Field Based Ridiculousness

So I´ve heard from a few select sources ( ahem...Megs and Laur) that the blog´s a hit but it just may be lacking a certain degree of comedy. I´m gonna try, my friends, but I assure you it is no easy task to make potatoes and guinea pigs funny over and over again. With that said, I´ll keep your requests in mind. Tone down the sap and pump up the humor. Anything for a laugh, right Laur?

For now, though, I´ll cover the basics. Here we are, mid 7th week in Peru (or Pay-rooo if your name is Annabelle Brennan), recently retruned from our first glimpse of the next 2 years, Field Based Training! Youth Development split into 3 groups of 11 or 12 trainees and with those groups we traveled to either (have your maps handy?) Cajamarca, Piura, or Lambayeque. There we visited the regional capitols and various volunteers in their sites.

I had the good fortune (maybe it was good) to visit Lambayeque with, as I said before, a comical grouping of Youth Development´s finest. Now I must admit that I had my reservations about many of my ¨campaneros.¨ In fact, many of these reservations may or may not have come out in arage during our long drive (if sitting completely still in a taxi for over an hour can be called a ¨drive¨) tothe bus station in Lima. But the mere sight of our luxury bus...I´m not kidding, this bus could have rivaled Megan´s 1st class flight to Italy...made me put my preoccupations aside and enjoy a sublime con galleta, an American movie dubbed in Spanish, and a few hours of sleep.

Once in Lambayeque we really had an amazing time. First to Chiclayo, the regional capital, where we went on a scavenger hunt to get to know the city, firmly grasping our purses all the time! With an Earl Gray tea from Starbucks, ceviche for dinner, and a hot shower (my 1st in Peru!) we got things off to the right start.

From there we were off to Puerto Eten and Cuidad Eten, coastal towns where we visited Elizabeth, our future Peace Corps Volunteer Coordinator. She introduced us to her high schoolers who were ¨going green¨in science class! Their clothes made from recycled materials could have easily been showcased in the WashU Fashion Show this fall!

Along the way we visited a few healthposts that would have amazed (or maybe horrified) Mom and Dad. We seriously have more prescription drugs in our house than these people have in their hospitals. Bring on the Z-packs.

From there we were on to Cayalti and ZaÑa, two more coastal sites where Peace Corps volunteers are working with special education, AIDS education, and lots more. In ZaÑa we visited Nicole, a volunteer who has started a tourist industry with a group of really impressive teenaged tour guides who led us through the first Afroperuvian Museum in the country and thenthrough the remains of historical churches and buildings all over town.

At last we visited my personal fave, Bolivar, a 4 hour drive from the regional capital along a rocky dirt road past fields of sugar cane and more greenery than I´ve seen yet in Peru. It was a beautiful drive tarnished only by my poor friend Kim barfing out the window along the way. Yikes.

In this town of a couple hundred we taught some elementary schoolers rock, paper, scissors, and visited the library that Mike, the Peace Corps volunteer finishing up his service there, built with a grant from the US Army. A really great project that has so much potential to get bigger and better with the help of Mike´s replacement volunteer.

Here they said that most elementary school teachers have only finished high school, if that! To think that Megs is going to teach Kindergarten with a bachelors in ed., 2 years of teaching experience, and a masters from Harvard! Meggsies, I know it´s gonna be tough but those kids are so crazy lucky to have you!!!! Believe it.

At Mike´s house I think we saw the most stereotypical Peace Corps living situation we´ve seen so far...except for that giant mural of the Disney princesses in the dining room. Not sure what that was about. But when a chicken walked past our table and right out to the door during lunch I think I breathed a sigh of relief. ¨So this is the Peace Corps!¨

All in all it was a great trip. Despite several people´s attempts to completely alienate the Peruvians around us with questions about ice for our drinks or heat during the winters (two things almost completely nonexistent in Peru), things went well. And despite my many somewhat judgemental reservations, I certainly came back really liking and appreciating everyone in my group for their many strengths.

I must say though that on my return to Chaclacayo I was ready for some me time and you know what that means (or at least Megs, Lu, and Dana do!)- a shopping spree! Sadly in Peru that means a visit to Plaza Veia and, Dad would love this, a total bill of $44. So after a month and a half in Peru what does a Peace Corps volunteer splurge on, you might ask? I´ll tell you:

A bottle of Dove shampoo, a notebook with a pig on the cover, a bottel of body wash, and a shower sponge with a rubber ducky on top. A bottle of drinkable yogurt, 10 slices of cheese, wheat crackers, and the luxury to beat all luxuries, a box of cereal.

