my new life: week 1

Exactly one week ago, I arrived in San Clemente, Peru. Let’s just say, it feels like a lot longer… Since I’ve been here, I’ve met with the mayor, the school principle, the women from the soup kitchen, taught English, attended 3 sexual health seminars given by a Spanish NGO, met swarms of children, read fairytales to little kids, and helped lead over 100 kindergarteners through the streets of San Clemente while carrying posters proclaiming the importance of breastfeeding.

I’m continually asked if I’m adjusting well to the climate, to the food, to the people. If all of this is “agreeable” to me. My fellow community members are so caring and welcoming and they just want me to be happy. They are very proud people and they love their community. I tell all of them that I’m fine, that I’m adjusting nicely, and that I love the food (true most of the time) and the weather (true all of the time!). To those of you who know me, I’ll tell you the truth. I was a little overwhelmed at first. I have 2 years to work here but it doesn’t really feel like that. I feel like there is so much work to do and I can’t wait to get my hands dirty. When I’m relaxing or napping, I fee like I should maybe be doing something else far more productive. Speaking of napping, apparently, it is normal for PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) to sleep A LOT that first week. Well true to form, I slept over 9 hours per night and would still walk around all day feeling utterly exhausted. One day I took 2 naps! But things are leveling out now. I’m feeling much more active. I think my body was just trying to acclimate. Apparently, moving to a new town in the middle of a foreign country away from family and friends and anything even remotely familiar is DIFFICULT. I must comment here, though, that I’m quite happy.

Probably the coolest thing I’ve done since I’ve been here is hold children’s reading hour. I was helping kids with their English homework in the community library (think 1 room with 1 small bookshelf), when I noticed the little ones fighting over some ragged children’s stories. There are only a handful of kid’s books for this entire town! Anyway, I offered to read to them. Over the next few nights, my little group of 4 or 5 turned to about 20-25 kids circled around me for 30 minutes while I read aloud, changing up the voices and getting silly. They absolutely love it. Now I just want to make it a little more official. I’m going to start asking them interactive questions and maybe provide some incentive for attendance, like gold stars and cookies. I need to get some more story books because we’ll breeze through the ones in the library really fast. Also, I’m going to ask the municipality about buying a carpet to roll out, because we’ve been reading with their little butts on the concrete. I’m thinking this will turn into a great little literacy project.

Today someone hosted a party after mass. A typical event, it goes a little like this: the family spends a whopping amount of money on food enough to feed the entire community for a whole day. Scores of women show up to cook all day long. The men come and eat the food and start in on the drinking of chicha (a kind of moonshine made of fermented corn). First they prepare soup to be served before lunch, then lunch is served, and then the women just keep on cookin’ and serve up dinner! They’re like the freaking energizer Conejas (bunnies)or something! To get all kinds of involved in my community, I offered my superior serving skills. I made rounds serving food, collecting plates, distributing spoons, and being the random Gringa serving girl. The women were merely amused, but the men whistled at me the minute I turned my back on them after collecting a stray spoon from the ground. All the women were parading their sons in front of me, the potential “candidates” for the position of Libby’s novio. They were more than a little saddened when I informed them that I already have one. Long story short, this is going to take some getting used to.

Friends and family, I just ate a huge avocado mashed into my rice for dinner. Meanwhile, there’s a fiesta outside my house and the band is playing so loud they could be sitting in my living room, if we had a couch.. which we don’t. A few hours ago they set off a huge tower of fireworks, jerry-rigged between two posts, in the middle of town, . This is my life J

