chocolate tres leches.
my family and i had the pleasure of celebrating claudia’s 18th birthday. it was a delight. all of it was great. however, the party did not start until 9:30 or so. this resulted in a very tired erin. all the family was over. we conversed. we ate some delicious orange chicken and then ate the best cake i have had since being in peru: chocolate tres leches. seriously. heaven on earth in your mouth. happy birthday claudia!!!!
july 28 is independence day here in peru. students here get a two week break from school to celebrate, as it would be the equivalent to winter break in the states. my training center hosted a celebration where all the trainers performed traditional dances from all the variou regions. on saturday, i made french toast with my family, and victor and i watched “where the wild things are” together. later on in the evening he began building forts, which he has never done before, so i am going to go ahead and give credit to us watching and reading all about max as his inspiration for his forts.
my family and i went and celebrated fiestas patrias by going out to pollo a la brasa. we went to a different restaurant in chosica this time, but being the pollo a la brasa connoisseur i have now become, i can confidently say that my favorite a la brasa is at norkey’s with their delicious fresh garlic concoction. anyways, after we had a fun and yummy lunch, we then went to the dress shop for norma to try on her dress for her upcoming birthday party.
dress shopping.
norma in her dress for her quince.
after dress time, i went to my friend’s host mom’s birthday celebration. i love this family. i spent a lot of time with them, mainly using the internet, but also just practicing my conversation skills with them. also, they have really, really cute puppies.
too cute to be true.
cutiepatootie!
the party was a blast. it included more eating for me, and in peru you can never say no to peru, as this is how they show their love. and of course, DANCING!
the birthday girl with her wonderful family.
after this birthday celebration, i then attended another birthday celebration in my neighborhood. it was a surprise party for another friend’s grandpa. it was great. it included more food and A LOT more dancing. i left this celebration around 11, but i was told that it lasted until 5am. that is pretty early by peruvian standards…they sure know how to have a party down here.
SURPRISE!
the band.
i would say that the top thing i took away from both parties was the love that existed in all of the families. there was an apparent love that each family member had for the others, and it was so tangible. it is something that is not seen at many us parties i have been too. if anything, peruvians have so much love to share that i cannot wait to share more of that with them.
honestly. i have so much that i want to post and share about. in fact. i am a bit behind, by about a couple of weeks. sorry. i am going to get there this weekend. by golly. anyways, i am interrupting the natural flow of posts, as i wanted to take a moment to remember an important man in my life. i was hesitant to post about this, but part of this blog is to share the ups and downs of my peace corps experience.
today is the first day where i truly long for home. today i found out that one of my closest confidants and friends and family members and the best partner in crime a person could ever ask for passed away.
grandpa and gran.
growing up i spent a number of summers with my grandparents, and while my gran would send me to quilting day camp, my grandpa would let me help in his pigeon barns. he would sit down and play gin rummy with him in the night time, and because of the one time i tried to switch the cards when i was 5, i have forever been taunted with the idea that i like to “cheat” when i play games. anytime there has been a family affair, he has been my neighbor, my partner in crime. he patiently tried to teach me the texas two-step time and time again, but i have two left feet. he helped instill my love for bingo and my love for adventure. he had a kind and open heart. and his love story with my gran is not one to ever forget.
the pair above is part of the reason why i had the audacity to ever even think about the peace corps. their love for adventure is contagious, and their hard work to ensure that they reach their goals is inspirational. both born and raised in texas, they made a point in the past 20 years to travel the world, and my grandpa was hiking on mountains in alaska just 4 short years ago. they are half the reason i returned to texas this past year before leaving for peru. they are half he reason why i am who i am today. they helped create a world for me where anything is possible. and while right now, i am really sad. and all i really want to do is curl up in my own bed in the united states right now, i know my grandpa would not have it. but a girl can still wish, right?
anyways. i am mourning the lost of loved one that has held a strong place and influence in my life. all i can do is hope that i can fully continue to share his love with others. grandpa. i miss you. gran. i love you.
french toast with churimoya syrup.
