Adjusting

    I'm not gonna lie, this past month has been a rollercoaster of emotions for me.  But No matter what I go through, how bad of a day I have had, it always gets better by the end of the day. Whether it be my five year old sister painting my fingernails or forcing me to dance the Hyno, or having my sister and brother bursting into my room intently staring at me typing my boring diagnostic while attempting to sit on my lap, or playing 'dont fall off the tire into the moldy water' with some kids for entertainment when we had no lights (we used a tire outside as a trampoline and held hands to jump as high as we could without falling)...for the first time since I've been here, about a month and 2 weeks now, my host family is starting to feel like my real family (dont worry mom and dad, no mom or dad compares to you, haha, no offense). They care for me even in the littlest ways.  When I told my family I was scared of the mummy sitting on my desk in my office that the people in my village found in the woods, they tried to help me come up with ways to ask to get it removed.  The next day my brother sees me and comes running saying "do you still have a mummy??" And when I said no he announces it to the whole family and everyone applauses. They even planned a weekend for me to see where they grew up at. I always tell them how interested I am to see all the animals and way out there rural stuff, so they told me they were going to show me all they can in a day.  Now some of my family is wanting to run with me in the mornings; my ten year old and 5 year old host cousins ran with me this morning at 6. We raced and I lost.


    I think you really start realizing youre becoming family when you start getting in 'trouble' with them. I was out with a couple new friends I made.  I was out later than usual (only a few houses away), and the next day  I was told that my host dad was incredibly worried for me and was asking about me. The next day I had a talking about my safety and how I need to come home early next time.  Also, one day I was super sick and was too weak to get out of my bed (no worries i can walk again), and my parents came into my room about 20 times that day. Ya, it was a little annoying but really sweet. They would come in and serve me tea, crackers, my dad bought alcohol because he thought it would help me, hahaha. My mom bought me some type of vicks vapor rub (can you believe they have that in a village?). ANd these people dont have much so to go out of their way to buy all these supplies for me helped.  I dont think Ive ever seen them so worried before. They probably thought I was dying or something.

    Ya, of course its hard and I still sometimes feel like i'm doing nothing, but I think I will always feel that way. I probably will always feel like an outsider to some extent, but I woke up the first time the other morning with complete peace. No worries thinking about how much I'm going to screw up today, how many awkward coversations I'm going to have, or how sick i'm going to get. I guess I'm learning to 'go with the flow.' ha.

    In other news, I haven't told my sisters yet, so hope theyre reading this, but I think half the town wishes my sisters weren't married so they can marry them. In one of my classes I brought in pictures of my family and friends for a lesson, and both girls and guys asked first how old erin and rachel are, then they asked if they would ever come to Llama, then asked if they're single. I received quite a number of dissatisfied faces when I told them 'sorry they're happily married.' I'm pretty sure the girls were asking for their older brothers.  They think theyre the prettiest things theyve ever seen.

    The people here are starting to be very friendly towards me, and I've had a number tell me that I have improved greatly in my spanish and someone else told me 'i can actually understnd you this time." However, every time I meet a new person, they tell me 'no entiendo' or 'i dont understand you.' So really, I think theyre just used to my broken spanish. My host family is starting to translate for me. i was invited to a wedding, and the after party was all dancing.  I had a persistent old man ask me to dance Marinara, the hardest dance ever in Llama, and when i said no, a bunch of the people clapped their hands and told me to try.  out of peer pressure, i got up and attempted to dance, having NO idea what the heck i was doing. i found myself inventing my own steps because I didnt know any of them.  the majority of the people in the room clapped their hands at me and all tried to teach me how to dance with him, haha. a little awkward. but i survived.

