Pictures!

The pizza Miki and I made from scratch.

Me with Rita, Mélany, Freddy and the combi about to be baptized (don't mind the finger in the corner of the photo).

Hana, Lindsay, and me on vacation.


Me with the nurses from the health center.

You're not going to believe this one....

Before I tell you this ridiculous story, I want to write this quote I read in a book I recently finished. The book is called The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. It's about a family that moves to the U.S. from India and all of the struggles they face living as foreigners in a new country and culture. I thought this quote was very fitting to my life here (except for the pregnancy part of course...the woman in the book had a baby not long after arriving in the U.S.). Anyone who has lived abroad for a significant period of time can probably relate to this feeling.

"For being a foreigner, Ashima is beginning to realize, is sort of lifelong pregnancy - a perpetual wait, a constant burden, a continuous feeling out of sorts. It is an ongoing responsibility, a parenthesis in what had once been ordinary life, only to discover that that previous life has vanished, replaced by something more complicated and demanding. Like pregnancy, being a foreigner, Ashima believes, is something that elicits the same curiosity from strangers, the same combination of pity and respect."

Now on to the story. Last Saturday Rita invited me to a luncheon. I figured it was for the health center or something and didn't ask any more questions. She picked me up that day at 11:15 am because it started at noon and it was "lejos" (far away). I don't know what she was thinking by saying it was "lejos" since it was only about 5 minutes away, but I've gotten used to comments like that. It was at this event hall that you'd rent out for weddings and parties so I was confused what we were doing there. I finally had to ask and she told me it was a party to baptize Freddy's new combi (like a VW van). That's right, a ceremony to baptize a CAR! Are you kidding me? This country KILLS me! Freddy invited 60 people, who of course showed up about 2.5 hours late. When most of the people had finally arrived, the PRIEST began the blessing. He led prayers, gave a short sermon, and blessed the car (Freddy's little truck was there too because it never had a baptism) with later and flowers! I couldn't believe it. I have been to some weird things in Peru, but this was by far the weirdest. There was even a godmother and godfather for the ceremony, but that wasn't that surprising since you can't do anything in Peru without a madrina and padrino. At the end of the ceremony, we had a champagne toast and people started to give speeches to Freddy and Rita!

I realized in the end that the ceremony was to celebrate how far Freddy has come in his work. Not many people here have cars, and he has done so well that he has bought two vehicles over the past ten years. It's quite an accomplishment so the ceremony was really about congratulating them (and blessing the cars so that God might watch over them and keep them out of harm). Rita told me the other night that Freddy has contracted his combi with the mine so someone else drives it and he just gets the money ($60/week - which is a lot here). What he has done is really respectful, but that doesn't negate the fact that this was by far the weirdest thing I've been to in Peru. Everyone was drinking a TON, even the priest, but I chose not to drink because I had a long run the next morning and I don't think it's fun to just sit around and pass the beer around the circle. After four hours I had had enough and left. I had to lie and tell them I'd be back because otherwise they'd never let me leave, but I knew they'd be so drunk in a few hours that they'd forget. I found out the next day that everyone was trashed and Rita even threw up! All for a car baptism! Oh man.

None of my other stories are nearly as exciting, but it's hard to top that. I think I told all of you that Jessica (a great friend who lives the closest to me) was going to move. Well now it's official. Last Friday I helped her move to Chota, about 1.5 hours from Bambamarca. It was very emotional as she was really close with her host family in Apan Bajo (the small community she lived in before), but we both agree that this is a good change for her. Her old community was not organized for united so it made working extremely difficult. I have a hard time here and I even have a very supportive counterpart. Chota is bigger than Bambamarca so our boss told Jessica she'd like her to move there because she'd be a lot more successful and hopefully happier in the long run. I haven't talked to her that much since she got there, but I know that is a good sign because it means she's busy. I am really going to miss having her so close by (she's still the closest volunteer to me, just not as close), but I pick up my mail in Chota so I'll still see her every few weeks.

