Adjusting to My New Site

So I am no longer going to do a weekly play-by-play because that would result in 96 more blogs, and I do not have that much interest in these things. Sorry, my eager fans. I can hear your sighs of disappointment all the way in South American.

I have been at site now for seven weeks. I guess I’ll start with my professional life. My first two weeks were full of meetings. My socio Miryam introduced me to a lot of people. I had about three scripts that I carried with me at all times – differing levels of formality. I met most of the authorities of the town and by virtue of my white skin and Master’s degree in psychology (I like to think that my Master’s contributes, but in reality, it’s just the white skin, I’m pretty sure), apparently, I’m some kind of authority in town too. I attended every meeting, fiesta (party), and event that I was invited to and some that I was not. The people seemed very eager to help me and were always asking what they could do. I have to write this “community diagnostic” that Peace Corps uses to help us integrate and as a time-filler. I have to collect data by means of conducting interviews, giving questionnaires, and leading small group projects that fill the gaps in the report. Super easy stuff. I don’t even have to site my sources in this thing.

By my third week, I actually got to start some kind of work. I started teaching “tutoria.” Tutoria is a government-sanctioned (that’s the Peruvian government) hour designated for each classroom that teaches the students important themes that are generally sidestepped in the regular curriculum. For example, vocational orientation, social skills, self-esteem, reproductive help. Now, one thing that I quickly learned about this country is that there are plenty of laws and regulations that are very similar to the U.S.; it’s the enforcement that is lacking. I have heard from other Volunteers and some Peruvians that tutorial is usually a free hour, kinda like our study hall. I also said that I would lead English work-shops for the kiddies twice a week. I figured that I’ve been speaking it for almost 30 years, so it should be easy to teach, right? So, I was super excited to get outta my house and start doing something and getting to know the students and teachers. Let the integration process commence! However, at the same time, I knew that maybe I was starting too soon and with too much. Back home, preparing a 45 minute lecture is a breeze, but I don’t have to translate every word of my 45 minutes lectures back home. Also, the main thing I kept hearing from Peace Corps staff and volunteers is that your first three months are incredibly boring and there’s nothing to do and the time just drags, so that made me feel like I was doing something wrong, but everybody has a different experience.

The senior girls working on a community map

Senior boys

Its not all work...

So, with the blessing of the principal, I decided to use the tutoria hour to collect data about the students. We made maps of the community, made seasonal calendars and daily schedules, and they took a 3-page questionnaire from another volunteer that I tweaked. Last week was the first week that I started actually teaching anything. I decided to start with communication skills because a.) the students expressed interest in the surveys, and b.) the listening skills are somewhat lacking here. So far so good, but the anniversary of my high school is coming up at the end of the month and that is a really big deal here, (I’m gonna write future blogs about the holiday and the school system here.) so my tutoria hours have been delayed so as to prepare for the activities of the anniversary celebration.

My English workshops started out strong, which I expected. There were more than 50 students the first two

My favorite student and cousin, Yulie

A little post-English study volleyball game

Non-formal education at its finest

workshops. I invited any student age 10 to 17, which is a big range, but I figured I would start out really slow, focusing on pronunciation, because I was expecting a strong start followed by a sharp decrease in attendance after a couple of weeks. The principal suggested that I play sports afterwards to increase the quantity of students, which seemed like a pretty good idea at the time, even though I’m not exactly an athlete and know absolutely nothing about soccer or volleyball, the ONLY two sports that ANYBODY wants to play in this entire country. Attendance did not decrease for 6 classes (3 weeks), and 50 10- to 17-year-olds is waaaaaay too many kids for me to handle alone, so I decided to split the groups – 10- to 12-year-olds on Mondays and the rest on Tuesdays. Brilliant! Easier to control the students and I only have to prepare one lesson a week instead of two! The next week, I had 7 kids show up on Monday and 9 on Tuesday. Last week there was a holiday on Monday and Tuesday, so I didn’t have the workshops, so I’m pretty nervous about whether anyone will show up or not. Teeny changes really throw people off here. I am trying to think of ways to renew interest and it has only been 5 weeks! The primary objective of both the tutorial sessions and the English workshops is further my integration into the community, especially with the youth, so I consider these things to be on a trial basis anyway. I am supposed to be creating sustainability here, so if I do not receive tangible support from another member of the community, these little “early wins” (as PC like to call them) may fall to the wayside.

Now for my life at the casa. I sleep a lot, but am always tired. I lie. I spend probably 10 hours a day in my room, but I’m only sleeping 7 or 8 hours a night usually. I mentioned before that translating all day is tiring, but the emotional roller coaster that has been my previous five months in addition to the translating and integrating keeps me in a constant state of fatigue. No, it’s not really fatigue either. It’s so hard to explain. It’s like I’m my energy level is zapped by 6pm every day. I’m ready to do nothing else but lay in the bed and watch TV way too early in the evening, but because the people are so nice here, the integration part seems so easy, like it shouldn’t be zapping my energy to just simply talk with folks in the street and eat with folks and attend the parties or play cards with the family. These are not energy-zapping activities. Of course, I am comparing this life with my life before I left the states which included two jobs, an internship, work on a Master’s and an active social life. I know I should not do this cuz they are just way too different states of being to try to compare, but it’s difficult not to. I also realize that I lived by myself at home and had plenty of time to defrag by myself in my room by myself and my Netflix. I probably spent more time in my room per week back home because usually I had at least one day where I didn’t work or only worked for 5 or 6 hours. I get a lil guilty for not spending more time with the family sometimes, but they are super understanding. My butt was glued to the toilet one day last week (I had a spell of the diarrhea), and I was actually glad for the valid excuse for alone time. Like I said in my last blog, I’m finding stuff out about myself all the time. I always thought that I was such a social creature, but dang, I really like the alone time too. WOW! Gettin all caught up in the storm that is my “mente” (mind). Sorry bout that. Moving on…Here's some more pics of my site:

A sugar farm

Average-looking house in a "chacra" (farm).
Agriculture is a huge part of the economy in my area.

