Hey amigitos,
Alright, so I'm in Huanchaco right now and guess what? IT'S MOTHER'S DAY! Hurrah for mother's! I love my mum very very much. But that's not what I want to discuss right now.
So, Sue, what do you want to discuss?
-THE AVENGERS. HOLY CRAP ON A STICK. THAT SHIZZ WAS AWESOME. Joss Whedon is a goddamn genius and anyone who thinks otherwise can go eat a dead dolphin cause I don't care what you have to say.
-Speaking of dead dolphins, the ones all up on the coast of Peru and the thousands of dead seabirds are a bit disconcerting... but according to my med officers, it's alright if I keep eating the ceviche. So there's that...
-Just turned in my grant application last week and hoping to complete the other part of it to turn in this week. If I don't get the money, I'll probably be kind of sad. But it'll be ok!
-I'm a member of the Peer Support Network! Huzzah! Got an email congratulating me on that and so super pumped for the training the end of this month! So HAPPY!
-Now I'm in the running to be a member of the Volunteer Advisory Counsel and I really really really really want to be in it, not only to learn more about the workings of Peace Corps but also to be a part of something where I think I can make a positive impact for other volunteers. We'll see how this goes, though, cause I gotta write up my "why should you vote for me" thing and send it out. BATTLE!
-Girls' camp (Campamento ALMA) is happening the end of this month and the boys' camp (Campamento VALOR) is the end of next month. I'm bringing a few girls from my site and now just got the heads up that I can actually bring a few more! So excited! This is such an amazing opportunity for these kids. Could you imagine if you were in high school and your junior year, a bunch of people invited you to not only visit a few colleges/universities and get awesome tours, camp in a gorgeous place for 3 days with an assortment of charlas designed to make you awesome, and do it all for free? Yea, that's what this is and for a lot of kids who have never traveled, never been told just how much they can achieve, never been given the opportunity to actually visit schools.... well, it's just fantastic, no?
-I love La Libertad volunteers. Like, seriously love them. The 16ers are going to COS at some point and I think for the weeks afterwards, I'm going to be dressed in black and mourning their absence. It's going to suck.
That's all I want to discuss for now! Good for you? Good for me.
PEACE AND LOVE <3
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
day 313: hey girl, can i have yo number?
'scue me, can I talk to you fo a minute?
'SCUE ME, can I talk to you fo a minute?
I just wanted to let you know, the back o yo head is redikulus.
where's yo boyfriend? where yo boyfriend at?
so listen, I was wonderin, can I have yo numba? can I have it? can I have yo numba?
SUP AMIGITOS
So that there was an excerpt of one of my favorite madtv sketches of all time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTFZyl7hfBw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTFZyl7hfBw
Seriously. Watch it. You will love it.
But I found this sketch to be particularly poignant as of late as the usual rate of men annoying me has increased in the past few weeks. See, my site isn't that big. Well, it's kind of large but has this general small town feel to it. For that reason, I usually see people who know me or whom I am familiar with whenever I'm out running about. Lately, I've gotten rather busy (kind of why I haven't updated in so long... sorry!) and have found myself running around my community during random hours all day in the afternoon, and returning back to my house later than usual (not like late late, but anytime after the sun goes down is pretty late for me).
For this reason, I've been out more often and more of the community has randomly been given a chance to realize there is a volunteer running around this site. What has this lead to?
Well, the kind of harassment I usually get from stranger men on the streets isn't what other volunteers usually get. Usually, you typically find men whistling at you or throwing 'piropos' aka catcalls or these really kind of gross loud kissy noises in your direction. Sure, I get this at times (it's particularly frustrating when it's men I know and they do it as a joke, but I'll talk about that in a bit) but the majority of annoyance I get here is actually really awkward.
The situation, and the men.
I'm pretty good at ignoring the whistles, the kissy noises, the catcalling, and a lot of times, I actually phase them out so much that I actually don't realize they're calling me. It's a useful trick. The last few times, however, have involved men being seriously strange and I just don't know how to react... so I don't and I keep walking away with a concerned look on my face.
Here's an example:
Me: walking down the main street, about to cross on to the other side so I can get home.
Man: dressed in what appears to be painter's clothes or something mildly torn up and covered in paint, walking with a friend and heading the opposite direction from me.
I'm walking past this man, looking at the street in case there are cars, when this man passes me by. He's staring, but I'm ignoring, when he suddenly stops just as I pass by and starts blabbering. "Señorita, hello, excuse me, you're so very beautiful. You are so gorgeous, how pretty you are. You are so pretty and beautiful. Señorita, you are extremely beautiful."
Wtf?
This man is literally just standing by the side of the road, talking to me as I'm quickly walking away, and his friend hasn't even realized he's stopped yet. This is weird, and seriously awkward. What does this guy want?? Does he think standing there, staring at me, and blabbering about how pretty he thinks I am... does he think that's somehow going to make me turn right around and chat with him? Give him my number? Go out with him? Wtf, seriously awkward. I had no idea how to react but I had turned to him (because what else do you do when someone calls your attention with 'hello, excuse me' ?) so I gave him a quick wane smile and hurried along my way, shaking me head.
Here's another example:
Me: walking by the market, chatting on the phone in english
Man: dressed like a hipster who hasn't quite figured out just how tight his jeans and shirt should be, playing with a phone in his hand as he walks by.
