Monday, September 29, 2008

Living with a family

Well I must admit when I first read that I´ll be living with a family the entire time I will be in Peru, I was quite taken aback. And now after 2 weeks, I realize that it´s a good thing. I like my first host family and they help me a lot every day. They are responsible for all my meals, washing my clothes and most importantly, helping me learn Spanish. They take this very seriously including the 14 year old girl and 10 year old boy who help me with homework and correct my language errors. My host dad and I often talk an hour or so in the evening and I can tell you people here know more about US politics than we ever know about another country. And I have a 2 year old brother here who is really cute. He didn´t want anything to do with me for about a week. Then one day as I was leaving, I said goodbye to everyone in the family except him and he began howling. Ok, so now I remember to say goodby to Markitos!

A week ago Saturday my group went into Lima for a class in getting around and staying safe. We have had lots of classes in security including how to tell counterfeit money, travel safely, etc. When I was getting ready to leave for Lima, my host parents really grilled me. No backpack. No fanny pack. Only a change purse on an inside pocket. Well I didn´t take their phone number and got back late because another volunteer was sick and I went with him to the Peace Corps doctor. My mom was so distressed. She´d seen the other gringos come back and I wasn´t home yet. She went to the soccor field to ask the gringos in my group where I was and no one knew because they weren´t aware of what I´d done. She was sure I was kidnapped. So you know that I now carry my family's phone number with me!


Sometimes I think I could write a book titled, "Miss Picky goes to Peru" because I´ve eaten food I would not have gone near at home, learned to meditate and practice yoga with pigeons on the roof and the TV blaring, do homework in the living room while the 2 year old fusses, and generally live a life the opposite of my quiet house on Johns street. Sunday my host mom cut my hair "corte punk" and I feel more like myself with short hair again. And I made spagetti with marinara sauce that was well received. Learning to cook with what´s available both in foods and utensils.

I´d like to be learning Spanish more quickly but am so immersed I have no idea if I´m improving because I´m constantly aware of how much I have to learn. I may actually come out the other end of this experience bilingual!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

1st Day of Spring in Peru

Hola! It´s spring in Peru and the sun has been out for 2 days in a row without the nasty fog that holds dust in the air.

Here´s a day in the life of this volunteer. I´m up early, learning how to meditate with pigeons walking on my roof and the chorus of dogs in the neighborhood. Then a quick COLD shower, breakfast of bread with some kind of boiled condensed milk made into a sweet butter and tea. Then I say goodbye to my family and meet two other volunteers to complete an assignment on learning about my community. While I was waiting, one of the community dogs peed on my foot. Marking territory. We started at the tienda next to my house at my host mom´s suggestion. I walked in and asked if he had a map of Yanacoto without any preliminary greetings, bad form in a Latino community. He was helpful and warmed up to give us a lot of information. I´m going back tomorrow to apologize for my blunt American ways.

Then on to find the family that runs the community PA system that starts giving announcements at 630 AM. What a great garden they have. I got a tour and lesson in the plant names here as well as an invitation to visit on Sunday. I had remembered my saludos!

Then 4 hours class in Spanish at a fast clip. After 2 weeks, I actually understand what my teacher says almost all the time. Lunch was a dense paste of split peas with rice and a scrambled egg followed by a coke and chocolate marshmello cookie. I´m improving my eating habits quickly!

Then a group discussion about what we learned in the morning followed by an hour tutorial. The other volunteers were out partying last night and a little ragged in class today. Grandma went to be early even though I would have liked to join them but now am over my cold and cellulitis!

Then home by combi, uphill by mototaxi with conversation along the way. I asked my host mom if I could go to the internet before dinner so thus the post. We´re hoping to watch the presidential debate tomorrow if it happens. My host dad caught me up on the US news after watching CNN in Lima today. He drives a cab often 15 hours a day and is home early tonight. Now dinner, a mountain of homework and to bed with ear plugs to block out the Holy Ghost chorus of dogs that sings in the night.

Did I mention that I´m glad to be here??? And that at this point I´d rather have a dog pee on my shoe than listen to the grim news in the US every day?

Monday, September 22, 2008

Wow!

Well this will be short because this woman is tired. We are in class 6 days a week and I get extra tutoring 3 days a week in Spanish. I encountered Lima on Saturday, walked all day, had some terrific ice cream in a fruit flavor called lucumba. I´ve also had a cold, sore throat and have cellulitis in one leg from infected mosquito bites so I was home on Sunday with my leg up. We get terrific health care so I¨m not worried, just tired.

