Christmas in the Andes

I'll let my pictures tell the story this time...

Posing in front of the Health Center's Christmas tree, the only one in town!

Christmas dinner - noodle soup, guinea pig and potatoes.

Host mom and me standing outside our house.
I guess I've got a hand-on-the-hip thing going this holiday season.

Juan Carlos, my host brother, catching dinner

Dinner!
I survived the holiday in my site.
These ducks were not so lucky.

Family and neighbors toasting Christmas.

Maria, my host sister, loving her Little Mermaid light-up pen that my mother sent.

My windowsill full of holiday cards and Christmas decorations.

This is my kitchen window. This is where I get my calls.

And it certainly is a room with view.

Happy Holidays!

Wrapping up 2008

December 19, 2008

It’s 10:30am on Friday morning, and I’m sitting in bed drinking a cup of earthy Ancash brew. Iron and Wine in my headphones draining out the constantly blaring huaino playing in my house. If you’ve never heard huaino, it’s the music of this region of the Andes, and it’s something like nails on a chalkboard. I digress.

It’s been a very busy, very sunny week. For late December, I'm enjoying this “rainy season,” which apparently started in September. It rains every now and then, just enough for the landscape to turn greener, for the dust settle, and to allow for an occasional afternoon nap. But the past two weeks have nothing but sunshine... And we finished the World Map!

The early stages were intense – drawing grid lines and grid lines and grid lines with Rabbit over an entire weekend was far more enjoyable than it could have been. I definitely owe that guy a beer. Then came Day One of my World Map Project… where, as described in a previous post, I sat in the rain and waited and waited and waited for the kids to show. Just two weeks later, with over 20 participants between ages 11 and 17, we drew and painted the whole wide world! It’s not the most perfect World Map I’ve seen, but it’s ours – Tumpa’s – and I love it. The completion of the map falls on graduation week, an inevitable transition time that I’ve been semi-dreading. School’s out for the summer! I always loved that… but now I’m on the flip side, living in a small Andean village where all the descendants of the Incas are about to skip town for Lima or the coast. Oh… how times have changed for us all.

I’ve set up a summer camp schedule, which would be a lot of fun if anyone signed up. I’m offering a yoga and exercise club, a movie and popcorn night, an English club, a social theater group, and youth groups using games and art as informal learning tools. I’ve advertised at the school, I've used the town’s megaphone PA system, and of course word of mouth. And three kids have signed up. Count ‘em. Think: structure in an unstructured environment… oil and water, baby. I think I’ll probably end up standing in the middle of the Plaza, bag of candy in hand, yelling “If anyone’s out there, Come play with me!!!” I’m optimistic.

Things to look forward to: Christmas is just around the corner. This is bittersweet for me. This will be my first Christmas spent without one single family member. My parents and siblings will spend the holiday together in Montreal – one night at Kay’s and one night at my Mom’s. It’s very sweet - bittersweet - for me to know that everyone will be together while I’m away. My plans aren’t so bad though… I’ll spend Christmas 2008 with Angelica, Alberto, Maria and Juan Carlos – my Peruvian family - eating pachamanca, a coveted and delicious Peruvian meal that entails cooking spiced chicken, pork, beef, beans, camote and potatoes in a giant hole in the ground for hours. We’ll eat lots of chocolate this Christmas, as goes the tradition in Peru. Mine will be bittersweet.

Other things to look forward to: My dad’s visit on January 2nd… the perfect way to celebrate the New Year! I literally cannot believe that in two weeks from today, I will be in the presence of my dad. And just one month later, I’ll be lying on a beach with my mom celebrating our birthdays. It seems like light-years ago when I said goodbye to my parents at Newark airport in the wee-hours of the morning. Saying goodbye to friends and family (once, twice, maybe three times!) without knowing exactly the next time you’ll see each other is quite the sacrifice. So when I say I’m excited to see my parents, it’s a level of excitement that I’ve never experienced before. I’m so excited it almost hurts… like I can barely think about it… so at risk of shedding a tear on my precious MacBook, I’m changing the subject!

My little friend Gianella, 11, invited me to come to her lower school graduation this afternoon to eat cuy and dance huaino. Nothing like a little mid-afternoon guinea pig feast, complete with dancing with kids and parents. On Sunday the girls want make pancakes to celebrate their graduation. I’ll show them how to make paper snowflakes so we can decorate the house a-la-Rowayton. As a Peace Corps Volunteer, the holidays can be especially difficult and lonely. Tumpa is the farthest thing from New England, Connecticut. But this holiday season I’m lucky enough to be included, as a part of the family, in the Christmas traditions of my new Peruvian family. There’s a lot to be thankful for in this big wide world.

Sending Love.

Sophie

The beginning stages...

