Thursday, October 11, 2007

A Day in the Life and Rumors…

So, as requested here is a breakdown of my typical day in Catilluc.

I wish it wasn’t true, but I wake up around 8:00am everyday. Although I just bought an alarm clock in Cajamarca, and I hope to start waking up at 6:30pm to run and make breakfast for my family on occasion, or learn how to cook caldo verde (a soup with potatoes and cilantro, usually eaten for breakfast). As of this morning, I’m still rolling out of bed around 8:00am. Then I stumble downstairs and eat breakfast. Often it’s just my little sister and me, when we finish she dashes off to school and I return to my room to heat up water for coffee or tea. Sometimes I spend my morning researching the past activities of the CAID, studying Spanish, reading a book or a magazine or meeting new people in the community.

This morning a trudged down to the secondary school to interview the director, who wasn’t there (a fairly common thing in Peru), and instead I interviewed one of the math teachers and one of the science teachers. I also sat in on one class. I returned to my house at around 11:00am and started making lunch for my little sister and me. She showed up around 12:30pm and we ate black bean soup at 1:00. She left for school again at 1:30pm. Then I went back to studying (because it’s raining). I spent the afternoon drinking coffee, studying Spanish, listening to music, reading Newsweek (current project: identifying all of the world leaders), and reviewing my research. I kept waiting for the rain to break to see if any kids were going to the CAID, but the CAID isn’t well attended when it rains, so I’ll just have to wait until tomorrow when I have my group of Senoritas.

On a regular day, I head to the CAID at around 3:30pm and stay there until 6:00 or 6:30. Afterwards I come home, eat, and then I head to the secondary school (often with my host mom or my siblings) to jump online. I return an hour later and hang out in my room. I usually go to sleep around 10:30pm. So a pretty tranquil day for the most part, it’s nice to have my life to slow down a bit.

As for the aforementioned rumors…I’m discovering what chisme (gossip) is like in a small Peruvian town. The other day I discovered that a gentleman in my community, who has seemed to be a big supporter of mine, is questioning and “investigating” the Peace Corps. He works for his cousin, the mayor, who thinks that at some point my predecessor brought in all this money from Peace Corps and that my counterpart and another member of our committee stole it. Which isn’t true in the least. At first I was upset, but now I just laugh. Obviously they have no idea what the Peace Corps is all about, because there isn’t any money sitting around waiting to be spent on little projects in Catilluc. These two people believe that if they can find out what happens with the money then they can get some…Of course, this could just be a rumor too, which is why I’m choosing to handle it in a completely un-Ari-like-way. I’m ignoring it, but updating my Spanish vocabulary with words that could explain the Peace Corps better in case the need ever arises.

Here are some pictures of my life here in Catilluc:


My room with my kitchen


The CAID

And a cool sunset in the department of Cajamarca

2 comments:

Mardy said...

The sunset pic is awesome! Thanks for sharing your "Day in the life of Ari." It's really great to see what life is like for you in Catilluc. Every story is great for those of us who can't be there to experience it all with you. (There better be a picture of me up on your wall :) Hope you are well. Miss ya!!! Mard

Tiffany said...

those are some pretty awesome looking mosquito nets.

i cannot wait to see you this weekend, ms. ari!!