Poco a Poco

Hey Everyone!
Sorry I’ve been so bad about posting blogs, finding the time to sit down and type up one has been harder than I thought. Here’s a lil rundown of my day to day life: Usually I wake up around 6:30 (6:15 if it’s a shower day) get dressed, eat breakfast, and am out the door and meeting the other guys in the neighborhood by 7:20 to walk to school, or to get to someone’s house if language classes are in the neighborhoods that day. Classes start at 8 and the first session goes until 12. Then its LUNCH time--a wonderful time of day where all of us 20-somethings (and a few 30 and 60-somethings) regress back to our elementary school days and play “who has the best lunch” or “who the hell wants to trade??” Its actually really amusing to watch us eat. Peruvians eat a MUCH larger portion of food than Americans, and most of it is filled up with potatoes and rice, with a meat of some sort, and a sauce with some veggies. Therefore I get a kick out of watching us rationalize eating as much as we did in our little Tupperware containers. “I ate all my meat and potatoes and half of my rice…if I give the rest of the rice to the compost or the cat then it won’t go to waste…and my mom will never know I didn’t finish.” Yeah ya’ll might laugh, but that is a daily occurrence at the training center.

After lunch we have our technical training classes (health, wat san, and medio amb) or lectures as a whole group depending on the day. And we wrap up classes by 5, then its either hike it on back to 3 de Octubre, or stick around the center for some PC activities. Some people have started a running group, a yoga group, music group, salsa dancing, then there are the pc t-shirt committee, and other fun things that go on till 6. Either way after that long day I get back to my house around 6 or 7 depending on what happens after class and fill my family in on my day and watch the news until…the soaps come on!!! I made myself a promise…I’m not exactly sure when, but long ago I said I’d never get into watching soaps…well good luck trying to keep that going in a Peruvian household with a tv! From 8-10 its soap time! Victoria is the favorite in my house—If I could tell you what it was about I would, but from all I have gathered there’s one woman named Victoria with way too much drama and men in her life. But after some tv/parents time with some homework squeezed in there, I usually pass out in my bed by 9:30 or 10:30 depending on the day and start the whole process over again.
So tonight being another normal night, I’m sitting on my bed in my room listening to Victoria (my room is technically walled in, but there are 2 windows without the glass part that have curtains over them, so sound travels well—but the good part is my room has the best air circulation in the house!) and typing up this blog at 8:57pm. I only tell you the time because I know that I won’t be able to post this blog for at least another day and I don’t want to confuse people with times. I just had an awesome dinner of arroz (rice), with papas (potatoes), cebollas (onions), zanahorias (carrots), and a fried egg—sunny side up style. Big surprise on the rice and potatoes I know—but somehow in Peru we manage to eat the same 10 foods, but every time it tastes different. I swear sometimes at lunch we all can do nothing but laugh when someone asks us what we got for lunch, because 8 times out of 10 we don’t know the name of the dish. So it’s, “Hey today I got rice and potatoes with some chicken” followed by someone else saying, “dude me to! Wait…mine’s yellow, yours is brown…is yours spicy?”, “Naw its chifa [chineese type food here in Peru].” Congratulations you have now felt what it is like to sit at the PC lunch table, just multiply that conversation by 10.

Oh and today I received my first letters/care packages from home, so to all you other slackers step up your game! My mom was kind enough to send me a beany baby (yeah remember those things!) for my 2 year old niece. Tonight we taught her how to say Bones in both English and Spanish (hueso in Spanish) and I translated the poem that comes with them and apologized for it not rhyming. She LOVES this thing, it has not left her side for the past 2 hours and I think I hear her throwing a fit now because she needs a bath and Bones can’t go with her. I tell you what it’s the small things here that just make me so happy. My mom also sent me some news paper clippings—a few with my RHS girls Field Hockey pictures!!!! Sorry about the East Chapel Hill game girls, but congrats on the Jordan victory!!! You’ll be happy to know your photos have now been shown to dern near my whole neighborhood. My mom was so proud to show off “her gringa’s field hockey team” to the neighbors tonight, so Carmen, Merissa, and Abby ya’ll are now famous in 3 de Octubre!

