Here it is folks, the moment we´ve all been waiting for! This week we finally got our site assignments!
I will be in the region of Lambayeque, in northern Perú.
My site will be in the northeastern portion of the region, in the dry forest (bosque seco). Apparently, this type of ecosystem is very unique, and the only place similar to this particular forest is in Africa (Namibia, I think my director said). The weather there is pretty warm, and, obviously, dry most of the year. I won´t have to worry about altitude, because my site is at less than 500 feet above sea level.
My town has about 800 people (similar to my hometown in Kansas!). At least at first, my main counterparts will be the director of the school and a municipal worker. My host parents are both in their early 40s, and I have three host sisters, ages 21, 16, and 5. I´m still not sure if I will have electricity, but apparently I do have water in my house. However, I´m told I will have to use a latrine which is a little way away from the house and I will have to take bucket baths. If there is a shower, at least in the warm weather I won´t dread taking a cold shower!
One other volunteer from my group will be in a site about 20 minutes away by car, so that will be nice, and several other volunteers from previous years will be within 30 minutes or so. Another volunteer from my group will be about an hour away, another about 3 hours, and one more about 4 hours. The county seat, for lack of a better term, where I will probably have to go to use the internet, will be around 30 minutes away. The regional capital, Chiclayo, where I will have to go regularly for meetings, is about 3 hours away by bus.
Next week we are going on field based training as a group, and then on site visits to our individual communities. I am very curious to learn more about what is next for me!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Inca Kola
I heard some good trivia on the news tonight:
Perú is the only country in the world where the Coca-Cola flavor of soda doesn´t have the highest sales. Here...why, it´s Inca Kola, of course!
Inca Kola is a very sweet, syrupy, neon yellow ´gaseosa´. I like it, but a glass a week is plenty for me. Most people here love it. I´m also not crazy about the Coke or Pepsi here. I prefer Crush Naranja orange soda. I have always liked orange soda, but this brand has an extra kick here. I try to keep it to one half-liter bottle a week, though. :)
Perú is the only country in the world where the Coca-Cola flavor of soda doesn´t have the highest sales. Here...why, it´s Inca Kola, of course!
Inca Kola is a very sweet, syrupy, neon yellow ´gaseosa´. I like it, but a glass a week is plenty for me. Most people here love it. I´m also not crazy about the Coke or Pepsi here. I prefer Crush Naranja orange soda. I have always liked orange soda, but this brand has an extra kick here. I try to keep it to one half-liter bottle a week, though. :)
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Preview to Site Assignment
Yesterday I had a ´chat´ with my boss, the Associate Peace Corps Director who is the head of the Community Based Environmental Management Program. We all talked to him the first week about how training was going and our preferences for sites (mountains or cost, city or countryside, isolation, types of projects, amenities, etc). At the time, I tried not to have too many preferences--it takes flexibility to be a good volunteer, and I trust that the staff know more than I do about successful site placement. However, I did state that I couldn´t be too high in the mountains (more than 10,000 feet or so) because I get altitude sickness, and we talked about my interest in alternative energy projects, women´s and youth empowerment, and cuisine.
So, this week was supposed to be more of the same before site placements are finalized and we get our assignments next week. However, apparently he is already basically finished with his ´game of chess´. He is also infamous for not being able to keep it a secret once his decisions are made. He gave me some very telling hints about what department I will be placed in, but I am sworn to secrecy until it is official. Also, we had our first Environment trainee go home on Tuesday (Health, at the other training center, has already lost 3), so things could still change.
However, I can say that he promised me a site that wasn´t in the mountains. He also told me the names of three other people that will be in my cluster (people that live close enough that you could make a day trip of a visit). I will be the first Peace Corps volunteer that has lived in my site, which I think will be both positive and negative. Apparently the mayor in my town is very receptive, which is rare, as well as the school. My town has about 300 families, which would make it around the same size as the town I grew up in. He said I will have running water, but I probably won´t have electricity (I think I won´t know for sure until I get there). I will have 3 school-age host sisters, and my house will be part of an extended family complex that is near the school. I´m hoping that I will get to work with the alernative energy project that is starting up next year, but he didn´t really say.
Yesterday we did our first practice sessions of teaching in the schools. My partner and I did a 30-minute session on trash, recycling, and composting for 4th graders, and I think it went well. Today we all brought in a day´s worth of trash from our host families, and did a big waste characterization study. Tomorrow we are traveling to Asia...a town on the beach a couple of hours away. With a different partner, I somehow have to explain global warming and its effects on Perú in 15 minutes to 13-15 year olds. Then we get a free lunch on the beach, and depending on the weather, we may get to go in the water.
