I pass as someone half my age...

Today on the way to Huanchaco... on the bus... i was only charged the amount for a high school kid.. which is about half price..

awesome =)

a southern hemisphere day...

actually i'm very close to the equator... but anyway...

if you're curious.. heres how my typical week/day looks

Mondays/Lunes
715am wake up.. breakfast (usually consists of toasted bread w/ cream cheese and tomato or cereal with soymilk and banana/mango/orange)
745 catch a taxi for s/4 (usually with another volunteer so it's only s/2) to el porvenira
8 - 1230 teach english classes
1 -3 lunch (siesta if i'm lucky) the volunteers eat at one of SKIPS volunteer's homes... usually includes rice, beans, and/or potatoes, some sort of meat... and yummy aji (spicy stuff).. oh and jugo (juice)...
3 - 6 afianzamiento (extra classes to help kids, tutoring/homework).. helps me work on my spanish alot
6pm catch a taxi/combi back home
7-9 Shadow boxing and baile class @ gym
10 shower and then anything from dinner (which usually is some sort of broccoli pasta thing i make), to studying spanish, to hanging out with house mates, to watching a movie in spanish, to talking with brentt/a/britta/michael/mom...

Tuedays/Martes
same as monday pretty much.. except no 7-9 gym...

Wednesdays/Miercoles
715am wake up.. breakfast
745 catch a taxi to el porvenir
8 - 10 teach english classes
1015 take a combi back home s/1
1030 - 3pm running errands, eat lunch
3-7pm work on summer camp stuff (I'm THE coordinator of the summer camp for kids 6-11, theres 350 kids in this age group)
7-9 Shadow boxing and baile class @ gym
10 shower and then anything from dinner (which usually is some sort of broccoli pasta thing i make), to studying spanish, to hanging out with house mates, to watching a movie in spanish, to talking with brentt/a/britta/michael/mom...

Thursdays/Jueves
8 - 130 wake up and surf class
130 - 330 combi to spanish class (1 hr) and back home
330-7pm work at home all day.. summer camp stuff, translating stuff into english (or proofreading english), studying spanish, etc.
7pm - 10 anything from dinner, to studying spanish, to hanging out with house mates, to watching a movie in spanish, to talking with brentt/a/britta/michael/mom... and exercise

Friday/Viernes
8am spanish homework
1030 -1 leave for SKIP... 1130 meeting
130-3 lunch
3 - 6 afianzamiento (extra classes to help kids, tutoring/homework).. helps me work on my spanish alot
6pm catch a taxi/combi back home
7-9 Shadow boxing and baile class @ gym
10 shower and then anything from dinner (which usually is some sort of broccoli pasta thing i make), to studying spanish, to hanging out with house mates, to watching a movie in spanish, to talking with brentt/a/britta/michael/mom...

Saturdays
715am wake up.. breakfast
745 catch a taxi
8 - 1230 teach english classes
1 free to wander peru

Sundays
free to wander peru

wandering peru: thus far.. been to chan chan, huacas (sol y luna), huanchaco, various really cool/amazing marketplaces, malls, and going to chiclayo this weekend...

besos

so.. something we dont do in the states is this greeting thing with kisses... i think it's great and i love that you do it when you meet people, and every time you see your friends, and it sort of breaks the ice of this physical space/wall that it seems us USA'ers have...

i would say that in an average day i get/give like 50 kisses... (this includes all the kids from classes, takes forever to say hello and goodbye!!)... no wonder about this "peruvian time' stuff...everyones too busy kissing each other to keep on time...

Change.... (and getting personal again)....

What a huge contrast it is of how I was feeling the first week I got here and how I am feeling now... I think I may actually have had a moment of bliss, even, today....

