I'm a Celebrity!

I updated my blog on Sunday and forgot to write the most important thing of what happened that day. I was in a parade! Last week was the anniversary of Lourdes, the catholic school in town. Whenever it's the anniversary of a school, they have a week long celebration with sports tournaments, dance contests, parades, a presentation of typical dishes of Peru, and more parades. They are CRAZY about marching here and spend a lot of time practicing in the week leading up to the big parade. They miss tons of class practicing their marching and the weirdest part is that they march like Hitler and the Nazis by kicking their legs straight up in the air. I think it's so weird, but they are really proud of it and take it really seriously.

Other schools are always invited to participate in the parade as well to join in the festivities. The director of San Carlos, the school where I've been doing all of my work, invited me to march in the parade with them on Sunday and told me we'd be meeting at the school at 9:30 am. I said why not and agreed to meet them at the school. Rita thought it was a great idea too because the head nun at Lourdes could see I was already working with this other school and Rita hoped it would make her want to have me more - haha.

I had spent the night at Jessica's on Saturday night and didn't get back to my room until 9:10 on Sunday morning. I was rushing around like crazy trying to change and get ready for the parade. I showed up at the school at 9:30 and of course no one was there, but not only that, everything was locked up and there was no sign that anyone would be showing up. I just figured everyone was late as usual. Another teacher showed up about 10 minutes later and she and I were joking that we might be there all day waiting for them. Luckily around 10 am another professor came and told us we were actually meeting in the Plaza de Armas, not at the school. Oh, thanks for telling us. The other lady and I probably would have been there until sunset waiting had he not come. The parade was supposed to start at 10 am, but of course it didn't start until 10:30 (pretty much on time for Peruvian standards). I marched with the director and 8 other professors (I guess the other 67 professors were still on their way.....) pretty soon after the parade started. The Plaza and the streets were lined with people and I was laughing that I was part of this. I saw the doctor and he was really excited because he didn't know I would be marching. Turns out all we did was march around the Plaza de Armas because it wasn't actually the real parade yet, it was only marching with the Peruvian and Bambamarquino flag before they had a ceremony to raise the flags. Apparently it's a big honor to march with the flag and Rita was really impressed I was part of it. Haha - I had no idea until she told me.

After that I thought we were finished, but apparently that was only the beginning. The students of the school had been there since 8 am waiting to march and as of 11 am, none of them had gone yet. At 11:30 it was my turn to march again with San Carlos. By this time, there were about 25 professors there since it was now 2 hours after the original meeting time. They were all debating about where I should march because I wasn't wearing a suit like all of the rest of them. At first the told me to walk in the back behind all of them, but then they insisted I walk in the front and center, right next to the director, carrying the banner for the school. The huge parade that we had been waiting all morning for turned out to only be about 50 yards long! As we were walking I kept wondering what happens when we get to the end of the street because there was a huge wall of people. I wondered if they were just going to part ways like the Red Sea and let us through, but no no, that was the end of the parade and we had to shimmy our way through them once we finished. I was laughing so hard. I can't believe these kids were practicing all week long for 50 yards of marching. They waited for hours and hours in the hot sun for their turn to march. One class would go and then there would be a long pause and another class would go. So this 50 yard long parade that started at 10:30 am went until at least 1:30 pm and perhaps even longer! Hahaha.

And just for the record, since I marched alongside the director of the school, the rumor flying around town now is that the gringa is the new director of San Carlos! Hahahahahaha. Oh man I love the gossip here. Apparently I was a big hit in the parade. The doctor told me I looked like Shakira out there (for those you of you who don't know, she's a very famous and popular singer) and all of Rita's husbands friends told him to tell me that they are single and available. OH BOY!

San Carlos has their fiesta at the end of October so I guess I have another parade and some more excitement to look forward to! Hahaha.

Mama Said There Would Be Days Like This....

Before I begin, there is the cutest little couple next to me. I'm guessing it's a husband and wife talking to their son/daughter living in the States. (I actually have no idea who they are talking to or where the person lives, but it makes me happy to believe this.) They are talking on an instant messaging program and using the webcam. The father has his little half glasses on and is using the hunt and peck method to type while his wife is sitting behind him dictating what to type. After they send a message they both look at the screen with anticipation, waiting for the response on the other end. The wife was crying a little bit, but she seems to be crying tears of joy. I think they are seeing their grandchildren on the webcam because they keep talking about how big they look and how cute they are. They are so cute and making me smile! I want to tell them I feel their pain of being so far away from their loved ones, but I don't want to take this moment away from them. They seem so happy right now. I can just imagine my parents doing the same thing when we talk. (Mom and Dad, if you buy a webcam, we can see each other when we talk on Skype).

