still in one piece

Ok so I am super sorry that I have not written in so long. I tried a few times but for problems with the internet or problems with the website I had not been able to get back. After re-reading the last blog tons has happened. First I am staying a third year however I will no longer be staying in my site. After many problems with health professionals and many rude words and poor treatment from my health center I decided it was no longer worth my time neither personally nor professionally to continue working with people that insist on making my life harder. Unfortunately, for my site they will have to continue to have a health provider that is deficient. As a result of this project though I have been able to succeed in getting my health center to shape up with the help of their bosses. It is always very ironic for me that all of the people in charge treat me with the utmost respect and all of their workers treat me like crap. But I do not let it get me down but rather am laughing in the face of adversity. The nutrition project is showing great results I have already recovered 9 children in one month. I am still waiting on the results of this month. I finished building improved cook stoves which took a workload off my back. I have treated almost 200 children for parasites. My friend molly came to visit for a week getting a day in the life of Andrea. I was so grateful to have a helping hand to get work done and overall impressed by her willingness and acceptance to new experiences. She even taught a nutrition session. It was great she learned how to take the height weight of the children and determine their nutrition status. I have to say that she really helped me realize that the work I am doing here is so important even though it can also be so challenging or overwhelming. It was great getting to share everything with her considering she is also a nutrition professional and seeing the grand difference between what I would be doing in the States with a nutrition degree and what I am doing here with a nutrition degree. Plus it was very interesting to hear that she was suffering the same growing pains that I am even though we are currently living in completely different realities. Then I was off to a much needed vacation to visit a friend that lives at the base of the highest mountain in Peru Huascaran. It was so beautiful and so relaxing and I had enough time to go hiking and breathe fresh air. We also went dancing in the capital and I visited a lagoon that had turquoise blue water and another place that had a rock forest. Everyday I went to bed happily exhausted from physical exertion instead of mental or emotional exertion. I read books, did yoga, cooked lunch for the first time in a very long time. Then I was off to Lima for meetings with the bosses in which we got to meet up with a group of volunteers that I have not seen in almost two years. It was great seeing how much we succeeded in doing for this country and how much a few people had changed. There was lots of laughter and a little bit of sorrow having to say good bye to friends. Also there were sessions where we talked about how to end our service and say good bye to our sites. In which case it became real that I had already completed my time here as fast as it has passed, it seems like yesterday I came and tomorrow I am leaving. Luckily I have two more months to finish this nutrition project. I have made a point to have a much calmer attitude in the face of so many problems and realize that I can only do so much. If things do not go perfectly that is perfectly ok. And thus I have spent more time enjoying the company of my friends and host family here going to eat and going dancing. We are entering the times of parties so first it begins that every weekend there are parties and then as we get to the end of October thru November there are parties every week and weekend. As a result of the decision that I would no longer be staying in my site for a third year my boss offered me and opportunity to work in the Lima office as the Coordinator of Volunteers for the Health Program, I was previously not certain it was a position that I really wanted but at the end of the day, when I received the offer I felt honored that many of my peers thought I would be a good fit for the job. I will be living and working with one of my best friends here so I feel much more comfortable with the decision. Life is good, I am happy I will be able to come home for a month to the states starting in December I will be on the East Coast and then after Xmas and for New Year’s I will be in Colorado. My dreams every night are already very USA focused. Cannot wait to see ya’ll hoping that everyone is surviving the crazy weather that you seem to be having over there.

good lord

So in the past weeks many things have happened or not happened and then still needed to happen. I have felt that there are not enough hours in the day to fit everything I absolutely need to do in. It has been really hard not to exhaust myself though it is apparent in the pains that my body give me. The other week was literally the hardest week I think I have ever had in all my service. I was working behind myself because my project almost got stolen by some crazy doctor and then the funding paperwork got behind so I was receiving my materials at the exact time when trainings were starting. We trained the health profesionals and teachers about the causes, consequences, and prevention of malnutrition. The goal with them is that they can work as promoters where they work in getting all the community well informed and improving nutrition and hygiene practices in both their work spaces as well as the mothers of family. It was rather concerning how little the health professionals knew about malnutrition and preventative health. The same day that we had to deliver food to the small towns we received in large sacks and had to break down everything into smaller bags and weigh every one of them. The paperwork, the insistence. The not having the key to the office that was storing the food and not being to get things where they needed to be. The project is excellent in practice when we are working with the moms and a train wreck in between hopefully it gets better now that the funding nonsense has worked itself out. I am traveling to 4 smaller towns which adds an hour on to every day. I am running deparasiting campaigns. With cooking classes and teaching about hygiene. I am building cookstoves and setting up for a training for volunteers next week. I have felt fairly out of control and hoping to stay on point. I have lost weight and started streamlining coffee again. There will be 30 people in my site learning about cookstoves, latrines, gardens, and animal husbandry. It is officially approved that I can stay in my site though after these weeks of work my only reaction to the news was to cry at the thought of staying. And how I cannot keep up what I am doing and working at this rate for even the rest of this year without falling apart. I am learning how to delegate though it has resulted in people making errors that then have to be fixed and leaves me thinking it would just be better to do the things myself. But people have to learn and I do not have time to do everything anymore. I am so indecisve it is so annoying. spent some days resting though dancing with friends for hours on end helps the soul. well off to bed. hope all is well in your lives.

