Sunday, June 29, 2008

Farming, parties, and guinea pigs oh my

la piscigranja
beautiful
el cuyi...guinea pig...mmm
it was actually delicious haha
presenting traditional dance of la libertad
callahuanca is pretty
a waterfall

in the car on the way to callahuanca
party in tres de octubre
drinking chiramoya...good fruit
in callahuanca
cool stone


Two pretty cool things happened this weekend. Actually three pretty cool things. First, we went to “La Agraria” on Saturday morning. La agraria is a agriculture university more or less. It’s incredibly competitive to get into. Anyways, at la agraria we learned about types of fruits we might encounter out at site. There are a ton of fruits here in Peru and lots of them you cannot find in the US. It’s really awesome. Then, we learned how to create soil which is suitable to plant a seed into. Basically we combined musco, which I think was mossy soil, with some sand and water. After we made the soil, we put the soil in those plastic things with little gaps for plants to grow then seeded the soil. We learned how to seed out in the field too (like those big corn fields and stuff). We planted zucchini anddddd something else I forget. However, I felt really accomplished after the session was done.




After that I came back and bought some new soccer shoes for playing on the concrete. They’re a Peruvian brand which is pretty cool. Then that night we went to a party in our town. It was just out on the middle of the street. They had set up a stage and these huge towers made out of bamboo sticks. A band played for most of the night. The other volunteers and I were all in attendance. The dancing was rather interesting. We pretty much frolicked in a circle holding hands more or less. I guess that’s a good description of it. Pretty much everyone was drunk. Oh and when you drink here in peru, if you buy a bottle of beer you have to share it with everyone else in the group. Basically, one person buys a bottle and pours a little in a plastic cup to drink. He’ll drink it then pour out the backwash and hand it to the next person. This continues until the beer is done. It’s a really inefficient way of drinking but that’s how it goes here. Also, a lot different than we are used to. Around 1AM or so they told us they were going to light the towers on fire, which we took to mean like the whole thing. However, the towers were lined with fireworks. It was pretty crazy. These things were probably 25 to 30 feet high and had tons of fireworks on them. Something that definitely would be prohibited in the US. It was pretty cool though.




Today, I ate guinea pig. It was really delicious once you got past the fact that you could see its little feet and its head haha. Guinea pig is actually one of the most nutritious meats around apparently. My mom fried it this time. We still have four more babies which I guess we are finishing before I leave. Wooohoooo.

PCVs rock the box

Nothing too large has happened lately. However, I’d just like to write about how cool Peace Corps Volunteers are. This really isn’t too brag about myself, but more or less to dish out some praise to fellow PCVs.

Many people I’ve spoken to joke about how Peace Corps is not a job or not something serious. While PC is not a job in the traditional aspect, it’s a job and much more. Everyone in the PC and specifically in PC Peru has sacrificed a lot to come down to Peru. There are people who have been working for many years and have come, people who have just graduated from college and sacrificed a normal good paying life, people who have children, people who have tightly knit families, the list goes on and on. The bottom line is that PCVs give up a lot to come to a country that they know little about. In addition to that, PCVs agree to not gross any money for 2 years. That is a huge commitment in itself. Many people cannot fathom not making money for 2 years. Next, they not only move to an unknown country for 2 years but also to a country in which the living conditions are far from the best. There is no warm water here, rice and potatoes for every meal, a different language is spoken, the culture is different, etc etc. On top of this, PCVs will be living in a most likely very rural community by themselves for 2 whole years. While other PCVs will be within maybe 3 or 4 hours, a PCV is pretty much out on their own left to their own devices to fit in and complete projects. Finally, the reason PCVs do all this is not for their own good but for the good of impoverished people who lack the same opportunities all the PCVs have had in their life.

This definitely may not seem like the normal job everyone is used to seeing. However, when you put all of these factors together, Peace Corps ends up being a hard working job if not even harder than most jobs in the US.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Kidsssss

3 weeks in the books. It seems odd to be speaking in weeks when I will be here for about 26 more months. However, those three weeks seem like a couple of months to me.