And now for a little bit about my own life. This past week has been a rough one. Last weekend Jessica went to Cajamarca and I decided to stay here. It had been 3 weeks since the last time we were in Cajamarca and I was sort of feeling like I was ready for a break, but thought I could stick it out two more weeks when we'll go in for a going away party for the Peru 4 volunteers who have finished their two years. Lots of people told us during training that the first 3 months in site are really important and you should try to spend as much time there as possible getting to know everyone and establishing a routine and life for yourself. So trying to follow along with that advice, I thought I should stay in site and not give into the temptation to go to the city with Jess and eat delicious food. Well what a mistake that was. After I got home from the birthday party on Friday night, I started to feel like I was getting a cold. Turns out I definitely was and because of that, I only slept about one or two hours that night (of course Rita told me it's because I drank cold beer the night before. Even though I told her I always drink cold beer at home, she said, yeah but the clima isn't the same.....you're right it's not, it's COLDER there....hahaha they crack me up with how obsessed they are about the cold). On Saturday morning I went to use the internet and had to pass by the canchitas with all the drunks and listen to them all making cat calls at me. Gross! Between not having enough sleep, being disgusted with the negative attention from men, and needing a break from my site, I had an emotional breakdown on Saturday. Giff was traveling all weekend and I couldn't get a hold of mom and dad so I went back to my room and just cried and cried. I don't know how long I cried for, but I was so upset and just wanted to go home. As hard as it is sometimes, in all honesty I don't want to leave because I know this is the opportunity of a lifetime and I would completely regret it if I left, but that doesn't mean that I don't get really homesick, that some days feel like they'll never end, or that sometimes I really don't like it here. Sometimes I don't want to take a freezing cold shower or accept cat calls as "cultural differences". But that's why I came - to challenge myself - and that's what I'm getting. Sometimes Peace Corps seems a lot cooler on paper. On the tough days I think to myself, is this really what I asked for?

Luckily I had made plans to make cookies in the afternoon with Rita and Melany so that helped brighten my mood. You all know how much I love to bake and I hadn't baked anything since I left Lima so it was long overdue. Mom had sent me the ingredients for cranberry oatmeal white chocolate chip cookies so I had Melany help me make them. We had a lot of fun and the cookies surprisingly turned out delicious! I was a little skeptical because the ovens here are so weird, but Rita's oven actually has a temperature dial so we were living in luxury. The cookies were a HUGE hit and everyone who tried them kept saying they tasted like they were made comercially because they were so good! That afternoon I got to talk to mom and dad too so I was really happy and feeling much better.

Since I don't like Sundays here - for all the people in town, the crazy market, and all the commotion at my house - I decided to just go to the doctor's house and hang out with them. I went over at 11:30 am and didn't leave until 10:30 pm! I ate lunch and dinner with them, taught the kids how to play Go Fish and War, watched TV, and talked to Chabu and Patti (the doctor's cousin) for a long time. I had so much fun with them and felt more comfortable than I have on any other Sunday because being with them really feels like I'm with a family and I forget about the problems I have in my house and the uneasiness I feel with my family. On a side note, they love to talk about my appearance in that house. Dr. Martin always calls me Miss Massachusetts and Chabu always talks about how she loves my body. Their daughter is soooo skinny and has little chiken legs so they always point to me and say "now those are some legs". Patti also kept telling me how pretty I am and that she has a daugther my age, but she's not nearly as pretty as I am! It's flattering, but sometimes a bit uncomfortable and awkward. They have no fear in saying whatever they think about your body though so I'm grateful they say positive things about me (Jessica was told today by one of her relatives that she must really like the food here because she's getting fat)! Whoa. I would be devastated if they said that to me.

I thought I was feeling better after making cookies, spending the day with the doctor's family, and watching Friends (finally!) for 2.5 hours on Monday! However, I noticed I was getting really annoyed with little things here and not feeling myself. On Tuesday morning I was washing my ropa interior and just started crying out of the blue. I tried calling mom on the internet but couldn't get a hold of her. I was feeling desparate so I went to a Locutorio (place to make phone calls) and paid 1 sol to talk to her for a minute (I can get an hour for this at the internet) and asked her to call me. When she called I just broke down and started crying. I felt like I would never stop crying and wondered if that is what it feels like to be depressed. I was so upset and thought I'd never make it through the day, let alone two more years here! Thank goodness for moms though - she helped calm me down and realize that a big part of my problem is my living situation. I'm feeling really uncomfortable with my family and it's making me more and more upset everyday. Just when I think I'm making progress with them, something else happens. The other day my host mom invited me into her room to "talk" with her. After a little sweet talking, turns out she only invited me in there so she could use my cell phone. Later that night she came to my room and asked where I had been (I was at the internet for 2 hours) because they were searching for me all over town. They needed to use my cell phone again! This time, she gave the guy my number so he could call me back the next day to relay a message to them. After that she wanted to talk to me about how much I would pay for rent and mentioned twice that my room used to be hers and she gave it up for me. I know, and I'm sorry, but why did you even offer it to me then? Ahhhhh!