I tend to be a friendly person in my site. I say hello to almost everyone I see, or at least give a quick smile (especially when I'm on the phone). I know that this is a fault of mine that seems to invite unwanted attention, and I'm in the process of working on it... but it's sometimes difficult to do. At least I got my winking under control. I miss winking :c but I don't do it anymore and I make a conscious decision not to!
Anyway, I'm chatting on the phone and this guy turns the corner. He looks up as I step slightly to the left to give him room to pass. I'm still chatting and walking, minding my own business. His head goes back to the phone when he does a double take and looks me in the eye. I presume this to mean that we may have met at some point in my last 7 months in site (I don't know all the people I've met! There are have just been too many, it's also probably why I say hello to everyone- a lot of people know who I am, I hardly know anyone's names) so while I'm on the phone, I give him a quick smile and a hello before returning to my conversation.
He takes this to mean, yes- please talk to me, go ahead, I do want to listen to you discuss what you think about me, Mr. Awkward Stranger Man. Go right on with your chatty self while I continue to hold this phone conversation.
As he passes me by, this guy starts making random small talk. He's not even walking in my direction, he's just spitting out comments as I walk past him. It's really weird. "Hello señorita, good afternoon, you are a very beautiful woman, did you know that? We should go out because you are very attractive; you have a very pretty smile."
WTF dude, I'm on the phone, who the eff are you? Go away from me. I respond, "good afternoon" and continue with my convo on the phone, completely ignoring this guy who isn't following me or anything, he literally talks to me as we pass by and as I'm walking away before he goes on his way.
I don't get what's with people these days.
Finally, there are the men who I actually do know, have conversed with, and know the names of who continue to hit on me whenever they see me. It's always jokingly, friendly, and everyone else who knows about their comments always mock them for me shooting them down, but it gets kind of annoying.
One such man works in the municipality. I see him pretty often, usually whenever I'm in the muni, but sometimes during public events and such. He's already asked for my hand in marriage a few times, has informed people in the muni that I will one day take him back to the states with me, and he has been mocked mercilessly by others in the office, informing him that he isn't good enough for me. It's all in jest, though, and I'm well aware of this. I don't really care, to be honest, as he gets everything I ask him to do done and he's pretty good at connecting me to the person I need to talk to for whatever project I'm working on. Plus, I'm pretty good at holding my own when he's flirting with me and the joking is all in good fun. What I don't like, however, is when he's passing me by on the street in a car or motorcycle and throws me a kissy noise, calling out "my love!" as he zooms by. Mostly because I can't do anything about it except respond to the fact that I know him by waving, which feels like I'm acknowledging that I am, in fact, his amor.
Bah! LIES!
But at least it's harmless. He never jokes around when I'm working on my projects in the muni, and he never bothers me if I'm alone- only if there are others around and he can make a mild fool of himself, which is why I've never talked to him and asked him to stop. He tries to make it very clear that he's just fooling around. But god, I hate that gross kissy noise thing.
So, men. I am rather fond of the men in my life, but I'm starting to grow tired of the strange ones around me. Why can't they all just be like the ones who whistle at me across the street or something? Those seem to be more normal. What's up with this breed of men who are just awkward? They should figure out that I'm pretty awkward too... if and when they interact with me, it's just going to get super awkward and then we'll have to just awkwardly ignore each other for the rest of our lives.
I mean, come on. It's one thing to grow a pair and talk to a girl, it's another to do it all creepy and awkward and make me unconsciously ball my hands up in a fist around my house keys. But that's my life right now!
I'm complaining about this, but mostly it's because of this sudden increase as of late. I never had too much of a problem with this before in my site, but again, it's probably because I've just been out and about more often.
Besides that, I haven't got much to report! I'm starting to look into a few grants for my projects, I've applied to join the peer support network, and I'm still training to run the half marathon. Since I ended p90x, my weight has increased an appalling amount but that may also be because my snacking has once again, gotten out of control. I'm working on it though, so no worries.
I am also rewatching arrested development. This show is the shiznit. I highly suggest it! And finally, I read The Book Thief and it may be one of my favorite books that I've read so far in Peru. GO READ IT.
Miss you and love you all,
please keep sending me letters and ecstasy inducing care packages.
Peace and Love <3
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
day 298: heading back to site after vacationing is... hard.
UGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...............
Hey, guys, this sucks right now.
PDM was great, IST was meh, and Ayacucho during Semana Santa was awesome. Now I'm back in site, trying really hard not to pass out because I'm so freakin tired...
Too late, as soon as I typed that, I went to sleep for 3 hours. Thank god my socia called right before then to inform me that we'll be resuming classes tomorrow instead of today, and that my other meetings were rescheduled.
Going from site to vacation is super easy- you stop worrying about your schedule, your meetings, your responsibilities and you only think about what you plan on eating next or how to get to the next activity that maybe, sure why not, you want to do.
Going from vacation to site feels like a punch in the face- you have to somehow immediately stop relaxing, there are loads and loads of laundry that you don't know when you'll have time to wash, you're exhausted and all you want to do is sleep for 24hrs, and you don't have a choice as to whether or not you feel like doing something- it's your project, your responsibility, your obligation... and it's all something you choose to do so you know you shouldn't complain...
but you do it anyway.
