Saturday, December 31, 2011

new video

Here's a link to a movie I made yesterday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-ly-WTTPLk

I'll be in town tomorrow to help my family skype with the volunteer that lived with them 2 years ago; the first volunteer in my site.  Hopefully, I can post some pictures of Peruvian New Years festivities!  Hope everyone has a great New Years Eve.

Chau,
kb

Friday, December 30, 2011

week of 12.26-12.30



When I got back from Chota on Tuesday afternoon I was determined get more of my surveys done this week.  I was sick of feeling like I wasn’t getting anything done and at least this was one thing where I could see results.  I could feel like I was being a good productive volunteer if I could only knock out some more of these encuestas.  Tuesday afternoon I left my house with a backpack full of surveys and set off down a road I didn’t know yet.

I only got 2 surveys done that day, but I did find my way to a neighboring community called Cuadreado and the view that day was breath taking.  It happened to be really sunny and hot that day for the first time since I have been in Cajamarca, because although it is summer here it is also rainy season until the end of March.  By the end of the day I told myself that I had doubled my encuestas; from 2 to 4 completed. 

On Wednesday morning I went to work in the fields with my family.  I felt like it would be a good way to get a better idea of what a day in their lives is like.  Also I thought it would earn me some credibility.  I’m pretty sure they think of me as the high maintenance gringa, even if it is in a loving way.  We spent the morning weeding my family’s carrot fields with a tool that I can only describe in English as a sickle; it was a big flat metal hook, we used to dig up the roots of the weeds.  My family tells me that in about 2 months we are going to be eating a lot of carrots, but that has to be more nutritious that rice and potatoes all the time, right? 

I felt like such a baby for feeling sore and tired, because my grandpa, uncle, aunt, mom, dad, and sisters were all out there with me.  And they had been out there yesterday, and they would be out there for days until the field was finished.  Later at dinner my host dad Joel asked to see my hands and he laughed when my right hand was full of blisters from the sickle tool.  I told him my hands were too soft and I need to work more-he told me he needs help this weekend to plant a new vegetable garden for me.  By the end of these 2 years I am going to be a great farmer!

On Thursday I skipped out on the carrot fields to do more encuestas.  It takes me about 20 minutes to half an hour to do one encuesta, but the hard part is finding mom’s who will participate.  Since it is summer vacation here, about half of the town population travels to the coast to either do seasonal work or to visit relatives.  Also a lot of moms work in the fields during the day with the men and when I go door to door they are not in the house. 
Then in the afternoon the nurse at the health post called me in for some help.  The health post had never called me in before.  I was really curious what they needed me for. Last week there was a woman who came into the health post who needed or wanted help to get to an appointment at the hospital in Bambamarca.  She and I were supposed to meet up in the plaza at 7am last Thursday morning and ride down together for her 8am appointment.  She never showed and I just figured I had been Perued (an expression volunteers have invented that is applicable for a number of situations and it always makes things feel better to laugh about it). 

In Peru there are very different cultural/social standards about being late for appointments or meetings.  It is one of the things that volunteers are extensively prepped for during training; ‘don’t be offended if people don’t come to your charla (or talk) on time, it’s normal to show up an hour or so late, don’t take it personally.  And you should always arrive on time to be an example,’ stuff like that.  The Peruvians that work for Peace Corps called it ‘Peru time,’ which reminded me of my friend Jason Fernandez and what he calls ‘Phillipino time.’  The Peruvian tech trainers  also told us trainees that Americans are the odd ones out and that everywhere else in the world people are regularly late.  So we’re the weird ones apparently or if you happen to be always running late you’re actually normal- I’m writing about you Uncle Dave Barrie!  So I just figured she flaked out, which is pretty normal here.  Anyhow, she was back at the health post still really pregnant and unfortunately for her this weekend for New Years the health post will be closed from Friday until next Wednesday. 

The doctor and nurses were starting to get pretty nervous about what would happen to her if she went into labor this weekend.  The majority of the ‘professionals’ (aka the staff of the health post and the teachers from the primaria and secondaria schools) live in the bigger city Bambamarca down the mountain and commute up every morning.  So this lady was really going to be all alone with the health post staff gone for 5 days.  My ‘job’ was to find the partero or midwife make sure that she new where this woman lived and the situation, for me to walk to her house with her so I could find it if there was an emergency, give my phone number to her neighbors so if she went into labor I could find a truck to drive her to the hospital.  Things get a little complicated, because this lady lives really far out in the campo, she has no phone, and she lives with her young daughter and very elderly mother, also she appeared to me to be kind of low IQ.