Talking to my mom felt so good. I've lived away from my parents for 5 years now, but I always miss them so much more when I'm living in another country. It's when we're further away and we can't be together that we miss people more (same with Giff). I needed my parents more than anything the other day so I was so grateful that my mom was available to talk. She calmed me down a lot and convinced me of two things. One was that I needed to talk to Rita right away about changing my housing situation and two was that I needed a HUG! The next day I talked to Rita and told her I've been really homesick lately and a lot of it has to do with the fact that I'm really not happy in my house. She talked to the doctor for me and he said he and his family would LOVE for me to live there and I could move in as soon as the next day! Turns out there actually is some stuff to be done in the extra room they have, but they said in the meantime I could spend the night whenever I want to in an extra bed they have. Rita also said I can sleep over whenever I want until my room is ready. It's really sweet that they are so concerned about me. I actually don't mind sleeping at my house, I'm totally comfortable in my room, but it's nice that they are so worried about me and trying so hard to help me find a better solution. The doctor's family goes to the coast (where they're from) for two months in January and February (which some people say is the summer and others say is the winter - don't ask me why the seasons are so confusing to people). Rita told me the other day that they want to take me with them for the whole time because I'm part of their family now - so cute. I also talked to my "aunt" the other day on the phone. Chabu's sister called and said she wanted to talk to her niece and hear my voice so I talked to her for a minute. She told me she couldn't wait to meet me and they were waiting for me in Ferranyafe (their town)!

And as for the hug, Jessica happened to call me on Tuesday to see how I was doing (she had had a bad morning too). I told her I wasn't doing well at all and she invited me to come up and spend the night with her. It turned out to be EXACTLY what I needed. She gave me a hug as soon as I got there (just what the doctor ordered) and let me vent about everything. We talked a lot about our frustrations and how challenging life is here sometimes. It was so nice to be able to spend the afternoon with her and realize I'm not alone. We also had some Bailey's so that always helps! It was fun staying with her too because her life is sooo different from mine - no electricity or running water. I felt like I was camping, but it was really cozy in her room with all the candles lit at night! After getting back to Bambamarca the next day, I felt totally rejuvenated. I was so grateful for my time with her. A lot of volunteers don't have another volunteer so close by so I'm really lucky to have her when I need some companionship and a break from my town. We had so much fun together that I ended up going back up there yesterday. I ate lunch with her family and then we went on a short hike up to this lake where we laid down and talked for a good hour. In the afternoon we made a cake with her two host siblings. They don't have an oven and cook over leña (firewood) so we made it in a homemade oven (that they taught us in training). The cake was pretty good, but tasted a little like firewood to me. Oh well, it was really fun anyway - definitely a Peace Corps experience. We were joking when we went to bed that it's kind of nice to know that the only worries we have before going to bed are of animals entering her room and not crazy people (or drunks like near my house). As we were going to bed at 11 pm, the roosters started crowing for us. I guess their schedule is a little off, but it was comforting. What is not so comforting is laying in bed, about to fall asleep, and having to go to the bathroom. Walking to the outhouse in the pitch black isn't so appealing, even when you do have a headlamp to guide the way. Por eso, Jessica has a little basin that she keeps in her room to pee in during the night. It might sound gross to you, but trust me, at 2 am, it's much more convenient that going all the way out to the latrine.

Speaking of that, Jessica and I always joke how so many of our beliefs/habits have gone down the drain here (out of necessity not choice). For instance, who would ever have guessed that we'd be bathing in FREEZING cold water or taking bucket baths? However, the bathing is nothing compared to the sanitation. For one thing, we have to wash all of our dishes in cold water because there isn't any hot water and it would take way too long to boil water in order to wash our dishes. Rita was saying the other day that she never used a bottle with Melany because they can cause diarrhea from the bacteria that collects in them. I told her lots of people use them in the States, but that's because so many people have dish washers that use really hot water to sterilize them and if they don't have a dish washer, they can at least wash them in hot water. She and Melany couldn't even imagine a machine that washes dishes! At least at my house though, we have running water, but at Jessica's, we have to use water that it just sitting in this reserve. I asked her where the water comes from and she said it comes through this tube in the ground from a tank or something, but they're having lots of problems with the water right now (something to do with someone buying the land and not distributing the water) and sometimes they don't have water. When I was there on Tuesday, the water we were using to wash our dishes was from the recent rain we had had! Yummy! I know it's gross, but what can you do?

Well the couple who was talking to their kids has now left so I guess I better too. I'm sure there is more to say, but I should stop now. I'm going to Cajamarca on Friday and I can't wait! Good food and care packages await me!

