Vacaciones Utiles 2012

This was my second week of English classes.  The first day only 5 kids showed up; including my brother and cousin, now my class is somewhere around 32 kids.  It’s getting a little crazy.  I like to think that it is most important that the kids are having fun and socializing, because if I focus too much on how their English is progressing it gets depressing.  The older kids are great.  They can focus on a topic, they aren’t afraid to raise their hand, volunteer, or say words out loud to practice pronunciation.  The younger kids can be very timid or very wild.  I get boys that can’t sit still and girls that won’t make eye contact or answer direct questions.

I get most frustrated with the kids that won’t speak during class.  I try to be patient, but it really bothers me.  For example on Tuesday a fresh group of new kids showed up and one little girl wouldn’t tell me her name.  When I asked her in Spanish ‘what’s your name,’ she would just look away and not respond.  I don’t really know what to do with her and I still don’t know her name!  The other trouble with the class is that new kids are coming in everyday, which means that they are more than a week behind the rest of the class.  This is why my focus is on making my class fun. 

Most days after class we play fútbol, the llama game (which is a sort of a competitive elimination style dancing game), or watch cable t.v.-yes, that’s right at the primary school in my little town they pay for expensive cable.  I’m not really quite sure how spending money on a big t.v. and cable benefits the students, because from what I can tell the kids are not usually allowed to watch television.  I try to keep the classes light, but it would be really awesome if the students did retain some of the topics we learned. 

In trying to be the ‘fun’ teacher I pass out lots of candy when kids volunteer answers and participate in a positive way.  Bingo gets kind of painful, especially when the kids don’t even bother to learn their numbers in English.  They go wild for bingo, go figure.  I had no idea that bingo was so much fun.  I don’t even give out prizes for the winners and they can’t get enough.  I keep threatening to take bingo away if they don’t really learn their numbers, but I haven’t followed through yet-so I don’t think anything will change. 

I’m still working on the encuestas.  It seems like every time I go out into the community for an afternoon of door to door surveying I meet more of my extended family.  I’m starting to wonder just how many siblings my grandparent’s have, because it’s getting somewhat ridiculous.  In Peru, and latin culture in general, people have two last names.  One name from their father and one from there mother.  So the only people that you could share your two name combination with are your siblings.  Parents have different names than their kids.  For example, my host mom’s last names are Bazan Medina, my host dad’s last names are Caraujulca Garcia, and my host sibling’s last names are Caraujulca Bazan.  When I explain to people in my community how last names work in the states; typically women change their name when they get married and kids usually only get their father’s last name, they always say they are sorry for me.  They are sorry, because I lost my mother’s name and when I get married I will loose my father’s name too.  Their concern was kind of oddly sweet.  I also sort of agree with them.  Their system, however annoyingly long the names become, seems better.

On Thursday night the rain was so strong that it started coming through the ceiling during dinner.  Before we knew it the dirt floor in the kitchen was streaming with water and we made a run for it back to the sleeping area part of the house to check on the rooms.  My room was fine only some water on my cement floor, but for the water to pass to my room on the first floor my sister’s room was flooded on the second floor.  My family says that the volume of rain we have been receiving is due to the El Niño effect, which sounds familiar and yet I feel the need to google it when I have internet. 

On Friday I was invited to the swearing in ceremony for the mayor about 15 minutes before it began.  The mayor won the election back in November and has been working in the position for the past 2 months, yet the official swearing in was yesterday.  I was the only gringo in attendance and one of the few females that had been invited.  I stuck out, to say the least.  An elderly woman sat behind me and spent the entire time touching my hair and holding my hand, but she talked to me and none of the men would.  She put her shawl on me because she said I looked cold.  She came on very strong.  However, I put up with her and now I have a new friend.  When I got home after the 2 hours of speakers and the giant lunch of guinea pig, rice, potato, and beer, my sister Diani told me that this lady keps fruit trees.  Diani and I are planning on going over to Nellie’s house to visit her on Monday and we’re crossing our fingers she gives us lots of fresh fruit.  Now, that is how to make valuable contacts in your community!

