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!!!!!