I’ve started to realize why parenting is so difficult. Not that I am a parent in my house but I do feel like one when I get home after training. My brothers and sisters get home from school at around 2PM because there are morning and afternoon shifts of school. So, when I return home at around 530PM, they are here unsupervised and reeking havoc. Let me breakdown my adventure from the front door to my room. I knock on our front door and usually my brother, Antonio, answers the door. He never actually opens the door straight away. There is usually some banter about what my name is and that he doesn’t know me. Once he finally opens the door, he hugs me for awhile and tries to pretend fight with me. Then I move gradually through to the TV room where everyone is. Everyone gets up and hugs/hangs onto me. This could take about 5 minutes depending on whether or not they decide to take anything of mine. Once I finally get to my door, I have to be careful with my keys so that no one takes them. Losing my keys could add another 5 minutes onto my travel time through the house. After opening my door, I have to keep all of the kids out of my room. If one slips through, it could be deadly to my cause. If they in fact do get into my room, I usually just pick them up and place them outside of the room haha. Then, I try to close my door. Closing the door is impossible b/c it is not something I can really control. They usually stick their feet in the way of the door so I can’t close it until they want to. The tickle tactic works out pretty well but you have to be quick enough to close it and lock it right away. Closing the door isn’t good enough and my sister likes to hold the knob so I can’t lock it. After a process of around 15-20 minutes EVERYDAY, I can get into my room alone. Woooo. I love my brothers and sisters but the everyday routine gets to me sometimes definitely.

That’s my little tantrum on that. As you can see, when living abroad some things start to get to you, but that is a part of living abroad. What have I been up to lately. Sunday I was really sick with diarrhea!!! I still have it but I’m not actually sick anymore. Monday my mom killed our guinea pigs b/c they were getting too rowdy? I think that’s what she said, but we will be eating cuyi (that’s guinea pig in Spanish) on Saturday or Sunday. I’m pretty excited b/c its supposed to be good and healthy at the same time. Tuesday, we went to a town called Callahuanca in the mountains. It had an elevation of about 1,600 meters. That’s pretty high for us people in Pennsylvania and dc. It was really beautiful. While we were there, we got to see a fish farm. Also, really cool. It was around a 20 minute trek down the mountain to the fish farm. We got some good pics. I’ll post them when I get them from people.

Some things looking forward. We’re going to “La Agraria” on Saturday. It’s an agricultural college sort of. It’s apparently REALLY competitive to get into (only 3% get in). At la agraria we get to learn about how to plant gardens, bee keeping, etc., should be really cool and interesting. Monday is our sex lecture from the country director which apparently is always a highlight. That’s about it. I definitely like the business program. They try to get us out and about as much as possible. Keep up emails and comments. Makes me feel good. Hasta pronto.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Lima and FBT


John da paul John da Paul
Haha
Wow this is hilarious. A robocop manaquin
mountain in the distance of lima
These things guard the president´s house haha

the marriot on the beach
chris snuck in my photo
im an odd person...
little walkway in lima with shops and such
plaza mayor...thats Presidente Garcia´s house behind me


cool fountain in lima
the beach!
tim
stores which are normal looking!
really odd face haha



snoozing
me and my host bro
me and jasmin
ivan my language teacher
hooray for starbucks haha







I guess we can start off with last night. Last night we went to another neighborhood which is a lot nicer than mine for a party at this guy’s house who has a PCV photo shrine on his wall. It was pretty fun. I might have drank more than I had liked to but I ended up waking up on time today.



