¡Feliz Navidad!

Each day

is a little different

than the others.

Well I thought I would listen to some Christmas music on my computer to lighten my mood during the holiday away from family and old friends. Although, songs like “There’s no place like home for the holiday” and “I’ll be home for Christmas” did not help much.

The first month in Canchaque has been one to test my resolve. Many thoughts passed through my head, thoughts which the Peace Corps staff said were normal: What am I doing here!? Is this really what I should be doing with my life?

And I have also been struck with days of inaction. When there is no boss checking if you start work at 8am sharp, or noon for that matter, it is quite easy to watch hilarious tv series like “How I met your mother” or “Its always sunny in Philadelphia”.

That’s not to say that I have done nothing during this first month. I have had a few meetings with the Health Post and have made a list of the villages that I will focus on. Luis Humberto is a very organized health promoter that I am really excited to work with. Together we will coordinate meetings with the local water committees to clean out existing reservoirs, and implement a chlorination system to disinfect the water.

On top of this, he really wants me to build Cocinas Mejoradas (literally “better kitchens). Most of the people cook over open fire inside of their homes. Not only is this a very inefficient use of wood, but it causes a lot of lung problems because of improper ventilation. There are a variety of types of stoves that have been designed and tested by Engineers in a University in Lima. They measure the efficiency by how long it takes to boil 5 Liters of water. Some models can do it in 25 minutes, while others take longer (45min). The 25 minute model has a very smallopening, and requires more labor to cut up the firewood, while the 45 minute model takes longer, but requires less work from the women who will be operating it.

45 Minute Model.

Another interesting fact that the Engineers did not take into account was the habits that have been formed from cooking with open fires. Many women have become accustomed to cooking while squatting, close to the ground, and did not like the new models that required them to stand. While it made little sense to the engineers, human habit does play a role in the design process, so they developed a model that is low to the ground.

Floor Model

Most Efficient 25 Min model

Another model has little cubbies to place the livestock (guinea pigs) that would warm up while cooking, keeping their animals warm during the cold seasons. All models have an exhaust out of the house, so that the smoke will no longer cause respiratory issues.

While I have not started any projects to date, I already have a general idea of things that I will be working on. The first three months of service are dedicated to our Community Diagnostic. Unfortunately for me, the first three months in my site are filled with rain rain, and more rain.

I am going to add some variety to my life by teaching an English class during the summer vacation. I made some posters during my free time the other day (about 3 hours for each poster) promoting the classes. It will be interesting to see how many (if any) people will come,

and what ages.

Speaking of school, I got to see the graduation ceremony at the secondary school I will be teaching at. It was really nice, they had a ceremony of the changing of the student council. The new “mayor” of the school just happens to be the new mayors son. They also had a small nativity scene with the students.

Christmas was very relaxed. The tradition is to have a turkey dinner at midnight, with Paneton (a mix of angel fruit cake and our American fruit cake. Actually very tasty) and hot chocolate. To everyone surprise, the power went ou

t around 8pm. It was extremely dark, until everyone busted out their LED flashlights (technology spreads fast). We had a candlelit dinner with champagne, Turkey and duck. The hot chocolate was delicious, very rich. It was a nice night, followed by gifts in the morning. I bought my little host siblings some paints and a new candy red Hot Wheels car. I also gave out some candy canes which my mom sent to me.

As lonely as it is being away from family, friends, and my wonderful girlfriend, my new host family did a great job of filling the void. Merry Christmas and happy new year to everybody!

I am officially a Volunteer...now the real fun begins!

FBT PHOTOS- Training in the north of Peru, and visiting my new home

PHOTOS- Thanksgiving and Swearing in Ceremony

HOME - A few snapshots of my bedroom in Canchaque

The past two weeks have been nothing short of a whirlwind of paperwork, fiestas, great food, great entertainment, and goodbyes.

I have finished my 10 weeks of training, obtained an "intermediate mid" level of spanish and made a lot of close friends. Its going to be hard moving away from everyone. We are all going to different departments across the country, and it will be one year before we see each other again. So much can happen in a year, and I am excited to see what everyone else will be up to (although they say we should not compare our projects with anyone else)

Everything has been building up to this point. The months and months of waiting for the Peace Corps office to get back to me, the weeks of technical training, hours of stumbling over hard pronunciations, the pounds and pounds of rice and potatoes, heaps of ají and all the hora locas.

