Piura Vida

This is going to be a long update, because we are about to embark on my past week of FBT. Friday we received our phones, which means I can receive calls from the USA and also texts, so let me know if you want my number, or ask Kirsten or my dad because they both have it.  J

I saw my first on fire cow, which sounds ridiculous, but the Peruvians love fireworks. So they build a 20-foot tall cow statue thing that then they set on fire, which has about 30 different firework spinny type things, it’s just a new experience for sure.

Saturday was crazy full of packing and getting to Lima to eat Pinkberry oh and get on a bus to head to Piura. J The bus ride was an amazing time, 16 hours of amazingness, and I know that it sounds like I am being sarcastic, but I am actually excited for the bus ride on Saturday. We had what they call “cama cama” which means full beds, and I am talking a million times better than any plane you could ever go on, I would say these cama cama seat/bed things on this bus rival my bed in my host family’s house, and even that is pretty comfortable. After the nice and cozy sleep on the bus we arrived in Piura and were greeted at the bus station by a bunch of the current volunteers here in Piura, and the jammed packed day began. Actually all the of the days this week have been full of activities and interesting experiences, so I will break it down day by day, with some pictures to boot J

Monday:

On Monday we got to go to an amazing volunteer’s house, Libby. We went to her town and we had to split our group into two, one of our groups would be working with kids, and doing a “charla” or a session in a classroom about self esteem and friendship and the other would be giving a charla to parents about HIV/AIDS. I was in the group with the classroom, we did a lot of fun activities, one of which we had the kids draw a self portrait and then write three things they liked about themselves, or three characteristics they possessed.  Then they tape them on their back and the kids all write characteristics on each other’s backs. It was really fun to watch and lead. That afternoon we went to our next charla, which was a presentation to parents, about HIV and AIDS, which is not commonly talked about in Peru, and people tend to have very little knowledge, and what they do have is incorrect. After a two-hour session of dinamicas and information overload, the local health post of the town was providing free testing. The craziest thing happened, out of the 50 parents that attended, 28 people (mostly women) got tested, and this has never in the history happened. It was a game changer, and that day the community was changed, and I can’t believe that on our first day in Piura for FBT something like this happened.  We got to hang out with the kids in her town afterwards, as we walked around and were given a tour! Amazing. Another thing that was amazing was the milkshakes that we got that night, probably the best food ever. (Peanut and Brownie)

Tuesday: Tuesday was full of craziness because we got to go to Melissa’s site, which is a special education volunteer like myself. The morning was crazy full of activities, we got to visit Melissa’s school that she works in and prepare lessons to work with in her classes. I was with Amanda Slackkkkkk, Chris, and the other Amanda, and we made musical instruments with rocks and water bottles in our classroom. We were in the most severe classroom, but it was so much fun. After we all got to go to the beach, which happened to be the only cold day that we have had here in Piura (BY FAR) We took a moto taxi to the beach and I was able to whip out my amazing Kentucky derby style sun hat. We got to walk on the beach and get in the ocean, we also saw a seal, which I have been told was dying, and I refuse to believe…but I did get a great picture of him (Walter) and also just of the beach in general.  We then took the moto taxi back into town, however we were with one less moto taxi for the way back so we fit 11 people on a Moto Taxi, if you don’t know how much of an accomplishment that is, Google moto taxi, and see how that would even be possible.

The next day, Wednesday, was quite ridiculous, we went to an OMAPED, which is like a government organization that works with special needs populations in her town. Then we went to two CEBE’s, which are schools for kids with special needs. The first one was private, and it was amazing, they had actually requested a special edu Peace Corps volunteer and still haven’t received one. This school was amazing, and we got to meet some amazing kids, as the pictures show. The next CEBE we visited was that of a Peru 13 volunteer. Who finished her service this last Tuesday. This CEBE is the future location of one of us Special ED volunteers. Out of the three girls that are special edu volunteers, one of us will be taking over here site in Piura City. It was really amazing to see the things that have transformed in this school, and to get an idea of what can be accomplished in a site. After that adventure we all went to a Pasos Adelantes charla, which is a charla that was run by a group of Peruvian youth that another Peace Corps volunteer had formed, and they used us as their first charla, so we got to be the participants, and that was a lot of fun! Then it was off to the bus station where we all boarded a bus to go to another site, Cacacaos.

