Mi Familia Neuva - My New Family

We left the retreat soon after breakfast and headed to the training center in Chaclacayo. My initial impressions of the town were good. The streets are relatively clean, the town park is very pretty and the training center is very nice. You can tell that the training center used to be a house that has been converted, but it was obviously a very large house. It is gated with a beautiful yard (Espanol – “jardin,” pronounced “har-deen”) with huge palm trees and all different types of foliage, a back deck with comfortable chairs and couches, a pool (that we cannot swim in for insurance reasons), and a white Lab-looking dog named Lulu.


Back jardin of the training center

Back patio

First we had a brief session about some administrative stuff. Don’t send me packages! While I would very much like to receive stuff from the states, the cost is outrageous and hundreds of different items that are ordinary (several clothing items in one package, different foods) will alert customs. Anything over 1 kilo will automatically be put through customs and can cost me S/.50-70 to pick up. That is my entire week’s pay! Plus, I probably won’t have time to pick it up. Sending letters or cards is great, but they recommend not sending anything while I am in training because it can take nearly the whole time I am here (10 weeks) to reach Chaclacayo. I will have a PO Box when I get my site location. 

I thought I should explain what “S/.” is in the previous paragraph. The currency here is called “soles” (pronounced “soul-is”). Right now the exchange rate is about S/.2.75 = $1. During training, I receive S/.70 per week, so about $200 a week American. Since I have no bills and my family feeds me every day, right now I feel that this amount is pretty appropriate, but we shall see… 

I also learned that it will probably be about 4 or 5 weeks before I receive my cell phone. I can’t call the states on it anyway. Well, I can but a really brief convo would cost me three day’s pay, so it ain’t happening. Most everyone gets a phone card. They are really cheap. 

We then had an hour Q&A with current Volunteers with a focus on host families. At this point we were going to meet our host families in about an hour, and I think everyone was a little nervous. Some of the Volunteers’ stories were funny, but also somewhat anxiety provoking. Some of them have very little privacy and no one has hot water, but all agreed that their host families were great people whom they grew to love and provided the most support. Some of the families showed up 15 minutes early, so we ended our discussion. Each person received the same piece of paper with the neighborhood in which we were going to be living (5 total neighborhoods for all 35 of us), the name of our new mamas, and a phone number for each household. Then we also got a small slip of paper with our exact address, phone number(s), and a teeny description of each member of the host family household. We then organized ourselves by household and proceeded to the jardin to wait on our families to pick us up. 

I live in “Tres de Octubre” (The Third of October). Yes, this is the name of my neighborhood which is cool because it is something that I can actually pronounce. Other neighborhoods are much more difficult to say – Huascaran, Yanacoto, Chacrasan, etc. My mom’s name is Rebecca and my father’s name is Carlos. They have two daughters, an 18-year-old named Yerlin and a 12-year-old named Ganellia. When I looked at the paper I noticed that I have the same address as another trainee, Dylan. I had no idea what that meant, so my feelings were pretty neutral. Also, my roommate from the staging event in D.C. and my roommate from the retreat live in my neighborhood, so I was excited about that. They are both really great girls. 

So, there are six of us who will be living in Tres de Octubre sitting at a table outside by the exit. The families are supposed to arrive at one, but I can already tell that arrival times are a mere suggestion in this country (Note to Mom – you would totally love it! lol), so nobody was panicking when 1:15 rolled around and nobody from Tres de Octubre had been picked up yet. However, when it was 1:35 and only one of was gone and there were no other trainees from other neighborhoods, we were starting to feel a little unloved. The PC staff called our mamas and for some reason the Tres de Octubre mamas thought that we were getting picked up at 11:00, had already been to the center once to get us, and now they were having problems getting enough cabs for us, them, and all our luggage. LOL! So it turns out that our mamas were so excited to receive us that they showed up two hours early. It is because we are the most amazing group. I can tell already. Lol.  

Funny story. When our mamas arrived, each one stepped up and said their names. Then the appropriate trainee would move to greet her and give her a little kiss on the cheek (traditional Peruvian greeting for people who are close). My mom’s name is Rebecca, but there is a trainee named Rebecca in the Tres de Octubre group, so when my mom Rebecca said her name, trainee Rebecca stepped up and greeted her. My Spanish is so bad, so I was having a very difficult time explaining the situation, but everyone figured it out when trainee Rebecca’s mom said her name. It was really funny. It turns out that Peruvians have a word for people who have the same namesake – “tocayo/a.” So my new neighbor and my new mom are “tocayas.” 

