charlas with a splash of water park.

greetings! (as my pops would say) time for another “my-life-in-peru” update! i’ve got loads of good news and a couple little pieces of bad - - -

we’ll start with the good...

i came back to Catache the other day. i was in Lima for about a week - attending the english teaching seminar with professor guido. we got so much out of the classes! they lasted 3 days, and they were jam-packed with information on different english teaching strategies. we came up with a plan to implement when the school year starts back up, and both of us are excited for the changes to begin!

one of the nights, we had dinner at the home of the director of the university that hosted the seminars. she was the hostess with the mostess - INDEED! her home was beautiful! there were servers clad in tuxes bringing us pisco sours and the best guacamole on the planet! and the dinner was probably the best food i’ve had in peru!

after our last day of charlas, the university got a “Mirabus” for all of us, and we got a tour of all of Lima and Miraflores while sitting on the roof of the bus! we ended the tour at a water park, where there were grand fountains of water, and a light show that danced to the music of Peru - so breathtaking!

as for the bad news - i came home, excited to see my little gatito. but, my family has started some sort of construction on the roof where my kitty had made his home. and mi gatito was nowhere to be found! i can only hope that he is okay.

the other half of the bad news happened this morning. i FELL on my morning run today… right onto my left knee. i was all the way to where i normally turn around (in Munana) when i fell, so i had to limp all of the way back to Catache on my bad knee. no moto-taxis, buses, or people in sight! i called the peace corps doctor when i finally got back to my house, and she told me to go to our centro de salud (health post). there, the doctor cleaned up my knee and examined it. he stays i should be fine, but its really swollen and HURTS!!! but, i am following-up with the “real” doctor in Chiclayo on friday, so i’ll keep you all posted.

i guess that’s about it for now - will write more soon!

Mr. Rodger’s Neighborhood y mi gatito.

Mr. Rodger’s Neighborhood y mi gatito.
4 Febrero 2011

i have really learned to love my once-dreaded morning runs. i’ve perfected a playlist for my routine - the beat to all of the songs go to the pattern of my feet hitting the mountain floor on cue. i have it so where the music picks up at the moment i am ready to run at a quicker pace, which helps to push myself harder. and i put some speed-walking songs towards the end for my cool-down. it’s become the soundtrack to the start of all of my days.

not to mention the beautiful scenery - the drastic cliffs and mountains are sure to take one’s breath away, even if they weren’t going for a morning run.

i usually rotate my journey - some days i go up to Piccuy, but lately i’ve been running to Munana because it’s the perfect distance and elevation for a good run. the road to Munana is frequented by the buses and local moto-taxis. my friends - the bus and moto-taxi drivers - they all wave, smile, and give me a thumbs-up as they drive past. and the farmers who tend to their chacras around the road to Munana look up to say hello to me every single morning. it makes me feel as if i’m living in Mr. Rodger’s Neighborhood… it’s rather nice.

so, back in the real world, there’s this kitten that somehow found its way in my house about a week ago. he lives upstairs on my floor - the third - towards the unfinished roof. i feel awful for him. he’s nothing but skin and bones - and extremely skittish. he won’t let anyone get anywhere near him. probably because when the family discovered him, my host sister started screaming and my host dad ran after him with a broom. you can hear him meowing all through the night, and i just know he’s slowly dying of starvation. we talked about him at dinner 2 nights ago - apparently my whole family hates cats. which makes me think about the cobbs incident… before training, the cobbs’s host family had a couple of cats. they found out that ellen was allergic to them, and they poisoned them right before we all moved into our houses for training.

today, i decided to take matters into my own hands. i drowned some bread in canned milk and water, and i snuck it around the corner of the roof to feed the little guy. well, now i have myself a new best friend. he won’t leave my side. i want to bathe him, but i know it would be the safe thing to do to take him to a vet first. maybe i’ll sneak him to the campo vet tomorrow and see what can be done for him. and maybe i’ll name him too. :)

mi gatito:

yet another fiesta.

yet another fiesta.
3 Febrero 2011

this week, we had yet another fiesta in Catache. any excuse to celebrate something, right? so, it goes without saying that my class was canceled again - until the following week.

the fiesta brought castillos (firework towers) and dances until the sun came up. i, unfortunately, was sick with “gripe,” and was stuck in bed for the past 2 days. despite the fact that i couldn’t partake in the festivities, i could hear all of the madness from my bedroom… the crazy fireworks and la banda - who played in the rain until 4am at the colegio.

carlos is in my town to help out, so i got to hear all of the crazy stories from the comisaría (police station). apparently last night at around 3am, some guy got hit in the head with a broken beer bottle, and it gashed his face - from his mouth to the top of his cheek. gross. other than that incident, things were pretty tranquilo.

la lluvia.

la lluvia.
31 Enero 2011

last night, i received the worst bug bit thus far. it’s on my arm, and it’s as if i have another elbow protruding from 4 inches above where my real elbow is. oh, the life in the campo is that of none other!

on the upside, it looks like the rain is coming this way from the mountain tops that embrace my town. i miss my crazy florida thunderstorms. coming from the (second) lightening capital of the world, rain is a lot different over here. it’s usually light rain accompanied by dark clouds, with the occasional strong bursts of drops falling out of the sky. nothing more.