The first week i was here, I was in quite a bit of shock, fear and sadness... I had this feeling of "why didn't i just stay home??" and "what the hell am i doing this far away from family and friends" and feeling lost and lonely, a bit hopeless, and just feeling like I was doing something totally not me and almost in a state of panic that I had done something wrong... i constantly reminded myself of all the reasons I had wanted to do this traveling, but really nothing consoled me other than to talk to my mom and other folks.. but then that also made me homesick...

well.. 1 month later... just only a month (I really had not expected it to be this soon)... I am feeling really good about where I am and what i'm doing... I love the organization i'm volunteering for and the people who are apart of it...the volunteers, the families, the kids... I am loving that I'm discovering things about the culture and learning a new language.. living a different way... and it's almost like a game trying to communicate (though i'm not winning, yet, at this point at the language game!)...

don't get me wrong.. i still get very homesick.. and the spanish is still a struggle... and i still see myself as someone who would rather have stability over spontaneity (who knows, that may change by the 9 month mark?? or not..)... but i'm feeling really good about where i am and how things are going... and i'm surprised (and relieved) that it only took a month.. maybe actually a week ago i started feeling like this...

aji no moto and dancing and more on taxi/combi/micro drivers...

there is ALOT of MSG used here.. it's called aji no moto.. not sure why... and the spanish word for monosodium glutamate is something like glutamate monosodium or something, gms.. anyway, i love all sorts of fish, soups.. pretty much all the food here, but unfortunately, i'm often very sleepy and sometimes have a slight headache after eating... oh well.. what can ya do??

rave dances... the 'rave' dances have been a hit here! like the shopping cart.. picking mushrooms/apples, washing clothes, etc etc etc.... i introduced it this past weekend and everyone loved it,, hehe =)

here's a dance that i've learned...
tra tra tra!!!



its my new favorite song!

more on taxi/combi/micros... so something that can get a little annoying at times is how all the micros/taxi/combis always slow down and honk or yell at you to get on them when you don't need to... i'm really not understanding this, because if i needed either of those methods of transportation, i would be standing on the curb with my hand out, waving, making eye contact with the driver... but when i'm not even remotely looking at the street, i am baffled as to why they like to slow down and honk and act confused as to why you don't need a ride at that time..

Updates from past posts... and commenting on comments

Bug bites has decreased... or my body has gotten used to them...

For those who dont read the comments for posts.. according to my sis,
"It costs $38 for a flat rat box to send. Chocolate and rosemary are covered! ;) "

Thanks so much sis!!!!! Can't wait to possibly get it or not!! hehe

Spanish is improving.. i can say some more things and have a better conversation in spanish, but i still have quite a headache at 6pm and can no longer do complex brain activities after 6pm..

I am not sure if you can just go into a farmacia and ask for vicoden... I do know that there are tons of coca tea in all stores everywhere.. so as far as that, it's totally available.. there doesn't *seem* to be such a huge drug/alcohol/prescription problem here, but then i haven't been here long enough to really find out.. so I'm not sure how the farmacia system affects the society...

So Brentt's visiting and for those who are curious about cost and such.. we found a ticket through flycheapabroad.com/ for $615 round trip, however it's nonrefundable, so no date changes or anything without a hefty fee... ive been looking for tickets back to the states and someone turned me on to http://www.spiritair.com/Default.aspx.. where i found one-way tickets for $500... for a few days there i had been freaking out a little because all i could find were one way tickets for $1200... and then i was looking at refundable round trip tickets which looked like around $8-900, but i'm guessing i could refund the return ticket.. but now that i know of spiritair.. i think i'm feelng ok about the return flight home and not being broke when i get home =)

THANKS JULIENNE FOR ALL THE COMMENTS!! =)
And to others for reading my blog hehe...

And now for your viewing pleasure.. Obama vs. McCain dance off:

Aerobics class!

As things start to get routine, I hope i still have some interesting cultural observations to share... but until then, here's something..

Just came from an aerobics class.. oh, did i already comment about how there seems to be a particular dance with each sort of song that comes out on the radio?... like for one dance it's double steps to right and left, hands up, shake booty, hands out shake booty, hands on shoulders, then a hip thrust.. and then this running thing... i've seen it at other places, including from my dance teacher when i was in the language immersion course. but pretty much every other song i hear, i see people doing a particular dance to it... the aerobics class was a lot of fun.. i took two in a row and it really seems like the instructors are alot more passionate about the music they choose for their class than i've seen in the states.. in the two classes (taught by two different instructors)... they played some cheesy, yet hard, gabber that i remember hearing at parties during the late 90s (tho in the dance room that i tended to avoid)... and then they played some cumbia.. gotta love the cumbia... there seems to be a plethora of 'cheesy' pop music here... guess we have that in the states too heh...

at the same time I do enjoy some good salsa music and dancing...

the cumbia is sort of growing on me too.. sort of how George Michael has a place in my heart, it's sort of has the same kind of cheesiness that i could dance to (though wouldn't listen at home, heh)....