Thursday we woke up and got some yogurt, bread, and bananas at an open air tienda. Afterwards we went to a school where I ran a charla for a small group with my friend Keren. We had so much fun and it was a great experience for me, because I felt like my Spanish was becoming better. Afterwards we went to another school and we were able to run a classroom. We read in groups a book to a class, and then we asked questions, and had them draw what their favorite part was.  We had lunch at Julianne’s house, where I had Goat for the first time, I am not the biggest fan, but it isn’t bad! After that we went to another school where we worked with a class and read a book and made up role-plays. That was it for the day, which was a blessing because this week has been so full of activities.

Tina, Amanda, and myself navigated our way to a huge estadio/field place that was the nicest cancha that we have been to yet. We went and worked out and made some new friends, specifically Manuel. Who after talking with this 60 year old man for about 3 minutes, said the nicest compliment ever, that I speak Spanish very well. It was a huge confidence booster and I am so happy we got a chance to talk to him; he also recommended a few places for us to go eat, which we ended up trying out. We also made breakfast plans with the owner of a tienda, she is specifically buying palta (avocado) and cheese for us, so that we will come eat a breakfast sandwich there tomorrow. We also made a deal with the bodega owner by our hostel, to put some of her yogurt bottles in the fridge so we can have cold peach yogurt tomorrow morning.

With that being said, I am now about to go to bed, and wake up for a jammed packed day again tomorrow. I just wanted to ensure that everyone was updated on my trip up north to Piura. I am happy to be here and it is so fun to think that I am going to be possibly living here in a few weeks, and if not me, one of my fellow special ed volunteers will be.

Until next time, live the life.

This is going to be a long one so be prepared!!!

So much has happened since my last blog and it has only been a couple of days. After my amazing day of food on Tuesday with my Spanish class, i didn't think this week could get any better.
Wednesday was kind of a long day, but Thursday i was able to go to Lima with my half of the youth volunteers, and it was a great time. We got a tour of the office and of course there is always time for Starbucks! I went to Chosica that night with a few friends and ate some pizza and the most massive plate of Fried Rice that has ever existed, but man it was amazing!
Friday started a weekend of fun! After a day of school it was my friend Chris's birthday, and Peru played Mexico. I made my way to Santa Eulalia with my friend Matt and we met up with a bunch of people to watch the game in a Bodega. After the game we went to Chris's house for a birthday celebration. Little did we know that this was about to turn, "dirty"/ "crazy"/ "ridiculous"...IF a clown runs out into your birthday party and starts to grind on all the males while blowing a whistle, how shocked would you be? Hmmm, well in Peru you wouldn't be that surprised because this is common place...HORA LOCA, was an interesting and insane experience, as you can see by the pictures below! If it didn't take so long to upload videos there would be many of them, but i don't have the patience to do that right now! It was so much fun, but i also have an irrational fear of clowns, so at times i was frightened. :)

Saturday morning was another early start. We all had to be at the center to depart for our expedition to the mountains, where we hiked up to a freezing waterfall and ate lunch! The pictures don't do it justice, because it was so pretty, it was a different part of Peru which i had not experienced, so i was so happy to have gotten the chance to go!

Today Sabrina and myself went to Plaza Vea (grocery store of amazingness) and got a bunch of ingredients for pizza to make for my family. We made three different pizzas, one for my sisters who don't really like a lot of vegetables, and then Sabrina made her own and I did too. My pizza had a pesto base, with sauteed onions, red peppers and thinly sliced potatoes, fresh mozzarella, and other fresh chunks of cheese! It was so good, and i definitely ate way too much.

Tonight a few of us are getting together to have a Yhatzee throw down at my house, and i think it should be a lot of fun.