Another thing, sorry but I have a lot to catch ya’ll up on, I had my first Charla on Monday. A charla is basically a lecture, they can be given in a formal way (ie a standard lecture, the teacher talks, and prays that the students absorb all the information), or in an informal way (through games, facilitations, skits, puppet shows, the list goes on). And special thanks to my favorite Outdoor Leadership Instructors Tommy, T-Dash, and Ted for helping me be the most bad ass facilitator I can be! This charla would have been SO scary had ya’ll not made me (for a grade of course) practice so many lesson plans and lectures. Our lecture was on the importance of cleaning your teeth. Sam, James, and I drew up some teeth and had a happy side and a sad side. We asked the kids T/F questions about brushing their teeth and if they thought the answer was true they’d show the happy side, and if it was false the sad. Then after we passed out drawings on dulces (sweets) with tape on the back and had then put them on 4 of their classmates who were “teeth” for the activity. We then “brushed” the teeth and “flossed” (with a piece of climbing rope!! Yeah buddy!) to remove the sweets from the teeth. All and all I think the charla went really well. We gave the lecture twice in 2 classrooms in a primeria (elementary school) to the 3 and 4th levels (around 8-10 year olds). The kids knew most of the things we taught about brushing their teeth, because they have had local government officials and doctors talk to them. But the problem with most places in Peru is not the lack of information; it’s the lack of follow through and the lack of available resources. As one kid in one of the classes pointed out, “it’s hard to brush your teeth when you don’t have the money to buy a toothbrush or toothpaste.”

But then again, that’s why I’m here--to help provide not just information, but resources to a rural community in Peru. As with everything else in my new PC life “poco a poco” is the way to think about everything (that is “little by little”). Sharing information, cultures, technology, education, resources, etc. takes time, it all happens poco a poco.

TEMBLOR!!!!

Ok so This post is probably going to be relatively short since I'm sitting in the local internet cafe and its not very conducive to thinking. But I wanted to tell you all about my very first earthquake!!!! Now before you all (and my mother) flip out, according to the news today it was a magnitude 4 so it wasnt that bad. But the story:

My host dad Elipo has just finished asking me to explain hurricanes to him. The news Last night was about all the issues going on in America (PS someone fill me in please...we are all out of the loop) and the announcer mentioned hurricanes. So mid sentence of me explaining that hurricanes were not like earthquakes all the dogs in the neighborhood start barking. And then literally 2 seconds later my mom gets this look on her face--it can be best described as the one a coach gets right before their team gets scored on--and then the house starts shaking. Next thing I know I'm being yelled at in Spanish to get outside FAST. The tremor has stopped by the time we all got outside, and it really wasnt that big of an earthquake. But the funny part comes next. So I apparently had the biggest smile on my face once we all got outside--I mean it was my first earth quake--and the only thing I could say was "es verdad, en cierto" aka "seriously, really?" my mom just laughed and called me a silly gringo.

But needless so say there were no other trembles, everyone is ok, it was just exciting for me since it was my first. My new friends from Cali didn't think anything of it.

Tomorrow I actually have a DAY OFF!!!!!! My first day off in my entire 3 something weeks here in Peru--there is no free time in the Peace Corps. So I look forward to updating this blog some more tomorrrow.

Till then: love you all, miss you all!

ps Wendy and Derrick: send me plants 101 so I can translate it to Spanish. Sounds like I'll be doing more community gardening than I thought and I'd like ya'lls help!

Chisme is Funny!

Hey everyone. Sorry again these postings haven’t been as regular as I was hoping. It’s been incredibly hard to find the free time to connect to the internet…in fact right now I’m technically looking up facts about Peru’s health situation. I’ve become rather adapt at multitasking, more so than when I was in the States. For instance I am now no longer thinking in English and attempting to talk in Spanish—I’m just thinking in Spanglish and talking in slightly better Spanish. It’s been a long 2 weeks. I forgot how hard it is to talk in Spanish all day…let alone on top of 10 hours of class and work.

So to fill you in on the new stuff…ok as soon as I typed that I realized the week has become a complete blur. So I will attempt to summarize with some highlights. Yesterday (sat) we went to the Agriculture University located about 40 minutes away from Chaclacayo outside of Lima for our first “Farmer” lessons. It was SOOO much fun. Tomorrow I will hopefully finally get some pictures up for everyone. And P.S. Derrick and my Family you will be so proud: I actually knew some of the plants!!!! I now have a new favorite fruit in the whole wide world. It’s called a Pepino, a Cantaloupe like fruit. It’s about the size of a softball and is a pale yellow with purple stripes. It tastes like a piece of candy but is juicy like a watermelon. Our instructor for the day was a really cool graduate student named Jamie and he took us around the whole farm and in all the green houses. It was so much fun playing “guess that plant” with all the little seedlings. AND the best part, I am now the proud mama to some seedlings…I forget exactly what the seeds I got handed were. And before you go mocking me, he told us the names in Spanish, the packaging was in Japanese, and it was right around lunch time…so I’ll get back to you on what they were. But we also had Clearing and Tilling 101 (old school style with a shovel) where I was complemented on actually knowing how to handle a shovel…I think it was a complement at least. It was a lot of fun and I can’t wait to go back next week!

