Feliz Dia de Accion de Gracias!

Boy, that´s a mouthful.

Well Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I thought I´d write a "special" blog today in honor of the holiday, since Thanksgiving is not just about the food, but about being thankful.

So I´ve compiled a list of things that I´m thankful for, so I hope you enjoy.

I´m grateful for:

-my two caring host familes. My host family in Lima is so full of life and made me feel apart of the family. I really miss Judy, my host sister´s, laugh. And as for my new host family in the sierra, I couldn´t ask for a nicer family. My host mom made sure I didn´t get cold my first night and definitely didn´t let me starve. Their goal is to make me fat, which only shows how much they care for me. ha.

-My peace corps experience in Peru. I know it´s a bit early to be talking about my pc experience in general, but I really am thankful for being placed in Peru and for all the professors, trainers, and friends that I have met along the way. Before I left, PC people were saying how I hit the jackpot with Peru, and I really feel like I have. The food, the culture, the people....they are all wonderful!

-Cafe con leche. Now I know it´s not the same as REAL coffee from the states, but it´s darn good. It´s basically fresh milk (Cajamarca baby!) and nescafe mixed together...MMmmmm good.
-My new home in the mountains. I said I wanted to be placed in the mountains and here I am! I look out my front door and can see the misty mountains and the cows in the distance. It´s really picturesque and I can´t wait to explore it all.

-Hot showers. I really never appreciated a good hot shower in the states, but here in Peru, they are few and far between. My new home has a "shower," which is basically a nossle of water inside a latrine. They basically picked up a latrine and moved it closer to the house and made it into a shower. We´ll see how that goes...Fortunately I have an alternative nearby. Both the health post and school nearby have showers that I can use...but sadly, no hot water. So it´s not until I stay in a hostel, when I can really feel "so fresh and so clean-clean."

-My cellphone aka my connection to the outside world. I hate to be dependent on technology at times, but it´s really been a lifesaver. Whenever I´m having a hard day, I can call a fellow PCV (for free...none the less!) and they are immediately there for me. Not to mention, it´s possible for people to call me from the states which makes my heart pitter-patter. Here´s hoping I don´t lose the darn thing...

-My health. While I´ve had a few bouts of diarrhea, I´m thankful not to be apart of 70% club (yet...) I´ve also haven´t had the unpleasant experience of having food poisoning, but we´ll see. My host family is preparing ceviche for me next week, so we´ll see how well I do in my latrine.

-My supportive family and friends in the states. I really couldn´t have left the states for 2 years without all of your support and well wishes for me. While it´s definitely not the same without seeing you all face to face, those emails, phone calls, and letters make me feel that much closer to you all and really make my day. So thank you!

Well I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving and had a chance to think about what your thankful for as well. While this thanksgiving was without turkey and stuffing, I celebrated with some new and old friends and that´s really what it´s about...right?

Here are some photos from swearing in:













My Oregon Boys
























































Peru 14 Salud!

Whiskey!

So in Peru, they say "Whiskey" instead of "Cheese" since "Cheese" in spanish is "Queso," which would lead to some awkward pictures. ha. Here are a few pictures from these past few weeks.

Pachamanca

Pachamanca means "food of the earth" in Quechua

Laying around in the sun

Site Assignments in Surco

We are going to Cajamarca: Katie, Barbara, and me!


Peru 14

FBT Ancash

My dream come true! My first time holding a baby lamb

Typical dress in Ancash: Cardigan, skirt with leggings/sweatpants

Me and the Cuyes

Almuerzo (Lunch) in Ancash

FBT in Cajamarca

The three Cajamarquenas in Chota: Katie (La Pancha), Barbara (Irraca Grande), Me (San Juan de Lacamaca)

Us building/mostly watching a "Cocina Mejorada" being built

Our finished mural (An Annie Embertson Original Design) that some local kids helped paint

My backyard in San Juan after a rainstorm

On a hike up to Cabracancha to paint our mural

I hope you enjoyed the photos. More to come, so stayed tuned!

Soy una Cajamarqueña

Move over Ancash...Helloooooooo Cajamarca! San Juan de Lacamaca to be exact!

After 8 long-strenuous weeks of speculating about our future whereabouts, we finally found out our site assignments, and everything is now becoming a reality! I am happy to say that I am living in the land of cows, cheese, and green hills, which I couldn’t be happier about.

