stuff

so got back to site to find out that there may be problems with the funding for my improved cook stoves but i still have no solid word on the project. So i keep doing the trainings with the mothers and they are changing their houses and behaviors and showing up to the meetings so i could not be happier. Then i headed to the mountains of piura to give a training about malnutrition, how to form health promoters, how to run educative sessions, and how to do house visits. It was really great getting to meet the next round of volunteers and to also get the experience of training volunteers. it is so strange to feel like not that long ago we were in their shoes except that a year and a half has already passed by and we have learned so much and changed. it was also entertaining to hang out with one of my best girl friends here because the training was in her site. lets just say that after spending three days with her that we have in general definately lost our minds and will likely be very socially awkward when we get back to the states. Then got back to site and am working on improving people´s bathrooms by building cement platforms still have not decided as to whether I want to do a full latrine project or these platforms are good enough in my opinion. If i do decided to do the latrines I am going to need your guys help with donations totaling in $500 total which is really not all that much and could probably make 30 latrines. Anyways i will let u know if i do or not soon. I joined my dance group last week and will start dancing and performing with them again. I realized after dancing in the 50th anniversary how much i missed and loved dancing. So it is helping my physical health, as for mental health i have been finger painting super relaxing and started doing yoga again. Getting stuff prepared for a girls leadership camp that will be happening next week. all around evrything is pretty calm right now hope all is well with yall.

travels

So i know I said I would be headed to the beach but for budget reasons I was unable to go, which seemed very unlucky. But that same night at 8 pm i got an invite to go with a group of dancers from my site to Ecuador to perform in the Anniversary celebrations of Yantaza. So we got into a car at 11 pm and went driving all night to the border only getting mildly lost once. At the border we had to wait like 6 hours until our transportation arrived so taking advantage of the time we went to a playground to learn the dance we would be performing that same night. We had to borrow electricity from a house in order to have the music play and within an hour we were completely exhausted sweaty smelly and sunburned because the sun is so overwhelmingly strong. Then after lunch and a little loss of hope this sweet mini bus came to our rescue and we were told that there would be 7 more hours to go in order to arrive. So in between consciousness we tried to get the dance organized and memorized and catch up on sleep. However, the windy roads in high altitude got to the majority of us and consequently, there was nausea vomiting headaches dehydration and paleness. We arrived at a gas station and in the bathroom one of the girls told me that she did not feel good and then proceeded to pass out luckily my friend caught her before she hit her head on the corner of the wall. After what seemed like forever and lots of coaxing she sat up like a possessed person confused and scared. I was also scared because I had never seen anyone wake up like that after being passed out, with some pills everyone got into better conditions. At 830 we got to the town and then were told we had to go straight to the local to perform because the event was almost up. Entering we found ourselves surrounded by beautifully dressed groups and a sold out event. Talk about nervous because we were not an actual dance group just members of various groups molded together and barely practiced the dance. The organizer shows up and says you have two songs to get changed and then you are up. Dang we stripped off our clothes and throwing of bobby pins, hats, belts, safety pins, lipstick and earrings. Boom. Listo. So we hear our name and out we go nerves but excited none the less. It went well all things considered. After the relief of completing what we came to do I enjoyed watching the other groups and getting to know the traditional dances of Ecuador which are distinct from the dances I have learned, followed by a musical performance of a 10 man group, amazing. At midnight we finally got to the hotel only to find that there was one shower with one tank of water for the 15 of us. So form the line turn on and off the faucet and limits to two minute showers. None of us could have afforded to go without a shower. 130 sleep finally. Wake up and then a little sight seeing on the way back of Loja which is apparently one of the cleanest towns in the world. The air in the city was cleaner than the air in the country where I live. Nothing of trash in the streets no visible pollution. It also has the largest clock in the world. We saw a river that was so clear you could see to the bottom of it in which ever point of the river. Pristine. Then 6 hours back to the border. Slight problems with border patrol but they did luckily let me back into Peru. Then 6 more hours upon arriving to the entrance of my town the truck got a flat tire so we had to walk the 15 minutes to get home. Exhaustion next day back to work as though nothing happened. Then there was the 50th celebration in Piura where coworkers, socios and volunteers met to present the work we realize. It was refreshing to remember what the organization is about and then hear stories of experiences and successes of all the programs. It truly is an incredible thing what we are doing here. Then pack the bags off again to Lima for the central 50th anniversary event. I met the ambassador and the first lady. Then we did a flash mob dance which was a hit. Afterwards it was nice to go out and dance some more with friends at the clubs. The next day I was off to Cajamarca for Carnival. Did some sight seeing of archeological sites and hiking to waterfalls, bathing in the hot springs, eating delicious food mostly cheese and yogurt. The central day is hours of paint fights running all through the city dancing, singing, and throwing paint and water balloons at one another. Got cleaned up and then headed out to a dance club to check out an electronic dj that was in town. Rare experience here because techno music is not popular so taking advantage stayed out dancing until 5 am. lovely and super fun. Then there was more sight seeing and the big parade which lasted over 3 hours with elaborate costumes more songs and dance. My first carnival of many. And thank goodness for vacations much needed relax and release. Then tuesday its back to the chaos of my life. I am so grateful for the every moment i get to live. hope you all feel the same about your lives if not do something to get where you want to go. Seriously considering staying a third year in a leadership position. will know more in may. loves.