Today was the big trip to Lima. We left here around 8am. My group went into Miraflores. A pretty safe and touristy part of Lima. There we pretty much did some stuff with community analysis and just talking to the people on the streets. Then, we walked to the beach where I had KFC!!! It was so good. The beach was pretty cool. Apparently you can’t swim in the water because its so dirty haha. It was actually brownish. Then, we practiced bartering with taxi drivers. It’s rather ridiculous. We asked them how much it would be to get a ride back to our town. They said 80 soles when it actually should be 30, but they know people in that area will still take their cab so they wouldn’t lower it. You can pretty much barter for things anywhere in Peru and you should! Then we went into the center of the city where the President lives and such. There were a lot of small stores and stuff similar to what Sevilla was like. It was a good day but definitely tiresome.



Oh, also this week we went over Field Based Training. This takes place in week 6. We leave on Sunday and are gone the whole week until Saturday. The small business group is going to Cajamarca for field based training into the “campo” or rural areas. We’ll be in the mountains which is exciting. Cajamarca is a 15 hour bus ride away or so then like 4 hours in a tiny combi to the campo.



So what is FBT? Our group will be divided into two groups which will go to two different spots in Cajamarca. In these two different spots we will go to a technical/business school. At the business school, we are divided into groups of 3 and each group of 3 will teach about 25 students of age 18-24 about business and such. The first 3 days will be all day lectures about starting and running a small business (like accounting, finance, marketing, etc.). The semi intense thing about this is that we will be lecturing the students for 3 days in Spanish! Then, we teach them how to create a business plan and they make a business plan for a microempresa(small business). After that, they submit the proposal to the PC bank to receive a small loan to start their business. Once they receive the loan, they go out for the day and run their small business (aka selling food, bingo, delivery service, etc.). During the day they have to make enough money to pay back the loan and the interest. At the end of the day, they keep the extra money they make. It seems like its going to be a great activity for us and them and fun as well.

Personal feelings right now? Everything is going well. Lots to look forward to. I really just want to know where I´m going for the next 2 years right??? In time. I think most people want to go to the coast bc its a bit easier to adjust and find food to eat that you like instead of just potatoes and rice. It´s rather funny actually. Peru has a national potato day. I think that everyday is a national potato day so i wonder what they actually do. Maybe they dont eat potatoes?

So that’s that. I posted some more pics from Lima. Write me comments if you want I enjoy them!!! Hasta.
PS this kid in the internet place just is blaring freakin sum 41 ¨perfect¨as well as singing it. AHHHH

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Pics and jumbled updates


all of my captions will be regarding the pics above the text...this is me in my room looking dumb
this is me out back in front of all the cages containing the crazy fighting cocks which i want to kill in the mornings with my brother limber

fighting cock!!!

bathroom
antonio y limber in the living room
limber in the living room

my bed room
nice and cozy

my bedroom as you can notice limber is in bascially every pic

tv room? its actually open to the outside so i dunno if its actually a room

limber with underwear on his head
mas gallos...aka fighting cocks



my house

my street if you wanna call it that

mountian surrounding my community

my street and my house to the left with the grass

that little path in the back leads up to the soccer field
moto taxi...so many of them









I just had like 3 chocolate things today…need to cut back. That’s pretty much what we do here at PC Peru as a stress reliever, pig out on sweets. I was wondering why I had a sweet tooth in Spain and now I remember. After having like rice, potatoes and some sort of meat for every meal, a chocolate cookie or something tastes sooooo gooodddd. Although I like the food, it just gets redundant. It’s kind of funny I say that now since I still have about 2 years 2 months and 3 weeks left haha.





Anyways, I had my interview with my APCD, associate peace corps director, today. My APCD is my boss basically. He’s in charge of the business program and my first line of defense against pretty much anything. Basically the interview was tot get a better feel of where he should place me for 2 years. He asked questions like:





Can you live without electricity?





Answer: I would prefer electricity but can live without it (I’m a PC volunteer right?)
Would you prefer working with a women’s artisan association which does weaving or men who do fish farming?





Answer: Men, of course haha, who do fish farming. I think that would be really interesting. It’s also hands on and outdoors as well.