And now can barely spell in English because I´m working so hard in Spanish all the time. Great people in my group, free spirits all. I now ride the combis by myself and holler at the drivers when they miss my stop. They holler at me for getting off too slow. My host sister and brother are working with me on homework, calling out numbers to add, subtract, divide or multiply so I can learn to hear numbers.

Love your comments and appreciate the cheering section. This is more work than starting a new clinic!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Day 2 of training

Hey folks, thanks much for the comments. I can´t write much tonight because I´m too tired but it was a good day. I survived my second trip on the combi bus, got most of my Spanish homework done, did my whole yoga routine. Tomorrow, we´ve organized a class after training.

The training here is really interesting. I´ve heard a lot about adult education methods but never seen them really used. We are a very active crowd. I haven´t laughed so much in a long time. Being able to laugh at yourself is a must here. I´m walking a lot and the other volunteers in my community go with me on the bus because I was so scared by the damn thing the first time. They roar off the second you put a foot on the first step. At least I know how to ask for my stop now.

I could write a book on the first few days but I don´t have time! Did I say I really like my family even with the chaos of 4 kids, 4 ducks, one dog and grandma with senile dementia?

Sara

Monday, September 15, 2008

First day in training

Wow. This is intense. I started my day with hot homemade soy milk because my host mother knew I have a lactose intolerance. Hot soy milk, bread, butter and jam. Well, actually I tried to start my day with meditation but a host of pigeons were walking on the tin roof over my room. 15 minutes of yoga worked with the pigeons on the roof. After waking in the night to the war of the dogs outside. I was so tired, I napped over lunch realizing I´d rather sleep than eat!

My host mother introduced me to the combi busses this morning as I take a bus to the training center. When I got off, I thanked God and my host mother that I was still living. Two of my compadres are going back to our community with me tonight and we´ll meet in the morning to go together. I´m too tall to see out the window and know where to get off!

I am still very impressed by the staff here. They really understand adult learning and make things fun. And we have laughed a lot, all of us as we compared notes on our experiences transitioning into our host families and making both cultural and language blunders.

I´m in the most basic Spanish class with 3 extra hours of tutoring every week. My host family is also committed to my Spanish learning. I sat with my host father last night talking religion, politics, earthquakes.

I´m pretty challenged and tired so if you´re reading this, comment as then I´ll know your connected and get your support. Tomorrow I´ll post a new address for snail mail, the address of the training center which is more direct. And the advice they gave in the handbooks about not sending care packages is for real, only music or books as things get stuck in customs, require lots of money and a copy of your passport to get out.

What an adventure!

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Toto, we´re not in Kansas anymore

Well, I have a new home in a tiny rural town carved out of the side of a very dry mountain and a new family. We moved in with our families today after instructions from the PC staff. My family is made up of Walter (padre), Marta (madre), 4 children ages 2 to 12, grandmother (in her 70´s with multiple illnesses including dementia), a dog named Rambo and 3 ducks. They are incredibly warm and helpful. If I don´t learn Spanish here, I am hopeless. The youngest child, Jorge is a really independent 2 year old much like Alex at 2!

I have a great room at the end of a hallway. My room is big, airy with windows looking out at a small mountain. There´s a water delivery twice a week to a tank on the roof over the shower. I wish I could come home for 1 day and leave behind half my stuff. I have so much more than I need.

This family has had volunteers from 4 PC groups so they know how to help me settle in and will take me to the training center tomorrow until I find my way and can take the bus. Their house is at the top of a VERY steep hill so I´ll walk down to the bus in the morning and take a mototaxi uphill at the end of the day.

I´m writing this with the help of 4 year old Jennifer who can´t understand why Í don´t have the music and headphones on.

My house mother, Marta is in school 3 days a week to learn become a hairdresser. She ran a resturant but inflation drove her to close it. My housefather drives a cab in Lima long hours every day.

I have to say the PC staff here have been so helpful. They´ve really thought through how to get us started and provided a lot of support including instructions on how to take a bucket bath and how to tell people to get out of the way you have an urgent need to get to the bathroom. The bathroom talk is pretty funny as was a slide presentation by one of our two physicians on how to manage the inevitable. So far, so good.