a couple of weeks ago, i decided that i would try to make an american dish for my family. understanding that we have two very different tastes, i opted for a sweet one, as peruvians love sweets. i made cinnamon french toast. they do not sell syrup here, so i was going to make a banana one, but my family does not like bananas. so i was going to try to make a strawberry one, but all the markets were out of strawberries, so i decided to just go local (as this should have been my first choice…oh well…). i made it with churimoya, which is a very, very sweet fruit. honestly, i can only usually take a couple of bites it’s that sweet, but it went nicely with the food.
however, i am also not used to the cooking style here, and the lack of utensils made it quite a challenge for me, so much so that my host mom came to save the day. so much for making breakfast for them…but the bright side, is that now she knows how to make it for the family in the future!
but entirely related to me at this moment. i am going to miss my current host family so much. i know that i will see them again when i visit with mike in december, but they have been so patient and supportive. i missed them even while i was just gone for a week at fbt. i received delightful facebook messages from my sister, norma, which only made my heart grow fonder.
i love this picture of my mom.
i have the best host mom, who not only exhibited patience, but also a nurturing hand when i had the world’s worst sinus infection and when i was most recently sick to my stomach. she also waits up for me when i am out late, and watches me walk down the street when i leave for training in the morning. she readily gives her living space for me to have haphazard youth group meetings, and even buys inca kola as a refreshment for the kids. she knows that i have a love for palta and reminds me each week that they are available at the market.
mi mama y yo (i feel/look so tall next to her).
needless to say, i have the world’s best host family. seriously, there is no beating them. it’s not possible.
victor y yo.
this has been a trial and error youth group, as we have been trying to have youth group meetings for more than three weeks, but each time is to no avail. it is great preparation for the field i am sure. i detailed the other week about the struggles i was having in working with a local school and then in trying to start the group in my neighborhood, which really made this even all the more poetic and comical.
my group and one other group opted to combo our groups, as we both have encountered the same challenges. we decided to have the group at my house and we were to each bring at least one sibling, which would guarantee at least 6 kids. however, there has been something going around lately, and the only sibling that could make it is my 8-year-old brother victor.
victor. the best brother and the best sport on the planet.
we couldn’t help but laugh at our situation. i mean, it really could not have been any other way. it was too fitting. here was six girls ready to teach at a minimum six kids, and we only had one. i started the group, as the other girls left to scour the streets of huascaran to see if they could entice others to join, but apparently parents in peru teach their kids about not entering the houses of strangers too. however, two of the neighbor kids were later recruited after much diligent effort, but 2/3 of this youth group meeting was solely with victor.
i read “where the wild things are” in spanish. i recently acquired the movie in spanish, so victor and i are going to watch it on friday together.
kg and victor and the two other recruits working feverishly on their life maps.
victor loves to draw, and he is incredibly talented.
he is always the happiest when he is working on art projects.
victor and aaron.
pocual working on his life map.
the boys with their life maps.
after the life maps, we explained to them about our tree of life and how the roots are of important words, idea, people and places that have helped them become who they are now. i think at this point it is important to note that we were originally supposed to be having these clubs in a secondary school and be working with at least 30 kids, which this whole presentation is aimed for, but we tried our best to explain and adapt it for these kids’/victor’s understanding.
our huge tree trunk with our five tree roots.
the boys’ roots.
after kg and i finished our meeting, the other girls took the time to do their group, which was aimed at the same age group as ours, so they also had to make some minor changes to refocus. at this point it was only victor again.
victor getting all the attention.
however, he is 8-years-old and only has so much of an attention span.
victor giving very apparent social cues.
but really. though there was only my brother in attendance, we had the group still, which is the point of it all. and also, it has left me with plenty of laughs.
this week, probably one of the most important events occurred during my training (with the exception of my swearing into the peace corps in august). i received my site placement. up until this point i only knew that i was going to be placed on the coast, though even that could have changed.
on monday, i went to the surco training center and met many staff members, as well as had interviews with the country director and the assistant director for my program. during my interview with the assistant director, we discussed my fbt, and i voiced that felt the least comfortable when we visited the smaller sites (around 1,000 people). she then told me that i should keep an open mind and that they were confident that i would be happy no matter where i was placed. i, of course, took this as “i suppose i should be prepared to go to a small site.” that night, i even had a dream that i received my site placement and i received a site that only had 58 people, which is not even a real possibility here. so really, i began tuesday thinking there was no way but up in regards to site placement.