Finding out our sites involved lots of emotions: excitement to be finally doing what I came here to do, sadness to be leaving my new friends, and anxiety of not knowing where I will be put....so needless to say, those emotions all came out in the form of tears! ha. Not as bad as at Jen and Ben´s wedding (those that were witness...) but still quite the show. There is even a video of it somewhere...which I may or may not show people. ha. How we found out was by throwing a javelin at a bunch of balloons each containing a small slip of paper with our names and sites on it. It was very nerve-racking wondering when my name was going to be called, but luckily I didn’t have to wait long as I was the second one to find out. Having not prepared myself well enough in advance, my heart nearly stopped as they read my name. I had to ask my friend where I was going because I didn’t even catch my site, I was too nervous! But after my small bout of tears, it was fun to see everyone else’s excitement. There are two other lucky health volunteers coming with me to Cajamarca, Barbara and Katie…and I’m sure you will all get to know them very well through my blog. ha

In true peace corps style, we had another jammed pack day which included meeting our regional coordinators, taking our official D.N.I. pictures (Peru’s version of SSN card), and filling out paper work for the following week because the very next day we hopped on buses the for another FBT (Field Based Training) in our regional departments AND our first visits to our sites.

This FBT was very similar to the last in that we hung out with current volunteers and helped with projects; although this time we were more in charge. In my group, we helped paint murals with some local kids, helped/mainly watched another “cocina mejorada” being built, and then took a stab at giving our first “charla” (Discussion) about HIV/AIDS to some primary school teachers.

In between all that fun, I had some exciting “firsts” take place. For one, I got to milk my first cow. Unfortunately, I wasn’t as good as it my first go-round (I thought I was hurting the poor cow), but I hope to change that very soon. I also witnessed my first cuy killing. At another health volunteer’s house, her host mom came out with a bag of guinea pigs. She asked if we like cuy, which of course, I answered with a big YES. So I figured she was going to go out back to kill them, but I was sadly mistaken. Instead, she reached into her bag and began to kill the cuys right in front of our eyes. I will spare you the gory details, but if you are curious…I did happen to make a video of it. ha. My friends were too grossed out to eat them at lunch, but my true Viking heritage came out and I went to town on my cuy at lunch. And boy was it delicious….claw and everything! Ha.

The other great part about our FBT was that we got a chance to meet all the other volunteers around our area and scope out Chota, which is going to basically be home-base for me as far as my bank and mailing address goes. Cajamarca actually has the most PC volunteers than any other department in Peru (36!), so it’s kind of like marrying into a big family. There are a lot of great, supportive people near me, so I’m looking forward to making even more new friends.

After our FBT, we finally got to see our homes for the next 2 years. My town, San Juan de Lacamaca, is about 1.5 hours from Chota, and another 20 minutes in car from Bambamarca, my regional capital. It is up in the hills, about 2500 meters, and looks down at Bambamarca. The view is breathtaking as I am surrounded my green hills and mist all around. I am the second volunteer in my site, and I even got to meet the volunteer, David, that I am replacing….which was great because I got a chance to really pick his brain.

When first arriving to my site, I was greeted with a going away/welcoming ceremony at one of the primary schools in town. The director of the school along with other members of the communities stepped up to the mic and told how much David meant to them, while also adding on how happy they were to have me in their community. This happened at least a dozen more times through my visit that I couldn’t help but feel humble and honored to live in a place so caring and loving to a complete stranger! There is a stereotype about people of the sierra in that they are cold and closed off, but I found that to be the exact opposite. They couldn’t have been nicer or more welcoming to me, so I know I’m going to be well taken care of at my new home.

My new host family are also very nice and were so welcoming towards me. My host parents are in their thirties, so it’s sort of like they are my siblings almost, but they also have a 12-year old son, who I know I’m going to become good friends with. We spent about 3 hours one day playing chess and listening to Peruvian mariachi music. Ha. I’m proud to say that I even won a few games, having not played since elementary school. More of my relatives live next door, including my cousin, aunt, and my grandma. We also have quite the zoo at my house: cows, pigs, chickens, guinea pigs, chickens, dogs, and cats (Oh my!). I know I used to say I had a zoo back home in the states, but this is way different. Ha. I’m excited to learn how to milk cows and plant in their fields! My house is pretty rustic, as in dirt floors, cooking over wood, and latrines by the pigs, but it is something I’m looking forward to at the same time.

It’s weird having to pack up my things and say goodbye to people again. It’s almost like living the states again, since I’ve become so accustomed to life in Chaclacayo and everything with training. It will definitely be a big adjustment, but I’m ready for my REAL adventure to begin…

On a side note:
As of right now, I don’t think there are any land line phones in my site, therefore in order for me to make a call to the states, I have to go to the nearest town, Bambamarca. On the flip side, anyone is welcome to call me on my cell phone (hint, hint). It’s best to buy a phone card or call my cell using skype. Both are relatively inexpensive and are guarenteed to make my day!

Also, as I said earlier, my mail box is in Chota, and so I updated my address on my blog. Please feel free to keeping the letters coming. I am going to try to be better about mailing letters myself, but I sadly have to budget the pennies that I make a day. Ha.