Naw, I'll stop complaining now but here's some more about what I did during the Semana Santa!
Ayacucho is kind of this crazy place when it comes to religion. According to most tourist info (e.g. Lonely Planet), there are 33 churches located in the capital city of Huamanga. According to the taxi man I made friends with on our way to a sketchtastic market in the hopes of recovering a stolen camera, there are actually 35 (two smaller, hidden ones that recently appeared). So what with all the churches in a town that holds a population of roughly 190,000 people, you imagine it's going to get kind of crazy during the days that Jesus was crucified and then brought back for the day.
You'd be right.
Although I spent roughly 4 days in Ayacucho, it just felt like longer because of how little sleep I got from all the amazing activities. There was the jalatoro, aka running of the bulls that turned out to be a series of 6 bulls, one bull at a time being lassoed and pulled through a street to the plaza del armas. This was fairly tame, mostly involving boys/men chasing the poor things and pulling at its tail, and the rope used to lasso the bull did much more damage than anything. The very first bull to come out of the fence was kind of crazy. It was being dragged along by some men on horses but it definitely fought back. Rather than following, it ended up pulling the man off his horse and chasing a whole crowd of people who were on a bridge- slamming into one man on the bridge while its rope clotheslined another man farther out who was probably drunk to begin with, but he flipped over the rope and landed solidly on his head/neck. Thankfully, there were people designated for this day to act as medics and the ambulance was soon on the scene to whisk this man away. The second bull ended up jumping the bridge and landing into the river, which turned out to be mostly rocks and a small trickle of water. That one just chilled out for a while.
A bunch of friends and I ran after the last bull to the main plaza del armas, where we met with some more volunteers and did what everyone else seemed to be doing at that moment- in a large, crowded plaza of people donned in red, with bulls and horses charging through every half hour or so, we built a human period.
It made sense at the time. Kind of.
We later saw a procession that involved a giant shiny coffin holding Jesus and a lot of flowers, being carried by a bunch of men, followed by a giant shiny Mary also being carried by a bunch of men.
And then we stayed up all night at some point (not me, I slept for about 2-3 hours) to celebrate Pascua (Easter) and that was when I giant lighted pyramid emerged from the church and as it did so, Jesus emerged from the top and the pyramid was carried around the plaza as well.
It was insanity, and I was exhausted from it all.
However, I didn't really do too much in the end and this vacation was really super chill (unlike Carnaval madness). It was really nice getting a lot of girl time, more or less, and I had a blast just... being. After Ayacucho, we took a terrible bus line called Huamanaga Tours to get back to Lima. Never take this bus line. It's a lot of money for very very very little comfort. It was more or less marked up 300% because it was Semana Santa, the bus reeked of piss and it was so hot, I felt like my body was just made of sweat and oil and it was all oozing through my skin.
Yea, it was gross.
Thankfully, I made it to the Peace Corps office and managed to track down the higher ups to ask for another vacation day so that I could relax in Lima and shake off that horrendous bus trip before boarding another one. The second one we took was Ittsa which is a FANTASTIC bus line, cool and clean smelling with calm voices through the intercom and complementary small dinner and breakfast. I passed out on this bus and woke up in Trujillo.
So my trip was amazing, and today I woke up to a meeting with my socia (the one I took to PDM with me- she's so pumped about our work and I'm just so happy she wants to get this project going!), a quick run to the municipality to see if my funds are in yet (nope), and a run into the CEM to see if my other socio was around so that we could discuss our current project (he wasn't).
AND THEN I got a phone call from a volunteer with good and bad news.
Good news: I have an amazing package waiting for me at the Serpost.
Bad news: They aren't willing to hold it for any longer and will be shipping it back today if I don't come pick it up.
WHAT?! I have been expecting this package from a super awesome person back home for quite some time, and the last time I checked (week before PDM/IST), they didn't have it. Apparently Serpost is only willing to hold on to a package for up to 15 days, but were kind enough to hold onto mine for 2 days longer. Why? Because they weren't open during Semana Santa, and had a strike during which time they weren't working.
So... they held on to my package for 15 days, but I technically wouldn't have been able to withdraw it for nearly half of those days. WTF.
But this is Peru, and I accept that insanity and nonsensical crap is at time an acceptable excuse. I grab a bus ticket and head to Trujillo to get my package. I show up at Serpost at 1:04pm- they're closed at 1pm. Clearly, I am too late to pick up this package now and must wait until they return at 4pm.
DSFO*^#$(*y#$c&$%*#&t(*#^e$%$*&dfure%@#t(#$c V75j(*^&^&^(*&^#y$nc is all I can think.
Still, I make a few phone calls, get some work done, calm my nerves down at the Starbucks, and return to find my package is waiting for me!
And am I glad that I waited for it! CARE PACKAGES ARE WORTH ANY AND ALL PAIN. On top of that, I got 2 other letters in the mail! SCORE.
AAAHHHhhhhhhhhh... so today was on the mild side of stressful but mostly alright and now ending on awesome. I'm supposed to be on a diet now, training for the half marathon (13.1!) in 2 months time, but I'm going to go ahead and say girl scout cookies and care package candy doesn't count.
It's true.
