho and I had lunch together. My dad and sister were somewhere in Lima I think. After lunch it didn’t seem like anything was really going to happen so I went with Bj to Chosica on a mad search for picarones.
So because it was Election Day I knew the combis would be full, but not this full. I thought they shoved a lot of people on these combis before, but I was soooo wrong. We had at least 50 people in a 22 person bus. I was chest to chest with everyone and breathing down everyone’s neck. Every time the bus slammed on its breaks (which is every 5 minutes) I was slung right into Bj. We were the only people laughing about it. We finally arrived to Chosica and people were EVERYWHERE. We decided to go check out some of the stores before hunting for picarones. We found a DVD store that Bj’s sister showed and I bought 3 DVD’s for 9 soles ($3). I bought Alice in Wonderland, Despicable Me and Letters to Juliet. The quality is amazing AND they are in English. Win.
After wondering around to many stores, I realized that I can find basically everything and then some in Chosica for a pretty good price. I plan to get some shoes, a pillow and a few other things in the near future. In the park I did buy an awesome headband, new bracelet and necklace. Near the plaza we not only found an old lady pooping in the grass, but picarones and some other dessert similar to picarones. Now after hearing me talk about picarones many times I am sure you are wondering what they are. They are basically funnel cake with syrup and they rock my world. As if that wasn’t enough, we then got ice cream from this little old lady. While I was paying for my ice cream this random man started talking to Bj and we were a little weirded out and the old lady started giving me this look like we needed to go because that guy was a creeper. He kissed my hand (which was weird, but is common here) and then I grabbed Bj and we left. I came back and told the lady thanks. We aren’t sure if he is one of those people whose job is to distract you and his buddy robs you, but we were fine. It was just strange.
We went to the grass with our ice cream and played rummy. I lost 2-1 and then we shoved ourselves into combis one more time and it was even fuller than the last. Every time we stopped, we kept laughing and saying, “Al Fondo Al Sitio!!! Al Fondo Al Sitio!!!” In English it means, there is room in the back, but the people who collect the money in combis shout it all the time when there obviously isn’t room. It’s basically a big joke and people around us were laughing. Finally after a funny/horrible ride to Chaclacayo we hopped off later than we needed because we couldn’t see out of the windows to tell them where to drop us. In a combi they have one route and they pick people up anywhere on the street and you just scream baja when you need to get off. It’s really organized.
The rest of my night will now consist of Oreos (thanks to the donation from Bj) and one of my new movies! Another thing that is funny, I am still sick from my sinuses and cold that I have. Well that part isn’t funny, but what is funny is that my uncle and Lucho have heard me cough a lot and they keep asking me if I am ok or need to go to the doctor. I haven’t coughed that much either, but what I really need is a good pillow to prop myself up at night. I am going to Plaza Vea real soon for one. My pillow here is like a mini bag stuffed with cotton balls and my bed still has the bounce of a dining room table. Thanks to my iPod and sleep mask I can tune out the dog fights, roosters, sunlight and forget about the lack of a pillow and concrete bed! Tomorrow is Mira Flores in Lima for my Spanish class assuming it doesn’t get canceled again. Choa!!
Yesterday was Mira Flores and let me tell you that it was a crazy day. We took a combi ride to the main plaza area and once I met up with my Spanish class we learned how to talk to taxi drivers. Our first mission was to go talk with taxi drivers, which basically meant screw with them. We would ask them how much it was going to cost to go to certain areas and lead them to believe we were going to go and then just say no thanks. It was entertaining for a while. After that we were given pages with certain markets within 10 blocks of where we were. We had to figure out how to get to them and then answer all these questions about the market, what they have, how much it costs and who works there. It was fun , but we needed a lot more time to finish everything. I was in a group with Bj and our friend Kari and we did a pretty good job. Mira Flores is so beautiful and there is a lot to do. It would be awesome to live there one day. After our group finished Kari, Laura, Isa (my professor) and Juilet wanted to eat a Pizza Hut. Bj and I wanted to get something different and not so homey so we went to a sandwich place and had turkey and chicken sandwiches with these weird sauces. They were pretty good, plus it was fun trying to figure out all the things on the menu.
