Dear blog,
Next week I am going 17 hours away to Cajamarca in northern Peru to teach 6hrs a day of Business in Spanish to University students studying to be professors! I’d be lying if I were to say I am not scared shitless. Two of by wonderful fellow volunteers and I are, believe it or not, teaching 3 full day classes to about 20 students followed by a day long simulation with the students. The simulation involves groups of 5 students who open a one-day small micro business, which can be as simple as a lemonade stand. The idea behind this simulation is that we give the groups about $30 to buy their products and do marketing around the community. The students must return the money in addition to a two percent interest to us, and the rest of the money they earn through their business is theirs to keep. The students must keep a record of all their credits and debts, and use the knowledge we teach them to be a successful business. So, that’s the general overview. I’m really excited but especially nervous about the language barrier and the amount of time we are actually teaching for. I can’t wait to write the next post and let you all know how it goes!
Other crazy things: The other day there was a strike against a raise in the cost of living. I hear in some parts of Peru there were huge riots and fires. For us, the most excitement was in that our Spanish classes were canceled in the morning. Instead, I took the morning to cook banana pancakes (with a touch of honey) for my host family! It was AMAZING!
I experienced my biggest wave of culture shock the other day walking to class with my fellow volunteers one of which has an adorable dog—‘Sweater-Dog’—who walks with us all the way. Sweater-Dog (who wears a camouflage sweater everyday) was minding his own business when two other dogs started barking at him. Sweater-Dog ran after the dogs, who all three began to chase after a car that was driving down the road. The car did not stop, or even slow down as the dogs approached it. Instead, the car just ran directly over Sweater-Dog! The car continued down the road, as if it were nothing. Fortunately Sweater-Dog made it out alive, but was limping very painfully. We asked the host family to take it to the vet. It turns out he has a couple broken ribs and will fortunately be okay. I still can’t believe how that car never slowed down or looked back—that is what was so shocking. L
On a more positive note, my computer crashed and I have an awesome tech-savvy host cousin who put a bunch a weird codes in my computer and fixed it! Its now running better than ever J
I am starting to think knitting isn’t my specialty, and my 1/4th of a scarf in progress is approaching just plain embarrassing.
We celebrated Fourth of July! Hope ya’ll had a good one, we played field games and had hamburgers and peanut butter! It was amazing! Okay, those are all the updates for now, I will post after my Field Base Training next week. Peace.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Thursday, July 3, 2008
A new month, a new blog!
Hey yall!
No worries, I am still alive and breathing! No diarrhea episodes yet--knocking on wood! We are twiteling down on the number of people who can still say that. Anywho so I left the US a month ago tomorrow for this adventure...its gone so fast really, only 26 more...I feel like I am practically home! Everyday is a new adventure, and I have learned so much since my last post! First, Ive picked up a couple hobbies in my little spare time: 1) Knitting--I am working on my first scarf, its a beauty, cant wait to show ya! 2) Guitar playing-- yup! thats right, I now play the guitar (mas o menos) but I do have the help of two avid players and purchased a very nice classical slightly smaller than 3/4ths size guitar (for a whopping $40 including case, book, strap, pick) ---oh, and dont worry, this will be followed by singing lessons as well as soon as I get back in that U S of A. 3) learning how to farm both normally and organically, and 4) trout farming, thats right, I can raise my own trout farm now...what you think about that? Thanks government funding for these incredible new talents! This is just the first month! Just imagine after 26 more, you guys wont even know what to do with me. So Ive had a couple questions about what I am doing here so Ill explain. I am living in a small town called Huescaran with a wonderful family pictured below. I will be living here for 3 months (until Aug. 22). During this time, I am training and learning better spanish, and Peruvian business trades. I attend school/training in the small town of Chaclacayo which is a 15min walk from my house. I hand wash my own panties, socks and bras. This town is about an hour and a half from Lima, the capital of Peru. After Aug. 22, I will be send to a different part of Peru, probably at least 10 hours away from here to live with a small, rural town and new family and new life for 2 years helping with business development!! Its kinda scary not going to lie...Its def going to be an emotional roller coaster. Anywho, with the support of all of yall that love me and can accompany me through my loneliest times in life –I think I can do it. I will make a change, if only just a little, in this crazy world down here. Peace.
I MISS YOU ALL!!!! xoxo
No worries, I am still alive and breathing! No diarrhea episodes yet--knocking on wood! We are twiteling down on the number of people who can still say that. Anywho so I left the US a month ago tomorrow for this adventure...its gone so fast really, only 26 more...I feel like I am practically home! Everyday is a new adventure, and I have learned so much since my last post! First, Ive picked up a couple hobbies in my little spare time: 1) Knitting--I am working on my first scarf, its a beauty, cant wait to show ya! 2) Guitar playing-- yup! thats right, I now play the guitar (mas o menos) but I do have the help of two avid players and purchased a very nice classical slightly smaller than 3/4ths size guitar (for a whopping $40 including case, book, strap, pick) ---oh, and dont worry, this will be followed by singing lessons as well as soon as I get back in that U S of A. 3) learning how to farm both normally and organically, and 4) trout farming, thats right, I can raise my own trout farm now...what you think about that? Thanks government funding for these incredible new talents! This is just the first month! Just imagine after 26 more, you guys wont even know what to do with me. So Ive had a couple questions about what I am doing here so Ill explain. I am living in a small town called Huescaran with a wonderful family pictured below. I will be living here for 3 months (until Aug. 22). During this time, I am training and learning better spanish, and Peruvian business trades. I attend school/training in the small town of Chaclacayo which is a 15min walk from my house. I hand wash my own panties, socks and bras. This town is about an hour and a half from Lima, the capital of Peru. After Aug. 22, I will be send to a different part of Peru, probably at least 10 hours away from here to live with a small, rural town and new family and new life for 2 years helping with business development!! Its kinda scary not going to lie...Its def going to be an emotional roller coaster. Anywho, with the support of all of yall that love me and can accompany me through my loneliest times in life –I think I can do it. I will make a change, if only just a little, in this crazy world down here. Peace.