...............

12-7-11

My new site is beautiful, its starting to really feel like home. I bought a new bed, sheets, coffee mug, and dresser. Okay, so my room is starting to feel like home. Its been a little hard for me to get out of my comfort zone. But today was good: I went to the health post and talked to different counterparts who I will be working with to do my Community Diagnostic.

The Community Diagnostic is a document that I need to compile in the first three months. There are different activities that I orchestrate to help the community figure out what their strength and weaknesses are. I also go around house to house doing surveys to see who actually has the basic services: Running water, toilets, sewage, trash service ect. After the three months, I compile all the info and figure out what projects I should be doing for the three years.

Peace Corps training taught me that doing this Diagnostic can be very frustrating, but perseverance is the key. In America, if you talk to someone about a meeting, and they say they will come, it is considered rude and overbearing if you call them to check if they are really coming. In Perú, the importance of your meeting is directly related to how often you mention it to the person. If they don’t come to your meeting, its really your fault for not reminding them about it 5 times. Perseverance is hardwired into the culture. If someone wants to get a hold of me, they wont call once and leave a message. They will call 15 times in an hour. Its not rude, its just the way things are done.

On a side note, my host mom is going to teach me how to make café liquor tomorrow! Excited about that too. I will try to make these blog posts more frequent, and exciting for that matter. Miss you all.

Photo time!

Field Based Training

The past few weeks I have been traveling to other volunteers sites, seeing projects and listening to the wise words of those who have come before me.

We took an overnight bus north about 8 hours to the department of La Liberdad. We arrived in the regiounal capital of Trujillo around 7am and ate a small breakfast of beef empanadas and bananas. Then guess what? another bus! after about an hour ride up the mountains, we stopped at the side of the road next to a small adobe house. Here we met Brian, a volunteer who has been living in a small mountain town (Otuzco) and making a daily commute to the surrounding small villages.

From there, we lathered up in sunscreen and hiked for about 30 minutes down a valley of Eukaliptus trees, across a river on a small wooden suspension bridge and up the other side of the mountain. We met up with a small Peruvian man who is the operatore of the water system that services about 30 families. We hiked another 20 minutes up the mountain to inspect the different components of the gravity fed water system. It was fairly new, built by Engineering without Borders, a NGO from Spain.

Later we inspected a "Eco Bathroom", an oder free toilet that recycles human waste into fertilizer. Basically it seperates solids and liquids with a nifty toilet. After going #2, you throw in a handful of lime or ash to keep the pit dry. Once full, you let it sit for 6 months and presto! great fertilizer.

Okay well there is a lot more of this story, but it going to have to wait. In the mean time, enjoy the photos below!

Halfway through training!

Its hard to believe that I am already halfway through my training. This past week was quite different that all the others. We had Field Based Training, meaning that my group of 19 went on a field trip 5 hours south of Lima.

Driving down the Pan American Highway revealed some amazing views of the Pacific. Between the sand dunes and steep rocky cliffs, I saw the waves crashing onto the sand. The sunset was also really breathtaking.

The first site we visited was in Cañete. We visited two married volunteers who had been living in a small pueblo outside the city for about a year. It was really nice to actually see some of the projects we will be doing in the future, instead of just having lectures about it.

The first day, Dan showed us how the gravity fed water system worked. We walked from the canal, past the pre-sedimentary tank and along the distribution line. The system serves a village of 85 families, who work in the chacras (farm land) surrounding their small community. We walked past potatoes, apples, artichoke, alfalfa, and many exotic fruits (Lucama, mariculla, pepino to name a few). Cañete is a desert climate, but the canal coming from the mountain provides water for the chacra and the village.

The quality of the water varies throughout the year. In the spring, when there is rain in the mountains, there is a lot more sediment in the water. This often causes issues with the simple water system, because it requires more maintenance of the settlement tank. There are only two people who “work” with the system, and they do it without being paid.

