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.