Friday was a “good” Friday, if you will. I went to another Centro de Salud to watch and listen to a typical day. I listened to a lady give information about proper nutrients to give children and another lady gave two HIV tests. It’s interesting to see how these health clinics work because keep in mind, computers aren’t used for anything and there is no HIPA law. For instance, a girl came in to see the result of her HIV test and she was handed a book where it had the results of everyone who was ever given a HIV test there…she just needed to skim the names until she found her own. Kids are running around this place and there really isn’t privacy at all. I was with my friends Nate and Lindsey and we were asked to give a lecture on HIV/AIDS to a group of women who were there. With about 5 minutes of preparation we did pretty well. They appeared to have learned a lot too because we gave them a pre and post test to test their knowledge. It’s interesting to see what questions people have about certain topics here. One lady asked me if there was a cure for HIV or AIDS and most people think they are the same thing too.
Later that day I went to a school with Amy and Jo Ann and we taught HIV/AIDS to a group of kids who were in their early teens. It was very similar to the lecture that I gave earlier in the day. We played some games with them and they seemed to listen somewhat. I just don’t care too much for that age group because they are SO shy and don’t want to do anything, but after telling them jokes and using a lot of slang with them, we were able to get things a goin.
I finished my class early and ended up getting home early to find no one at my house at all. I just sit down by the front door and worked on my tan while listening to some salsa music. While bronzing my skin so I can blend in with the local a bit more, lady from across the street, who I don’t know, walked up and gave me a key to my house and just walked away. It was very strange, but I was happy to go inside and just be alone.
I left before my family got home because I went to grab dinner with Rigel aka La Bamba. Once I got back to my house I told my mom about the strange women she already knew. She told me to just keep the key that way I won’t have to wait again. When I was at the school the zipper on my new purse broke again and I was ticked. I went to ask my mom here if she could fix it and she sent me to my dad and called him an expert. I didn’t quite understand the explanation of why he is an expert at fixing clothing, but he is. He took a sewing machine and a pair of pliers to that purse and it’s better than before I bought it! I swear there is NO machismo in my family here! Weird!
Advice of the day: I learned how to insult/cuss a guy out if he is making cat calls at me. It happens daily and some days I just can’t stand it.
Best moment ever: I was walking to my house alone after class and lately I have started keeping a few cute silly bands on my wrist. Well today I had an airplane one on and while walking, this little girl who looked to be 2 or 3 years old saw me and got the BIGGEST smile on her face. I waved at her and said hello. She waved back and kept staring and grinning big. Her mom appeared to be from the sierra because she had the giant sombrero on. When the mom saw me talking to the little girl she smiled as well so I bent down and pulled the silly band off to show the little girl. I showed her how it’s an airplane when you take it off and I put it on her wrist. She was SO excited. Her mom said thanks and I kept going. That little girl made my day.
In other news that’s not quite so sweet, I am going to kill a dog. The dogs in my community are becoming overly annoying. In the last week I have almost been attacked over 3 times. I walk in the middle of the street because if you are on the sidewalk (if there is on) then they think you want a piece of them…which isn’t true. I have had one dog come to the other sidewalk just to bark at me. I keep rocks with me now so if I have to peg one I am ready. The dang dogs wake me up in the middle of the night barking too. My friend Lindsey and I decided when it’s daytime and the dogs are sleeping we are going to go bark and scream at them so they can’t sleep. Gah I hate the dogs here. They are so mean!!
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Insect Policy
We have new language classes now. I have officially moved from basic to intermediate! Yahoo! On another note: In my house I have a live and let live policy. The other tenants in my house know this policy too, the other tenants being the bugs of my house. There is this invisible line and if a bug crosses it, there is capital punishment. In the last week there seems to be a misunderstanding. I have had to terminate the lives of two cockroaches the size of a small dog. At first I trapped them under a bucket, but I decided if I set them free they will most likely take revenge so I killed them with my sisters shoe (I don’t want bug guts on my shoe..). The Wednesday morning on the sheet that plays the part of the door from the living room to the bedrooms are, there was a scorpion chilling. For the fear of being stabbed to death by this creature, I alarmed my papa who casually scooped him up in a pan and set him free. So future warning to my other tenants and bugs, if you cross the line, I will kill you or have you killed. Consider this a fair warning.
