A week ago today, I arrived in my site a bit disoriented, overwhelmed and tired. I knew only my family and my socio and a few random people I met during site visit, or rather, they knew me. I couldn’t tell you their name or role in the community. I lugged all my stuff into my room, looked around, sat on my bed and cried. I was overwhelmed with thoughts of “what the hell have I gotten myself into?!?” and a release of adrenaline that had been building up all week. Today I came back from a night in Chiclayo, our capital city and as I was walking the few blocks to my house was greeted by name by no less than 5 people. I can place these people now, though I might still not know their name, I can tell you where they fit in the community. It put a big smile on my face to know that in one short week I have become more of a familiar face. I still have a long way to go as I still get stares and whistles even (Sunday is drinking circle day which makes that even worse) but people here know me. It’s becoming home, slowly but surely. My family is absolutely amazing. We get along great and already have various inside jokes. They miraculously get my sense of humor even through my jumbled Spanish and put up with my less than cheery morning self. It was hard to leave my Lima family, the wonderful Quispes, but the pain was eased by being welcomed into such a great family here in Lambayeque.
Monday was a really awkward day. I didn’t know what to do with myself and was still feeling very overwhelmed. I also was rather entrenched in a lovely cold I brought with my from Lima (I guess that is what a week of stress and then going out until 5am does to your immune system!) I decided that Monday would be one day. My one day to mope to do nothing and be more or less antisocial. Tuesday I would get up and go. Do SOMETHING. Well, since Tuesday I’ve been fairly busy. I’ve been going to various meetings with parents, students, female community leaders and even was invited to a regional meeting in Chiclayo with the president of a national NGO is that is starting to work with youth in my area. Monday I think I’m helping to weigh and measure students as part of a physical and psychological check that my socio is working on. This week I want to start meeting with different school directors and get working on my community diagnostic. I also want to identify a school and group of kids with whom I can work on the World Map Project. I think I might also spend some time reading in the park and putting my face out there.

I am indescribably happy. My site isn’t gorgeous like Ancash or Cajamarca (do a google picture search to see some of the beauty my fellow PCVs are living in) but it has its charm. The road through the caserios (farms) at sunset is amazing. You’re surrounded by sugar cane and corn fields with mountains off in the distance, a slight breeze blowing and a gorgeous orangey-pink sky. If you look close you might even catch a glimpse of some pretty birds hanging out in the fields. I am living and working with people who are passionate about their work, who realize the potential of their community and are working to better it. I walk around town and a big wave of contentment hits me- how lucky I am to be living the life I am, to be sharing it with amazing people, and to be able to do a little bit of good in the process.

Now for some funny anecdotes from this past week.
A girl I met once just showed up at my door with her English homework asking me to help her. She came again the next day, this time with 3 friends. Those 2 hours each day were so much fun.
- I won Tupperware at a meeting the other day.
- At the same meeting, I watched 30 women participate in communal cry therapy. Two of them were nursing children while crying. I was the only one that thought there was anything odd about this.
- I ate an amazing plate of chicken and French fries. For about $1.25.
- In another meeting- Escuela de Padres- Parents School- I was simultaneously hugged by 15 women. I had various heads in places that women’s heads should not go.
- A man danced to Michael Jackson’s “Billy Jean” at a festival in honor of Saint Rosa of Lima. There was another man, very drunk man, dancing on his knees and on the floor.
- I ate Cuy for the first time today! It was yummy, a bit tough and chewy, but more or less tastes like chicken. It’s a lot of work to eat though.
- I have discovered that it seems that many Peruvians have an unreal obsession with Michael Jackson, especially the song “Thriller”. I have discovered that PCVs (at least from my group) enjoy feeding into this obsession and I think it has rubbed off on a few.
- Also, cheesy America’s Funniest Home Videos type clips, especially those that come from Japan or involve bodily harm, are very popular. It is also acceptable to show said clips for nearly 1 hour while waiting for a meeting to start. I now know how to be prepared!

Photos in the next post. They take forever to load. I miss everyone a ton but and really enjoying myself here.

Pocas horas quedan...