Corn field

The main street through La Cria and Pampa La Victoria

My street - my house is the first one on the right

Mi casa

The Internet cafe; there are two Playstation stations (???) behind me

The back part of the house; to my left and behind me is
the shower and toilet, and to my right are the animals

Shower and little toilet room - Idk what you would call it

Right half of the back - there are puppies under that tin!

One of the "gatos" under the chicken coop

The chicken coop

Duckies!

One of the improvements I made to the hot pink room.

Me and Yessica

My family here is cool. So far, I feel a stronger connection with the family in Chaclacayo, but I spent way more time with them so far and we went through some tragic stuff. After site visit, I was most concerned about the teenagers of the house liking me. My brother works out of town, like his dad, operating heavy equipment, and apparently his blushing bride accompanies him regularly. When I arrived, Christian was off working way down south and three days after my arrival his wife left on a bus to join him, so out of the whole family, I know them the least. My teenage sister is pretty incredible. She is 19-years-old and travels to Chiclayo (46km, which equals 28 miles, but by combi, that’s over an hour one way) every weekday to go to an “instituto” (kinda like a community college) to study tourism. It’s a booming industry here. For this country where most girls her age can’t get into university so they make babies (not knocking it, just sayin), Yessica (my sister) is a super dedicated and highly motivated lady. We get along much better than I thought we would initially. She is the smartest person in the house (admitted by all). She is rather introverted. She has one best friend that is her cousin that is attached to her hip. She has other friends at school, but not a lot, and she is not really fond of parties. She has said that if and when I help start a youth group, she is my first volunteer. We don’t get to hang out as much as I would like. I leave around 8:30 in the morning at least twice a week and get back around 1:30. Yessica leaves for school on the 1pm combi and doesn’t get back til 8pm. Sometimes I’m already in bed by then. LOL! At this point, I would say that she is my best friend here.

My host mom is a domestic goddess. She is up at 7ish every day, has a hot breakfast on the table by 8:30ish

Host mom, Reyna

(my breakfast is usually to go), then cleans until 11:30ish at which point she starts preparing lunch. Lunch is always huge (no matter where you eat in this country). Then she usually hangs out in a “silla” (chair) for about an hour before she is up and at it again. Oh! And she is doing all this while running the Internet café up front. The whole family contributes, but it’s Reina’s (host mom) show. Of course, we hand wash our clothes. There has been a “lavadora” (washing machine) sitting in the box in the den since my site visit, but mom says that we don’t have the money to install the dang thing. I will pay to have it installed after I save up for a couple of months if I have to. Hand washing is so stinkin tedious and time-consuming and after about four pairs of pants (and for me, an hour later), my back starts to hurt all hunched over like that. Also, my family sweeps and mops the entire house daily and sweeps and mops the front part of the house (the Internet café and the dining and living rooms) twice daily. We live in a desert and the front and back doors are always open for the breeze and the business, so there is an inch of dust on the ground by noon. Not to mention that my littlest sister, Dayhana (pronounced “Di-yana”), the 5-year-old, is the cartoon Tasmanian Devil’s twin. Instead of the Midas touch, she’s got the Tasmanian

Me and Dayhana

touch. She leaves of trail of dirt and candy wrappers everywhere she goes. However, 80% of our time together, she has me in fits laughing hysterically and I don’t have to pick up after her, so I can’t help but love her. I spend the most time with Reina and Dayhanna. Dayhanna only attends her preschool for 3 hours a day, and Reina is usually home all day except for weekly visits to Patapo (county seat) for market days. We have a lot of laughs. The things that come outta that kid’s mouth and the facial expressions keep us in stitches.

My host dad I finally got to know just these past two weeks. He has been away at work in Cajamarca. His job was finished, so he’s back home now. He works for a company that does not guarantee steady work, but almost steady. It depends on the jobs that

Tito, "the bossman" and super cool host dad. 

they can contract and then it depends on if they decide to hire Tito (host dad) or not. For example, he was out of work for three months last year. The way that they talk though, his boss really likes him, and there is another potential job coming up next month, so everybody has their fingers crossed. Tito is a super likeable fellow. He is always smiling and cracking jokes. He was still in elementary school when he was fifteen, and the only reason he got to graduate to high school is because his mom bribed his teachers with some chickens. (I’m totally serious right now.) He didn’t graduate from high school, but he is NOT stupid. He’s not super book smart, but he’s got this intriguing wit and wisdom about him that is awesome. He rules the roost, of course, but he’s not overly machista. (Recall from previous blogs that “machista” is an advocate of “machismo,” the belief that men are superior to women.) (I said that last thing in my professor voice in case you couldn’t tell.) Plus, he’s a super great dancer. I’m going to teach him to two-step before I leave this country.

Here's a couple of pics of other extended family members:

Uncle German, Aunt Rosa, and cousin Mauricio.
German is my dad's brother, and Rosa is my mom's sister.
Seriously...It's a small town.

Captain Maury, saving the world from harm!

Uncle Wilson, Aunt Jackie, and cousin...wait for it...
David Beckham. Yup, again, seriously.
Big soccer fans, these Peruvians.
These is Yuli's family, but she was asleep when we
took this pic. 

Beckham is absolutely the craziest kid I have ever been around.
Love him!

Well, I think that that was a pretty good general overview of life “aqui” (here). Sorry for all the Spanish words, but this is the way that my brain is working. I’m really scared that I won’t be able to talk English when I get back. It’s only been 5 months. 22 more to go, people!