Moving Right Along...February and March

Workwise, my English classes continued. I taught the kids Red Rover, Heads Up 7 Up, Twister, and Blind Man’s Bluff, in all of which I somehow managed to include some sort of English lesson. We also drew a bunch and painted and screamed and laughed. I really like this age group (10-14), but university kids are still the best! The exercise classes with the mamas were still going strong at this point as well. I think we upped the number of dances to five, but at my insistence, the Fit Test was still the main staple.

I also helped out the local Health Post in their campaign against dengue. This was really interesting for me for a couple of reasons. First, free t-shirt. ‘Nuf said. But seriously, it allowed me to make some new friends with the other regular folks that volunteered to help because we had to attend a 2-hour training session and then we walked around town all morning knocking on doors, inspecting the home’s water storage facilities (really looking for mosquitoes and their eggs), taking samples of suspected infested waters, and giving out little bags of chemical repellent to put in their water. I worked with a different team every day for three days. In all honesty, I didn’t do much work.

Nice guy that invited me to some fruit

Adding some repellent to a family's water containers with Sofia

My Spanish is too sucky to do the talking, plus who is gonna let some weird random gringa in their house to look at their water? I couldn’t really do the record keeping because their last names are so foreign to me…and I’m from Texas. There are not that many Rodriguezes or Lopezes here. There are Tapias and Saavedras and Chungas and Ubilluses and Remarachines and Yarlaques here en ol’ Peru. When a Peruvian rattled off the household name, I really didn’t want to bother every other person with a “Could you spell that please?” So I walked around and talked with the two other people who were the real workers. Usually I was the pack mule, carrying our waters and papers and snacks in my backpack. Another reason I enjoyed this was because I got to go inside about 50% of the houses in my town. A person’s house says soooo much about them – rich, poor, clean, dirty, organized, disorganized, downright freaky, conservative, pet lover, hobbies, strict, laissez faire, open, closed, down to earth, decorations from Christmas, etc. I got to see how other people live, and while there were no great surprises (most Peruvian houses have the same type of decorations, same style furniture, usually some type of business), I got a feel for some people’s personalities that I did have figured out yet. Also, we found mosquito larvae in five different homes around the park in La Cria, and we got to collect samples! With eyedroppers and vials! I felt like some kind of scientist! It was super cool! I really didn’t think about the sort of danger I put myself in. That would be a classic story for our PC docs to tell future trainees – “One time a volunteer got dengue on an anti-dengue campaign.” Just for the simple irony, it would’ve almost been worth it, but it didn’t happen, so good for me! P.S. – although we found several cases of larvae, we killed them, and only one suspected case of dengue was found, but it turned out to be the flu.

I washed Lassie with my sister one day. She is such a good puppy. Takes her baths like a champ, even though she obviously doesn’t like them.

February done; now March:

I wrapped the English classes to the dismay of the students. Also, after two weeks of exercise classes with 2-0 students, I called that quits as well. It was time. Everyone told me that once school started back, the mamas would have less free time.

Yes, school started back! The week before, all the teachers had in-service, so I attended as well. I was put on three different committees and elected “Director of the Tutoria Hour.” (The once a week class about psych topics, like self-esteem, communication, social skills, etc.) At first I was really honored, but after a little reflection, I had to tell my principal that I couldn’t accept because I’m not here to be a leader, I’m here to inspire others to lead, to motivate, to be a helper. So, while I do not officially have the title, I still am the most actively involved planner in tutoria. This year, I made clear that I am not teaching alone, so I have teachers in all classes (except one, but this is the teacher’s regular day off, so that’s understandable.). Some are more involved than others, but if I can make a few influential changes in their teaching styles at least during tutoria, that’s a success as far as I’m concerned. I was also on the welcoming committee. I made a huge sign to welcome the kiddies back. It took me a good 15, 16 hours to finish.  All were very appreciative. I also got to help pass out chicken sandwiches and soda to all the students from the PTA. Then I was on a committee to help utilize the equipment the school has – a new projector, musical instruments, a copier, etc. I feel like this is a committee that doesn’t really do a whole lot. I intend to use the projector numerous times this year and one teacher is using it in most of her classes. We got four new teachers this year, one new math teacher, a new history teacher, computer teacher, and P.E. teacher. The last three are brand new, as in there have never been actual teachers who studied in this field in these classes before in the high school. Last year, the religion teacher was teaching P.E. and there was a lab room with 21 brand new computers, but no teacher. The math teacher is a little strange, but aren’t they all? (Math teachers, that is.) It was awesome to make these additions this year.

