*Fourth of July: Ate all sorts of yummy food at the center, including Grandmom's NoBake cookies. Then followed up with real celebration at Yaeel's house. A couple drinks later we were in Chosica eating burgers (YUM!) and then off to the dance club to continue the celebration. I don't know when we got home. But I know that as delicious as that burger was, my tummy rejected it :-(
*FBT: Another one of Peace Corps' acronyms (maybe I'll do a post on just that someday...) Field Based Training. An opportunity for us antsy Trainees to venture off into the field, visit volunteers' sites and put into practice our 6 weeks of language and technical training. My group was 7 of the Youth Trainees who were either Special Ed volunteers or had interest/experience in working with people with disabilities. We traveled north to Puerto Eten in Lambayeque and met Elizabeth and sat in on a session she was doing with a Psych intern on self esteem from the Quien Soy Yo? series. We played at the beach, ate some really good food, and then went to neighboring Ciudad Eten for a feria and some picarones- fried donut type things with syrup! Then we went to Pacasmayo in La Libertad where we were hosted by Kat, one of the two existing Special Ed volunteers from Peru 11. We were supposed to observe/help out at her school, do a parent session, and do a teacher session. Well, the swine flu is upon us. President Garcia mandated that schools leave for vacation two weeks early- coincidentally messing up our FBT plans. Being the resourceful and flexible volunteers and trainees that we are, we improvised and did a 2-3 hour session with the teachers about adaptations and accommodations they can use in the classroom. In Peru, Special Ed teachers are regular teachers who are put in special ed schools. All of the fancy training our Special Ed teachers get about working with different populations, they don't get. Also, they lump students with all types of disabilities together. So you could have a kid with severe autism in the same room as a student with Downs, in the same room with a kid with Cerebral Palsy, in the same room as a kid with Emotional disabilities. Despite this (and probably many thanks to their past year working with Kat) they are doing a good job with what they have. We ended up giving a lot of positive reinforcement, and explaining that things take a long time. There is no magic wand to make the girl with autism speak. But the fact that she has a set routine is amazing! Our second day with them was more informal answering their questions and showing them how to make some of the tools we showed them with the materials they have. We then went to Tembladera in Cajamarca to visit Milene and her students. We saw their organic garden and talked to a professor and then gave a sex ed talk to a group of 20 13 year olds. We talked about HIV and condom use by playing a game and then talking about it and then of course finished up with the old standby of the Human Knot to end on a positive note. We had a bonfire that night and I fell 3 feet trying to avoid getting burnt by the fire as some guy threw gasoline on it to try and get it to catch. I ended up with a bruised knee and an awesome bruised/swollen calf which my family is worried about. The swelling is going down, but I get a random cankle when a lot of fluid goes at once. :-)
*Site announcement day!!! The day we have been anxiously awaiting since June 6th when they told us when it would be. Last Friday we anxiously passed the first 2 hours of language class while the technical trainers and APCDs (program directors) were setting up. They had us gather around the decorative pool which had boats in it. Each boat had our name on it, and on the staff was a curled piece of paper with the Department written on it. One by one we went and fished out our boats and unfurled our paper. I was third to last. The last Youth trainee to go. I unfurled my paper and read LAMBAYEQUE! I'll be going to the first department we visited on FBT and I'll be about 30 minutes from Elizabeth (who coincidentally lived with my current host family when she was a trainee. I joke that now they'll have a reason to come north!). I'm about 12 hours in bus from Lima and only 1.5 hours from Lambayeque's capital city of Chiclayo. I'm 15 minutes (walking I was told) from my nearest volunteer neighbor, another girl we met on FBT. My town is called Cayalti and has 10,000 people. There are also 13 caserios-farm towns- that add another 6000 people. I have a special ed school, a disability association, and a youth group that is already formed. On Sunday, we go to visit our sites and I'll have more after that.
*Family luncheon: There are 4 families in Yanacoto that have trainees and are related. Early on we were talking about wanting to bring them all together and do something for them to thank them for being such great hosts to us. Monday afternoon we realized that our time was running out, and that Tuesday would be one of the last opportunities to do it. So we scrambled to invite all the families, plan what to cook, and buy all the food. Tuesday morning we went to the market and did our shopping then came home and started cooking. I was in charge of bringing a pot of rice, NoBake cookies, tacos, tequenos, and guacamole. I started cooking at 10, and with the help of my host mom and sister, was able to finish by 1:15 and grab a quick shower. Lunch was planned at 1.. oops. We got there and I was elected to make the speech to the family, basically thanking them for having us and how happy we were to have them all together and to be able to share with them food that we prepared. Everyone ate a ton and there really were no leftovers. In addition to what i brought, we had lasagna, chili, 2 types of lo mein, egg drop soup, potato latkes, cheesecake, and PB&J sandwiches. When the taco meat ran out, they were making some funky combos for tacos- guacamole, chili, and lo mein is one that stood out. Everyone left full and hopefully happy. They kept telling us the food was good (even though most of it didn't turn out like we wanted it too). Granted, this a culture in which they'll make up directions if you ask for directions and they don't know... haha. Really though, I think it was a success and we're glad we did it.
That's pretty much the highlights of the past month. Oh, yesterday and today are fiestas patrias- their independence holidays. This means there is a feria (fair) in the park all last week and I hope for the rest of the week. In simple terms- you can get a delicious pisco sour for a whopping 4 soles. And the Senor del Pisco is right next to the Senora de Picarones (see above-fried donut deliciousness!) and make quite the combo.
I plan to do another post before site visit with pics from the past month or so and then another on post site visit with all the news of my future home. Pray that I won't have a band and parade- or have to make a speech.
