A Week Full of Bienvenidas and Motivation

My first week in site proved to be as awkward and overwhelming as so many promised it would be.  I will be perfectly content if I live the rest of my life without being ´presented´to another director, alcalde (mayor), school, or any other group of people.  However, even with the awkwardness and mass confusion, I am eternally grateful for the amazing welcome I have received.

I am a replacement volunteer, meaning I was sent to a site where another youth development volunteer recently left after her 2 years of service.  Being a replacement volunteer has its pros and cons - on the one hand, the majority of the community know what Cuerpo de Paz (the Peace Corps) is and I have lots of community members willing and excited to work with me.  On the other hand, I am constantly told what Amanda (the last volunteer) did and am expected to dive head first into work.  Thankfully, Amanda left me with a great set of potential socios and good relationships with the municipality and local schools.

So here is a glimpse of how my week went:

After convincng a collectivo to load up all my luggage and a mattress and drop me off directly at my host family´s house, I arrived in Ucupe just in time for lunch.  I found my room ready for me complete with balloons and signs of ¨Bienvenidas¨ from Valeria and Dayana - my two host sabrinas ages 8 and 5 respectively.

I spent the afternoon unpacking a little and beginning to settle in.  I intend to continue working on my room, which will aslo serve as an office of sorts, for the next several weeks - gradually getting things in the capital city and getting organized.  As for now, the floor suffices as a dresser and a desk.  My host mom had many members of the family - aunts and cousins who spend every night in our house - as well as 5 or so women who live on my street over for dinner to introduce me to everyone.  It is nice to already have familiar faces on the street and people looking out for me in the tranquilo pueblo of Ucupe.

Tuesday I ventured to the municipality to be presented by and to members of the muni.  After waiting an hour - a typical occurance in Peruvian culture, I was escorted to a room set-up with a table and ¨Bienvenida Caroly al Distrito Lagunas Mocupe¨ displayed on the wall.  I think they ran out of letters to actually write Carolina ;)  It was a nice reception led by a member of the municipality staff who recited a poem to me.  It also included ¨palabras¨ or speeches from directors of the local schools, a representative of the regional government of Lambayeque, my host mom, and the tenant alcalde and I had a song sung to me by another member of municipality staff.  It concluded with the tenant alcalde giving me a dozen roses, refreshments for everyone and each person introducing themselves.

Following the muni presentation, I walked with my host mom, muni representative, and director of the high school to the school.  In case everyone hasn´t already noticed the new gringa walking around, I was particularly conspicuous carrying a dozen glittery roses.

The school presentations continued for the next 2 days as representatives of the muni and my host mom took me around to 10 or so schools where I was once again ¨presented¨ to directors, professsors, and students with varying levels of interest and excitement.

My crew of municipality works and host mom also took me to the beach in Lagunas, only 30 minutes from my house so I am excited to visit the beach lots this coming summer!

Overall it has been quite a week that will continue into next week as I begin helping at 2 schools.  As many awkward moments I had being ¨presented¨ over and over again, this week gave me great motivation to fully get to know my community and truly dedicate 2 years of work and life here.  Visiting many small caserios, schools, and directors proved there is no shortage of work and energy here.  No, the tough part will not come in finding partners but in choosing where to focus energy and where I can have the best impact.

Thanks for the awesome welcome District of Lagunas!

*Also, I hope to share pictures of these adventures soon.  Unfortunately, my computer has broken so don´t have a way to get them from my camera now.  I will be working on this and hopefully sharing pictures before too long.

Final Weeks of Training and Swearing In

For a year application process and 10 weeks of training in Lima, I have prepared for and dreamed of the community I will live in and work with as a Peace Corps volunteer - my site.  The first week of August, I traveled to Ucupe, Mocupe in the department of Lambayeque for the first of many times and the community immediately stole my heart.  

Over the next 2 years, I will share lots of information about my new Peruvian family and the community of Ucupe (and of Mocupe).  

***So to clarify - my new home is in the pueblo of Ucupe - a small caserio of Mocupe.  The main community is Mocupe and includes the caserios of Lagunas, Nuevo Mocupe and Ucupe.  This is all in the District of Lagunas.  To give an idea of the size: The entire district has around 10,000 people with under 4,000 residing in the main community of Mocupe and the remaining 6,000 split between the 3 caserios. So my home is in Ucupe and I will be working with schools and health posts in both Ucupe and Mocupe***

So, as I was saying, I will share lots of information about my family and site over the next 2 years but for now, after just a few days, I can already tell you I am thrilled to be a member of the rural coastal pueblo of Ucupe and think, or optimistically hope rather, that with current community leaders, patience, and hard work I can see some cool things happen in my community over the next 2 years and I'm looking forward to finishing training and returning not as a trainee but as a volunteer. 