After dinner we figured we would be meeting with the rest of the health group and ride a combi back to Chaclacayo, but no, that was not the plan. Our professor told us what stops to take to get back to Chaclacayo and wished us luck. It is the first time for all of us to be in Mira Flores, our Spanish isn’t superb and we have to find out how to get to Chaclacayo which is an hour away. Awesome. We hop on an over packed combi and take off. We are squished in and ride for at least 30 minutes until we find our first stop. The next combi ride me and Bj snagged a seat which was awesome because it was a 2 freakin hour ride. We listened to music and comedians the whole way back on his iPod. Our combi stopped at least 200 times to pick and drop off people, but I assure he was one of the best drivers in town. One time I thought we were turning, but no, we were just going around the cars that were waiting for the light to turn green.
Once we arrived at Chaclacayo we had a good 30 minute hike up to our houses in the dark. I am glad I have an easy going family because it was 9PM and I told them I would be home around 6PM. They were totally ok with everything and laughed about it all. My family is seriously great and I am so happy I live with them. They never have a problem with me going anywhere at any time and if I am going to be out late they have offered to give me a key to get back in. I haven’t had to use the key yet, but it sounds like Wednesday nights I will need it because the health group and water and sanitation (at the other training center) are going to have pizza and beer nights in Chosica. Since we aren’t done with training until 5 or 530 we won’t be able to get to Chosica until 630 or 7ish and I won’t be back to my house until 1030 or 11ish. At least tomorrow while I am in Chosica I can get a pillow to replace my sandbag like pillow that I have now.
I am still pretty sick with a cold right now so my running routine has taken a downward spiral. Right now I am taking my showers at night to see if that helps, plus taking showers in the morning is making my hair look a lot nicer. Usually I look like I am about to audition for a role in Lion King. That is all for now, but tomorrow in Chosica should be a good time. Actually, anytime in Chosica is usually a good time. Que te vaya bien!
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Low key weekend
I can’t believe I have been in Peru for two weeks now. Part of me feels like it has been 2 days and another part of me feels like it has been 2 months. I’m having a great time though. This last weekend was pretty low key (we didn’t go to Lima as planned) because the election was today and they stop serving and selling alcohol three days before Election Day which means no alcohol Friday-Sunday. Needless to say, but there weren’t any big gathering of volunteers because of that. Haha. Yesterday (Saturday) me and Bj went to an internet café for about 3 hours and just showed each other pics of family and friends, watched YouTube videos and downloaded some stuff off of iTunes. We meant to do our Spanish homework, but it was time for dinner. After dinner we went to that coffee shop again and had the best coffee ever. We planned to split cake, but we were still full from dinner. There were some strange looking people in that coffee shop too, one person had their butt crack showing the whole time and it was slightly distracting.
Today (Sunday) was the most interesting day, just as it was last week too. Ha. I knew it was Election Day and my brother’s 22nd birthday. While my mom was voting, Lucho and I played soccer for a little bit and then my mom, Lucho and I had lunch together. Leave it my family to still have beer when it hasn't been sold for 3 days. Mom poured some beer in my coke for celebration. It was pretty good. We only had a glass. Haha. My dad and sister were somewhere in Lima I think. After lunch it didn’t seem like anything was really going to happen so I went with Bj to Chosica on a mad search for picarones.
So because it was Election Day I knew the combis would be full, but not this full. I thought they shoved a lot of people on these combis before, but I was soooo wrong. We had at least 50 people in a 22 person bus. I was chest to chest with everyone and breathing down everyone’s neck. Every time the bus slammed on its breaks (which is every 5 minutes) I was slung right into Bj. We were the only people laughing about it. We finally arrived to Chosica and people were EVERYWHERE. We decided to go check out some of the stores before hunting for picarones. We found a DVD store that Bj’s sister showed and I bought 3 DVD’s for 9 soles ($3). I bought Alice in Wonderland, Despicable Me and Letters to Juliet. The quality is amazing AND they are in English. Win.