vacations go and life goes on

Well many things are happening right now in my life. As usual I know you people probably think that I am the poster child for the saying the only thing constant in life is change. So in these past weeks I am now in charge of a huge project and am a little short of time in my life to be doing 3.5 projects at the same time. But multitasking has always been a strength so just have to keep pushing. But lets go back to last week when my family showed up, so nice to have the chance to show my life off to my mom and sister. I think sometimes it is impossible to be able to describe accurately my day to day life. I know that I talk a lot about work and that is well because pretty much my whole life is work. However, it was great getting to show them around to the chakras or fields where I spend my little free time singing at the top of my lungs in English without fear that someone is watching or listening. Then we headed to my Sunday hangout the river to play with the fishes and they got a kick out of the mototaxis getting stuck trying to cross the river and laughed harder at all the bouncing and jiggling that is produced when riding in these mototaxis. They were amazed at the constant traffic jam of goats, cows, donkey’s with carts, or sheep. They instantly fell in love with Peruvian food and even more so with my host mothers’ cooking so good. After a very necessary shower because of being covered in sweat and dust, we headed to meet the boyfriend’s family. It was great showing them that I have such a solid and entertaining support system. For the most part the two people who usually have the biggest mouths my boyfriend and his mother had their tongues stolen apparently by the cat. After some private conversations the air seemed to be a little less heavy. And they all went to my dance recital that I had prepared. It was my favorite moment to see my sister and mom laughing at me shaking my bad thang. And checking out the all to short or revealing costumes. The next day I had a meeting with the mayor and my boss about the future. The general consensus was that I have done excellent work and my community would like me to keep working another year here. My boss then said that it was an option and seemingly necessary as there is still so much work to do in my site. I think she left overall very impressed with my achievements and so while it is not written in stone yet. There is a really strong chance that I am staying in my site next year to be able to do the second part of my nutrition project, develop some sort of youth development and pregnancy prevention techniques, and build the bridge of communication between the schools, the municipality, and the health center. Waiting for a phone call depending on the situation I will be in the states for Christmas however if I do not get my paid month of vacation I will not be able to come out to Colorado. Then we headed to the beach for a few days of what I describe as gluttony because it was great food, laying around, playing on the beach, sleeping in, and no schedules. I unfortunately stepped on some animal in the water the first day which left me with a bleeding and painful bottom of my foot. It was not a stingray so I did not die. Then we came back to the city to get ready for Desi’s departure headed to check out some of the famous artesian work. Lots of buying of pretty things. Then the best dinner I have had in so long. No just for the food or the environment but rather for the company and conversations, 3 hours and way too much food, drinks, laughter, and money spent I felt like maybe this had been the future all along. I am realizing that sometimes we focus so hard on one future that we forget to look up and see if something better is sitting right in front of our noses. On my last day with mom I showed her that you can also live the good life here too. Went to a museum, got facials, got lunch, got coffee, went shopping and surprisingly felt like any Saturday in the states. I am so grateful that they were able to come experience my life and see my Peru and not just partake in the touristy stuff. I think they understand much more the reality that I face both the challenges and the rewards of what I do. They now have met all the most important characters of my soap opera which we have lovingly named “Tropical Storm”. I believe that my mom feels much more comfortable with me living here knowing that my support system is incredibly strong and loving. I feel rejuvenated not so much from being on vacation but rather because their trip reminded me why I am here and how important what I am doing truly is. And while it is never going to be easy I know the best things in life are worth fighting for. Lots of love keep ya’ll posted I should get the answer of whether or not I am for sure staying or going.