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Following site visits, we returned to Chaclacayo as trainees and 7 days later we once again packed our bags and headed to the bus station as volunteers. 

The final week of training was a blur of finishing up trainings, language interviews, preparing to move, and soaking up the last days in Chaclacayo - including time with my host family, other trainees, and the hot water and wi-fi I was spoiled to have in Lima.  

It is hard to imagine I was telling my family, friends, and life stateside good-bye only 10 weeks ago. 

Within 10 weeks, I have gone from a bajo-bajo (low-low) Spanish level to intermedio-alto (intermediate-high) Spanish level.  

I have traveled to 3 different departments in Peru - including coastal areas to the north and the south.

I have become a member of a big Peruvian family to whom I was a stranger a few short months ago.  

And all of this I have done with friendship and support from amazing training staff and other trainees who are on this wild ride with me. 

Now it is equally as strange to say yet another goodbye to that new Peruvian family, those supportive staff members, and many of those fellow trainees and friends to venture to the real experience of Peace Corps - our sites.  The 10 weeks of training are an extreme learning curve and certainly an adventure in their own right, but they are but a blip of time and only the surface of the real task of serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in site.  I was sad to leave my first Peruvian home of Chaclacayo but overjoyed with anticipation, nerves, and excitement to take my first steps as a volunteer.  

Mil gracias to the host families, training team, Peace Corps staff, friends on the journey with me, and, as always, my family and friends supporting me from home for making training a great experience.  Now let's take some pasos adelante (steps forward) to the meat and potatoes of this adventure - my service in Ucupe Lambayeque Peru! 

Celebrating Swearing In as Peace Corps Volunteers with the close friends of my language group and one of our wonderful language facilitators Pablo 

*as usual, there are a few more pics posted on Facebook so enjoy :) 

Training Continues: Weeks 7 & 8

As training continues, it has become more and more of a time management experiment.  A great balance between spending time to learn and bond with my host family, studying and learning Spanish, spending time to relax with my fellow trainees, and taking time for myself to reconnect with friends and family back home, blogging/journaling or the rare but necessary alone time.  

This great balancing act seemed to intensify in the training weeks following FBT.  The highlights of my walking the tight rope of training in Weeks 7 & 8 follow. 

Site Assignments

The Thursday following Field Based Training was Site Assignment Day - the day we find out the departments and communities we will call home and work with for the next 2 years.  The training center staff like to get creative and have a game or activity to reveal sites.  For my training class of Peru 21, they hung balloons across a clothes line.  Each balloon had one of our pictures on it.  Two at a time (one business trainee and one youth trainee) would pop our balloons to find the names of our site.  

Following the reveal, we had meetings with our Regional Coordinators to learn more information about our departments and sites.  I am excited to say I will be living in the department of Lambayeque - a region on the northern coast of Peru and the department I visited for FBT - in a small site called Mocupe.  I will be a replacement volunteer for a youth development volunteer who recently finished her 2 years of service and returned home this summer.  While I was given information about the town of Mocupe, my new host family, and the past volunteer's projects, I feel the true identity of Mocupe and the nature of my work will remain a mystery until I not just visit but move in and begin my life and service there. 

Dinners with Host Families and Trainees in the Neighborhood 

A definite highlight and favorite moment from the past two weeks was cooking dinner with host families. The night of site visit, I went to the host house of 2 trainees to cook tacos for their families.  Getting to cook a tasty meal while spending time with friends and their families was a lot of fun. 

Apparently that family had a great time, too because they told my host family how great it was leading my host family to invite the other volunteers over to cook at our house.  At the request of my host sister, Sara, we prepared my mother's recipe (with a few Peruvian substitutions) of Lasagna.  It was not only a fun. Igbo but really special to share a favorite home cooked meal with my trainee friends and my training host family. 

Fiestas Patrias and Visit to Miraflores

On July 28, and the surrounding weekend, Peru celebrates it's independence or "Fiestas Patrias."  One of my most exciting moments of the celebration was that it meant a day of from training!  During the weekend, I traveled to visit Miraflores, a very nice area of Lima with two friends and my host family.  It was pretty and felt eerily American-like with a Starbucks on every corner.  