Often, people in the villages have to relearn how the system works, because information is not passed down, and there are no diagrams of where different components are located, and most people done know how it functions. This is why the Peace Corps stresses capacity building, training and education. If you find money and build something to help a village, it won’t mean much if there is not someone who knows how to maintain it.

After the water passes through the system to a tank above the village, it moves through a basic sand filter to remove larger particles. In a proper water treatment plant, chlorine is added to kill bacteria and viruses, but this village is not as fortunate. Everyone needs to boil their water before drinking it, otherwise they will get sick (often in the form of diarrhea or vomiting).

One of my main tasks in Peace Corps will be to facilitate Behavior Change. Its one thing to have town meetings about the importance of washing hands, boiling water, and using the bathroom in proper places, but it is a whole other thing to change the habits of people who have been doing something one way their entire life.

Day two, we learned about solid waste management. Yes, that’s right, I work with bathrooms and trash. Many volunteers work with the municipality to implement recycling programs. As it is now, no one recycles, even though plastic bottles, paper and tin cans are worth money. There are only 3 landfills in Perú, meaning that most towns just collect the trash and dump it a pile in the desert. Many times, there is no trash collection, and people just burn their trash. Everyday I smell the fumes of plastic and paper.

Although there is an informal recycling industry, it is dangerous for the people who do it. Basically people dig through these huge piles of burning trash looking for plastic bottles, without any protection on their hands or mouth. Many get lung cancer or other illnesses from the rotting trash they dig through.

Many Peace Corps Volunteers create pilot recycling projects, sometimes working with other NGOs. In Nazca, one volunteer created a program with 500 houses, with collection twice a week. It was great to see how much one person could do for a community.

The last two days were in Ica, a very hot and dry city in the south of Perú. We toured a school and saw how a volunteer started a recycling program there. The students use the money from the program to improve their “green spaces” in the school, buying flowers and trees.

The whole trip was quite amazing. The food was great: Sopaseca, chicharones, tamales and the Pisco. The last day we went on a dune ride: unbelievable. In addition to the rollercoaster like drops we drove down, we sandboarded and used sleds to ride down the fine sand. I have a lot of videos, but not sure how soon I will be able to upload them.

That’s all for now! My birthday is next Friday and the Monday after that, we find out where we will be placed for the next two years! I will let you know soon.

Oh PS: we got our phones! My number is 51-979-585-414.

Solo fotos, nada mas

The futbol field outside of my house has soccer ever sunday. we sit on the roof, with great view

They play until sunset

Last saturday, the water sanitation program visited Ayas, a town of 85 families about an hour and a half away from my host community. we hiked for about 2 hours to inspect their gravity fed water system. The view along the way was stunning.

Visit of Ayas

Town of 85, at 2500 meters above sea level

A short rest, about an hour hike above the town.

Sunday:

The town of Santa Eulalia has a festival every year called Pachamanca. It even has the guiness book world record for the largest amount of Pachamanca. It has three types of meat, potatoes, and sweet potatoes, all slowcooked in the ground with hot rocks. Very very filling and delicious

This is my host mother. I am the 7th volunteer she has hosted, but all the others have been girls. She is very understanding and hospitable. She makes cakes for special occasions, but mainly attends to the household. She is very motherly towards me, and always reminds me not to drink cold things at night, because it will give me a cold.

Videos!

Video 1: Procession of the cross- when the spaniards converted the Incans to catholisism, they put crosses onto the mountains that the Incans worshiped. So now there is a tradition of carrying crosses from town to town. This video is from the first night I got to my host family

Video2- This is the party we had with the church after the procession, with free food, free drinks and free dancing. My mom is part of the church group and so she helped prepared everything. This is the convent, where they have pet llamas.

Video3-Hora Loca. So last saturday I went to a 2year olds birthday party. It was very intense, with clowns, a walking mini mouse and all sorts of treats. Then at one point, it became hora loca (crazy hour), where the clown sprayed us with silly string and handed out whistles and balloons and crazy colored hats and snake ties and all sorts of stuff. it was probably the most intense hour of my life. later that night, another volunteers host grandfather was turning 70.