After wondering around to many stores, I realized that I can find basically everything and then some in Chosica for a pretty good price. I plan to get some shoes, a pillow and a few other things in the near future. In the park I did buy an awesome headband, new bracelet and necklace. Near the plaza we not only found an old lady pooping in the grass, but picarones and some other dessert similar to picarones. Now after hearing me talk about picarones many times I am sure you are wondering what they are. They are basically funnel cake with syrup and they rock my world. As if that wasn’t enough, we then got ice cream from this little old lady. While I was paying for my ice cream this random man started talking to Bj and we were a little weirded out and the old lady started giving me this look like we needed to go because that guy was a creeper. He kissed my hand (which was weird, but is common here) and then I grabbed Bj and we left. I came back and told the lady thanks. We aren’t sure if he is one of those people whose job is to distract you and his buddy robs you, but we were fine. It was just strange.
We went to the grass with our ice cream and played rummy. I lost 2-1 and then we shoved ourselves into combis one more time and it was even fuller than the last. Every time we stopped, we kept laughing and saying, “Al Fondo Al Sitio!!! Al Fondo Al Sitio!!!” In English it means, there is room in the back, but the people who collect the money in combis shout it all the time when there obviously isn’t room. It’s basically a big joke and people around us were laughing. Finally after a funny/horrible ride to Chaclacayo we hopped off later than we needed because we couldn’t see out of the windows to tell them where to drop us. In a combi they have one route and they pick people up anywhere on the street and you just scream baja when you need to get off. It’s really organized.
The rest of my night will now consist of Oreos (thanks to the donation from Bj) and one of my new movies! Another thing that is funny, I am still sick from my sinuses and cold that I have. Well that part isn’t funny, but what is funny is that my uncle and Lucho have heard me cough a lot and they keep asking me if I am ok or need to go to the doctor. I haven’t coughed that much either, but what I really need is a good pillow to prop myself up at night. I am going to Plaza Vea real soon for one. My pillow here is like a mini bag stuffed with cotton balls and my bed still has the bounce of a dining room table. Thanks to my iPod and sleep mask I can tune out the dog fights, roosters, sunlight and forget about the lack of a pillow and concrete bed! Tomorrow is Mira Flores in Lima for my Spanish class assuming it doesn’t get canceled again. Choa!!
Today (Sunday) was the most interesting day, just as it was last week too. Ha. I knew it was Election Day and my brother’s 22nd birthday. While my mom was voting, Lucho and I played soccer for a little bit and then my mom, Lucho and I had lunch together. Leave it my family to still have beer when it hasn't been sold for 3 days. Mom poured some beer in my coke for celebration. It was pretty good. We only had a glass. Haha. My dad and sister were somewhere in Lima I think. After lunch it didn’t seem like anything was really going to happen so I went with Bj to Chosica on a mad search for picarones.
So because it was Election Day I knew the combis would be full, but not this full. I thought they shoved a lot of people on these combis before, but I was soooo wrong. We had at least 50 people in a 22 person bus. I was chest to chest with everyone and breathing down everyone’s neck. Every time the bus slammed on its breaks (which is every 5 minutes) I was slung right into Bj. We were the only people laughing about it. We finally arrived to Chosica and people were EVERYWHERE. We decided to go check out some of the stores before hunting for picarones. We found a DVD store that Bj’s sister showed and I bought 3 DVD’s for 9 soles ($3). I bought Alice in Wonderland, Despicable Me and Letters to Juliet. The quality is amazing AND they are in English. Win.
After wondering around to many stores, I realized that I can find basically everything and then some in Chosica for a pretty good price. I plan to get some shoes, a pillow and a few other things in the near future. In the park I did buy an awesome headband, new bracelet and necklace. Near the plaza we not only found an old lady pooping in the grass, but picarones and some other dessert similar to picarones. Now after hearing me talk about picarones many times I am sure you are wondering what they are. They are basically funnel cake with syrup and they rock my world. As if that wasn’t enough, we then got ice cream from this little old lady. While I was paying for my ice cream this random man started talking to Bj and we were a little weirded out and the old lady started giving me this look like we needed to go because that guy was a creeper. He kissed my hand (which was weird, but is common here) and then I grabbed Bj and we left. I came back and told the lady thanks. We aren’t sure if he is one of those people whose job is to distract you and his buddy robs you, but we were fine. It was just strange.
