An Interesting Week

I’m taking a break from writing my diagnostic (in Spanish) to update you all on my rather interesting week (in English—I can write so much faster in English!).

It didn’t start out so well—I have a sinus infection and spent last Tuesday and Wednesday pretty much just resting. But Thursday I went to Trujillo to get antibiotics, which also meant I could stop at Starbucks for a coffee and a muffin! Starbucks in Peru may actually be better than in the US because they don’t charge me extra for lactose-free milk and they heat up the muffins for you. Small victories J

Friday is when life got a little too interesting. And by interesting, I mean itchy and gross. As in, my otherwise adorable cat, Cleo, gave me… fleas. Such a thoughtful animal! My head was feeling better, but finding little creatures crawling on me made me kind of nauseous, especially when it dawned on me that because I was finding quite a few of them all over my body and clothing meant that I’d probably had them for a while and just naively assumed the bites were from some other insects (not an unfair assumption—you should see my legs). Little did I know they were slowly building up their armies for that Friday morning attack! And since my APCD/boss Jorge was visiting that afternoon from Lima, all I really had time to do that day was call the medical office in a panic find out what, if anything, I could do to get rid of them. Like, right away. Please.

Following Suni’s advice, Saturday morning I immediately put all of my bedding and recently worn clothing in tubs of hot water (meaning out in direct sunlight, adding a kettle of boiling water to each to help the sun out a little bit). I left the laundry, along with 2 other buckets as bath water for myself, to heat up while I went to Chao to buy flea powder for my room and drops for the cat. Poor Cleo was briefly renamed “Effing Gato” until I could find her and cover her in “Pulpus L.A.”—whatever that means, the vet told me it’s the strongest anti-flea medicine they sell. When I got back, I was for once thankful for how sunny it has been, since without a washing machine with a “sanitize” setting, heating water in the sun and hanging the laundry in the UV rays was the best thing I could do to kill the little monsters. I sprinkled powder all over my room, on my mattress, and on my suitcase (where Effing Gato is fond of sleeping) just in case.

Since Saturday, I have found a couple of strays, but I think (knock on wood!) they are pretty much gone. Wheew! One good thing to come out of this—I discovered how well the sun heats up water. That should have been a no-brainer. Duh. But better late than never? So long as there is sun, I will never again take a cold bath!

Enough about fleas. They suck.

Saturday night was Señora Delia’s 60-something-th birthday party, which turned out to be both interesting and a lot of fun! Amidst all of the flea-killing, I also managed to bake a chocolate cake to bring with me that evening. But of course, first I had to eat dinner. As soon as I showed up, I was directed back to the kitchen and given 2 full plates of food—one with chicarrón de chanco (fried pork—sooooo delicious!) and another of carne de rez (beef, also delicious!). And of course lots of rice and potatoes.

Delia has a large family, and as more and more of them showed up, they were all directed towards plates of food—by the time that it seemed like everyone was done eating dinner and it might be time for cake, it was after 10:00. I was told that sometimes for birthdays they eat the cake at midnight, but Delia said that everyone was by then too drunk and busy dancing to really enjoy it. Since her family was spending the night, it would be better to eat it the next day.

Speaking of drunk and dancing—Peruvian families definitely enjoy their birthday parties! Everyone danced with everyone else, passing around the cerveza. Beer in Peru is sold in larger bottles than in the States and they typically share one bottle at a time, using one cup and passing it around, dumping out the foam in between drinkers—I got a few weird looks when I poured myself a glass “correctly” because then there was no foam! They also thought it was pretty strange that in the US, we really only dance with family like that at weddings.

One of the best parts of the night was finally meeting the “other gringa” who lives in my town, or really is in the process of moving here from Viru so isn’t always around just yet. Nora was, to say the least, pretty fascinating! She moved here from Sweden years ago—by now she is married to a Peruvian, works on her chacra like a Peruvian, dances like a Peruvian (and then some!) and is pretty much Peruvian now—just blond, and maybe a little crazier! After seeing her dance in a way I would not have thought possible for someone who looked like what might be her age, I finally had to ask her how old she is—she wouldn’t tell. But she did tell me some of her story—traveling a lot, finding Peru, moving here. She studied Spanish, English and some Russian in Sweden, but she said she is losing everything but the Spanish now that she lives here.

