Una Utra Semana

Well, somehow I've officially survived another week of extreme heat! Thank goodness for the invention of a freezer and Rosa's ability to make Helado de Mango (ice cream)! Rosa in general is a really amazing cook! Food here consists of an entire plate of rice, some type of carne, and some kind of vegetable (mainly potatoes) or a side of some sort! Peruvians really like their food fried, Rosa goes through a huge thing of vegetable oil every week. However, this does make for a lot of really good flavor especially in all their sauses. Generally the carne consists of chicken, duck, or really chewy beef. Oh they also are strick followers of Fish Fridays during lent. Meals are generally eaten around the same time as we eat in the U.S. except that lunch is the bigger, most important meal of the day.

This week we had dinner and danced Gangdom Style with the San Augustin priests in Chulucanas. I pierced Gianelle's (15 year old host sister) ear, and yes only one, had to pierce the first one twice so didn't really wanna try the other one. But, apparently they don't have places here that can do that for them. Good thing I've seen The Parent Trap? Cut Irma's (7 year old host sister) hair. Once again, apparently they don't have many places that do this for them. Good thing I pay attention when I get my hair cut? Got in several water fights with Othmar (13 year old host brother)! Made lots new friends! Played street games, like kick the can and hop scotch, with the neighborhood kids! Removed paint at the Hogar de los Abuelitos (Home of little Grandparents). And taught more classes at the university!

Lastly, this week has been full of  little things that break my heart:

• Rosa asked me if in the U.S. we can just turn on a facet and have clean drinkable water come out. 

• Rosa's mom's house was made out of sticks, cardboard boxes, tarps, and blankets hung on clothes lines for the past two years. This week Haynes built them exteral walls out of thick wood and cement.

• My family asked me about how big and what my house looks like in the U.S.

• Rosa can't afford nice knives, so hers are constantly breaking, causing her to have to cut with just the blade part. 

• They told Gianelle and I to stay out of the sun because we are getting tanner. To them whiter skin is looked at as more beautiful.

• Watching Rosa have the same day everyday, of cooking, cleaning the dirt floors, and listening to her children yell, fight, and misbehave all day.

Overall another good week here in Chulucanas! Tomorrow I start training to become a Secondario Teacher! School starts a week from Monday!

Mira que me vaya!

So I know I have put you all under this impression that I see more of the inside of my eyelids than Chulucanas, but I'd like you to know, that is not quite the case! One, it is too hot to sleep most of the time! Two, it is too loud to sleep all of the time! Three, I have some responsibilities and lately lots more plans!

Events of the last week and a half have included:

Meeting and spending the day with the some of the Cordova family, my host Dad is one of 14 kids! Of course the first thing Haynes' oldest brother asks me about is my political views and opinions of the US Government. Not only do I not want to talk about that in English, I really don't want to talk about that in Spanish!

Going to the family Shakra, or farm, to pick mangos, bananas, and oranges! However, the best part about this adventure was the 45 minute moto ride there and back through the heat, dust, town, bumpy dirt roads, the beautiful countryside, the rivers, and the forest!

Experiencing the (backyard sized) pool of Chulucanas, where there are no lounge chairs, no diving boards, and the women are all too embarrassed to wear bathing suits they wear their clothes in the pool instead!

Attending Carnival, or Fat Tuesday, fiestas in the Obispado! Now that was a treat, picture cotillion class or a 6th grade party. The chairs are set up in a large circle, everyone enters, takes a seat, waits for food to be passed around the circle, then Coke (in the bishop's house no beer here), then more food, until it is time to dance. To start the dancing two people get up, they dance in the middle of the circle four feet away from one another both doing their own thing. After the song they return to their seats until the next song comes on. The women are then each individually approached by a male and asked to dance.

Starting to teach classes at the university. The university is about 10 classrooms built into an old warehouse, but it's built and that's exciting for Chulu! Our first couple classes have been a little frustrating and challenging, but in the end really enjoyable to see their progress. (Also, a pretty easy way to pick up a date if I wanted one, for I normally have boys waiting to talk to me after class.)

Learning to cook, a little, more so watching them cook and occasionally doing something.