Speaking of work, I was starting to feel guilty that classes have started and I still haven't gone into the schools or started many projects. I'm going to be traveling a lot in the next few months so I decided that in order to feel okay about being away from my site, I need to be really productive when I'm here. My goal for the week (before I leave for vacation on Saturday) was to meet with Rita and Dr. Bianca (the new doctor in charge at the health center) about actually getting things rolling on projects because I feel like all we ever do is talk about them and then nothing happens. I set up a meeting with the two of them, but I was kind of annoyed with Rita because she was completely distracted the whole time and not really listening, but the doctor was really helpful and encouraging. They told me I have to write a couple of oficios (official documents asking permission to do things), which Rita was supposed to help me with, but hasn't until now. One of them we did in person and the others will wait until I get back from vacation.

I was getting really frustrated because I want to start things, but I can only do so much. I can't do 100% of everything because I need the cooperation of the people I'm working with to do these projects or they won't be sustainable and then what is the point. The oficios didn't get written, no girls showed up for my youth group meeting after being so enthusiastic last time about doing a radio show (they finally came 40 minutes late, but I told them it was too late to do anything because I had another meeting), and the meeting with the nurses about working in the schools got postponed until after my vacation so you can imagine that I was really frustrated. I'm learning that getting started in half the battle and that I just have to keep being persistent, but it's hard at times. Luckily though, I did have one successful interaction. I want to start a youth theater group so I asked Rita to go to the municipality with me to ask their permission to perform for the community. After a couple of attempts, we finally spoke with the person in charge of cultural events. He was so great and supportive. He thanked me for coming to Bambamarca to work with the youth and told me they'd support me 100% in the theater project. They would let us use the theater in town and they'd even film us to put on the TV and record short clips to put on the radio. The best part is that they will pay for all of it! I was so excited because I felt like I had accomplished something, not only the theater, but getting in with the municipality. If I do well in this, I'll probably have a much easier time getting their support for future projects! I talked with one of the art professors at the high school who I really like and she said she's very interested in helping me. She already has a cultural group that does dance and something else and she's been wanting to start theater with them so hopefully it will work out. Now I'm just waiting for her to call back. This part of my life is called patience.

Speaking of frustrations, my laptop is broken and it's been such a headache trying to get it fixed. I've taken it in three times to this place in Cajamarca and each time they've told me they fixed it, but of course, it's still broken. On top of that, the first time they told me it just needed a thorough cleaning to fix the problem. They did that, but somehow also managed to erase ALL of the information including lots of Giff's documents (its his laptop) from college, photos, and over 1,000 songs! I was furious and told them I didn't understand how they could have erased everything by cleaning it! They gave me some bullshit answer and told me they'd be able to recover the information, but haven't done so up to this point. They also installed a Spanish system on my computer so now everything, including the keyboard, is in Spanish so the keys don't really do what you think they're going to when you type. Needless to say, it's a huge nightmare. This last time they told me the problem is actually with the video card and they can't fix that there. So now they've erased all of my information and not fixed a thing when they could have told me from the beginning it's the video card and we could have avoided a huge headache. Oh man am I annoyed with them. My mom called Toshiba in the States and they recommended two different authorized Toshiba service centers in Lima so I have emailed them and am praying one of them can help me. Otherwise I'm without a computer, which means I can no longer watch DVDs. I know this probably seems like a ridiculous thing to be upset about, but you wouldn't believe what a nice escape it is to watch a movie in English. I need the computer for my sanity! I also use it for work related stuff and writing these wonderful blogs so it's a huge loss all around! I must admit that I'm getting really good at computer talk in Spanish. It's definitely been a challenge.