I posted two new videos on youtube; the links are below.  I’m a little embarrassed about the video of my room, because it is really super messy.  I am planning on buying some more shelving or something-I think that will help.  I’m not such a dirty person, I swear!

http://youtu.be/vY-SsBfEykA

http://youtu.be/EhHl3sFBdcc

Jennifer and I at the serpost in Chota with our special deliveries from the U.S.; twizzlers and bacon.

slow week

What did I do this week?  I know it is not necessary to write on my blog every week, but it makes me feel important to imagine that my family and friends are reading what I write.  Life here in the sierras often feels kind of dull, but when I try to look at it from my Ann Arbor, MI perspective I like to pretend it’s all really interesting.

These past 2 weeks I’ve been working on getting my surveys done in the community.  I spend my mornings and afternoons going door to door asking people: ‘do you have a moment to do an encuesta with me?’  First of all, houses out here in the campo are not along a main road with sidewalks and driveways.  I’m walking through fields and hoping that the women are at home, because often people spend their days out of the house in their fields or up in the mountains in the Haulca.  The Haulca is this other region I hear a lot about it, but I don’t really know much.  It seems to me that the majority of the people in my town have second homes (more like summer cabins; without electricity or water) and additional fields up in the higher altitudes of the Haulca.  My family apparently has potato fields up there and this week my brother, cousin, one of my sisters, grandpa, and aunt went up there to harvest or plant or something.

Anyhow, I walk from house to house hoping to catch someone at home to survey.  I have learned that it is campo courtesy to call to the house from a certain distance to alert people to your presence.  Not only is it a courtesy, but it also often helps with the dogs.  If I call up to a house the owners will call their dogs off and I won’t have to use my umbrella to smack any dogs in the head.  Some of my peers also swear by traveling with a pocketful of rocks, but I have found that when it comes down to it I’m not such a good shot when a dog is barreling towards me.  Some women; and it always seems to be women that are home during the day, are noticeably startled to see a gringa on their property, but others are very excited to see me.  I guess when you live out in the campo spending your days doing a lot of physical labor and hanging out with your kids, a stranger walking up to your house and asking to talk with you would be kind of exciting. 

My surveys are pretty boring and I wrote them to be very simple, because I knew that the majority of the adults in my town did not finish primary school.  Many women are illiterate and pretty much anyone over the age of 50.  However, even in my attempts to make it simple I didn’t take some important things into account; words like auto esteem, early childhood stimulation, and even a question like ‘with what frequency does your family eat meat?’ throw them for a loop.  It could be my accent or it could just be the vocabulary words I chose.  It’s hard not to think in English before writing something like that in Spanish and besides I’m not fluent yet in campo Spanish.

My favorite women to interview are the old ladies who can’t understand me very well, but they just want to talk to me.  It’s frustrating, because I want to hurry up and get on to the next house and at the same time I find it so humorous.  I catch myself making small talk with Peruvian grandmas outside of their homes usually sitting on wooden benches, while grandkids, cats, dogs, and guinea pigs scatter.  I sit on my bench and smile to myself while I look into leathery kind faces, missing teeth, and unwashed clothes and hair are a given.  Even though we sit close, she can’t understand my accent and I hers.  Sometimes if I’m lucky an older grandchild will have gathered around as our audience and can help translate my words for her grandma.  She’ll say the exact word that I had just said, but without fail grandma now can magically understand.

Sometimes the women like to offer me food; usually gross food.  I ate cold potato soup, cold milk (which is a no-no because it means it hasn’t been boiled i.e. campo pasteurized,  this particular mug of milk must have been really fresh, because I pulled a cow hair out of my teeth as I walked away from the house, no kidding!), a bag of radishes, and some bread -just this week.  Almost always I receive open invitations to visit anytime, which is very encouraging.  Last week I was invited to lunch on Saturday and another man invited me to go visit his bee hives he keeps a little further down the mountain.  It’s funny how often people ask the same few questions; ‘are you accustomed to Peru yet,’ ‘where are you from,’ ‘are you related to Annie?’ (the PCV that lived in my community before me).  On the whole I feel like I am getting to know more people and I also know the community a lot better. I’m trying to memorize names and which families live in which sectors of San Juan.