My host brother Samuel and my host sabrinas Ariana and Estephany in Miraflores

One of the coolest things on our Miraflores adventure was finding a Cuerpo de Paz connection in the artisan market.  During Fiestas Patrias, artisans from all over Peru come to Lima to showcase and sell their works.  This is what spurred my host family's trip because my host mom wanted to get a scarf from an artisan of her home town in the Sierra.  While walking through the market, a friend of mine who is a business volunteer trainee spotted embroidered goods he recognized from some of the volunteers' current projects.  Upon asking the ladies at the booth, we found out they were in fact artisans currently working with Peace Corps business volunteers and were artisans featured at the fashion show I attended during FBT.  It was a neat experience to connect with local artisans and Cuerpo de Paz partners.

 Artisans and partners of Cuerpo de Paz in Miraflores on Fiestas Patrias 

Looking Ahead

Next week I will travel to Lambayeque for orientation and site visit - which includes 3 days and nights in my new community of Mocupe.  Following the week of site visit, I have one final week of training in Chaclacayo that includes my final language interview, celebration for our host families, and the ceremony to be sworn-in as a volunteer.  Look in the next weeks for the final blogs about training and the beginning of my service as a Peace Corps Volunteer! 

Field Based Training: Kilometers Traveled, Charlas Given, Lessons Learned

June 13 – June 21 was the wild ride experience of Field Based Training (FBT).  I traveled to the coast of Lambayeque with seven other youth development trainees and two of our trainers. I am so grateful to the awesome volunteers currently working in Lambayeque who worked hard to make FBT a great learning trip for us – especially our coordinator Erin. Below is a super long post chronicling our travels, work experiences, and, most importantly, my lessons learned.

Traveling and First Day in Chiclayo

Our training group made our way to Lima (with a pit stop at the extravagant Jockey Plaza for American food, of course!) to board the overnight bus from Lima to Chiclayo – the capital city of Lambayeque.  We had about a 12 hour bus ride that left at 7:30 so we arrived in Chiclayo around 8 the next morning – bus-rested and ready to go!  (Please note, bus-rested and well-rested are two vastly differently things)

We were greeted at the bus station by our lovely host Erin.  Sunday we enjoyed a walking tour of Chiclayo before a panel session with current volunteers.  I was super impressed to have the opportunity to chat with something like 15 volunteers currently serving in different areas of Lambayeque in different programs such as youth development, business, and health.  Talking to current volunteers about their experiences, projects, and sites is one of the most helpful parts of training.  After hearing just as much advice as my brain could handle, I headed with a group to eat lunch at a menu place.

So what’s menu (pronounced men-ew)?  There are places in the communities here called menu that have set menus they serve for lunch for only a few soles – ranging, in my experience, from 3-7 soles – so we’re talking about a ton of food for a couple dollars.  This was my first experience with menu.  The first course was a choice of sopa (soup) or Papa a La Huancaina (a popular dish here made of potatoes covered in ahi amirarillo sauce).  Then there were about 4-5 choices of main dishes.  I had sopa and arroz con pato (rice with duck).  It was really pretty good and heaping portions.

Sunday we continued our travels 2 hours further to Olmos – the city of Betty, a youth volunteer, and her 2 MAC (environment volunteers) site mates. We settled into our hostal in Olmos and prepared for the work we would do in Betty’s site.

Olmos – Lambayeque – Peru

We stayed in Olmos for two days.  We were able to see the market and plaza de armas of el cuidad del limon (Olmos is super proud of it’s limes!)  We also visited the Health Post were we met Betty’s socio – the obstetrician – who shared experiences from the Pasos Adelantes class.

Pasos is a Peace Corps curriculum for sex education with teenagers that is used by many volunteers working for healthy youth and against the nation-wide issue of teen pregnancy. 

