baby shower, bday and independence day

mi cancha...football field to the right
chacrasana
otra vez
hahaha baby shawer

the father with a diaper
good stuff
pelea de gallos
my host dad and sister
mi familia

bday party for lil ones
pinata
spiderman party

This weekend is Independence day for Peruvians. Unfortunately, Peruvians don’t go quite as buckwild as us Americans do for the 4th. However, I did attend a birthday party for a 6 year old yesterday and then a baby shower at the same house. First, the birthday party. This was pretty much me and two other volunteers with about 15 little kids running around and a couple of moms. There was a ton of food and a piñata. It was kinda fun to hit a piñata again, brought back some good memories. Then, the kids had to dance haha. I think this why people from latin america are so good at dancing because when they have their sixth birthday they are torced to dance. So, by the time they come to the US they are a lot better than us. In addition, at this first party I was forced to eat about 5 pieces of cake…and thats not an exaggeration. Then, I stayed there to help set up for the baby shower.

Baby showers here are a lot different than back in the US. First off, guys go to the baby shower. Secondly, there were Clowns haha. I think we were all a little confused because when we got there before the birthday party we asked if there were going to be clowns and she said yes. So, we assumed the clowns would be a the 6 year olds birthday party. Little did we know that they would be at the baby shower haha. So, pretty much the baby shower was hosted by clowns and it was kind of like a roast of the father. The father was forced to do a lot of embarrassing things while the mother just sat and enjoyed. There was also some crowd participation which was pretty funny. The last part of the baby shower the dad had to guess what each present was and if he didn’t know he had to drink pisco(alcohol) from a baby bottle. My mom told me there are some more extreme baby showers where there is a lot more drinking. That seems to be a common theme in Peru, drinking that is haha. It’s a huge part of every activity to be honest which is why there are a lot of problems with alcoholism out in the campo. Anyways, I was at this house for about 9 hours yesterday for both parties and at about 10 pounds of food. I’m still waiting for the consequences of my decisions. Ooooo I totally forgot. I had another new food yesterday, anticucho orrrr cow heart!!! It was pretty good to be honest haha. Today we’re having some trout and cow heart again and then tomorrow we’re having turkey. I tried to explain to my family the wonders of turkey on thanksgiving. Then, Tuesday we have a mini independence day celebration after training and on Friday I finally get my site! Then, I can start planning vacations with everyone! Ok, that’s all....

FBT Pics Part 2

surfinggg
haaaa
coolll pic
at the surf shop
surf for 15 soles or like 3 dollars

FBT

It’s been awhile since I last posted. Mostly because of the fact that I was in field based training for the past week. So let me break down the last week for you as there was a lot that happened.

Day 1

We left on Saturday on a pretty nice bus. It was pretty like riding in a plane in first class. Also, the seats reclined almost to a bed state which was pretty awesome. We got dinner and breakfast and got to watch some movies. One stipulation on the bus was that you couldn’t poop in the bathroom. This meant that in order to poo you would have to ask the bus driver to pull over. Unfortunately, one volunteer pooed in the bus, I won’t mention names, but this clogged the toilet for people that had to pee. I ended up holding my pee for possibly 4 hours. It was pretty bad. In addition, the roads were horrible so it was almost like a terrimoto (earthquake). We got into Cajamarca city around midday and spent an hour in the plaza de armas. Cajamarca was a pretty sweet town. We then had to take a combi for 2.5 hours to another town. Then, take a taxis thing to San Miguel for another 2 hours. By the time we reached San Miguel, we had been traveling for 23 hours. WOOOO. That night we had a fogata (campfire) which was pretty cool. When you’re out in the campo you can pretty much just do a campfire wherever you want. PS San Miguel is about 9,000 or 10,000 ft above sea level…pretty sweet.

Day 2

Teaching started today. We went to the institute and of course no one was ready on time. Eventually we had an introduction where the sub-directora introduced us all. Then, we got to say like what are names were and our profession. Class started after that. The first day we taught the students about entrepreneurship and how to be an entrepreneur. It was pretty cool and I think we got the trust of the kids right away b/c my groups language level was pretty good. I found that I didn’t speak tooo much the first day. I’m not sure why but I would remedy that in the days to come. Another volunteer and I also went and played football that day which was lots of fun. A good way to bond with the students. That night we had our first meal at the wonderous Polloria (Chicken store I guess you would call it). It was a huge piece of chicken and fries for 5 soles (aka $1.50 or so, yes if you are planning on visiting me in peru you will be living the high life).

Day 3

Today we went over Market and Feasibility Analysis. It went well and then we took the students out to the market to inquire about their potential mini businesses they would start. I don’t remember too much else about this day. I think I took a nap in the middle of the day haha.

Day 4

Today we taught Accounting, Finance, Marketing, and how to write a little business plan. The students then were taken to the “bank” to apply for a loan. It was pretty cool. The students were really excited about getting a loan and starting on their businesses. After that was done, Kevin and I tried hiking up this mountain on the side of the town. However, the mountain was lacking a defined path. I don’t think I’ve ever had so many hitchhikers and just plain old crap on my pants before. We climbed over barbed wire and through mazes of pricklies to get some good pics. For a moment we didn’t think we were going to be able to find a way back. However, we found what we think was a river bed and followed it down haha. It was quite the adventure. At night, one group from another class had a showing of Titanic. The entry was free but they sold popcorn and some other stuff to make money. Around 300 people from the town came out for it. It was really awesome and the group made around 80 or 90 soles from it. One of our groups was out making picarones which are like fried bread.