44 hours until I'm officially a United States Peace Corps Volunteer. This day has been over 2 years in the making. These past 11 weeks have flown by. In that time, Yanacoto has become home, the wonderful Quispes have become family, and my fellow trainees and even staff at the center have become friends and confidants. On Friday, all that will be uprooted and I'll be heading off to Lambayeque, 12 hours to the north, to make a new home, family, and friends. I'm excited and terrified, oh so ready and yet oh so hesitant. Training is safe. We're surrounded by gringos and people who more or less understand them and their idiosyncracies, that understand all the transitions we're going through and are accomodating. We have a fixed schedule, and as much as we all despise the damn COTE at times, it provides consistency to our lives. We'll be leaving for site in a few days and when we get there, we'll most likely be the only gringos there, we'll have to explain our role as a PCV and also every single one of our idiosyncracies over and over again, and we'll also be on our own to fill our days which at first could be pretty empty. We'll spend 3 months doing an analysis of our community, but no one will make us get out of bed each day and go talk to school directors or nurses and doctors at the health post. We've had our hands held for 3 months as we've gotten used to life in Peru, learned about Peace Corps Peru, memorized our program goals and objectives (in Spanish and English!), improved our Spanish, and toughed out various illnesses. We've had all sorts of "check for learnings" to test what we've learned, but Friday we begin the biggest test of all-- 2 years as Peace Corps Volunteers.

Picture Post

A couple pictures from the past few weeks.. Enjoy!

My first Picaron that came out looking like it should. I was just a little excited!

The Picaron making process. The key is dipping your hands in salt water.

The band that welcomed me when I got to site. And continued to play for an hour while I was forced to dance. The guy in the far corner is my host sister's fiancee. I'll be going to a wedding in less than a year :-)

Part of my welcome crew. L-R: Host sister Bettina, Host mom Bremilda, me, Counterpart Flor, host mom of volunteer Nicole in Zana, El Profesor (dance teacher- don't actually know his name), Gilda and Fanny, two of the youth I'll be working with. Notice the baby face on the sign.

My new 'kitchen'. It has a roof, but it is pretty much outside. We have a fridge. It's in the dining room, unplugged.

The view from my bedroom window of the ducks and cuy (guinea pig). I'll be eating these guys at some point. Note the clothes line- it's barbed wire.

The bathroom. They put a door on for me. In the back right behind the towels is the only sink we have. The animals are to the right and the kitchen to the left, under the thatched roof.

If you were wondering what an incredibly nervous Sara looks like while being interviewed for the TV, you now know.

Some of the youth I'll be working with after interviewing and talking with the director of the Agriculture department in Chiclayo.

View on the way to my site. My town is super FLAT and there are mountains peeking out around it.

My new family in the north. Bettina (24), my pop Juan, me, mamita Bremilda and my brother Carlos (19). Not pictured are my oldest sister who is 30 and lives in Lima with her 9 month old and her other son, Bryan who is 12 and lives with us.

The men taking apart the Pachamanca. This is the only dish that men cook or help with in Peru. You dig a big hole, build a fire and put rocks on it. Then take out the super hot rocks and layer in potatoes, yams, chicken, meat, sweet tamale like things and really big beans with the rocks, cover it all with leaves and wait an hour. Then you dig it all out and feast.

This was a small plate. I had at least 3 potatoes (different kinds) plus the yam.

Kerry and Madeline, the adopted Quispe. Our families wanted to thank us for the luncheon we made for them and so decided to all come together to make a Pachamanca.

Evan showing his Food Network skills while chopping up some aji for Taco Tuesday at Keith's house.

Keith showing his family how to make tacos. He decided to have a taco party for his family and invited us all. They were DELICIOUS!!!

The taco feast. Enough to feed about 40.

This past week I spent getting to know my site where I will be living for the next two years- Cayalti in Lambayeque, the people I'll be living with and some of the people I might be working with. It was an amazing trip and I fell in love with my host family, the site and the people in general.