Eating guiney pig that was killed, skinned, cleaned, and hung on our clothes line all day!

Happy hours every Sunday at our favorite elderly American couple's house! Ed and Pat come down every year for three months to volunteer. Such an amazing couple, who's main job here is to live as an example to the people of what a loving, spiritual marriage is all about! Eighty percent of couples in Chulu are not married because they don't want to be, makes for lots of complications.

Hand washing my clothes! Takes about two hours to complete the six step process of scrubbing, wringing out the clothes, then hanging them up. Not gonna lie it's an arm workout! Also, was told the type of underwear I like is only worn here by prostitutes in Lima. Awkward...

Hanging out with my soon to be co-teacher, Yenni! Helped her give an exam where we sat in the back of the room talking to each other, or her talking on her phone the whole test!

Improving my Spanish, even had some talks about the War in Iraq, gay marriage, Peruvian upcoming election, lack of good family dynamics here, lack of discipline of kids in Chulu, countries with drug problems, my "novio" (boyfriend), scar stories, and other bonding moments with my family!

Riding on motorcycles!

Dancing! We went to the discoteca for the holiday of San Valentine! Little different than the bishops party...1- there was beer 2- people dance with each other 3- everyone is dripping in sweat it's so hot and so crowded 4- I am now "in love" with a boy from the U.S., so no Peruvian boy you cannot marry me or even kiss me, but thanks for asking first!

Going to the river with our 13 to 15 year old siblings. Always a little drama to be found with this age range, but still a fun, pretty trip for sure!

Drinking beer Peruvian style. One 32 oz beer and a cup is passed around the circle. Each person takes the beer pours a little in their cup, then dumps the foam on the ground before passing it to the next person! Yup, sounds like a nice way to spread germs!

Bienvenidos a tu familia

View from my house! The blue thing is a moto! 

It's funny how three laid back weeks can feel like months! I feel like so much has happened in the last three weeks, despite the fact that everyday in the heat passes extremely slow and I feel like I still have nothing really to show for my time here. However, I know come March when I'm running around busy as can be, community time won't come often enough and siestas will be far and in between!

Anyway, I was welcomed into my Peruvian family's home last Friday with lots of hugs, bienvenidos, and a brand new room they built specially for me. Haynes and Rosa's home is lovely, it isn't much to the American eye, but to them it is perfect! The outside facade of the house is of red bricks, the inside walls are made of some kind of clay painted blue, their roof is made from bamboo support beams and aluminum sheets, the floor is dirt, the three kids, Gianelle, 15, Othmar, 13, and Irma, 7, all share a room, and Haynes and Rosa have to room in the addition to the main house next to the kitchen. The house is decorated with religious figures, five calendars, and random little pictures and things. They have an old tv, a new refrigerator, two buckets used to wash dishes, and a stone burning stove. The stove is probably my favorite, it's so intelligent, the stone has 6 holes in the top and a middle layer where they insert the wood to burn. They uncover only the holes where they want to cook something so all the heat goes there, just like a normal burner. The bathroom is outside but has running water between the hours of 6 am and 6 pm. After 6 pm they fill a bucket and leave it in the bathtub with a smaller bucket to use to pour water over yourself. My first shower this way was like ripping off a bandaid. I knew the water was gonna be freezing so kinda just have to go for it, pour it over yourself quick and don't think about how it feels. My "backyard" contains a large clothes line, an orange tree, lemon tree, 3 roosters, 4 ducks, 8 chickens, 2 dogs, 2 cats, and 40 ginny pigs.

So there's my new house! As for my time spent in this new house, it's mostly been spent, eating, sleeping, sweating, reading, eating, sleeping, studying Spanish, eating, and sleeping! I've also obtained 26 new mosquito bites on my legs, held chickens, ginny pigs, and toads. Gone on a couple little hikes to overlook the city and even more so the country side. The Sierras are so close it looks like we can touch them! They are beautiful and blue, rising 18,000 feet above Chulu, with solid green landscape leading up to them!