I'm Famous!

So the other day I was walking down the street with Rita and the TV station asked if they could interview me. Of course I had to say yes, but felt a little embarrassed about it. They just asked me some basic questions about my work here, but then they got into deeper questions about the differences between youth here and in the U.S. Nothing like being put right on the spot! I tried to think quickly, but that's much easier said than done in Spanish. I also couldn't hear very well because of the big trucks that were driving by so I had to ask him to repeat a few questions and then in others I definitely answered the wrong thing because I just pretended to understand what he was saying. I was sure they would edit that part out, but of course they didn't - what was I thinking - so I felt like a big idiot when I watched myself that night at Rita's house. I'm sure no one else cared and now I'm even more "famous" than I was before. I walked into a school the other day and this little girl started shouting, "THE GRINGA, THE GRINGA, COME LOOK AT THE GRINGITA"! I'm starting to think that will never change, even after two years.

Hana was in Lima last week for Yom Kippur, which means she had cell phone service and I was able to talk to her 3 times! She told me that our friend who was supposed to be going home has been offered a new site in the department of Lima (not the city itself) where he would work at a home for boys! She said he's probably going to take it so that's really exciting for all of us because we would be really sad to see him go.

I keep forgetting to write about my laundry situation. I remember how much fun it was the first time and how I thought it was so relaxing, but that was definitely because of the novelty of it because after the second time washing my clothes, I'm already sick of it. It's so exhausting and takes so long. My hands aren't even strong enough to wring out my jeans or other heavy/big items and Rita told me if I'm doing it wrong then I can ruin my clothes. The second time I washed my clothes, it took 2 hours and it was so dark by the time I finished that I had to wear my headlamp so I could see the line to hang up my clothes to dry. I was mentally and physically exhausted afterwards. As if that wasn't enough, it started RAINING about 30 minutes after I finished! I couldn't even believe it. I was so annoyed. I asked Rita if I needed to wash them again and she said no because the rain water is cleaner than the tap water anyway - I'm not sure how to take that, but I was glad not to have to wash them again. That was definitely it for me though in the washing my own clothes department. This last time I found a señora to do it for me. It's less than a dollar for a dozen articles of clothing, it saves me tons of time, and helps this lady earn a little extra money so it seems like a great deal if you ask me! So much for having the true "Peace Corps experience" - twice was plenty for me!

I also think I'm getting used to my freezing cold showers. I always make sure I get in right after I exercise and am nice and sweaty and then I repeat to myself over and over, "it's really not that cold, Kristen, it's really not that cold." I thought it was actually working for myself until I realized I could SEE MY BREATH while I was showering! No wonder I have a cold now. Good Lord.

Thursday was Día del Médico here so the nurses at the health center bought Sangria and crackers to have a little toast for Dr. Martín and this other doctor that works there - Margarit. I thought it was funny that they all just stopped working and were having Sangria at noon, but then again this is Peru and anything flies - especially if it means an excuse to drink and celebrate! We barely had any, but it was still funny. They have a day to celebrate everything here! Rita was showing me pictures the other night of the birthday parties Melany gives to her dolls. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if that was a holiday here too. In addition to all the holidays, school is also cancelled at the drop of a hat. Every school here has a week long celebration for the aniversary of their school. As far as I can gather, not much learning goes on during these weeks or before hand. There are huge parades that are judged so they spend tons of time practicing their marching before the actual event (they march like Hitler and the Nazis here and are very proud of it because a German general taught some Peruvians many years ago, but for me it's really weird to watch). The kids also spend a lot of time practicing traditional dances which they perform during the week. The fiesta for Melany's school started yesterday with a presentation of typical meals in Peru. Each classroom represented a different region of Peru and offered one or two dishes. It was really cool to see, but I didn't eat anything. I'm a little scared to eat anything from strangers after I got so sick.

Speaking of school being cancelled, I was supposed to visit another class on Friday, but wanted to talk to the teacher before hand to coordinate a project I wanted to do with them. It's a good thing I went to her house with Rita the night before because guess what, classes were cancelled after 9 am on Friday! Apparently there was a huge math contest there. I was supposed to go to her class later in the day, but she asked me to come at 8 am instead. I led an activity where everyone makes a Bandera Personal (personal flag) so I could get to know them a little better. I asked them 6 questions and they had to answer them with a drawing, design, or symbol on their flag. Afterwards each student presented their flag in front of the class. I was getting frustrated with them because they were all talking while their classmate was presenting and would laugh at some of the answers and make fun of the kids. I was trying to bite my tongue, but I finally had to say something. I asked them who could tell me what respect means? No one had an answer for me so I said it means that we give our fellow classmates, the professor, and myself our undivided attention by listening to their presentations and not talking. I said that it's really difficult to get up in front of a big group of people (there are about 35-40 kids in the class and are about 15 years old) and speak, especially when it's not your native language so we need show our respect for one another by being quiet and listening. Then I said that I've selected only a few classes to work with and I'd like to work with their class, but if they can't show respect to one another, we can't do dinámicas and I'll choose another class. I was a little worried what the professor would say, but the kids were really quiet after that and relatively well behaved.