i’ve started to eat with my family again - which is something i am very excited about. she went down in price (cutting it almost in half) from what she was initially going to charge me for food. don’t get me wrong, i LOVE cooking for myself and having total control of what i am eating - but, eating with them will help me be more of apart of the family. now, i just have to figure out how i’m going to get rid of my stove and my huge gas tank.

no hay nada.

no hay nada.
30 Enero 2011

ahorita, no hay internet en Catache - no hay cell phone service en Catache - and guess what??? - no hay luz en Catache. this is how i pictured life in the peace corps… minus a bedroom with tile floors and an inside bathroom. so, i really can’t complain.

after the electricity went out this sunday morning, i went for a run to Piccuy - a nearby caserío. running in the mountains always gets me in a great mood. i ran into an artisan from El Monte on the way back to town. El Monte Alto used to be my routine morning hiking destination, but i haven’t been up that way in a while - so i promised her i’d visit sometime this week.

it seems that lately ive got nothing but time.

estar flexible.

estar flexible.
27 Enero 2011

so, ive been all gung-ho about getting back into work after early IST - and i seemed to have forgotten how hard it is to get things going in my site. normally things are tough, but they are even tougher now that it’s rainy season - my lovely, little, sleepy town has gotten even sleepier.

my socia previously forewarned me that she was going to be pretty busy until next week, so we planned on meeting when she comes back from Chiclayo, to discuss our game plan for recruiting people in the community for our banco comunitario project. i spent most of the day before yesterday preparing for this meeting, so ill be ready with my concrete ideas when she comes back to Catache. check - done!

my emprendimiento juvenil class (entrepreneurship class) for the kids of Catache was supposed to start at 3pm today. i had a meeting with the director of the colegio yesterday morning, and i spent the rest of the day preparing for the first day of class. well, that fell through. the director came by my house this afternoon (2 hours before my class was to start) to tell me that im going to have to wait until next thursday to start my class, because of a teacher workshop. ugh! so, i spent the rest of today reformatting my class schedule.

im finding that my job requires a lot of doing - redoing - and more redoing of things. “be flexible!” - one of the things peace corps tells you from the beginning… they aren’t kidding.

on a brighter note, i was selected to bring a professor from my site to attend an english teaching seminar in Lima mid-february. it is going to be held at the embassy, and im super excited! ive previously worked with the english professor of the colegio in his classes to provide a cultural exchange for the students and to help strengthen the english program that the colegio currently has in place. i think he will benefit greatly from a program that concentrates on teaching methods instead of simply english instruction.

his role at the colegio puts him in a prime position to affect a large number of students. el colegio de san agustín is the only secondary school in my community, making it the only place to receive advanced education. because of this, a large number of rural students from surrounding caseríos walk for miles to attend classes there. the entire community will benefit greatly from a new strategy for effectively teaching english, and im super excited for the opportunity!

so that is where i am in my projects and endeavors. i have some exciting things coming up - but in the meantime, im planning, waiting, and being “flexible!”

Early IST.

IST.
23 Enero 2011

wow. early IST. a whirlwind of information, catching up, presenting, and bonfires which resulted in many new stories to add to my peruvian adventure…

we arrived with our socios on sunday and checked in to our beautiful hotel in Huanchaco.

chuck and mark - in front of their room:

kaysi:

tim:

after a late ceviche lunch, a few of us went down to the beach to watch the beautiful sunset. we are all so close, and we truly missed each other.

sunset - time on the beach:

our days were filled with learning about community banks - a new concept that, im sure, is going to excel in catache. my socia was one of the more actively participating ones, and we came up with a plan to execute the bank in our community.

charlas:

Ryan:

and our nights were filled with catch-up time for all of us volunteers.

the socios left after the 3rd day, and despite the fact that we were all exhausted from the charlas lasting from sun up to sun down, we got a chance to openly discuss our communities. the last night, we had a recap on the beach with alfredo, luis, dr. jorge, and enrique. it was nice to finally connect with them on a more personal level. later, we all had a bonfire on the beach with s’mores and hot dogs.

on the last day our country director, sanjay, came and spoke with us about the difficult week we had in the peace corps… between the 20/20 episode and loosing Sargent Shriver (the first peace corps director), it was a tough week for all of us. but, sanjay was optimistic and hopeful - as we all were. and listening to him speak was such a treat - as always.

that night, most of us went in to Trujillo and we got a chance to see the city. the next day, a few of us went sand boarding for the first time. super cool - and definitely not as hard as i thought it would be.

before showering the sand off, omar, andrew, and i got dropped off and took a combi to see some ruins from the moche period - huacas del sol y de la luna (temples of the sun and the moon). im so glad that we dragged our tired, sand-filled bodies to see this. the ruins were much bigger and grander than i anticipated, and so rich in history! the huaca del sol is the largest single pre-columbian structure in peru, and was built with an estimated 140 million adobe bricks.

all in all - such a great time! i really got a lot out of every aspect - the classes, the meetings, the time with our bosses, and the time with each other. and im leaving with so many great new ideas for programs that i know will work in my community. im excited to put things into motion when i get back to site!