I MISS YOU ALL!!!! xoxo
Sunday, June 22, 2008
.jpg)
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
.jpg)
+first+family+foto.jpg)
The outskirts of Lima
Dear my loyal readers,
Wow, where am I? Sometimes I lay in my bed thinking, what am I doing here? Other times I feel that I am sitting on top of the world. From what I am told the next two years consist of a roller coaster of highs and lows. Most of my experiences in the last 12 days here have been highs, I can’t really complain. The lows are just a matter of getting used to really. The hardest struggle thus far is living in the past, in every sense of the word. The way of life here is comparable to how I imagine the states before I was born. Also, I absolutely love my family here, but I truly miss the independence I had in the wonderful US of A. Here, I have a curfew and feel obligated to ask permission to go anywhere. Even when mom left the house for an hour, I was told not to go down the stairs, incase I were to fall and hurt myself or die while she was gone. Wow. Different, huh? Well, she doesn’t know this, but I went both down and back up the stairs! REBEL! Ha, okay, that is my week’s worth of venting. Now the good stuff, the people here are GREAT! Everyday we have 4 hours of Spanish class, then 4 hours of Peruvian business classes. Each night is followed with homework, as if I didn’t do enough in college. Over the weekend we celebrated my host mom’s b-day and father’s day! Talk about a different tradition here for father’s day: apparently, it is common to go to the cemetery (where both overcrowded and loud are understatements) and pour beer on the deceased graves’, as if they were drinking here and apart of the fiesta. Incredible. Hmmm…I love potatoes and rice…but not for every meal of the day. NO MORE CARBS!! Ha, and this is only day 12…No but seriously, I am happy here. Crazy busy, and learning a lot. PS let me holler a shout out to my loved ones whose b-days’ I missed: mommy mooshkey, Scotty boy (best bro bro ever!), cousey Charles, Gabberz (miss u roomie!), Court (Love ya!) and all those that I will probably miss within the next 27 months. I miss you all dearly, and love you so much! As always, keep in touch, and remember I am only an email away! LOVE YOU!
Wow, where am I? Sometimes I lay in my bed thinking, what am I doing here? Other times I feel that I am sitting on top of the world. From what I am told the next two years consist of a roller coaster of highs and lows. Most of my experiences in the last 12 days here have been highs, I can’t really complain. The lows are just a matter of getting used to really. The hardest struggle thus far is living in the past, in every sense of the word. The way of life here is comparable to how I imagine the states before I was born. Also, I absolutely love my family here, but I truly miss the independence I had in the wonderful US of A. Here, I have a curfew and feel obligated to ask permission to go anywhere. Even when mom left the house for an hour, I was told not to go down the stairs, incase I were to fall and hurt myself or die while she was gone. Wow. Different, huh? Well, she doesn’t know this, but I went both down and back up the stairs! REBEL! Ha, okay, that is my week’s worth of venting. Now the good stuff, the people here are GREAT! Everyday we have 4 hours of Spanish class, then 4 hours of Peruvian business classes. Each night is followed with homework, as if I didn’t do enough in college. Over the weekend we celebrated my host mom’s b-day and father’s day! Talk about a different tradition here for father’s day: apparently, it is common to go to the cemetery (where both overcrowded and loud are understatements) and pour beer on the deceased graves’, as if they were drinking here and apart of the fiesta. Incredible. Hmmm…I love potatoes and rice…but not for every meal of the day. NO MORE CARBS!! Ha, and this is only day 12…No but seriously, I am happy here. Crazy busy, and learning a lot. PS let me holler a shout out to my loved ones whose b-days’ I missed: mommy mooshkey, Scotty boy (best bro bro ever!), cousey Charles, Gabberz (miss u roomie!), Court (Love ya!) and all those that I will probably miss within the next 27 months. I miss you all dearly, and love you so much! As always, keep in touch, and remember I am only an email away! LOVE YOU!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
June 10, 2008
Well I made it to Peru! Sorry for the delay, apparently this volunteer position is kinda time consuming. Well I would like to start this post by thanking my fellow tax payers for the amazing $800/night hotel we stayed two nights in at the beginning of our journey...quite incredible I must say. Unfortunatly it did not do justice for helping our migration to developing Peru. Today was our second official day of training. There are 38 of us total business development and youth development volunteers in this wonderful country. I am a little disappointed in the lack of crazy hippies but I guess we have been titled ¨professional hippies¨-- a true oxymoron. Anywho, some highlights so far include our fellow volunteer, Glenn, being spit on by a llama wondering in the street. classic. My lowlight of the trip so far would be fainting after a rabbies shot (and I still have four more!). It is really a different world down here, that is one thing I can say. Oh, and something to look foward to is that 99.9% of volunteers in peru get diharreah (sp?) ..so i can´t wait! But anywho, I am living with a host family that is AWESOME! I have a 21 year old sister (soon to be my best friend of course!) and 12 and 7 yr old brothers. The parents are great as well, I couldn´t be happier (well...of course a hot shower would be nice...but lets be realistic...) As far as ginnea pigs go, I haven´t eaten one yet, but that is sure to change soon! I feel like I am back in school, we go to classes from 8am to 5pm everyday...4 hrs of language classes and the rest helping with culture immersion and business in peru. This is going to be a wild trip....thats about all I can say for now. More stories to come! Much love, I MISS EVERYONE!!!! I love you all dearly!! Can´t wait to hear from ya, keep in touch. Love
Kelly
Kelly
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