She didn't get a lot of presents; the basket was just small

It was my littlest sister’s birthday. Well, it was all three of my host sibling’s birthdays, but apparently, the littlest one’s is the main event, the eldest and male child's birthday mattered somewhat, and, as always, the middle child’s birthday was pretty much like any other day except, yet again, there was a circus in town, so that was her treat (???). After all the money that the host padres sunk into Dayhanna’s birthday, I can understand why the other two’s birthdays were mere dust in the wind. There was a decorator, a piñata, about a refrigerator-sized box full of candy, three cakes, a meal of chicken and rice, tons of soda, and, of course, dancing and games with over 30 young ones in the living room. The party lasted about four hours. I played photographer, taking over 200 pics and videos to commemorate the occasion. Good times were had by all.

Me and the host sibs

Pinata time!

Typical B-day games

Riding on her Tia Ruth's shoulders for the "Hora Loca"

Hora Loca - Crazy Hour

Mount Huascaran in Ancash, the tallest mountion in Peru.

I had a third training event in Huaraz (where I went 

So by the 5th day, "silly" was an understatement.

Your tax dollars at work, folks.

Me and my socia, Mirian, in front of Mt. Huascaran.

This is my "I pooped 8 times before breakfast at
yet another crappy training event" face

for Thanksgiving, where Rebecca lives). This was by far the worst. Most volunteers will agree, but I think for a different reason. We have to bring a Peruvian work colleague, a “socio.” This in itself was enough to drive some Volunteers bonkers, but I genuinely like my socio, Mirian, but the first three days of this training was 100% for the socios’ benefits. True, I feel like my socio and I grew a little closer on this trip, but for three days, I had to listen to a complete repeat of things I “learned” (heard, more like it) in the original training in Lima. I could launch into my tale of woe about how I cried twice the first day because everything I said or did was wrong when in reality I was three steps ahead of the trainer, but since we weren’t going to learn how to set a goal until after lunch, it wasn’t right to set a goal correctly before lunch or how all three trainers changed our goal, but I’m so tired of complaining about Peace Corps. It is not constructive. To make matters worse, I ate a ham sandwich supplied by the resort we were staying at for a snack on the first day, and by the next morning I went to bathroom 8 times before breakfast. I was told that I could sit out the day in my room, but I didn’t want to leave my poor socio for the wolves, so I just excused myself about six more times until the antidiarrheal medication kicked in. I was over it by the next day and the socios went home as well. The fourth day was much better. I felt normal again, and we were actually trained in something new - how to teach teenagers basic financial planning. I enjoyed this much more. We only had one afternoon to hang out in Huaraz which was also disappointing, but I ate the best chocolate cake in Peru (in a restaurant owned by English people), a whole slice all by myself, and bought a few things in the local artisan market. My friend, Valerie (the only other Peru 21 “youthie” left in Lambayeque), and I decided to stay at the hostel in Chiclayo (my cap city) to recuperate before returning to our sites. Our bus got into Chiclayo at around 7a.m., we ate a quick breakfast, got a room, and didn’t wake up until 3:00 in the afternoon. I got up, got us dinner around five, and fell back asleep by 9:00. I probably could’ve slept til noon the next day, but there was construction around 7a.m. Ugh!

So, we may have packed 7 Volunteers in one taxi.
Don't judge! We're poor!