Tomorrow we start formal language training which will include classes (yours truly will be in the most basic)lots of field trips, time in the markets, etc with the language staff. Walking to the internet cafe, I met a neighbor who is a nursing assistant in the local clinic. She´s going to talk to her boss about letting me observe a vaccine clinic in a couple of weeks. Yippee!

I´m tired but slept 9 hours last night. I am glad to get over the initial shyness about meeting my family. I feel quite comfortable with them. We´re organizing a yoga class at the training center for the end of the day. The diet of rice and potatoes in large quantities served together will be offset by the walk up the hill to my home.

Did I say I brought way too much stuff and am really glad to be here?

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Day 1 in Peru

Well with flight delays we arrived in Lima around 10:30PM, got through customs, got the luggage for 47 people and arrived at the retreat center where we are for 2 nights at 1AM. Actually, all went well. The Peace Corps staff who met us were really helpful and welcoming.

We started orientation today after 5 hours sleep under the Peace Corps motto "hit the ground running". Tomorrow we meet our host families and move in with them. I had my first language assessment which was taped and am competing for the most improved volunteer award at the end of 11 weeks. Our orientation is really well organized and the staff here are great. Lots of good people and laughter in my volunteer group.

I'll learn on 11-8 where I'll be working and living although we will all be in coastal provinces. The health director is a nurse with her masters in public health, Emilia.

Many thanks to Mary, Sarah V and Nancy that I didn't walk out of my language interview in tears, especially since I barely could remember English I was so tired! We'll learn tomorrow or Monday which language class we're in but I already know I'll be in the most basic and learning fast.

Don't worry if you don{t hear from me much for awhile. I'm alive, well and cheerful.
Lots to learn. New food, cold showers, new bird calls. There was a llama hanging around on the porch of the retreat center today. Several yoga practitioners and more who want to learn in this group. Two guys brought guitars and another brought harmonicas so there's music in store while we're in training. I spend 1/2 hour struggling to use the keyboard in an internet cafe and then learned we have wireless connection in our rooms at this center.

Good start to the journey.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Tomorrow--Peru!

Well, I just finished 2 days orientation in Washington DC and am ready to head out tomorrow. I was a bit taken aback when I walked in and realized that there are 46 volunteers about 40 years younger than me--total of 47 in our group. After the 2 days together with lots of activity, laughter and information, I'm not worried about being left out. Lots of good people with some interested in yoga, some music makers, varied backgrounds as you'd expect.

It was hard saying goodbye to Alex who announced to his school, "This is my grandma and she's going to Peru!" The day before he asked what state Meru is in. He instructed me on the cool stickers to get when I get shots. I'll be connected to his school through a correspondence match as well as connected to Lily's first grade at Nuestro Mundo in Madison.

So tomorrow morning we have to have our luggage ready to load up at 6:15 and fly out of DC for Peru at 1PM. I'll be at a retreat center in Lima for 2 nights with more orientation and then meet my host family on Sunday. Sometime on Saturday, I'll have a Spanish interview. Gulp. Say a little prayer for me--preferably in Spanish.

Adios
Sara

Monday, September 8, 2008

Ready or not!

Well, I leave for Washington DC tomorrow and think I'm actually ready. Brian, you really are right, the devil is in the details (and I've been deviled by details). I took my packed luggage to the airport today to see how close I was to the weight limit and only had to do a bit of juggling. The large rolling duffel came in at 51.5 pounds and my backpack at 34. I don't want to talk about the daypack... And left behind books to be mailed later. Left behind the good coop peanut butter.

Last night I packed the big duffel, wrestled everything in place and then realized my yoga mat was sitting out in the corner of the room. Everything came out again to make room for that mat!

I've shed a lot of tears saying goodbye. And I'm very excited. While I'm a little nervous about my Spanish, about keeping up with the pace of training and about all the adaptation, I haven't once waked up and thought, "Oh no, this is a mistake!"

I fly to Washington DC tomorrow for a night and morning with Jen, Alex and Jeff. Then on Wednesday at noon, Jen will take me to the hotel in Washington DC where I begin this journey. We have 2 days of orientation (and probably immunizations) and fly to Peru on Friday the 12th.

Thank you to all who have lent many hands to helping me get ready for this journey. It's taken a village to launch this Peace Corps volunteer.