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!!!!!

Day 15

Day 15

Sep. 5, 2011

Monday

Morning: I was hyper. I had a peanut butter banana sandwich for breakfast with a pb/ nutella sandwich. SOOO good! This sparked a very happy and hyper morning mood. Splurging on comfort food is totally worth it. Played soccer with the brothers for awhile in the late afternoon. Spent the day doing English lesson planning. Helped Farid w/ his English homework again in the evening. The next day he reported that it was all correct. Win!

The English lesson, I should explain this. I spent most of my second week at the school district working on a project that the volunteer I replaced had started. It was a 'Myths and Legends' writing competition. Mostly I was typing up the winning stories that the teens of the Red Ambiental had written. Anyway, there is a man at the school district who works alongside my community partner there. I work with a woman named Fany who is in charge of the areas of Science, Math, etc. Profesor Manuel, who works alongside her, is in charge of language arts and communication, among other things. He saw this white girl in his office every day and saw an opportunity for his language teachers to get a lesson from a native English speaker. This works out for me, because I wanted to teach the teachers anyway. The way I see it, the most sustainable way to improve English skills here is to go straight to the sourse and work with the teachers.

Lucky for me, I have a lot of material from training that was put together by the English Teaching Committee that I could use for this. Without that resource, planning this lesson would have been a lot more work than it is. It's still a lot of busy work putting everything together. I am working on writing requests to the director of the school district and the directors of each school to allow the teachers to participate and request funding for basic materials, etc. Hoping for the lesson to take place by the end of the month.

Weekend Fun

Days 13-14

Sep. 3-4, 2011

Sat-Sun

Weekend in Trujillo!

Saturday morning in Ascope was really frustrating because Hans the internet guy came to our house and did not know how to work with a Mac. Boo. Discrimination to my poor little Apple friend. After almost breaking my phone because I was texting so furiously to release my anger I went to Trujillo, the capital of La Libertad for a nice relaxing weekend. Poor Joe, he was on the receiving end of those texts. lol. Hung with other volunteers. Took in some much needed internet browsing, English speaking, and quality time with Amanda Slack and Nicole. Slack turned 23 on Sunday. So glad I could celebrate with her!

Sunday brought a hot shower, a pancake breakfast, then some Starbucks and shopping followed by an afternoon of liberal internet use on Mac... which means Skype. Heaven.

Went to Plaza Vea and sprung for a jar of peanut butter at a price of 17 soles. It was worth every centimo.

Coming home to the host fam was nice. I gave them some things I bought for them in Trujillo: A shorter jump rope for Piere to have for his own, because he loves mine but gets it wrapped around his left foot all the time. Some Reese's peanut butter cups for Farid that I found at Plaza Vea...expensive but, again, worth the splurge. Snickers bars for the whole fam. Nutella and peanut butter to share. Nom. They were happy. I was happy to see them. It was nice. There was a very talkative dinner Sunday night upon my arrival. Fun times. I got lucky with my family :)

Note: the following day, Farid excitedly reported back to the family on how the peanut butter cups tasted. "It was like a sweet and salty cake, but it was pure sugar." Hehehe. I couldn't have described them any better myself. He loved them.

                                                                  Me*Slack*Nicole

Day 11

Day 11

1.Sept.11

Thursday

>9am- Run. Began too late in the day. Sun was STRONG. Lots and lots of sweat. Tough run, but it was good. 1 mile to the stadium. 1 mile on the track. the rest was out of town and back. At the stadium, I ran into a phy ed class. A group of girls ran with me. I wouldn't let them walk when they wanted to. This meant running slow, but it was really fun to get them moving. 9:30 pace. I'll take it for such a hot run.

> Went to mercado for water and sporade (Gatorade wannabe, and no I didn't forget the 't,' it's actually spelled like that) following the run. Ran into Maggie and Betty who were buying produce. Got some oranges with them and helped carry groceries home.

> Lunch with fam. Really yummy veggie soup they made for me because I was missing veggies. Delish. Served with radish/ beet salad and an egg over rice. Nom! Loved it.

>Helped Farid with English homework. He has an oral exam tomorrow. This was fun! Reviewed some words with Piere. I am getting sick with a head cold. Boo :(

Note: Farid got a perfect score on his exam the following day! Win!

Day 5

Day 5

26.Agosto. 2011

Friday

>Arrived at the high school in Macabí Alto with my school district community partners, Fany and Ysela, for the first Red Educativa Ambiental (it's a group of student leaders) meeting. Checked in, found a classroom, realized I'd be stranded there without toilet paper...

> The director invited us to coffee and chicken sandwiches. I felt rude not eating the sandwich, but I can't do the chicken... especially not before 10am. We were having a nice conversation and I was talking quite a bit, feeling more comfortable all the while. Suddenly, out of nowhere, what can only be described as a brass band appeared out of nowhere playing "Feliz Cumpleaños." Apparently, tomorrow is the director's birthday. I love it. Once the birthday song was over, they started playing a marinera sort of dance and before I knew it, Fany and the director were dancing in the middle of the room... and this was normal. I love Peru. I love these kinds of surprises.