well

ok sorry guys that I did not blog for awhile I have been busy and busier. Back to dancing with the dance group, working, managing projects, traveling a little and trying to keep it together. I had applied for a third year leadership position and apparently was not the right fit so I think I am going to come home as of December. Then weird things started happening and I started feeling like I was supposed to stay in my site. So I talked with my boss about the option of staying in my site for another year and she said she did not know because we do not know the budget of 2012 still to be able to decide how many third year positions there will be. The reasons that I started thinking that I should stay is basically work started falling into place perhaps too much. I got an opportunity to design and manage a s/24,000 project. To recover and prevent malnutrition. Which is exactly what I have been wanting this whole time that I have been here and just did not get the time to make the effort. This literally fell into my lap and they gave it to me. So excellent. Really honestly stressful because I am still in charge of managing my sexual health promoters, accompanying them to teach classes, doing nutritional counseling, teaching in night school, helping on the parent school to make sure it does not fail, running my healthy households to soon be builiding improved cookstoves and now this project. Plus I received a phone call to say that there will be a training in my site in August. Then for some reason the health professionals at my health post finally started to think that I was actually worthwhile and want me to train them about health promotion and nutrition. Getting everything together to be able to take a lovely vacation with my sister and mom and get to show them the life I lead. I feel like it will be so interesting getting their perspective on my reality. Got the opportunity to go up to the mountains and take a bath in a mysterious lake I think it worked a little too well. It was a 3 hour hike one way and it was a trek because it had been raining so hiking up and down hills steep hills in straight mud. I did not fall but my friend did. exhausting, freezing. Getting into the lake was like the polar bear plunge because the water was freezing cold it burned my skin. It was hilarous because I had put on my bikini a bikini in the mountains in the rain running in an open field shivering and yelling thinking that getting into the lake would be an improvement and finding out I was chillingly mistake. I thought I was going to get pnemonia or hypothermia. I spent three hours after we got home trying to get the feeling back into my feet. The future is so uncertain I have to admit I got nervous at the thought of coming back to the states and having total culture shock and being unemployed, and not being able to dance like 4 times a week and not get to be my own boss anymore. And having to be punctual and live in a place with so many laws. But if I have to come home I think that it will be great to be close with the friends and family and get to check out the next chapter in my life. I was disappointed to have not gotten the job because well I really did not think that I would have gotten rejected. But it happened. And then I felt silly for having always thought that I would have been here for another year and now it might not happen. I can only wait now to see if staying in my site is a realistic option. Tomorrow is the yearly meeting for the budget for my district where I will be trying to get funds for improved cookstoves and the second stage of the nutrition project. There is so much to get done in these months to come. I would like to congratulate the newly engaged. best of luck lizann. love yall.

ships ohoy

I think that is how you spell it. Anyways work is going at speed lightening rate because well it kind of has to. I was in my site for four days after my vacation getting organized, having meetings and trainings, trying to make sure that everything was in place. The craziest thing happened I have recently started working with the Mother of the church. She is religious but incredibly straight forward, no bullshit. Well traveled, and runs on full speed. So she wants to do a improved cook stove project so she signed me up to train some 150 people about the subject in her next meeting which entailed me up on an alter with a big jesus hanging behind me talking about how to do one of these projects. I also had to build one as an example.Never could I have ever imagined I would get the opportunity to be preaching on an alter and cannot say I would like to do it again though I heard in September I may have to in order to do a Nutrition Training. It was amazing and I am not exactly sure how many improved cook stoves will come out of that presentation but none of them will count as my work because they are out of my district. Then there was my birthday which I passed with friends drinking and dancing and drinking and dancing and eating ceviche and going to a mass for my friend's dad that passed away on my birthday last year. terribly unfortunate but reason enough for my friend to have returned from Lima to La Matanza. It was nice hanging out with my brothers and then I headed to Piura to dance in a club with some other friends. The next day I was headed to Paita to translate for the US Navy ship the USNS COMFORT. I spent three days there working in the OR, the patient admission, ICU, recovery. Talking with families, explaining procedures and symptoms between the patients and the doctors. It was neat being practically inside a modern hospital that I would expect to see in the states but it was on a ship. I only got sea sick when I was eating because that was located on the top floor. I got lost a few times because you had to use certain stairs to get to certain places. It was strange being surrounded by Americans and all in uniforms. I broke many rules like wearing shorts the first day when I arrived, and wearing sandals, I could not be punctual if I tried so I resorted to running in the halls also illegal. I almost kissed a boy but I figured that would have just been rebellious so I did not. Also I did a presentation about cultural sensitivity after observing their operation outside and on the ship. So that they could better serve the Peruvian population. I did that presentation which was about 15 minutes for about 100 of the most important people on the ship doctors, captains, the commodore. All in uniform all much older than me with a lot of work experience and all intimidating. Me on a microphone again. I worried that they would take it as criticism that I would say something inappropriate halfway through my speech I realized there were two Peruvians in the audience from the Embassy that spoke English so I got nervous I would some how offend them with the information I was presenting. Afterward though I got a strong applause followed by at least 15 people coming up to thank me saying it was the best debrief they had received since arriving to any of their destinations and that they would be using the information as of tomorrow. Then the 2 peruvian women came up my heart swallowed a bit but they were smiling and told me that was the best presentation just the things that they would have also suggested that I clearly knew the culture and the people. Followed by the commodore calling me over. To thank me and then ask me to write a document for them to have so that they did not forget anything I said and could implement my every suggestion. I almost started crying simply because I did not expect such a positive response or that what I had done to be so useful to them. Needless to say it was an excellent experience my first time translating which I have decided I am really no good at because I always want to throw in my own words or tweak the message. I had to get back to site even though I was invited to stay for the remaining 4 months and travel to the other 6 countries. so flattering. I remembered who I was on that ship and what I was capable of doing. I also got my organization involved with an NGO that works on amazing water chlorinating projects. And made contacts with regional municipality to bring my organization to them and with this other girl whom i deem the queen of development. The food was good there was skim milk ha! I made myself sick drinking too much of it I think I am now lactose intolerant. Then I had to return to my life in my small town. Damn it I am a big fish. Any who, doing good things keeping going with the projects right now I am in cram time I think I may have once again tried to do to much in too little time. Only 5 months to go, and still waiting to hear if I get to stay or not a third year. But that would be a different position. That's all for now.

