SLACK ATTACK: Ode to a Peace Corps Bestie

I like to think that good friendships make themselves. My best and favorite relationships have surprised me. Such is the case with one of my dear Peru 17 BFF's, the one and only, Amanda Slack. Slack gets her own blog post because she is mentioned frequently in my little corner of the interweb here and it is about time I share with you why she comes up so much. Partly it's because we spend a lot of time together; but mostly, it's because she is the perfect combination of awesome and strange. Strange things happen to strange people, and the same can be said for awesome. So here you have it, the ballad of Amandita.

June 9th: Staging: An awkward and emotionally draining day. After making it through the paperwork, I landed at a table of people I didn't know with the very enthusiastic staging lady pushing an activity form at me telling me to go around and get to know people with this lame 'get to know you' game. She walked away and I said, to no one in particular, "What if I don't want to get to know people right now?" In the 3 seconds between saying this and grabbing my phone to take advantage of my last day of ATT service to text Joe, I noticed out of the corner of my eye this girl across the table cracking up and smiling at me. Hmm. Is she laughing at me? I think so. I put her on the list of friend potentials and kept an eye on her for the next few days. 

Jump to host family match ups in the lawn of the Santa Eulalia training center. Names were called and we were matched up with our training host families. While patiently and anxiously waiting to get my family, I remember noticing an interesting event. There are 3 Amandas in Peru 17. The training staff member who was reading off our names and giving us our living assignments was only reading first names. When 'Amanda' was called, the girl from staging that had sparked my curiosity took the assignment without hesitation and I didn't recall a last name being specified. I thought this was a little weird, and had a flash of a thought to ask what last name they meant, but hey, I'm not an Amanda. This was none of my business. Little did I know, I was letting a miracle happen right there. What had happened is that Amanda Slack went home with the family that was meant for Amanda McCullough... in a neighborhood for more advanced Spanish speakers, which, at the time, Amanda Slack was not.

So there we are in Yanacoto, Amanda Slack, myself, and 5 others. Night one of our Yanacoto life and we were all at the soccer court getting to know the locals. At this point, Amanda's Spanish was a series of nods, "Siii!" and "¿Cuantos años tienes?" So on that first night, when a strapping young chap approached her and (unbeknownst to us) fell in love at first sight, Slack simply nodded and agreed with everything he had to say. This deep and intimate conversation led to what Brice Corts so appropriately described as Love in Yanacoto. What does that entail? See photo here: 

If a giant mural in itself hadn't raised her to celeb status in Yanacoto, her charm and charisma would have. You see, Amanda has the ability to make any Peruvian she talks to fall in love with her immediately. I think it's a mix of her humility and awkwardly lovable persona. The mural wasn't her only Yanacoto legacy. She also left that place with a  godchild and a host family ready to make the 8 hour trip to visit her as soon as they can. 

Anyway, it took just a few days for us to realize the Amanda mix up in Yanacoto, and when we did, there was no way we were going to give our Amanda up to another neighborhood. In less than a week from meeting her, she had gone from friend potential to the top of the friends list. During training, we shared many combi rides (some good, some not so good), daily walks up/ down the beast of a hill that is Yanacoto, random nights, random days, lots of chisme, awkward Spanish mix ups, and plenty of Snacks. In the days leading up to site assignments, it was sad to think that we might not end up in the same place, so I tried not to think about it. 

But then by another Peace Corps miracle, on site assignment day, we found ourselves in the same group headed to La Libertad. I couldn't have been happier. What does it mean to have one of your favorite Peace Corps cohorts from training in your department? It means random texts like, "Um, I just got invited to a naked beach. Like seriously, what is going on?" or delightful facebook messages, like, "my fams gone and im alone and i tried to do laundry and it exploded everywhere. so freaked out. like i dunno. i went outside and was hanging up my clothes and i came back to a lake. i don't know and don't wanna know but cant hide it. the whole town probs knows cuz neighbor saw. like freak out more. but call me tonight. love you. cracking up." or phone calls like, "sooo... my host fam just came in the bathroom while I was showering... and they asked about my earrings while i was standing there naked. Oh and by the way, they call security every time I leave the house, no wonder why all the security guards are always saying "Hola Amandita" like, seriously?" or late night cab rides when she asks the driver for a bedtime story... "¿sabes Goodnight Moon?" I could go on forever. This also means that she has to put up with texts and calls from me like, "Uh... I think I am getting kidnapped tomorrow." or "Damn it. I wish I had explosive diarrhea right now." She always knows what to say and these things are not weird at all. I love it. 