The completed World Map! Not the most beautiful color scheme, but it's mine and I love it.


The group of girls who finished the map.

Guinea Pig. It was good.

Gianella and me, at her lower school graduation, with her diploma.

World Map Project

Since the last time I wrote, lots has changed. First, I am so proud to announce to my Peruvian neighbors that I have a new President of the USA… Barack Obama. And they’re pretty excited about that fact as well. Todo es posible. Also, I’ve reconnected with the now 34 members of “Peru 11,” the volunteers I worked, sweat, cried, laughed, dreamed, and played with during training. We’ve lost 4 people since we touched down in Lima, Peru on June 6th… and we poured out a 40 for each one of those lovely people. So 6 months later, 3 months after moving to site, we reconnected to share stories, exchange ideas, and of course to work, sweat, cry, laugh, dream and play together. It was a very wonderful, very intense week, and I was glad to return to my little-piece-of-heaven mountain town in Ancash. Ancash is better, after all.

So post-reconnect, I’ve started my World Map Project. I spent all weekend painting the ocean and drawing the world’s most precise grid with Rabbit, my PCV neighbor. All week from 3-5pm I’ll be at the school with the kids drawing and painting the countries, and today was the first day. At 3:00pm exactly, I sat outside the school in the cold rain (the rainy season has begun…) waiting for the sign of just one small child. Nothing. 3:15pm. Nothing. 3:45pm. UGH… Nothing. But a few long minutes later, as if by miracle of God, out of the mist appeared 3 kids. One 11-year-old cutie pie, and two 17-year-old aspiring artistas. So up we went to the school library, the location of said World Map. (By the way, the library is completely disorganized and stocked with government-provided schoolbooks… not very exciting for the potential reader). We started out practicing drawing to scale by copying a bunny rabbit from a small square to a large square. Almost instantly, the 17 year olds stepped up to the wall and began to sketch Africa and South America. The 11 year old was more timid, though, and very hesitant to approach the daunting blue wall. Not much confianza in herself. But her practice sheets were good, and I really believed that this small child could do it! So I started to draw a small section of Australia, and gently asked her to try to finish the following small section. Next thing you know, this tiny all-star had drawn Australia, New Zealand and all of the surrounding islands…to perfection. The older kids, along with myself, were quite impressed. This is a sweet project.

The kids have two more weeks of school until their summer vacation starts. Rabbit and I are currently in the planning process of creating a summer camp for our kids. Think: basketball camp, yoga class, game hour, healthy lifestyle development workshops, movie nights (popcorn included), field trips, microscope nature club, and lots, lots more. Well maybe not too, too much more.

So yes, nearly 7 months later, I’m still having a great time in Peru.

Lots and lots of love,

Sophia

On a political note... I just couldn't help myself.

I applied for my absentee ballot in early July, but about 2 weeks before Election Day, my Peruvian P.O. Box is still devoid of my Election Materials. So, with a sense of urgency, I came down from the mountain and headed into the city to fill in a Write-In ballot – a ballot for people overseas like me who just never received the absentee ballot in the mail. I’m voting in this election, one way or another.

Even at 10,000 feet in the Andes, people have heard of Barack Obama.

“He’s the black guy, right?”

“That’s right,” I say, “He’s the first African American presidential candidate in the United States. These are really exciting times.”

“Is he a good guy?”

“Oh yes, he wants to protect the rights of the people and repair friendships with countries throughout the world.”

“He’s friends with Osama Bin Laden, right?”

That one always gets me… makes my blood boil a little bit. Either by smoke signal or messenger pigeon (or other?), the Republican Party’s lies and deceptions have permeated the lives of my Quechuan-speaking neighbors. And we don’t live in Lima, we live in a remote farm town at about 10,000 feet in the Andes. The politics of fear is that strong.

I try not to talk politics with Peruvians, but when I do, I realize that (surprise!) they’re not very trusting of the United States. Can you blame them?

I’ve been so disgusted with and embarrassed by the behavior of the Republican Party over the years, but when John McCain was nominated the party’s Presidential Candidate, I was taken aback.

I thought to myself, this man is not a neo-con, nor is he ultra-conservative. He bravely served our country in Vietnam. He’s never used his 5 years as a POW to gain political respect. And he’s had a career in Washington characterized by his attempts to bridge party lines. He was not the nominee I expected.

But as this election season unfolded, I watched in disappointment as the Senator’s moral fabric deteriorated before the eyes of the world. Once again, we have bared witness to a Republican campaign characterized by falsehoods and fear. And the scariest part of it all is that this method has worked in the past.

During campaign rallies, Senator McCain and Governor Palin made no reaction or objection to their audience crying out against Senator Obama, “Terrorist!” “Muslim!” racial slurs, and “Kill him!” Seriously? What is this?

