First Fourth for the Ninth in Peru

Yesterday I celebrated my third Fourth of July out of country, at least. I might have spent a couple in Australia also. I need to think about that. The staff did a really good job of making the day special. We broke into teams with our Spanish language instructors and played silly picnic games all morning.

This was my team "Los Matadores"

After the games, we ate a lunch of corn chips and guacamole, carrots and celery, and grilled chicken sandwiches plus coca cola. And what would a Peruvian Fourth of July be without Inka Cola? It wouldn’t be. Anyway, I had a great time. On top of that, my friend Cass was celebrating her 21st birthday. Her husband and host family threw her a big surprise party so a bunch of us walked up the hill to their pueblo to see her and celebrate with her. We had a blast.

Dodgeball...what a great game

And what´s the Fourth without a water fight?

Today we had our second language test. I don’t feel very confident about my interview. But I’m relieved to have it over with.

One of the things I forget to post last time was that there are currently 5 Peace Corps groups in Peru. Peace Corps 5 will role out in August (except those that have chosen to serve another year), Peace Corps 6 will leave in November (I think). Then PC 7 will leave August 2008. PC 8 in November 2008. We leave (PC 9) August of 2009. PC 10 will arrive in-country in September (remember they’re the group working in Health and Environment) and will leave November 2009.

Finally, here´s the picture of me eating my first ceviche.

A Quick Post explaining Peace Corps Peru

So, now that I've been in country for awhile, I'm learning a lot about what makes Peace Corps Peru so special. So for those of you who don't know, here's a quick note:

* Peace Corps has four ares of development: Small Business, Youth, Environment, and Health
* Small Business and Youth train together (right now) or during summer. Environment and Health train together right after we leave.
* Our trainers are the coolest. We have both language trainers who we can only speak Español with, and technical trainers who help us figure out how to do our jobs. Some of them are Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCV). Others are host country nationals who are incredibly helpful and supportive.
* When we arrived in Peru we had an orientation and were immediately interviewed in our language skills and put into groups. We are being interviewed again this week (week four of training) and again at the end of training, and one more time at the end of service. You have to reach and Intermediate mid to qualify for service. My first interview took me to an Intermediate Low (that was lucky). I only have to rise one level to qualify for service. Peru has never had a volunteer not qualify for service. They do everything in their power to get us through.
* Training is very hands on. We speak Spanish quite a bit, but we also have to develop contacts in our areas (note: networking), do community assessment and research, as well as work with youth or people in microbusiness. You jump right in.
* Rumor has it, that if you don't hate training by the end, you didn't do something right. A ver. (We´ll see.)

So, that´s my update for now. I am still doing well. I'll keep you posted when I think of other things. If you have questions, feel free to email me.

Another blog about food

Yesterday Peru 9 headed back to Lima, this time to learn how to grow an organic garden. This was the first of four classes we will have at a university called La Agraria. In Peru, it’s apparently a good idea to be able to grow an organic garden as a major portion of agriculture in Peru comes from small gardens. At least I think that’s what the lecturer said. We toured the grounds, started a garden on a very small plot of ground, started some seedlings (is that the correct term?), and learned about produce only found in Peru. I’m not sure if I’m excited about gardening or not. I like it, but only to a certain extent. It really is a lot of work.

After we finished with our lesson for the day, we ventured to Jockey Plaza. Jockey Plaza is a mall with a Cineplex and everything. It was kind of weird to be in the middle of Peru, to live with families that live with very little money and to go to a very materialistic place. And this time, it was only with about 20 soles. Which isn’t enough money for the kind of stuff we could buy there. We certainly have to deal with strange emotions going to a place like that. I want to return one more time next week to watch Ocean’s 13. They call it something else here.

Today was more parties. I went to one at my friend Elena’s house where we learned how to make anticucho (grilled cow heart shown below) and another one at my grandma’s house. We had arroz con pollo and ceveche. Which is a traditional dish of Peru. It was my first ceveche in Peru. I’ve heard amazing things about this, and actually had some last year at my friend Jairo’s house. Well, my first taste was no disappointment, but then of course my grandma is no slouch of a cook either. Anyway, the food was great. I think Peru’s food is fabulous. This is the second email I’ve posted about food.

Here´s a pic of my friends Frank and Greg cooking anticucho.