Well, that's all for now my lovely readers! This post was kind of epic long, but hey- a lot happened, ya know? Keep me updated on yourselves! Send me letters and things!
Love you lots and lots, and until next time-
Peace and Love.
Hey, guys, this sucks right now.
PDM was great, IST was meh, and Ayacucho during Semana Santa was awesome. Now I'm back in site, trying really hard not to pass out because I'm so freakin tired...
Too late, as soon as I typed that, I went to sleep for 3 hours. Thank god my socia called right before then to inform me that we'll be resuming classes tomorrow instead of today, and that my other meetings were rescheduled.
Going from site to vacation is super easy- you stop worrying about your schedule, your meetings, your responsibilities and you only think about what you plan on eating next or how to get to the next activity that maybe, sure why not, you want to do.
Going from vacation to site feels like a punch in the face- you have to somehow immediately stop relaxing, there are loads and loads of laundry that you don't know when you'll have time to wash, you're exhausted and all you want to do is sleep for 24hrs, and you don't have a choice as to whether or not you feel like doing something- it's your project, your responsibility, your obligation... and it's all something you choose to do so you know you shouldn't complain...
but you do it anyway.
Naw, I'll stop complaining now but here's some more about what I did during the Semana Santa!
Ayacucho is kind of this crazy place when it comes to religion. According to most tourist info (e.g. Lonely Planet), there are 33 churches located in the capital city of Huamanga. According to the taxi man I made friends with on our way to a sketchtastic market in the hopes of recovering a stolen camera, there are actually 35 (two smaller, hidden ones that recently appeared). So what with all the churches in a town that holds a population of roughly 190,000 people, you imagine it's going to get kind of crazy during the days that Jesus was crucified and then brought back for the day.
You'd be right.
Although I spent roughly 4 days in Ayacucho, it just felt like longer because of how little sleep I got from all the amazing activities. There was the jalatoro, aka running of the bulls that turned out to be a series of 6 bulls, one bull at a time being lassoed and pulled through a street to the plaza del armas. This was fairly tame, mostly involving boys/men chasing the poor things and pulling at its tail, and the rope used to lasso the bull did much more damage than anything. The very first bull to come out of the fence was kind of crazy. It was being dragged along by some men on horses but it definitely fought back. Rather than following, it ended up pulling the man off his horse and chasing a whole crowd of people who were on a bridge- slamming into one man on the bridge while its rope clotheslined another man farther out who was probably drunk to begin with, but he flipped over the rope and landed solidly on his head/neck. Thankfully, there were people designated for this day to act as medics and the ambulance was soon on the scene to whisk this man away. The second bull ended up jumping the bridge and landing into the river, which turned out to be mostly rocks and a small trickle of water. That one just chilled out for a while.
A bunch of friends and I ran after the last bull to the main plaza del armas, where we met with some more volunteers and did what everyone else seemed to be doing at that moment- in a large, crowded plaza of people donned in red, with bulls and horses charging through every half hour or so, we built a human period.
It made sense at the time. Kind of.
We later saw a procession that involved a giant shiny coffin holding Jesus and a lot of flowers, being carried by a bunch of men, followed by a giant shiny Mary also being carried by a bunch of men.
And then we stayed up all night at some point (not me, I slept for about 2-3 hours) to celebrate Pascua (Easter) and that was when I giant lighted pyramid emerged from the church and as it did so, Jesus emerged from the top and the pyramid was carried around the plaza as well.
It was insanity, and I was exhausted from it all.
However, I didn't really do too much in the end and this vacation was really super chill (unlike Carnaval madness). It was really nice getting a lot of girl time, more or less, and I had a blast just... being. After Ayacucho, we took a terrible bus line called Huamanaga Tours to get back to Lima. Never take this bus line. It's a lot of money for very very very little comfort. It was more or less marked up 300% because it was Semana Santa, the bus reeked of piss and it was so hot, I felt like my body was just made of sweat and oil and it was all oozing through my skin.
Yea, it was gross.
Thankfully, I made it to the Peace Corps office and managed to track down the higher ups to ask for another vacation day so that I could relax in Lima and shake off that horrendous bus trip before boarding another one. The second one we took was Ittsa which is a FANTASTIC bus line, cool and clean smelling with calm voices through the intercom and complementary small dinner and breakfast. I passed out on this bus and woke up in Trujillo.
So my trip was amazing, and today I woke up to a meeting with my socia (the one I took to PDM with me- she's so pumped about our work and I'm just so happy she wants to get this project going!), a quick run to the municipality to see if my funds are in yet (nope), and a run into the CEM to see if my other socio was around so that we could discuss our current project (he wasn't).
AND THEN I got a phone call from a volunteer with good and bad news.
Good news: I have an amazing package waiting for me at the Serpost.
Bad news: They aren't willing to hold it for any longer and will be shipping it back today if I don't come pick it up.
WHAT?! I have been expecting this package from a super awesome person back home for quite some time, and the last time I checked (week before PDM/IST), they didn't have it. Apparently Serpost is only willing to hold on to a package for up to 15 days, but were kind enough to hold onto mine for 2 days longer. Why? Because they weren't open during Semana Santa, and had a strike during which time they weren't working.
So... they held on to my package for 15 days, but I technically wouldn't have been able to withdraw it for nearly half of those days. WTF.
