solicitudes, panetón, y silbatos.

22 Diciembre 2010

last week was pretty crazy - lots of traveling for little ole me, and lots of stories to tell!

ill start with last monday…

my entire day was spent preparing for my “Programa de Emprendimiento Juvenil” that i am going to have for the students during their break.  i spent hours typing up a curso, a curso tríptico, and solicitudes.  a curso is simply a very detailed syllabus.  a curso tríptico is a tri-fold pamphlet that describes my class, the dates and summaries of each lesson, and an area for the parents to sign to give their child permission to attend.  (i had to fold about 60 of these!)  now, to describe a solicitud… (sigh..)  here in peru, they seem to love trails and trails of paperwork.  anytime you’re asking for permission to do something, you have to type up a VERY formal letter - stating EVERYTHING:  a description of every little detail... who it’s to, who you are, what its for, what your asking for, when it is, where you want it to be, its purpose and the anticipated outcome, your signatures, yada yada yada…  you take 2 copies of this to the person you are writing to, and they sign and stamp both copies - one is for your records, and the other for their records.  it’s rather tedious, but “somos peru!”

mi solicitud:

on tuesday morning, i woke up early to go to the colegio for the last day of english class.  but the english professor wasn’t there for some reason, and i didnt bring any materials for me to teach by myself.  so, i taught them songs in english (“head, shoulders, knees, and toes” has been a BIG hit out here in the little caseríos of peru), and we played games until the end of class.

after class, i had my meeting with the director of the colegio about my business program.  i took my curso, my 60 curso tríptico, and my solicitudes to her office, and made my proposal to her.  she’s really been so helpful.  she said i can definitely use a classroom for the program, and she’s meeting with all of the parents on tuesday, so she can get permission from them then.  

later that afternoon, i left my site for santa cruz.  i stayed with courtney in her new home.  (she has recently moved - which is another large story in itself…)  and we went to a caserío with her new host mom for our first chocolatada!  a chocolatada is a little party schools and some businesses do at the end of the year.  there are games and gifts and LOADS of hot chocolate and panetón (which is like a peruvian version of fruit cake, and i hate it - but peruvians LOVE it).

afterwards, we went out with our best peruvian friends - jose (the doctor - who speaks REALLY great english) and carlos (the police officer - who doesn’t speak a lick of english).  we went to manos morenas, which is my favorite place in santa cruz for pollo a la abrasa (roasted chicken) and cervezas.

then, we were off to chota for a welcome party for the chota newbies (Peru 16ers) and a mini-christmas gathering.  courtney and i left santa cruz on a cumbi in the madrugada (the madrugada is the most awesome spanish word for the time between midnight and before the sun comes up), and we arrived to chota at around 6:30am.  we love these madrugada bus trips because it cuts the travel time down in half that early in the morning.

it was a nice visit - mark, chris huey, annalise, nate, lisa, katie, annie, and a couple of the 16ers were there.  we have a new married couple in the chota area now (no one will ever replaced the cobbs in my heart, but the new esposos are super nice).  the christmas party was at our favorite chota restaurant - anita’s.

secret santa gifts under the tree at anita’s:

the chota gang at anita’s:

me and milagros (owner of anita’s restaurant):

after chota, i was off to chiclayo - to pick up me and court’s business cards - (finally)!  

my new business card:

mark came along with me to chiclayo, and it was the most horrific bus ride ever.  the bus left chota at 8pm.  chiclayo is (normally) a little over 8 hours from chota.  well, we took the route that goes through huambos (instead of catache), because its supposed to be shorter.  it took 9.5 hours to get to chiclayo!  the most uncomfortable, bouncy, god-awful bus ride ever.  i couldnt sleep - the dramamine did nothing for me.  mark my words:  i will NEVER go from chota to chiclayo again.

while in chiclayo, i was invited for lunch with carlos (the police officer from santa cruz) and his family.  carlos is actually from chiclayo and has volunteered to work in santa cruz for a few months.  he has off for christmas, and left for chiclayo around the same time court and i left for chota.

lunch was great.  his family is more than awesome.  carlos came to pick me up at the hostel, and his little sister and father came along for the ride, excited to meet the redheaded gringa.  they live in a big house on the outskirts of the city - and their home is filled with beautiful christmas decorations!

at the house, i met the rest of the family - his lovely mother and brother.  and no more than 5 minutes upon my arrival - they busted out the baby pictures!  after a yummy, huge, traditional peruvian lunch, they turned on their stereo, blasted some typical peruvian music, and we sat in the living room to talk over cervezas - and thus began a peruvian drinking circle.  this, i should explain:  here in peru, peruvians drink A LOT differently than how we drink in america.  you sit or stand in a circle - there is only one glass - you poor the beer into the glass (about ¼ or ⅕ full) - pass the bottle to the next person - drink the glass - poor out the backwash onto the floor (or into a bowl kept in center of the circle) - and pass the glass to the next person.  normally the men pour the glasses for the women and pass the bottle to the next man.  this is a serious part about becoming “acostumbrar” to peru - its actually one of the first things they told us about during training.

so, only a few times around the circle, and im already a part of the family.  carlos’s brother, who works for a museum, showed me this awesome incan whistle from his museum, gave it to me as a gift, and invited me back for his birthday party with the extended family in chongoyape on the 28th.  

my new incan whistle:

hermano de carlos:

his father kept telling me how his family is my family now too, and how happy he was to have me as a new member.  he talked about the family history, told me some hilarious stories, and showed me more old family photos.  soon after that, the neighbors came over to join the circle - and then carlos’s uncle, who works in máncora, came by too.  

tío y hermano de carlos:

his little sis convinced me to dance with her, and it wasn’t long before the rest of the family joined in on the dancing.  it was awesome. 

hermana de carlos:

carlos, yo, y hermano de carlos:

i stayed for dinner - and they made me come back for every meal the day after that.  when it was finally time for me to leave chiclayo, the whole family was so sad as we said our goodbyes!  they made me promise to return for carlos’s brother’s birthday… which i will.

and now, here i am… back in catache, and only a couple days until christmas - my first christmas in peru!  they celebrate things a little bit differently here.  in peru, christmas eve is the big day.  people open presents with their families and stay up all night long.  at midnight, they eat a big meal with their families - and after the meal, they eat panetón and chocolate - and stay up really late.  

most of my HUGE host family is in town for christmas.  today, i met my oldest host sister, rosa, for the first time.  she lives in lima, and she is super, super nice.  and i also met my host niece for the first time…  you see, andrea - my host sister who lives here - has 3 children…  anderson (he is about 16 and lives here), the little baby, antero, (he’s not even a year old), and sandra (who is about 17 and goes to school in lima).  its a pretty huge family.  so, at the moment, there are nine family members here at the house - if you include me, and you dont include my host brother, cesar, and his girlfriend, caro; they have their own place here in catache, but they eat most meals here with the rest of them.  so yeah - its a full house…  which i rather like :)

for christmas, im going to give my family a huge picture of catache that i printed out and got framed.  i took the photo on a hike to monte alto (the caserío i walk back to often).  the picture is perfect, because you can see the whole town - the schools, the plaza, even the bull ring - and the beautiful mountains that surround it.

the photo of catache:

i think im going to spend the rest of the day doing laundry (yeah, we do laundry by hand here in peru) - and maybe later ill play uno with sandra and anderson.  its raining right now - super cozy!  but, be expecting a blog or two after the my first peruvian navidad with all of the fun details!

well - until then… !