It has been raining SO MUCH here. Yesterday morning it rained so much that I came out of my room because I was afraid the roof was going to fall in or something. I have never heard it rain so hard here! As you can imagine, that is making running extremely difficult. However, I have stopped feeling guilty about that because I started reading this book a friend recommended called The Non-Runners Marathon Trainer and it talks about how you have to be careful not to overtrain. I've been running a lot and am up to about 24 miles a week so I'm not going to keep increasing the mileage because I don't want to wear myself out before the official training even starts. The training in this book is 16 weeks long and is designed for people who have never run a marathon (or ran at all) before. The only prerequiste before starting the training is that you can run 30 minutes straight so I've got that down. There is this woman quoted in the book who was 80 lbs. overweight when she started and couldn't even run to the corner of her street. Nineteen weeks later she ran and completed the marathon! If she can do it, I can! The book is really motivational and talks about how 50% of running a marathon is mental so it gives you lots of techniques and advice on what to focus on to help you get through the training and the marathon. It's designed to read week by week so I'm looking forward to reading more once the training starts.

This entry is long enough so I'll just write a few bullet points for the next few things I wanted to say:

• I've told you before how Peruvians call people names by their appearances (like gordita, negrita for a black person, indio - which means indian, etc). Well the other day someone called me "chinita" which means little chinese girl! What??
• Karina told me they were going to have a family meeting on Sunday about the house because apparently my host mom owns it, but she made the deal with her dad under the table without the knowledge of some of her siblings (I don't know when this happened). The siblings found out and were upset so they called a family meeting. It lasted 7 hours!!! (Oh and my host mom gets to keep the house). Thank god I didn't have to participate.
• I took charge of planning the leadership camp we're going to hold for adolescent boys from Cajamarca. We were going to have the camp the first weekend in May and had to postpone it by two weeks (or so I thought) to allow the fudning to come through. Well apparently the procedure for holding these camps has changed and now you have to advise Peace Corps 12 weeks in advance! I sent out an email telling the group we'd be postponing yet again until July, and then found out it might not be able to happen until August because there are Peace Corps workshops being planned for July and the new trainees will be visiting Cajamarca then sooooo at this point, it looks like we'll be lucky to have it before Christmas!
• I got this email the other day addressed to Kristen Cummings, but I had no idea what the email was talking about so I emailed the person back and said I didn't think it was meant for me. I said I'm in the Peace Corps in Peru so if it's meant for me, please clarify what they are talking about. The woman emailed me back and said it wasn't for me, that her daughter has the same name and she was guessing her new email address, but that her older daughter applied for Peace Corps and she'd like to pass my email onto her. What a small world, huh?
• Finally, I noticed that I bust out my fake laugh all the time here. You would not believe how often I just pretend to understand what people are saying and laugh when they laugh. I know it's not a good habit, but it's a lot easier than asking what they mean every time. Hahaha.

Those are all the updates for now. I know nothing tops the car baptism so maybe you didn't even make it this far. I'm leaving for vacation in Lima and then Ica on Saturday and I'll be gone for a week so I wanted to update you all before that. I can't wait to tell you all about eating delicious food in Lima and going sand-boarding in Ica! Stay tuned.....

More Random Observations

In the past couple of weeks, in my boredom, I have become very observant and wanted to share a few of my observations and funny stories with you.

The first thing is something one of my friends told me about, but I find it very amusing. My friends Evan and Amanda were at this party a few weeks ago and some guy was wearing a "Denver Broncos Superbowl Champions" tshirt with the year (I don't know that detail) written on it. Evan told Amanda he had to have the shirt because the Broncos didn't actually win the Superbowl that year! So if you're wondering where all of those campionship shirts go if the team loses....the answer is third world countries! Haha. I thought that was pretty funny.

