Catalina, que estas haciendo?! ...Buen pregunta.
Caitlin, what are you doing?! ...Good question.
Well, a lot!
Besides eloquently fumbling about with my Spanish, becoming steadily accustomed with a whole new culture, enjoying the local dance scenes, and thoroughly enjoying Peruvian delicacies such as cow hearts and sheep stomach, I have been going through the Peace Corps Pre-Service Training. These first 10 weeks to prepare us for our near future missions. Every Lunes-Viernes from 8AM-5PM I venture to the Peace Corps Center where we are being intensely trained on a variety of different subjects.
For 2-4 hours a day we have language training where we... learn the language. ;) Los profesores son increible. They are Peruvian, but are very well educated and know English as well. My teacher for the Intermediano Medio group is Karina. She studied to be a lawyer here in Peru then went to the States to work where she soon realized she loved to teach! She somehow found her way back through school to become a teacher and is now doing great. We have a lot of interactive learning with games, exercises, songs, worksheets, acting out, stories... each of which focuses on a certain aspect of vocabulario or grammar what we are learning at the time. I love it. Not only do we learn the basics of how to communicate, but we are also learning job-specific language (i.e. water systems vocabulary), which will come in handy when I'm trying to explain to an entire town of adults how to construct a latrine system..
On top of language learning, we learn a lot of safety and security aspects of being here in Peru. We cover it all- from how to safely take a taxi, venture around town, and determine fraud money to more serious subjects of STI's and instances of assault. They want to prepare us as much as possible for the unknown. We are in a whole new world over here where we are the aliens, and therefore often the targets. The more informed we are on this information, the better prepared we will be.
Another portion of the information that we learn is on the Peruvian culture. They're culture here is very different. The food, how to drink, how to greet each other, how to catch a taxi, how to be friends with people, how to say no, how share everything, what to wear... it's so interesting to learn! There are some things that I like very much and some things that definitely take some getting used to. One thing I really like is the customary greeting. Everyone here hugs (abrazos) and kisses(besos) on the cheek when they greet and when they say goodbye. I must get 100 besos a day... it's awesome! Jajaja. It's such an open and kind way of welcoming someone's presence. I feel it makes people closer just simply by breaking down that initial barrier. Well, we've already hugged and kissed upon meeting the first time... I guess we're friends now! :D Also, another thing I really appreciate/like/enjoy is the sharing of everything. In a previous blog I explained the “Invitame” rule where basically any food that someone has is automatically everyone's tambien. Again, another kind and open gesture.
One of the cultural traditions that I will have a more difficult time with is the separation of genders. What it boils down to basically is that in the Peruvian culture, women and men simply are not friends. They are either dating or do not converse in any way. Gestures even as simple as eating ice cream together or even TALKING between men and women is seen as dating the other person. If they show any interest at all, it is taken as they want something more. It may sound extreme, but I'm not even stretching it. Sometimes in bigger cities women and men can be friends, but elsewhere there is no such thing. I can see this being a challenge for us volunteers in the near future as we are used to having a wide variety of friends of both genders.
In addition to all the culture mind-blowing adventures we are preparing for, we spend a large portion of our time preparing for the work I came here to do: agua y saneamiento (water and sanitation). This is probably my favorite part of the learning. We have learned a variety of different things: all about water pump systems, how to construct various gray water systems, microrellenas (mini landfills), biodigesters, lumbriculturas (I forget the word in english, but essentially breaking down organic matter by using worms to assist in the process), creating successful compost, slow trickle sand filters, SODIS sun decontamination of water, specific chlorination techniques, and all the in's and out's of caca and it's negative effects on humans. We will soon be learning to build latrine systems which I am really excited about. Our grupo (consisting of about 20 young adults ages 22-28, with backgrounds as varying as engineering, sociology, environmeantal management, microbiology, international affairs, and even religion to name a few) has also been traveling to various water systems around this area to get a view about what different systems look like. It's very eye-opening to say the least. Some of these systems you just look at with mouth wide-open in disbelief that it is actually exists and that it's acceptable.
Overall, I have learned more in these last 5 weeks than I have ever learned in that time-span. Probably because this stuff is essential for my survival for the next 2 years. Also, it helps learning in a room with 19 other highly motivated individuals. Finally I'm not the only one asking questions and making the class stay overtime just to understand the subject better. It also makes group projects run a lot smoother and in class competitions a lot more interesting. We have such an amazing group of people. We each have so much to share and it's just such a blast when we are together. Everyone just has a certain life to them that makes every encounter so exciting. I sure am going to miss everyone once we all split off to our sites. After spending at LEAST 8 hours with each other every single day, it's going to be a definite challenge not being able to see anyone very often.
Needless to say, I go to bed exhausted every night; however, it's one of those tired playful puppy exhaustion's... one of the best kinds. :)
Also, I have big news! I found my site assignment today. I will be living for the next 2 years in............. (drum roll please!)
Nazca, Ica, Peru
My next blog will be explaining more about this setup so stay tuned. There´s a lot to explain. Beginning tomorrow I will be out of town on some work-related training, so I will write when I can!
I hope all is well in the States! Whenever you think of it, please inform me of news thats going on because we don´t get newspapers here and I sparingly get internet access. Also, I miss the comics section.. so send the good ones! ;) Until next time...
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