my bad

Ok well I apologize for not writing sooner things have been getting very interesting here. On the note of my site there is still not a lot of rain and consequently no confirmed cases of dengue and thus no worries. I am definately staying in my site thank goodness. March 1st is the actual 50th Anniversary of my organization, I was granted the compliment of being specially invited to attend the event in Lima. My regional director told me that based on my character and in recognition of the work I do I should be the one to represent Piura. Later that same week I received an invite to go to train the new group of volunteers on my style of work because it is considered highly effective. Then, I know can you stand it, I got another phone call saying that a reporter from what would be considered a state wide newspaper would be covering a story on my work along with two other volunteers in Piura. It was a day full of interviews with health promoters, mothers, visiting cook stoves, with a professor, and with my mayor. I was shocked when I received a page and a half of coverage talking mostly about my opinions on why adolescent pregnancy exists and about how I teach sex ed. Which is basically an eigth of my work. I was concerned but my boss says that it was a good representation of the organization even if it is an exaggeration of how much I actually work on the theme and luckily nothing could be considered offensive. My improved cook stoves project is confirmed. A girl from another small town of my site came and presented the idea of doing another cook stoves project. I told her if she got the funding I would support her. It looks like there is a really good chance she will get the funding. That would mean 21 cook stoves for sure and perhaps another 21 if she gets funded (42). crap. That would be wonderful and stressful. We have had a bunch of meetings lately about the Parent School so that the planning and budget and roles and responsibilities are accurate and the project can happen without collapsing or being placed on my shoulders. It is promising, we finished the document today. I have been teaching a college prep course during the summer session which concluded this week with a visit to the Private University of Piura. It was an incredible experience I seriously felt like I was back in the states while I was on campus the quality of their materials, labs, professors, infraestructure, marketing material, and students was mind blowing. It made me want to go back and study. Except for then I thought about how I could not pass the GRE and thus no grad school still in the plans. Though I was looking at Cornell and Tufts just in case because they have a contract with the UN. I have been training more health promoters and counselling non functioning committees of Vaso de Leche. Two friends and I have started a nursery project with the goal that before I leave we will have planted at least 200 trees. So far 21 trees planted. I have been contributing with compost, bags, and had an engineer come to check the quality of our work. I sold all my guinea pigs because I really do not have time for them and the plan all along was to get them into the houses of families. Successful integration of breeding in 4 families. I have been emailing with a college professor from the CSU Nutrition program who says that I may be featured in the Department Newsletter. Talk about freaking publicity. BUT... No fear I am not over working myself I swear. I spend the weekends dancing and hanging out with friends. I am teaching one of my health promoters how to ride a bike and go to the river to swim at least once a week. And on tuesday I should be headed to a beach with the kids from my site to celebrate the end of summer school. That should explain why I have not gotten the chance to write though it is hardly excusable. I am more likely dying from the heat here than anything else. Everything is going I will be going to celebrate Carnival and taking a much needed vacation the first week of March. So if not sooner I will let you know more fun stories. K loves.