I had a very difficult time understanding and communicating with her, but eventually I think we came to an understanding that her daughter was going to talk to the partero.  Apparently the midwife was the godmother of the daughter-or I could be totally wrong on that, but I could not get this lady to tell me how to find the midwife.  We walked to her house, which was about an hour and half walk from the health post.  Part of the way was along the road, but about half was through fields and up mountainside paths.  My cousin Edwuar’s dog followed us the entire way; a scrappy little blonde curly dog, and started fights with other dogs, chased chickens, and frightened cows the entire way.  The whole time during the walk I was getting more and more worried about this lady-how the hell am I going to get to her if she even gets some one to call me for help? 

In the end I found 3 neighbors to talk to about the situation.  I explained that if she goes into labor or has pain to call my phone number and I would bring help.  Call the gringa, please!  I’m not really sure how I’ll do it, but hopefully I can find that midwife lady.  When I was walking back to my house in the rain with my really dirty wet dog named Messie and a bag full of dried peas that Flor had given me as a thank you for helping her I felt like a real life Peace Corps volunteer.  I think a lot of the drama of it all is in my head; I’m sure women have babies out in middle of the campo all the time, but it all felt kind of exciting.  Worst, worst case scenario I have a book from Peace Corps that I have checked and it has a chapter on how to deliver a baby.  Now that would be an experience!  Hopefully it doesn’t come to that.

I promise to write more Sunday after the New Years party.  We are going to burn dolls made out of old clothes.  The one my cousin Edwuar made is supposed to be Ollanta Humala the president of Peru.  He’s not so popular here, because of all the mines-contaminating-the-entire-water-supply-and-the-government-not-backing-up-the-people thingie.  They asked me if I wanted to make an Obama doll to burn and I said ‘thanks, but no thanks,’ then they asked about a president Bush effigy and I said I’d think about it.  Ya pues, more to come on Sunday.   

We weren't sure why my host dad Joel was napping outside, so my sisters and I thought it would be a good idea to make a cross out of a broomstick and take a picture for evidence.

Then our laughter woke him up.


I also made a video of my Aunt, brother, and I feeding the pigs.  I'll try to post it tomorrow or Sunday.

Chau!
kb





   

Monday, December 26, 2011

Peruvian Christmas

I'm feeling pretty lucky this Christmas.  Christmas in my site was kind of a let down; pretty darn uneventful.  At dinner my family my family asked me questions about what Christmas is like in the U.S. and they also were very interested in air travel.  I was really looking forward to dancing, because my family had been bugging me about if I was going to dance or not.  It turned out they just wanted me to dance, but no one else would.  We did watch about an hour and a half of Huayno music videos after the first dinner-so we watched other people dancing.  There was a second dinner at midnight, but I went to bed-I know I'm such a party pooper.  I just wasn't feeling up to eating my second guinea pig of the night.

There was something really extra special that made my day on Christmas Eve.  One of my neighbors came over; Dona Pricilla, and invited me over to her house.  I was dreading going over there, because I was feeling the pressure to eat all my guinea pig later at my abuelita's house for Christmas Eve lunch.  I knew she would nag me to finish all my food at lunch and if I went to my neighbor's house she would also feed me.  Peruvians; I have found, show there love by over-feeding you and trying to get you to take seconds.  I pictured an awkward conversation with the neighbor woman whom I didn't really know, but I dutifully went over to her house at 11am like she asked.  It turned out to be such a nice visit.  She made my day.  She told me that she was really excited to get to know me and she wanted to teach me how to cook.  Her kindness was so touching-it really made my day.

Even though I was feeling some homesickness on Christmas Eve, on Sunday I got the chance to skype with a lot of friends and family.  I also got to spend time with other volunteers in Chota-a bigger town about an hour away from Bambamarca.  I also finally got to send my letters.  We watched It's a Wonderful Life, blasted Christmas music, and ate food that wasn't rice and potatoes!