Living just a few hours from Slack is one of the best parts of my Peace Corps life so far. Not only am I constantly entertained by her adventures and hilarious story telling abilities, but I am also inspired by the way she just jumps in and talks to anyone, anytime, in any variety of Spanish possible. I clam up so often when speaking Spanish that I admire her fearless attitude and confidence. The improvement in her Spanish from that first night in Yanacoto to now is so immense and impressive that I can't even explain it. 

So here's to you Amandita. Thanks for being an inspiration, a constant source of entertainment, and the best wingman I could have asked for. Stay awesome. 

Yanacoto: The Early Days 

                                                Baptizing a child. She's kind of a big deal.

                                                     Hike in Yanacoto with my new friend.

                                                                 Charm.

Style.

Grace. 

Peruvians love this girl. 

...I mean, LOVE this girl. 

...and so do I :) 

26!

When I first came to Peru and had a thought about turning 26, I imagined it as a sort of quiet and unremarkable milestone. As with most things in Peace Corps Peru, what I imagined was the opposite of what I got. As mentioned in my previous post, my host family and friends here are an amazing group of people and I am very lucky to have had them all here in Ascope to celebrate with me on my birthday. Lucky for me, not only is my birthday a holiday here- but it also fell on a Saturday this year. This meant a full day of celebrating. All of my fellow Peru 17ers in La Libertad, Slack, Nicole, Sue Song, and Alex made the trip to Ascope as well as our Peru 14 'big brothers' Matt and Brian. The fact that they all spent the morning on a bus just to come to Ascope in itself makes me so happy. On top of that though, they brought their party pants and present bags (one of the bags is even Hannah Montana, oh Peru)  filled with nail polish, fun jewelry, and of course, SNACKS! We had a great day filled with food, drinks, dancing, snacks, and (my favorite part) a Hello Kitty piñata. I'll let the pictures do the talking, though I should explain a few of them.

Matt, better known as Mateo in these parts, is tall. Peruvians are short. Piere wanted to smash my face in my cake, as is tradition here. When I had pointed out earlier in the week that he wouldn't be able to reach my face to smash cake into it, he snapped back by saying that he would just ask Mateo if he could sit on his shoulders... that way he wouldn't have any problem reaching. I can't believe this kid is only 6 sometimes. Of course Matt was barely in the house before Piere was whispering in his ear to solicit his height and mutual mischief. So, I figured I would just let it happen. No use fighting it. Here you have what ensued... 

I think they were afraid I would run away...

And there it is.

Fudge and caramel do not belong in your nose, hair, or eyelashes. Just sayin' 

Hora Loca featuring... Amanda Slack!!!

Pals :)

Treats!!! 

Hello Brian? 

I also want to mention how GREAT it was to talk my family that day. They were all together for little Cora's baptism, so I was able to talk to them that night, which was the best present I could have asked for. Thanks Joe for all the calls that day and for filling my spot at the baptism, you're the best! Thanks to everyone else for the emails and facebook posts. 26 was a great birthday and better than I could have imagined. I am a very lucky girl. Love you all, thanks for being awesome! 

Birthday Mail! Birthday Mail! Birthday Mail!

Thursday 

October 6th

Birthday Mail! 