So I said that Val is the only Peru 21 youthie left in Lambayeque. As you may recall, my friend, Caroline, (from training, part of the 3dO novice Spanish-speaker group) was also sent to the island of misfit toys, otherwise known as Lambayeque, after our pre-service training. Well, I think it was back in late December, she was given the awesome opportunity to change sites to the department directly south of us (La Libertad). It was awesome because La Libertad is better than Lambayeque (cooler people, better beach, huge touristy capital city), our best bud Scotney is in La Lib, and because she was going to be working with children with disabilities, her specialty. After about a week’s worth of thought, Caroline accepted, and surprisingly, she was moved within three weeks. Right off the bat, she had problems with her host family. It was obvious that they really didn’t want her. Her host mom was trying to pawn her off on the neighbors, and then her host mom told her a day ahead of time that she would have to stay somewhere else for the weekend because she (host mom) was going to Lima and didn’t trust Caroline alone in the house with her husband. Caroline had lived there for less than one week. She had nowhere to go! To top it off, it was Caroline’s birthday! She came back to Lambayeque for the weekend. When she got back to her new site, it just continued to go downhill. She had problems with the municipality, and she was overwhelmed by the enormous, unrealistic amount of work her schools and organizations expected her to do. So, out of the clear blue sky, she called me twice one day in March. I couldn’t talk either time, but swore to call her back. Eventually, I got a minute, and she dropped the bomb. She was going to E.T. – early terminate. Everyone has their reasons. Peru has one of the highest E.T. rates in the region (weirdly it also has one of the greatest service extension rates in the region), but Caroline going home early really surprised me. There are a host of details that I am omitting, but her E.T. was well-thought out and needed to happen for her health’s (mental and physical) sake.

Caroline's first pic after getting home

Although I absolutely wish her the best, selfishly, I am really sad. I took her move from Lambayeque back in February harder than I did her move back home, mostly because of the dark, dank place of sorrow I was at back then, but just knowing that she is not going to be at those future trainings or vacations makes me sad even though she is probably eating a huge steak and watching something good on American television right now. Anywho, she will be missed. BTWs, we have lost four people from our group since June, the Peru 21ers, three of the four are Southerners, and there were only four Southerners in the original group, so that leaves me. Yea, representin!!!

Whoa, March – check! I am almost caught up! What the hey?!?! 

Next up: January

The best place to start is at the beginning, so I’m told.

January went something like this:

New Year’s: There are two festivals in my town each year. One is during Halloween and the other is during New Year’s. The New Year’s festival is called the celebration of the “Santisima Cruz Colorado,” and it lasts about two weeks. In a lot of ways, it looks exactly like the festival that we had in October, but it was bigger. There were more fair-type games and food. A very popular Peruvian band played in La Cria, “Grupo Cinco.” My brother and sister went, but I didn’t want to pay the S/.20 entry fee. I kind of regret that now. They have pretty good music.

What I most enjoyed about New Year’s was learning the Peruvian customs. First, at midnight, there is a party downtown in the plaza. (Every town has a plaza, Spanish tradition.) There is music and dancing and drinking, but the most interesting part was when they lit a giant wooden tower with firecrackers and whirly-twirly fireworks. When the flame reached the top of the tower, it spelled our “¡Feliz Año Nuevo!” Happy New Year. Then, they had two dummies, clothes stuffed with straw, that they set on fire. Someone told me that this is supposed to burn away any bad stuff that is going to happen in the new year. And finally, a young man put on a cow costume (basically just some white card board crudely shaped like a cow that fit snugly over the boy’s back when he was hunched over at the waist), which was promptly set on fire before he began his run through the crowds. This was absolutely the safest part of the evening. (Sarcasm.) This is supposed to spread good luck. I held my breath, waiting to see who was going to be the first person set aflame, but there were no casualties, and, honestly, it was really fun. Other customs that I took part in was eating twelve grapes – one good luck charm for each month of the year. Also, my sister gave me yellow underwear. Wearing yellow underclothes on New Year’s Eve is good luck, but when someone gives you yellow underwear, it’s double good luck. I must admit that I prefer black-eyed peas and cornbread over grapes, but I had a really great time.

I returned to “la puntilla,” the swimming hole quite a few times this month. We had a lot of extended family members visiting. My host cousin came home for summer break from studying at a university in Lima. Another host aunt and her 3-year-old son stayed with Tia (Aunt) Rosa also. The whole family went to la puntilla a couple of times to picnic and hang out. Also, I went fishing for the first time at la puntilla and some of the surrounding fishing holes on the river. My cousins don’t use poles, they use nets. Although I only got to throw it once, I was the collector the fishes. There is some technique and skill involved, but it is so different than any fishing that I’ve ever experienced. I think I will try to purchase my own net next summer. They keep ALL the fish that they catch. The first one that my cousin caught, I laughed out loud when he told me to put it in the bag, but he was serious. It was what most of us would consider bait, especially in Texas. We caught one decent-sized tilapia. Afterwards, I sat on the shore and helped clean them with my pocket knife. They don’t skin or gut them here, just scrape the scales off and throw ‘em in the frying pan. (Sorry I don’t have any pics of these excursions. I lent my camera to my cousin to take some pics of all of us swimming and she promptly went to pushing buttons, and since she, of course, cannot read English, erased every photo that I had of anything that occurred to me in January and the last part of December.)