As you know, Peruvians have this obsession with appearances and calling people gordita, flacita, etc. So it should be of no surprise to me that they also really like to talk about how much one weighs and all flock to the scale if someone is weighing themselves. I first experienced this when I went to the exercise class at the gym with Jessica. They wanted us to weigh ourselves to see if we lose anything after a few weeks. Of course it was a little awkward when I got on the scale and all the women crowded around to see how much I weigh, but I had to just go with it because what are you going to do? It's the best when they start announcing your weight to everyone and talking about who weighs more/less than you do. Anyway, after that incident, I try to avoid public weighings like the one held at my house last weekend. I was in my room and I heard my host aunt tell someone to weigh her. After that, it started a frenzy of weighing and everyone would shout out their weight. If someone wasn't participating, they would call them over and force them to get on the scale. Even though I wanted to go use the internet, I decided to hide in my room until this was over. Since I heard that my host dad only weighs about 10 lbs. more than me, I thought it might be pretty humiliating to go downstairs. To be honest, I was really surprised they didn't call me down since they seemed to be weighing everyone in a 3 mile radius, including guests at our house and neighbors. Could you ever imagine that happening in the States?!?

Along the same lines, the other day I attended this ceremony at the hospital and while we were waiting for lunch to be served, I was standing outside talking with Rita, Chabu, and Silvia (one of the nurses at the private clinic where the Doctor also works). Chabu was sitting on the hood of the doctor's car and then Rita sat down too. They said, Kristen you better not sit down too or the car will break! Then Chabu told us how if she, the doctor, and the kids are sitting on the bed in her house and Silvia or I come over, she asks us to sit on a stool rather than join them on the bed because we would break it! Umm thanks a lot.

Another weird habit that Peruvians have is calling people by the same name. Right now, my host mom's brother and sister-in-law are living with us along with their two daughters because they are moving to Bambamarca and are still looking for a house. The daughters' names are Diana (about 8 years old) and Yadira (about 7 years old) so instead of calling them by their names, they frequently refer to them as "las Dianas" (the Dianes). Where are las Dianas? Have las Dianas eaten lunch yet? It's so weird, but I hate to admit that I've started doing it too. It's just easier I guess (especially since I often forget the little one's name). Also, the professor and his wife that live next door to me, often call their daughter "bebe" (baby) instead of by her name. She is one and a half, and I rarely ever hear them call her Liseth, which is her real name. And finally, another weird habit they have with names is not to name a newborn as soon as it's born. Rita's sister-in-law just had a baby and I asked what they named it, but Rita told me they haven't named it yet. She told me they have up to a month to name their children. I guess they really don't do anything on time in this country...

As you all know, I'm training to run in a marathon so I run almost everyday. Unfortunately the rainy season is getting even worse and it's been raining even more recently to the point where it's made running very difficult. When it rains, sometimes it floods the streets and it makes the dirt road I run on a huge mud pit. A few times I've tried to go running after a big rain, but I fall all over the place because the mud is so slippery. (Sidenote: the other day it was dry and a great running day and I tripped over a plank of wood on one of the bridges and completely biffed it....pretty embarrassing). At least I still have 6 months before the marathon so I'm just doing the best I can.

Anyway, when I can run, it's always quite an experience. First of all, there are tons of "mototaxis" (motorcycles that have a thing attached for 3 people to sit in) that drive by me while I'm running. Even though we have the whole road, I SWEAR it is their goal to see how close they can come to me without hitting me. I get so annoyed with them because I don't know why they can't use the rest of the road. Now I've started crossing the street when I see them coming and they aren't as bad. When I do that they just laugh hysterically because they've "won" and made me cross the street. If they are coming from behind me, their game is to honk their horns really loud when they pass me to try and scare me. I get so annoyed by them. As if that's not bad enough, the other day I was running and could hear what sounded like water running. I looked around to see if I could see a hose or something (because people water the dirt road for some reason) and I saw a little boy peeing off his balcony! Good thing I looked up...I would have died if I got hit by that. I also frequently see people checking each other's heads for lice when I run by their house so that's always fun.