    Healthwise, Ive been a little sick lately and have had to go to the city chiclayo a few times to get tested, hence the reason for my frequent use of internet access lately. Its a little frustrating because I feel like I could be doing a lot more if I was better. But the doctors are working on finding what the heck is wrong with me, so thats good. And one more thing--this whole time ive been having great moments but not a great time, because of a number of factors about my site. homesickness, isolation, etc. But, now its not just great moments anymore. Im actually beginning to really enjoy being in my site. The things that made me not like my site im starting to like. I cant believe this thought is coming to my mind, but im starting to like being really really isolated from all the other communities and volunteers and civilization! A friend told me the more isolated you are, the happier, and I never believed that. but im starting to now.being isolated helps me build deeper relationships with these people; its helping me learn more about their culture and just how they live.

Here are some more pictures of my village. Hopefully my next update, I'll have my projects to share!

My surprise Breakfast, "chancho fiesta" or pig fiesta.they cut every part and eat it ALL-intestines, heart, etc..

cooking the massive pig

cooking again

  

Ive been here 3 months now!

My excuse for not updating my blog is that my poor internet access in my village does not allow me to, so only once a month at my capitol i get it. meaning I'm at the capitol!

I'm really bad at condensing things  and summarizing, so I decided to make some bullet points of my life here so far:

*I saw my first bull race just like the ones in the movies and saw 3 die, grosss.

* I danced Hyno (peruvian dance) in front of 900 people at my welcome fiesta. This equaled DISASTER. I tripped and almost fell a number of times.

* I now have an obssession with apples and empanadas. The empanadas here are like a heart attack on a plate, but theyre soo good. im pretty sure ive gained 15 pounds. the sombrero ladies taught me how to make it! i can now almost cook one food item!  the other night i went to a little old ladie's house (i think she's 80 years old), and she invited me to make them with her husband. She's going to teach me how to knit as well, she makes all her blankets and sweaters...i teach her english on mondays and wednesdays

*I drank pig's blood and felt like dying, but im alive again, whew.

* I was invited to ride a horse, but still havent been invited to herd the cows and horses and bulls yet...but i did get invited to milk a cow! i dont know when, but soon i will.

*the kids and yuth are currently teaching me how to play volleyball even though i constantly screw up and hit people and heads more than over the net

*I'm painting a world map with some of the students in the highschool on a wall in the school

*I'm attempting to teach english at the primario school. After day 1 about 15 kids asked for my autograph weird!  I didnt realize how much a "gringita" sticks out to them till now. i guess they like me, haha. Im trying to throw other topics in there, bc english isnt my goal at all. so far ive been able to tie in a self esteem lesson. hoping to throw more in there subtly!

* I finally have ideas on projects I want to take on, but I still have to wait a month or 2 to learn the language more and integrate. Im planning on using the kids as a source to get ppl to join me.

*I'm starting to like to DANCE! i hated hated hated it with a passion in the U.S. but a friend taught me Cumbia, thats the only dance i know so far. but I went to 3 llama fiestas in a row. One lasted till 4:30 am, and I literally danced from 10 pm till 4:30 am. I never know i'm going to fiestas till i get there.  I went to another community to watch the catholic church's band sing and right when i got back to my village, my host grandparents told me to get into their chicken truck with about 10 other ppl I didnt know. so i did and we ended up going to another village nearby and fiesta'd it up all night and slept on a mattress with 2 other people side by side on the dirt floor of someones hut/house with no electricity or water. I think 5 or 6 ppl crammed into that one room.  Ive learned to get very comfortable with people, haha. a very interesting experience!

*when im not teaching, i play with kids all day. Sometimes when I want to be by myself ill try to take side dirt roads to my destination, but i fail every time bc somehow they always know where im at 24/7--there will always be a group of kids attacking me with hugs and kisses. I was walking to the internet and i heard my name so i braced myself and three kids ran up and literally jumped on me haha. so  they gave me a tour of the village again for the 5th time.  I guess they feel they need to give me tours because its SO big. it takes about 10 minutes, maybe 15 to walk the whole village. pretty tiny.

*people here hate the rain, but i LOVE it. it never rains so when it does, i love to play in it. One day it rained so hard that all the dirt roads were big puddles of mud. Everyone was just waiting in their houses doing nothing so I got 5 kids to take off their shoes and play in the puddles withe me, and ive never seen the kids laugh so hard before! we played hide and go seek with the sandles and had splashing contests...i thought i was going to get in trouble with the parents bc we were ruining our clothes and i probably gave some kids the cold, but they were entertained and we had a whole audience of parents watching us and laughing. 

