Category Archives: túcume

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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08/09/2012
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fiesta, musica, túcume

feliz aniversario.

my ability to really accomplish much last week was a bit thwarted by the anniversary of tucume. there was also a federal holiday was well. there were celebrations for the town throughout the entire week.

including a chess tournament for the kids!

the women’s group that i have been attending, set up free haircuts in the park for the kiddos and elderly.

this man’s face is priceless.

there was a cute procession from all the schools.

the night before the town’s actual anniversary, there was a talent performance the night before. it included cultural dances, local town members sharing their singing skills, and of course, a clown. seriously, peruvians love their clowns.

 

 

and of course, no event would be complete without fireworks. the thing i don’t get is that everyone goes to duck and cover and then peeks out to see the fireworks. why do they have to make them so dangerous here?

i was seriously, way too worried about this dog running after the fireworks. my family thought it was strange.

on friday, the actual day of the anniversary. there was a marching competition between all the schools. the army was in attendance to judge, and even performed as the live marching band soundtrack. there was also a mass to begin the anniversary that i attended as well. the unfortunate part is that i forgot my camera this morning. i had an unexpected visitor, which caused me to forget most of my items for the day. womwomwommmmm.

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07/09/2012
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túcume, trial and error

(mis)understanding(s).

it’s no secret. spanish is incredibly new to me. luckily, my community and friends here have so much patience with my language level and don’t let it discount my ability to work. i have received so much support, but unfortunately, there have still been a couple of cases where my lack in language has left me out of the loop.

for instance, though the colegio is quite supportive and welcoming, i am constantly preparing for charlas and presentations only to have the plans changed. in fact, while discussing my program goals and diagnostic plans with the director of the school, i found myself being committed to give a presentation to the entire school and their parents (almost 600 students and their parents). i quickly corrected this, and as an agreement that i get to do my diagnostic in all the classes, but i will have to give one nutrition charla to all the grade levels (there is about 120 in each grade level plus their parents). though, 120 is much better than 600 in one setting, it is still more than i would prefer to work with. luckily, i have a great health post who is eager to help me with it.

another point of miscommunication came with a group of women in my community. they have a group much like the junior league in the states. where their purpose is to provide service and support to the community. i happened upon them through one of the members who owns a tienda in town that i frequent. i guess they had invited me to march with them in the parade last week for tucume’s anniversary, but unfortunately since i didn’t understand, i didn’t show. luckily, these women were able to laugh it off with me, and understand that if i don’t repeat back a follow-up detail with them, then it means that i didn’t understand it and that it won’t get done.

another more cultural point of miscommunication, was that the director asked me to return this morning to do more diagnostic charlas, but when i arrived, i was told that he wasn’t there and won’t be until monday…there is a national huelga (strike) with the teachers. the way that i see it, i am stubborn enough, i will get into all 28 classes eventually…just hopefully sooner rather than later.

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24/08/2012
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official, túcume, tutoria

autoestima.

yesterday i had my first charla at the colegio. my topic was autoestima and for the first time, i was extremely grateful for having to do 8 million charlas on autoestima during training. overall, it went really well. there was some really supportive students that i can hopefully work with more closely in the future and also there were some troublemakers, but overall it was a lot fun and i am glad i was able to get my feet wet.

24/08/2012
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home, official, túcume

official.

get it?!?! peace corps?!?!? (not apologizing for this).

yesterday was my first charla, and i decided to look official and sported my new polo with my peace corps patch. i was pretty stoked for it.

i also had a little extra time this morning and taught myself how to french braid part of my hair back into a side bun. honestly, this was quite a feat for me. normally i lack in the refined motor skills area…who knows…maybe i will learn how to use chopsticks by the end of this???

also, it got down to about 60 degrees today, which means it is FREEZING here. i actually took a coat out of my winter storage bag. and because i rekindled my love for photo booth today, here are my vain catalog poses:

sorry guys. it’s just not everyday that i get ready and feel photogenic. ohhhhh peace corps…

 

24/08/2012
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túcume

head start.

tuesday, i decided to head out to the health post and to the colegio to introduce myself. little did i know what i was getting myself into. i have some great socios at both. i explained the aspects that i needed to complete in my community diagnostic to the director of the colegio, and he was ready for me to come back that afternoon and do my presentation, which i then quickly negotiated for next week.

i met with the head doctor, obstetricians and nurses at the health post and felt incredibly comfortable with them, which is great to have confienza with socios early on. though, they asked me to do a charla on self-esteem this week at a colegio. needles to say, they will have no qualms in helping me keep busy, but also they are wanting to learn more about non-formal education techniques, which is really encouraging. to share with them a new approach to education is a great opportunity, and a great early win.

me, jenny and doris with jenny’s most recent poster for the health post.

though i have enough to already keep me busy, i still have typical early-peace corps experiences, like sitting and waiting for three and half hours at the municipality to see my socio who said he would only be about 15 minutes. luckily, i have a really interesting book i am reading right now. and i plan to do the same while i wait to see the mayor in the morning as well. but i am grateful of the time at the municipality and it gave me an opportunity to talk and get to know more people who work there.