He had a 5 horn band, a harp, a violin and beer for all. About 20 volunteers showed up, as well as his family. It was in a small barrio higher up in the mountains, and the view at night was stunning. After about two hours of dancing around to the saxiphones, all of a sudden a whistle blew....and guess what? This 70 year old man had the exact same hora loca, dancing clowns and all. And when I say dancing clowns, I mean they were grinding, hardcore.

Sorry the internet is supper slow and I cant upload all the videos now. I will soon though

So much to say

So the past two posts were written on my comp a few days ago. This is written in real time.

We split or PC into two different training centers. Santa Eulalia and Choclacayo. I am in the St. Eulalia group. We drove for maybe 5 minutes and arrived at the tropical training center. its is rediculously amazing. The person who built it had intended to have a dance hall\hotel with beautiful gardens. The PC is helping him achieve this reality by renting it out.

We drove to the training center and got into a big circle. Then, our host families arrived and we were handed out in a price is right manor. Would Amelia come on down! Then everyone would clap as you stooped low to hug your host parents. I have a host mother and a sister (probably 30 years old or so). They had 6 PC volunteers before me, but they were all girls! So my room had pink curtains and sheets, which they insisted on changing right away.

My house is a 10 minute walk away from the training center, which is very lucky for me because a lot of people have to take a bus in. Santa Eulalia is very pretty: there is a small town square with a glass building inthe center filled with computers. They are free to use by all! it is right by the church and police station.

My house is down the road, directly behind a small cement futball "field". Often people over shoot and the ball lands on our metal roof making a loud BOOM! This causes the two small dogs outside of my room to bark up a storm. But it keeps things exciting in my house!
There are about 10 volunteers in my town, all of us within walking distance of eachother. My host moms nephew often stops by the house (my age) and i try to talk in my broken spanish. I actually can understand a good amount of what my mom says, she is great. She keeps saying, let me know if you are hungry, what you like, dont worry about hurting my feelings. She is very straight forward and kind. Pictures to come.

On our first day, it just so happened to be a festival in our church. They carried the cross through the city to the priests compound, where we continued to have a festival. Many very loud fireworks were fired all day. A horn and drum band followed the cross, and after dinner and drinks, there was dancing (and alpacas too!).

It was a lot happening but really great to be a part of. There is less staring that I thought there would be, but i think our town is used to PC volunteers at this point, and it is quite a small town. I am right next to a fast moving river, but the water is pretty low as of now.

I am tired, and have class tomorrow, but once I get faster internet, I will upload some videos!

Hasta luego!

Some initial thoughts

We arrived to the compound around 1030 pm. By the faint moonlight, I could make out the silhoutte of the mountains, a grey mass shooting up into the dark night sky. Physically exhausted from a whole day of travel, it was hard to believe it was real.

In the morning, I awake to find us completely surounded by mountains and palm trees! My phone was still set on eastern time, so I accidently woke up an hour early, but did not notice the mistake until I was all showered and dressed ready to eat... But it was nice, I had some time to walk around and soak in the reality: I am in Peru!We arived at a religious retreat, which is quite a large area. it has one mess hall, 4 buildings, with beds showers, a pool and lockers, as well as quite a few gazebos. It is built into a hillside, so the view from the dorms is great, with a terraced view of the complex.

We had a long day of "being talked to" as one person put it. This can be quite tiring. Around 5:30, I felt utterly drained. My body is going through a lot of changes, the season, the food, the pollen, the baceria ect. Very tired.

For dinner, he had Papas Huancainas, a dish that I tried making at my going away party. They tasted the same! I am very excited to cook (and eat) Peruvian food.

Tomorrow, I will meet my host family for the first time. I hope they like and accept me into their household. I am a little nervous but mostly excited. I am falling asleep as I write this, but wish I could have had internet to talk to those I miss.

So where to start?

Staging: its kinda like going to a family reunion for the first time. You all have something in common, but are very different as well. You hear a bit of yourself in everyones stories, anxieties and aspirations.

We had many icebreakers and discussions about what PC expects from us as ambassadors of the US culture. In one game, we all had to organize ourselves by the number and color of stickers on our backs, without talking. While everyone was gesturing and pointing at colors, I soon discovered that I did not belong anyqhere, I had more stickers than everyone else. I felt isolated and confused about what I should be doing. I turned out to be the guinea pig of the group (which can be dangerous in Peru!)
At times, there will be a Peace Corps trainee who feels like they do not fit in with anyone. We are supposed to help out our fellow trainees so that everyone feels welcomed. Just in the past day, I feel that I have made some very great friendships. It was like joining the Evans Scholarship, or Architecture School: I will be with these people through thick and thin, and will love every minute of it.

Some of my "lasts"

Last american dinner- 5 guys and fries: little bacon cheeseburger, mayo, grilled onions, green peppers, tomato, bbq sauce, with cajun seasoned fries. HECK YES!
Last alcoholic drink, Miller light
last late night food- Pizza but of course
Last coffee- cafe americano, starbucks

I am blessed to have my family and friends support my dicision to serve. I love you all and look forward to sharing my expereince with you!

Written on the plane to Lima

Well there you have it. I have one week to go, and so much I still want to do.

Friday: Rain Barrel workshop with the 300 block of Carlton. Who said I can’t start the water management before I leave the country?

Saturday: Michigan vs. Notre Dame. Under the lights! But more importantly, I will get to see all of my friends from UofM one last time before I leave.

Sunday: The last supper. With my family that is. The next time we will all be together is in October 2012 for my oldest sister’s wedding! I am so excited for her and Sam. Plus, I will have some more brothers, which is always a plus when you grow up with 4 ladies.

Monday: Meeting with my friend from high school to learn about his work in Kenya. Looking forward to more resources! He has been placing bio-filters in different schools for the past year.

Tuesday- Packing. What would you bring if you were leaving the country for two years?

Wednesday- Some final goodbyes

Thursday- Flying to DC. We have a day intensive orientation. I can only imagine what we will learn. I will be working with the Federal Government after all!

Friday- Flying to Lima.

In the meantime, I have been trying to cook Peruvian cuisine. Here is what my Lomo Saltado looks like. It was pretty tasty! The Aji Amarillo pepper has a great taste to it.

Listening to: Ain't no woman like the one I got- Four Tops

Peru 18

The information keeps flooding in

I am in "Perú 18". There will be 67 people in my PST (Pre-Service Training) Group! I am tempted to reach out to them on facebook, but I do not want to rush the process, and I have many friends who I want to see before I leave.

Check out some great youtube links below!

Peace Corps Peru

50th Anniversary Video
In commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of Peace Corps this year, Peace Corp Peru created a video to highlight the Volunteers.

Perú visits Peru
A group of famous Peruvians visit Peru, Nebraska to teach them about Peruvian culture.

PSB documentary: Black in Latin America
PBS recently did a four-part series on the importance of African influence in Latin American culture. One of the episodes features a segment on the Afro-Peruvian population.


Let me know what you think! I really like the Perú visits Peru, very funny.

The calm before the storm...

Its hard to imagine where I will be in two months. Mainly its because I still do not know. September 15 I leave the country to embark on a 27 month service project. I find myself daydreaming at times, thinking of how different my life will be. Bucket showers. Spanish. Potatoes. I dig it all, and cannot wait to start.

For those of you who are wondering what I will be doing...join the club. After two months of in country training (intense language courses, cultural lessons, and vocational training), the PC will place me in a community to improve the water sanitation. A brief description of what I may end up doing:

• Conducting a baseline study to assess community water priorities, health issues, and sanitary practices
• advising local community groups on improving their organizational skills and effectiveness
• helping water committees manage maintain and operate water systems
• teach water system maintenance courses to local water committees
• working with elected officials and other local leaders on improving community awareness of responsible management of water systems and sanitation facilities
• playing a lead role in designing and implementing sanitary landfills as well as promoting importance
• training teachers and other community members how to teach sanitary hygiene practices
• assisting community groups to develop and implement appropriate sustainable community-based development projects.

So that clears things up right....? Either way, I am more than happy to do anything and everything I can for my community. I want to be seen as an equal and cannot wait to meet my new host family!

That is all for today. If you know of anyone who is from Peru (or worked there), please let me know if they would be interested in talking to me!