So for the gym admission for the day it was S/10.. which is about $3.33... theres a membership for S/85 per month, which comes out to just under $30.... not really that much less than in teh states, hrmph..

No me molesta....

So.. another interesting language thing that has come up is the verb molestar.... I've been using it quite often in the english classes with the kids and initially it was quite odd to keep saying 'no le molesta!' to kids that were bothering each other... i don't think i really need to spell out why..

Work and play

Oh! I realized I dont think I've actually blogged anything about the SKIP work yet... (which is one of the main reasons why I am here)...

So.. most of you know I'm a social worker.. but with my spanish how it is... i've started teaching english this week. I'll also be involved with coordinating the summer camp program... and i'm involved with translating stuff in english (website, newsletters, etc.) ...

So, I teach Monday Tuesday and Wednesday mornings... on afternoons I either tutor mathmatics or other random subjects... (actually the other day i assisted with a vocabulary/analogy assignment!! and the two girls came up to me today and said they got a really good grade on it! hah... thank goodness for my trusty translator!!)... it's been interesting trying to remember how to find common denominators and do word problems when i'm still just learning spanish... AND THEN try to explain it in spanish so they understand... UF!!

On Saturdays... well, so, on saturday (this is as far as i understand, so i may be wrong).. there are volunteer teachers (or interns? from universities)... so they sometimes are there for classes, sometimes not... (also some of the "paid" teachers are not paid for months, sometimes years, at a time, or paid very little amounts (like s/20 for the month which comes out to like $7), so they also are sometimes not there)... so on saturdays, the SKIP volunteers fill in whereever is needed... from 8-12...

On Thursdays and some weekday afternoons, I do administrative stuff at home...proofreading/translating stuff into english (newsletters, letters, website, etc)...

Fridays.. not quite sure yet.. I'll probably be at the SKIP office/school doing whatever needs to be done..

-------------AND PLAY----------------------

So, I haven't had much time for going out at all.. since any free time i have, i need to be studying spanish.. but we went out to one club the other night... there was reggaeton (sp?), cumbia, salsa, some 90s remixes from the US... not really my sort of choice for dance music.. though I did find out that they have electronica music at one club that another volunteer and i are going to check out... hoping theres good electronica music there (cuz i'm picky in that area too...)

Brentt's coming over (MY FIRST VISITOR!!! and YAY it's BRENTT!) sometime at the end of January, so we'll get to go do some fun stuff, cuz i'll be taking some time off work... =)

Another successful afternoon (and it's still only 2pm!)

So... I had a successful shopping trip.... I flagged down my first 2 taxis (ida y vuelta... aka 'round trip' from home to downtown... hrm.. and i should probably reiterate here that there is an art to this because in guide books they tell you not to do this at all.. the reality is that you can, but you just have to be careful about which cab you choose)... found markets and supermarkets in a country where there are hardly any street signs (yeah i've mentioned the few street signs that have beer endorsements on them, but majority of the streets have NO signs)... and some of the time people tell you the wrong direction...

got some meds I needed to get from a farmacy... the farmacy was interesting... oh heh, just realized i spelled pharmacy wrong.. anyway, you may notice grammar and spelling worsen as i learn more spanish and start possibly using spanglish heh... i digress.....

so.. when i went to pay with my credit card, she told me i need to show id.. and i didn't have it so she wouldn't let me purchase the meds.. so i went to the atm (which also involved asking several people where to go) and got money and when i came back she kept saying something that sounded like flowdeh... "hay mucho flowdeh"...but i smiled and nodded...when i got home i figured out she was saying 'fraude'.... "there is alot of fraud"... heh.. nice... meds are super cheap here.. got brand name medication that would normally have costed me $35 (or 25??) for 3 mo supply with good insurance... here its just about that much without having insurance for the same brand name.. plus you really don't need to have a prescription to get meds here.. you just go to the farmacia.. tell them what you need.. and they give it to you.. very easy...