We went to the grass with our ice cream and played rummy. I lost 2-1 and then we shoved ourselves into combis one more time and it was even fuller than the last. Every time we stopped, we kept laughing and saying, “Al Fondo Al Sitio!!! Al Fondo Al Sitio!!!” In English it means, there is room in the back, but the people who collect the money in combis shout it all the time when there obviously isn’t room. It’s basically a big joke and people around us were laughing. Finally after a funny/horrible ride to Chaclacayo we hopped off later than we needed because we couldn’t see out of the windows to tell them where to drop us. In a combi they have one route and they pick people up anywhere on the street and you just scream baja when you need to get off. It’s really organized.
The rest of my night will now consist of Oreos (thanks to the donation from Bj) and one of my new movies! Another thing that is funny, I am still sick from my sinuses and cold that I have. Well that part isn’t funny, but what is funny is that my uncle and Lucho have heard me cough a lot and they keep asking me if I am ok or need to go to the doctor. I haven’t coughed that much either, but what I really need is a good pillow to prop myself up at night. I am going to Plaza Vea real soon for one. My pillow here is like a mini bag stuffed with cotton balls and my bed still has the bounce of a dining room table. Thanks to my iPod and sleep mask I can tune out the dog fights, roosters, sunlight and forget about the lack of a pillow and concrete bed! Tomorrow is Mira Flores in Lima for my Spanish class assuming it doesn’t get canceled again. Choa!!
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Typical day
I thought I would make a short blog on just a, “typical day,” that way you have a better idea of what my schedule is like and what I actually do. I wake up around 7ish every morning and then eat breakfast around 7:15ish. Breakfast always consists of bread with cheese and pineapple jam. To some this may sound horrible, but I love it and love eating it every morning. With my bread I have a cup of coffee that could rip Starbucks a new one. I have finally learned the right proportions and perfect combination of ingredients for my coffee now.
I leave the house around 7:40ish and meet with my friends and we either walk to the Center or to a volunteers house for Spanish class depending on what day it is. We have Spanish class from 8am-12pm. Class is taught in Spanish by my teacher Isa. We play tons of fun games, go talk to random people in the street and etc. After class I have lunch. If I am at the Center, my mom sends lunch with me, but if I am at a volunteer’s house I go home for lunch and then head to the center afterwards. Lunch always consists of fruit (banana or oranges usually), white rice, chicken and potatoes combined.
After lunch we have some type of session. It may be about security, health, non-formal education or etc. These sessions are from 1-5. They are usually pretty interactive and fun. We play a lot of cool games and talk about what to expect at site. (It’s different every day)
After those sessions I usually head home and study or visit with my family. Dinner is around 7 and I go to bed around 9 or 10. I normally go to my room about an hour before I want to sleep that way I can just have alone time. When I am home I work on homework, study, visit with family, shower, use the internet or etc. Dinner is usually the exact same food I had for lunch, but heated up. If I don’t go straight home me and friends usually wonder around the city or go hang out places for a little bit. I am in the process of creating a workout for each week and I will have to find time to put that somewhere. It may not seem like it, but I stay pretty busy. These weeks of training don’t allow me free time usually.
I leave the house around 7:40ish and meet with my friends and we either walk to the Center or to a volunteers house for Spanish class depending on what day it is. We have Spanish class from 8am-12pm. Class is taught in Spanish by my teacher Isa. We play tons of fun games, go talk to random people in the street and etc. After class I have lunch. If I am at the Center, my mom sends lunch with me, but if I am at a volunteer’s house I go home for lunch and then head to the center afterwards. Lunch always consists of fruit (banana or oranges usually), white rice, chicken and potatoes combined.