Last night was a good time. It was the first time I didn’t make it to the Wednesday night outing in Chosica. I didn’t go for two reasons. First reason, I wanted to be home early and wasn’t in the mood to go. The second reason, I went out with my local friend Rigel, aka La Bamba. He showed me around some new places in Chaclacayo and we shared some beverages and just hung out. Since the last place we went was a good hour walk in the dark from my house he walked me to my road. The start of my road is beyond steep so I didn’t ask him to hike that bit with me. Haha.
Today I had no run in with bugs, but I did go to Centro de Salud in Chosica and went on house visits. My group wondered around the city going to certain people’s homes who had scheduled appointments. It was interesting to see the different houses and how they looked. One lady had cancer and a dog who hated my trainers. Another lady, I’m not sure why she needed a house visit because I was too busy gawking at the 2 week old kittens learning to walk. It was an interesting time today and since I was outside so much I did get a little sun. If I don’t be careful this gringa may not look too gringa. Or maybe it’s just all dirt and dust…
Tomorrow I am going to teach a class of 10-15 students all about HIV/AIDS…or in Spanish…VIH/SIDA! I have so many awesome activities planned and I hope it goes well and this time around I have students who want to interact.
Here is an interesting play by play I had today too. My Granny sent me these Halloween decorations and since they are a gel like material I thought I would put them on my wall. After they were all on I decided I would move them and when I started to pull them off, the paint came with them or they stained the walls orange and black in pumpkin and spider shapes. I thought I would use my towel to easily rub of the gel, but the towel rubbed the paint off. Now I have 4 places in my room where it looks horrible. Hopefully they won’t notice? Maybe since calendars are the big thing here and it’s “cool” to cover your walls in them I will just hang calendars all over the place…
Another little bit of information, someone has given my little sister a whistle and I am about to stomp on it. I haven’t talked about my little sister too much on my blog, but let’s just say, I’m not a fan. Also, a shout out to Stacey, the skittles are amazing and I am eating them right now! Thank you!!
Last night was a good time. It was the first time I didn’t make it to the Wednesday night outing in Chosica. I didn’t go for two reasons. First reason, I wanted to be home early and wasn’t in the mood to go. The second reason, I went out with my local friend Rigel, aka La Bamba. He showed me around some new places in Chaclacayo and we shared some beverages and just hung out. Since the last place we went was a good hour walk in the dark from my house he walked me to my road. The start of my road is beyond steep so I didn’t ask him to hike that bit with me. Haha.
Today I had no run in with bugs, but I did go to Centro de Salud in Chosica and went on house visits. My group wondered around the city going to certain people’s homes who had scheduled appointments. It was interesting to see the different houses and how they looked. One lady had cancer and a dog who hated my trainers. Another lady, I’m not sure why she needed a house visit because I was too busy gawking at the 2 week old kittens learning to walk. It was an interesting time today and since I was outside so much I did get a little sun. If I don’t be careful this gringa may not look too gringa. Or maybe it’s just all dirt and dust…
Tomorrow I am going to teach a class of 10-15 students all about HIV/AIDS…or in Spanish…VIH/SIDA! I have so many awesome activities planned and I hope it goes well and this time around I have students who want to interact.
Here is an interesting play by play I had today too. My Granny sent me these Halloween decorations and since they are a gel like material I thought I would put them on my wall. After they were all on I decided I would move them and when I started to pull them off, the paint came with them or they stained the walls orange and black in pumpkin and spider shapes. I thought I would use my towel to easily rub of the gel, but the towel rubbed the paint off. Now I have 4 places in my room where it looks horrible. Hopefully they won’t notice? Maybe since calendars are the big thing here and it’s “cool” to cover your walls in them I will just hang calendars all over the place…
Another little bit of information, someone has given my little sister a whistle and I am about to stomp on it. I haven’t talked about my little sister too much on my blog, but let’s just say, I’m not a fan. Also, a shout out to Stacey, the skittles are amazing and I am eating them right now! Thank you!!