Yes, I lead a wild and luxurious existence here in Peru but even that has not kept me from catching a cold. Nothing big- runny nose and cough which my host mom has assured me comes from the cold yogurt I drink in the morning. When you keep in mind that she also says corn flakes look and taste like dog food, however, you realize we have completely different understandings of food in general.

Anyways, I am now off to celebrate Fiestas Patrias!- Independence Day here in Peru which happens to coincide with the birthday of a certain party maniac who recently sent me a jar of peanut butter (thanks again for that!). Happy Birthday Mom!!!!!!!! Hope you have an amazing day!

I told Mom she should move to Peru so that she can always have a day off on her birthday to totally rage. She said she was gonna rage anyway and I believe her!

Have an extra margarita for me, Mama! I love you tons! Until next time, so much love to everyone!

Yesterday we made our first visit to the Peace Corps office in Lima. It was nice to switch up our schedule for the day and spend a little extra cash on a large fry from McDonald's (they really do taste just like they do at home!).

More importantly though we talked with the Youth Development director about our site preferences and needs. I think, like most people, I've always had a pretty set idea of what the Peace Corps would be - living in a shack with lots of alone time, no running water, and little or no contact with the "outside world."

During the past 5 weeks of training, they've pounded into our heads that there is no "right" way to rough it in the Peace Corps. At least in Peru there are urban sites and rural ones, sites with a hole for a toilet and sites with wifi. But yesterday we had our moment to give our two cents- a nice change from Peace Corps' usual "wait and see!" attitude.

So what did I ask for? Well basically I asked to be way out there working with teachers and schools in a small community. When I also tried to ask for a homestay without pets, my director laughed at me. "When you're all the way out there, the animals live right in the house with you," she said. And when she said animals she wasn't talking labrador retrievers, she was talking chickens and roosters, rabbits and, you guessed it, guinea pigs.

Not sure if I've mentioned this to anyone yet but no, it's not a stereotype or urban myth about Peruvians- they really do eat guinea pigs. The Avancenas would be outraged! Remember the pen of guinea pigs they used to have in their basement??

Anyways, they still can't (or won't) tell us just how much how preferences will be taken into account but, for better or for worse, that's what i asked for! I definitely had a moment afterward...maybe I'm still having it...of doubt. What did I just do to my next 2 years?

Living "way out there" in Peru isn't like renting an apartment in Brookline. Will there be running water? Will I be okay peeing in a hole? Will I get sick of listening to my own inner monologue and little else?

Maybe it won't matter what I asked for- maybe there's some swank inner city site already picked out for me. But, while I worry the Peace Corps will ignore my requests, I worry even more that they'll listen to them! This could be a wild two years.

For now though, we're off tomorrow to field based training in Lambayeque. There we'll visit volunteers in their sites and get a feel for Peace Corps life! Youth development is split into 3 groups for these trips and, God knows how, but I have ended up with a group of Peru 15's most notorious troublemakers, complainers, and pests. One big disfunctional family we will be! Add to that one 13 hour overnight bus ride, many possible trips to the beach, and lots of sublimes con galletas (the most amazing Peruvian candy bar out there) and there you have it- our 1st week in the field.

I'll try to call or post while I'm there but keep me in your thoughts and prayers! Watch out Lambayeque, here we come!

One Month Complete- The Many Nuances of Life in Peru

Well, it is official. It has been just over a month since I landed in Peru and in that time I have learned to love...and then hate...potatoes. I've discovered the joy of pollo a la brasa, learned to grab on quick on the bus so I don't fall out, and succeeded in keeping my host brother out of my bags. It has been a month jam packed Spanglish misunderstandings, cultural stereotypes (on all sides), 30 cent ice cream cones and pack after pack of galletas (cookies)! Yes it's true, slowly but surely I am encountering the many nuances of Peruvian life.

Nuance #1: No cold drinks.

Ice is nowhere to be found here in Peru which is lucky because, as Mom so kindly reminded me (Liz, I am a nurse!), I can’t drink the water here! But the ice shortage is more than a water issue. A few mornings ago I poured myself a bowl of cereal and topped it off with some cold milk from a box.

“You eat it like that?” my host mom asked mortified. “Won’t you get sick?”

No, I explained, in a lifetime of drinking cold beverages I have never gotten sick because of them. While it may not be true throughout the country, at least some Peruvians really do think cold drinks make you sick.

Nuance #2: The Formality of Solicitudes

It seems nothing gets done here in Peru unless you put it in writing! A solicitud it’s called- a formal letter requesting anything from space in the local community center to thirty minutes of a teacher’s time during the school day.