The week leading up to my birthday was rather slow and strange. Stress was coming from places I didn't expect it, like random rumors around the neighborhood, a short lull in projects, a seemingly infinite and forever frustrating process of setting up internet in my room, etc. So by the time Thursday rolled around, I decided to take a quick trip into Trujillo for some random errands, one of them to pop into the post office and check for rumored birthday mail. This turned out to be a wonderful day that was a break I needed more than I had thought. Not only because I was able to learn more about the city and get oriented a bit better, but mostly due to the fact that I was pleasantly surprised with a bundle of fantastic birthday mail! I have the best collection of people in my life that a girl could ask for. Thank you to Sara Stremikis and Joe Kotlowski for brightening my week just when I needed it that day. The pictures below display my birthday schwag (to steal a Joe phrase ;) If you look real close you can see that the peanut butter pumpkin didn't make it home to be photographed, but I did keep the wrapper for photographic purposes. 

After discovering and aprovecharing this gem of a treat, I headed to the mall for a pizza hut lunch and a chill Trujillo afternoon with my friend Matt. Upon returning home, I couldn't help but think about how incredibly lucky I am. In the Peace Corps, and just life in general. I ended up in a beautiful country in a site that I love that sits within two hours from American comforts if (more realistically, when) I need them. I have a host family who, just in that week, had learned how to make tofu for me, helped me set up internet in my room, and was planning a birthday party for me. I have friends here like Matt who can tell when I need a day away, and like Brian, Slack, Sue, and Nicole who are always there to talk and know exactly what to say and what I'm going through. On top of all of this, I have the never ending unconditional love of everyone back home that is more appreciated than I can explain. To not only be remembered on my birthday, but to get packages too?!? I am so loved. And when I say loved, I mean spoiled. 

Sara, I was really wanting a new shirt. Can't explain it, but sometimes a Target shirt is an easy treat that can really pick a girl up. Thanks for that :) Also, the sticky Halloween set that you sent was a big hit with the host brothers. Farid put a bat in his school notebook and Piere was begging me to put the rest on the window. The picture below shows it when it still looked nice. Currently, the Trick or Treat says "Korticat" and the castle is ripped. When I asked little man what happened, he said "it must have been the green bat." uh-huh. 

Joe, everything you sent, keep it coming :) Peanut butter M&M's and new music all in one?!?! Lucky girl :) Oh, and that Luna bar came in real handy on the morning of my 9 mile race... more on that coming soon. That damn race deserves it's own entry... more later. Thanks for stopping by :)

Joe Package!!!

Sara Strem Package! 

Window Fun! 

Football Sunday Success!!!

Sunday October 2nd: Brenda and Craig's 1st anniversary, and lil host bro Peire's birthday. Big day. A magical day if you will... it was on this day that I was finally able to spend an entire afternoon watching American football...in a bar, on a beach. Wonderful, beautiful day.

And when I came home, Piere had saved a piece of the cake they had for him at lunch. I had spent the day prior in Trujillo with him at an arcade to celebrate appropriately, so it wasn't a big deal that I missed the cake. But the fact that he personally saved me a piece was really cute. His birthday Saturday was so much fun. I may or may not have beaten him in air hockey once or twice... don't judge, I tried to let him win, it just wasn't working out for him.

Sweet delicious birthday cake. 

Happy Vegetarian Awareness Month!

Ok, so a few of you have asked how it's going being a vegetarian in Peru. It's awesome.

My host mom has been feeding me beans, eggs, and veggies, but recently she turned up the brilliance. It was a Saturday night and Piere insisted that I go to the pharmacy with him and the folks. This was weird, but I'm used to everything being weird, so I hopped in the mototaxi and went along with it. After waiting for them at the pharmacy, Henry (host dad) drove over to a random restaurant in Ascope and they explained that is was a vegetarian restaurant. We were there so that I could try their soy meat, and if I liked it they would buy some and learn how to make it. Of course I loved it and gobbled it up like a tiny monster. Oh nom nom. So from that moment on, I have been eating sweet delicious soy products. The weird thing? It happened on world vegetarian day.

Yeah, I know, I'm a total nerd for knowing when world vegetarian day is, but we're coming up on 10 years of no meat... these things just get brought to your attention after awhile. October 1st marks this momentous day and begins vegetarian awareness month, aka the best month of the whole year because it also brings with it my birthday, pretty fall colors*, halloween, football, and pumpkin spice lattes*.