After “farming 101” I tried to round up a few people to head to my Host family’s house from last time. It didn’t work, there was too much else to do. Paloma I PROMISE I’ll come next weekend! A group of us went to Jockey Plaza and got some “American Food” then headed on to Miraflores to see the beach. It was a lot of fun because I got to play tour guide for our group of 7 gringos. We went to Larco Mar, Parque de Amor, and then down to the beach to see the Pacific. We then crammed all 7 of us into a taxi to head to the combi stop to head home. After a 2.5 hour combi ride I was back in 3 de Octubre with my host family and ready to party!

No I have not turned into a crazy partier, but my town has. Our town virgin (all the towns have them) is being celebrated this weekend. So we have had LITERALLY nonstop dancing/drinking/and music. It has been just insane. There were fireworks last night at 2 am that were UNBELIVABLE. Totally would have been against every fire code law in the United States. They constructed this 20 foot tall wood (yes wood, as in flammable) tower that has spinning and sparking, and howling fireworks attached to it. Now I know some of you are thinking “well jenny, that doesn’t sound too bad” I forgot to mention we were on the Chancha (the soccer stadium about the size of a basketball court) with 400 of our closest drunk friends. After the fireworks there was some dancing and more music, interrupted for one minute when some guy in the crowd decided he didn’t like the song and threw a punch at the band…haha.

But the new town “chisme” (gossip in Spanish) is now that Ryan O’Hara and I are dating…completely not true. But to frame this story for you: 1. In Peru if a guy walks a girl home it’s a date. 2. If you dance together it means something’s up. Okay so I’m the only girl living in 3 de Octubre, thereby I am forced to walk home with 4 of the males that live in my barrio…therefore making me look…well somewhat flirty. Then due to the fact that Ryan and I like to walk while the other guys prefer to ride the combi, I walk with him more than others. Add the cherry on top with him forcing me to dance at the party last night…ta-da I am now apparently not single…small town gossip. Go figure.

On that note I’m going to get back to actually doing work and talk to you all later!

Love you all!

Greetings from Chaclayo!!!!!!!

Hey everyone, So sorry it has been so long since my last post...Internet has been hard to come by. I finally found a pretty cheap internet cafe near my house, so hopefully I can be more regular with the posts!

Ok to fill you in. I am living in the barrio of 3 de Octubre about a 40 minute walk from the Peace Corps center in Chaclayo. My family is absolutly amazing! I have a host mom, Luzmila, a dad, Elipio, Sister, Liz, brother, Limber, sister in law, Roxanna, and a niece Alejandra. I love them all, they have been so greast helping me with my spanish and feeding me very well! Needless to say I do love Peruvian food!

Classes have been going great so far. The usual bumps in trying to remember my spanish have occurred. My Spanish class is very small, only 4 people in my group (this is normal for a Peace Corps language group) and my Health classes have been very informative! I am just hving such a blast getting to know the other 46 people in my training class. My only regret is that I dont have much time to keep in touch with you all from home. I wake up at 6 and am meeting the other 4 gringos in my barrio by 7 to walk to class. We are done by 5 and spend a few hours getting to know the city and its people. Then I´m usually home by 7 or 8 in time for either supper or the neighborhood soccer tournament. Right now El Cuerpo de Paz has lost 2 games...but they were very close!

But to sum up this post. I´m doing good, I love ev erything here...except for the keyboards...so I apologize for the errors I´m sure are in here! And I miss you all Loads. I will try to post some pictures and a video of my house tomorrow!

Love you all!
Jenny

Staging

Hey everyone!

Greetings from my hotel in lovely Georgetown (aka Washington, DC)! My roomy Rebecca and I have a great view of the Washington Monument in all of its glory. I have just completed my 2 days of “staging” with the Peace Corps. It’s been a lot of sitting and listening to presentations about Peace Corps policy and how to integrate into our host communities, and logistics for our hectic next few days of travel. I absolutely love everyone in my group—Peace Corps Peru 12! There are 47 of us from all across the nation and we are all bringing different things to the plate for our jobs. We are all Health workers, Environment workers, or Water and Sanitation Workers. So to just sum up, they are good people!

Well landing in DC was quite the adventure—I had never been on such a small airplane! The woman sitting beside me actually asked if it was my first time flying. I guess me holding on to the arm rest for dear life wasn’t playing off how much I HATE small airplanes very well…oh well, I made it to the ground in DC and as my dad says “once you land its merely a bus wreck.” The original plan was for me to meet 2 other Peace Corps people at the airport, I had an amazing sign and everything made up. Well by Murphy’s Law I was unable to find Sasha—apparently our baggage claims were in different terminals…and the people who work there were clueless as to where Northwestern actually lands…go figure. But using the sharp wit that will come in helpful as a Peace Corps Volunteer I assumed the 2 guys I saw attempting to carry 4 very large pieces of luggage around the terminal wearing chacos just might be Peace Corps Volunteers—and I was right! So we found our way to the hotel on a shuttle (the driver HATED us due to all the luggage we had. His eyes quiet literally jumped out of his head when he saw the bags) and then started staging. It’s been a long 2 days, but it’s been a fun 2 days! It’s so great meeting everyone, and I’m actually starting to remember most of the names!