After nearly a month of boredom, I started up some English classes for the wee little ones during their summer break. (10-14 year-olds. They are “wee” because all in all the Peruvian people are small. I once mistook a 15-year-old for a 10- or 11-year-old. High school kids look like our elementary school kids.) Youth Volunteers are strongly encouraged to do some kind of something during the summer break. Honestly, I think this is mainly to combat Volunteer insanity more than anything else.

Alphabet caterpiller

This was the first day. The number of kiddos swelled
to over 40 the next day.

Nonformal education at its best

Learning the parts of the body in English

The lesson on clothes 

This was my first business encounter with the municipality, i.e., I begged for some money. At this point, I am already highly familiar with the snail’s pace of work around here, but this was my first go. Good news, though – I got the money…three months later. Because of this, I was unable to do many of the cool activities that I had planned for the kiddos, but they seemed to enjoy themselves. The best part was that my host sister, Yessica, helped me out most days. I started out with 18 kids, but by the second week, we had 42. The numbers evened out in February. A rumor went around town that the classes ended in January, so attendance plummeted that first week. Small towns! What do ya do?

I only did two days a week because I had plans to start a Youth Leadership Group. This was one of the three things that the authorities asked for help with before I moved to town. This was specifically listed in my welcome packet. I plastered the town with flyers, made announcements on the “emisor,” (a big bull horn on a pole that announces important messages to the town and plays the national anthem at 7a.m. every morning J) and personally invited about 7 youths that I really wanted to attend. In a small town and with the support of the high school staff (yes, the director and secretaries and PTA are at the school for most of the summer break), I figured that this would be sufficient advertising. I made “American” appetizers (PBnJ, ham and cheese pinwheels, tuna fish sandwiches, and my now famous chocolates) for my first meeting and some really cool team-building exercises ready to go. I waited for an hour…for no one to show. I had heard of this happening to practically every volunteer, but when it happens to you, you just aren’t prepared like you think you are. I started questioning…well, lots of things. Do these people truly like me? I mean, not even my host sister or neighbors came! Why did I have 7 people look me in the eye and say, “Yes, I’ll be there."? What did I do wrong? Why am I here? I had a heck of a lot of appetizers to share with the family. When I went to the PTA to get their support, they told me that there was no way that the kids in the community are going to participate in something like that during their summer vacation. They told me that all the kids are “lazy” during the summer. I retorted with, “Well, I would think that watching tv all day and all night would be a little boring. Plus, I see the kids swimming in the canal and in the river every day. I think that starting now would give the kids a good opportunity to do activities at least every week because when school starts back up, they will need the time to study, and we can probably only meet once or twice a month.” This logic didn’t sway a single person. So, they promised to support me in “anything I wanted to do” when school started back up, and if I needed something to do during the break why didn’t I teach a dance class? Because I’m not a dance instructor. Ok, then sports. No, I’m not a coach. So, basically I entered a meeting to beg for support for a community youth leadership group, and I walked away teaching a Zumba/aerobics class for middle-aged mamas. Anything for the sake of integration.