Cooking Lessons

Today I received my cooking lessons. I know some of you are curious about the food in Peru, and the truth is, I think it’s great. My host mom makes great food, as does my grandma who lives just up the street. So some people have asked for recipes and here is the first one I have learned to cook.

Estofado de Pollo (Chicken stew)

Over high heat:
Add 2 cloves of crushed garlic and
One small onion chopped into small pieces to oil
Cut a carrot into half round slices
Cut chicken into pieces
Add 1 teaspoon of salt
Add a spice called “panca sin picante” - also known as ahi Colorado
(Some kind of red spice that I don’t know the direct translation for)
Add chicken (Loly throws it in with bone and all – I think American pallets would prefer sin hueso – without bone)
Add carrot and a cup of peas
Peel, slice, six small potatoes
½ cup water
Add corn
Stir
Add potatoes (reduce heat)
Add another cup of water and 1 chicken bullion cube
Let cook for awhile
Stir
And then add cilantro

It’s really tasty. Here are some pictures. Notice the chicken’s feet. My little sister likes that part the best. I avoid that part the most. Loly usually puts this over rice.

The first dish in any Peruvian meal is usually rice and much to my US mother’s dismay (I’m sure) they usually have potatoes and corn as well. I try to keep my portion size low in order to not gain weight. In fact, I’m losing it. Which is rare, but I am thankful for the loss as grad school added about 10 pounds I definitely didn’t need. I’m starting to fit into my clothes again!

Last night we went to the celebration of our Pueblo’s Patron Saint. It was pretty tame. Most of our Peace Corps crew showed up. And I danced the night away. My “uncle” has returned from Argentina to find work and I’m starting to get to know his friends better. They’ve all known each other since they were kids. We danced and had fun. We also watched this crazy bull (that’s really what it is called) dance around with flames shooting out of it. Okay, okay it was a paper mache bull with firecrackers shooting off of it, but you definitely couldn’t get a permit for it in the United States.

Other than language (which I sometimes feel like I’m actually managing to progress) my other frustration includes not knowing my fellow volunteers very well. But luckily I’ve had some great conversations with some of the people who live in my pueblo. This is a double edged sword as living so close to so many Americans (and having so many projects to do for Peace Corps) has prevented me from speaking Spanish full-time. Actually that might be my only complaint about my training thus far, too much English. But I do feel like my Spanish is coming along. We have more language tests this next week to see if we’ve improved and to possibly create new language groups. I had my evaluation yesterday and it went well, but I wish I could show more growth than I am. My instructor agrees. She feels like I could be making bigger strides. I don’t really know how to do that, but I guess I’ll keep working on it. I have a new study partner. Plus, I’m making friends with some of the advanced speakers and they are reassuring me that I’m on track in the long process of learning a second language.

The Culture Training Begins

This weekend I went to Lima, twice. The first time we went for class. We spent a day wandering around various parts of Lima asking questions in Spanish and discussing tourist attractions all in Spanish. It was interesting. I really like my Spanish teacher. Her name is Edith and she’s amazing. I enjoy spending time with her. Sometimes I feel like I’m really bad at this, but then I’ll strike up a conversation that I’m able to carry for awhile and think – maybe I’ve got this. We visited Barranco for the first part of the day. Barranco is a part of Lima that has a lot of Bohemians living there. We didn’t get to see any. They were probably all asleep.

Later, we went to the Palace of the Government to watch the changing of the guard. I’m not sure how I feel about watching such a Colonial practice knowing that the people of Peru were oppressed to carry out the ideas of their Spanish rulers. Although, I’m American – that’s like the pot calling the kettle black. It was just a little strange to watch. Lima’s colonial feel really is beautiful though gorgeous palaces and buildings that make you feel like you’re in Europe. At around 2:00pm we were allowed to go out on their own, and I hooked up with some other girls from the group and we had Pisco Sours and junk food while chatting about our adventures thus far. After we tooled around the city for a while, we headed back to Chaclacayo in a taxi. We made a quick 45-minute trip out of a trip that would have taken us an hour and a half (at least) by combi (bus Volkswagen type things).


I know this because the next day on a whim I was invited to attend a Peruvian National Dance Recital, but more on that in a second. I woke up the next morning way to early because my friend Sam and I wanted to burn off the junk food we had eaten the day before. We took an hour-long hike up the hill and visited some “ruins” just outside our pueblo. Now when I hear ruins and Peru, I think Manchu Pichu. Is that what we found? No, we found some drawings of a lizard in a hill. We went with our friend Vishal and his host family. We had a lot of fun but we took some very crazy climbs. We would literally scramble up one hill to have to free climb down into a ravine only to scramble up the next one. We had a good time though. I’m really glad I went. Plus, it was an excellent workout.