Exciting news:
We found out on Friday where i will be going for FBT. Field Based Training, is a week trip with our groups, where we get to go to a part of peru where there are volunteers already stationed and you get to visit their sites and see what they have been working on. It also gives us the opportunity to see another part of Peru and give us an idea of the different sites there are. My group is going to Piura which is the furthest site, a 16 hour bus ride. I am super excited, we are going to the beach, to a few volunteers sites, and getting to see a few special ed classrooms. I am super lucky and can't wait! We leave this next Saturday, so i will definitely be posting about that!

We got Wednesday off because the day was supposed to be muy peligroso (very dangerous) because the government put a stop to all transportation, and there were supposed to be riots. But no worries, that was supposed to be bad in Lima, not here...and it wasn't bad here, i didn't even notice a change...well except there weren't a million honking cars, because many just didn't go out. In the morning i played some volleyball with a few fellow volunteers and their host siblings, and then we played some soccer. A group of us went to this pool and then after i watched a movie with my youth group. And to finish my day off i went to my friend Keren's for Yhatzee :) it was a great day off!
Today we visited a CEBE, which is where the severe special needs kids go to "school" this place was actually pretty cool, but not nearly as amazing as the Ann Sullivan Center we went to in Lima. It was still nice to see what i will most likely be working in when i am at site.
This week has just been a little crazy, but good! I have decided that moving here has allowed me to become much more blunt of a person, not that i wasn't blunt before, but we openly talk about the most ridiculous, and what would normally be private things. It's ok though, i am not alone in this, Brielle tends to yell these things across the center or the table. Her and I have created quite the rep fro the Peru 17ers...chisme (gossip) travels fast here, and people just make stuff up so it is funny to hear that Brielle and I danced on a table? Not true. Ha it was an elevated surface though...not that this should be misconstrued as a table, seeing that it was a step....Ohhhh Peru 17ers we are a pretty fun group and i can't wait to get my Piura on :)
Until next time, hope you enjoyed hearing about my adventures here in Peru.

If You Haven't Eaten Tacu Tacu, You Suck.

Today we were able to cook Peruvian food with our Language facilitators, it was so much fun. We made my Peruvian favorite food, Tacu Tacu...for those of you who do not know this already, i have developed a little obsession with the food they call "Tacu Tacu" it is seriously the best thing ever. Today i made Tacu Tacu and it was freaking fantastic. We also convinced our language facilitator that we should make french toast, so we did that as well...what a great day for eating :)

Celebrating USA's Independence in Peru

It has been a while since i have updated, and so much has happened, i don't even know where to start.
First of all the last few days have been so much fun. We had our STD talk on Friday with the doctors, and it was very informative and VERY fun. We got to play STD Jeopardy and our team won :)

 In the afternoon on friday all the youthies led activities in our spanish groups. My group did role plays about drugs alcohol and the reasons to practice safe sex. It was so much fun and all the activities of the day were a blast. After school we all went to Lucia's house, that is our boss...we had a bbq with the closest thing to a hamburger i have seen yet. It was so much fun, we play some dinamicas and then we all went our separate ways.

The next day, Satruday, we all got up and went to Lima, to go to Educadores de la Calle. It is an educational program for kids that work on the streets. It was definitely an eye opening experience, and i was so happy to have had the chance to participate. We split up into two groups, and we went to the center for the program in La Victoria Peru. We talked with kids and the staff about the program. Many kids in this area wake up at 3am (sleeping in the streets) and start to move their stuff into this massive market, where they vend vegetables and other such foods. They then go to school later in the day, it was so informative to talk to these kids and see the poverty in which they live. It was very humbling. Then our group could chose to stay at the center with the kids who were there, walk through the market, or go and play soccer with some of the kids. I of course chose to play soccer, so i went with some others in my group and a few staff members to this massive dirt area, where there were kids from the program already playing. We made teams and i got to join in, i immediately used my head, and got mud and dirt all up in my hair..ha, and my jeans were covered in dirt. We had to say goodbye to the kids, and i had to say goodbye to my little friend LoLo, who stuck by me the entire time, (we even had our own handshake!). After this i proceeded to eat my feelings, by going to Pizza Hut and Pink Berry. Both were excellent.
Saturday night a bunch of us went out to a discotec, and went dancing and had a blast.