kendra, meghan, me, carlhey and nydelis all anxiously awaiting the receipt of our assignments.
all morning, all the volunteers and i eagerly checked our watches until it was 1pm. at one, pretty much all of the peace corps staff arrived, and we were instructed to line up and when they counted down to “one.” we were all supposed to run where they had hung envelopes with our names on them.
how they hung the envelopes. our names were on the opposite side that was facing us and in no particular order.
everyone rushing towards their envelope.
everyone trying to find their department.
once we found our envelope with our name inside, we found a puzzle piece which was color coordinated by department. so the first step was to learn who in our training group is going to your department. then we all rushed to a table to anxiously figure out what department our puzzle created, so we could learn which department we were headed to.
working on our puzzle.
we then quickly and excitedly learned that we were headed to LAMBAYEQUE!!! lambayeque is just north of la libertad, and it’s capitol city, chiclayo, is only about a 12 hour bus ride from lima. lambayeque has a lot of biodiversity: the beach, the sierra, ancient ruins, and even includes an ecological reserve with indigenous species found nowhere else in the country or world (including the cutiepatootie spotted bear…google it, you won’t regret it).
my group and i jumped up and down in excitement and then went to meet our regional coordinator (the person who oversees our region, in particularly helps set up sites, housing and socios) and learn more about our actual site placement.
the peru 19 lambayeque crew with our regional coordinator (me, ali, steven, sam, Kimberly, betty, michelle, kyle and casey).
a map of lambayque and where all of the volunteers are located.
we then received folders with our name and our actual site placement.
my folder.
i am headed to túcume, which has a population of 20,600 people (this is on the larger site end of the spectrum). túcume is nicknamed as the “valley of the pyramids” as there are more than 26 precolonial pyramids. i get the best of both worlds, as i am only a 45 minute combi ride from chiclayo and probably about an hour from the beach but i am in a valley near the mountains/foothills. i am ecstatic.
i am a nerd and took a picture of the powerpoint slide of my site. but seriously, look at how rad those pyramids are. my new (future) home.
my name is on the map! there is a small business volunteer in a neighboring site from peru 17, which arrived one year ago. it is rumored that he is only 15-20 minutes from me.
i am really excited about the group of from training class that is headed to lambayeque. especially that my good friend, casey, will be just about 30 minutes or so from me.
my site has had two previous volunteers, but both have been with small business. i am the first youth development volunteer to arrive, and their last volunteer left a year ago. it will be interesting to see what programs are still continuing and what additional work there is to do. the advantage of coming in as a replacement, yet new for my program volunteer, is that many of the leaders in the community are used to working with a peace corps volunteer, and you have programs that you can already start to work with. this can help in integrating into the community as well as keep me busy during my first three months while i work on my community diagnostic.
me with my site placement. (npp, check out those nails).
i have received limited information on my host family, but i am so excited to meet them in just a couple of weeks. honestly, this just makes me all the more excited about the next two years. everything is becoming more real and more tangible everyday. túcume, lambayeque here i come!!!!!
let me just start out with this: good morning mike!
but really, i have been nonstop impressed with the street art that i have seen everywhere, but i found it to be more prominent on the coast. here are some of my favorite shots from throughout the week.
trujillo.
pacasmayo.
pacasmayo.
huanchaco.
huanchaco.
huanchaco.
huanchaco.
huanchaco.
we spent saturday afternoon at a big tourist beach, which had incredible waves. it left me wishing i had packed my swimsuit.
kallan and brian dining on ceviche on the beache.
a dilapidated seawall.
i spent a lot of time just sitting on the beach. i took a brief break to get a pineapple & maracuya juice. but then it was back to the beach.
there were tons of jellyfish at the beach. kallan and brittany both braved the water and also both got stung.
colorful streets.
dr. suess trees.
sunset on the beach.
the entire yd fbt crew + hosts + facilitators.
lunch.
we spent friday afternoon in chichlin. we helped facilitate an english class for english teachers. it was a lot of fun. i bonded with many of the adults, and it reasserted to me that my best age group is on the older end of the age spectrum. needless to say, a lot of laughs were shared amongst everyone in the class.
a dog cooling off in the shade at the school.
perusing peru... 