A little blurb on HIV prevention

As far as HIV education, Peru offers quite a few challenges. First of all, it is a culture dominated by catholicism and machismo. Catholicism looks poorly on any kind of obstruction to baby-making, because children are a "gift from God," even if they are brought into the world by a single 14 year old girl without education or the hope of getting a job that would secure the future of her child. As far as machismo goes, men hate condoms and men control the world down here. So.. most men won't wear them, are embarrassed to wear them, and criticize the woman that expects them to wear them. Well the woman will bow down to that man being that he is superior to her and she is obligated to obey. Also, most men will get enraged when you question their cleanliness, i.e. no one gets tested because they are convinced they are clean or because they are in denial and don't want to know one way or the other. Entonces... no one wears condoms.As far as fidelity goes, it is quite the interesting oxymoron. Despite the fact that Catholicism promotes the sanctity of marriage, the concept of marriage is a little different here than in the states. Unfortunately, I am not exaggerating when I say that almost all men cheat on the their wives. It is a natural course of events, especially in the rural areas, for a man to create a family, then leave his family to start another one in the same town or neighboring village. Or, men will maintain their families and cheat with other women. The women know, and contributing to a vicious cycle, let it slide. So, if you pair that with the absence of condoms, you can see why STDs and HIV are on a steady rise here in Peru. In Peace Corps, we opt for the ABC motto to deal with HIV prevention: Abstinence (for the Catholics but we all know kids still have sex), Boda (wedding in Spanish, meant to mean Fidelity), and Condoms. We get groups together and give interactive talks about HIV prevention, crossing our fingers that it sticks. There is also an option to get a youth leadership group together and teach them, and in turn have them become health promoters who go into their schools and teach their peers. Let me know if you any questions!

Site Visit

Friends and Fam,

I´m writing from San Clemente, Sechura, Piura. I arrived Sunday morning in Piura City, the capital city of the department (think State). Piura was beautiful, warm, and welcoming. I dont know the exact population, but it is a fairly large city with a department store, 3 large supermarkets, a mall, and movie theater. I got to see Inception (great movie, by the way) for less than 3 dollars! I´ll probably be going there every 2 weeks to catch up with other volunteers, eat delicious ice cream, and shop at a real supermarket... that sells peanut butter!!!

However, the best part of Piura is the hostel that has hot water, great water pressure, wireless internet, and the best peace corps library known to man. The library has some awesome reads and I cant wait to get started. The peace corps library is typical of all capital cities. It is a place where peace corps volunteers exchange books. You might not know this yet, but whereas they say our job is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the typical Peace Corps volunteer has plenty of free time on her hands. I was told to bring many, many books. I opted for the technologically brilliant option and brought my Kindle, a very special birthday gift from my dear Leeward. In the weeks leading up to my departure, I downloaded 87 books to my Kindle. Ive been hoarding them and havent read even one, knowing that I would be desperate for them once I arrived at site. BUT now i have the peace corps library!!!

Anyway, back to business. On Monday, I arrived at my site. San Clemente is a darling little town... all 6 blocks of it. The population size is only 2000 people. There is one restaurant, no grocery stores or markets, and some of the kindest people I´ve ever met. Tuesday morning, there was a celebration held in my honor at the town hall. They had announced my arrival on the radio, over the town´s loudspeaker, and the town bulletin board. They sat me out in front of everyone. The mayor, school principal, town doctor, and the director of the soup kitchen all spoke in my honor. I was then asked to give a speech... in front of the whole town. It went well... I almost peed myself out of nervousness. Then, the kids dance group performed 2 dances. Afterward, the whole town was treated to a sandwich and some nasty purple corn drink. After a two hour nap, I was then escorted by two 10 year olds on a tour of the town.

I cant wait to start working with everyone. The kids are the most welcoming, of course. They just cant wait to play with me. Ive already been asked to teach english, hold a homework hour, plan the Day of the Childhood, and hold youth group 3 times a week. There is a lot of work to be done here. I´ve only been here 3 days and I already the adults are telling me about all the problems that need to be worked on: HIV prevention, teen pregnancy, malnutrition in children, slef esteem in children, goal achievement, leadership, etc...