Hayden and Diamond making Christmas dinner grilled cheese.  We used cheese I bought from my host mom.
Earlier this week was the high school end of the year ceremony.  The two kids with the best grades in their class get a special 'diploma' recognizing their academic achievements.  My brother Witman had the best grades in his class and typically a family member walks up to receive the diploma with the student.  Witman asked me to go up with him to receive his diploma.  I was really touched that he wanted me to be his 'familiar' or family member for the ceremony.  So that was another really sweet thing that happened this week.

Witman had the best grades in his whole class.
Witman's dog is pregnant and he asked me the other day to be the new puppy's madrina or godmother.  I asked him what responsibilities that would entail, because I have heard some horror stories about madrina positions.  According to Witman being the madrina to his dog's puppies would just require that I think of the names.  In Peruvian culture there are madrinas and padrinos for various different events.  For example, during graduations there was a padrino of promociones, because he had sponsored the event.  There was also a woman who was the madrina of the cake, because she had bought the cakes.  The horror stories I have heard of are when Peace Corps volunteers are asked to be madrina/padrino to a kid during their graduation or even to a whole graduating class.  That would require that the madrina/padrino cough up a couple hundred soles for a gift and typically it is expected that they continue to give gifts for the rest of the kid's life.  
Long story short-there are going to be puppies at my house soon and I'm going to help name them.

In Peru people add -ita or -ito to the end of words as a sign of 'carino' or care.  It gets incorporated into everything.  I had an experience on a bus ride a couple weeks ago when I overheard a woman talking about a 'burrito.'  I got really excited, because I love burritos and I haven't really seen any mexican food in Peru.  I asked the woman about her 'burrito', where could I buy them here, I loved mexican food, etc.  Then she kindly explained that she was talking about her burro or donkey.  Only it was a little donkey or a donkey that she cared for and called it a 'burrito.'  I was sadly disappointed, but it was a really great peruvian moment for me.  So on Christmas Eve when my abuelita started calling me Katacita, I was pretty excited that she had found a way to add an -ita to my name.  It made me feel really happy.  It kind of reminds me of a nickname my Babu and her mother used to call me; Katrinca, I guess that's Kate with a Polish spin to it.  Now my Peruvian grandma Peruvified my name-it makes me feel special.

A year from now I'm pretty sure I'll be in Michigan for Christmas.  So watch out-I might have to hit up a Pet Smart and cook everyone up some guinea pig a year from now...or we could just have Christmas burrito.

Thanks again for all the letters:
Allison and Patricia Kingery-I loved your x-mas card and Sesame thanks for the letter I'm saving it for tomorrow when I'm back at my site 
The Yamo family-the care package and letters were so sweet
Nana- your note made me cry for goodness sake!
*I'm going to tack up all the letters you sent me on my wall in my room.  I'll take a picture and post it next time I'm in Bambamarca with internet.

Chau and thanks for reading,
KB






Thursday, December 22, 2011

So far the roads are open

It sounds like the roads are going to be open for a while, because they can't decide when to start the strikes again.  A fellow volunteer emailed me these links to a PBS documentary about the mine that the people are protesting it's very interesting;
"This video is interesting, and I just wanted to share it with other volunteers in Cajamarca.  It's a PBS documentary about Yanacocha from a number of years back.  If you do watch it,  keep in mind that an ounce of gold is now worth USD$ 1600.00."



Chris Cobb

Voluntario de Cuerpo de Paz
Desarrollo de Pequeños Negocios
Tembladera, Cajamarca

My family decided not to travel for Christmas and I am kind of relieved-this way I can definitely skype home on Christmas day and hang out with the other volunteers in the area.  I have heard that someone got a hold of the movie Elf and the original Grinch cartoon...I'm pretty excited.  Also I can finally send my mail on monday 26.12-there are a lot of people that I are going to be getting some late responses from me.  
So if anyone is available to skype on Christmas day or the 26th I will have internet.  I'm thinking I can get to Chota by the afternoon and I'll try to just log on and if people want to talk I'll be hanging out.  Otherwise email me if you'd like to skype I can usually get down to Bambamarca 2 (sometimes 3 times!) a week to use internet.

