feliz navidad and no more charades.

25 Diciembre 2010

i woke up this morning not feeling like it was christmas at all.  i was still very tired from the night before… so maybe this lead to my bah-humbug attitude.  i rolled out of bed, and i made myself some oatmeal and coffee.  3 bites into my breakfast, i heard the man who sells big pots and pans in the street start singing some old peruvian folk song at the top of his lungs - which he does from time to time - but for some reason, this morning, the sound of his heartfelt canción echoing off the mountains that surround us was just enough to get me out of my grumpiness.

i went downstairs and said feliz navidad a mi familia, and i walked down to my favorite farmer’s little bodega for my usual purchase: ocho huevos, lata de leche, y verduras (this time, carrots and tomatoes).

before lunch, my host cousin, arturo, called my cell phone to wish me a feliz navidad.  he lives in lima, but has visited a few times (and is my age).  we met during the fiesta back in august.  he was actually my first catache friend!  

it was good to hear from him.  sometimes people dont understand my spanish, because of my americanized pronunciation, but he always understand what i am saying - even when i am slowly constructing sentences and when my pronunciation is muy mal.

mi hermana, andrea, invited me for lunch with the family this afternoon.  it was back to the normal peruvian food:  rice with potatoes - and a side of something.  but good, nonetheless.  we ate while watching WWF on the television - which i still cant get used to the fact that if you go into any catache home on a saturday afternoon you’ll find the entire family glued to their tv set, watching some good, old-fashioned, fake, american wrestling… qué raro!  

i was finally able to give my gift to the fam (with all of the commotion yesterday, i forgot to give them the picture).  of course they loved it.  they all passed it around the room while ooohing and awwwing.  when my mom finally had a chance to look at it, she said, “oh wow! qué bonita! está en arequipa!?”  my sisters corrected her and said, “no, mama!!! está CATACHE!”  ...we had a good laugh at that one for a while.

at lunch, i realized how much better my spanish is getting.  i am not anywhere near being fluent, but im to a point where i can understand pretty much everything people are talking to me about.  i can talk on the phone now (in spanish) - which was the hardest thing in the world for me to do before (because it’s super-hard to understand spanish when you aren’t face to face and can’t play a game of charades to get the point across).  so yeah, i sort-of reached a major turning point in my spanish progression.  nowhere to go now but up - up - UP!

carbohidratos y mi nochebuena.

24 Diciembre 2010

despite the fact that i kind of wanted to sleep in this morning, me levanté at around 8am to my niece, sandra, knocking on my bedroom door.  she greeted me with a piece of cake (thank goodness it wasn’t panetón), and she told me about our evening plans.  if i had to get up early, this was the best way to wake up… with a discussion of festivities and a side of cake (THIS is why im fat)!  the plans are: to go with them to church at around 7pm, and then have dinner with the family afterwards.  how very exciting!

then, of course, i had my routine morning phone calls from courtney, and she told me her crazy stories from the night before (santa cruz is a much more happening town than my sleepy little pueblito of catache).  a couple hours después, carlos and his family called me - all of them passed around the phone to wish me a feliz nochebuena!

after all of my morning conversations, i wrapped my regalo a mi familia with a beautifully decorated PAPALOTE!

my wrapped gift to my family - frontside:

(i just knew those papalotes would be handy for multiple things!)

my wrapped gift - backside:

after i made myself lunch (which consisted of egg salad cracker sandwiches and a cup of cafe con leche), i went downstairs to play a few more epic games of uno (uno has become quite addicting since camp valor).

and on a side note, en la tarde, word spread to catache that another angel divino bus wrecked after picking up some people here on the way to chiclayo today.  thats the 2nd angel divino bus accident in the past month.  the other accident was pretty horrific and 2 people died.  nobody died this time around, but some passengers walked away with broken arms and legs.  how awful - and on christmas eve!  needless to say, none of us volunteers take angel divino buses anymore.

ok - flash forward to the evening.  my mom called me down for church at about 8pm or so.  i emerged from my room to discover that our house was the only house with electricity.  “no hay luz...”  this is probably the most common saying in catache.  mi madre, sandra, and i walked down the dark street to the iglesia de san agustín, which was beautifully lit with candles.  la misa (mass) tonight brought chills up my spine and tears to my eyes.  there is just something about going to church in another country…  such a sense of comfort and familiarity - yet with this beautiful idioma of spanish - and all set to candlelight, and on christmas eve…  really made me miss my father.  the thing that actually got the emotional cloud from my head, was when we all had to get in line to take turns kissing a dirty, toy baby (supposed to be jesus) that the priest had in his arms.  “somos peru.”

after church, we walked back home and waited (...and waited ...and waited) to eat dinner.  while we were waiting - a group of children came by the house to sing christmas songs to our nativity scene.  some of them were dressed up - the girls were dressed as angels and some of the boys had mustaches and beards drawn on their faces with markers.  apparently they go to every home’s nativity scene and sing to it.  at the end of the 3rd song, sandra, gave out candy to all of the children, and they were off to the next home.

our nativity scene in the shop:

children singing to the nativity scene:

sandra (in the mickey mouse shirt) passing out candy to the kids:

when it was finally time to eat dinner, we were all starving and tired.  we ended up eating at around 11pm, instead of the usual 12am christmas time dinner.  dinner consisted of rico pavo (yummy turkey), vino semi-seco (sweet wine - really gross), the most delicious hot chocolate you’ve ever tasted, and bread bread bread - - of course, this includes panetón.  i didn’t eat that much.  we had a long conversation over dinner about its ok to stop eating when you are full here in this home, but in most homes, people take it personally if you are not a clean plater.  which is completely true - we learned this in training.  but, none of us were clean platers tonight.

mi madre - dishing out the pavo - 

and my vegetarian padre snacking on something:

our dinner:

(look at all that pan!)

after dinner and discussions about the US and how we celebrate things there, it was bedtime.  i was tucked in before midnight, but i could here the continued celebrations in the streets until 4am.  and carlos’s family even called me to wish me a merry christmas right after our clocks turned 12am.  such an awesome first nochebuena in peru.