Today was another crazy day. I was told to be at the town hall at 11 am with virtually no explanation. I was then taken to nearby Sechura, the district capital. Sechura is 20 minutes from my site and much, much larger. Melissa, one of my fellow trainees is placed in Sechura. We will probably be doing plenty of work together. The city council of sechura invited me to Melissa´s ceremony. I was also greeted within the ceremony, presented with two books about the province of Sechura, and fed a typical peruvian lunch of escabeche de pescado. On that plate lay every kind of starch you can think of: corn, sweet potato, mashed potato, rice, yucca, and banana... oh and a piece of fish. Next we were taken on a tour of all the special places in and around the city of sechura (Sechuranos are very proud people and I love that) with staff from the city hall. We started with a museum depicting the history of Sechura, followed by the beach (lovely!!!), then a huge, unexplainable sand dune in the middle of the desert, about 4 miles from the coast. The sand is beautiful and fine, just like beach sand, but the location just doesnt make sense. We climbed to the top, which was quite a challenge. Then we slid down. Now comes the crazy part. as you slide down, there is a rumble that come up from the sand that sounds like a plan is taking off. NOt to mention, there is a rumbling under your butt. The weight of all that sand shifting at once makes it seem like you are inside a drum! The next place we went to was a kind of zoo, with animals from all over Piura. There we were interviewed to be on National Public Access Peru!!! I´m going to be on TV tomorrow! AHHHH

My site is just beautiful and I´m so excited to be here. I thought it would be more like a desert, because SEchura is known for being a hot, dusty desert. However, apparently San Clemente is located in a valley and it looks more like San Diego. There are grass, plants, and trees everywhere. It is not as hot as I expected either, although this season is considered winter. The temperature right now ranges between 65 and 80... quite pleasant really. I´m so pleased to be living so close to the beach as well. I thought it was an hour away because of the information I recieved, but the beach is really only like 20 to 30 minutes from my site. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Piura Vida!!! SURPRISE!!

7-29-10

Hello everyone!

It has been a few weeks since I last wrote. I can’t believe I’ve already been here for 2 months. The days are just flying by. I have several projects to complete before I leave and Spanish homework nearly every night so… sorry for taking so long.

I went away for Field Base Training for one week to Cajamarca. Cajamarca is in the sierra, characterized by blue skies, high altitudes, and gorgeous vistas. My group and I were sent to Cajamarca to observe the sites of four current Peace Corps volunteers. We went to 4 different towns, ranging from large to mid-size to small. We had the opportunity to give talks to schoolchildren about self-esteem, reaching your goals, and being respectable leaders in the community. It also gave us the chance to see how real volunteers live within their communities: getting along with host families, working with community partners, and completing projects. Seeing the different site sizes was helpful because it gave us a better idea of the sites we might be living in. I know that I am going to the coast so my experience will be different from that of someone living in the sierra. People in the sierra tend to be more timid, conservative, and traditional. This has to do with the isolation of being in the mountains and away from Lima, and with the war against terrorism that occurred in Peru during the 80s and 90s. If you are interested, just Wikipedia “Sendero Luminoso” for a quick dose of Peruvian history.

Three other trainees and myself are working to finish a project that we started with youth in the community. We decided to clean the community park and paint the playground. The playground is rusted and dirty and really needs some work. First we met with some community members to discuss potential fundraising techniques to raise money to buy the paint. My host dad generously donated a bottle of whisky to raffle off. Additionally, we went house-to-house requesting food donations to make several large food baskets to raffle. We also made apple pies and banana pies to sell to the other trainees and the training staff. On the 7^th of August, we’ll clean and paint and then on the 8^th we have invited the entire community to come celebrate. On this day we will announce the raffle, play games, and women in the community have offered to sell food. I’m crossing my fingers for a successful day. I’m a little stressed because all of the preparations have to be completed by Saturday so we can paint. Sunday is the party, and Monday I leave to visit my site.