But this is Peru, and I accept that insanity and nonsensical crap is at time an acceptable excuse. I grab a bus ticket and head to Trujillo to get my package. I show up at Serpost at 1:04pm- they're closed at 1pm. Clearly, I am too late to pick up this package now and must wait until they return at 4pm.
DSFO*^#$(*y#$c&$%*#&t(*#^e$%$*&dfure%@#t(#$c V75j(*^&^&^(*&^#y$nc is all I can think.
Still, I make a few phone calls, get some work done, calm my nerves down at the Starbucks, and return to find my package is waiting for me!
And am I glad that I waited for it! CARE PACKAGES ARE WORTH ANY AND ALL PAIN. On top of that, I got 2 other letters in the mail! SCORE.
AAAHHHhhhhhhhhh... so today was on the mild side of stressful but mostly alright and now ending on awesome. I'm supposed to be on a diet now, training for the half marathon (13.1!) in 2 months time, but I'm going to go ahead and say girl scout cookies and care package candy doesn't count.
It's true.
Well, that's all for now my lovely readers! This post was kind of epic long, but hey- a lot happened, ya know? Keep me updated on yourselves! Send me letters and things!
Love you lots and lots, and until next time-
Peace and Love.
Friday, April 6, 2012
day 293: pdm/ist is over and now i'm rocking ayacucho
Hey Amig@s
Oh boy oh boy oh boy, pdm and ist are FINALLY over... So for those of you who don't know these particular acronyms, PDM: Project Design Management and IST: In Service Training
So for PDM, I brought a socia of mine from the benificencia social, in the hopes that working together for 2 or 3 days would be able to get some projects I'm interested in underway. Can I just say, success? My socia was kind of really intense the entire time we were there but when we got there, she immediately focused on a project that would serve to educate youth and parents on sex ed- something that is not really talked about in my site or focused on by the health sector of the local government. We get a basic schedule worked out, figure out goals and objectives, walk our way through how to get the project funded, etc etc etc and BOOM- I have another project to work on once I get back into site!
This is just super exciting, simply because my interests lie in health and not having much to do with the health post in my site was starting to bother me. Now I'll be getting the health post, the municipality, the schools, the women's center, and the benificiencia social involved! Super awesome woooooo!!!
PDM ended, my socia got back on the bus to site, aaannndd IST started. I'm not going to spend the rest of this time complaining about the inefficiency of those next 2 days. I'm not going to spend the rest of this time venting about how much I hate being treated like I'm 6 years old. I'm not going to spend the rest of this time shaking my fists in frustration. But we did have a discussion and a lot of issues were fixed the second day, so I'll go ahead and say IST wasn't my favorite and at least it's over.
ANYWHO I said goodbye to Ancash once again (having been there for FBT: Field Based Training) and adios to a lot of my friends who would be staying there during semana santa (holy week) to go hiking/camping around the gorgeous glacier lakes and mountains. I would have loved to join them, but alas- I was set to head to Ayacucho for those glorious days.
So first, I get on a night bus from Ancash to Lima. Lima is wonderful. I had a burrito at the Burrito Bar that tasted like Chipotle, I drank a caramel frappuchino at Starbucks, I had amazing fries and a turkey sandwhich at La Lucha, and I got to hang with a bunch of friends of mine as we meandered through the streets and shopped. Oh, and I got my ears pierced. For the first time ever in my life. It hurt like a mofo.
The guy at the tattoo/piercing place gave me two options: the gun or the needle. After much consideration (cleanliness? pain? general BAMF factor?), I went with the needle. It cost a bit more, but the earring options were way cooler and they told me it'd be a mildly painful but quick pinch.
LIARS. ALL OF THEM.
First of all, the guy cleans all the necessary tools, everything is disinfected and well done (at least, to my untrained eye). Then he cleans my ears, marks where he's going to pierce holes into them, and I give him the ok.
OOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.
It hurts. But it was quick and the pain smarts but I'll live. Except now he's trying to get my earring into place and there's just blood spilling out that he keeps having to wipe up. A few minutes of twisting and tweaking later, he looks at me and apologizes- my ears are too fat, he's going to have to make the piercing larger.
WTF. NO.
But yes, my ears are large, fat, and deliciously Buddha like. I love my ears, but their greatness was now impeding this process. The guy goes back with the needle and that quick pinch? It gets extended into a loooonngggg painful thing and I immediately explode into tears.
Did I mention that I cry pretty easily to begin with? I'm not some delicate flower, mind, but it seems to be my immediate reaction to most forms of sudden, unprepared pain.... that and any movie that's even slightly sad.
Anyway, I explode into tears, this guy is still ripping a hole in my ear and it's like a few minutes of just awful awful pain. Another volunteer calls at this moment and I'm too busy sobbing to answer so I pass it off to another friend who accompanied me. FINALLY the earring gets put in and I steel myself for the hole in the second ear.
Dear Lord, please give me strength.
More tears.
Then it's done! I have earring in place! They are bloody and swollen and - naw, I'm just kidding, they were fine and quite pretty~ My eyes were puffy from bawling, but at least my ears looked nice (although maybe they did look awful and disfigured and gross, but everyone around me told me they looked nice and maybe they were just saying it because I would have died if I went through all of that for nothing, but that's what friends are for!)