Our group also helped with Betty’s Damas Adelantes classes.  By volunteering in Peru we are working in a machisimo culture.  Betty developed the Damas Adelantes program to work with teenagers on combating some of the machisimo.  I worked with Scotney and Natalia – two other youth development trainees – on a charla for a group of high school girls in the Damas Adelantes program on critical thinking.  Critical thinking is something I have taken for granted through the education system of the states.  Critical thinking is inherently valued in my culture and therefore naturally incorporated into the curriculum.  That is 100% not true in the education system of Peru.  The majority of all education is done lecture style with an emphasis on correct answers and perfectly neat work rather than on any creativity or individual ownership of the learning process.  Therefore, critical thinking is an area of need (and therefore an objective of the Peace Corps’ goals for youth development) and something that must be specifically taught.  Betty chose to begin her Damas Adelantes program with lessons in critical thinking as critical thinking is needed to make the connections and gain the understanding at the core of the Damas Adelantes program. 

And so – Betty graciously let us give a critical thinking charla to her group. And with plenty of guidance from Betty, Scotney, Natalia and I gave a charla on the difference between fact and opinion and why it is important to differentiate between the two.  With a few mishaps, like running out of time and having one girl almost faint during it, the charla went well and all members of the class seemed to grasp the concept and enjoy the lesson. 

I spent the majority of Tuesday in Olmos working on Spanish and tutoring with Isabel – the wonderful language facilitator that accompanied the trainee group to Lambeyeque.  Other groups gave charlas to Betty’s second group of Damas Adelantes girls.  After charla-ing, we enjoyed a delicious lunch at a fun, coastal restaurant where I had my first taste of the famous seviche – a dish of fish that is chemically cooked by lime juice usually served on a bed of platanos and camote (sweet potato).  After filling up, we headed back to the capital city of Chiclayo to Hostal Amigos where we would stay for the remainder of the trip. 

So Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, we stayed in Chiclayo but traveled by combi 30-60 minutes away to a different site each day.

Pimentel – Lambeyeque – Peru

Wednesday we visited Ali’s site of Pimentel – a site on the beach!  With Ali, we visited the municipality to hear from one of the psychologists about partnering with the muni on projects, and then spent the majority of the day at the local colegio.  Some of the members of our group gave charlas to secundaria classes which I got to observe.  It was the first time I had observed other trainees giving charlas so it was pretty cool to learn from them and see others teach.  We also all observed Ali’s Pasos Adelantes class with two of her socios – a teacher and the obstetrician. 

Following our work, we were able to see the beach for the first time in Peru!  However, we did not stay long or get too close as the wind was blowing the Peruvian winter air making it a little too cold to fully enjoy – but we saw the beach none-the-less.

Also noteworthy for the day – I had my first REAL Diet Coke since arriving in Peru.  Peru, for some unknown reason, does not have Diet Coke.  Instead, Coca-Cola Zero is sometimes available and considered to by the same (which it is not, just so we are clear).  But in the city of Pimentel, there is actual, real Diet Coke.  Which I happily enjoyed in honor of my mother’s birthday, which so appropriately fell on the same day as I found the Diet Coke treasure – so Happy Birthday, Mama!

Zaña – Lambayeque – Peru

Thursday we spent the day visiting Zach’s site of Zaña – a city with a lot of history.  We began the day with a walking tour and a visit to Zach’s health post where we once again heard from the psychologists on partnering with health posts on projects.  We visited the Museo Afro-Peruano – located in Zaña because of the African influence in the community.  It was really an interesting experience to see similarities and differences between what I know of the African culture in America and now Peru.  In Zaña, we enjoyed the customary large and delicious lunch prepared by Zach’s host mother.

Following lunch, we gave charlas at a local public colegio.  This charla was one I’d like to forget happened so I’ll leave it at that.  Let’s just say I won’t be jumping into any more classrooms anytime soon before I have improved the Spanish and established a relationship with the group I will be teaching. We enjoyed seeing some of the ruins in Zaña before heading back towards Chiclayo. 

Back in Chiclayo, I went with Scotney and DD, our tech trainer Ana Maria and some other volunteers to the large Plaza Real (like a big mall) for a fashion show.  A current business volunteer had worked with her community to organize a great fashion show exhibiting the beautiful embroidery work of her local artisans.  It was really cool to see how so many of the volunteers serving in Lambayeque in different sectors came to Chiclayo to support her project.  Even a Cuerpo de Paz staff member (the great Luis Lee) who happened to be doing site visits in Lambayeque came out to support.  It is great to feel there will be support for my projects as I move away from the group and into our more isolated sites.