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… !

La Serpiente.

in Catache, i wake up every morning to roosters crowing and pigs squealing. (the sound of a pig’s uncontrollable squealing is, hands-down, the most horrific sound.) there are more pigs, donkeys, and cows in the streets of my town than there are cars. which brings me to another crazy thing i’ve gotten used to here… the transportation. people don’t have cars here. when they do, they are taxis to get from one caserío to the next. there are, however, a lot of motorcycles. kids drive them as early as 12 or 13 years old! and there are things called mototaxis - or “motos” (see below) - it’s basically a motorcycle with a small carriage attached to the back for people to ride in.

the other way people get around is by bus. (this is my preferred way to travel.) it costs about S/. 4 to get to courtneys town in Santa Cruz, and about S/. 15 to get to Chiclayo, Lambayeque - about 4 hours from here, which is where i check my mail. but as i said earlier, the conditions of the roads are quite awful. unpaved, one-lane, dirt roads that twist and turn around tall mountains with steep cliffs. accidents happen all of the time. if i’m lucky, and i’m on a bus with a good bus driver, he beeps his horn before coming to a curve in the road, so that any buses coming from the other direction will know he’s there. drivers usually pass out plastic bags to the passengers before taking off, just in case someone needs to get sick. they call the road in between Catache and Santa Cruz “La Serpiente” (The Snake) because of its twist and turns. it’s crazy, but i’ve gotten used to people throwing-up out windows and into bags next to me.

so, im actually in Chiclayo now - i was here for the weekend to transfer funds to FEDEX to get a box out of Lima. and im heading back into the mountains in a few hours... via Tourismo Chota (me and courtney's favorite bus line to travel - they all know us by name). this video is one i found on youtube this afternoon - filmed on my road - from the outskirts of my town in the district capital of Catache, through my very large and lovely district, to the Lambayeque department line. none of the buses shown in the video are any of the ones that we use, but this is the main (and only) road from Santa Cruz to Chiclayo..

enjoy!

project changes. and, more importantly, día de la policía!

6 de diciembre.

i havent had internet in my town for over a month now. im here in courtneys town for the day - and guess what? santa cruz has internet!

foreign countries are so cool. cool, crazy, different. there are those random moments that come by every so often where i stop and say to myself, “wow, im in peru.” its crazy how often that slips your mind.

and as for my business projects, things have changed….

last month, the other volunteers from Cajamarca and i went to Camp Valor. Camp Valor is a camp that local peace corps volunteers put on, and it takes place every year in the Baños del Inca outside of Cajamarca City. (these baños are natural hot springs that the Incans used to bath in - and today, people come from all around peru to sit in the natural hot water.) for the camp, each volunteer brings 2 boys from their site, ages 12-18 (usually the 2 top kids in their schools and/or a member of their host family). the new volunteers, including myself, aren’t allowed to bring anyone until next year, but we went to help and to see what it was all about.

and, let me tell you, it was soooo amazing!!! there were about 30 kids or so - all who had hardly left their villages in the campo. the more tenured volunteers arranged everything… and we did so much! we took them on a tour of the university in Cajamarca. one afternoon, we had a panel of doctors, lawyers, music composers, and workers from the mine come to talk to them and answer questions. there were workshops around health, self-esteem, and future planning. we took them all to a movie and bought them popcorn. (NONE of them had ever been to the movies before!) we played fútbol (soccer), dodgeball, uno, and team-building games. some time was arranged for them in the hot springs. and on the last night, we even had a bonfire where we taught the kids how to make s’mores!

just to help you to understand the greatness of this experience: these kids are not given this opportunity in the world they live in. statistically, most of the children in the campo dont go to university or even THINK about or plan their lives after Secundaria (high school) - and most children don’t even make it to high school. a staggering 37% of the children in Catache between the ages of 6 to 24 don’t even go to school! so, you can see what a great impact Camp Valor had on these kids.

there was one activity where the kids laid on the ground and closed their eyes, while a fellow volunteer played some relaxing music and told them to picture their home, their family, and then imagine their FUTURE... one boy actually cried towards the end of the exercise! it was so moving - it was like i was living through their smiles, tears, and laughter!!! of course, being the sentimental sap that i am, i even had some tears in my eyes too!

Camp Alma (which is the same thing, but for the girls) is next june or july, and the new volunteers are allowed to bring kids. I CAN NOT WAIT to do it again! and this time, with children from my own community!

so after all of that excitement, i decided to meet with the Secundaria of my own town and see how i could work with the kids in Catache. and ive been working with them every since. i work with the english professor a few days a week now. along with helping him and the students with their pronunciation, we do a cultural exchange - and the students have the opportunity to learn, first-hand, about the north american cultural. i am also working with the Director (Principal) of the school to teach business classes.

the school year ends right before the rainy season begins - i am planning to start a business program with the students during the break. and of course im still doing my wednesday english classes in the nearby caserio.

im super excited about my project change and working with the schools, especially after my experience with camp valor last month - children actually listen and are interested in what you have to say.. bright-eyed, eager, and minds wide open - they are our freaking future, dude.

and on a side note:

today, my freinds...

today is my day.

and you may ask, "why is that, ashley?"

well, its because today is.....

día de la policía!!!