Finally, I'm not sure if I mentioned, but Heidi had a friend come visit from the States who is African-American. You can imagine she was quite a hit since people in our towns don't see very many black people. My host mom wasn't home when I introduced her to the family, but they most of told her there was a black girl visiting because she made a point to come to my room to give me something and she's only been to my room about two or three times in the whole six months I've lived there. We also went to Rita's house for a little bit. A few days later Rita said to me, "Wow your friend was really pretty, especially for a black person. Usually black people make me scared, but she was actually pretty." Oh boy. How are you supposed to respond to things like that? I try to tell them that black people are really nice and just like us, but they are really racist here (even Rita and the Doctor's family who are pretty modern compared to most people in my town).

Stay tuned for some more funny stories....you guys will die when I tell you about the luncheon I went to on Saturday. It's so unique that it deserves it's own blog entry.

I miss you all so much and think about you ALL the time!!!

Youth Group Happenings

The weekend after Carnival, my youth group and I went on a paseo (outing). They had been begging me for about a month so we finally planned to go to Maraypampa where there is a big field to play volleyball and a river to swim in. The girls were supposed to meet at my house at 8 am to cook Arroz con Pollo that we took with us to eat for lunch. Of course they didn't get there until 9 and without any ingredients so by the time we got everything made and left, it was about 10:30. Maraypampa is about a 2 hour walk from Bambamarca so we planned to walk there and get a car home. However, only about 5 minutes into the walk, one girl in my group, Yovany, saw one of her friends who was also going on a paseo with her family and offered to take us with them. I was hesitant at first since it was about a 1.5 hour drive in the opposite direction and I had told the girls parents we were going to Maraypampa, but they assured me it wouldn't be a problem so I finally gave in. I must admit that you get a lot of credit for your "gringo status" as we call it in Peace Corps. A few of the girls told me that their parents don't let them go anywhere with anyone, but they trust their girls with me (even though they had never met me!).

I figured we were safe since we were going with family friends of Yovany's. They own a typical 4x4 truck that is built for 6 people (3 in front, 3 in back) with a very short bed. Well do Peruvians know how to maximize space or what because you better believe we crammed 17 people in that truck! That's right, 17 and as if that weren't enough, we picked up 2 more on the way home! Good lord. I rode the whole hour and a half standing up with my arms around the two girls who were in front of me. I held on for dear life and was exhausted by the time we got there. On the way home I decided to sit, thinking that might be a bit of a break, but boy was I wrong. I could feel every rock, pot hole, etc. that we hit and literally had black and blue marks the next day from the trip! Besides for that, the paseo was really fun. There were 6 of us and we had a blast hanging out together and enjoying the beautiful day. We went to a place called Pinipata, which is the same place I went back in January with the girls Jessica and I met. It has thermal spring water and two of the girls went swimming in the pool. The water was YELLOW and I'm not quite sure why. They said it was "normal" and supposed to be like that because of some mineral in the water, but they have these baths inside little rooms that are more private with the same water and it's clear so don't ask me. Everyone who went swimming went in old clothes so I was not about to go in since I missed that memo - the gringa in her bikini did not sound appealing to me. Plus, the poor girls were wearing white and when they got out, there clothes were stained yellow! Gross. It also turns out that they didn't know how to swim very well which I didn't know until they got in and were hanging on to the wall just about the whole time. Luckily it wasn't too deep and there were lots of other people in the water. Just for the record though, I was ready to jump in at the drop of a hat (or girl). The other girls and I played UNO (their new favorite game) and enjoyed the sun and the river while we waited for the girls in the pool. When they got out we ate our Arroz con Pollo (which was delicious if I may say so myself) and then surprised Yovany with an apple cake I had made the night before and brought with me. We didn't have enough to share with the family though so we hid behid a little cottage there, lit the candle, sang, and ate our cake. Haha. So despite for the ride there and back, it was a success and the girls who didn't go are so jealous that they missed out. Looks like we have another paseo to plan.