But for now I must go, we are going to find a park and play outside before we spend ALL day tomorrow in the airport. Seeing as how we are leaving our hotel around 6am and arriving in Lima around 9:30pm…YAY! I’m suddenly so happy I brought all the games I did.

Love you all, miss you all!

-Jenny

Its Goodbye Time

Saying goodbye has never really been a strong point of mine. I’m just not very good at it. So saying goodbye to the Riverside Field Hockey team today was rather difficult. My last day of coaching was moved one day sooner due to Hurricane Hanna heading our way and quite literally raining on our parade, so I think it caught some of the girls off guard. I guess I didn’t mention exactly when my last day was… but the girls had an amazing parting gift for me and I was so grateful that the “dumping the cooler of ice water on Coach Jenny” idea was slow to start and I escaped practice without looking like a wet mess. I’m going to miss coaching them every afternoon. It’s been great watching them improve and grow together as a team over the past few weeks.

I was really happy that the girls were so interested in hearing about the Peace Corps and what exactly I’ll be doing while there. One of the girls asked me if I was nervous about leaving. I wasn’t really sure how to answer that. It’s this weird feeling in my gut I can’t really describe—this combination of excitement and nervousness with a hint of sadness, and a dash of “HOLY CRAP I’M REALLY GOING!” That description may not do the feeling justice, but it’s the best way I can describe it. Any way I cut it I’m just so happy to be going with the Peace Corps to Peru, I just can’t wait to get back to the country I loved so much during my study abroad.

Earlier this week I was also fortunate enough to get to swing by Ms. Davidson’s classroom and meet her International Relations class. They seemed relatively interested in meeting me—or at least as interested as anyone can be first thing in the morning. I showed them some pictures from my last trip to Peru and of my family and friends, and then explained to them the Peace Corps mission statement and what I will be doing as a Community Health Promoter. Hopefully it was helpful that they actually got to see me before they receive letter and e-mails from Peru, and help them put a face with a name. It was pretty cool when I noticed that some of the students were younger siblings of people I went to high school with and some I had known since they were 5 years old. Although it did make me feel old!

So the countdown has begun! Just 6 more days at this point. So let the packing and freaking out begin!

Yay for Pen Pals!

It’s official! I will be participating in the World Wise School’s Correspondence Program with Kathie Davidson from Riverside High School. For those unaware, Ms. Davidson is probably the coolest World History/International Relations teacher there is. I mean she actually had a clue where Kiribati might be located on a map—so she basically knows her stuff! Now back to the program. The goal is to share my Peace Corps experience with a U.S. classroom. In my case I will be corresponding with her International Relations class (which just so happened to be my favorite class senior year).

From what I have read about the program it doesn’t officially start until I am sworn in, but thanks to the internet I’m hoping to get a few e-mails out to her class during training. I think juniors and seniors in High School will get a kick out of hearing about a 22 year old struggling with grammar or learning a new skill. Not that I hope I struggle too hard while in training but lets me honest, a bumpy road’s good for you, it builds character.

So Thursday I am going to help Ms. Davidson decorate my bulletin board! I’m not exactly sure how we will decorate yet, but obviously a map of Peru with a title to the effect of “Where in Peru is Jenny Schwartz?” is needed. If anyone knows what font they used in Where’s Waldo books you will get extra kudos points by letting me know (coincidence that Waldo wore red and white and the Peruvian flag is also red and white? I think not). But I figure I will bring in a few starter photos from my last trip to Peru and they can just add more that I send or post online.

But that is my big new development in life pre-Peace Corps. There are a little over 20 days now until I leave for Washington DC for staging. So my time until then will be spent looking at my packing list and making adjustments, eating my favorite meals (and lots of peanut butter…they don’t have much of that in Peru), and helping coach the Field Hockey team at RHS. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I will also be making a loud and obnoxious sign that says “SASHA” seeing as how we’re meeting at the airport in DC and sharing a cab to the hotel. For those wondering, we will not have cell phones (yes how old school), so loud signs are the cool thing to do. But for her sake, I think I’ll avoid glitter--it’s probably not so good for the x-ray scanner at the airport either…

And a special side note to Mr. Lang since I just saw you in the hallway at RHS and I figure you will be reading this blog at some point:

While I did learn a lot from your AP English class, my grammar is still horrible, and I majored in Math. Therefore I apologize in advance for any errors in comma placement and or use…but let’s face it; I never got them right when I was in class either!

And for the benefit of my fellow math majors and especially Will, in MatLab form:

while still a math major

grammar sucks, accept it.

else

No excuse.

end