I get stuff to clean them with and later that night, get on a bus to Ayacucho!
Ayacucho has been great so far. Churches galore and other volunteers to meet and make friends with :) Yesterday was a chill day and I mostly slept to make up for 2 restless nights on a bus. Today is the big day with the procession and tomorrow is the big party, as well as the running with the bulls I think?
We'll see :D
Anywho, that's all I got for now! Keep sending me updates on your lives, and I shall report later <3
Peace and Love to you all <3 <3 <3
Oh boy oh boy oh boy, pdm and ist are FINALLY over... So for those of you who don't know these particular acronyms, PDM: Project Design Management and IST: In Service Training
So for PDM, I brought a socia of mine from the benificencia social, in the hopes that working together for 2 or 3 days would be able to get some projects I'm interested in underway. Can I just say, success? My socia was kind of really intense the entire time we were there but when we got there, she immediately focused on a project that would serve to educate youth and parents on sex ed- something that is not really talked about in my site or focused on by the health sector of the local government. We get a basic schedule worked out, figure out goals and objectives, walk our way through how to get the project funded, etc etc etc and BOOM- I have another project to work on once I get back into site!
This is just super exciting, simply because my interests lie in health and not having much to do with the health post in my site was starting to bother me. Now I'll be getting the health post, the municipality, the schools, the women's center, and the benificiencia social involved! Super awesome woooooo!!!
PDM ended, my socia got back on the bus to site, aaannndd IST started. I'm not going to spend the rest of this time complaining about the inefficiency of those next 2 days. I'm not going to spend the rest of this time venting about how much I hate being treated like I'm 6 years old. I'm not going to spend the rest of this time shaking my fists in frustration. But we did have a discussion and a lot of issues were fixed the second day, so I'll go ahead and say IST wasn't my favorite and at least it's over.
ANYWHO I said goodbye to Ancash once again (having been there for FBT: Field Based Training) and adios to a lot of my friends who would be staying there during semana santa (holy week) to go hiking/camping around the gorgeous glacier lakes and mountains. I would have loved to join them, but alas- I was set to head to Ayacucho for those glorious days.
So first, I get on a night bus from Ancash to Lima. Lima is wonderful. I had a burrito at the Burrito Bar that tasted like Chipotle, I drank a caramel frappuchino at Starbucks, I had amazing fries and a turkey sandwhich at La Lucha, and I got to hang with a bunch of friends of mine as we meandered through the streets and shopped. Oh, and I got my ears pierced. For the first time ever in my life. It hurt like a mofo.
The guy at the tattoo/piercing place gave me two options: the gun or the needle. After much consideration (cleanliness? pain? general BAMF factor?), I went with the needle. It cost a bit more, but the earring options were way cooler and they told me it'd be a mildly painful but quick pinch.
LIARS. ALL OF THEM.
First of all, the guy cleans all the necessary tools, everything is disinfected and well done (at least, to my untrained eye). Then he cleans my ears, marks where he's going to pierce holes into them, and I give him the ok.
OOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.
It hurts. But it was quick and the pain smarts but I'll live. Except now he's trying to get my earring into place and there's just blood spilling out that he keeps having to wipe up. A few minutes of twisting and tweaking later, he looks at me and apologizes- my ears are too fat, he's going to have to make the piercing larger.
WTF. NO.
But yes, my ears are large, fat, and deliciously Buddha like. I love my ears, but their greatness was now impeding this process. The guy goes back with the needle and that quick pinch? It gets extended into a loooonngggg painful thing and I immediately explode into tears.
Did I mention that I cry pretty easily to begin with? I'm not some delicate flower, mind, but it seems to be my immediate reaction to most forms of sudden, unprepared pain.... that and any movie that's even slightly sad.
Anyway, I explode into tears, this guy is still ripping a hole in my ear and it's like a few minutes of just awful awful pain. Another volunteer calls at this moment and I'm too busy sobbing to answer so I pass it off to another friend who accompanied me. FINALLY the earring gets put in and I steel myself for the hole in the second ear.
Dear Lord, please give me strength.
More tears.
Then it's done! I have earring in place! They are bloody and swollen and - naw, I'm just kidding, they were fine and quite pretty~ My eyes were puffy from bawling, but at least my ears looked nice (although maybe they did look awful and disfigured and gross, but everyone around me told me they looked nice and maybe they were just saying it because I would have died if I went through all of that for nothing, but that's what friends are for!)
I get stuff to clean them with and later that night, get on a bus to Ayacucho!
Ayacucho has been great so far. Churches galore and other volunteers to meet and make friends with :) Yesterday was a chill day and I mostly slept to make up for 2 restless nights on a bus. Today is the big day with the procession and tomorrow is the big party, as well as the running with the bulls I think?
We'll see :D
Anywho, that's all I got for now! Keep sending me updates on your lives, and I shall report later <3
Peace and Love to you all <3 <3 <3
Friday, March 23, 2012
day 279: the little things...
Sup amigitos!
Wow, it's been kind of forever since I last updated. My bad. There really hasn't been much, though, to talk about. My daily life is starting to get mad busy with projects I'm working on, and some projects are starting to get modified as the days go on and I realize the resources I actual have available to me.