The youth group meetings during the vacation months went pretty well, but the girls were really shy and it was hard to get them to carry on a conversation with me or hold a discussion at the meetings. I had the brilliant idea of doing house visits because I thought that might help break them out of their shells. I'm still not sure if it helped since we've only had two meetings since I finished the house visits (more on the meetings later), but I had a blast doing the house visits and I think the girls really enjoyed them too. The first visit was a disaster in that the girl never showed up even though I had reminded her three times the day before. Luckily I know her parents so it wasn't that awkward and I just sat in their store and waited for her to come. Her dad bought me arroz con leche so I lucked out there even though Nayla never showed up (I gave up after 30 minutes). Obviously I didn't have high hopes after that first visit, but every other one was a blast!

The first successful visit I had was with Luz Meri. I had a little trouble finding her house as the address she gave me was for one of the high schools. I went in and looked around, but was clueless. After asking around, one teacher led me through this little secret door in the back and pointed way down the hill to her house. Good thing I was wearing my boots (and I don't mean hiking boots)! I almost killed myself about three times walking down, but I finally made it. Turns out her family sells milk and cuyes (guinea pigs) so they had lots of cows and cuyes. I've never seen so many cuyes in one place - I swear there were over 100! Of course they insisted I take a picture with one so you can imagine how thrilled I was about that. Then her mom taught me how to milk a cow! It was such a "Peace Corps moment". It's harder than you think. I thought I was going to pull it's utter off, but if you didn't pull hard, nothing came out. Then Luz Meri and I went on a walk with her little neighbors. They were absolutely adorable and since most Peruvian children are malnourished, they were tiny. I was sure the boy was three and the girl five, but the boy was five years old and the girl seven. They LOVED taking pictures and the little girl suggested we take a picture about every two feet. She couldn't get over me since I'm the first gringa she's ever seen. She kept talking about how I'm the most beautiful girl in all of Bambamarca and I'm so nice and have such nice, white skin, etc. She also told me I look so pretty in all of the photos and I told her she did too. Her response was "claro" (clearly!). I thought it was hillarious. She had such sass and modeled in every photo with her little leg out and her hand on her hip or her hands under her chin. Haha - adorable. We walked along the river, up to a garden, and collected and cracked walnuts to eat. I thought I'd never tried "nogales" so I was really excited to try them, but it turns out I just don't know what walnuts look like in their shells because when we cracked them on the rocks, they were just walnuts. Eventually we wandered our way back through the corn fields to Luz Meri's house where we drank warm cow milk - yes the same milk I had just squeezed an hour earlier from the cow's utter! It was delicious because it was nice and warm and full of sugar. Her mom insisted I had two cups and I really couldn't refuse since it was so good. This very well could be what let to my being extremely sick (possible parasite) four days later, but at least it was tasty going down. It was a very successful first visit and I already have another visit planned because we all had so much fun. I'm not quite sure what I'll do about the milk though....

The next house I visited was Berta's. She is 11 and absolutely tiny and adorable. I could probably fit her in my pocket. She and her brother had gone blackberry picking the day before with their uncle so they gave me a whole big bowl of their berries. They were definitely not ripe, but a little sugar can make anything taste good so I ate them all to show them I was grateful. After that we played Monopoly with her nine year old brother, Edin. It was fun other than the fact that it was a ghetto version. We buy lots of pyrated movies and CDs here, but I didn't know they also make "pyrated" versions of Monopoly. The board was clearly photocopied and paper thin. The money wasn't even real Monopoly money, it was some other photocopied money in different colors. They didn't have all of the cards for the different properties and they only had one die, one player piece (the car), two houses, and about four hotels (which we had to use for pieces so it was hard to keep track at time who was where). They were really cute about it though because it was new and Berta had read all of the rules as soon as they got it. They were very particular about what properties they bought and wanted to put houses and a hotel on every property. It was fun to play with them since they were so excited about it. Luckily the hot chocolate was ready so I was saved from playing with them all night. We passed into the kitchen and squished around the table with their mom, grandparents, cousin and his wife. Their house was VERY rustic with dirt floors, cuyes running around, and a cat that was literally crawling all over their grandma, but as their mom said, "small table, big heart". That is one thing I've noticed about Peruvians, they may not have much, but they are extremely generous and grateful for what they have. It was a really nice night and fun to sit around talking with Berta's family. She is definitely more outgoing and talkative at home so it was fun to see her in her own environment.