I'm definitely starting to get more and more frustrated with the way men treat women here. I shouldn't even say that because it's only a select few, but it's really disrespectful and really bothers me. I'm supposed to be trying to develop a strategy to handle it, but I'm not doing very well. I get so annoyed at all of the comments about Giff and how he's definitely with another woman by now or that I'm going to meet someone better here and get married here. It's really hard for me because I'm really confident in my relationship and I've never had to defend Giff like this. I always tell them that we've been together for almost 5 years, I'm really confident in our relationship, and I know he would never do that to me because he really cares about me. That usually works, but then I have to explain it all over again a few hours later. This is a constant battle and a very hot topic of conversation - even with the 13 and 14 year old boys in the schools!

On top of that, we have this neighbor who is really gross and drunk a lot of the time. Rita told me to be careful of him from the day I moved in. My room doesn't face the street, but it does face the neighbor's house (since all the houses here are attached) and I can see into two of the neighbor's houses. I don't have a window in my room so yesterday I was sitting on my bed reading some of my materials with the door open. All of a sudden a hear this really loud whistle and look up and it's the gross neighbor staring at me! He waved when I looked up and gave me this gross look. Ewwww! I felt really uncomfortable and disgusted. Needless to say, I closed the door after that little incident. Oh gosh I really hope I'll be able to move to the doctor's house! Other guys make me feel uncomfortable for the way the call out to me when I'm walking down the street or are a little too eager to kiss me on the cheek (the way everyone greets each other here). I definitely need to develop a strategy to handle this because otherwise it's going to just keep getting worse.

On a positive note, I found out that one of the teacher's who lives in my house is a vegetarian! He took me to this vegetarian restaurant (I couldn't believe we have one either) for breakfast yesterday and it was actually really good. We just had fruit salad, bread, and quaker (the oatmeal drink), but it was really clean (no flies) and cheap. I was very impressed. The owner showed me the lunch menu and it looked pretty good. Señora Chabu told me the doctor eats there a lot when she's out of town and says it's really good. I love cooking for myself, but sometimes I just don't have time so it's nice to know that I have a nice alternative now that offers things other than salads. They have all of the typical meat dishes you'd find at any other restaurant in town, but they use soy meat instead of regular meat.

Finally, last night was the doctor's son's birthday so I went to their house for the afternoon. It was a small party, but really fun because I knew everyone and felt really comfortable with all of them. Sra. Chabu's mom sent turkey (which is very expensive here) for us to eat so she made a pineapple sauce to go with it. About two hours later we had a salad and some Arroz Chaufa (like fried rice) and cut the cake about an hour after that. We didn't actually eat the cake then because no one was really hungry for it. I ended up taking my piece home because we never ate it. Haha. They were REALLY excited that I was there to sing Happy Birthday in English to them and asked me to sing it about 6 times! They also give the birthday boy a toast and during his toast, Dr. Martín said he felt really lucky to have someone from the United States at their house to celebrate this special day with them. They are so great and definitely make me feel so much more comfortable than my family. I'm so lucky to have met them and Rita's family because without them, I think I would be having a much harder time adjusting.

Well so much for shorter entries if I write more often, but I guess I had a lot to say. I'm off to buy some stuff for lunch and then to Rita's house to make some cookies! I haven't baked since I got to my site and I'm feeling really deprived! Hopefully they turn out well....

I'm Alive!!

Well after my second round of diarrhea since arriving in Peru, I'm happy to report that I'm healthy again and feeling great.

You'd think that I'd be able to get my act together to write on my blog more often since I have internet in my town and I come here just about everyday. I always joke with the guys who own this place that I should have an account here because I'm here so often. But I spend most of my time checking emails and talking to Giff or my parents on Skype so after that, I never feel like writing on my blog. I promise that I really am going to try to be better at it - it'll be easier for me to remember what has happened and easier for you to read.