Still, what with things getting kind of hectic, I'm starting to realize that the little things that happen in my day really make a difference to how I will feel before going to bed that night. I've decided to give you a small list of things that make me feel instantly happier, even if it's just for a few seconds in my day:
- letting down my hair once I'm done with work. I get back to my room, usually mildly sore form having to stand/pace/sit for hours during a meeting or teaching or whatever, and the first thing I do is change into my inside clothes (running or basketball shorts and a tanktop) and let down my hair. I keep my hair up in a tight, out of the way, bun all day. Undoing that band and letting my hair loose is immediate tension release of all the roots and it gives you that immediate satisfaction of feeling yourself unwind. Love it.
- eating a snack before lunch. I don't know what it is, but there's this time period right between breakfast and lunch when I'm craving something kind of sweet. I'll take a quick walk outside to my neighbor's place and by myself some animal crackers or wafer cookies or maybe ice cream. Walking back into my room and sitting myself down to munch on a snack, right before I eat a full meal, makes me happy. It might be because I know I shouldn't (I'm just about to eat!) but no one can stop me...
- finding amazing youtube videos. Whenever I get internet, I know I get youtube crazy. I'm subscribed to a gajillion people and I watch all of the videos. Every once in a while, I stumble across something that I'm not subscribed to but can't help but immediately love it. Most of the time, they're just weird things that I can't help but enjoy, like http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wjsZbnTNB8c#!.... wtf is that??? hahahahhahahahhahha
- hearing stupid jokes. I love jokes. How did the hipster burn his tongue? He ate his pizza before it was cool. If you say "beer can" with a British accent, you are saying "bacon" with a Jamaican accent. Hey, are you heading out for yoga class? Namaste here. These jokes make my life.
- hugs from very small children. I work with kids of all ages, but the majority are high school aged. When I go to teach a class at the comedor popular, however, there are a few very tiny kids running around sometimes and all of them love me. When I get mobbed by a few of them and they run up and scramble to give my kneecaps a hug, I just melt into a puddle of awwwwww...
- finishing a workout. So many endorphins swimming in my head, you just can't help but feel like a boss.
- getting a random phone call or text from someone I haven't talked to in a while. It's a sad fact, but I do lose touch with a lot of people whom I love. When I get a random phone call or a text message from them, however, I get this giddy feeling. Yea, sometimes the messages and stuff are just for some info, but it's just always nice to hear from people, no matter what!
- mail. This is more of a Trujillo thing than a daily, random, happy thing, but I thought I should mention it because I want to encourage everyone to send me mail. You know how it feels like to get mail. Snail mail isn't very common anymore, so when you reach into your mailbox and discover that someone has taken the time out of their life to send you something that they put thought and time into, that someone has been thinking of you at some point in the past... well, that feeling is glorious. Now imagine you are in another part of the world, you can't just call up someone and go meet them for lunch or whatever, you're disconnected from things that are happening back home and you're living as a stranger in a random town. Getting mail makes me feel like everything is going to be okay. Getting care packages? I've won the fricken lottery. So this is just more of a thank you to those of you who have written me letters and sent me little things to remind me of home. p.s. JAMIE! I'm like half dying, knowing that there's a box of girl scout cookies in the mail for me. DYING from the excitement. LOVE YOU GIRL!
LOVE YOU ALL and that's all for now~ I'll be writing more after I go to Ancash next week for training, and Ayacucho for Semana Santa/Holidays! Pictures too, if I can get them to load : )
Peace and love, y'all <3
Wow, it's been kind of forever since I last updated. My bad. There really hasn't been much, though, to talk about. My daily life is starting to get mad busy with projects I'm working on, and some projects are starting to get modified as the days go on and I realize the resources I actual have available to me.
Still, what with things getting kind of hectic, I'm starting to realize that the little things that happen in my day really make a difference to how I will feel before going to bed that night. I've decided to give you a small list of things that make me feel instantly happier, even if it's just for a few seconds in my day:
- letting down my hair once I'm done with work. I get back to my room, usually mildly sore form having to stand/pace/sit for hours during a meeting or teaching or whatever, and the first thing I do is change into my inside clothes (running or basketball shorts and a tanktop) and let down my hair. I keep my hair up in a tight, out of the way, bun all day. Undoing that band and letting my hair loose is immediate tension release of all the roots and it gives you that immediate satisfaction of feeling yourself unwind. Love it.
- eating a snack before lunch. I don't know what it is, but there's this time period right between breakfast and lunch when I'm craving something kind of sweet. I'll take a quick walk outside to my neighbor's place and by myself some animal crackers or wafer cookies or maybe ice cream. Walking back into my room and sitting myself down to munch on a snack, right before I eat a full meal, makes me happy. It might be because I know I shouldn't (I'm just about to eat!) but no one can stop me...
- finding amazing youtube videos. Whenever I get internet, I know I get youtube crazy. I'm subscribed to a gajillion people and I watch all of the videos. Every once in a while, I stumble across something that I'm not subscribed to but can't help but immediately love it. Most of the time, they're just weird things that I can't help but enjoy, like http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wjsZbnTNB8c#!.... wtf is that??? hahahahhahahahhahha
- hearing stupid jokes. I love jokes. How did the hipster burn his tongue? He ate his pizza before it was cool. If you say "beer can" with a British accent, you are saying "bacon" with a Jamaican accent. Hey, are you heading out for yoga class? Namaste here. These jokes make my life.