Of course, since she is the only other gringa in Buena Vista and we were speaking English for a while because she wanted to practice, when I came back on Sunday for cake quite a few people asked me why my mom hadn’t come with me this time! I wonder how long it will take to pasa la voz (“spread the word”) that my mom has come to live here now, and then how long it will take to pasa la voz again to dispel the rumor…

Sunday I returned after lunch for my cake (which I must say turned out really well!). I spent the afternoon talking to some of Delia’s nieces and their aunts in the kitchen, which was also pretty interesting. Peru tends to be more conservative than the US, but then, I guess it’s a good thing that the nieces feel comfortable talking amongst themselves and with their aunts about… well, what didn’t they talk about? When I first walked into the kitchen, I was immediately questioned about the color of my pubic hair and whether or not shaving it is cleaner or just unnatural. At first I thought I must be tired (which generally means that I can no longer understand Spanish), but no! That’s really what they said! Overall, it was a pretty fun afternoon (maybe even more so for them, since I’m pretty sure they spent a good deal of time making fun of me and how I couldn’t understand half of what was being discussed—sorry, but I don’t think most of the slang for sex parts can be found in my dictionary!).

And speaking of parties, I just found out that tonight my own host family is having a party after a mass for their grandfather! I left Delia’s at 11 because I still wasn’t feeling so great, but she said they dancing went until 3. In other words, I don’t think I will be sleeping very much tonight!

Things My Amazing Host Mom Has Said

My host mom is incredible and I like her a lot, so if it sounds like I'm making fun of her here, I swear it's out of love!

She is a very tiny, very shy woman--so shy that she is afraid to go to the market because that would require talking to people she doesn't know in order to find out how much things cost. She is also very afraid of tall people--one of my first nights at site, she out of nowhere told me: "I'm glad that you are not any taller, because then I would be very afraid of you."

I now also know that this fear of other peoples' heights includes her nephew, who is really only about 5'8", but since she herself is only about 5 feet and 90 lbs, I suppose by comparison he is relatively tall. If my brothers visit, however, she might actually hide.

Pictured: My host mom and her niece on Christmas Eve

Being that she is so shy, she doesn't talk much, but we seem to have established a relationship--she has said several times that she will miss me when I leave. Maybe this is why I also get to hear some unexpected utterances out of this otherwise very timid person. For example, her opinions on love and her husband. One night she was telling me that if I decide to marry a Peruvian man, he had better be someone from Trujillo who has a job. She explained that her husband's family owns a lot of land, but that's not the same as having a job.

"My aunt was very angry when I married my husband, but I was in love! What can you do? But... that was before he got diabetes and lost his leg... So you never know, it's better that he at least has a job."

She'd also love to visit other places in Peru or other countries: "I want to travel more, but I guess I have to wait until my husband dies!"

I'm not sure that any of that means she no longer loves him--she's just unexpectedly very blunt and maybe overly realistic.

As far as how I am supposed to meet this Trujillan with a job--dancing and perfume are apparently key. Her 9-year old niece once gave me a sample size vial of perfume (she had randomly asked me if I had any and was horrified when I said no). When I told my host mom about this: "Now you have to wear it when you go out in Trujillo, *ch ch ch* (mimes putting perfume on her neck and wrists). And then you will dance and all the boys will like you!" But of course, she added, "You have to ask him if he has a good job."

Overall, she's wonderful and I love her to death and I want you all to meet her--you just might have to slouch a little :)

Water Committees and Potential Projects

Pictured: Water committee in Porvenir at my very first successful meeting!

Last post I mentioned that my English classes are just a side project--a side project to what, you may ask? That’s complicated. Right now my main goal is to finally get some meetings happening with the water committees in my town and in the surrounding caserios (smaller towns that are part of the same population district (central poblado). Each caserio has its own water source and committee to manage it, with its own problems, although they are all alike in that the water is not treated and is of poor quality. Some (most?) water committees also apparently don’t actually hold meetings—I’m discovering that some are managed by a just a few people. “El comité no funciona” (The committee doesn’t function), they tell me. This set-up works for maintaining the status quo, but less so for having the organizational capacity necessary to make improvements unless the regional government steps in and does it for them.