Anyway, we are nearly halfway through October already and I am happy to announce that Maggie has mastered vegetarian Chinese (with tofu and sprouts and delicious sauce with seemingly small amounts of MSG!), soy fillets, veggie/ tofu stir-fry, and tofu veggie patties. I am in heaven.

Another little veggie treat that I have finally discovered? Vegetarian papas rellenas. I have been searching for one of these since my arrival 4 months ago. Thanks to the expertise of those who came before me, I happened upon a wonderful little potato place that serves a delicious stuffed potato that is not tainted by any meat products that I would have to otherwise dissect from my fantastic fried treat. See photo below. This was amazing.

*indicates region specific events ;)

Vegetarian Papa Rellena. AMAZING. 

My New Hobby

So... after I learned that Peruvians don't learn how to play go fish, I decided to make it my own little project to ensure that Piere knows how to master the intricacies of this marvelous game. I didn't know it would be such a hit though. Every night after dinner, we play at least 3 games. Right now I'm in the lead. Win.

Corruption, Condoms, and Go Fish

Week of Sep. 26-30

Busy busy week. Yes, despite all of my posts about football, Trujillo, parties, and care packages, I actually do work here :) The fun stuff is just easier to write about and more fun for you guys to read. 

In addition to the family party on Monday, I went to a town hall type of meeting held by the sugar factory in the town next to mine. The purpose of this meeting was to address the community with a discussion on their actions with regard to the environment. It was a tense atmosphere and a very political approach to this sensitive issue. My community partner who invited me along with her put it best when she said that this was a good opportunity for me to "see the reality" of a big issue in the community. I don't really know how to explain this so I will give you this example: we were at a meeting about this company 'caring' for the environment and they gave everyone in attendance (at least 100 people) a packet of 80 pages of paper, which was printed on one side only. Really? This was a very interesting experience and I am really glad she invited me. If anything, it was just good to get a better idea of what this company is like and who was invited to the meeting, etc. Meetings here are a great way for me to network and learn about what's going on, so this was a win. And I can't forget the free chicha and snacks that I get at meetings. That's always a big win ;)

On Wednesday, I taught my English lesson to the teachers of high school English on a provincial level. Turned out only being about 20 people, but I was really happy with the way it went. They seemed happy just to have a native English speaker there. It's so great working with motivated adults there to learn and ask questions and participate. Way different than the teens, but I like them too :) My favorite part of the English lesson was 'go fish.' I made a game of 'go fish' with letters so that they had to practice letters and sounds. This was our first activity to get them talking. When I planned this, I did not realize that Peruvians don't play 'go fish.' I had no idea there was so much room for error with this game. Once they got the hang of it, they loved it. This was fun for me :) The focus of the session was pronunciation and participatory activities so we did a lot of talking and I showed them a load of games they can use to get their students talking. It was really fun playing English games all afternoon and feeling like an expert at something. lol. 

The following day brought my meeting of the Red Ambiental. Our theme this month was teen pregnancy so I got to draw some really awesome visuals ;) and I managed to get 90 free condoms from the Centro de Salud which was a huge win for me. Lucky for me my friend and fellow PCV Kerry, who lives not too far from me, came along with her school so I had a buddy for this event. We had a great time with the kids and I think they enjoyed it too. Again, I think the pictures can explain this better than I can, so I leave you to some visuals. 

With Profesor Manuel

Go Fish (not go feesh ;)

He helped us practice descriptive adjectives! 

They made me make this corny pose, but something makes me think my mom will like this so here it is.

Sex Ed! WooHoo! 

Party on a Monday!

Day 36

Sep. 26 

Monday

The host family's relatives were visiting from Cajamarca for a few days this week so we had a party in the living room on a Monday night, which was awesome. We were celebrating the arrival of the little baby Valentina (who is adorable), aunt Julie's upcoming 40th birthday, my arrival, Piere's upcoming birthday, and their visit in general. Can't think of any better reasons for a party :) The pictures will do a better job explaining the event, so I will let them speak...

Treat table: my favorite part of the parties.

Baby! 