- hugs from very small children. I work with kids of all ages, but the majority are high school aged. When I go to teach a class at the comedor popular, however, there are a few very tiny kids running around sometimes and all of them love me. When I get mobbed by a few of them and they run up and scramble to give my kneecaps a hug, I just melt into a puddle of awwwwww...
- finishing a workout. So many endorphins swimming in my head, you just can't help but feel like a boss.
- getting a random phone call or text from someone I haven't talked to in a while. It's a sad fact, but I do lose touch with a lot of people whom I love. When I get a random phone call or a text message from them, however, I get this giddy feeling. Yea, sometimes the messages and stuff are just for some info, but it's just always nice to hear from people, no matter what!
- mail. This is more of a Trujillo thing than a daily, random, happy thing, but I thought I should mention it because I want to encourage everyone to send me mail. You know how it feels like to get mail. Snail mail isn't very common anymore, so when you reach into your mailbox and discover that someone has taken the time out of their life to send you something that they put thought and time into, that someone has been thinking of you at some point in the past... well, that feeling is glorious. Now imagine you are in another part of the world, you can't just call up someone and go meet them for lunch or whatever, you're disconnected from things that are happening back home and you're living as a stranger in a random town. Getting mail makes me feel like everything is going to be okay. Getting care packages? I've won the fricken lottery. So this is just more of a thank you to those of you who have written me letters and sent me little things to remind me of home. p.s. JAMIE! I'm like half dying, knowing that there's a box of girl scout cookies in the mail for me. DYING from the excitement. LOVE YOU GIRL!
LOVE YOU ALL and that's all for now~ I'll be writing more after I go to Ancash next week for training, and Ayacucho for Semana Santa/Holidays! Pictures too, if I can get them to load : )
Peace and love, y'all <3
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
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.
*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
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
day 256: it's march tomorrow!
HEY FRIENDS!
LEAP YEAR!
WOO!
Alright, got that out of my system. So tomorrow is March, which is super exciting for a number of reasons, the most super duper bit is that SCHOOL'S STARTING AGAIN!
What does that mean for me? WORK! FINALLY. Not having any kids around is great and all for me-time. Everything's super chill, I get my workouts done, I go to Trujillo for personal time/fun more so than running around trying to get things done, and I spend a lot of time reading and watching movies (friend me on Goodreads if you like!).
It gets kind of boring after a while.
Mind, I'm really great at doing nothing. But after a while you start realizing that doing nothing, leads to nothing. That- I'm not a fan of that. So, I gotta start pushing the people around in my site a bit harder; gotta start accessing the inner bully and making people move.
Actually, what I find kind of funny is that there are people in my site who have presented me really legit documents and plans and whatnots about projects and activities that have been planned- none of which they have actually DONE. The lawyer I'm working with has had 2 meetings written in his work plans that were supposed to happen this month. They did not happen. I called him to ask him about it. He had no idea what I was talking about.
Facepalm.
Ah well, we'll just see how far that one goes.
In entirely other news, my little brother has come to visit me! He had to leave Brazil to get his volunteer visa set up, so instead of the states he came to Perú to travel and see meeeeee <3 He was in my site for a day or two before he realized exactly how boring it can get around here, so now he's in Huanchaco- surfing and enjoying faster internet service... He leaves for Brazil again this Saturday D:
Uhm. That's all for now. Oh, wait- LENT! I'm not doing anything for lent this year. Never mind.
Yup, nothing.
Sorry. Boring post. I'll write again when something actually happens!
Love and Peace, always.
LEAP YEAR!
WOO!
Alright, got that out of my system. So tomorrow is March, which is super exciting for a number of reasons, the most super duper bit is that SCHOOL'S STARTING AGAIN!
What does that mean for me? WORK! FINALLY. Not having any kids around is great and all for me-time. Everything's super chill, I get my workouts done, I go to Trujillo for personal time/fun more so than running around trying to get things done, and I spend a lot of time reading and watching movies (friend me on Goodreads if you like!).
It gets kind of boring after a while.
Mind, I'm really great at doing nothing. But after a while you start realizing that doing nothing, leads to nothing. That- I'm not a fan of that. So, I gotta start pushing the people around in my site a bit harder; gotta start accessing the inner bully and making people move.
Actually, what I find kind of funny is that there are people in my site who have presented me really legit documents and plans and whatnots about projects and activities that have been planned- none of which they have actually DONE. The lawyer I'm working with has had 2 meetings written in his work plans that were supposed to happen this month. They did not happen. I called him to ask him about it. He had no idea what I was talking about.
Facepalm.
Ah well, we'll just see how far that one goes.
In entirely other news, my little brother has come to visit me! He had to leave Brazil to get his volunteer visa set up, so instead of the states he came to Perú to travel and see meeeeee <3 He was in my site for a day or two before he realized exactly how boring it can get around here, so now he's in Huanchaco- surfing and enjoying faster internet service... He leaves for Brazil again this Saturday D:
Uhm. That's all for now. Oh, wait- LENT! I'm not doing anything for lent this year. Never mind.
Yup, nothing.
Sorry. Boring post. I'll write again when something actually happens!
Love and Peace, always.
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