As part of training here, the youth development volunteers are running a mini-youth group mostly because it’s great practice. For our youth group, we needed to ask our neighborhood leader if we could use the community center or “local.” So I wrote up an old-fashioned solicitud filled with formalities and I prepared to meet with the neighborhood leader to plead my case.

My host mom came with me to hand over my solicitud and what I thought would be a sit down meeting with this man became a battle with 7 to 10 sccarey watchdogs outside his house.

“Angel!” my host mom yelled. “Angel!

When Senor Angel finally came out in his pajamas he took my solicitud, barely read it, and quickly passed over the keys to the local for me to copy. And just like that we were welcomed into the local where we happily found a whiteboard, desks, school supplies, and more.

Nuance #3: (And this may be exclusive not to life in Peru but to life with a 9 year old brother) Mario’s obsession with my love life.

Let's begin in the shower. Yes, the shower. So my entire host family is convinced that "a mi me gusta" (I like...) a neighboring male volunteer who shall remain nameless...okay, it's Rob. We're not actually in love so no need for discretion. Either way, my little brother Mario asks me 5 times a day who I like in our neighborhood and despite my protests he inevitably answers his own question- "Roberto!!!"- with a devilish smile.

Now the other evening, I was in the bathroom bathing myself with ice cold water from a bucket and what do I hear but Mario banging on the bathroom door.

"Liz! Liz!"

"Mario, I'm taking a bath," I said.

"Oh, you're taking a bath?" There was a pause. And then, "And Roberto? Where's he?"

Needless to say it's been a very interesting four weeks here in Peru and for the most part I am loving every bit of it. Hope you are all enjoying my facebook pics. I'll try to keep posting more! And calling when I can but I love you all! Thanks for the emails!

Congratulations, Ruthie! and Happy Birthday, Auntie Lorraine!

This past Saturday we Youth Development volunteers gathered early at our training center in preparation for our first trip to Lima. While we waited for the buses to arrive we chatted about all sorts of things: the wild rager I knew my Aunt Lorraine was preparing for at that very moment, the Starbucks in Lima we had heard so much about, and the pitiful six soles (cerca $2) they gave us for our trip into the city.

Well somehow we got to dogbites and I started talking about my friend from high school who had been bit in the face by a dog not once but twice! The dog bit right through her lip the one time, I said, but to this day she still loves dogs. ¨Pretty unbelievable,¨ I said before slowly realizing, ¨Actually, she´s getting married today.¨

It made me cry to think of Ruthie´s wedding day. (Ruth, if you´re reading this, Congratulations! I love you so much and am so so thrilled for you and Sean.) To imagine her waking up early to begin a day full of nail and hair appointments, rituals, and toasts and tears. I cried mostly because I always cry at weddings and I was just so thrilled for her to finally be marrying Sean. But I cried too because, for a second, I realized everything that´s going on back at home that I´m missing.

Things here are so busy. We have hours of language class, followed by hours of training workshops followed by hours devoted to following the crazy lives of my host family. After an episode of Glee enjoyed in the comfort of my bed and layers and layers of clothing, I´m exhausted! It´s a total blessing that we´re so busy because there´s hardly time to imagine everything that´s happening at home...Ruthie´s wedding, Aunt Lorrainie´s bash, even just late-night chips and queso after Molly´s inevitably belated arrival to the Cape.

There´s so much to miss! But so much to enjoy here too. Today, a day off for the festival of St. Peter and St. Paul, I woke up early, snuck out of my house and went hiking with a whole bunch of great volunteers. After sweating it out, we reached a spot way up high from which you could see below a design carved right into the ground that looked like a snake. A design supposedly made by the Incas however many thousands of years ago.

After apples and water we climbed back down, hopped on a combi, and made it back home safe and sound. The second I walked into the door of my Peruvian home, ready to lay down and take a nap, I could tell my family had an entirely different idea. ¨Vamos, Liz!¨ they said. We were off to Chosica, who knows why. So I quickly showered, and I use that term loosely, changed into the only skirt I brought to Peru, and all six of us slammed into the family´s little Volkswagen Bug.

Packed in the back with the three little brothers I never had, I watched as we passed dry rocky mountains, a bridge they call Los Angeles and a town they call California on our way to Chosica. There we found a two story restaurant selling Pollo a la Brasa aka heaven on earth- Peru´s answer to Whole Food´s rotisserie chicken. For just about $20, we shared an entire rotisserie chicken, an enormous bottle of Inca Cola (yes, it´s called Inca Cola), two salads, a huge basket of amazingly greasy french fries and, don´t forget, four pieces of cake.

If there is anything we will have to do when you all come to visit me here in Peru it is most definitely eat Pollo a la Brasa. I know that seems a ways off but before you know it, we´ll all be together again! And I´ll have so much more than just chicken to share with you all.