Day 5

Today was THE day. I think all of us were worried that our groups weren’t going to make enough money to pay back the loans. Most of the groups set up shop in the plaza de armas to sell their food. Oh yea, ps, peruvians love to sell food. They like to do what they already know, which was how to make food. It worked out though. Everyone paid back their loans and one of our groups made the most money, 106 soles. That’s pretty impressive for one day when some people make like 14 soles a day or so. Once the money was returned we had a closing ceremony where we handed out certificates to the students for completing the course. The students were really excited to receive those. Two other volunteers sang a song for the students entitled “Estamos llenos” (We’re full). Obviously, because of all the food we ate. It was really funny and fitting. That night the students made another fogata for us and also we had a dance at the school. The dance was fun but a little weird because the girls don’t look in your eyes when you dance with them because if they do it signifies that they want a little more to do with you haah (ps the girls were like in their 20s so it isn’t weird to dance with them haha).

Day 6

We left to go to Trujillo in the morning. We arrived in the evening in Trujillo and went out to a discoteca at night. Oh yea, on the bus ride to Trujillo there was a baby pig across the aisle from me. Only in peru haha.

Day 7

We got to talk to some volunteers in the Trujillo area and got to go surfing in Huanchaco which is like 15 minutes from Trujillo. Peru has some of the best surfing in the world and if you come visit you can experience it!! Haha. It was lots of fun but definitely difficult. After the beach we returned to lima. A couple of us stayed and watched the new Batman which was AMAZING GO SEE IT.

So that was my week in a nutshell. Definitely lots of fun and good times had by all. It reassured me that I wanted to go to the mountains. In fact I just had my last one-on-one with my boss about my preferences for a site.

I WILL NOT KNOW MY SITE UNTIL AUGUST 1

Just wanted to say that out loud so everyone knew haha. Anyways, that’s all, everything is going well and as that I am back I will be making more frequent posts. Hasta pronto.

Pics from FBT week (Part 1)

the bussss
Cajamarca city
San Miguel church POLLORIAAA
San miguel...awesomeeee

this is for nadeea...accounting...Peace Corps Peru style
Our sweet staff
us handing out the certificates
The closest thing we had to a path on the hike
cow poop haha

cinturon de herramientas...just a little thing we did to make the concepts easier to grab
awesome view from the hikeeee
our class
eating some cuyyyyyyyy
sweet view from the hik again
teaching some business skillsss
my group at FBT
again
hahaha funny pic in trujillo
Kevin was in the ZONE at the dance

Great Pics I just found...

This is definitely the best pic from the 4th of july field day. It was the water balloon toss and everyone in this pic has a hilarious face. Click on it ot make it larger.

Futbol during the 4th
Orange eating contest
Mummy relay
da training center jardin

pic of the group...or at least most of us

1 month in the books

One month is in the bag down here in Peru with 26 left to go. I think it is time for a little reflection. Today we spoke about culture shock and diversity during training. It really forced everyone try to analyze their past month here and the experiences they have had. I think one of the hardest things I’ve been dealing with down here is not being able to really get to know some people really well, because we are all hanging out together in big groups so much. Therefore, you really don’t have a go to person down here, at least thus far. Another thing which has been tough has been living with children. I would love for just once to be able to close my door without a little hand or foot shooting through to prevente me from doing so. That is really part of living in another country though. There are going to be little things that will bug the hell out of you, but you need to step back and look at why they bug you and why they are happening instead of just getting angry about it. On the brighter side, I think the positive aspects definitely out weigh the negatives. This past Saturday, we had a party for my host dad’s birthday. A bunch of volunteers came over and we had a little bonfire out back where we just sat, ate and drank. It was really nice. Towards the end of the night it was just my host parents, 2 other volunteers and myself. During this time, my host mom just had the most wonderful things to say about me and other volunteers in general. For example, how i’m a part of the family, how she houses volunteers for the cultural exchange and not the money , and how hard it is going to be when we end up leaving. There has been a stark contrast between my study abroad experience and this one. The families here do not take in americans for the Money or as a Business. It’s because they believe in what we are doing and want to help. It’s really awesome. So, yea you have your nagging cultural aspects, but the wonderful relationships you have with people really starts to outweigh those little negatives.

Anyways, a little update on what I’ve been up to. The fourth was lots of fun even though I was in Peru. We had a mini field day at the training center with relay races and such. Then we went to a party at night which was cool. The next Saturday, as I said, we had a party at my house for my host dad. We were at my house til 230 with my host parents. Then, down the street, the other volunteer’s brother was having a birthday party. This wasn’t just any birthday party however. The room the party was in had a disco ball, different colored lighting, and a strobe Light. It was pretty much a discoteca. It was lots of fun and I ended up in bed by 5AM haha. All in all pretty good stuff. Keep the emails coming I really enjoy them. I will respond eventually. I put them on my flash drive so I can type up a response.