When I returned, Loly said that her friend had invited me to go watch her brother dance in Lima. I love dance (as you know) so I jumped at the chance. We traveled by combi for about two hours. Driving in Peru is crazy, and at one point I watched the combi driver scrape up against another car. It’s always an adventure on the combi. We did arrive safely, and I got to watch some very cool traditional dances and my friend MariCarmen and her brother Luis danced a number of dances with me. I couldn’t help but think I was the focal part of those dances because I was the lightest-skinned, lightest-haired person there. It was fairly obvious that the gringa (white girl) was on the dance floor. I had a blast though and got a couple of decent pictures. I totally want to learn how to do some of these very cool dances.

I didn’t take any pictures, but I did find the Peruvian version of the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. They were these teeny-tiny, sparkly blue dresses, with hats on a string. Oh, how I wish I had those pictures. It was really a cool event. I’m so glad I was invited. Hopefully I can use these dances (which I learn them) with the kids that I will be working with.

Another Post Without Pictures...sorry

Training is an intense process. At the beginning of training I heard that some people think it’s harder than their graduate programs. Now, I won’t go that far, but I will say I am being put into fairly normal situations but unable to communicate in the way in which I would most like to. For example, in order to prepare us to work with youth groups (not just a religious term in the Peace Corps) they have broken all of the members of the Youth Development area into smaller groups to go to schools around Chaclacayo and lead class for one hour a week. Not much, right? Unless you factor in that I can barely speak the language right now, and if you put me in front of a classroom of 15 year olds I get nervous and am even more unable to communicate. Today my group and I made our introductions and all went well, but I was barely speaking. I was communicating through smiles and head nods. My Spanish just feels so limited right now. Once again, I’m trying to be patient with myself, but I don’t think I’m speaking enough Spanish throughout my day. At the end of class, the kids wanted to hear our National Anthem. Let´s just say I was more willing to sing THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER, than to open my mouth to communicate.

Another key assignment involves each individual person developing a relationship with someone in Peru is working with youth. I found this great house for girls, and I think that I will try to continue to return there to meet with the Housemom, but my Spanish today was awful. Luckily, Loly was with me so I hope she got a lot of it and can re-explain it to me. I return in a week, and I hope that my Spanish is much better then.

We have a number of other small projects, research, and we have intense classes of learning Spanish. I try to remind myself that we’ve only been here a week and a half and that my Spanish will come, but sometimes it feels like we’ve been here for months. I’m trying really hard not to play the comparison game with the other volunteers, but it’s hard because so many of them speak so well or are picking it up quickly. Plus, there is always Peruvians around to remind that I’m not speaking to a full proficiency. Soon enough these worries won’t make much of a difference. I have a ton of time before I’m sent to my site.

Dogs, Dogs everywhere and not a spot to pee

So one of the other things about Peru that I find interesting is the treatment of dogs. I like dogs, but I´m learning to not like dogs while I`m over here. First of all, they are everywhere. They are like goats in small villages of Africa. They wander around freely and do their business wherever whenever the need may be. As we were doing research today (wandering around our barrio talking to people - I love this kind of research) we saw something come out of a dog´s behind that was unbelievable. I don`t know what it was, and I´m not going to gross you out with more details, but it was crazy.

So last night, I was returning from celebrating a friend´s birthday when on my dark path to my house a dog started growling at me. Dog´s in Peru tend to be aggressive and it was dark so I wasn´t thrilled with the situation. He kind of hounded me so I picked up the biggest rock I could find and pretended to throw it at him. He ran away, but I don´t like the darkness and the scariness of the dogs here.

Dogs are not well respected here, which in a way I kind of respect. I´ve always felt like Americans spends too much money on their animals. Yet it seems like there is a neccessary balance. Treating a dog poorly just makes it mean which then puts me in scary positions in the dark. I´m sure there is more to this because I´ve been thinking about it for days, but I´m tried from trying to translate Spanish all day.

My Spanish does feel a bit stronger. It´s important for me to hold on to days like this because tomorrow could be an equally difficult day. I´m learning poco a poco, but sometimes I wish I was fluent. I guess it´s all about the journey to the fluency. Send me your positive thoughts.