Monday, August 29, 2011

day 80: y empezo mi segunda semana

so, i'm trying to do this whole "immersion" thing into the language, but i figure most of the people who read this do not speak or read spanish... ah well~

week 2 has begun on site! considering how very little i have done in week 1, i was really hoping to be productive this week. unfortunately, school is out for today because it's the anniversary of... something. i'm not too sure. i asked my sis and she just looked at me like, "of course there's no school, it's the anniversario" and wouldn't go into any more detail.

part of me wonders if even she knows why she doesn't have classes. but she doesn't have school so she's not one to ask questions.

last night, i stayed up with her and her friends to bake them cookies. i mean, it was supposed to be them baking cookies and there were plans to sell them so they could get some money to go do something, but it turned into me baking cookies and them proceeding to devour them. me thinks there is a serious lack in cookies in this town. still, it was fun and it got 2 of the kids talking about a radio show they do down in chepen. apparently, they have a theme every week and have someone come down to talk about said theme. these themes have varied, from environmental to school related and so forth, and they've decided that i am the theme this week.

i don't know if i mentioned this here, but on facebook i gave a quick status update that said i was going to be broadcasted yesterday for an interview i did that they recorded. well, it was decided that asking me just 3 or 4 quick questions will not do. instead, i went to church and came back to a list of 12 or so questions that they had prepared. now i gotta go and figure out responses because it's gonna be live, on air, this saturday.

an example of some of the questions i must prepare myself for:
1. could you please tell us the history of peace corps, who founded it, who were the key players in its establishment, and why the name "peace corps"?
2. why have you joined the peace corps?
3. as a volunteer, what projects do you plan on implementing here in your site? what is your 2 year plan?

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..........................................
i can barely answer these in english. in castellano? that'll be interesting. at least they gave me the questions beforehand rather than springing it on me, so that's kind of nice!

but actually, in regards to that third question, i have to do a community diagnostic in the next 3 months that will be formally presented to not only peace corps, but also my community. in spanish. yea, that "in spanish" part is what always throws me. i'm hoping, though, with this whole "immersion" plan that i'm starting to formulate, my spanish is going to improve in leaps and bounds. this is me being very positive. it's step 1 of the plan.

however, in order to do the diagnostic, i really need to kick into gear the "get yourself introduced to everyone and their mom" portion. that's the official title of my mission impossible #1:

Mission: Get Yourself Introduced to Everyone
(and Their Mom)

1. Walk around your community and say hello to everyone
note: try to avoid those weird old guys who keep asking you for money.
especially that one guy who refuses to put on pants...
2. go visit the health post
3. go visit the baker
4. go buy some snacks. seriously. snack time.
5. call your socio in santa theresa and stop by, say hello, introduce yourself to the director
6. bake some cookies and deliver them to the municipality. drop off the CD with yaeel's informe final to the alcalde. say hello to the alcalde. give him a cookie.
7. bake some cookies and deliver them to the 2 schools
8. bake some cookies or a pie and eat them with your fam.
9. go to the police station and say hello. more cookies. also find that one woman you met last time with that family in pacasmayo so you can go to pacasmayo and say hello.
10. bake some cookies and take em to the UGEL and say hello.

there we go, my 10 goals for the week. if i can complete at least 4 of them, i will have been extremely successful. well, not including number 4, because you know that's gonna happen in the next hour or so... besides all of that, i also need to go buy some things for my room, do laundry, and figure out how and where i can buy a guitar, resistance bands, and a set of light weights. i should mention that if anyone's gonna be in peru the next 2 years and is looking for a fairly easy job for some side cash, i really really really would love a personal assistant...

also, i want some pudding right now and there's a recipe for it in the perú recipe book we got. that is so happening. awesome.

peace and love.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

day 78: first week over

my keyboard is acting weird. all the symbols are being screwy. whatever.

so today, i went on a paseo and got to see basically all of the province of pacasmayo, which was great. i went to the beach and walked on this wicked old pier that just made you think... this thing is made of wood. rotting, old wood. there are many missing planks. i just might die.




but that was kind of actually really fun.

what´s also great was seeing all the stuff that the fisherman caught that day. like fish. and other things...

regarding that seahorse... one of the kids bought it and i asked, do you eat this? to which she responded, no... i think they´re endangered or something. to which i could only respond by looking at her with a rather incredulous expression. and then she got a waterbottle out, put a little bit of ocean water in it and shoved the seahorse inside. it was sad and weird.

anyway, after that we went to a bunch of other places and ended up back home to eat a quick lunch and veg out. i did nothing again all day but whaddyagonnado.

on another note, please please PLEASE watch my friend´s youtube video. it´s hilarious and extremely accurate:


miss you all.
love and peace.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

day 75: parting thoughts

this is what the entire 2 years will probs feel like for most, if not all, peace corps volunteers,
summed up quite beautifully by a short clip from the Disney movie, Tangled:


enjoy
peace and love.

day 75: earthquakes and stolen light

so here's a fun fact,
sometimes my house doesn't have light because there are areas around the center that will steal light for a few moments by digging into the ground, finding the wires, and rerouting them. first of all, that kind of talent should be put to use. secondly, i was well prepared and had my handy dandy flashlight all ready to go. it was just my siblings and me in the house, with phonecalls from the parents to check that they were ok. i grabbed some m&ms, my sis took out some grapes, and we just sat around a candle at the kitchen table and ate/chatted until the lights came back on.

then today, i went to a poetry contest at a school at another site. poetry here was pretty intense, with a lot of theatrical hand waving and voices on the verge of tears. unfortunately, the judges were pretty harsh in the sense that they marked points off for extreme theatrics, focusing on the delivery of the words and less on the acting. makes sense.

i spent most of my morning/afternoon there, got to see another volunteer who lives in the area (after a fiasco of trying to figure out where she lived, and dealing with my rather insistent host mother... i still don't understand why she wanted me to see her so badly but ah well, i won't complain that i got to see one of my 17ers), ate lunch (duck and a pile of rice so high, i could have sworn it was for all of us to share, except we all got the same amount. i ate half of it before i just had to quit), and now i'm back home.

i don't know how to feel about this. i feel like i should be busy, meeting people and places around the area, but as of yet, i haven't. my socios are the ones who are supposed to help me out on that end, but one of them has straight up disappeared from this planet, and the other is my host mom who's taking me along to all the events she goes to.

i'm thinking of just forgoing the "wait for my socio" part of all this and taking hold of the reigns. so here's my new plan:

tomorrow, i will go see the medical post. i don't remember where it is, so it may take me some time to figure that bit out. we'll see. i will also go to church to say hello to the father, and the bakery to say hello to the baker. i wonder if i can hit up the municipality but i have no idea what i would do there... maybe check out vasos de leche and ask if there's anything they're doing? not sure yet.

you know what'd be awesome? if i could speak spanish. that'd be so legit. i think i'm going to go sit around in the plaza and study some spanish from my spanish book. i might also try to go for a run in the morning. i was so going to do it this morning, but my alarm woke me up and i just went... it's still night time, and passed out again.

woops.

anyway, i was saying before that i went to this poetry contest at this school, when suddenly there were these tremors. first one, and then a few moments later, a second one. here's what's funny though: i didn't feel either of them. everyone around me commented after the poetry contest that they had felt something, others chiming in and agreeing. we wondered where it came from, i nodded my head and said that it was strange. but i swear, i felt nothing.

this may be due to the fact that i don't actually sit still much of the time. i'm constantly fidgeting, crossing one leg over the other, readjusting and stretching my back, rolling my shoulders and neck, sitting on my hands then moving my hands onto my lap then playing with my nails, and shifting my weight around the chair just to get comfortable. amid all of this, it's no wonder i didn't feel the floor start to rock and roll. it wasn't a big shake where i was anyway, but it was calculated to be a 6.8 (i believe) and in northern perú.

weird.

dear earth,
calmate. en serio.
sincerely,
sue

peace and love.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

day 74: my room

my room is a mess.
all my stuff is just sitting on the floor and i'm cowering on my bed, too afraid to do anything about it. the state of my room usually reflects the state of my mind, and right now, both of them are freakishly out of sorts.

why?

well, let's take a moment to explain.
when i first arrived during site visit, i was crashing in the room upstairs, but was told that my room would ultimately be downstairs. taking a glace at my soon to be room, i noticed that it was a bit smaller and had the same feel of a prison. before i left to return to lima, i asked them if it would be at all possible for me to stay in the room i was then currently occupying. the response was, yes! of course! there are plenty of rooms for you to choose, so take your pick.

fast forward a week later and here i am, trying to understand why my rent is being raised and why they want me in that prison room so badly. let's just say i'm not happy with a few things that occurred during the week, and a lot (read: all) of it is due to things on the agency's end, which i'm not going to go into.

long story short, this was the first thing i had to sit down and discuss after the bus ride over, my spanish is not what i want it to be, and my throbbing head ache was getting worse and worse as that weird white light in my prison room and the crazy intense echo started jabbing at my senses... like needles into my eyes and ears. so yea, i just said... f it. put me in the prison room, i'll figure something out.

now i've slept here for a night and have discovered quite a few pleasant things about this room and have convinced myself that i actually do like it here. i call it being optimistic. you might call it stockholm syndrome. for some reason, i think they're kind of synonymous.

1. i can't hear the roosters. thank the almighty baby jesus.
2. that echo disappeared once a bed was in there to absorb the sounds. nonetheless, the acoustics were kind of epic when i had my music blasting to calm my nerves a bit.
3. there's another room next to me that's going to be rented out to my soon to be host aunt, but i'm wondering if i can rent the room for myself and turn it into an office of sorts... how awesome would that be? kind of really epic awesome, i think. but how do i convince this family member that she should not rent that room and let me have it...? suggestions would be welcome.
4. i have a window that overlooks a door. this house used to be a school, so some of the structures are just odd and one is that my prison window (hazy, obscured, bars) looks out into... a door. so i don't actually get any light into my room, but i do get air! so at least there's that.
5. i can hear every conversation that occurs downstairs. if someone is at the door, i know before everyone else. if a meal is ready, i am well aware of it before i am called. it makes me feel really prepared. and if it's getting loud... well, i'll just get used to it like i planned to do with the roosters anyway.
6. actually, the noise is good. i'm going to try to get back to running in the mornings (5am, what what!) and i'm dragging my lil sis with me! so the noise will be incentive to get up before the house does. i love mornings anyway
7. i have my own bathroom. once host aunt gets in, we'll share it, but until then, that bathroom is mine. they also just installed a new toilet (with a toilet seat!!! yeeeesss!!!!) and a sink, plus the shower has more pressure to it than the one i was using on the second floor. still all cold water, but i need a bit of water pressure so that's super nice. plus since the kitchen is down here, if i ever want hot water then the process of boiling the water and taking it to the shower will be so much easier!

making a list of pros is awesome.
just a quick note: i just had lunche (not quite cena aka dinner because i don't really eat at night) and had some fresh baked bread, olives from the market, and a slice of the most amazing cheese from cajamarca. wtf, cajamarca volunteers all better be fat and happy when i see them in 3 months because that cheese is definitely something i'd eat every day. like legit buy a block, eat all of it, go back for some more the next day. sharp, creamy, and heavenly cheese....

see me be jealous.

but you just wait until the day i get to try some lizard ceviche. i will definitely be posting about that experience.

peace and love.

Monday, August 22, 2011

day 73: 1st day in site

exhausted. have internet. called home.
need to buy bed, desk, everything.
tiny room, one window overlooking.... a door.
can't decide if i should pay more for that room i stayed in last time, or stick to this one.
pros and cons. too tired to think them through.
it's 1am. stayed up to help my new lil sis bake cookies that she has to have for tomorrow.
if this doesn't make me part of the family, i don't know what will.
time to sleep.
peace and love.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

day 70: lean on me is my theme song

a day of goodbyes.
ugh.
tears everywhere.
gross.

you would think after 23 years of life, i'd be able to get a grip and not explode into tears after every hug goodbye.

ugh. emotions suck. this makes me wish i were a robot, more and more.

speaking of robots, just a plug to help my friend along:

it's a crazy amazing idea that just seems so obvious! please give what you can and even better yet, spread the word!! a quick copy and paste could help hundreds and thousands of people!

i will write more once i've moved out of lima and into la libertad. argh. less than 12 hours until i'm sitting on a bus towards my future for the next 2 years. i will get myself under control. or, i will dehydrate myself so the tears just don't exist anymore.

but yea, check out her site and let's do what we can to make the world a better place <3

love and peace.

Friday, August 19, 2011

day 69: OFFICIAL VOLUNTEER

today, the 19th of august, 2011

i became an official volunteer for peace corps. insanity.

after getting my picture taken, dealing with our souvenirs (paid and DONE! finally! i now own a peace corps jersey, peace corps zip up hoodie, peace corps patches, peace corps ring, and peace corps t-shirt. woot, bling), and chilling out with my pc buddies, i finally got dressed up all fancy like and went through the whole ceremony.

know what was cool? the u.s. ambassador was there. it was super official, with men in suits and those ear pieces coming in and doing a sweep, talking to the admin, all before she showed up. when she talked, though, she seemed like such an amazingly sweet woman! she spoke in spanish and then after a quick apology to the host families who came to see us, broke out into a few words in english that were just extremely endearing and wonderful. however, we only got to take one quick group pic before she was out the door and gone. that's really too bad, i think it would have been such an amazing opportunity had we had the time to talk a little bit, but i understand- she's super important and has things to do. still....

besides that, 2 of volunteers went up to speak and both of them were just amazing. both of them made me laugh and think and in the end, just appreciate all of this more than i had originally. why? because personally, i find these "official" things a bit annoying. we sang the peruvian and american national anthems, we put our right hands up and swore to protect our constitution and all that, we took a million pictures, and the entire time i was thinking... is this really necessary?

but i guess it's just really nice to have an official ceremony and all that. plus i got to dress up. i think in the future, i would like to wear a business suit every day of my work life. i don't know why. i want to become one of those people who others just always see wearing business attire, and then when they see me in dress normal clothes, it's kind of weird but nice.

that's kind of strange. but i guess it's a good thing because when i'm up in la libertad next week, doing my peace corps thing, i'm gonna have to buy me some nice professional clothes. i have a feeling that i'll be working with my municipality pretty closely (or at least i hope i will) and no one takes you seriously if you're dressed in a tshirt and jeans. i've always had a problem of people thinking i'm much younger than i actually am, because most of the time i act like i'm 5 years old i guess... so i'm going to have to work hard these first few weeks to make sure the impression i make on my community is that i am a hard worker who wants to do good... because that's exactly who i aaaaammmmmm!!!!!

speaking of la libertad, i gotta get packing. most of my stuff i took with me during site visit so at least that part's done with but i still have things from this week to lug around. also, i need to buy a bed and a dresser, cause my room's got nothing in it (i'm currently borrowing my new host family's aunt's bed... which makes me wonder what SHE's sleeping on... er.)

so i have to pack my things and then go crazy with the new volunteers tonight! plus my host sisters! yup, maybe i just won't sleep to maximize time spent with my dearest friends~

sigh. i'm going to miss all of them, and dynamics will change once we're on site, based on who we have the most contact with, which sucks. i love the people i've grown close to these past few weeks, going through all this craziness of training and being new and getting used to peru and now... now things are going to change.

things are already changing. there's a shift in the wind, our fleet has separated ways, and my boat is now going solo. it's sink or swim, i guess.

but as was shared today, during words of wisdom:
There will be moments you will say, "I can't"
but there will be a lifetime you can say, "I did"

peace and love, my friends.
and let's throw a little luck in there as well.


Sunday, August 14, 2011

day 64: still in lima

just to continue on that last post

my host mom told me that one of her friends asked her, "how does your daughter stay thin? she looks like barbie."
my mom replies, "i have three daughters, which one are you talking about?"
she responds, "the new one, the one with chinese eyes"
to which my mom nods and goes, "ah, no, no, she's korean, not chinese. her secret is she runs and exercises every morning at 5am"

when they told me this story, i burst out laughing. why? because
1. i am overweight and have been all my life
2. i have never eaten so much rice, potatoes, chips, ice cream and candy in my LIFE.

truth.

in fact, i just ate ice cream after breakfast plus candy after church. i have lost all muscle mass and have probably gained at least 5 to 10 lbs. since being in perú.

my sister has a scale and has offered me to use it if i want to compare my weight from when i started training to now. my fear is too intense and i would rather live in ignorance.

which reminds me... i really have to start exercising again in the mornings. i didn't during site visit, but my site has ice cold running water. in the 4 or so days i was there, i showered once. ONCE. dirty, dirty girl. the only way i will remain clean is if i work out, but i don't know the place well enough to just go running. arggghhhhhh...

however, there is a gym in my city. a very basic gym, but a gym nonetheless. i don't know if i can afford it on my PC salary, but if i have any cash left over, it's going to go into gym time. that or i'll just run to the gym.

i wonder how large my city is. i want to participate in the marathon in pacasmayo that was started by a PCV. it happens once a year, i forget when, but i'm gonna have to figure out how i can find the twenty something miles to practice.

actually, let's focus on passing the 5 mile mark first...

day 64: back to lima

well, here i am back in lima after my week in site. dunno what to tell you, except that i'm now a bit more overwhelmed than i was before. it's my site. MY site. my SITE. MY SITE. crazy cakes.

there's supposed to be 17,000 ppl in this community, but i don't see them. instead, i met everyone in the municipalidad, i met girls and boys in the schools, a priest, an artisan, a baker, and more, all with the volunteer who will be leaving this site.

thank god.

had this guy not been around, i'm pretty sure i would have sat in a corner, staring off into space. predominately because that is precisely what i did when he wasn't around...

i really need to get this language thing under wraps. also, i need to not have this head cold that is now developing into a rasping cough.

i think i'm getting the black lung, pop.

it's difficult enough trying to intently stare at a person who's speaking to me in rapid, partially mumbled spanish without my ears going slight deaf and having interrupting coughing fits.

anyway, i have a feeling that i will be heading to trujillo whenever i can, to meet up with other volunteers and to do volunteer things (like discuss how i can work with another volunteer who is fairly close to my site, so that we can do some cross city activities with our students. that would be fun, eh? i wonder how a pen pal thing could work. i love pen pals. are you my pen pal yet? cause you should be). not only volunteer things, but also things just for me. like take up surfing. but before that, learning how to swim in the ocean. and even before that, buying a wet suit so i don't partially freeze to death and die as a popsicle.

speaking of death, sadly there was a terrible terrible car accident in my community the day before i left. the taxi and cars around here drive like maniacs. it's a game of chance every time you get into a car, and sadly this driver lost. from what i can tell, apparently the driver tried to pass the car in front of him but didn't see the oncoming bus (he was trying to pass them on a curve). by the time he noticed it and tried to swerve back, the bus slammed into the back part of the car and basically crushed it like a can of soda. three girls who attended the private school that is just a block from my new home were killed instantly. i believe there were two boys and the driver who are, as of yet, in critical condition.

i saw the wreck of the car and the bus, as they were both taken to the police station that is also about a block away from me. the wreckage left no doubt in my mind that those children had died upon impact, so at least they had not been in much pain. i said a prayer for the children and their families, and a prayer for the driver. if he lives through this, he'll most likely have to move immediately. the hate this community feels towards those who harm their children is almost tangible.

the next morning, i left and passed the flags at half mast in front of the municipality. i hoped that by the time i returned to my community, in a week, the sadness that laid heavily on the community would slowly be lifted as the ppl came together for these families.

when i got back to my house in lima, even my family had heard about the accident and had been super worried because they knew i was in the area. but no, i was well. i AM well and despite the tragedy, am super excited to start working.

which reminds me: i need to write a solicitude to paint a mural of the WOOOOORRRLLDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD! my first plan is to talk to the different schools, discussing with the kids if it would be possible to paint a world map somewhere. i need to talk to the municipality to figure out just WHERE i can paint this mural. i need to talk to a painter guy to see if he can help with all of this. and i need to talk to someone about finding a grant for all the paint we will be using.

if no grant, though, i'll probs just buy all the paint myself. i need to buy a lot of things, actually. like a bed. and a dresser drawer. and if i can save up some money, a projector! there doesn't seem to be a lot to do in san pedro, and rather than having the kids run around like hoodrats, i think it'd be fun to plan some things to do on the weekends. like movie nights, or small dances or something. if you have any ideas, throw em at me. i will also probably be teaching english, but more like a tutor. which means, i won't be teaching silly things like grammar and conjugation. i just figure, at some point they'll pick it up. i'm gonna teach em fun stuff, like slang and small conversational things. we'll see how that goes. maybe i'll teach a lil bit of korea too, even if my korean is the suck.

ahhhh, but i guess i should focus on the community diagnostic that needs to be completed after the first 3 months. i also need to do one for my time in training, plus write a 6 page paper for class. all of this is in spanish.

ay, lo molesto...

soon, though, i shall be an official volunteer! swearing in is this friday o.o
until then, my wonderful friends,

peace.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

day 56: La Libertastic

so remember when i mentioned that i wanted to be in ancash? that i wanted to be in a very green, fairly rainy, mountainous, sierra, quechua speaking, tiny community?

well, turns out i'm going to be in san pedro de lloc in la libertad. a desert, little to no rain, coastal, fairly large (17,000 people) community.

needless to say, i'm crazy cakes excited. and honestly, i am. i think given my personality, no matter what i wanted or didn't want, this is the community that will eventually work out best for me. also, i probably won't sit around complaining about having to live close to the beach, with access to internet and running water... heh.

i leave this sunday night to go see my site, the regional capital, my socios (ppl i will be working with), and my family. since i went to ancash during field based training, and my area is kind of the exact opposite of most of the volunteer sites i went to, next week is definitely going to be interesting. i plan on jotting down a few things so that i don't forget when i return. especially since i'm really good at forgetting things.

besides that part, here's a shoutout to Eloise Cucui who wrote me my very first snail mail letter in perú! i freakin love you, vampy <3

if you would like to join her ranks of awesome, write to me! my address is over that away -->

it's going to be changing soon, now that i will soon be a legit volunteer and not a trainee~ but until then, please send me letters! or packages of love. candy (RED VINES or SWEDISH FISH strongly encourage), hot sauce (SRIRACHA especially encouraged), or love itself (PHOTOGRAPHS of your face or DRAWINGS or LETTERS) are awaited~

chau chicos

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

day 52: christmas eve

tomorrow, we find out where we are going to be living and working for the next 2 years of my life.

i'm in a glass cage of emotion.

i'm also definitely going to miss all the friends i have made in my time training in lima. i mean, i really hope that at this point in our lives, i can call them my friends because i do love them all dearly but as always, i have no idea how everyone really feels about me. most of the time, i am of the belief that most people humor/deal with me to the best of their abilities. or maybe that's just emo-sue talking.

anyway, today was kind of a blah day in training, predominately because it was one of the more inefficient days but whaddyagonnado.

in other news, anyone out there reading this and wanna be pen pals? i want to be written to, yet my pleas for letters and packages remain unheard. sigh. part of me is debating on whether or not i should write a letter, send it to an imaginary place, and wait for it to be returned to me when "123 unicorn rainbow lane, narnia" can't be reached. the other part of me is beating that part with a stick because that's a sad, sad idea...

if you do plan on sending me something, might i suggest... red vines or swedish fish? i miss them. so much. or milky ways. dark.

i think i need some candy.

until next time, amigos.
paz.