Patapo – Lambayeque – Peru

Friday we visited Patapo – Cayce’s site.  The day started out quickly with charlas at a local colegio.  Cayce had organized a day around the theme of women’s empowerment.  This started with me and the other trainees giving charlas to students about important women in Peru’s history and in our lives and other trainees giving charlas on discrimination and women’s empowerment.  Following our charlas, we participated in a futbol game Cayce organized for all the girls to play while the boys had to hang out around the field and watch.  It was pretty cool to see the girls get in there and play (something they rarely have the opportunity to do since the boys take it over) while the boys watched in frustration (and sometimes amusement). 

Also in Patapo, we met with the alcalde (mayor) and worked with the local youth group to begin work on a mural as part of the Accion Poetica movement in Lambayeque. 

Chiclayo – Lambayeque – Peru

Saturday we stayed in the capital city of Chiclayo – La Cuidad de la Amistad (The City of Friendship).  We began the day leading sessions at the institute of English.  I worked with Scotney, Natalia, and Linsday to first present two lessons to a group of teenage students about going to the doctor and shopping.  The four of us then presented to a group of English teachers who worked in and around Chiclayo.  The teachers were part of a program of the United States Embassy. 

Teaching English was a really neat experience for me for a few reasons.  For one, I am working to learn Spanish and have daily frustrations along the way so it was neat to connect with Peruvians working to learn English experiencing similar difficulties.  Also, we hear and see a lot of examples of disengaged teachers – specifically English teachers – in our training.  It was humbling and inspiring to work with a group of such dedicated teachers who had passion to learn English and better teach their students.  I know I and some of the other trainees have interest in working with the English teaching institutes in our capital cities when we get to site after this experience.

In the afternoon we visited the Museo Tumbas Reales del Senor Sipan.  Senor Sipan is a mummy of the Mochican culture found in Lambayeque.  The Mochican culture ruled the area during the early hundredsAD.  As a person who enjoys the ambiance and knowledge of museums, I really enjoyed seeing the artifacts, culture, and rich history included in the museum and all of Lambayeque.  

Following our trip to the museum, I picked up a quick present for my host family (the King Kong sweet that Lambayeque is famous for) and headed to the bus station for another 12 hour bus ride to return to Lima. 

After a long week of traveling it was nice to return home to my neighborhood of 3 de Octubre in Chaclacayo and my host family.  The past week put two things into perspective –

One, I am so excited to learn what my site is and where I will be living for the next 2 years.

Two, I will miss Chaclacayo, my first host family, and the comforts of the training center as we finish training and begin our work as Peace Corps Volunteers. 

Overall, I came back energized to continue improving upon my ever-growing Spanglish, finish training to begin my work, and thankful for my host family here.

And, of course, I need to share my two biggest lessons of the trip:

With the crazy drivers of Peru and specifically Chiclayo – ALWAYS CROSS WITH CONFIDENCE

And at the end of each day – put your hands in the air and remind yourself – I WON TODAY

50 Years of Peace Corps - The Poem of a RPCV

Today a current volunteer in Peru shared this poem with my training group today.  It so clearly articulated my experience and affection for my service in the Peace Corps thus far that I wanted to share it on here.  Enjoy :)

50 years of Peace Corps: A Message for soon to be Volunteers
-Meleia Egger
RPCV Malawi 2008-2010

Peace Corps is a twenty-seven-month-long-commitment,
Little do you know, you are in it for life.

It all starts with that spark from someone, "Uncle Dave served in Peace Corps and he loved it," "Do you know they work in Thailand?" or the best and the most simple, "You would be great in the Peace Corps."

The highest compliment, the deepest calling.

And then the paper trail begins, blazing a path through a dense bureaucratic network of uploaded dreams and poorly stated ambitions.

We trace every spark believing that it will one day lead to a full fire of intention.

Really, it's your first endurance test, and it is not a smooth process - believe me.

When volunteers start, their minds are wrapped around 1,000 different words for help...
empower, assist, aid, facilitate, uplift, yet no idea how to use them in a sentence.  Let alone in life.

Yes, we open borders, but more importantly, minds and hearts.
Winning them, earning them with the skills of our training and the purity of our efforts.
This is something those who are new to the family realize, and eventually, eventually, 9-12 months eventually...
You will go forth from this time, and this place, toting all that you can carry of your past life and loved ones.

And then,
you serve.

Never, will you feel more alive - it will surprise you.

It is a progression of connection.
at first, you are in your head and it's American, meets other.
Then you get more grounded, and volunteer, meets villager or teacher, meets student.
And then, if you are lucky, the simplicity settles in, and it's human meets human, heart to heart.