In comparison, during Obama/Biden rallies, when an audience member yelled out against Senator McCain, Senator Obama immediately responded, “There’s no need for that here.” Thank you, Mr. Obama, for maintaining your integrity. Lord knows you’ve been given ample opportunities to lash out against your offenders.

I also want to pose a general question here, and I think it’s a fair one. Since when was it considered unpatriotic and anti-American to elect the crème de la crème to be the President of the United States? What is this “elitist” bullshit that the Republicans are spinning? Senator Barack Obama is the American dream. He is an exceptional human being who worked his way up from a humble background to Harvard Law to the United States Senate. What is wrong with that, I ask? I know I don’t want some average Joe Six-pack who scored C’s in college holding the highest office in the United States and possibly the world. Sorry, Joe. But I think we deserve better than that.

The McCain/Palin camp deems Barack Obama’s tax plan socialist because he once said that the idea is to “spread the wealth.” Guess what? Taxes spread the wealth. They fund public schools, hospitals, and infrastructure alllll over the United States. I’m not even going to start with Joe – I mean Samuel the Plumber, who’s not even a licensed plumber. This ill-intentioned, deceitful name-calling perpetuates my disappointment in John McCain and the Republican Party he represents.

The McCain/Palin campaign has gone too far. They’ve so much implied that Barack Obama is guilty of treason because he sat on a charity board with Bill Ayers. And to rebuke the rumor that Mr. Obama is a Muslim, John McCain told an audience member at a campaign rally, “No, M’am, he’s not a Muslim. He’s a good family man.” Barack Obama is a Christian. But now Muslims can’t be good family men? Tell that to the family of Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, the 20 year old Muslim-American who fought and died for our country in the Iraq War, John McCain.

I think the Republican Party is scared. It’s scared of the idea of a United States of America run by a young African American Senator from Illinois whose business is organizing communities, whose ideas are inspired and creative and whose policies from health care to the economy to direct diplomacy are humane and just what we need.

And somehow, at 10,000 feet in the Andes, my Quechuan neighbors think that Barack Obama hangs out with terrorists. The politics of fear needs to come to an end now, because it affects not only the average American Joe Six-pack, but my Peruvian neighbors as well. And it’s fabrication, all lies. The United States is better than this, and it’s time we elect a President who represent our strengths.

In an election of such paramount importance and in a time of such dire need, I feel very far away. Part of me wishes I were in D.C. right now in the midst of the excitement. Yes, I’m doing my part for my country acting as the sole representative of the United States in my small Peruvian community. I’m working with some wonderful kids, and when I find myself sucked into the occasional political conversation with my neighbors (they start it!), I do my best to emphasize the strengths of my country and to squash the vicious rumors that have reached the ears of these Andean farmers.

General Colin Powell said in his endorsement of Barack Obama that he believes that an Obama election “will also not only electrify our country, I think it’ll electrify the world.”
So from high up in the Andes I send you all back at home this message: On Election Day 2008, please look and comprehend beyond the fear-soaked-falsifications of the Republican Party. They need a time out. Instead, elect Barack Obama, a great, stable, intelligent man, to the White House. He is the best we’ve ever seen. In other words, por favor, Barack the Vote.

With nothing but love,

Sophie

Some pictures to brighten up my blog...

On Sunday, I worked the midnight market shift with Angelica, my host mom... 1am to 9am. It was amazing and intense. I can't believe she sells like this 3x a week. She works haaaarrd.

Host mama Angelica on the left packing up
some chives and cilantro for her customer.

My site mate Rabbit came over for lunch - ceviche -
to talk about the cocina mejorada he's putting in our kitchen.
A cocina mejorada is a kitchen made out of adobe, bricks and tin...
with one of these, your Peruvian kitchen won't fill with smoke!

Angelica and Maria teaching me to dance like a Peruvian.

Impromptu field-trip to Llanganuco,
one of the most beautiful glacier lagunas in Ancash.

October 11, 2008

Saturday evening. I just finished eating dinner with my host family – a very underrated meal which, in the campo, consists of sugar water with a pinch of insta-coffee, a loaf or two of bread and occasionally the leftovers from lunch. Lunch time is where it’s at here – a 2 course meal with fruit, bread and desert involved. So, if any of you know me, you know that my eating patters have undergone an adjustment in this country. Anyhow, I’ve begun this blog with a tangent.

I realize through talking to you that many of you have no clue what I’m doing out here in the wild! So let me explain. The first 3 months at site, a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) like myself spends his or her time completing what is called a Community Diagnostic Activity. The CDA is a comprehensive project designed to increase the PCVs awareness and understanding of his or her community, so that the work done over the 2 years of service can be meaningful. This is done through informal interactions – just talking to people on the street - to surveys and interviews with leaders within my community. My goal is to learn about family structure, gender roles, religion, other forms of social structure, the education and health systems, the municipality, the history of my town, folklore, local beliefs, the state of the youth, local and external organizations active in the community, among other things. Essentially, I am doing a comprehensive research project on this little mountain town that I will call home for the next 2 years.