*I'm teaching the nuns and the students of the nuns at the convent english, and they want to learn the lyrics to justin beiber...hes even famous in a village. wow.

Things I miss:

-real coffee

-the freedom and cleanliness to walk around my house with socks, or better yet--barefoot

-being  able to decline mystery food that I know will make me sick in about 5 minutes.

-people understanding me and vice versa

-deep conversations

-not sticking out

-trident gum!

-skippy peanut butter

-sleep

-friends & family

-knowing what's going on

- a real bathroom

-the abundance of water (we get it a few hours of day)

-feeling healthy, feeling clean

Thiings I love:

-The kindess and tender heartedness of my host family

-the innocence and  happinness and naivity of these kids 

-the simplicity of life

-empanadas and chaufa!

-old sombrero ladies with their crazy stories

-fiestas

-cumbia dances

-living in an adobe house with thatch roofs

-washing my own clothes village-style (hands and a bar of soap)

-the laid backness attitude of the people

-how people get excited about the littlest things

-learning how to be independent and enjoying it

-running at 5:30 in the morning by the foothills

-being constantly amazed daily with Gods creation

-the art of music

PHOTOS!  more to come. in this order:

1) my family and their friends and i playing

2)outside my house

3& 4) my family

5)the park

6)the dirt kitchen

7) the peace corps ceremony at the Lima Embassy--whenever people from my village see this picture, they dont believe its me bc i look pretty crappy in my village....my last time to dress up and look nice for awhile haha. 

8)dirt kitchen again

9) me on a horse of my family's! I was too scared to ride it, so i posed. and the grandfather walked the horse down one street. great adventure.

2 more days!

Wow. Can we say culture shock?!

I think I experienced every emotion on my few days trip to my new place...Excitement, fear of the uknown, afraid, happy, sad, joyful, missing people,confusion,frustration,exhaustion, energetic, anxious,appreciative,surprised,awed, and the list goes on.

I know I already explained my town to you, but I officially met them! My family is super sweet and treats me as their own child. THe children are really young and they ask my parents sometimes for ice cream or some type of 'dulce' (sweets).  Whenever my mom gives in, she always buys three of something; one for each kid plus me. I live in a very small house. my bathroom is right outside my house in the back, along with the water. No running water in the house, but its very close and im investing in a boiler. i have my own room, whew! i cant get my camera to work so i cant post pics. but theres a small living room, a kitchen, then a room for my parents and a room for me. I''m still trying to figure out where the kids sleep. I dont know if they sleep with the parents or if they sleep in a room close to the bathroom. Right now i have a dirt floor but am getting a carpet! another plus. I have no cell phone reception and limited internet access, but i DO have electricity so i can still straighten my hair, hahahaha. I'm such a girl. As long as I got electricity I'm good to go. oh, and i do have a shower but im a little scared to use it so im learning about bucket showers at the moment. ive never had a bucket shower, itll be interesting!

So the foothills are BEAUTIFUL. every morning I run around this HUGE mountain that the community hikes once a year and has a fiesta at the top. theres a couple palm trees, a beautiful park in the center. What I normally see in a typical day while walking my village: a herd of bulls walking along its herder, maybe a few hogs roaming around, kids playing volley, girls talking while the guys drink in circles outside their houses, women passing the streets with their donkeys and usually a baby on their back wearing the traditional sombrero and long skirts,and the scorching sun probably burning my face (dont worry mom im wearing sunblock! the strong stuff so i wont die). Theres also a few dogs--theyre so nicer than the ones here in Chacra! they actually dont bite!


transportaion is a bit difficult bc i live so far away from just about everything. but we are working on this situation and the country director is driving me to my city this time so i wont get lost on my own at night, so thats a good thing, whew. it took me 30 1/2 hours to get from Llama back to Chacrasana. but they do have these awesome full layout buses for the last bus ride i have to take, the 15 hour one. those things are fun!