So besides for being sick, I've been remarkably busy. Right now the thing that is taking up most of my time is visiting the schools. After meeting with some of the teachers last Monday, I told them I'd like to start visiting their classes to start getting to know some of the students. I told them I'm not ready to start doing my charlas yet, I just want to go and introduce myself and observe their classes. They seemed really excited about it and jumped on the opportunity. All of a sudden my calendar was packed and things were starting to pick up. Well when I went to my first session of tutoría (this is the class I'll be observing, it's sort of like an extra cirriculum class) and the professor never showed up, I quickly understood why they were all so excited to sign me up to come observe their class. Even though I told them I wanted them to stay in the classroom the whole time because I would not be coming to teach, they all heard what they wanted to and many think it means they have a free hour. The first time I couldn't believe it, but went into the class anyway and ended up staying there alone with the kids for 45 minutes. I wasn't prepared to do anything with them so it was pretty hillarious. I introduced myself, spoke in English (because it's very exciting for them), tried to draw a map of the U.S. to show where I used to live, where mom and dad live, where I went to college, etc. My map was pretty funny, but it got the idea across. Somehow they also convinced me to sing the national anthem which was hillarious because 1. I'm tone deaf and 2. I don't know all of the words if I'm not singing it with other people so I definitely made things up, repeated a bunch of lines and then sang, "and the home of the brave." Hahahaha. They definitely laughed during it, but gave me a huge round of applause at the end and shouted, "BRAVO"!

That first class was last Tuesday and since then, I've been to seven other classes and in three of them the professor never showed up again. You can imagine that I no longer think this is funny and I've stopped going to the classes if the professor isn't there because I need to set an example that if they're not there, neither am I. It's really frustrating and very uncomfortable to be alone with the kids a lot of times. They ask me questions about my boyfriend and can be very inappropriate. Not all classes are so bad, but yesterday I had one that was so bad that I was ready to walk out in the middle of the class. The professor was even in the room yesterday and I had told him before hand (at least 3 times) that I wasn't going to be doing anything other than introducing myself and then observing. He sat in the back of the class and didn't do anything the entire time. He might as well not have been there because he didn't even keep the kids under control. Although many people here tell me I speak Spanish very well, I still have an accent and I always will because I'm not a native speaker. Almost the whole class yesterday there were various kids laughing at me every time I spoke and then when I turned around to write something on the board, they would laugh and some of the boys would whistle or make other comments. It was completely humiliating and I couldn't believe the professor wasn't saying anything. As much as I wanted to walk out, I thought that would be really unprofessional so I stayed. That definitely was the icing on the cake for me though and I've now decided that I'm only going to start working in a few classes where the professor has showed a lot of interest and actually stayed and helped me. This school has over 1600 kids so it's impossible to think I'm going to get to know all of them anyway. We have another meeting with the professors next week and I'm going to tell them that I've selected a few classes that I want to start with and then we'll go from there. The classes happen to be older kids so it works out well because many professors have suggested that these kids really need a lot of work. There isn't much time left in the school year anyway so I think they'll understand that for right now I want to start with a small number of classes. I hope this strategy will work out better because this past week and a half has been very frustrating for me.

In other news, I just found out that all of Peru 7 is having a little reunion, called Reconnect, in early November to touch base about how things have been going in the first two months in site. I'm really excited to see everyone! The weekend before that we have our leadership camp for girls in Cajamarca so with all of the traveling, I'll be out of my site for about 10 days. Then just two weeks after that we have about 5 days off for Thanksgiving so we're all meeting up at the beach for that. Then it's less than a month until I go home and get to FINALLY see Giff, and my parents of course too! Wow I'm sooooo excited and definitely think about it everyday. Thinking about that helps me get through days like yesterday.

I have also been fortunate enough to become really close to the doctor and his family since I got sick. They live right across the street from me and insisted on cooking me some soup for lunch when I was sick. I ended up staying there for 3.5 hours talking to the doctor's wife, Chabu (her name is really Isabel, but Chabu is a common nickname for Isabel here - don't ask why). Rita has been out of town since last Thursday so since then, I've been to the doctor's house everyday. They are from the coast so his wife doesn't have too many friends here and loves to talk to me. She had someone from Switzerland live with her family for two years when she was younger and always had other foreigners in and out of her house as a kid so she has a lot of experience with people from other cultures and is very understanding of what I'm going through and knows how lonely it can be to be new somewhere so she always invites me over to talk and spend time with them.