After various failed attempts, my new approach is to call a more general community meeting so that there are more potential attendees if the water committee doesn’t show up. I had a meeting with one promising caserio (Porvenir) last Sunday--but I spent Friday before (my birthday, actually) passing out fliers and talking it up. Turns out this might not have been necessary because this particular water committee is well-organized enough that it actually fines people for not showing up at important meetings! But I also did some surveys and met a lot of new people, so it wasn't a waste of time by any means. And Sunday's meeting was a success! I think I will definitely have a trash management project there, if not also latrines and water treatment. Not only is the water committee functioning but the Club de Madres (Mother's Club) and health post seem eager to work with me as well. Yay!

This makes me feel better about the fact that on Tuesday, after waking up at 5:30 to meet the president of the Buena Vista water committee (in my actual site/town where I'm living) only to be blown off AGAIN, I have pretty much written off working with the water system there. I still will have projects with the colegio once classes start again in March, and I might be able to do some workshops with the health post, but unless the water committee president stops flaking out, not bothering to even call me when he's not going to show up, and in general having absolutely no respect for me, my time and my potential contribution to his work, I don't think I can do much in that area. Thankfully the municipality is currently installing a new water system and even a sewage system, so the need isn't as great as in the caserios (although being that I have to consume that water on a daily basis, it would be nice if they would start chlorinating it...).

Friday I visited another caserio much further from Buena Vista (about 2 hours hanging on in the back of an agricultural truck!) to see a project being done by Engineers Without Borders--they're installing an entirely new water system, and the piletas (water taps) are connected to a gray water pit that keeps the water from puddling underneath the tap and actually helps replenish the ground water. I'd really like to implement something like that in my site, as well. Photos are up on Facebook!

This weekend, I'm in Trujillo and am happy to report that the hostel has finally decided to invest in some toilet seats--yes! Now if only they could get the water to be consistently hot...

English Classes

My English class on the day we wrote letters to the US!

I’ve started teaching English once a week to students in secondary school (about 13-17 years old) and it’s going pretty well. We have mostly been playing games to practice basic pronunciation, since as a native speaker that’s what I can help them with most. This week, though, I had them write letters to the Spanish class in Wisconsin with which I've been corresponding through the Peace Corps World Wise Schools Program, and I learned a few things about Peruvian students:

1. Every grade has English classes during the school year, but unfortunately they don’t learn much—the teachers don’t speak English and aren’t really trained in it, so how are they supposed to teach it? For this reason, I’m essentially starting from the beginning with my class, so I had them write the very basic form letter in English, but then let them continue writing more in Spanish if they wanted to say more.

2. Peruvian students are accustomed to copying things from the board exactly as written and having their notebooks graded for neatness and precision. I had heard this, but didn’t realize how strictly they follow this until this week. A lot of them copied the lines I drew for them to fill in the blank, and I noticed a few wrote “(name)” along with their signature—because that’s what I did in my example letter on the board. As I was spelling out the English for them, the board got kind of messy, which is why some things read a bit out of order—for example, “The Festival of San Juan Bautista” shows up after “Sincerely” instead of "My favorite holiday is..." They knew it didn’t quite make sense, but since I, the supposedly all-knowing professor, wrote it that way when I ran out of space for holidays, they copied it exactly. In the future I will have to be more careful about how I write things on the board!

3. In spoken Spanish, at least in Peru, there is no distinction between the letters B (“b/v grande”) and V (“b/v pequeño”), which accounts for some spelling errors. For example, “ceviche” is the correct spelling for a really delicious fish dish, but “cebiche” would be pronounced exactly the same way and is a common spelling even on some menus.

The only downside to teaching English is that I now have a lot of people asking me if I’m going to teach more classes or assuming that I’m an English professor, so I find myself constantly explaining that, no, I’m actually a water and sanitation volunteer and this is just a side project.