Oh! And I forgot to mention that this happened a little over a week that I tried to renegotiate my eating arrangements with my host family that went over like a lead brick. Probably 90% of Volunteers renegotiate, but my family either didn’t understand what was told to them or were misinformed. I tried to prepare my own meals because I explained that I have high cholesterol and I had gained probably about 15 pounds in six months and all the carbohydrates in the Peruvian diet (Seriously, they mix rice with spaghetti here and call it good.) were very bad for my health. I was willing to still eat lunch with the family, but I wanted a healthy breakfast and dinner. My family agreed, but they were only going to give my S/.50 per month to eat 60 meals. Nope! That’s pretty much impossible. I guess I’ll just have a heart attack, get sent home, and you can have a big fat S/.0 a month! Now, at the time, the family thing, the food thing, compiled with the youth leadership group thing, my high school principal telling me that it was my fault that nobody showed up, and the realization that I had 21 months left to go, was almost too much. There were many tears shed and much McDonald’s put on mommy’s credit card, but I persevered! Honestly, this was my lowest point so far. For this reason, I couldn’t write blogs for a while. “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all’ type of thing. Today, things are better. The awkwardness remained with the family for almost two months (From my experience, Peruvians don’t really talk things out; it’s either stuffed down deep or screamed out.) until I couldn’t stand it anymore. My host mom makes me salads with practically every meal and I am much more honest about what I do and don’t like. I don’t eat rice very often, and I eat very little meat (cuz it’s all fried). Also, I started buying my own cereal and box milk (there’s no fresh milk here) for breakfast for some days and every now and then, I cook my own dinner, so they dropped my rent S/.50 a month, but I get much healthier meals that they prepare, so everyone is happy.

So, this exercise class thingy. I pretty much smelled failure from the start. Peruvians are not known for their health habits, (For example, my 18-year-old cousin invited me to go “running’ with her when I first arrived at site. I am NOT a morning person, but I needed the exercise and as many friends as I could get, so I agreed to go “running” at 5a.m. We went walking. I tried to explain to her that it is recommended to elevate your heart rate, but she didn’t really understand my broken Spanish, and I just took off jogging, meeting her on the flip side of the highway 15 minutes later where she rejoined me for about 3 minutes before she ate my dust again.) and I had been seriously trying to lose weight since about mid-December. I explained to the PTA that I could do the videos that I had been doing in my house, but that was pretty much all I knew about teaching an exercise class. “We want to dance!” they tell me. Ok, but I don’t know any dances, but I can find some on the Internet and we can learn them together. So, since this was labeled an “exercise class,” I decided to start with stretches as performed by Sean T. from the Insanity videos, dance a few peppy numbers with the ladies, then do the cardio exercises from the “Fit Test” from the Insanity series. The Fit Test is about ten different cardio exercises that you do for exactly one minute as hard as you can, but at your own pace. I could not have stressed “at your own pace” harder. It is important that you are able to breathe. I even brought a huge jug of water, glasses, and I made spreadsheets for the ladies to count the number of reps they were able to accomplish, so they could track their progress throughout the next two months. As you can imagine, (and honestly, I knew better, but I was just a little bitter that I could get support for a mom’s exercise class, but could not get support for a youth leadership group, the #2 reason that I was invited into this community, so let’s just say that my heart was really not into this whole thing.) things were going semi-well with the dancing. Some did not like the songs that I had found on youtube, and all of them couldn’t imagine why I didn’t use the song Festejo (Remember how I said that EVERY class in the high school did their choreography to the same song back in October for the school’s anniversary celebration? Yeah, that song.), but there were still smiles on faces. When I busted out with the Fit Test, the looks on their faces were priceless. You want us to do whhhhaaat?!?! “But D.D., those people on the video are skinny!” Uh-huh. “But, D.D., I thought this class was for mamas.” Yup. And my personal favorite - “But, D.D., I’m sweating!” At this point, I stopped and tried to explain that I was asked to teach an exercise class and that I agreed to play my videos for everyone. I added the three Zumba dances out of the goodness of my heart and to please the ladies because I have no interest in doing the dances, I want to lose weight, so I want to do exercises that will contribute to weight loss. Then I explained that there is probably a cultural difference in the definition of exercise, but to me, exercise is not the most fun thing to do, but we do it for the physical benefits, like a healthy heart, weight loss, to combat diabetes, and to live longer. And, yes, when done correctly, exercise causes one to sweat! If there are any ladies that do not want to do the aerobics part or the dancing part, that was absolutely OK, but this is what the classes are going to be like. I did my absolute best to say this in an assertive (not aggressive) tone, but in my head, I was doing something (yet again) that I really didn’t want to do without any sort of tactical or tangible help, amidst of cacophany of complaints were plentiful. There were 12 women in my first exercise class. The following class, I expected to have a whoppin’ 0, but to my surprise, I had 19! Over the 2 ½ month period that I continued the classes, there were many that came and went, but I had four ladies that really stuck with me, and we talked about meal plans and how they could do the exercises in their houses since they now had the knowledge, and all four reported weight loss and two talked about better sleep. They even want to perform one of our dances (Festejo, of course) during the next school anniversary. LOL! Two of the ladies are some of my closest friends here now, so……totally worth it despite my crappy attitude in the beginning.

