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....