This cake was delicious. 

Weekend of Sep. 24-25/ Football Sunday Attempt #2

PACKAGE FROM JOE!!! See photo below. My boyfriend is amazing. He even tossed in a t-shirt from corn & tator fest :) Note: I did not ask for the sunscreen. Someone is being over protective. lol. "that's why they call it a care package." hahaha. I'm so spoiled. 

Regional meeting in Trujillo took me to the post office for that little gem of a package. As always, it was great to see everyone and we had a wonderful time. All of the volunteers here are great and I love our Peru 17 La Libertad family. It's a good one. 

Sunday while I was on my way to Pacasmayo to try for football Sunday again, I got a call to let me know that the power was out in the city so there would be no football watching for another week. Bummer. I was able to get off the bus just in time to return to site for a chill afternoon with the host fam. I was a little sad I couldn't watch football, but the third time's a charm... next Sunday will bring good things. 

                                                                        Peanut butter jelly time! 

Week of Sep. 19-23

This was a week of planning for the following week. Lots of preparation for my English class and Red Ambiental meeting happened that week. I was also working with the tutoria director at the high school doing dance sessions with her and meeting the students. She invited me to a 2 day training for a group of adolescents to learn how to promote reproductive health. Attending this was a really fun way to get to know some of the teens here and was a good opportunity for me to learn some local norms and technical vocabulary in this area (otherwise it would have been very annoying to have to look up anatomy and STD terms in Spanish ;) The session was put on by another NGO and was very well done. I was also able to meet some students of the private school and the nursing school in Ascope, which was great. Overall, an awesome event for me to be a part of.

Football Sunday Attempt #1

Day 28

Sept. 18

Sunday

Went to Pacasmayo for a football Sunday only to learn that the TV package we purchased wasn't ready yet. Sigh. I wasn't surprised or upset about this because I was so excited about where it is we will be watching football. See photos below. I loved Pacasmayo right away and the hostel where we will be watching the games is right on the beach and wonderful. It was also fun to make my way up the Pan-American highway solo and go somewhere new all by myself. I didn't realize how much I was missing the feeling of independence until I got a little taste of it that day. Even though there was no football, I still had an awesome afternoon with Mark and Jim hanging out by the beach. Really looking forward to football Sundays coming soon :)

Day 25

Day 25

Sept. 15, 2011

Thursday

Malas noticias. Ruby ran away. I think she may have given me fleas first though. Double whammy. Piere and I searched the cornfields for over an hour to no avail. Bummer. He gifted me Pirata (Pirate, Ruby's sister) as a pity effort, but he warned me that Pirata might be too old to make a strong connection with me like Ruby did. Piere is so wise for his years. lol.

Note: Pirata split a few days after Ruby's exit. Only one puppy remains and he is Piere's. Now if I can only convince little man not to name the puppy Satan...

Ruby

Pirata

Day 24: Science Fair!!!

Day 24

Sep. 14. 2011

Wednesday

Science Fair Day!

>Arrived at the school district at 7:20am. Helped with last minute details and organizing certificates as they were being printed in the copy shop across the street. Helped load things in the truck. Crammed into the school district's truck with 8 other people in it. Seriously... not exaggerating with that number 8.