crap

So last week i received an email saying that I had two weeks to get out of my site because it is one of the few places in Peru that had hemorrhagic dengue in the past and has a strong history of lots of dengue plus the fact that I already had it once. So I then freaked out, cried, had a small life crisis, sent an angry email, and waited. During the day I received several phone calls all very blurry about where I was going, when, for how long, if I would come back or not to my site. Nerve racking. Then at five oclock I received another phone call saying I could stay. So I am living on the edge so to speak because I do not know whether it is 100% or not that I can stay especially because so many people in other parts of peru are dying of a new form of dengue. dont you love how viruses can mutate to be killers. I do not feel very threatened at the moment because there have been no cases yet of dengue in my site and it is not raining. Should it be a dry season I should be in the clear. If many cases of dengue show up in my site and the rains come I will probably have to evacuate my site at least for some months. It is distracting to try to work knowing that it could all be for nothing and at any moment I could be leaving. I have also decided that I am going to try to be more supportve of my organization and get more involved in the monthly meetings and in feb there is a celebration of the 50th aniversary of Peace corps. As I realized that I could perhaps better and change the service of other volunteers. I am doing a sweet job of recovering malnourished kids and this week have been working to try to better the abliities of professionals here. I am giving a bunch of resources and trainings so that the teachers, municipality, and health professionals can do a better job and produce more prepared mothers, students, and new professionals. I think the fact that I might be leaving is getting me thinking more about how to be sustainable how to get changes to last once I am gone. And really trying to get more professionals to do more work outside of what they are required. I am helping on improving the trash service here so that there is not such a problem with trash in my site. Decreasing the amount of complaints, people throwing trash in inappropriate locations, throwing out dead animals whereever, and burning trash. So far I have formed two committees that will be responsible for the upkeep getting people to pay fines for not doing what they should be. I have my hands dirty everyday. ill keep you updated i might end up in the mountains.

m & E

New years was fun i made a doll representing things that i hate like domestic violence, alcoholism, and male superiority. and we burned it at midnight. if only i was so easy to burn social problems. i hosted a dinner party for my friends and then we went out to a party at my friends house dancing in the street until 4 am. The next day i painted our bathroom bright blue. nice spruce up.So my entirety for the moment is monitoring and evaluation. holding meetings with comittees planning for the year. writing and rewriting projects. visiting families and doing interviews to see what they know now so i can better develop teaching materials and then see in the end whether or not they learned. it is not glamorous or fun but arguably necessary. the recycling project i started in the high school is going to be accepted into the entire community and the municipality is going to use it as a small business. i am still waiting to hear whether or not they are approving the cook stove project but i am 80% sure that they will. the parent school is not going to be my problem this year i am only working as an outside consultant to develop the training for trash management and nutrition if those are themes they elect. I believe that it is a great project but i think that if i get stuck in charge again that it will fail when i leave. i want to get youth health promoters to teach sex ed but i do not know if that is going to happen. i am also trying to work with two of my friends to get a nursery going or growing ha. which would also be a small business for them. i just want there to be more trees in my site. i have two families that accepted guinea pigs into their homes witht he hopes that it will become trendy and more families will want to do it. I trained a guy how to build cement platforms for latrines and am working with getting families to buy their own. another small business for that guy. still working at the health post. I think that my municipality has a lot of hope with this new team they have. there are two younger girls on it and they are really moving and shaking. i started doing yoga and running with a friend. workout buddies are such useful things in a weight loss program. running was not nearly as hard as i had thought it would be and now that i use the breathing techniques i learned in yoga i can run farther without getting tired or feeling like i am going to die from lack of oxygen. i am planting right now because the rain still has not come but maybe soon, cucumber, radishes, and soy. I learned how to make soy milk way better than buying it. my host mom seems to be really supportive of the fact that i do not like meat and has been giving me practically none. so back to organics and veggies yes. oh though i am fearful because the dengue situation here is apparently serious this year and if i get bit i could bleed out. i am covered regularly with repellent. but nerve racking thinking that on little bugger could get the best of me. working out a plan with the doctors so that i can get to a hospital asap before i bleed out. just in case. i think i will be teaching a college prep course in summer school. which has me thinking about next year in my own life and where am i headed or staying or going. time flies and i hope it does not get ahead of me. i keep waiting for the universe to give me a sign. i am reading this book about how to end poverty. it is making me feel like if i really want to change the world i have to work on policy but i do not really have interest in that. hoping my friends do and then i can just influence.

