3 weeks and counting

Hello friends and family!

I’m feeling really proud of myself for being so punctual and up to date with my blog entries. I doubt that will be the case when I’m at site and potentially 3 hours from the nearest Ethernet cable. Please forgive me in advance. I’m rapidly approaching my 4^th week here in Peru. I’m feeling well-adjusted and content. Most days I’m very positive, although yesterday was extremely cold and I got a little moody. I miss my family, my Lee, and my friends very much. The days are passing quickly and I’m learning a lot. We are finally getting into the meat of training and I’m able to apply some of the training into assignments that we have to complete within our host communities. For example, for the next week, three other trainees and myself will be facilitating a youth group, which will focus on fostering high self esteem and self realization. Our first session is tomorrow and we are hoping to have at least 5 girls and boys attend.

I had the opportunity to go to Lima for the first time this weekend. Lima, much like many cities I’ve seen, is dirty, crowded, and kind of sketchy. It’s winter here in Peru and Lima is notorious for not seeing sun for several months during the winter months. It was dark, gloomy, and gray ALL day. It was also very cold. I don’t now if you all have caught onto this yet… but I hate the cold. Yuck. Thanks a lot Arizona. The upside of Lima was the Miraflores district. Of course, this was the ritzy area right on the beautiful coast, equipped with tall buildings, Starbucks, the Marriott, Chilis, Applebees, and Tony Romas all in one block. Clearly, it is where all the gringos go and we took advantage. We had some delicious Pizza Hut. I was lucky enough to meet some local people about our age that belong to the upper class. This just means that I’ll be going again to Lima soon to dance and shop and eat. But let me be honest and tell you that I’ll probably only go once more because the Peace Corps budget is sparse.

I wanted to touch on some interesting cultural norms and facts about Peru. Most of the community uses public transportation, mainly the combis (buses) that I mentioned earlier. I thought it really awesome that men and women always give up seats for pregnant women, old ladies, and the handicapped.

Public education is really lacking. 7% are uneducated, 23% complete only primary school, 38% complete high school, 31% of that 38% earn a certificate of higher education, and 15% of that 31% earn a bachelor’s degree. The public schools are not well funded. I was surprised to see that the public school that I went to, which has been called a “model” school, had no books or textbooks. All of the children have notebooks with handouts pasted into them. The private schools are quite advanced but only the wealthy can attend them. All Peruvians have the opportunity to test into the National University, which is free to attend. Acceptance is based purely on the results of one government issued exam. I would consider it to be the equivalent of the SATs, but the enrollment process is much more competitive. The test is very difficult and most students do not earn the necessary score to enroll that year. There are limited places in the university. Most of the educated people live within or around Lima, which means that most of the other states are undereducated, rural, and underdeveloped. This would explain why Peace Corps volunteers don’t work in the department of Lima and are sent to other, more isolated areas.

Gender roles here are extremely obvious. Women generally don’t work in the formal job market, unless they are educated. Many will wash clothing, sell lunches out of their homes, sew, or open little shops in the front room of the their homes. In my town, many women want to host Peace Corps volunteers because they can earn some extra money (though not much), to supplement the family income. Our host families receive the equivalent of $7 per day to provide 3 meals and a place to sleep and shower. You’re really lucky if your host mom washed your laundry for you (I’m one of the lucky ones!). Most women wash all the family’s clothing by hand; few have washing machines.

Peru has a distinctly machismo culture. Women do all of the cooking and the work around the house and the men are responsible for bring home the money. Even my host father, who I consider to be more liberal than most, won’t fix himself a plate or fetch a thing from the kitchen. The oldest daughter Singui is always told to answer the phone or to do this or that around the house. She left in the middle of dinner tonight to buy mayonnaise at the store down the street because her dad wanted some and there wasn’t any in the house.

Another little gem: kids pee on the street here… and so do adults. It is perfectly normal to see a grown man or little boy peeing on the side of a building in the middle of the day. So much for indecent exposure

Gem #2: A very intelligent, modern woman told me a story which really surprised me and taught me that old wives tales still prevail. While this woman was pregnant she owned a goose. This goose, like all geese, was loud and obnoxious. She told me that she had to give it away because she was almost to term. Now, I thought she had to give it away because it was too much work or something. She informed me, however, that she had to give it away because when an animal nears your pregnant belly and makes sounds, that when your baby is born it will come out making those sounds and behave like that animal for the duration of its life. I must have looked a little skeptical because she gave me an example of a man that sits in the park with a pet iguana on his fat belly. This man makes sounds and moves his tongue like an iguana. She explained to me that this was because he had been exposed to an iguana when he was still in the womb. WHAT?!!