Also, I got some feedback on my huge community diagnostic that I turned in in December. My boss of the Youth Development Program gave me a textbook compliment sandwich. She said that it was so nice to read a diagnostic from an older, highly educated volunteer with obvious work experience……buuuuut I was too scholarly. Here’s a few recommendations, but very in-depth and interesting to read. Now, I have been accustomed to an APA writing style, and by “accustomed,” I mean I did about 1,672 rewrites during my two years of Master’s training, so being “too scholarly” was more of a compliment to me than a negative criticism. In reality she gave me a compliment compliment sandwich with a thick slice of compliment in the middle and extra compliment dippin’ sauce. When you’ve been trained to write like you’re writing for publication in scholarly journals (Thanks, again, Psych Profs of MSU!), it’s a challenge to dumb yourself down, for lack of a better term. She was absolutely right, by the way. I forgot my audience when writing, and the people and authorities of La Cria, Patapo, Lambayeque, Peru are not aching to know about the statistical methods employed or the limitations of the diagnostic.

So, that was pretty much my January. I hit my lowest point in the now 111/2 months that I have been here. I had to engage some of those darn psych techniques that I learned on myself, but all in all, I’m doing above average now. I know, I know, that still isn’t super reassuring, but I doubt that I will ever reach that natural high honeymoon period naiveté that I had my first couple of weeks in country. It’s possible, but it will be fleeting, and that’s just reality. Peace Corps has mapped out the science of Volunteers’ bipolarism, and I can expect another round of the blues in August, when I have been here for 15 months, but still lack another 12. By then, my dearest mommy will have been here and brought me Reese’s peanut butter cups and ranch dressing to help me cope. Luv u, Mom!

End of the Year Wrap-up

Yeah, yeah, yeah, my last post was December. Several reasons for that, but I’ve been busy. Sheesh! I am thrilled that my time is passing so quickly. I have taken to emailing the majority of my blog followers. While I enjoy writing, I find these blogs so impersonal, which is just not my style. However, I like to share my going-ons with you U.S. folk, so here’s a breakdown of my November and December (except the Ancash trip which you already know about):

“La Puntilla:” Two other teachers, the groundskeeper, eight students, and I went to the local popular swimming hole. I say “swimming hole” because I am a southerner, but it is really more like a non-ocean beach in front of a water treatment facility. Apparently this is where all the locals go to cool off, fish, picnic, play volleyball, and just hang out. There is sandy beach, flowing river water, a run-off fountain, walls for jump-offs, and one deep place for actual swimming.

I totally blend right in

This is it

Check it out! I'm doing the peace sign that all the kids do

And the long walk back

My companions and I traveled there by moto-taxi, spent a couple of hours taking photos, swimming, and playing volley (nobody here finishes the word with “ball”), then WALKED back to La Cria. I’m not 100% certain of the exact length, but we walked for almost three hours before getting back home. Exhausting! Especially after swimming. Things I learned from this excursion: 1.) Peruvians do not wear swimsuits. They wear shorts and t-shirts or sleeveless shirts. 2.) Peruvians all say that they cannot swim, but then when they get in the water, they swim. Sure, just your basic paddling and kicking, but it is swimming as far as I’m concerned, which leads me to wonder, what do they consider swimming? 3.) Peruvians don’t say “swimming”, they call it “bathing.” Again, so just exactly what is swimming, then?

“El Circo:” I got to go to my first Peruvian circus. My town being such a small site, I figured that this was a really big deal. Mind you, I was not expecting elephants and tigers, but just the fact that the circus was coming to a town of less than 4,000 people, I thought that was something. It really wasn’t bad.