>Rolled into Sausal shortly after piling into the truck. It's true what they say about that place being the land of eternal sun. Met the other judges and began working on the judging. I took my time and was very careful about my task. After reading through the projects and giving them points based on the written reports, we were lead around to each group for the presentations. This was really really cool. The kids memorized speeches and some of them were natural speakers. The winners had an awesome booth with tons of pictures and graphics. They even brought their dog to show us that animals like the food that they made from organic wastes. Awesome. Another group presented on malva, and for the life of me, I cannot figure out what malva is. Word reference and dictionary.com failed me. Anyway, they had malva in a glass of what I think was just water. At the end of the presentation, they poured each judge a cup of malva water? I don't know what it was, but I couldn't not drink it. There were tons of people watching and these little kids staring up at me....I just chugged. It tasted like grass. I haven't noticed ay weird side effects... yet. As far as selecting the winners, I went for the kids who obviously did work. Not the research and report kind of projects, but things that required field work and visible reporting with logged evidence. I'm nerdy enough to appreciate that sort of thing ;) So the winners we ended up with were as follows: 1) Animal Food from Organic Waste 2.) Hydroponics to Improve Your Quality of Life 3.) Solar House to Dehydrate Vegetables. First place made their own animal food from food scraps and animal fat/ fish gills/ egg shells. This required collection of materials, cooking, forming balls from the cooked food, leaving the shaped food in the sun for 15 days and monitoring progress, then packaging the food. Also, their presentation was awesome and obviously took some time to put together. And like I said, they had a dog. They were a clear stand-out winner. 2nd place used hydroponics, which is cool. They built a planter with tarps to diffract light and a tub underneath with the water. They aerate the plants twice a day and monitor plant growth. They had plants from 7 days to 15 days to 30 days to show progress. Again, a lot of work obviously went into that project. Awesome. The third place was a little harder to choose, but was also chosen on the basis of work being done. The kids built a solar box and dehydrated food in it. They had to monitor the food and rate of dehydration. I appreciate the time they put into that. Even though my selling point was work realized, my counterpart seemed to be sold on the idea of a project helping the community. That was her talking point: how the project could benefit the community and be reproduced or marketed. I like that. I think we were a nice compliment to each other.

>Other: This event was fabulous for networking and getting my face out there a little more. I scored 2 more TV interviews and met some new people. I also ran into a lot of people saying they know my friends all over La Libertad. It's great to see the we, as Peace Corps volunteers, have such an impact and a presence here. Nice. While I ended up on stage twice, I was never handed the microphone, apart from my TV interviews. Win! While judging. I got a free lunch, free snack, and plenty of Inca Cola, of course. Not a bad way to spend a Wednesday.

>Came home on a school bus... weird. Called Bridgie from a locutorio and learned that mom's knee surgery went well. So relieved to hear that everything went alright.

Side Note- the mosquitoes here are starting to get the best of me... ):

Malva drinking... once again, my face betrays me...

Sunday Blues

Day 21

Sep. 11. 2011

Sunday

Ran 10 miles. Three of my friends from home ran half marathons that morning and I was jealous. I haven't put down any distance since being in Peru. It was overdue. Got the distance, but kept it at a slow pace, so as to avoid shin splints or foot blisters. 9:40 pace overall. Slow, but I’m ok with that. Tripped on a rock right before mile 9. Got up and finished strong with a dusty butt and a bloody scraped up leg. I say “finished strong” because it was one of my faster miles… either because it was through town and I was getting stared at like crazy with a bloody leg, or because I just wanted it to be over. Lol Laid low for the rest of the day recovering from the run. Hung with Piere. Sunday afternoon was sad and lonely, as they usually are. I miss Joe so much. Football Sundays started that day and just as I was being all gloomy and homesicky, one of the guys of La Libertad called and asked if I would be interested in pitching in for a Direct TV Sunday Ticket package to watch American football for the season. Would I?!? Perfect way to avoid my Sunday blues. I quickly hopped on that wagon. As of next Sunday until the end of regular season play, I will be hitching a bus to Pacasmayo for some NFL in a bar on a beach with American friends. So excited.

After dinner that night, I showed my host fam pictures on my laptop. They liked it and I had fun. The kids (nieces/ nephews) are so cute and it was fun explaining their personalities to my host fam. They saw a picture of Blake stealing candy bars on Halloween and they loved him instantly. I'm glad I had a classic Blake moment on film to share with them the essence of one of my favorite kids in the whole wide world. The pictures contributed to the missing Joe, however. He's pretty.

Day 20

Day 20

Sep. 10. 2011

Saturday

>Morning- Didn't go to cornfield because there was no water, so a proper bathing situation prior to going to the school district did not exist... also i was too tired to listen to my alarm at 6am.

>Worked at the school district for just shy of 9 hours getting things ready for the science fair on Wednesday. Enjoyed the work. Made spreadsheets and piles of projects. Organized. It was fun. That's all I have to report from that day.