from here to there

So Lima was a great experience getting to meet up with and see the progress that all the volunteers of my program are making. I am extremely proud to be a part of this group I think we are all very dedicated and have certainly worked hard this year. It is crazy to think about the year as a whole all the hardship and breakthroughs. I really enjoyed getting to meet up with my three girl friends who are always like a breath of fresh air and inspire me to keep pushing. I was taken aback because we did a self esteem activity and all my co workers and boss wrote positive messages anonymously on a piece of paper. I did not realize how much and how many people respect my work and me as a person. As for my health I did not have anything wrong no thyroid issues, STDS, or parasites. So then I headed back to my site and got back to work for a week getting everything in place for 2011. I submitted my Nutrition Project to the municipality I have no idea if they are going to approve it and am actually a little nervous if they do because it is a huge undertaking on top of my Healthy Households Project. But I am sure that it is all manageable and honestly if it achieves its objectives I will have seriously changed the lives of entire families. Then there were some parties for Christmas and end of the year. My office is getting a face lift. I got newly painted yellow and green walls, hardwood floors, and a fixed bathroom. From some lucky project there will be Early Childhood Stimulation in that office which I will probably help teach at least once a week in the afternoons. I am just excited because it is absolutely gorgeous. I had a coordinator come in and check out my work and life. He was really impressed with how much the moms I teach have learned and adapted to their lives these techniques and information. Then I packed up my bags and traveled two days to the USA to spend Xmas with the family. It was crazy seeing snow and suffering in the cold weather. I got to go to a Xmas party with a friend and we went carolling around the neighborhood. It was an unexpected and great meet up with an old friend. Then my mom and I packed the bags and headed to PA to see my grams in her new apartment. I have to say it is weird not going to her old house that I grew up in. But it was time to downsize. I accept this was probably the last time I will see her. So to celebrate our lives we got drunk together and it was the most fun I have ever had with her and the best memory I will carry in my heart. A different friend showed up and got the experience of my family. She said that meeting my grams explained exactly why I am the way that I am. I could not agree more she is my hero for her antics and I try to take after her the best I can. Xmas was calm I spent the two days cooking for my family it is nice to give back to them. On a side note I love dishwashers, hot showers, and more than anything a washing machine. Then my engaged friends showed up and we talked for a bit before my mom and I came back to MD. Shopping with gift cards I think my mom wanted to kill me because literally there are a million choices and the variety here just blows my mind and so I was touching and reading and looking at everything I think had she not been there to put a stop to it all I could have easily been in any store especially a book store or grocery store for hours on end without noticing. And as of today I am headed back to Peru. I feel like I am going back with the same energy that I originally went there with and at one year you start getting a little fatigued or uncertain in your decision making. So this trip was exactly what I needed to refresh and regroup and remember why I went there and more so why I am there now. I will try to be better at blogging because I learned how many of yall are actually reading so I will try to do it at least every two weeks if not more. I wrote this the day I spent in lima at a mall on my way to the states:
Same place different time staring into the expanse of corporations. Cars zoom by, pure pavement, high heels click clack. I see a desert. I see emptiness and needs not being fulfilled. I keep wondering if this is development. If when we work day in and day out it is all with this goal in mind. Because I do not feel like pushing button, nicely dressed selling unnecessary things is what development is all about. If everyone works in the same thing and everything is technology and shiny clean. It is not likely people or the society as a whole will survive we need agriculturalist. Because people need food more than they need fuel, clothes, gas, and electricity. I want people to be healthy and safe. I certainly wish for them financial stability but never all this. I do not feel like everyone driving a car, perfectly fashionable, and mega malls is progress. I think the middle class is the only one that has it all. Work, decent pay, family, friends, free time, health, security, education. Above and below there are many problems and a harshness that prevents happiness.
So I wish for you all in the new year that we evaluate what is really important to us, is what we are doing a means to an end or an end? Are we only working to better ourselves or others as well? Do we think that pain is a terrible thing or just as important and necessary as pleasure? Are we seeking happiness or just immediate gratification? Leave the bs from 2010 behind and build on the base or get back to the basics. Happy New Year.I love you, be good.

sickly

Lets see it was the Aniversary of my site last week which was full of dancing competitions, singing competitions, seranades, cooking competitions and fireworks, Lots of good music good sights and good times. i made a sweet shrit out of a piece of green fabric and safety pins. and dancing my tail off. I prepared a guinea pig dish to present as a nutritional dish during the food competition. In the agriculutral fair i taught about how to do compost, basic nutrition, handwashing, and the breeding of guinea pigs. I think i am starting a sweet business for my friend to gain money with. Been hanging out with my moms lately checking how the cookstoves are cooking they are excellent everyone is incredibly satisfied. I think i saved a three month old baby from dying from a high fever. By making the mom bathe her child. I had a worlds aids day event that turned out fairly poorly but i did succeed in teaching about 20 people how to use a condom right. Then taught a different day to one of my english classes about the subject and they said they had never heard anything about HIV or AIDs before so that is good. Then I recently left my site to come to lima for our mid service meetings and medical checks. I will get to see the damage this past year has taken out on me. I am grateful beceause for the past two weeks i have been pretty sick with vomiting and diahrrea and overall no apetite which leaves me weak and tired pretty much all the time. so one week in the big city then i go back for a week to my site and then i am off to the states to visit my familia. Cant wait ill keep yall updated on my bill of health.