It's all right there.  It's tucked into the humble corners of each day.
Two years - will fly by.
Watch carefully or you might miss it.
Blink twice,
and it's gone...

And then,
you will leave those same coveted, carefully packed objects turned artifacts in the fault lines of all your cultural earthquakes.

And then,
you come back.

You are returned volunteers, never former, and you try to trace the patterns of home and you stumble, and you get dizzy, and people from the place you once knew ask...

How was Malawi? Ecuador? Mauritania? Poland?
How was Nicaragua? Mali? Panama? Vanuatu? Romania?
How was Tanzania?
And what did you do there?

Well,
and you will pause.

I changed the world.
I changed myself.

It's been 50 years of sweat and smiles, moments and memories, adventure and admiration, respect and realization and waiting and waiting and waiting,

It's been 50 years of imagination and inspiration.

Fifty years on paper,
but we are a part of so much more.
We bring hope to the forgotten corners of the world, and find peace at our core.

Training Week 5

Training is absolutely flying by!! Here are the highlights from training week 5

Voy a ir a la costa!

This week began with the excitement of finding out our region placements.  Basically this means we were told we would either be placed in a costa or a sierra (mountainous) site.  There are three types of sites in Peru – Costa, Sierra, or Selva (jungle) but only costa and sierra are options for youth volunteers. 

I am thrilled to be one of the youth volunteers going to the COSTA!!  Getting assigned to the costa essentially means it will be hot, better food, and more energy but does not necessarily mean beach.  Some regions considered costa look that the desert so it’s still unknown what my site will be like.  There are also some small differences between the culture of the coast in the south like Ica and coast in the north like Lambayeque.  But either way I am excited to be a volunteer going to the coast.

Adios Bajo-Bajo – Hola Intermedio-Bajo

After our language interviews last week we were given new levels for language.  I was super excited to be considered Intermedio-Bajo – three levels up from my original nivel de Bajo Bajo and only one level below the required Intermedio-Medio for service.  So proud of all the novice speakers, especially the girls in my language group, for moving up so well!

This week we began our new language classes with Monica as our facilitator.  After 2 crazy weeks without formal classes, it was nice to get back to a schedule of learning grammar and vocabulary.  We also had a day to cook a traditional Peruvian meal together so that was really fun.  As a class we went to the mercado in Chaclacayo to get ingredients and then prepared the meal to eat together for lunch.  My group made Locro de Zapollo – a dish with squash and of course lots of rice.  One of my friends in our language group is a vegetarian so we stuck to dishes she could eat.

Charla en Chosica

This week we gave a charla at a colegio in Chosica.  I worked with Taneesha on the theme of vocational preparation with a group of older students in secondaria.  Overall the charla went really well – I felt I connected well with the students, they got my activity, and I picked up a few new tips to better facilitate sessions in the Peruvian culture.  I also got to a point that I am comfortable enough in a Peruvian classroom that the biggest obstacle is language so it was a great class but left me slightly frustrated.

Preparation for FBT

The final highlight of the week is our preparation for next week’s travels for Field Based Training! Our training group split up by program (so desorrollo juvenile y business) and then within program by region.  I will be traveling with seven other trainees, one youth tech trainer, and one language facilitator to Lambayeque for Saturday June 13 – Sunday June 20.  Check back soon for a blog post about our adventures in Lambayeque! 

Training Week 4: 4th of July sin fireworks y con chompas

This week proved to be busy and full of excitement. 

For one, I have been sick.  Beginning Saturday, I had a roller coaster of headaches, fevers, and stomach issues.  My illness peaked in the middle of the night Tuesday with a fever of 103.  With that, I called the Peace Corps doctors and started an antibiotic.  Suni, one of our doctors, instructed me to stay home and miss training for the day.  Unfortunately, I needed to prepare for a class facilitation we had planned in a colegio for Wednesday morning.  So I took my meds and slept through my morning language class but made my way to the center in the afternoon to prepare.  My time at the center was brightened by a beautiful delivery of gerber daisies (thanks Matt!)  I worked on my charla during youth development training and then slept in the infirmary the rest of the afternoon until I had tutoring to work on my Spanish for facilitations. 

Wednesday we presented our charlas at a colegio (what they call schools) in Yanacoto, a nearby neighborhood where a group of trainees live, similar to 3 de Octubre.  I am getting more confident with my Spanish and managing a classroom in Peru so it was a successful day. 