Training is coming to an end. I FOUND OUT MY SITE!!! The staff planned a scavenger hunt and prolonged the anxiety, but after 10 months of the application process, 10 weeks of training, and a million hours spent agonizing about 2 years in the Peace Corps I know that I will be living in San Clemente, Piura on the northern coast. I will be living in a small town with 2000 people. Mom, Dad, and Lee:I will have internet and cell phone service! Also, I'm only 1 hour from the beach and 1 hour and 30 minutes from the capital city of Piura. I have 2 parents and a 6 year old brother. My host mom is a teacher and will likely be an excellent resource. I will be replacing a former volunteer who already has a theater group, youth group, and HIV education in place. I couldn't really ask for more. I am ecstatic about my location and very grateful that my superiors listened and adhered to my preferences. Sunday night I will leave for my site visit. I’ll stay there for 1 week, get to know my surroundings and host family, and meet my community partners. I will have 3 community partners: the school, the municipality, and the health post. After I return from my site visit, I’ll have 1 week to get all my stuff packed, say goodbye to some great friends, and exchange big bear hugs with my wonderful host family. Before I move to site permanently, my group will be sworn in as official Peace Corps volunteers. We will be the first group to ever be sworn in at the US embassy in Lima. It is a really fabulous honor and I am extremely excited for it.

Another story worth telling is the events of this past weekend. Saturday was my host mom’s birthday so I offered to make my delicious Mexican tacos. Mid-purchase, my host dad told me that perhaps more people would come to the house last night. Peruvians don’t like to scare and/or offend anyone so they tend to pussy-foot around the subject at hand. I finally got it out of him that 15 people would be arriving and could I maybe make enough tacos. Fortunately, I come from a huge family and between the eight of us, JC (mary’s boyfriend), Lee, and Alyssa (Enrique’s girlfriend), there is always a need to prepare mountains of food. Once all of the other ingredients had been purchased, I set out to finding tortillas. Now you all may be surprised by this, but there are no tortillas to be found in Peru. If you are really lucky, you can find white rubbery Bimbo brand tortillas. I was not so lucky. After going to 4 grocery stores with no success, I declared that I would make my own damn tortillas. I remember making tortillas with my Nana Chon and her tortilla song she would sing to us. I tried to remember how exactly my Nana would mix the dough, roll the balls, and roll out the tortillas. I bought flour, salt, baking powder, and lard and made some of the most delicious tortillas known to the Peruvian people (if not the only tortillas). It goes without saying that I was covered in flour and that my host siblings and I had a wonderful time. The party was a smash hit and everyone licked their plates clean. They were shocked that I, being a gringa, could cook and actually enjoy doing it. The night continued with my host family pulling apart the living room to create a dance floor. We danced Peruvian dances until 2 in the morning… but that is when I went to bed. They stayed up until 4 chatting and dancing. Peruvians certainly know how to party.

Finally, yesterday I took my entire host family to the movies for my host mom’s birthday present. She had NEVER been to the movie theater. We went to see Shrek at a theater that had opened only one week prior. I realized very soon that that had its consequences. The people in that area were new to movie theaters and therefore were not aware of certain movie theater rules of etiquette. For example, all of the kids and the adults talked in normal voices throughout the whole movie, asking each other what was happening or just to comment. Also, the kids behind me and my host siblings were fascinated by the way the seats moved back and forth so they kicked the back of our seats until I turned around and told them to shhh and please stop. Then, a woman answered the phone in the middle of the movie and had an entire conversation without bothering to whisper. Throughout the whole movie I waffled between furious and mesmerized. I just couldn’t believe that people didn’t know how to behave in the movie theater. When people ask me what I miss from the states, movie theater etiquette will be pretty high on the list. Some others you might be interested in (in no particular order): peanut butter, real napkins (the ones here are as thin as toilet paper), real ketchup, Q-tip brand ear swabs (you think they’re all the same until you have to use crappy ones that just serve to break your ear drum because there’s but a tiny dab of cotton on the end… oh! And your ears stay filthy), central heating, cheddar, Colby jack, brownies, clean cars, a lack of tacky clutter (all the houses are full of knick-knacks with virtually no sentimental value), Lee, my friends, and my family.