So much love everyone! Congratulations, Ruth! Happy Birthday, Aunt Lorraine! And Congratulations Aunt Lorraine and Uncle Anthony!

Enjoy the cape kiddies...enjoy an extra jar of queso for me and don´t go to bed until your teeth are purple! XOXOXO

Ceviche, Pollo, and Cereal, Oh my!

Sunday I had my first plate of ceviche! (Told ya so, Mom!) My host parents, Susan and Cesar, drove me in their little Volkswagon Bug to Chosica, one of the biggest towns in the area. There we met Susana's father, two younger sisters, brother-in-law, and nephew. Together we made our way through a market packed with people selling everything from cheap plastic flip flops, to cell phones to every kind of vegetable and fruit you have ever sen and many you have not.

After a short walk we came to a small restuarant (I don't think I would have known it was a restaurant on my own) set up more like a bar with stolls full of people eating what I called lunch and Susana called breakfast because it was so early (11:30am). After Cesar ordered us seven plates of ceviche and seven glasses of chica morada, we went up a small staircase to an arrow dining room lined with stools. Seated together in a row on the side of the restuarant overlooking the market, we could see through the gaps in the tin roofs below, below moving busily from one shop to the next.

The ceviche was delicious although I was a bit concerned about how my stomach would take it considering the million reminders we've received that we can and will get sick at some point during our time in Peru. The chicha morada was also pretty good- a drink made with choclo morado, a kind of corn with big purple kernels. A mix between gingerale and grape soda, it eased the sting when I accidentally ate a tin piece of super hot pepper. "Se pica," they say of anything spicy.

After lunch, we went to Plaza Veia which is something like a Kmart selling clothes, shoes, electronics, and food of all kinds. Sunday must be a big shopping day in Peru...like payday at the Walmart in Gallop, New Mexico. "Un mar de gente," they say - a sea of people. There was standing room only in this mega-grocery store, not to mention (Lu, I knew you would appreciate this!) a line of maybe 50 people waiting for pre-cooked rotisserie chicken. It seems that some things are the same worldwide. Yum.

I myself did a little shopping hoping to supplement my current diet full of bologna sandwiches for breakfast and potatoes and more potatoes for lunch and dinner. I bought some fruit, some veggies, a few yogurt drinks, and yes, cereal!! Keep in mind that cereal here costs about as much as it does in the US which, in comparison to the prices of every other food here, is completely unheard of! Ceviche for all seven of us cost about $20 so a $5 box of cereal is a bit excessive. Everyone teased me that I must have tons of money to buy a box of cereal but it'll be worth it if I don' t gain 20 pounds like I did in Chile...and South Africa. haha.

Anyways, I'm off to bed. I have hours of Spanish class and tons of potatoes awaiting me tomorrow. But I hope everyone's enjoying my little blog! I'll try to keep it interesting!

I miss you all sooo sooo much and hope to talk to you soon. Dad, Happy Father's Day again! Hope you had a great day.

So much love!

Landing in Peru

Just one week ago, my family and I piled into the car with two giant suitcases and a carry-on and headed to Arlington, Virginia. After many tears and big hugs, I said goodbye to Mom, Dad, Megs, and Laur and went to the bathroom to change into the business attire they told us we´d need. In a large conference room at a Holiday Inn, I found myself with 55 complete strangers with whom I proceeded to eat dinner, drink a couple of beers and, early the next morning, leave for Peru.

I landed in Peru somewhere around 1 o’clock the following morning feeling completely exhausted and entirely wrapped up in the most unreal of circumstances. Since then, joining the Peace Corps has been a whirlwind. In seven days I have managed to move to a new country, begin speaking another language full time, and become a part of an amazing Peruvian family.

Which brings me to the very reason I have begun this blog: my own family, the one that headed home from the Holiday Inn while I set out on this wild adventure. Mom, Dad, Megs, and Laur –I miss you all already!!!!!! And love you so so much! I know without certainty that I could not possibly be here without you. But while I am here without you, friends and family alike, I’m hoping this blog might give you all a tiny peek at all that I am seeing here.

You’ve probably had it with talk of the Peace Corps—applying, interviewing, packing—it’s taken forever to get here! But I have to say that while it’s hard, day-to-day, to wrap my head around the many reasons I wanted to be here, I am so happy to have finally arrived. I have so much to tell you already and will start filling you in as fast as I can! But I wanted to get this first entry in because, for me at least, that’s always the hardest one to write.

I miss you all so much and love you even more. I so look forward to hearing from you and to sharing some of this Peace Corps craziness. Much more to come…

Liz