Is being close to another volunteer important to you?
Answer: Yes, like 2-3 hours away is fine.





Would you rather live in a small city which is close the regional capital but has no internet or live farther from the regional capital in a large city with internet?





Answer: Don’t have a very strong feeling about this one but would slightly prefer the bit larger town.





Would you rather replace a volunteer or start of new?





Answer: Start off new…no surprises here.





That was pretty much the interview. Said I wanted to be in the mountains. After the electricity question I was kind of worried because I wasn’t really strong in my pursuit of electricity but 90% of business volunteers have it so I figure there has to be one in my group that was like, I don’t care, and he will live w/o it. After telling my host mom my answers to these questions she’s like…ohhh the mountains have a lot of disease and blah blah blah. I’m like thanks this is really making me feel good haha. Whatever, you should see pics of the mountians though they are awesome.





I just had dinner with my host mom and she was telling me about the family’s situation. It’s rather sad to be honest because the mom and dad are separated but still live in the same house. She really wants to leave and take the kids but then the father will not give anything to her for support. There are no laws here in Peru to hold the father accountable for his children. It’s really sad because she works, takes care of the kids and me. I really don’t know what to say to her since I have not been in a similar situation. I just try to tell her that it will all be worth it once her kids are successful and living a good life. What else is there to say? But just try to appreciate the life you lead in the U.S. and the opportunities you have because there are billions who do not have the same.





So this blog entry is kinda choppy bc ive been updating it over the past 3 days. Yesterday we had another sort of community thing. Basically we went around the community gathering info and figuring out what people say and what problems there are. My group went to the health post and talked to the president´s family of one of the directivos or kinda political gropus in town. It was pretty fun and interesting. Also the people here are so nice. We went to a small store and the owner just let us into her house for drinks after like 5 minutes of talking. The whole world should be like that haha.





Today, we went to a small business industrial park. It was really interesitng to hear from the president about what the problems are and why his place is not taking off. Basically he says they are all experts in their business but don´t have the education or the management skills to really take off. Something that we can offer. It will be similar to when i got to my site to work.
This Saturday we are going to lima for the day to learn safety and stuff in the city. Then we have free time. It should be lots of fun and im planning on getting some greasy great amaerican food. Ill keep you up to date. Til then....hasta.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

schedule and such...



Ill get some better pics in a lil but i took these on my computer yesterday

So, I have been continually getting similar questions from many people about my schedule in the Peace Corps and what exactly I am doing in the Peace Corps. Let me first delve into my schedule. Right now I am a trainee. We receive language training, technical training (on micro businesses and such), safety/medical training and cultural training. I will be in training until August 22nd. The 22nd is when I will move to my site which is where I will be for 2 years. I do not find out what site I will be going to until the beginning of August. This is because they need to interview me to figure out where exactly will be the best place to put me. Once I enter my site I am there for 2 years!!! Also, I am in the small business development program. Once I enter my site, I will receive a primary project which would be working with like an artisan association and then can take on secondary projects as a see fit. The first three months out on site will be for information gathering, integration and community assessment. Then, after that, its pretty much up to me and the community as to what happens for the rest of the time. It really depends on the needs of the community.


Since the last time I wrote, I went to a birthday party for another trainee. It was pretty fun. I think we all needed a break to be honest. So much has happened in the last week that it was nice to have a beer and relax. Yesterday, I just hung out with my family and the kids. We went to the playground for like 2 hours haha and played tag and hide and seek. Pretty much amazing. Also, I’ve been getting grilled cheeses for breakfast. Maybe my sister Ali should move here. And last night I had them watch high school musical with me haha. It was actually kinda weird to be watching it with my brothers and sisters because the characters in the movie have cell phones and all this stuff that they don’t have. It was interesting. Today is father’s day in Peru as well. We had a nice lunch together and my sister sang for my father at the coleseo. In addition, we’ve been playing volleyball in the house with various balloons for much of the day. Pretty good time. Paz.