Apparently in Peru Christmas day isn't really a big deal, but on Christmas Eve at midnight families eat a big meal together.  I'm not sure about the gift exchange customs yet, but I'll report back on Sunday/Monday.  Even though the majority of people are Catholics here it sounds like nobody goes to Church ever- not even Chrieasters (the people that only go on Christmas and Easter)!  There is a small; but present, population of Jehovah's Witnesses and Evangelicals in my community.  Last week a man tried to evangelize me while we were crammed into the back of a truck going back up to San Juan.  I couldn't escape from it for the would 30 minute ride, but I am proud to say that I found that I had the vocabulary to defend evolution.  

This week I started doing encuestas or surveys at the health post as part of my community diagnostic project.  I am starting to realize that they may be harder than I thought, because it seems that the a lot of women cannot read or at least not well enough to do my encuesta without me filling it in for them.  I may have to revise it somehow.  This diagnostic is due at the end of February, so I have plenty of time to procrastinate more.

Hope everyone is well and Feliz Navidad!  Please skype/email when you want to skype!

Cuidate mucho a todos!
KB

Monday, December 19, 2011

oh, yeah I figured out the photo problem...

Blog post 12.19.2011

This weekend I traveled to Cajamarca (the city, it’s kind of confusing sometimes; I live in the departmento called Cajamarca and it is also the name of the capital city) to pick up box of books that Peace Corps shipped for me and during the 3 hour combe ride back to Bambamarca I was squashed in the front with the driver.  The stick shift was practically in my butt the entire ride, but more importantly while making small talk I found out that the strikes are supposed to start up again tomorrow.  According to this driver the protestors are planning on blocking all roads from Cajamarca, Bambamarca, and Chota from December 20th until past New Years.  This weekend when I went into Bamba the military police stopped the truck I was in, made all of us get out and show identification.  I was lucky I had my passport with me.  President Humalla declared a state of emergency in Cajamarca a couple weeks ago and that is the reason the roads have been open.  During an official state of emergency the military police occupy the area and are able to arrest people pretty much without cause.  The protestors had to take a break so that they wouldn’t loose all their man power from arrests.  Tomorrow the state of emergency is over, and that is why the strikes are starting up again.

At this point this is hearsay, but I just thought I would get myself down to Bamba today to post this and let people know that if I am uncommunicative it is because I may not be able to leave my site.  When they block the roads I may be a little board and anxious to get back to email/skype, but I will be totally safe.  My family; like the majority of the families in my community, raises animals and crops so we won’t run out of food.  In fact it would probably be more scary to be down the mountain in Bambamarca, because the people flood the streets and protest.  Since I’m a gringa sometimes people think that I work for the mines and those mineros are really not so popular around these parts.

So please don’t worry.  I hope that I’ll be able to call and email soon.  Plus, I now have a big box full of books to occupy myself with.  Before I could avoid doing my Peace Corps reading, but now I won’t have any excuses.



A charla (or talk) about domestic violence given by a woman from the Ministry of Health. 

Diamond and I waited in Chota for an extra couple days before we could  go to our sites.

Campo sweatpants  and tire shoes are very trendy here.  The sweat pants are the least flattering I have ever seen, but they are pretty darn warm.
Add caption

Learning how to make tamales.

Grinding the corn is hard work.




The red plastic container is full of the corn we just ground up and the white stuff is homemade cheese.

This is my host mom's cheese.





this lady is weaving

I thought these guys were so cute.

The next couple of pictures are of my community.






My new home.

My family sells bread and buys milk from the community to make cheese.



Don't forget it's BYOTP (bring your own toilet paper) in Peru.

the kitchen



goofing off at the mall in Cajamarca.


lots of milk for making the cheese


the director the primary school and my regional coordinator working on the sound for the domestic violence charla.

This is how the promociones looked at 12pm when they were supposed to start.

About an hour later...

The graduates

My brother Wittman and I.  He is in high school, but attended the promociones as a dance partner to one of the girls that graduated.  He told me he did for the all the cuy (or guinea pig).


This guy and the girl above asked to have their pictures taken with me....on my camera.  I didn't really understand, but I just went with it and I don't even know these kids yet.





Wittman and his pareja (partner) before being presented to everyone.


The staff of the health post attended the promociones.

Cuy for lunch.



My uncle getting ready to go out to the Ronda.  Since there are no police the community has a group called the Ronda.  Men take turns doing a sort of community watch.  It's all very organized.  The machete seemed like a bit much, but the Ronda is in charge of dispensing social justice.

The night time part of the promociones

At the mall in Cajamarca

You can't read it, but the sign says 'splashy willy'.