Monday, October 18, 2010
Kaitlyn vs. Peru and the identity crisis
This last weekend I had a little identity crisis. I was an American in Peru celebrating a German drinking holiday, October Fest. But first, I had class at Agraria University and I learned all about chickens. I learned what foods to feed them at what age and what age is best to eat them. We went to all the chicken and turkey houses and they showed us what type of housing they need. It was pretty interesting, but after, friends and I went to Miraflores. This time in Miraflores I went to the beach and talked to some locals who offered to teach me to surf, but I didn’t have enough time. We spent an hour in this park and just enjoyed relaxing. After that we met up with others at Starbucks and took a cab to celebrate October Fest.
On the way there we passed by a Peruvian parade that looked like it was celebrating different departments of Peru. Once we got to October fest we all grabbed a table and some beer. The music was already loud and the people were drinking. The popular Peruvian beer, Cusquena, came out with a special red lager beer just for this and it was delicious. They had drinking contests on the stage, played German drinking music and everyone was having a blast. They also had this lady come around and give everyone a chance to sniff this tobacco stuff. It was weird and made a loud noise when she hit this button, but it smelled very fresh and minty. Eventually the people sitting beside me I got to know. They asked if we were tourists and when I told them we were PCV’s they thanked us over and over. I told them about PC and they were all from Piura and were doctors in Lima. We talked for a while and they said my Spanish was great. Around 7pm we decided to get food and head home. I can’t remember what the name of the food was, but it was typical: rice and chicken. Once our plates were cleared we tried to find a cab who would take us all to Chaclacayo, but no one wanted to go that far. Finally we found a small taxi and all 5 of us crammed in for the good hour drive.
On a side note, I would give anything right now to actually feel clean. I need a date with Mr. Clean bad. My feet look like they belong in Jurassic Park. I can scrub my feet and ten minutes later they look just as gross as they did before. I never feel fully clean after my ice showers. Even if I clean myself with wet wipes and body cleaners, I don’t feel clean!
Another side note, the Japanese population in Peru is at large. You wouldn’t think so, but there is a strong and growing Japanese population here. If I remember correctly, we have even had a Japanese president. Don’t quote me on that.
One more thing, I love coming home from class or for lunch and my family has salsa music blaring as loud as they can. It just puts me in the right mood. I love the music and the dance!
Sunday was my “me” day. It was Kaitlyn vs. Peru. I went on my first solo mission around my surrounding cities. The mission: buy a new purse, find the movie Eat. Pray. Love., and go to the ATM to pay my family.
First, I hopped on the combi and headed to Chosica. After I arrived I went to this pharmacy and had them knock my bills down because you can’t shop at the market with a S50. Then I walked the market high and low asking everyone and looking everywhere for Eat. Pray. Love. I guess that is a highly pirated film because no one knew what I was talking about. I did find a porno with a similar title in Spanish, but I passed. I did end up buying “Going the Distance.” While in the market I found the ATM and had to shoo a lady away who wanted me to take out money for her, but then I went to my favorite Chosica market and found a purse! I bought my purse for almost 10 soles cheaper too! The zipper is a little shady, but I think it will hold up for a good bit. Distance traveled: 15-20K. Time it took: 2 hours. Bought a purse: check. Went to the ATM: check. Found Eat. Pray. Love: No, but bought another move sooo: check. Mission Accomplished. Kaitlyn 1 Peru 0.
Once I went back home and dropped my stuff off I was meeting up with my friend Rigel aka La Bamba. Rigel had his friend with him (forgot his name) and we all went to my favorite panadaria (pastry shop/coffee shop) and had coffee with milk. We all split a piece of lemon pie too! It was fun because although they spoke English, I asked if we could only talk in Spanish to help me practice. After the panadaria the friend went back to Lima and Rigel and I went to a lounge nearby and split a beer. The lounge was playing MTV music videos and was one of the best places I have found to just relax and hang out. It was a little pricey, but still nice. Rigel is a guitar playing surfer so we had plenty to talk about. Last time when we were at the club called Kis Kas it was hard to talk, especially since we were salsa dancing too. My house is a good 20-30 minute walk from the lounge and he walked me half way home because he lives in the opposite direction. Sunday was the best “chill” day I have had in a while. Next week I am going to Ancash for 5 days! Whooo hooo! My first trip out of Lima and into the highlands!