On Sunday i made food again for my family, we had fajitas with fresh guacamole and it was so so so good. After lunch Chris, Amanda and I had our first youth group meeting. We had invited the kids in the Santa Eulalia area to a fun meeting at 3:00, and around 4:30 they showed up. We made flags about ourselves, had a talk about the food groups, and kitchen cleanliness and we cooked tacos! It was so much fun and a huge success.
The fourth of July was yesterday and that was one of the best days i have had in Peru. We had to be at this park at 8:30 in the morning, so we made our way up to Santa Eulalia, where we were joined with the business volunteers. We play games all morning. I got run over in soccer, and have a very swollen upper ankle which is bruising nicely. We ate some more hamburgers and sang our national anthem while we stuffed cake in our mouths. Afterwards we all headed to Chosica, where we celebrated the fourth of July as a group and watch the Peru soccer game. Afterwards we went on the most sketchy carnival ride that has ever existed in the plaza in Chosica. Everytime i have had to describe the 5 minutes we were on this ride, i have had tears come to my eyes, it was that hysterical. I cannot explain how the fear for my life, was yet the most ridiculously fun experience i have had in Peru, and i think many others would give accounts of their "ride"experience in a similar way.  Oh and i had Anticucho (cow heart) from the street, and i am still alive :)

It was a great fourth of July and I so happy to have celebrated it in Peru, I am so lucky!

Religious Holidays Rock

SO much has been going on in this last week, I can’t believe that my third week here in Peru is almost over. This week was a little bit different because after a fun weekend going to Lima and cooking French toast for my host family we had to return to school. 

However this week wasn’t a full week because we had Wednesday off. There is no separation of church and state in Peru so we got Wednesday off for San Pedro San Pablo. So on Wednesday we were supposed to take the time to go into our community and research. I took this time to do some working out with my friend Sabrina, and then we interviewed a Peruvian to ask him questions about the community. It also happened to be my sister’s birthday…well and the birthday of what seemed like the entire community (so many birthday parties).  I wanted to get her a treat, so I went to Chosica (ALL BY MYSELF J J J ) and I bought her a piece of Tiramisu cake from my favorite ice cream shop. When I got back to the house we all had lunch (later around 2:30 because that is when most people eat here) then we all had cake.

Afterwards my friends Matt, Sabrina, and myself ventured to Yanacota to find my friend Ali, because it was her sister’s birthday as well. Unfortunately after an hour of wandering the streets of Yanacota, we had to call it a day because we were unable to find them. However it did give me a chance to find out more about another area of where I live, and I am grateful for any knowledge that I may receive.  Pretty much I am having a great time in Peru, and I hope everyone that reads my blog can see that! Us trainees stay very busy, we get sooo much homework and projects to do, like a youth group that we must start in our community, but that is what this job is all about. Putting ourselves in uncomfortable situations, like me not being able to speak much Spanish and having to walk up to people and ask them stupid questions about earthquakes…that’s the job, being uncomfortable yet making the best from it, and learning for each day and each interaction.

Today I was able to I chat with my parents and with Karen, I am really happy to have this ability to communicate, and I hope that by updating my blog I have put any worries to rest. With that being said, I must go, I am writing this before bed, and I know that I will not upload this until later this weekend but I thought I would try to get it written. Tomorrow we have STD and security talks, and roles plays we all have to do in Spanish for the group…then off to our boss’s house for a BBQ…hopefully some good food, and some fun times. This weekened also brings another trip to Lima where we will be going to an area to work with kids in the streets. This should be a fun filled weekend and I hope that it brings the same amount of interesting/amazing/crazy things, like my last few weekends!

Until next time J

Thanks for reading!