That´s it for now, but tune in next week for the news of my official site placement!
So, this week was supposed to be more of the same before site placements are finalized and we get our assignments next week. However, apparently he is already basically finished with his ´game of chess´. He is also infamous for not being able to keep it a secret once his decisions are made. He gave me some very telling hints about what department I will be placed in, but I am sworn to secrecy until it is official. Also, we had our first Environment trainee go home on Tuesday (Health, at the other training center, has already lost 3), so things could still change.
However, I can say that he promised me a site that wasn´t in the mountains. He also told me the names of three other people that will be in my cluster (people that live close enough that you could make a day trip of a visit). I will be the first Peace Corps volunteer that has lived in my site, which I think will be both positive and negative. Apparently the mayor in my town is very receptive, which is rare, as well as the school. My town has about 300 families, which would make it around the same size as the town I grew up in. He said I will have running water, but I probably won´t have electricity (I think I won´t know for sure until I get there). I will have 3 school-age host sisters, and my house will be part of an extended family complex that is near the school. I´m hoping that I will get to work with the alernative energy project that is starting up next year, but he didn´t really say.
Yesterday we did our first practice sessions of teaching in the schools. My partner and I did a 30-minute session on trash, recycling, and composting for 4th graders, and I think it went well. Today we all brought in a day´s worth of trash from our host families, and did a big waste characterization study. Tomorrow we are traveling to Asia...a town on the beach a couple of hours away. With a different partner, I somehow have to explain global warming and its effects on Perú in 15 minutes to 13-15 year olds. Then we get a free lunch on the beach, and depending on the weather, we may get to go in the water.
That´s it for now, but tune in next week for the news of my official site placement!
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Español
Learning a new language is an interesting journey, especially when you are learning the specifics of the way a particular language is spoken in a particular area of a particular country during every day life. Here are a few of my observations.
Acá
When I was learning Spanish, I learned that the word "aqui" meant "here" (literally the place here, but also many of the other uses the word "here" has). In Peru, however, the word "acá" or "over here" is used most of the time instead.
Ahorita
The word "ahora" means "now". "Ahora" is used here, but "ahorita" is used more often, which specifies "right now". Apparently this term is very Peruvian, and not really used elsewhere. I have been expected to do a lot of things here "ahorita", without much warning or time to get ready. :)
Tranquilo/a
The word “tranquilo” is used here quite frequently. It seemed strange at first, because in the US we use the word calm a lot, but tranquil is pretty much reserved for things like pristine mountain lakes. “Tranquilo”, or “tranquila” for the feminine, is used here both as an adjective and as a command. For example, “Acá es más tranquila de Lima” or “Here it is more calm/quiet than Lima“, “El es un hombre tranquilo” or “He’s a laid back guy“, or “¡Tranquila!” or “Calm down!”.
Rico/a
Literally “rico” means a rich person, or sometimes an expensive thing. However, it can also be used to describe delicious or tasty food. Food is rarely described here as being good, delicious, really good, okay, bad-tasting, or anything else, but simply as (emphatically) “¡Es rico!” as (a little doubtfully) “Si, es rico…” or rarely as “No, no es rico.”
Bien
One of the Spanish words that most English-speakers know is “bien” or “good”. It took me a while to figure out that here, it more often means “very”. I kept getting confused and wondering if I was hearing things correctly when I heard things like “bien feo” or “good/very ugly”, “bien bonita” or “good/very pretty”, and “bien frio” or “good/very cold”.
Bastante
In a similar manner, "bastante" as I learned it and as it is written in the dictionary means "enough". I kept getting confused when my host sisters asked me if I had "bastante tarea" or "enough homework". Eventually I realized that "bastante" is used more often to signify "a lot" or even "too much". Hence, this past week I have indeed had "bastante tarea"!
Claro
One of my favorites. The term "claro" or "clearly/of course/that´s right" is used in Perú pretty much as it is used elsewhere in the Spanish-speaking world, and it is used fairly often. It always makes me feel like a bit of a genius when I am making a statement or confirming the answer to a question, and I get the response of "¡Claro!" spoken quite emphatically, like I have made a great revelation.
I have also found myself forgetting a lot of English words. I will be talking about something in Spanish, going along just fine, when I will get stuck on a somewhat uncommon word. Then, I will rack my brain trying to figure out the word in English, with the hopes that they will recognize the word in English, it will sound very similar in Spanish, or remembering the word in English will help me describe it in Spanish. At least once a day (and usually more), either in my Spanish class or at home with my host family, I will sit there for about 30 seconds trying to think of a word. Sometimes I eventually think of it, but a lot of times I just end up saying the equivalent of “Oh, I don’t know, anyway…” in Spanish.