its a little hard having people understand me in my broken spanish. ive gotten better but they speak in a different accent in this small village. however, they are super nice and are already teaching me their slang, and i met a friend of my socio (the person im supposed to work with for the next 2 weeks), and they took me out to the one restaurant in town. menu: rice and beans and soup. ha. you get the same at a restaurant and in the house, but i guess they think its different.i think once i start getting better with the spanish, ill be less frustrated and hoping ppl will understand me! but its exciting to always learn something new and is always funny and adventure with all my awkward encounters i have. i dont know when youll hear from me again.im leaving to go to site in 2 days, after my ceremony and initiation into becoming a volunteer this weekend! im almost a real volunteer! im still classified as a 'trainee' until this weekend! until then, nos vemos!

i got my site!

so I will be spending the next two years in.....

CAJAMARCA! thats a good thing. If anyone feels like stalking me and googling it, the exact place is llama, which is in the city of chota, which is in the providence of Cajamarca. 930 people live in my community, and I'm pretty way out there. My total trip time is on average 26 hours from Lima. Lima to Cajamarca is 15ish hours, then to the city chota is 6 hours, then another 5 hours to my site! BUT, good thing is because I'm so far away, I get an extra day of vacation when I travel. And I live about 2 hours from the closest volunteer. My room is currently being added to my house..not sure about the water situation or much. But I do know I'm by foothills. I leave this Sunday to meet my family!! ahhh! I will post back more later when I find out more descriptions. I do know they want me to be creating my own programs and projects for 'underprivileged youth,' helping out with programs with the catholic church, teaching in the schools and helping with tutoring, and teaming up with other leaders in the community to work together on other projects.

In other news............
The highlight of these past few weeks would have to be when  I went to field based training, where I went with a group to a possible site and observed what the volunteers did and participated in the activities. It was cool because it showed me some stuff I could be doing when I get to site. We taught a lot in schools or non-informal places. We did a session on self esteem, one on nutrition, one on English, and we just played games with one. I had to speak in spanish when I taught and I failed miserably the first time! However, the second and third time was a whole lot better and I think people actually understood me. We also got to go on a tour of the ruins of the incans, that was interesting!

from top to bottom: Ninos playing the drums outside the afro-peruana museum in one of the volunteer's sites; watching youth in a school teaching a lesson to their peers after we spent the first hour teaching them the same thing;aaand a really cool bridge.  there's this river thats not crossable by car, so theres this huge bridge that goes across where local villagers cross all the time.

thats all for now! as usual, I'm having problems uploading but hopefully i can put more up later.

I spent two days worth of salary on sandals

This post has nothing to do with my title, but i just recently bought shoes and am excited. i came to peru with flip flops and was told im not allowed to wear them so i almost have no shoes. we get 8 soles a day on pc salary, which is a little under 3 dollars. but it was so worth it.which is probably a pointless fact, haha.

picture time!

where we stayed at for orientation! well, not here, the building behind this, the bright green sign:)

random shot of part of the town

this is one of the things i find the most crazy about--in my town there can be pretty decent houses, and RIGHT next door will look almost like a shack. i have a pretty nice house and am spoiled, but the volunteer next to me lives in something similar like this but its all cement.

my hermana who i told to make a crazy face, and I guess I went to crazy-happy on her.

outside my bed room window of my little dirt town

these people love love LOVE fiestas! which consist of dancing, eating, drinking, and crazy fireworks. starts around 4 and the town stays up till like 6 or 7 in the morning! i wont admit what time it was, but i was the first one to sleep, even before my 2 yr old brother!

these are the insane fireworks, built on planks of wood. when it goes off, i started running bc they go in the crowd and everywhere! i had to run to miss them.

some quick facts:

1)i saw a llama finally!
2)i ate cow intestines and havent gotten sick yet, but dont think I want to try that again.
3) 7 more weeks till i get into site and will be working with kids and youth!
4)i got chased by 3 dogs last night until a peruvian saw me and saved me
5)I feel like a very awkward gringa around my family bc i still dont understand what theyre saying, and we are constantly having misunderstanding conversations. my mom will be talking about something and i will respond on a completely diff subject thinking im answering her, but i end up just confusing everybody that's around me, haha. But its fun, m learning slowly. a group of us volunteers have been having to interview random people on the street, and I finally can ask questions with them understanding!
6)me and a few others started our first youth group! during training we are supposed to get a bunch of youth together and teach them something. Last week we had 15 youth show up--we'll be teaching them english through music and art, and will also be doing some culture exchange information as well.











ill post more pics later when my comp is faster!

first week!

hello all!
I don't get very much internet access so these posts will probably be pretty short. But I wanted to give you all a quick update on my past few days:
Training consists of class from 8-5 pm (4 hours each day is only language class) every day except for Sundays, we got those off!  I live with a host family and I like them so that's a relief, whew! I have to catch a bus with the others in the morning around 730issh to get there in time.  I live in a really small dirt town surrounded by mountains called chacrasana with a granmother who is 88, a mother who is 35, and two little children named henry (2) and noeilla (4).  I think they used to be scared of me because henry cried every time i came near him..however, we bonded over a pile of nuts sitting in a circle on the floor. Now he likes me. hoora. so does the girl.  I taught them a hide-and-seek type of game that they wanna plan all the time. I have pictures of them too that I will post once I buy a card reader! they also like to attack me in every way possible--with lots of hugs,  kisses, punches, etc; and I'm pretty sure Henry thinks I'm a living jungle gym.

Anyways, most of the houses are literally stuck side by side. Us peace corps volunteers carry rocks with us whenever we go outside bc we were told they can bite, haha. Some have only cold water and some only have latrines, but I got lucky. I have hot water AND indoor plumbing without internet. its even got two floors. but the water is really really hot. they don't have warm water. So I'm learning to take 2 minute showers. 

I have 9 more weeks after this one till I get my site destination and a new family, but now im liking my new family! oh, and the food is pretty good here. My host mother likes to feed me  A LOT and give me lots and lots of chocolate! I think she wants me to become 'gordita,' thats the name here for really big or 'plump.' in peruvian culture its a compliment if you're gorda.

the days are very unpredictable as well.  After training, I usually just hang out with my family and play with the kids. But sometimes I do random things and have no idea what is going on. For example, my host family wanted me to go to a party with them so we drove awhile to somebody's uncle's house and drank sangria and met the whole extended family. it was crazy busy but fun!


Okay thats all for now, hope you all are doing well, thanks so much for all your support and prayers and being interested in my life! 

My First Day!

So, today was my first day as a peace corps trainee!!  So far I've learned to not procrastinate and pack everything last minute for next time (I got two hours of sleep bc I decided to pack a night and day before leaving), AND that these trainees are really really nice!  My roommate (we got assigned roommates) and I  were talking about how so many of these people are just genuinely really sweet. There were 56 of us today, and I met each one.

here's what I did:
*flew into Arlington around 10:30 and bumped into 4 other peace corps volunteers (you could tell us apart with our business attire while wearing hiking backpacks;I guess the two dont usually go hand-in-hand). We pretty much became friends immediately and rode over to Holiday Inn together in a huge taxi shuttle to fit everything in
*orientation from 12-6
*Went out with a bunch of peace corps people to dinner and hung out a little.

and yes, ive already taken pictures, but I just discovered about 5 seconds ago I can't upload anything at the moment. My card reader is too small to fit my notebook, so once I figure how to do this, pics will come!!

Tomorrow we head out at 6:00 am for an 8 hour flight to Lima, Peru with a lay over for about 2 hours in Miami. AHHH IM GOING TO PERU TOMORROW!!!!!!!! thats excitement right there, not nervousness. I probably should be a littler nervous, but I'm not at the moment. Maybe it'll hit me when I'm actually on the plane. I'm going to be in Lima until saturday, and then I meet my host family and move in with them for the next 3ish months. I hope I get a really good one! I'l find out soon!

Well, the next time youll hear from me will be when im IN PERU!!