After lunch we have some type of session. It may be about security, health, non-formal education or etc. These sessions are from 1-5. They are usually pretty interactive and fun. We play a lot of cool games and talk about what to expect at site. (It’s different every day)
After those sessions I usually head home and study or visit with my family. Dinner is around 7 and I go to bed around 9 or 10. I normally go to my room about an hour before I want to sleep that way I can just have alone time. When I am home I work on homework, study, visit with family, shower, use the internet or etc. Dinner is usually the exact same food I had for lunch, but heated up. If I don’t go straight home me and friends usually wonder around the city or go hang out places for a little bit. I am in the process of creating a workout for each week and I will have to find time to put that somewhere. It may not seem like it, but I stay pretty busy. These weeks of training don’t allow me free time usually.
Random questions for random people
Yesterday was a lot of fun. My Spanish class went to Chosica and we were give 3 worksheets that were front and back. The worksheets had us going to ask random strangers certain questions pertaining to their personal health, jobs and also directions to certain places in the city. We had to write the answers down and the meet in the main plaza. We weren’t lucky enough to do this in groups, but I am glad we had to go by ourselves because it made me practice on my Spanish more. Everyone I talked to was very friendly and helpful. I told them I was from the US and a PCT in Chaclacayo. Most of them haven’t heard of PC so I had to explain what I was doing and will be doing. There were a few people who were slightly skeptical of why I had to ask them such personal questions, but once I explained it was just for me to practice asking these questions in Spanish they seemed a lot more comfortable. I had to ask about what type of contraceptives they use (that was awkward to randomly throw in), how they believe you get AIDS, how often they wash their hands and etc. Here is basically how it went today”
“Good afternoon. My name is Katy and I am from the USA. I am a PCT in Chaclaycayo and I am practicing my Spanish in Chosica for my Spanish class. What is your name?”
“Good afternoon. My name is Pedro.”
“Nice to meet you. I am volunteering in community health and for my homework I have to ask random people questions about their health. Do you have time for me to ask you one or two questions?”
“Yes. No problem. Have a seat.”
“Thank you! How often do you wash your hands?”
“A couple times a day.”
“Ok. What time do you go to work?”
“Around 6am.”
“Ok. What type of contraceptive do you use?”
*confused look* “What?”
“You can choose from these options.”
*points at the condom*
“Great! Thank you for answering my questions. Nice to meet you and have a good day! Chao!”
“Chao!”
So that was close to the typical conversation I had today. It was pretty fun. I also went to this bakery down the road from the training center with some friends and we had the best coffee in the world!!! I could drink that stuff all day long. I also got a big piece of this chocolate cake. Granny and Grandma you better watch out! These Peruvians know how to do some mean baking. Needless to say my friends and I killed that cake pretty quick. It was the best and most chocolate I have had in weeks. I have a feeling I will frequent that place.
“Good afternoon. My name is Katy and I am from the USA. I am a PCT in Chaclaycayo and I am practicing my Spanish in Chosica for my Spanish class. What is your name?”
“Good afternoon. My name is Pedro.”
“Nice to meet you. I am volunteering in community health and for my homework I have to ask random people questions about their health. Do you have time for me to ask you one or two questions?”
“Yes. No problem. Have a seat.”
“Thank you! How often do you wash your hands?”
“A couple times a day.”
“Ok. What time do you go to work?”
“Around 6am.”
“Ok. What type of contraceptive do you use?”
*confused look* “What?”
“You can choose from these options.”
*points at the condom*
“Great! Thank you for answering my questions. Nice to meet you and have a good day! Chao!”
“Chao!”
So that was close to the typical conversation I had today. It was pretty fun. I also went to this bakery down the road from the training center with some friends and we had the best coffee in the world!!! I could drink that stuff all day long. I also got a big piece of this chocolate cake. Granny and Grandma you better watch out! These Peruvians know how to do some mean baking. Needless to say my friends and I killed that cake pretty quick. It was the best and most chocolate I have had in weeks. I have a feeling I will frequent that place.
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