Author Archives: erinlc

22/09/2012
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family, fiesta, happenings, túcume

we always need a celebration.

that’s it. i am convinced that tucume loves a party…but really where in peru (or better yet, the world) does not? anyways, my town acquired two new dump trucks and motorcycles, and we celebrated it.

a very riveting presentation.

after the presentation, they had a procession of all the vehicles owned by the municipality, which proved to be quite an impressive collection.

the procession headed down my street. the yellow building on the left is my house. and you can see my host sister looking out the window.

can tucume build it? you better believe it.

the crowd exponentially increased with the procession, and they were eager to see the new dump trucks.

along with the increase in crowd, came a number of traditional dance performances and clowns…including mickey and pooh! and later on in the day there was a live band with, of course, TONS of dancing.

samia loves mickey and pooh. so did what any good auntie would do, i went home to fetch her to come meet them. it was too cute. she got all dressed in her sunday dress and shoes, and we excitedly walked to the park. however, she reacted the way most 4-year-olds would react when meeting you favorite cartoon characters…with tears full of fears. fail on my part. it’s like when you take a small child to see santa…some things are best left to their imagination. but can’t the same thing be said about adults as well?

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22/09/2012
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church, youth group

mi rama.

this is my branch after playing a riveting game of musical chairs. and that’s how i spend my friday nights.

so i guess as brief filler information, i have been called as the young women’s president in my branch. this means i work with the girls between the ages of 12-18…all two of them. i plan an activity for the girls during the week, and on sunday do a lesson for all youth program aged kids…in total there are 3…yes, that means there is only one guy. i had my first activity last week with them, and in peruvian fashion it started 40 minutes late. also, somehow my activity for the ladies turned into an activity for the youth, so the two i was planning for expanded to ten more kids. (not complaining). good thing my activity was more of an ice breaker activity where they had to get oreo’s from their foreheads into their mouths without using their hands. i think they enjoyed it…

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13/09/2012
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home

living quarters.

finally. i finished painting and organizing my room. see?

this is the entrance to my room. (yawn).

this is on the same gray wall in the above picture. some clothes, and i use cut-in-half used water jugs to organize my items. to the right, i have my permanent water jug, which i fill right now with water that i buy in town, but once i figure out how to install my water filter i will just be able to drink from the tap. also next to my water bin is my mercado bag, and, of course, my trusty peace corps med kit.

i think this is more than obvious. i decided to save some money and not buy a blanket and just my sleeping bag as a comforter, since soon it will be too hot to even use a sheet. also the red and green bins below my bed are my laundry bins, as in the bins i do my laundry in. that’s right, i can do my laundry by hand now (be impressed).

i painted the hooks to match the paint in my room. (nerd alert).

desk/work area and my other organizer case.

there you have it. it only took four weeks, but i thought i would finally get around to unpacking and setting in…you know stay for a while.

13/09/2012
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futbol

at the drive-in.

 

tuesday night was an important night for peru. it had it’s world cup qualifying game against argentina. the municipality set up the projector and screen and showed it at the park for everyone in town, which quickly because peru’s version of a drive-in theatre…full of moto-taxis. seriously, every moto-taxi in town was there, and pretty much everyone else in town too. too bad the game ended in a draw.

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13/09/2012
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food

achey-breaky-anticuchos.

anticuchos waiting to be grilled.

fact. i love anticuchos (beef heart). a lot. however, every single time i eat them, i never fail to get incredibly sick. you would think this would stop me, but somehow i always forget about the whole getting sick part when i eat them.

the ladies group i help out with in town, asked me to help them with their fundraiser where they were selling anticuchos to raise money to buy christmas gifts for underprivileged youth in town. of course, i agreed. and of course, while selling them, i ate them. it was another busy night in my town as a cumbia band, agua marina, was their performing to close out the weekend of festivities in town.

first customers!

these were by far the best anticuchos i have had. anticuchos are a common street food. think nyc and their hot dog stands, and that is peru with their anticuchos. even though i ate my fair share, i still sold plenty, and hopefully some cute kids will have at least a tiny christmas.

so busy!

13/09/2012
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fiesta

procession.

my town has been all about the parties lately. the day after the football party, the main church in my town celebrated the anniversary (or half-anniversary) of their virgin saint. at least that is what i think it was. the night before and saturday night, there was a procession where the virgin saint was carried throughout the town.

the procession even continued onto the panamerican, which really held up tons of traffic, as it is the only main highway this far north. and the street was blocked for at least 45 minutes. needless to say i am sure all the vehicles were thrilled.

the beginning of endless traffic.

the procession was lead by a number of traditional dancing kids. through their song and dance they were telling a story where good conquers evil…i am sure david gave me a more detailed explanation, but that was all that i understood. typical.

one of the kiddos dancing.

and of course, it would not be a peruvian celebration without fireworks! check this guy out!

david told me that they have another celebration for this saint in february, but it’s much bigger, with more people and way more fireworks. honestly, i don’t even know if that is possible.