So my living arrangement is unique. Dylan’s mom is my mom’s mother-in-law. We live in the same house, but my family lives upstairs and Dylan and his mama live downstairs. Peruvians build up to conserve space. I have my own room with a “cama grande” (big bed; it is a full size bed, but most I gather that most trainees only have a twin size bed), desk, chest of drawers, two shelves, and a window. I also have my own bathroom! Of course, I do not have hot water, but I have a toilet with running water, toilet paper, and a toilet seat! Super exciting. I am spoiled already. <Just a side note - you cannot flush your T.P. here cuz the plumbing pipes are teeny. This takes some serious getting used to. Throwing your paper in the toilet is not something that you consciously think about doing.> So, Dylan is fluent in Spanish. He is part Bolivian, and he used to visit his grandparents there every summer. This is absolutely fantastic because lunch would have been really awkward without him. My family was sure to make clear that Dylan cannot translate hardly any after today because obviously I cannot rely on him (or other fluent speakers) for the remainder of my service, or even training for that matter. 

My room with my cama grande

Another view of my room

 

It was after 2:00 by the time that we reached the casa. Everyone was really hungry and the ladies of the house were preparing a very special meal for me and Dylan’s first lunch in our new home. “Papas reinas” (Idk if I spelled that right) is a dish where you boil, peel, and mash potatoes and then form the mashed potatoes into a sort of a shallow bowl shape about the size of the palm of your hand. Then you put this mixture of cooked chicken, egg, onion, and olives into the potato bowl. (There may have been other stuff in this mixture. I missed that part.) Then you put another potato bowl on top and mush the edges together so that now you have a big egg-looking thingy. You coat the egg-shaped stuffed mashed potato with flour and then fry it. They were really good. I am not a big fan of olives, but I liked them. We also had potato salad, rice, and Inca Kola. Tons of carbs and lots of sugar! Inca Kola is this bright yellow soda that tastes like liquid cotton candy. I get diabetes just looking at it, but I like it.  

Street to Tres de Octubre

 

See, Ma? It is safe.



Our casa. I live upstairs.

I really struggled today with communication. I managed to squeeze out the phrases, “I’m hungry,” and “Can I help?” Honestly, I probably even said those things wrong. I was able to tell them a little bit about me, like my age, occupation, area of study, and where I live and where my family lives in the states. It was really difficult watching Dylan assimilate so quickly while I had to have everything either translated or repeated 17 times. I know I will learn, but for now things are a little awkward. 

Other info about my new family: My parents are in their early 40s, so they are only about 10 years my seniors. They are both “independientes.” I am pretty sure that this means that they do not have 9-5 jobs. Idk yet what Carlos does exactly, but Rebecca is the caregiver of a huge house up the hill from our neighborhood. Her boss’s family comes in on some weekends to get away from the hustle and bustle of Lima. My elder younger sister… (does that even make sense?)…Yerlin travels back and forth to Lima Monday through Friday (about an hour trip) to go to school. She is studying to me an architect. She really likes the drawing and creating aspect, but struggles a little with the math stuff. She also speaks some English. Her English is waaaayyy better than my Spanish. Ganellia is pretty quiet so far. To break the ice, I gave her a little LED light that straps to your finger and a teeny water shooter that looks like a ring but has a bulb that holds water that you hide in the palm of your hand. She loved the water shooter thingy. I know we will be friends eventually. La Senora Trinidad, Dylan’s mom, has a little bodega in her house. She sells snacks and small amenities. 

There are several bodegas in our neighborhood. Scotney, a trainee from Boston and all-round cool chica, lives about three blocks up the hill from me. Her family also runs a bodega, but theirs is bigger. Next to Scotney is Jojo, my roommate in D.C. Jojo’s family has a “cabina,” an Internet café. Rebecca lives one block over and about three blocks up from me. Her family does not have a bodega, but we like her anyway. And Caroline from South Carolina and my roommate from the retreat lives basically directly behind me. Her mom is my mom’s aunt, so we are now cousins. Caroline and Rebecca have WiFi. I do not, but I do have a cama grande. Lol.

Rebecca (trainee Rebecca, not my mom Rebecca), Scotney, Caroline, and D.D. -The novice Spanish speakers of Tres de Octubre!

 

 

I keep forgetting to take pics of my family, but I have nearly 9 weeks left here. More to come later! Miss everyone!