I went to their house on Friday and Saturday night because the obstratrice (sp?) that works at the health center moved on Sunday to Trujillo (a city on the coast). I really liked her and am sorry to see her leave. She was here alone too - all of her family lives in Cajamarca (she's only 26) so Dr. Martín and his family really took her in. She used to spend a lot of time there and they're all really sad to see her leave. On Friday night they invited me over for pizza ( cooked in the microwave with hot dogs, ham, pineapple, peppers, onions - interesting, but good) and sangria - a special dinner they were having for her. It was nice to talk to hang out with them outside of the health center because we could all be more relaxed (of course the Sangria helped with this too). They told me to come back and hang out the next night too so I went over around 8 pm. They asked where I'd been all day because apparently they had been drinking since 1 pm. Haha. We had a really fun time talking and watching Dr. Martín and his wife dancing! However, some parts of the night were also very sad as they started thinking about Aracely leaving. Everyone started crying, including me because leaving a really familiar place to go somewhere new all by yourself is still very fresh in my mind. They were saying though that God is taking one rose away from them, but gave them another one from Massachusetts and they're really looking forward to getting to know me better. Then the doctor told me that he wants nothing more for me than to feel completely comfortable here. He wants me to think of them as my family and feel free to come and go as I please. They told me they want to take me to the coast with them to meet the rest of their family because I'm part of their family now and they want to do everything they can for me. It was really sweet and great to hear because my family has never said anything like that to me and lately things have been kind of weird with my host mom to the point that she makes me feel very uncomfortable sometimes. Next to the doctor's house, they have another room with a private bath that they want me to live in. They said I'd be able to have a lot of privacy (my own entrance, but still inside the locked gate to their property), but be able to come into the house any time to eat, visit with them, watch TV or DVDs, take a HOT shower, or whatever I wanted! It definitely seems like an ideal situation because his family includes me a lot and I feel really comfortable with them. His wife is a great cook and really wants to teach me recipes and learn some from me. She also does tons of arts and crafts and sewing projects and would love to teach me that too! I really hope it would work out because I think it would be a better situation than I'm in now. I would wait until after these first three months because that's how long I told my family I'd be living there, but then I'll probably move if that is still an option. We have to talk about it more, but his wife mentioned it again last night and showed me the room as I was leaving. It has a new tile floor and is freshly painted, but they haven't finished redoing the bathroom yet.

I must sound like a crazy lady changing families all the time, especially since I had recently come to the conclusion that I thought I'd be happy staying with my current family for two years. But things have started to change with my host mom and I think I'd like to live in a family where I feel really included. I like having my privacy in my house now, but I'd have that in the doctor's house too. I don't like that my family doesn't really include me in much because I spend a lot of time in my room. I just finished decorating my room so I really feel like it's my own space now and feel really comfortable in there. Sometimes I think it's bad that I was an only child because I'm really good at entertaining myself. I could stay in my room for a week and never run out of things to do. Since my family doesn't invite me to join them in watching TV and such, it's really easy to spend a lot of time alone and that's not my purpose here. Plus if I moved into the doctor's house, I would just live across the street so I'd be able to maintain a relationship with my family. I really like my host mom's sister and sister-in-law and would hope to stay friends with them. Sometimes I think we spend more time with people if we don't live together and I think that would be the case with my current family. Right now we spend most of the time doing our own thing, but if I didn't live there and came over to visit, we'd be forced to spend time together and hang out.

The issue with my host mom is that sometimes I feel like she doesn't like me or tries to point out my flaws. The other day she asked me out of the blue what pants size I wear. I told her I don't know what it is here so I told her what it is at home. She was trying to guess what size I would be here and kept insisting that I'm bigger than her. Her sister-in-law kept saying that I'm definintely smaller than her (which I am), but my host mom kept saying, yeah right look at how big her hips are - she's definitely bigger than me. Her sister-in-law wanted to get out a measuring tape to prove to my host mom that she was wrong, but couldn't find one. It was definitely really uncomfortable and I couldn't understand why she kept making such a big deal out of it and talking about my big hips right there in front of me. Later that day she asked me how I curl my hair and I told her it was natural. She kept telling me no it's not because she's seen that it's straight. I told her that's only when I brush it, but she still didn't believe me. Again, very uncomfortable. Another time she introduced me to her friend and told her friend that when I come back at Christmas I'll bring clothes for them from the States! I told her I wasn't sure and she kept telling me that yes I could and told her friend that I'll bring stuff back for them so she needs to tell me what she wants! I couldn't believe it and felt really uncomfortable again. I've since heard from some other people who work with her that she's very confrontational and has no fear speaking her mind, whether you want to hear it or not. It's too bad because I really like her sister and sister-in-law, but it's uncomfortable to live in an environment like that.

What else has been going on in my life? I found out the other day that one of my good friends in our program has decided to go back home to the States. After being in site for a month he realized that this really isn't for him and so he's heading back home. I'm really sad to see him go as he had so much positive energy and was a really great guy. I saw a lot of potential in him, but we all have to evaluate things for ourselves and I just wish him the best of luck. It's definitely a big transition here and it's not right for everyone. I'll be sad not to see him at our reunion for Thanksgiving, but he promised that he'd be down to visit over the next two years.