jungle

so i spent the first day hiking up to the first waterfall and bathing in freezing cold water. on the way down we got to try various local liquors made from berries and other tropical fruits mixed with something similar to moonshine. Then we headed to a different lagoon to go swimming and kayaking. I accidentally stole someone's kayak. the next day we went to a different town that was having an Easter Celebration. so we got to check out an artisan fair with a lot of ceramics and wood work, a gastronomic fair were my friend any I ate probably six plates of food. Ceviche, fish grilled in a palm leaf, chicken grilled in a palm leaf, 2 plates of donuts, and flavored ice chips. We checked out a reenactment of the passion. Then went to check out the church. and 2 coffee shops. It was a lovely day as the streets were filled and others blocked off and completely painted with gorgeous images of Jesus. Oh and there was a castle a real castle in the middle of this little poor town a beautiful castle being built by some Italian guy, i do believe it is the only castle in all of Peru. The next day we traveled to the blue lagoon, we had to cross a river in a ferry that carried the cars and then headed on really muddy roads to the lagoon. then took a boat across the lagoon to our own private dock and hiked a little in the jungle saw a centipede that my friend did not realize was dangerous. had to keep my eyes on her because she likes to touch everything and rarely knows whether it could kill her or not. though i enjoyed her company a lot (Emma) because she is a spontaneous and sometimes brave character that loves traveling. so anyways we went swimming a bit and I did yoga on my dock and then a crazy rain storm rolled in for like 15 minutes and we were stuck in a cloud and the thunder seemingly vibrated the once tranquil lagoon and then it passed and the sun came back with strength and the lagoon was once again a strong sea blue. In the afternoon we took a walk to the next town, got picked up by a catering van to another town along the way, went back to hiking and then got picked up by a truck. By the time we were truly on our way it was already pretty late and the road was closed until six because of construction in which I thought one of the guys from the trucks waiting in line to pass was going to rip of this girl's head, then two other trucks wanted to pass and were stopped by two other guys standing in front of their cars. At six we continued saw a live viper that was then masterfully run over by a truck and picked up to be cooked for later. Once outside of the desired destination we ran into a 8 wheeler stuck in the mud trying to get up this hill which consequently blocked our path. so stuck again and the sun already set at six thirty we contemplated walking again though after realizing that neither of us had batteries for our small flash lights we waited for the truck to be pulled up the hill by ropes and twenty men. Man power better than wheel power. At 830 we finally got to the town and exhausted we showered and went to bed. Following morning we woke up early to hike two hours to another waterfall. It was muddy and one had to be very careful where they placed their foot so as not to slide down the hill. We took a guide because the senora at the hostel insisted it was necessary. it was thank you senora. we got to a river and had to cross it by foot because there was no bridge we had to then climb large rocks to get to the next pass. then came on great rock that we had to climb down to pass the river again. Emma fears falling I never thought i would get her to scale down but she did with some convincing then the guy said we had to swim across the river in a deeper part. but Emma did not want to again because she is not such a strong swimmer. with more coxing we got he across. I think at that point she hated me a little bit. crossing slippery rocks we finally got to a intensely falling waterfall. it was gorgeous. i only almost got sucked down the river once and only fell on the rocks once both i consider impressive for my clumsy nature. We hiked back another two hours and the guide was surprisingly more tired than us, I think it is because we walked at a faster rate and did not rest. We went to lunch and a downpour like the ocean falling out of the skies came down. the houses there are made out of palm trees and while it seems like water would get in they are perfectly tied together in a way that makes them resistant. Then another sketchy truck ride back to the city and we got into a taxi to head to the next and last town. This was like the capital of orchids so we first went to some sulfur baths, followed by hot springs, then to an orchid garden where i got to see 20 varieties of orchids naturally blossoming. The girl explained that in the garden they had over 200 varieties and in the department of Tarapoto there are 1500 varieties, she also explained that some only blossom once a year for about 2 weeks but others bloom more frequently but only for one day and at the end of the day the flower falls. This explains so much about my orchid fern that never blossomed again mom. Up the hill, followed the hummingbird garden which had like 20 different types of hummingbirds and we climbed into this three story natural tree house to observe. I wanted to live there favorite flower, favorite bird, sweet house in a garden looking over a city and mountains. At lunch I got to try fried ants, suckerfish soup, peanut soup, and fresh grape juice. Never drink concentrate again. the ants were neither good nor bad I think I did not like that they were fried because they had a sort of burnt thing about them. We headed to an orchid nursery and saw about 30 more varieties, parrots, bright toads, turtles, pythons, and crocs. Then to the botanical garden. As the night came we hung in hammocks conversing until the bats scared off Emma. Then onto the 12 hour bus ride that turned into the 24 hour bus ride because of a land slide that blocked off the highway in like 6 places. We had to wait so that the heavy machinery could basically push all the debris to form a new road. We would roll a few feet and then stop for an hour and a half and repeat. We got the idea would could walk to the closest town 2 hours away to get mobility. but then the bus started moving. then it stopped for another long time, so we got serious again and got our luggage out of storage and then ironically the bus started moving a kept moving. I think maybe the people on the bus thought that God loved the crazy gringas enough not to let them hike two hours on a questionable and filthy highway for two or three hours getting cat called by truck drivers. Gratefully my friend does carry pictures of Jesus in her bag and the virgin under her hat and incessantly prays. So we made it grabbed cow hearts grilled on a stick and got on the next and last bus for 3 more hours getting home at 10 pm. fell into bed and are now back to life again. safe, and sound as we could wish to be a little tired, brused, bitten, and sore, but that is what a great trip should be like.