I came in Tuesday evening after a day long meeting with my counterparts. I left Lima Sunday evening with a fever and the assistance of about 1/2 a box of Immodium and lots of prayers. I was still not feeling so great Tuesday, though the fever thankfully broke on the bus ride to Chiclayo, my capital city. So I get to town and then hop in a mototaxi with my counterpart and site mate Nicole who lives in the next town over about 15 minutes away. We get to the corner of the street and they start yelling at the driver to stop there. I look over and a brass band is playing on the corner, which I found odd- thought maybe they were practicing. Then I get out of the taxi with my backpack and it dawns on me that this band is for ME. Oh shoot. I start walking down the street, not really sure where I'm going, when Nicole whips out her camera and tells me that the band is following me. I was probably some crazy color red at this point, as she's snapping pictures of the band and I parading down the street. I get to my house and hug about 15 people, the band follows us into the house and plays some more. Then there were the speeches by my host mom and sister (pops was out of town and my brother was in the city at school) and then of course I have to say something. So I ramble about how thankful I am for everything and try to explain that I'm a bit overwhelmed really- wasn't expecting all the fanfare. The band continues playing and I'm forced to dance for about an hour. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't dance, save for the instances in which I'm well inebreiated. Needless to say, I made a complete fool of myself but they seemed to enjoy that. The band left and then I got showed to my room and we all ate dinner, which was thankfully small. Around 8 or 9 everyone left, and my brother came home and I got a chance to settle in and relax some. Wednesday I was to meet the authorities at the municipality at 10am. Being the good gringa I am (and daughter of my mother) I was ready to go at 9:50. I was told my sister would come get me, so around 10:10 I went and sat in the "living room" and started waiting. Around 10:30, I was getting worried that maybe I misunderstood something, that maybe I was supposed to go alone (it was only 3 blocks straight down a street) and so I tell my brother that I'll go in a little. At 10:40, I was ready to go- I didn't want to make a bad impression by being so late. He suggested that he call his sister. She says 5 more minutes and she'll be there. About 11 she shows up and we take a moto to the municipality. I walk in and there are about 50 people sitting in rows, with a table up front with a cake and flowers and another Welcome Sara sign. Crap. I was expecting an informal go around and meet each of the people in the Muni. No no. I was told to go sit up front at the table, facing everyone. Every single person of authority was given a chance to speak, and then it was my turn- they wanted words from the volunteer. Crap. I had a speech in my head more or less, but was nervous with the microphone and having to face everyone like that, so I start out mumbling about does the microphone work because I wasn't sure. Then I fumbled through a speech, messing up my verbs the whole way and probably not making much sense. Then about 1/2 way through, every ounce of intelligence left my brain and I was left with nothing. I couldn't have even continued in English if I wanted. So I just said uhhhh, es todo- that's all- and shoved the mic at someone and promptly sat down. Two youth danced the Marinera for me, which is a beautiful dance that my family is insitant that I learn. I then cut the cake (photo op) and had to take a bite out of it. After all that, I cut it up and handed it out with my host sister and went around and met all the authorities one by one. In the afternoon I sat in on a meeting with parents of a youth group and got to talk again. One of the girl's mother is in love with me and has invited me to make and eat pie with her and her daughter. I met the Alcalde-mayor later in the day; he was overseeing the pavement of my road. I've been told they were only getting it done because I'm there. Thursday and Friday I spent with the youth group observing an interview project they were working on. They were long days, but I got my face out around Cayalti and now more people know who I am. Thursday I also did an interview for the local TV channel, which was dreadful. I had a radio interview on Saturday in which I had more microphone doubts. It was a crazy 4 days but I'm really excited.

Now a bit about my family and house:

I have a mom- Bremilda, who is the ama de casa which means she stays at home and runs the house. My dad Juan is a professor at the school across the street from our house. My sister is 24 also and is a psychologist. She works with the youth group with my counterpart. She has a novio-fiancee (he was in the band that met me) so it looks like we'll have a wedding on our hands in 6-9 months. My brother Carlos is 19 and is starting college where he'll be studying languages- English and French- so he's excited to have an English speaker in the house. I have another sister who is 30 and lives in Lima. She has two sons, one who is 12 and lives with us and one who is 9 months and lives with her. I haven't met them, and the 12 year old, Bryan, was in Lima visiting his mom while I was in Cayalti. I'll meet him when I go back and the sister and other nephew around Christmas. Bryan insists on calling me hermana- sister and called Tuesday night to see if I was there yet and to talk to me.

My house is two floors. You enter the house through the living room which consists of a TV, a table, a computer and a bunch of wooden and plastic chairs. We don't have a couch. Then you go through the dining room which is a big table and chairs and a refrigerator. My room is off the dining room. It actually used to be the entry to the steps to go upstairs, but they boarded off the steps and opened the wall on the other side and put a door on the room so I could live there. After the dining room, you are in the kitchen, which is pretty much outside. I use the term kitchen loosely. That's where the stove is (not oven), where we keep plates etc, and where some food is kept. The fridge in the dining room seems to be for decoration, as I asked if I should put the mayo in it and was told no, it's not plugged in. Go straight thru the kitchen and there is the bathroom. I have a toilet (woohoo!) but no seat (I'll be buying one pronto) and a shower stall. There's even a shower head. BUT. We only have water from 8-9am each day and I was told the shower head doesn't work. So, I'll be bucket bathing for the next 2 years. The nice thing is that we do flush (though with a bucket) after each use as opposed to the if its yellow let it mellow rule we follow in Yanacoto. In Yanacoto we don't have running water all the time either, but we have a tank on the roof that collects water when it comes, so it's like having running water. There's no tank in Cayalti. From the kitchen if you go right, you are in the coral or patio area. In the back corner is our one and only sink we wash hands, dishes and clothes there. Along the back wall are our cuy- guinea pig and patos- duck. My family thinks I'm crazy because every day I would go out and watch them. And sometimes talk to them. I'd ask them how they are and then tell them that I was going to eat them. Our clothes line is out there two... one of them is made of barbed wire, so we'll see how many holes I have in my shirts after two years. My room- I have a bed and a desk- like a desk from a school where the seat is connected. The first two days, I couldn't figure out why my room smelled like a farm. I thought maybe it was because my window opened right to the ducks and cuy, even though they didn't quite smell like that. Finally, it dawned on me one night as I was trying to get myself comfortable in my bed, that my bed was made of STRAW! I snuck a peek and it looked like a regular mattress and the edges were normal-ish, but the middle part was all straw. A few things about straw. It smells. And it's hard. My hips are bruised from sleeping on my side. I will be buying a new mattress and a dresser, since I don't have one of those. Life will definately be different, but I have a great family and a great site. I've met a good number of people who are eager to change their town, have a vision for the future, and know that it won't just fall into their lap or happen overnight. My visit was really encouraging and motivating. My pops is a writer on the side and was talking about writing a book about his experiences and how now I'll be part of that. So I'll let you know once I'm written about!

