Anniversary Time Yet Again

The second and third weeks of November marked the anniversary of the private school here in Ascope. Dances, sporting events, contests, dinners, and of course a parade took place in honor of the students and staff of San Juan. By the end of the second week, mazamorra was beginning to grow on me with all of the free cups of it I was getting ;) 

Here are some fun floats from their parade-

Family Day

As the school year winds down here, there are many fun things happening. One of those events was an end of the year day trip with Piere's kindergarten class. The whole host fam went along and I was fortunate enough to get an invite that I gladly accepted. We spent the day with his class and their moms/ dads/ chaperones on a trip to Trujillo and a nearby park complete with giant slides and two pools. Besides the park, our stops included the Plaza de Armas de Trujillo in the morning and the shopping mall in the evening. Fun times shared by all. I had to show off these pictures from the day, as photoshopped by Farid. Love them.

What A Dick

Do you know what it means to be a Peace Corps Volunteer on World AIDS Day? If you're lucky, it means that you get to dress up like a condom. I made so many penis jokes that morning I probably could have even made Bob Saget proud. Enjoy! 

Youth Camp

Another November thing that has escaped the blog is the youth camp that happened early in the month. A volunteer in Jequetepeque (small town in northern La Libertad that has a super fun name) held a weekend youth camp that I and a bunch of volunteers helped with. Despite the Justin Bieber tunes on repeat for 3 days straight, it was a fun weekend and a great chance for me and the other new youth volunteers in the department (Sue and Slack) to see how the camps go and how we can do them in the future. Fun times. Good weekend. 

TREATS!!!

In the past few months I have been rich in package treats. This post is dedicated to showing off my loot and saying thank you to those wonderful people who have brightened many a day with their thoughtfulness, time, and consideration. I love you all! Thanks for the presents! I think I am a very spoiled volunteer... and I love it :) 

Birthday package from Ben, Rachel, Grant, and Cora. This one came on Halloween weekend while I was in Trujillo celebrating with friends, so the giant bag of Halloween candy I got didn't quite make it into the picture. Sharing is caring. This was a really great package. Rachel's captions and little notes crack me up. Clever lady, that one.  I've been needing markers and I am obsessed with Smart Wool socks, so to get them both was fabulous. The best part, though, was a disc of pictures of their family and mostly the kids. What a wonderful treat. I've had pictures of Grant and/ or Cora set as my laptop background since getting that package. 

Grant's T-rex from Peru. His little mind is magnificent. 

I love these little feet! Such a creative idea :)

Birthday box from Lisa! Even though we are heading into summer, I think these bear mittens are delightful. I will find an opportunity to wear them... even if it's just for a puppet show someday ;) Oh, and I got Hello Kitty mustache socks! That's brilliant! The king size candy bars aren't bad either. I used one of them as bargaining power to get some Peruvian music off of my 14 year-old host brother. I probably could have gotten the music without sacrificing my Twix... a move I am still kicking myself for. Sigh. My favorite part about getting this package is that it came in a Pet Meds box. At the post office, my friend was like, "Did you order Pet Meds? Who would send you something in a Pet Meds box?" That box could have only come from one person... and I love that. 

A letter from Carley!!! I love letters! And this one has stamps, stickers, and cool paper! My niece is awesome. 

A Hello Kitty surprise from Joe! Much like the Halloween package, I got this one in the company of friends, so the Power Bar balls, chocolate almonds, gum, etc. didn't make it to the picture. It came with a fun card and a movie, but I didn't get to taking a picture of everything. This little purse was my favorite part. So thoughtful (: Ps- Please excuse the crappy iPhone picture. This was the best shot I could get...

The Medical Department package!!! Even though I thought that I would be long forgotten in the good old Travel Guard medical department by now, I am not. And that. Is. Awesome. Not too long after my birthday, I received a marvelous envelope full of treats and kind words. They even sent a birthday card around the office for me for all to sign. So great to hear from everyone, even if it is just a few words. How great it feels to be thought of and remembered. This one may have earned a glassy eyed grin. The grin lasting for an entire afternoon. Thanks guys! 

A WHOLE bag of Starburst! Thanks Toby :)

Gummies from Eva! I won't lie, I had to wait for almost an hour to get this package out of customs... but as you can see, it was totally worth it. The giant Toblerone was a hit with the host fam... but was awfully hard for me to share ;) Piere loved the gummy bears and was in my room more than usual while those were around. I can't fail to mention the hilarious 5 page letter either. I miss you, Igler. 