Day 19: The TV Interview

Day 19

Sep. 9, 2011

Friday

>8am- Ran a 5K. Halfway through, My run intersected with a phy ed class. Their teacher, had them line up as I was coming around the track. He made them run with me. They were quick. We did 2 laps, then I joined their class for stretches and speed work. Afterwards, some of the girls asked me to play volleyball with them. This was a great 'in' with the kids. They were 12 and 13 years old and so much fun!!!

> Biodanza lesson with the high school kids and Profesora Liliana Leka. Biodanza is this method of getting kids (people in general) to feel more comfortable with themselves through basic dance and mild meditation skills. Interesting at best. Profesora Leka says I have natural rhythm. The whole thing was strange, but sort of fun. The kids seemed to warm up to the idea of dancing around after awhile. They were cute. It's nice getting to know them.

> Lunch with fam. Delicious cabbage dish. I put too much ahi on it though which scarred my tongue and prevented much enjoyment of food for the following hour or so :( Boo.

> Piere gifted me a puppy! The little brown and white one liked me the best. She snuggled into my arms and licked me a bunch. She was real cozy when I held her and she liked it when Piere and I tickled her fat little tummy. Love. She looked at me with a lot of love in her little face. She has clear blues eyes which I'm told will change to green. She is a pitbull. And adorable. And mine. After some thought, I decided to call her Ruby. She is the blondest of the bunch and rubia is too long. There is already a dog called Gringo... to call her Gringa would be confusing. But she is light brown in a family of black and gray dogs... hence she's the rubia. Therefore, I shall call her Ruby. Piere approved it and the fam seems to like it too. Win.

> Went to the school district. Fany was busy, so I talked to her colleague Santos about the library project that Carlos had mentioned. Carlos is my community partner at the municipality and he had mentioned that the community wants a library. A house of a late poet who was born in Ascope is being renovated in January and will be turned into a Cultural House. Santos explained that there is already a committee in place working on the casa cultural, in which they want to include a library. He invited me to an impromptu meeting Monday night so that the committee can meet with me to discuss this further. Basically, this is a huge undertaking. This group wants a library, but they need funding, and books, and computers. So many many things. I want to tackle this, but I am intimidated... Looking forward to Monday's meeting though.

> TV Interview! I think it went well. Antonio from the school district interviewed me. He's actually pretty cool. He threw in a question about my new puppy because he could tell I was nervous. It was nice. I didn't know how to answer all of the questions immediately, but there weren't any pauses that were too ridiculously long. We talked about the Red Ambiental, the upcoming science fair, etc. Fany did most of the talking, thank goodness. I think it went well, but I am happy it is over :)

>Antonio, Fany, and I had juice and some little bread things at a cafe in Casa Grande. We had a very complimetary conversation in which they said my Spanish was fine during the interview. Sweet! Antonio is really cool. He has lived in Argentina, Germany, and Japan. He is a published writer and he knows where Wisconsin is because he has a friend who lives there. He said that people from WI are nicer than people he has met from other states and that we are humble and hardworking, with an appreciation of nature. Strange that he would have such a specific description, but i like it. My evening was very good and went better than I had thought it would. Another great Friday to end another solid week.

Day 17: Machete Time!

Day 17

Sep. 7, 2011

Wednesday

>6am- Machete lesson! Learned how to cut corn with a machete then helped in the field until 9:45am. That's almost 4 hours of corn cutting! I was wiped out for the rest of the day. Soooo tired. I really enjoyed spending time with my host grandpa and host dad. It was actually kind of relaxing and stress relieving to knock things over with a giant knife. The manual labor was nice. I liked it. I wanted to go back the next day, but Maggie and Betty wouldn't allow it because I have a blister from holding the machete. A tiny little blister.

> Breakfast of this delicious combo of scrambled eggs and peppers/ onions. So good! Then a package arrived from a relative in Cajamarca. She sent cheese! And manjar blanco and roscitos... which I love. Nom.

> Very extensive bucket bath. So dirty after my corn cutting adventure.