At the end of my first 3 months in site, I will present my findings to the Peace Corps authorities and my training class at Reconnect on the coast of Peru. During these few days of heaven that I’ll spend with the 37 people I trained with in Lima, we will “reconnect” by sharing our experiences of our first months at site. Other things we’ll be sharing will be the hot Peruvian sunshine, the cool Pacific waves, Thanksgiving turkey, ceviche, and a maybe a cold beer or two. I’m looking forward to it.

So now to describe an average day at my site. Ha! As if! I have willingly relinquished the idea of a “schedule” and live life to the beat of my own drum these days. Right now, I’m in the middle of a 2-week project at the school. The Peruvian school system is divided into Inicial (Kindergarten), Primaria (Lower School) and Secundaria (Middle and Upper School). My target youth age is from 12-18, so I am spending most of my first days and months in the Secundaria. Each grade is divided into sections A and B, so of the 5 grades, there are 10 sections. Every week, each section is governmentally mandated to have 1 hour of Tutoria, an hour where a teacher leads discussions on adolescent themes like decision-making, sexuality, communication, self-esteem, etc. As a youth development volunteer, this hour is highly appealing to me for several reasons. The topics discussed during Tutoria fall under my goals as a PC volunteer of developing a healthy lifestyle, developing vocational skills and developing leadership and community involvement within the youth. Also, if I can work together with the teachers during this hour by developing meaningful workshops, then my work has the potential of sustainability once I’m gone. Hopefully, the teachers I’ll work with will continue these workshops with the kids. By attending every section of Tutoria over the next 2 weeks, I’m getting to know all the Tutors, the other teachers, the kids, and the school administration. It’s a beautiful thing. Memories of GFA definitely run through my head. I feel really fortunate to work with a school system that is not so developed as a way to give back for my awesome New England prep-school education. These days it’s all about contrast.

I’ve also identified a few other projects I’ll probably work on during my service. My town does not have a trash collector – the trash is either burned or thrown in the river. Given that my town is at the base of one of the most important glacial mountains in the world, I would like to initiate an environmental education / recycling campaign with the long-term goal of getting a trash collection truck up here. The road from the main highway to my town (a 30 minute drive up the mountain), was created only 5 years ago, so I think there’s hope in this project. I also plan to create a community garden behind the health post as a way to promote nutrition while involving the nurses in the community. Over summer vacation, the health post nurse and I plan to create a teen social theatre group. She and I, both very experience in theatre, recently attended a Peace Corps workshop on the utility of teen social theatre groups. Besides increasing self-esteem and leadership skills in the youth involved, teen social theatre groups have proved to be an excellent method in sending social messages to developing communities in need. Through these plays, we’ll cover themes like gender roles, nutrition, environmental awareness, and alcohol and drug use. I’m thinking of starting an early morning running club (yes, I said it), a yoga club, and definitely an English club… or else I’ll probably be kicked out of this town. So many adults want to learn English, and if I can figure out how to tie in this club with youth development issues, then it could be great. I’m also going to make them teach me Quechua in return.

Other than that, I cook for myself, I do yoga almost every day, I read for hours, I go on beautiful hikes and runs, I’m taking lots of pictures, catching up on the occasional episode of Gossip Girl, and hoping that you haven’t yet forgotten about me! If you ar so inclined to send me a care package, Triscuts, Sour Patch Kids, US Weekly, and any sort of chocolate is greatly appreciated. If you want more ideas, let me know. ;)

Love,
Sophie

I wrote thi a couple weeks ago...

Today the rain came. It started around 3 in the afternoon when I heard thunder rolling in. The sky went from it’s usual piercing-blue to a tumultuous mix of grey hues and down came the drops, watering the parched earth beneath me. There are many reasons why La Epoca de Lluvia is well loved by the campesinos in this mountain town. The pattering of the raindrops on the mud-turned streets is symphonic, and the already stunning countryside will turn lushly green with each subsequent afternoon downpour. And coming from a girl from small-town New England, I have absolutely no idea what I’m in for. Sure, I’ve experienced my fair share of ‘Nor Easters or the occasional power-outage. But from what I understand, La Epoca de Lluvia is a whole other ball game. It’s an excellent conversation starter or filler. “They say the rain is coming… what’s it like?” “Oh yes, it’s going to rain. It rains hard. Sometimes for weeks on end.” Well, like everything else over the past 4 months, I’m jumping into this proverbial pool of rain… headfirst.