A surprise from the Slack family! In response to the blog post about my good friend Amanda, her parents threw in some treats for me in one of her packages. That was SO thoughtful :) Not sure how they knew that I LOVE Hershey's cookies and cream, but I got a giant candy bar. Nom! This came with a bunch of gum and a really cute and heartfelt card. A very nice feel good treat. Thanks for the kindness, Slacks! Hope to meet you when you visit :)  

So... Bridget sent me a really really great package for my birthday. It had M&Ms, peanut butter, kid drawings, birthday cards, a pile of pictures, and a really long thoughtful letter (which means a little more when coming from a mother of four who is busier than most people I know). Unfortunately, the picture I took of it was lost in the camera debacle. What happened is that my camera wasn't working well enough to upload any photos, and I couldn't just put the memory card in my computer... so I was waiting to upload pictures until I got my old camera when Joe came. But then the old camera and the broken one were stolen along with the memory card with all of my pictures on it. Soooo, pictures from as far back as the week leading up to my birthday (making cake with my host fam, chilling with Piere, hikes with the teens, etc.) all the way through the day my camera stopped turning on, were lost forever. Sadly, I can't show off that package. Sorry Bridgie. It was a good one. Lucky for me though, I did find this picture of a little snack made possible by that package... good thing iPhone was handy that day. Better than nothing. And for the record, those three items together make a fabulous snack ;)

And on a more positive note, THANKS FOR THE PACKAGES!!! I love you guys and can't say thank you enough for thinking of me. You're the best and I couldn't do this without your support :) 

Thanksgiving in La Libertad

I had heard that Thanksgiving was one of the harder holidays to spend away from the family, and after having done it I can say that I agree. It was hard to be away from everyone during that time of the year and missing that holiday that is so specific to the US. There really is nothing else quite like it. 

Thankfully, I have an awesome host family. Early in the week, I had mentioned briefly that Thanksgiving was that coming Thursday. Curiously, my host mom asked what we did that day, what we ate, why it's a holiday, etc. I think she was surprised to learn that the main activity of the day was just eating dinner, but she doesn't judge :) To my surprise, when Thursday's lunchtime came, I found my plate filled with it's normal spoils, but piled into the mix were mashed potatoes with a sweet potato on the side. She even shaped my rice like she does for fancy meals. I looked up to her watching me and quickly explaining that she didn't want me to be sad on Thanksgiving, so she made me some of the things I told her I would be missing that day. So touching. Damn, I'm spoiled. 

The next day I went to Huanchaco (beach town just outside of my regional capital) to find most of the Peru 17 youth volunteers. We had a week long training event starting that following Sunday so most people came through Trujillo a few days early, to celebrate the T-giving weekend on the beach. Saturday was spent preparing a giant feast for all to share. I can easily say I have not been that full since arriving in Peru. And for all of the huge Peruvian meals or double lunches I have had in the past six months, that's saying something. I was walking around rubbing my inflated belly like a bear ready for hibernation for at least 24 hours. Perfect. Now that's Thanksgiving. While the food was astounding, the company was better. If I couldn't have my family, at least I could have my Peace Corps family. Not complaining about that at all. Good people. 

My Thanksgiving surprise from Maggie :)

I'm Back!

Hello friends, fam, and faithful followers. I just stopped by the blog and noticed 2 things- A.) I have over 2,000 views already! Wow! and B.) I haven't written in over a month. Boo! I can give three solid reasons for this:

1- My November time was spent in nearly it's entirety working on a Community Diagnostic required by Peace Corps that was due at the end of the month. 

2- The first week of December was spent with Joe who was my first visitor! I am now allowed to have visitors and I took advantage of that by planning a bf trip that began literally on the second day we were allowed to travel and have visitors. 

3- My internet guy fell off the roof. Seriously. The internet I had in my room was taken away from me spontaneously in early November and I had to have it re-installed. By the time this finally happened, I was away for a training and when I came back, Piere told me that someone fell off the roof of the house because of me. Always a nice welcoming child that one. Even though I thought Piere was making this all up, my host mom explained that it was true. During the re-installation process of my internet, the nice man helping me out fell off of our roof. After the fall, the guy was thankfully not injured and walked away alright but couldn't finish the job, understandably so. By the time I came back from my trip with Joe, there was a beautiful wonderful ethernet chord hiding under my dresser waiting to be discovered. 

And now, there is internet. A splendid little holiday treat. Naturally I am most excited about being able to keep in touch with everyone at home. But, I won't whine about my recently regained YouTube access either. Lady Gaga has been doing marvelous things while I've been off the grid. The new video for "Marry the Night" is worth all 14 minutes of internet time :)

That said, I hope that in the coming days those of you who are still patient enough with me to keep checking this will have new posts to peruse. Sorry for the lapse in communication <again>. Thanks again for stopping by. 

One more thing- I am without camera. The one I brought with me was damaged and progressively worked less and less with time. Joe brought my old camera for me, but it was stolen about 3 days after we were reunited :( So... I have fewer pictures to share with you and many of them were taken with my iPhone. I can't promise quality and I don't know when I will be with camera again. I will do my best to steal pictures from others when I can, but the blog might be less attractive and more text heavy for awhile. Apologies. 

As I do like to sprinkle random pictures around where I can, I will leave you with this image of my Chaco tanned feet. If you remember my wounded toe, you might recall that I could not wear real shoes for awhile. That combined with the crazy strong sun here created what I like to call 'foot art.' Enjoy :)