The height of clown and puppet collaboration

Getting a shave (And yes, that's a child
working in a circus, not a little person)

More 8-year-old entertainers

Terrible scarecrow-lookin version of a funny Chuckie

There was a lot of time with the clowns, and the feats that the entertainers (juggling, tight-rope walking, etc.) performed, the average person certainly cannot do. The headliner was “Chucky.” Yes, the killer doll from the 1987 classic horror flick, Child’s Play. He is a big deal here. People call mischievous little kids, “Chuckies.” This “Chucky” turned out to be a large puppet operated by a terrible ventriloquist. I could see this guy’s lips moving from the 8^th row of the bleachers. Anyway, my Spanish is still so bad that I can’t understand when people speak in falsetto or speak rapidly, and this guy was doing both, but apparently her was funny. I was just so amped because there was something to do in my town! Since then (November), I have been to three more circuses. Nothing like the first time, huh?

“Chocolatadas:” I don’t remember if I have told us this or not, but every Peruvian birthday party is pretty much the same, depending on the age and the sex of the birthday boy/girl. The order of events is the same, the decorations are the same, the songs are the same, the food is the same, the seating arrangements are the same, everything is the same from house to house, from location to location (at least on the coast), from family to family. This has

My chocolates

The gift sacks of candy 

Each kid got a personal paneton (fruit cake) in
addition to the piece of fruitcake supplied to
each person during the party (below)

Local engineer supplied toys

All the kiddos with their gifts from "Papa Noel" (Santa Claus)

More gifts!

costs and benefits – you definitely know what to expect, but by now (11 months in country), they are starting to be a little boring. Well, the Christmas parties lack variety as well. A “chocolatada” is a Christmas party that goes down like this: Words are given by a person in charge, usually thanking God for the successes of the last year and praying for protection and success in the next year. Then, if there are gifts, gifts are given to the kiddies. Then, maybe there is singing and/or dancing. Then the food is served. In my experience, it is always chicken, potato, rice, maybe a sweet potato, a hollow empanada coated in sugar, fruit cake (Of course! Can’t forget the paneton!), and hot chocolate. Remember, I’m in the southern hemisphere. It was over 90̊ F. Hot chocolate is not the ideal beverage, but it is yummy. I got to help with several chocolatadas at the high school, one of the elementary schools, the head start, and with my host mom in the house. My host mom is the president of a type of nutrition supplement program, called “Vaso de Leche,” Glass of Milk. The municipality gives her oatmeal and canned milk to distribute to the mothers in our neighborhood (which is every mother) that has children and lives in poverty. It’s a really good program, and I enjoyed helping her very much. With the help of my dearest mother and some friends, I was able to purchase some ingredients to make chocolates (oreo balls dipped in chocolate and the ever-delicious Ritz crackers peanut butter sandwiches dipped in chocolate). I made hundreds and was literally mobbed by 32 children for more after they had their first helping and realized that there were more on the platter.

“Circo:”I went to another circus. See above. The highlight of this was “El Hombre Electronico,” a dude in boxes covered in aluminum foil that walked like a robot while the lights flashed and the music turned scary. I must admit, it was really funny watching all the kids climb up to the top bleachers, screaming in fright.

“Graduacion:” My little host-sister of 5 years graduated head start. This is another typical Peruvian party, but the little kids dress up like little princes and princesses (not literally, but they are decked out to the nines), and they get a framed photograph of themselves in cap and gown regalia and their class picture. They do not receive a certificate or diploma.

Host mom and sisters

Dayhanna dancing with her "escort" Jordon (our neighbor)

Host mom dancing with the bouncy clown

Clown on bouncy stilts! Super fun! Yeah!

This is not a ceremony; it’s a party. At least, this party’s “hora loca” (crazy hour, where everyone dances around in a circle, concluded with the breaking of the piñata) had an awesome clown with bouncy stilts and a pretty costume.

“Clasura:” I attended my first end of the school year celebration, a “clasura.” Considering all the other events that I have attended thus far, this was more ceremony and less party than I expected. Kids from each grade were awarded with certificates for highest grades and best attendance and things like this. One student that was graduating received a scholarship for his first year at a university in Chiclayo to study engineering, so that was awesome.

The high school principal awarding Cintia her
2nd place certificate for highest grades

This is the science teacher and my neighbor, Evelyn.
She is an amazingly awesome student all-around.

This young man was awarded a full-ride scholarship to
study engineering in Chiclayo. ¡Suerte, mi amgo!

The seniors gifted a huge banner to
comemorate the 25th anniversary of the school

It ain't a party until there's dancing!