It's been rough getting back into training, though 4 of our guys broke up the routine this morning. They went to the super sketchy black market place (as opposed to the less sketchy black market place) in Lima and ended up buying Security Guard uniform shirts and hats. This morning they took over opening the door and then interrogated us as we entered. They were not even letting some people in. Some had the fortune of being pushed against the wall and 'frisked' (thank you Keenan). Thankfully only a few more Spanish classes. Though they are requiring EVERYONE to take the final test which is crummy. It's late and pictures will take awhile to load, so that will be a tomorrow project maybe.

Hasta luego!

Foto Fun!

Our youth group at the library. Took forever to get started, but it's going well now!

Me and Keenan with our beekeeping hats on at La Agraria. Did you know that bees only sting your face? They only sting other parts if provoked.

Peru 13 sites! I'm the top picture on the left. My pin is blue if you can follow the string (its pretty south of my picture)

My department of Lambayeque. Mine is the orange tag at the bottom, to the right of the yellow one. Franny is the orange tag at the top near the blue one. There are 5 of us going to Lambayeque, me and Franny are the only Youth.

Our FBT(Field Based Training) group at our bonfire/dinner in the dark. This was before I took a 3 foot fall and bruised my leg.

Me and my Tech Trainer Isa atop 2000 year old ruins being cheesy.

Elizabeth and I. She's from Peru 11 and lived with my training host family. We visited her on FBT, and turns out my site is only about 30 minutes from her!

Isa cleaning up after picarones in the park. And looking rather content.

Christie enjoying her candied apple and bag of sweet while waiting for the picarones.

Me, Franny and Susan at dinner in Chiclayo, the capital city of Lambayeque.

Mural on the wall at the Instituto Nacional de Cultura in Chiclayo.

Pretending to eat a still living cuy/guinea pig at La Agraria. The shote before this he was staring down my throat, and then I laughed and scared him. After a 4 hour lecture about Cuy raising, we had to have a little fun.

Posing with the squealing cuyes.

My video of the squealing cuy.

July 4th buffet. It was deliciously amazing, and only the start of the festivities.

Katie and my sisters Steisy and Vivi making NoBake cookies for the July 4th Celebration. Came out a bit dry, but still a hit.

Me Vivi and Steisy goofing around. This was the only photo in which Vivi was not making an ugly face or biting someone's shirt.

A little of Everything...

So, I've been a horrible blogger. Sorry. July has seemed like a blur. So you'll get the bullet point update of the past month or so.

*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.

This is My Life

There are some times when I'm riding the combi (especially if I'm by myself) that it hits me that this is my life. I really am living in Peru, and will be here for 2 more years. My life is narrated in Spanish and full of combi rides, rice and new foods. My life is a daily adventure, I hardly ever know what is going to happen the next moment. At the same time, my life is planned for me. It's like regressing to being in kindergarden. Being able to help set the table is exciting because I can show I am not completely helpless. My life is never being completely alone. Ever. Thursday night, my mom didn't come home because she had a school anniversary party until 4 am and the school is far away, my dad didn't come home til late, and my sister left because a friend had a family emergency and she took my other sister to our grandmother's house. I was COMPLETELY alone for the first time in a month. I could have ran around naked in the house if I wanted to I was that alone. It hit me then that even when I'm "alone" I'm not. There's always someone no more than 20 feet away. When I take the combi alone, theres at least 30 other people on the bus, at the center I'm not alone and never in my house. It was probably the most amazing 2 hours I've spent by myself. I was able to decide when I felt like eating and how much, and I even made a scrambled egg to go with the prepared food. It was in simple words, amazing!

This is my life. And I love it. I've waited over 2 years for this life, and now it's here. Yes, sometimes I miss my other life, but now, this is my life and I wouldn't trade it. Except maybe for a cheese pizza from Joe's Pizza Village.