On one of my house visits for the surveys I met a woman named Yaggie.  She is the same age as me, with 2 little boys, a husband, and a big field of potatoes and corn behind her house.  It freaked me out slightly.  I’ve also met mom’s that were younger than me, but she and I are the same-yeeeeeeesh!  It’s the grandmas that are truly my people, not these girls my age with kids.  Is that really judgmental of me?  I guess if I had to put words to it, these women make me feel like I should be back in the states working on getting my career and ‘real’ life started, not bumming around Cajamarca on my Peace Corps excursion.

Next week I get to start teaching English classes, but apparently the solicitud that the primary school director and I presented in Bambamarca has not yet been approved.  So the other classes that the vacaciones utilies were supposed to include might not get funded.  I’m still going to teach though, because I wasn’t going to be getting paid anyway.  I bought my crayons, markers, and chalk-I’m ready.

This week I also visited Flor, the woman who the health post asked me to look out for during New Years weekend.  She apparently had her baby on New Years Eve; just her and her mother.  I’ve visited twice this week, because the health post is too busy to go visit her.  She and the baby appear very healthy.  It’s a girl named Rosita Melina.  It seems that everyone in the community knows that I have been paying special attention to Flor and her baby.  It’s a relatively small community so there is a lot of gossip.  Women come up to me on the street to ask me about Flor’s baby; ‘what’s the baby’s last name?’ is a popular question.  Flor is scandalously unmarried and the gossip is that the father of the baby is a married neighbor man of hers. 

So that’s what I did this week.  I spent a lot of time sitting around asking people if they had had diarrhea in the past 15 days and trying to explain ‘self esteem’ with my limited Spanish vocabulary.  I officially-in the eyes of the community-have befriended the town home wrecker Flor and baby Rosita.  I read a really good David Sedaris book.  And I also washed all my bedding with bleach water in an effort to mass murder the bed bugs or fleas or whatever it is I have.  It was a slow week.  Hopefully English classes will prove to me more noteworthy. 

Chau for now!

kb     

Peruvian New Years

Peruvian New Years

In Cajamarca, Peru the people celebrate the New Year by burning dolls made out of old clothes and straw.  My brother and cousin made a Viejo or old person to burn and called it President Ollanta Humala.  They worked on it all week.  I took lots of pictures.

In the afternoon yesterday I made an apple pie at the request of my family.  I made a trip into Bambamarca in order to buy the cake tin to bake it in-according to my mom Dalila I paid too much for the tin, but that happens a lot here.  The vendors see me and raise up their asking prices for things and I have no idea what is a good price for a cake mold so I just paid.    While I was in Bambamarca I noticed that everywhere I went the street vendors where selling yellow underwear and grapes.  On New Years it is lucky to wear yellow and buying a new pair of yellow undies is a popular way to celebrate.  The grapes are for a tradition that I heard about, but no one participated in San Juan.  At 11:59; the last minute of the year, you are supposed to try to eat 12 grapes.  If you can eat all 12 you’ll have good luck for 2012. 

My grandparents sell bread in San Juan and they are one of the few families that have an oven.  My uncle and two of my aunts helped me get it all put together and my uncle tended the fire for the clay oven. We had a big family dinner on New Years eve; cow head soup.  It was very similar to the soup we usually have for dinner potatoes and rice, but this time it had big hunks of bone and meat.  It wasn’t my favorite thing I’ve eaten here.  At dinner I tried to explain about New Years traditions in the U.S.  I told them about watching American football on New Years day, watching the ball drop, and how at the strike of midnight you are supposed to kiss someone. 