>All attendees filter in for the day's event and we commence. Of course, we cannot begin without introductions and the hymn of Peru. Naturally, I was called on stage to sit with the important students. There I sat for the next hour watching dances, songs, speeches, etc. in front of the crowd. Not that bad. They didn't make me talk, that's a plus. The dances and music were awesome. I really like that little flute like thing with all of the bamboo looking things strapped together. There was this kid there who was really good at playing it too.

>AIDS workshop with the local nurse. After the nurse's presentation, the teens had to work in groups and propose ideas to promote the days theme (AIDS) in their own schools. After each group of leaders present their ideas, each school votes on the best idea. The winner's proposal then must be carried out by all of the schools. This is the general format for all of the Red Ambiental Educativa meetings. In the end, they decided to do an AIDS march on December 1st, or around that time. Some of the students really got into it. It is great to see natural leaders and I look forward to making them think outside of the box a little bit. They were really sweet too. They seemed, for the most part, to be forgiving of my Spanish flaws and lack of familiarity with what was going on. Afterwards, a bunch of them asked for me email address and asked if I had a facebook. That's so great. I am happy I have the first activity out of the way. I ended up leading the day's events for the student portion after the nurse's presentation and I wasn't quite sure what was going on, having never attended one of these events before. But I think it went well and I know I learned a lot for next time.

>Side Note- Snacks were served: chicha morada and tiny tuna sammiches. I took the chicha to not be rude. I managed to only drink half of it before someone came along and tossed it. Good maneuver. I will have to remember that. The sandwich? It was served on a napkin... I needed some toilet paper. Yes, I ate a sandwich I didn't want for the 'free' toilet paper-esque napkin that it came on. I have no shame.

> Would you like to help lead a parade? Why not! lol. Of course I did it. I led the parade w/ the director of the school and the girl who did the pretty dancing in her pretty outfit. The band came too. It was fun. The director pointed out asparagus warehouses. Tons of asparagus. I'm convinced all of the best produce in Peru comes from La Libertad.

> Lunch! I tried some baby goat. The tiny piece I had was very soft, but the rest I couldn't get off of the bone, and fighting with meat is not something I'm interested in. The pile of rice and chunk of yuca accompanying the cabrita were plenty enough for me. I am developing a love affair with ahi. Nom. Had chica morado... not a fan of that stuff. It's a drink made from purple corn and some splashes of lime juice. I had to choke down nearly 2 glasses today. Boo. Perhaps it will grow on me.

> Returned home to an empty house! Alone time! Abuela was home to let me in. I had myself some internet time, just a few minutes, then I went for a nice long (well, sort of) run. I met a few dogs who aren't afraid of my running rock, which is concerning. However, I found the other end of town where there is a long road that I can take to the next town over. I don't know how far away that is, but that is good to know for next season's marathon training :) On this road, I passed cows, sheep, donkeys, and a few people. Not many dogs. That is great news (: I like this part of town and am happy to run there. It's near the little mountains too. Win! I ended my run just as the sun was setting. It was a desert sunset with a bright red sun and a clear blue sky. SOOO pretty! Love it. I took some pics of this when I arrived at home. Then I jump roped for awhile, to abuela's amazement. Seriously, she's still talking about the jump roping.

> Bucket bath!!! A really long one because no one was home. Greatness :)

> Dinner. Arroz a la Cubana and noodle soup. My favorite things! Coffee followed dinner. Lots of good conversation. Then, they offered me a puppy! They said I could have one of the new puppies! Woohoo! Piere has to approve it though, he is the keeper of the puppies. I kind of want the pirate dog(he has a patch of black over one eye), or the one that looks like a grandpa. So excited.

> This is big. The rest of the fam came home from Trujillo with a GIANT dresser/ armoire thing for me. Gigante. It is so perfect. There is room for everything I have in there and, the best part is that, there is a long mirror on the front of it. Maggie told me they bought that one because the other ones were shorter and the mirrors were at a Peruvian height, which means that I wouldn't have been able to see my head. lol. Awesomeness. A full length mirror that I didn't have to buy, or haul back from Trujillo myself, or try to decide where to put.  Perfection! So excited to fill up my armoire with good stuff tomorrow! My host family is soooo great!

> I found my running Garmin! I thought I had lost or forgotten it somewhere, but it was just hanging out at the bottom of my bag the whole time. Woohoo! Best night ever!

Side notes- Fanny of the school district invited me to be the judge of the science fair in Sausal on Friday, September 14th. Because I'm new, I will be an objective judge... hmm.  I'm pumped. I'm totally qualified for this one, right? lol

Great Friday. Awesome way to end the week (: