day 263: i think this is what you'd call "busy"...

Hey Amigos

Oh boy, are things starting to pick up... So here's a quick update on things that I've been doing in site now that school is BACK IN SESSION! woo!

1. I'm going to be doing a lot of work in the comedor popular (which works with a lot of single moms and those who live in more impoverished areas in my site) with the youth who meet there weekly. On Mondays and Thursday, I'm going to be teaching English (mondays with the smaller children, thursdays with adolescents). On Tuesdays, I'll be teaching health and nutrition to a group of women there. I'm hoping more that this is going to give me a chance to cook : D God knows I miss cooking and baking, plus I get to hang out with moms who are willing to listen to a random kid on how they can improve their health. How awesome is that? In late April, I'll be teaching environmental awareness on Wednesdays which is going to culminate in a project that my socio at the comedor is hoping to set up- on International Environmental Awareness Day (June 5th, I think?), we're gonna get a whoooole crap load of trees donated and distributed to each district in the province (larger provinces will get more trees than smaller ones, but everyone gets some!) My job is that the youth in my site are going to be taking care of these trees, marking their growth and making sure the trees are thriving as well as spreading awareness about the trees, doing projects to promote their care so that people are aware and not being stupid about them or tearing them down or something like that. Once that gets under way, I'm going to be drawing out the environmental group into an arts and crafts club where we take plastic and cardboard and other recyclable goods and make things out of them. 

All of this is actually stuff I have no idea how to do. Well, not all of it but a lot of it. I'm going to be learning, basically, right along side all these kids but pretending for the most part that I totally know what I'm doing/talking about. It's grade A lying at it's finest and I will excel. 

2. I'm currently working with a lawyer at the CEM (that stands for centro emergencia mujer, which is a service where people can report family/sexual abuse and get help) to form two committees in the two big schools here on awareness and prevention of family and sexual violence. The idea is that we're going to form these two committees, give workshops about awareness and prevention, do projects like a fair or a show or movie nights, etc. The committees are going to be formed from the students, parents, teachers, administration, and so forth and my job in all of this is to get the youth involved. Actually, I just had a meeting with the lawyer and it turns out my job is much more intense. He's made a basic outline of everything he wants to get done. Let me just tell you, it's really basic and kind of boring and all it really says are things like, "do a workshop on this day. do a workshop on this day with these people. have a meeting with the alcalde. have a meeting with the UGEL" and none of it goes into wtf the workshop's gonna be about, what he's gonna talk about during these meetings, etc. So I asked him about it, and he looks at me like it's so obvious- that's my job. And we can't start anything until I have a very thorough, like day by day plan for the year with every financial need so that we can then go present it to the municipality. 

BS.

But ok, that is actually something that's gonna be a hell of a lot of work, but probably worth it in the end- even as something that I could probably make a manual or something out of so that they can do something similar to it every year to draw awareness. This is probably going to be the least fun of all my things, but it'll be worth it. I have a meeting this Saturday with youth from the two schools to discuss their thoughts on this as well as possible project plans. I need to prepare what I'm going to do during this meeting. I actually went to one school and visited 20 classrooms with the subdirector (like vice principal) and gave a little speech about what we're doing and why it's important. I really hope some of these kids show up. 

3. SEX. Haha, no but seriously. I'm starting a Pasos Adelante club, which is a sex ed group aimed at teaching a group of kids for a few months on various sex ed things (how to use a condom, STIs, HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy, etc.). I'll be working at the local health post on this, and predominately by myself but with the support of 2 nurses and an obstetrics nurse. At the moment, I'm trying to get the use of a school auditorium as well as getting my hands on a projector and sound system so that next Friday, I'm going to show Juno and the kids will come and we shall watch and have a discussion and then they shall all come to the pasos adelante group and be informed. Then there will never be teen pregnancy again. Lies, but knowledge is power so hopefully this will give the girls and boys a better chance to make smart decisions. We'll see how that goes. 

4. Running group to start in April. This has nothing to do with sustainable projects or teaching or anything. I'm gonna be training for the Pacasmayo half marathon in June and running by myself is going to get difficult. I actually don't enjoy running with other people, since I've always used workout time as sort of "me" time, but I know that there are kids who are interested in working out so I guess I'm willing to sacrifice my "me" time for "hang out" time. At least I'll get them moving, and that's never a bad thing. 

5. Forming a youth committee in the municipality. There is an interest, especially since I went to this workshop that some people in the municipality held. A few kids showed up and this idea was passed around, and I am all aboard. So far, the people who were in charge of the workshop haven't actually done anything since then. I'm hoping to get to the municipality and hunt them down some point probably in a week or two if they don't do anything until then, and light a fire. This is definitely something I want to exist in my site. There are so many youth here who aren't given an opportunity to shine in leadership positions. Sure, they have like the school government and things but that limits them to just their schools. It'd be amazing if they were given the opportunity to do stuff in the community, even if it's something as simple as organizing a fun soccer tournament, or getting their voices heard by the alcalde and the local government on problems that they believe need to be addressed in their community. I'm actually gonna see if I can get my host mom to help me with this project, although she's been rather busy lately with trying to balance work, kids, and a husband who's been ill and in/out of the hospital the last few weeks :c He's in Trujillo right now, after having traveled to Lima to go see a specialist, and she tells me that he's much more stable now but the way she says it... I'm gonna go out on a limb and say he's actually not getting better. Send prayers to my host dad if you can, please. He's a really great guy and I really wish he could get better and be healthy again.

*edit: 6. I forgot to mention that I'm also hoping to start my club for english teachers sometime next week. I need to talk to the teachers in the schools to gauge their interest, but hopefully some of them are interested in getting together to practice their pronunciation and communication with me, as well as maybe pick up some fun dinamicas and other game things to get their kids learning in another style. We'll see about this one. 

In other news, I'm in the final phase of p90x. I just did plyometrics today and damn... I'm never gonna get used to that. I have PDM/IST coming up at the end of the month in Ancash. Basically, it's more training, but this time I get to bring my socio so we can more work done! woo! Finally, Semana Santa is in the beginning of April, which means I get a few days of vacation. I'm going to be travelling to Ayacucho to check that place out, so it should be really interesting. 

Nothing much else going on. I know a few of you have been interested in my personal life as of late, especially since the last few facebook statues I've posted have been rather depressing... but no worries, ladies and gents. It's just the roller coaster that is Peace Corps. On the plus side, I'm getting better and better at taking all those frustration and negative emotions that keep surfacing, and squishing them into the little imaginary bottle I keep inside of me, to be vented at a more appropriate time and location. On the negative side, I've started to get better at bottling up my emotions in a pretty unhealthy way... but whaddyagonnado, ya know? 

No worries, I have a regional meeting coming up next weekend so I'll be able to get to the big city and purchase a few things that'll make my life better- like a fan. I really want a fan. I might just break down and go to Pacasmayo to buy a fan, even if it's a bit pricier and bulkier that I want it to be, but it'd be wonderfully cool in my room. 

Anywho, that's it for work and such for now. I'll report back if anything happens! 

Until then,

Peace and Love

<3