The next house visit was to Jouleisy's house. I visited her on a Saturday morning and we startd talking about food. Jouleisy told her mom I like to cook so they insisted I stay for lunch and cook with them. I do like to cook, but I don't really know how to cook Peruvian dishes so I was glad when her mom took over the cooking. It was fun sitting and watching her cook and talking because it reminded me of home (as much as cooking in a Peruvian house can). Her mom was really sweet, but kind of annoyed me because she told me her friend had just called from Cajamarca and she told him I was there and that I'm single. She said, "I gave him your measurements and told him you're really cute and single so he's leaving Cajamarca right now to come meet you." Umm gross....especially after I had just told her how hard it is to be away from my boyfriend. I guess I deserved it though because later she asked me how old I thought she was and I guessed too old....oops! She has a 15 year old son so I guessed 35, but I forgot people start early here in Peru and she is only 32. Luckily I think it's not as big of an insult here. The rest of the visit was fun and Jouleisy's family is really sweet.

The last visit was with Katy (because I still haven't been able to coordinate with other girls). Katy's family is really sweet and their house is REALLY nice. It doesn't look like it fits in Bambamarca, but her family is from the coast and from my observations, people from the coast always have really distinct houses and styles. At Katy's house, the visit was much more formal, sitting in the living room and talking and then having coffee and bread in the kitchen. It was still really nice to meet her family though and see her in her own environment.

After the house visits, I was really optimistic about the group, but things just started to go downhill. Classes have started now so the girls are much busier than they were during the vacation months. We only meet once a week now instead of two, on Saturday afternoons, but the girls are having a hard time showing up at all, let alone on time. Last week I was annoyed because by the time everyone was there, it was 45 minutes after the meeting was supposed to start and then they all left early (almost without helping me clean up until I made them help me). I was frustrated because I spend all of this time planning meetings and then they just show up when they please and leave without helping me or having a discussion about why we did that activity. Last Saturday was even worse because only two girls were there by 3:30 and then one left to find her friend who was at the soccer courts watching the games (because she came at 3 and left because no one was there). We played UNO until 4 o'clock when two more girls came, but I told them we weren't going to do an activity because they aren't going to be rewarded for showing up so late. I told them we are going to start meeting at 11 am on Saturdays and I will wait for them until 11:05. If no one is there I will leave because it's not fair for me to sit there and waste all of my time waiting for them. Plus the president of Peru has launched a Punctuality Campaign so we need to practice in our youth group. I think they got the idea that I was frustrated and they can't keep walking all over me like this or else the group won't continue. I also told them we're only going to meet twice a month since they're having a hard time coming and I need to have their commitment so we'll see how the next meeting goes. Needless to say, I was frustrated.

Unfortunately things haven't been that great here. I've been feeling really down and sad, but I talked to the doctor and he said that's really common after being in site for six months because the honeymoon period is over and the reality of another year and a half here sets in. Hopefully things will start picking up soon because I've been really bored and lonely. I'm making more of an effort with my family so I think that will help. I've started eating lunch with them because I never talk to them and just feel like a tenant here. I figure if we start eating together, even if I cook for myself, at least we'll talk and spend more time together. Hopefully things with work will pick up soon too. I have a lot to look forward to in April so I'm trying to stay positive.

I miss you all and appreciate all of your support, emails, packages, etc.

P.S. If anyone has any extra school or art supplies lying around and would like to know what to do with them, PLEASE send them on because they're expensive here and I can always use them in my youth group. Here is my address again just in case you've misplaced it.

Kristen Cummings/Cuerpo de Paz

Casilla Postal No. 48

SERPOST Chota

Cajamarca, Peru