More funny Chulu observations:

This has got to be the loudest city in the entire world. Between the constant blaring music at all times of the day and night, the roosters, dogs, pigs, cows, and horses constantly talking, neighbors partying, trucks honking, motos honking, cars honking, loud mufflers, motorcycles, people building things, and rain on the steal roof top, it's impossible to sleep here. Good thing I attempt to often!

Chulu has the population of almost 45,000, however, you'd think it was closer to 45, with the amount that people talk, how quickly news spreads and how everyone knows everyone. For example, Friday we're going to our host families around 5:30 at night. The ladies at the Obispado warn us that we have to be very careful with our bags at this time of night especially on a moto. We nervously hail a moto and show him the three addresses. After looking at the paper for two seconds he tells us he knows exactly where these addresses are cause he was friends with the volunteers who lived in them last year.

My host mom is an amazing cook, but good thing I started liking fish and don't mind steak for breakfast?

So the Super Bowl was Sunday, right? Well, thanks to the invention of Skype we were able to watch it. Unfortunately, we had to leave the wifi before the game was over. Funny thing was no one ruined who won for me because no one in Chulu even knows what the Super Bowl is. However, Beyonce's performance did make national news the next day.

Lastly, mom and dad, I'm changing your professions! Trying to explain the point of an insurance company and what human resources is, in Spanish, to people that have never heard of such a thing is really difficult. Dad you are now a firefighter and mom you're a human assistant.

Vivimos en Chulucanas!

View from the Obispado!

Well, for being the laziest week of my life it has still been fairly eventful! After arriving in Piura on Saturday, we were driven through the desert to Chulucanas! Our first week here has been spent at the bishop's house or the Obispado. Bishop Dan is originally from Chicago but has lived in Peru for 45 years. He is the most famous man in the entire city, every house we have been in has a picture of him up, and he can't walk down the street without having to greet hundreds of people. Not to mention he has the kindest heart of anyone I've ever met! Our time in his house has been spent napping, sweating, eating, napping, eating, walking, sweating, and yup that's about it! No, but really!

However, in those few walking moments this is what we've observed about the northern Peruvian culture:

Nothing is official unless it has several stamps on it. Who knows if the stamp actually means anything but it will be stamped! The best part is everything here is so nonchalant, people are always late, everything is up in the air, and we still know hardly anything about our jobs. But, if you get a document with stamps on it, it is meant to be taken seriously.

Most of people's "front yards," or the two feet between their house and the sidewalk, since we are technically in the desert, is dirt. Well, Chulucanans like to sweep their dirt, don't want any leaves or things in their dirt!

There are discotecas here for minors called Chicotecas where all the teens go to party at night without alcohol!

Chulucanas at night!

They love ceremonies and celebrations, last night they were celebrating the 77th year of their providences existence, not the city the providence, very important. The party included a full stage to be installed in the plaza with large speakers to project the sound throughout the entire city. Music began at 8:30 and didn't end till 12:30. But, of course they couldn't end without a bang. Fireworks, gun shots, and dynamite was explored right over our house at 12:30. We were all woken up thinking we were being bombed!

People like their meat as fresh as possible, so at the market instead of there being dead animals, they are all alive! People buy live chickens, ducks, ginny pigs, turkeys, and fish. They then carry the birds home by their wings to kill and eat!

Most families in Chulucanas probably cannot afford a car, but also the city is too small for lots of cars. So instead when people get sick of walking in the heat, they take mototaxis! A moto is the front of a motorcycle with the back being a little carriage type thing. And these motos are EVERYWHERE, driving just like the people in Lima did, crazy! But, they are pretty fun and really cheap!

January and February is the heart of summer, heart of summer heat (that is impossible to escape with no AC and no fans), and time for vacation! Therefore, no one really is here because to go on vacation here is an commitment, Lima is a 20 hour bus ride away, and traveling is expensive for Peruvians.

So, long story short, we don't really do much right now, but it's nice to have time to adjust, get over already being sick, and get to know my new community. Today we move into our host families houses for the month of February! It shall be an adventure!

Los Fotos de Lima Otra Vez

 Apparently my pics didn't feel like working on the first blog, we will try again! These are from our adventures in Lima!