events

excellent news i did in fact receive my once promised funding so the improved cookstoves will be built. thank goodness. did some trainings for the professors of the schools about nutrition. man there is a serious deficit of knowledge. i am glad i could help out and now they are going to start teaching nutrition and they have started recycling in the primary schools. saving trees. been nice dancing with my crew again we had our first presentation and it went ok. the first dance we did i totally got stage fright and forgot the moves. muh. the second we all kicked butt. and went super well. though getting back into a miniskirt still is not very comfortable for me. working with the moms about diarrea and the cold/flu. speaking of i am rocking a bad cold right now but it has to happen at least once a year right. then we had a girls leadership camp that i think went incredibly well. I taught about health relationships dont laugh yall. A friend told me those who cant do teach. So that should help girls pick better boyfriends or stay single. I also taught about how to go to the university. we had teams and competitions and my yellow team of super stars one it was exciting. they got medals. we acted out a soap opera at night for the girls which i co wrote and produced. hilarious. I also was the host of a dating show. i am thinking perhaps my calling was in television. busy trying to start teaching sex ed again with the help of girls in the school. and still fighting to recover at risk kids from malnourishment. I sent in my third year application so i should know by the end of may whether or not i got the position. on sunday it is the presidential elections here i know little about the canditates but am extremely excited that i will no longer have to see anymore propoganda or hear debates or their terrible promotional songs. i think i have forgotten what life was like here before politics got so big. the new president will be entering office in july. the economy here is getting bad partly because of droughts and partly because of strikes. at least in my site people are struggling, robberies are up out of necessity i assume, and prices are rising. hopefully things get under control some time sooner than later. I am shocked and poorly informed about what is happening in japan though i am rather curious what the domino effects should be in the rest of the world. here people think there should be an earthquake. in other places i have no idea but radioactive ocean sounds like a better name for a band than a reality no? anyways these are the things on my mind. hopefully you all are safe and well and prepared for a potential disaster always better to be prepared than screwed. k loves.