As I was writing on my blog earlier today, the doctor called and invited me over to lunch at his house. The food was absolutely delicious - the best I've had since my abuelita's yummy cooking - and the company was great as always. He asked me to explain what exactly I'm doing here because to him it seems like a huge sacrifice and a big punishment to leave a developed country and give up your whole life to live in an under-developed country for two years. He said if someone asked him to give up his life and go live in the Congo, he'd say no way! I explained to him why I'm here and what I'm hoping to learn and get out of it and he understood a lot better. Then he told me how he can understand my situation because he used to live in a much more modern city on the coast where he had everything he wanted and delicious food. And then he came to the Sierra to do his practicum (or whatever that's called for a doctor) and he was miserable. He said there was no electricity, it was freezing, and he hated the food. He said it was culture shock for him too - even in his own country. So now he jokes with me that he did Peace Corps Peru too! Haha.

It's interesting to think about the huge economic inequality there is here in Peru. I always talk about it being so inefficient and poor here in so many ways, but yesterday I was eating lunch with my host family and they started talking about people in the jungle and how much worse they have it. They kept saying "pobrecitos" and talking about how they couldn't imagine living like they do. It was really interesting for me because it really put things in perspective. I complain about the freezing cold showers here and all the flies in our kitchen, but I'm sure I am so lucky to be living where I am compared to other parts of this country - even compared to Jessica who is just 30 minutes away with electricity. As the doctor was saying to me today, as bad as we think we may have it, there is always somewhere that is worse. It's really sad to thikn about the economic reality here in Peru. For example, Cajamarca has the biggest gold mine in Latin America and the 3rd largest in the world, but at the same time, it's the poorest department in Peru because all of it's resources get exported. Peru is actually a really rich country, but you'd never know it because the government has sold all of its resources to foreign companies so Peru never gets the benefits of its own resources.

I've been busy in my site, but I'm starting to get ready for another break. It's nice to be able to see Jessica once and a while and speak English with her. It's nice to be able to have sleep overs and eat mac & cheese (something I haven't done since I was about 12 years old) and make pancakes the next morning! Life here can be very exhausting because we're on display 24 hours a day, whether we know it or not, and people are always expecting great things out of us. People here think I'm a psycologist and call me "Doctora/Profesora/Enfermera" Kris. I was buying index cards yesterday and I ended up talking to the store owner for 30 minutes about her son who is depressed and what they should do for him. Oh boy. What am I supposed to say? I'm just a "Relacionista Internacional" as Rita calls me - not a pyscologist! I told myself I'm not going to Cajamarca for two more weeks though so I'm going to stick it out. After that I have a lot going on between the camp we're organizing, reunions with Peru 7 for Counterpart Day, Reconnect (to talk about our first 2 months in site), and Thanksgiving so I think I need to stick it out in my site. Weekends are definitely challenging because I don't have as much going on and there are always tons of drunks right near my house all day on Saturday. I live right near the canchitas (soccer fields) where there are games all day on Saturday. People play, observe, and drink all day so it's hard to avoid drunks when I leave the house - even if it's only 10 am. They yell "gringa, gringa, mi amor, ven acá (gringa, my love, come here)" and make really inappropriate sounds and calls to me. Yuck! I don't like leaving my house on Saturdays, but I also don't like staying in my room all day. Luckily the doctor just lives across the street so I can escape to his house. Hopefully after a while I won't be so exciting to them, but for right now, it's really disgusting and uncomfortable to walk by them (not to mention they can all see where I live). It's the worst when the policemen whistle and call out to me - gross!

Luckily I've found this awesome lookout point of Bambamarca where I like to go and just take everything in and write in my journal. It's about a 45 minute walk up the mountain, but it's really beautiful and peaceful up there. Sometimes it feels nice to escape, even if it's just for an hour or two.

One funny little story and then I promise I'm done. I bought some boots while I was in Cajamarca because I didn't bring any nice looking shoes and people in my site definitely dress professionally for work. I decided to spend a little extra money (twice as much as they are in my site) to get some good quality boots. Well of course the broke the FIRST time I wore them! I was so mad and told Rita how I was going to bring them right back to the store and exchange them. She started laughing at me and said they wouldn't do anything for me. I told her I had my receipt, but she said that didn't matter. She took me to some guy's house who fixes shoes and said that was the best I was going to get. Well she has been out of town and I wanted my boots back so this weekend I set out searching for the house. We drove to the guy's house so I didn't know where he lived exactly other than there was a really tall sidewalk outside of his house and it was up the hill from the market. After knocking on one door and being wrong, I was pretty sure I had the right house. I knocked a few times and no one answered. I noticed there was this older woman sticking her head around the corner staring at me. When I knocked the third time she said, "that's my house, can I help you?" Hahaha. It was so funny that she had been staring at me the whole time wondering what I was doing. She had come out the side entrance to her house and was just watching me the whole time. She must have realized I was determined though so finally said something to me. Of course it wasn't the right house, but she did point me in the right direction and I finally found the right house. Third time is a charm I guess! Haha.

I hope you're all doing well. I miss you all and would love to get some emails if you have a chance!