After dinner my family started up with the dancing-err lack of dancing.  They kept bugging me to dance, but no one else would.  I guess they wanted me to do a special performance or something.  I danced a little and tried to get the others to join in.  I finally got fed up and started teasing them all for being too scared to dance in the privacy of their own home no less.  Although my little speech did not inspire any dancing, it did put an end to their endless badgering me to dance.  Also I could laugh a little more about it once I got it off my chest.

My grandparents, aunts, sisters, and I stayed up waiting for midnight so we could watch the burning.  We watched what can only be described is the Peruvian version of Dick Clark’s New Years Eve special, but 10 times more busty almost naked women than in NYC.  It was kind of bizarre to watch a show with all these pin up girls running around with my aunts in their traditional conservative clothes; knee-length pleated skirts, button down shirts, with sweater, straw hat, and poncho for the cold.  All the Peruvians I have met are so conservative, yet the host of the show was a cross dressing man-yeah cross dressing is really big with male comedians here.  Peruvian television is crazy.  My family here in Cajamarca doesn’t watch a lot of tv, but in Lima it was on all the time.  Game shows were the favorite in Lima.  Sing If You Can a game show were contestants try to sing with crazy things start happening around them; getting dunked in freezing water, wrestled by a professional wrestling team, fire shooting out of the floor in a ring around the microphone, was my favorite. 

At midnight we braved the cold to go out into the plaza and burn those effigies.  There was a group of young guys already 2 cases of beer deep when we got there.  When I took my camera out to shoot the burning dolls they all started coming over to offer me beer and ask to have their pictures taken with me.  Later the drunk guys asked my sisters and I to dance.  My sisters wouldn’t, but I said ‘sure’ and to my delight so did my grandma.  So my grandmother and I danced the night away with the drunk guys, my brother and cousin set off fire works and ran off into the night with a posse of boys, and my sisters went home. 

In the morning I woke up to find out that my brother’s dog had had it’s puppies.  Apparently he stayed up practically all night with her to make sure everything went okay.  Despite my being the madrina it appears that Witman has the final say in the names.  So far he seems to be leaning towards; Snoopy, Scooby, and Lassie.

Today the whole family came into town (Bambamarca) to try to skype with the former volunteer who lived with my family 2 years ago.  We didn't get a hold of him, which was disappointing.  I did manage to take a couple pictures of Bambamarca on market day-which I had previously been too nervous to do.  I was always afraid to take my camera out by myself, but with my whole family I wasn't as worried.

The big city; Bambamarca.

Earlier in the week I did a formal interview with the director of the secondary school.  He asked me to take his picture with some of his many awards.  Is it just me or does he look like Warrio from Mario Bros video game?  (that's what I call him in my head)

The clay oven and bread making assembly line.

I'm pretty sure this is 3 generations of cats.  They're just watching us work on the apple pie.

My aunt Rosa helping me cut up the apples.

Witman with one of the Viejos.  This one in particular looked like a drunk  hunched over (which happens the morning after any town fiestas believe me) and I think Witman's pretending to be drunk too.

With another muneca to be burned later on in the night.

The President Ollanta effigy the boys made.

Edwaur did dance for a minute with his Viejo.

This was the 'meat' in my uncle Heladio's dinner.

yuck!

This is how we eat meat in Cajamarca.  Uncle Heladio takes a great big bite for  the camera and my dad Joel is laughing his butt off.

New Years Eve family dinner.

Witman with all the left over bones to feed to the dogs.

Left to Right: Aunt Rosa, Diani, Me, Abuelita, some kind of tipsy guy,  and in front my other sister Idelsa.

It was really foggy out and the pictures didn't turn out too well, but at least it wasn't raining in full and we could still light stuff on fire!

More pictures of market day.  They don't do it justice though.

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

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

   

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

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."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OdJ9eRv_LY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjtwrBJwVVg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pklvtvq5g8g&feature=related

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