As always, I miss everyone. Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Be sure to eat an extra helping of turkey with CANNED cranberry sauce for me! Yum Yum!

Ancash really IS better

So I finally got a chance to see more that Peru offers other than the desert when we traveled for our Field Based Training (FBT). Our FBT is basically a chance for us to see volunteers in action and get a better idea of what we will be working on when we get to our sites. We had our FBT in Ancash, which is where the Cordillera Blanca lies. If you google it, you will know what I mean when I say "Ancash really IS better!" I didn´t really how much I was missing my green, lush hills and temperate weather, but after 6 weeks of living in a dust bowl it was great to get away.

Our first day we went to Mato to visit some health volunteers. One of their biggest projects was a "Cocina Mejorada" project, which basically is an improved cooking stove. A lot of people cook over wood, which causes the black lung basically...so the idea of improved cooking stoves is to get rid of the smoke. We did house visits and talked to families who had just recieved "cocina mejoradas." The family we talked to was so nice, that they brought us hot corn from their fields in the evening. Later in the day, we were able to get our hands dirty, and I mean dirty, by building a "cocina mejorada" ourselves by using mud and adobe bricks. My job was to spread the mud around with my hands...brought me back to my childhood when I used to make mud pies. Yum Yum.

The next day we did some more house visits, only this time we talked about child stimulation with mothers who had small children. The two families I visited couldn´t have been more different. The first one had two little children, but the mom had a hard time speaking spanish, even our technical trainer had a hard time understanding. What was so sad about the first family was that the 4 year old daughter was not going to be allowed to go to school becuase they thought the paint in the school would make her sick. They didn´t have water or sewage either, so it was pretty tough to saying goodbye. The other family we visited was the exact opposite. They had a cocina mejorada, water, sewage and the mom seemed to very open minded about talking to us. I showed them a mobile I had made from a plastic bottle, and her one year old loved it, so I let them keep it. We showed her some more examples of easy, inexpensive toys she could make for her child and she seemed really excited. I really appreciated doing these house visits becuase I could really see how much affect I could have on people. In the afternoon, we worked with a group of teenagers and did arts and crafts! And the day ended with pizza and a hot shower in Caraz...I couldn´t have been happier...

Our last day, we visited up to Musho and visited another health volunteer who has been working on building latrines in his community. Musho was situated right next to Huascaron, the tallest tropical mountain in the world! Just picture snow capped mountains, rolling greens hills, and me playing with the baby lambs (Really, I did!) It was unbelievable, the view we had. We helped dig ditches so that they could connect to the sewage network in town. First time I handled a pick, but I thought I did quite nicely. We also took a short hike to see other types of latrines in the town, and even got to hear some Quechua, the indigenous language in Peru. We even got to sample cuy from the sierra. Mine was complete with a little claw and I was really tempted to bring it with me, but I resisted...ha...We left Musho in the afternoon and headed back to Huaraz, the capital of Ancash, to hang out and wait for our night bus of which we returned early this morning.

So all and all, I had a wonderful FBT. I got to see more of the country and definitely got a better grasp on what my job will entail in a few weeks, which I feel better about now. Now I get to wait one more week until I find out where I´m going for the next 2 years. I´m excited and nervous all into one...since this la-la land of being with gringos and going to school is almost over. It´s almost time for the real adventure to begin...wish me luck.

Now for some photos from these past couple of weeks...


















This is a picture from the parade I went to in Chosica. There was a lot of traditional dresses and dances of Peru. Plus, they threw candy at the crowd :)
















Me saying hello to my little friend. This little guy was in the Ceviche that we had. Quite tasty!



















We visited a "Wawa Wasi" outside of Lima, which is a Quechua word for daycare center....more or less.


















One of the other volunteer´s mom making Picharones and hamburgers for us! Found out that Peruvians like to put french fries on top of their hamburgers....excellent!













The Health group getting excited to learn about Cuy at La Agraria. This is where we go every Saturday and learn different agriculture techniques.



















This is the one year old´s birthday party that I attended. I realized that Peruvians really do take birthday´s seriously...













Our health group put on a Feria de Salud (Health fair) at a small health center. Our group did "Comida Complementaria" (Complementary food), so we demonstrated how to mash up baby food and talk about the importance.















Cuy, it´s what´s for dinner...













Me and my host family celebrating my host father´s birthday. I was so glad to be eating meat, that I had seconds AND thirds. My family was quite impressed.

Okay doke, that is all for now. I will be putting up my pictures of Ancash soon, so don´t worry. Also, I just recived my cell phone in Peru. I will put it up on my blog, but I´m pretty sure it´s really expensive to call me...but just in case you feel the urge, it is there. Love you all and miss you dearly! Hope you had a fun Halloween!