Thursday was the 4th of July and I can definitely say I celebrated in a way different than ever before.  In the morning we had "Olympic games" at the training center with our language facilitators.  I watched the first half since I still didn't feel great and just wasn't quite feeling the 4th spirit with cuy games and eating contests.  After the Olympics, we were taken to Sanjay's house in Lima for a celebration.  Sanjay is the Country Director of Cuerpo de Paz - Peru. The celebration at Sanjay's was a blend of American and Peruvian traditions.  It was in the backyard with a pretty red, white, and blue tent complete with a dj and a dance floor.  We had a great lunch with hamburgers that actually tasted good (a rarity in Peru), American flag cake with fruit salad, and toasts with Pisco Sours.  After a few hours of dancing, the dj changed into a clown costume and began the "hora loca" a big deal at Peru fiestas.  Basically there are balloons, confetti, and organized group dances led by a clown for between 15 minutes and an hour depending on the party.  It was incredibly nice of Sanjay and his family to host us and all the Cuerpo de Paz staff to celebrate America's independence but I was thrilled to return back home and prepare for Friday with early sleep. 

Luckily Friday I was finally feeling a lot better.  Friday training included 4 interviews on our progress so far - especially language.  My second language interview was worlds better than my first and I am anxious to hear what level I am now classified as - something I think I will learn on Monday.  I by no means speak fluent Spanish nor will I by the end of training but I have improved and can at least figure out what is going on sometimes.  It was also nice to hear feedback from our trainers on both technical skills and language skills. 

The work week wasn't over yet - we had additional charlas / facilitations in Lima Saturday morning with a group of children that are classified as "at-risk" or "in need."  It was definitely different from the private schools we have been practicing in thus far and an interesting experience - I was sad to have to work on Saturday but I am glad for the experience.  I also thoroughly enjoyed the Pizza Hut and gelato I had in Jockey Plaza in Surco, Lima following the facilitations.  

Now I am greatly looking forward to a quite Saturday evening and Sunday to relax, spend time con mi familia anfitriona, wash clothes, and study my Spanish before another full week of training in the upcoming week.  Oh, and tomorrow we will hopefully be told the regions we will be placed! 

So that was my week and here are a few stories I didn't include: 

A host family tale:  So my host family has usually let me do as I please without too much comment.  For example, they ask how much food I want rather than the typical serving of massive portions with expectations to at it all.  This changed with my getting sick.  While sick, my host sister and mom gave me a bit of a lecture on why they think I am sick - I don't eat enough and I don't wear jackets.  A few things about Peruvians:  most Peruvians think food is the answer to any question.  Reason to celebrate? Eat!  Reason to mourn? Eat! Feeling healthy? Eat! Sick? Eat!  So they explained that I was not eating enough to keep a body strong and they expected me to begin to eat more and take bigger portions.  My host mom was tickled pink when I finished my dinner plate as she gave this little talk. 

Also, Peruvians do not like cold things.  There is a wide belief that cold is bad.  It is rare to find cold drinks and even more rare to find the use of ice. Most Everything is served either hot or room temperature.  It is technically winter here in Lima now but the sun is still strong and the days, I would venture to guess, average in the 60s.  Peruvians bundle in jackets, scarves, and hats.  So my family explained I need to wrap in a blanket immediately following my shower and take at least one if not two "chompas" (jackets) with me when I leave the house.  I thanked them for taking care of me and moved on.  The advice went further the next morning when I was forced to stand in the kitchen and finish my hot milk before I could leave for the bus - like a small child.  It was cute but also slightly annoying.  

On the topic of food:  overall, I have enjoyed the food of my host country.  It is a lot of rice and chicken, granted, but usually tasty so I can't complain.  However, this week marked my first complete month in the Peace Corps and the food started to take a toll.  Especially when I was served a potato on which I was not the only one dining.  During dinner one night, my host parents served me the most purple potato I have ever seen.  I began peeling it as they were doing and as I was doing so, I began to uncover maggots that were already feasting on my purple potato.  I tried to be polite and nonchalant but I couldn't bring myself to eat my potato or any of the other purple potatoes on the plate.  I know I have a lot of interesting food experiences ahead of me, but I am already missing the luxury of a simple drive through Zaxby's for a satisfying club with Zax sauce.