Overall, I feel like my Spanish is coming along pretty well. I can now understand almost everything my host family says (at least if I am paying attention), compared with only the basics at first. My speaking ability is improving, but more slowly. I can convey pretty much anything I need to, but I know I will have some of the verbs conjugated incorrectly (it’s hard to think of conjugations quickly while you are trying to speak!), I will have to improvise some terms, and I will have to supplement with gestures or facial expressions.
Today, we got moved to our new language groups. At the very beginning, I was put into the intermediate low group (level 4 out of 10). Friday, we had our second round of interviews, and today I found out that I had advanced to the intermediate medium group. I feel like both of those placements were a little bit on the low side, but I get a somewhat flustered and stumble over some things when I get put on the spot speaking Spanish. Plus, a level of only intermediate medium is required to be placed at a site. Now that I have officially reached that level, while I still have a lot of room for improvement, I don’t have to stress out about my language ability.
Acá
When I was learning Spanish, I learned that the word "aqui" meant "here" (literally the place here, but also many of the other uses the word "here" has). In Peru, however, the word "acá" or "over here" is used most of the time instead.
Ahorita
The word "ahora" means "now". "Ahora" is used here, but "ahorita" is used more often, which specifies "right now". Apparently this term is very Peruvian, and not really used elsewhere. I have been expected to do a lot of things here "ahorita", without much warning or time to get ready. :)
Tranquilo/a
The word “tranquilo” is used here quite frequently. It seemed strange at first, because in the US we use the word calm a lot, but tranquil is pretty much reserved for things like pristine mountain lakes. “Tranquilo”, or “tranquila” for the feminine, is used here both as an adjective and as a command. For example, “Acá es más tranquila de Lima” or “Here it is more calm/quiet than Lima“, “El es un hombre tranquilo” or “He’s a laid back guy“, or “¡Tranquila!” or “Calm down!”.
Rico/a
Literally “rico” means a rich person, or sometimes an expensive thing. However, it can also be used to describe delicious or tasty food. Food is rarely described here as being good, delicious, really good, okay, bad-tasting, or anything else, but simply as (emphatically) “¡Es rico!” as (a little doubtfully) “Si, es rico…” or rarely as “No, no es rico.”
Bien
One of the Spanish words that most English-speakers know is “bien” or “good”. It took me a while to figure out that here, it more often means “very”. I kept getting confused and wondering if I was hearing things correctly when I heard things like “bien feo” or “good/very ugly”, “bien bonita” or “good/very pretty”, and “bien frio” or “good/very cold”.
Bastante
In a similar manner, "bastante" as I learned it and as it is written in the dictionary means "enough". I kept getting confused when my host sisters asked me if I had "bastante tarea" or "enough homework". Eventually I realized that "bastante" is used more often to signify "a lot" or even "too much". Hence, this past week I have indeed had "bastante tarea"!
Claro
One of my favorites. The term "claro" or "clearly/of course/that´s right" is used in Perú pretty much as it is used elsewhere in the Spanish-speaking world, and it is used fairly often. It always makes me feel like a bit of a genius when I am making a statement or confirming the answer to a question, and I get the response of "¡Claro!" spoken quite emphatically, like I have made a great revelation.
I have also found myself forgetting a lot of English words. I will be talking about something in Spanish, going along just fine, when I will get stuck on a somewhat uncommon word. Then, I will rack my brain trying to figure out the word in English, with the hopes that they will recognize the word in English, it will sound very similar in Spanish, or remembering the word in English will help me describe it in Spanish. At least once a day (and usually more), either in my Spanish class or at home with my host family, I will sit there for about 30 seconds trying to think of a word. Sometimes I eventually think of it, but a lot of times I just end up saying the equivalent of “Oh, I don’t know, anyway…” in Spanish.
Overall, I feel like my Spanish is coming along pretty well. I can now understand almost everything my host family says (at least if I am paying attention), compared with only the basics at first. My speaking ability is improving, but more slowly. I can convey pretty much anything I need to, but I know I will have some of the verbs conjugated incorrectly (it’s hard to think of conjugations quickly while you are trying to speak!), I will have to improvise some terms, and I will have to supplement with gestures or facial expressions.
Today, we got moved to our new language groups. At the very beginning, I was put into the intermediate low group (level 4 out of 10). Friday, we had our second round of interviews, and today I found out that I had advanced to the intermediate medium group. I feel like both of those placements were a little bit on the low side, but I get a somewhat flustered and stumble over some things when I get put on the spot speaking Spanish. Plus, a level of only intermediate medium is required to be placed at a site. Now that I have officially reached that level, while I still have a lot of room for improvement, I don’t have to stress out about my language ability.
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