24/08/2012
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adventure, chiclayo, combi, home, lambayeque, túcume

i have arrived.

personally, i think the title says it all. but to elaborate a bit more, on sunday morning i arrived to lambayeque. we were greeted by other volunteers who kindly made an all-encompassing sign. then we went to breakfast and attended our first regional meeting. honestly, after a restless night on the bus, i spent my day and evening in my hostel room. it was great to finally have a moment of nothing for a bit.

monday morning, i finagled a cab to my parraderra and caught a combi to tucume. my ride to site felt like a moment out of a movie. cumbia blaring on the radio speakers, the cobrador hanging out the side door’s window trying to get more passengers and the numerous chirps of little chicks in the box on the man’s lab seated behind me.

i arrived to site by late morning, and carried my things across the park, while everyone stared wondering why the gringa had so much stuff. i walked inside my new house and it already immediately and gratefully started to feel like home. though, poco a poco i have plans to make my room home.

this is everything i own…for the next two years.

this is the essential layout of my room. i am currently in the process of furnishing and painting it.

after lunch, i convinced my really great host brother to join me on an adventure back to chiclayo (the capitol city) to help me buy a bed. little did he know what he signed up for. i brought him for help with pricing (as there are two prices: the actual price and the price they charge gringos) and transferring my bed back to the house.

we went to all the tiendas at the mercado with all only offering expensive, foam mattresses, which honestly did not fit within the budget that the peace corps gave me to furnish my room. we met up with steven, his host mom and aunt, in hopes that we could barter for better pricing since we could then buy together.

out of luck, we resorted to going to a big name store, which is usually very expensive, but we remarkably found great mattresses within our budget. now came the great adventure. moving our mattresses around town while we bought the rest of the items for our beds.

proudly posing with our new mattresses.

everyone squeezed in our small taxi.

we returned to the mercado with our mattresses, and then bought our bed frames. then had the bed frame store hold on to our mattresses and bed frames while we went and purchased sheets and pillows. then, david and i hailed another taxi, loaded up my bed, and then caught a combi back to tucume.

i have two very astute observations about peru thus far: they are the best, but craziest drivers in the world, and they are incredibly talented at tying knots. needless to say, 6 hours later made it home. david was kind enough to help me with putting together my bed. i still need to get a light blanket it for it. and the ladies at the tienda thought i was crazy for not wanting pink/fuschia sheets with flowers. apparently, that is what the ladies love here?

my new bed.

i returned to the market yesterday to buy a desk and two sets of shelves for storage in my room. my host mom was kind enough to join me, and it was incredible. i went to the market a couple of weeks ago to price out items, and when i returned with my host mom, on average the prices they told her were 20 soles less. needless to say i am incredibly grateful for her attendance. also, honestly, i was most worried about how to get the shelving units back to my house, but yet again the combi driver’s understanding of aerodynamics and knot-tying left me impressed. maybe i should take some lessons from them?

19/08/2012
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adventure, family, home, lambayeque, túcume

túcume.

welcome to my site.

i spent about 3 days at my site. i met my socios, who are fantastic. they were really supportive of me and of the peace corps, and were really proactive about incorporating me into meetings and introducing me to a lot of key people in the community. i even found myself in a surprise all-day meeting on local economic development. needless to say it was a very busy week, and it has left me feeling even more motivated and excited about returning to my community and getting to work.

my host family seems like a pretty great fit thus far. i have a host mom, two sisters and a brother and a little niece. all of my siblings are 15 to 22, so they are all independent and extremely helpful. my host brother, david, took me around the town as well and introduced me to all of his friends. they all gave me a tour of the town. it was nice to already start building confianza with some of the local youth.

the local municipality and church on the plaza.

a small cancha where the boys play soccer every evening with a stage with a pyramid painted with the same pyramid in the background.

as i mentioned before, my town is also known as “the valley of the pyramids,” and there are 26 pyramids in my site. there was one in particular (see above) that is really close to the center of town. my first night, david took me around town and we turned the corner and there was this pyramid with the sky filled with stars and the milky way. it was one of the most beautiful sites i have ever seen in my lifetime. we then returned the next day to hike to the top of it.

a pyramid.

another cancha next to the pyramid.

david at the top of the pyramid.

the point of the pyramid (or where it used to be).

our shadows.

directly in my town there are about 15,000 people, and i have a number of caserios in my site with about 6,000 more people. the caserios are very campo and there is a lot of agriculture. i feel like i get the best of all the sites, as i am only about an hour away from the beach, but i have mountains in the distance, i have ancient ruins (with an impressive museum to boot) and green too!

some of my site in the distance.

the large cancha and the rest of my town.

we have in my town peru’s (in)famous hairless dogs…well they only have a small patch of hair on their heads. i find them ugly…yet i still like them…go figure…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

26/07/2012
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adventure, lambayeque, region, site placement, túcume

site placement.

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!!!!!

 

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