On the way there we passed by a Peruvian parade that looked like it was celebrating different departments of Peru. Once we got to October fest we all grabbed a table and some beer. The music was already loud and the people were drinking. The popular Peruvian beer, Cusquena, came out with a special red lager beer just for this and it was delicious. They had drinking contests on the stage, played German drinking music and everyone was having a blast. They also had this lady come around and give everyone a chance to sniff this tobacco stuff. It was weird and made a loud noise when she hit this button, but it smelled very fresh and minty. Eventually the people sitting beside me I got to know. They asked if we were tourists and when I told them we were PCV’s they thanked us over and over. I told them about PC and they were all from Piura and were doctors in Lima. We talked for a while and they said my Spanish was great. Around 7pm we decided to get food and head home. I can’t remember what the name of the food was, but it was typical: rice and chicken. Once our plates were cleared we tried to find a cab who would take us all to Chaclacayo, but no one wanted to go that far. Finally we found a small taxi and all 5 of us crammed in for the good hour drive.
On a side note, I would give anything right now to actually feel clean. I need a date with Mr. Clean bad. My feet look like they belong in Jurassic Park. I can scrub my feet and ten minutes later they look just as gross as they did before. I never feel fully clean after my ice showers. Even if I clean myself with wet wipes and body cleaners, I don’t feel clean!
Another side note, the Japanese population in Peru is at large. You wouldn’t think so, but there is a strong and growing Japanese population here. If I remember correctly, we have even had a Japanese president. Don’t quote me on that.
One more thing, I love coming home from class or for lunch and my family has salsa music blaring as loud as they can. It just puts me in the right mood. I love the music and the dance!
Sunday was my “me” day. It was Kaitlyn vs. Peru. I went on my first solo mission around my surrounding cities. The mission: buy a new purse, find the movie Eat. Pray. Love., and go to the ATM to pay my family.
First, I hopped on the combi and headed to Chosica. After I arrived I went to this pharmacy and had them knock my bills down because you can’t shop at the market with a S50. Then I walked the market high and low asking everyone and looking everywhere for Eat. Pray. Love. I guess that is a highly pirated film because no one knew what I was talking about. I did find a porno with a similar title in Spanish, but I passed. I did end up buying “Going the Distance.” While in the market I found the ATM and had to shoo a lady away who wanted me to take out money for her, but then I went to my favorite Chosica market and found a purse! I bought my purse for almost 10 soles cheaper too! The zipper is a little shady, but I think it will hold up for a good bit. Distance traveled: 15-20K. Time it took: 2 hours. Bought a purse: check. Went to the ATM: check. Found Eat. Pray. Love: No, but bought another move sooo: check. Mission Accomplished. Kaitlyn 1 Peru 0.
Once I went back home and dropped my stuff off I was meeting up with my friend Rigel aka La Bamba. Rigel had his friend with him (forgot his name) and we all went to my favorite panadaria (pastry shop/coffee shop) and had coffee with milk. We all split a piece of lemon pie too! It was fun because although they spoke English, I asked if we could only talk in Spanish to help me practice. After the panadaria the friend went back to Lima and Rigel and I went to a lounge nearby and split a beer. The lounge was playing MTV music videos and was one of the best places I have found to just relax and hang out. It was a little pricey, but still nice. Rigel is a guitar playing surfer so we had plenty to talk about. Last time when we were at the club called Kis Kas it was hard to talk, especially since we were salsa dancing too. My house is a good 20-30 minute walk from the lounge and he walked me half way home because he lives in the opposite direction. Sunday was the best “chill” day I have had in a while. Next week I am going to Ancash for 5 days! Whooo hooo! My first trip out of Lima and into the highlands!
Friday, October 15, 2010
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!
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!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Typical training day
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.
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.
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)