13/09/2012
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fiesta

a peruvian futbol party.

my facebook feed has been cluttered with football updates and countless football parties. well, in case you were wondering if peruvians get into futbol season. the answer to that is an empahtic, “YES!”

my new friend, tino, is the president of the local futbol club team, and invited me to celebrate it’s 43rd anniversary. of course, given that it was a peruvian celebration, you better believe it was over-the-top and no detail was left unnoticed.

typical peruvian party setup. chairs in a circle around the room, with cloth décor.

when my host brother, david, and i arrived there was only loud music, conversation and some eating happening. tino excitedly greeted me, and introduced me to some of his friends. i then spotted a man i knew from the municipality, who at this point was slightly (at-least) inebriated, and he invited me to dance. there was no one else dancing, but to not be a party-pooper i obliged. and it was quite a funny site, as the rest of the room laughed that the gringa dancing with the already intoxicated man, or they were just laughing because a gringa was dancing. this could very well be the case.

after sitting in a circle for a while, we headed outside where there was a live band who covered all the hits. tino was kind enough to dance with me a number of times, especially to “lejos de ti,” my and everyone else’s favorite song. all the chairs were still in a circle, but more people were dancing during all the songs. at this point, another heavily inebriated man asked me to dance, and throughout the entire song repeatedly asked my name and my age. half-way through, i stopped listening to what he was asking and just repeated my name and my age over-and-over again.

the stage and banner.

peruvians know how to party and this one went until 5am. seriously. top this futbol party america.

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09/09/2012
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happenings, trial and error

poco a poco.

you know, little by little the community is recognizing that i am here to stay and more readily approaching me. though, every time i walk through the park, all the mototaxis still ask me if i need a ride to the museum. but now as i spend more time in the park, many more people and kids are approaching me and asking me questions. as i do this, i am making more and more important connections in the community.

however, today, as i was walking down the street an old man excitedly shouted at me, “GRIIIIIIIIINGAAAAA!!!!” needless to say, i could have done without the additional attention, but it was cute…only because he was old.

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09/09/2012
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túcume, vaso de leche

vaso de leche.

thursday, while walking around and exploring new parts of the community i haven’t wandered through yet, i walked by the “desarollo humano” (“human development”) building. i then resolved to return tomorrow, when it was open to learn about it. when i arrived this morning, the women were surprised to see me. and as it turns out, the office building is for tucume’s headquarters for vaso de leche.

vaso de leche is a program that works at providing families in poverty, nutritious food for the kids as well as provide a few other services. this one in particular provides a free daycare service for mom’s who need to work. the head office coordinates with the 55 vaso de leche posts in tucume, with each post serving more than 100 children (all under the age of 9). as i was learning more about it, i learned that most mothers are “young mothers,” still in their adolescence, and as their family grows, they continue in the program. on average, the mothers are 18-20 years old, with many more that are 16, and some mothers as young as 14.

this connection, was a great insight into opportunity in my community, as well as a way to see how i can help the organization possibly expand or provide additional services for it’s young mothers (i.e. nutritional or work-skill developing classes).

the kids w/ their snacks.

the head of the organization in my community, karla, was anxious to start introducing me to a post. she has offered to take me to all of the caserios to see the posts out there as well. once i have bike, it will be much easier to visit the caserios as well. today, we went to a local one in tucume, where they provided a free afternoon snack (a porridge-type drink and a roll w/ butter) to kids. all-in-all about 15 kids showed up.

these two kids were too cute. the one of the right was wearing mismatching shoes (both being meant for the right foot), and the two had not had a bath in at least a week…but still cute nonetheless.

 

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09/09/2012
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community diagnostic

diagnostica.

students working on their surveys.

this week, i was able to start working on my diagnostic with the students. the school is letting me into all of their 28 turorias to do my diagnostic. i prepared a VERY thorough survey for the students to get a better understanding of them, as well as have some fairly-concrete statistics to present to my community. if time permits during the class, i also have them perform a FODA (SWOT) analysis of their community and school, a seasonal calendar or a community map.

there is a total of 6 colegios in my community, with only one public one. i have decided to focus my diagnostic on the one public school, as it includes kids from all over the district, and there are about 120 kids in each grade level, which can provide pretty solid numbers.

i hope to do similar sessions with different demographics in my community: the municipality, important community leaders i have met and their associates, vaso de leche and the health post.

here’s to hoping the pace keeps up!

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