> Worked on finding some activities for next week's workshop with the parents and psychologist. Read through A TON of Peace Corps material. Found some good stuff.

> Lunch with fam. Yummy things. Beet salad over rice with huancaina sauce and an egg.

> Foot races with Piere, as I had promised him. I made him drink juice between races, then count to ten in English so the juice could settle before running again. Then we jump roped, then ran some more.

> Went to school district and talked to Manuel about the English material I prepared. He seemed to like the work plan, but it sounds like he might have some minor changes to make. That's cool. He said he would read through it and talk to the director and would get back to me with a time and place. It seems to me like he just wants a native English speaker to speak in front of the teachers for their benefit. That's fine. He asked that I speak only English for the entire lesson. Ok. I can handle that. I hope the teachers can understand my English better than they can understand my Spanish. Still working on shaking off that gringa accent.

>Stopped by the tienda I like with a good candy/ cookie selection. Learned that the owner's name is Wilson. We talked about current events and Ciro and Rosario for awhile. It was nice. He's a cool fellow.

> Worked on typing up material for the workshop with the parents next Tuesday. Ran with Piere again. Watched a ridiculous tv show with Farid. There is no shortage of ridiculous tv in Perú. I am a fan. Overall good day.

6am. Where's your machete? 

My face always betrays me...

                                                                    And there it is...

Day 16

Day 16

Sep. 6, 2011

Tuesday

>8am- Ran 4 miles. Getting used to the sun here little by little.

>9am- Another delicious pb/ banana breakfast. Shower. No more bucket baths; water tank is up and running for real. Breakfast was good because I talked to my host dad and grandpa about what they have been doing this week- corn cutting. There are no combines here, there are machetes. They cut and husk the corn in the field, then leave it there to dry. Explaining combines to them was a larger endeavor than I expected. Grandpa asked me to find out how much corn (in weight) Marty and Bill produce per hectare. This will be some fun homework for me...

> Meeting with Carlos. Productive in the fact that I walked away with lists of the Club de Madres names, presidents, and addresses; authorities in Ascope; authorities in La Libertad; alcaldes of the districts of Ascope; and a map of Ascope with the 8 districts shown. these will be great for the community diagnostic I am working on. He also gave me a giant book of results from the 1993 census, but along with it he gave me a website to check out for more recent stats on Ascope. Good meeting. He is working on an awesome project with a wheelchair donation from a Christian organization that I would love to help with, but it doesn't seem like he needs help at the moment. If all goes through, 68 people throughout the province of Ascope will receive free wheelchairs. That is amazing. So much red tape and paper work to get through first though. Boo. He mentioned the town wants a library. Oh boy...

> Stopped by the school to ask if I can attend the workshop this afternoon that I learned about at Friday's municipal meeting. It was a workshop for parents of the 1st grade of secundaria regarding self-esteem and communication. I was introduced to the coordinator of tutorias. We talked for about an hour explaining tutorias and the involvement of the psychologist that the PTA like group has hired. This was great. She wants me to help with the workshops on self-esteem and all of that good stuff. Awesome! I was invited to the workshop in the afternoon to observe so that I can help with these in the future. Today's meeting was the first in a series of workshops with parents given by the psychologist. The same material will be presented at all meetings, and each meeting is for parents of different classes/ sections. I was pretty impressed by the session itself. The psychologist did an awesome job on the presentation and this was very interesting and a good way for me to network. I met some parents and they were really enthusiastic about me being here. After the meeting, I met a teacher of personal, family, and human relations. He wants to work with me too. Great! I'm getting busy! Tomorrow will be like Monday in that I will need to do a lot of planning and will be behind my laptop for most of the day. Not a bad place to be. I don't mind.

>In the evening I chilled with the fam. One of the 4 puppies has gone missing which has Piere and I a little worried. We hope the rest of them stay put. There are rumors of other puppies in the neighborhood going missing. I blame the fox in the field that keeps eating animals. At dinner time I scored an invitation to the field for tomorrow morning! Chacra time is 6am! I get to use a machete!!! Awesomenesssssss!!!!!