My Christmas was…well, not what I hoped. This is 80% due to the fact that I was sick. Most of you who know me, know that when I say I am sick, there is something pretty wrong with me. I suffered through a  103 ̊ fever for two days, body aches, and 0% energy.

Mine and Yessica's decorations

Christmas dinner

Jealous?

I think that any virus that goes around here affects me twice as bad as the Peruvians who get it. Anyway, luckily, I had done a little Christmas shopping about a week before, so I was covered there. However, I did not feel like taking part in any of the festivities the day before or the day of. I helped my sister decorate, which was the first time that that happened in this household in numerous years, I am told. I had planned on making popcorn chains and making a tree out of coat hangers and shiny garland, but that didn’t happen. I had taken my sister to eat in Chiclayo the week before, and she fell in love with Popeye’s fried chicken. (Yes, there is a Popeye’s, McDonalds, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Pizza Hut, KFC, and a Chili’s in my mall. Trust me though, on a Peace Corps salary, I ain’t eating there with great frequency. A regular meal deal at Mc-E-Dees is S/.20, but I can go down the street and eat a Peruvian meal for S/.6 or 7.) So, my family had asked me to cook fried chicken for the Christmas meal, but that didn’t happen either. In Peru, the families eat a traditional Christmas meal, basically like we think of, but with rice and an empanada… and they do it at midnight on Christmas Eve. I guess they want to celebrate lil baby Jesus’ birthday as soon as the date rolls over. I never got a straight answer from anyone. Just one of those cultural things that people do just because. I gathered up all my strength and made it to Christmas dinner and the gift exchange, also something that had not occurred in my host family for years. I got everyone in my family a new pillow (you can’t imagine what their sleeping arrangements are like here), the boys of the family multi-tools, the girls of the family loufas (sp?) and big bottle of body wash, and my little sister a little musical keyboard. They got me a snowman doll, a shirt, and a hat. I found this to be a little awkward. I had already learned from my birthday and just looking in stores that Peruvians give the same gifts, whatever is available behind the gift counter at the store. This typically includes stuffed animals that say “I love you,” or “You’re special” in English, small jewelry boxes, picture frames, piggy banks, clothes, and hygiene products. So, from seeing the gifts that I got from my Peruvian friends and family for my birthday and seeing the gifts that my family gives and gets from their Peruvian friends and family, I should have lowered my expectations somewhat. I guess it is just because Christmas in my family was always a waaaaay bigger event than birthdays. Not that birthdays aren’t special, but I always looked forward to Christmas so much when I was a kid and still do to this day. Everyone gets together and eats great food and plays games and talks and I always made out like a bandit. I mean, come on – only child and the only grandchild on one side of the family. You can say it – ROTTEN! I’ll admit it. But today, I still really enjoy taking time to think and search for that perfect gift for that special person, and then seeing their faces light up when they open the package and it is a gift that the person always wanted, or really needed, or it is the funniest practical joke, or it’s the piece that completes her set, etc., etc. I seriously put thought in my gifts because at this point in my life, I like giving more than I like receiving. And I was soooo disappointed in my host family’s reactions. I’m sure that it was just a cultural thing, but not everybody even thanked me. Most of them gave the stuff a once over, and said a quick thanks. They all needed pillows, or so I thought, but I guess when all you know is a 10-year-old lump of hard cotton, that’s what you are accustomed to and like. I guess when you have bathed you whole life with a bar of soap, its better in your eyes than thousands of bubbles brought on by a soft sponge. I mean, I didn’t love, love my hat. So gift-giving and showing appreciation are a different processes here. Not bad or worse, just one of the many things that seem weird to this foreigner.

Other December stuff:

I got a Tommy Hilfiger purse in the gift exchange with the other high school teachers. It was from one of the local restraunt owners and PTA members. We are now good friends and I help his daughter with ther English homework from the university where she studies.

Lassie four puppies got bigger. All four were given good homes to live in. 

Three black/brown and one black/brown/white

Started reading the Game of Thrones series. Five books, over 8,000 pages, and oh so much excitement. Yup, I'm a nerd.

Anyway, that was my ending to the year 2013. Overall, more good than bad. I’m so proud of myself that I just made it through my first blog entry in months!