i talked down some stretchy pants from 10 soles to 9...

had two tasks i didn't accomplish downtown
1. socks - found some i wanted to use for poi.. but i went to search a little more and when i came back the lady was at the bathroom or something and wasn't there.. so i just left.. oh well
2. post office - i have a couple post cards i want to send (it's pretty expensive, so i think the whole time i'm here, i'm only sending 3... to my mom, to a, and to brentt (which has mesgs for others)... sorry to everyone else!! I dont have income, so you'll have to understand! ----Anyway, at this point i was mentally exhausted and was ready to just get going home...there are some businesses that have these siesta times when they're closed (ugh forgot what the word for this is, cuz it's not siesta).. and i didn't want to take the risk of walking all the way there and it not beign open..

not sure if all of this stuff sounds really basic or what... but in a different language, in a country where it's not really so easy to figure out...(and theres the safety issue as far as transportation) i'm really quite proud of myself heh... =) baby steps =)

i have yet to take the combi or micro on my own! As boring as that may be, i may blog about it heh...


I feel good today.. probably also because i did yoga last night... =)

Pronunciation

So it's probably obvious that it's easier to understand some people than others... when people have either a very bass-y, mumbly (is that a word??), rapid or slurred speech... it's hard for me to understand their spanish.. (english too sometimes!)

what was interesting to me (and I figured I'd blog --and ?brag?-- about...) is that apparently i'm one of the english speakers that the peruvians understand better than others... =) apparently my english is articulated... =) (i think i generally talk slow as well..)

Recipe for a good day:

1. Great english classes (first day of teaching english---doing this until my spanish improves, then i move on to doing social work stuff)... i teach 4 classes/day with another volunteer)
2. Not being sick!! No pain today.. totally healthy
3. Afterglow of a strenuous yoga class
4. Chatting/skype-talking with Mom, Brentt and A.

Parades

There are these random parades around town... already twice where i live, i've heard some band playing and i look out the window and there's a band of adults (drums.. horns, etc...) walking down the middle of the street, with taxis tailing behind them... and then the a couple weeks back i saw a parade of kids in sports uniforms (soccer??) and they were parading in what looked like teams... and then in the center (el centro), well you can just look at the picture:

Gut wrenching sick

Alright, all that cockiness of not being sick yet has caught up to me... it's the end of week 3 and I'm officially ill... it started yesterday morning ... not sure exactly when, and it could have been a couple things... either it was the plate that i didn't dry off properly (had sink water on it).. or it was the tomato I didn't wipe off properly... or it was the cookie dough someone had made (though other volunteers had said they ate the dough too and were just fine).. whatever it was... (and its likely that it involved sink water)... has left me gut wrenchingly exhausted.. I wont get into details, but fortunately everythign was only going one way, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it *really* felt like someone was running a knife through my stomach AND intestines... it was not pretty.. and my whole body is quite exhausted at this point. Fortunately one of the other volunteers had exactly what i needed and i'm doing alot better at this point.. but i missed work today and it's only now that i'm really waking up (1:51pm)

the spanish is difficult enough as it is.. but try to understand spanish while you're feeling knifes run through your body heh...

anyway hopefully i'll be better soon.

Peruvian time!

So.. generally I'm very punctual... sometimes i like to get places early so that i don't feel rushed and i can relax a bit before i actually have to be somewhere... tho with my current boyfriend =) I've gotten a bit lax in the past year.... so its prepared me for peruvian time... seems that it's just about 30-60 minutes later than what it says at http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=131

but that's ok =) cuz i have more time to relax... and generally it doesn't bother me if people are late.. i just sort of am glad that i'm not the one who is late...

more later.. 6pm meeting starting now! (6:36)

Finally a picture!!!!!!

I've uploaded pictures:
My last week in the states: http://www.flickr.com/photos/frunkus/sets/72157608119866791/
My first week in Lima and Trujillo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/frunkus/sets/72157608107311942/
My second week in Trujillo, various events in Lima: http://www.flickr.com/photos/frunkus/sets/72157608012855355/

I'm not likely to take a whole bunch of more pictures now... so enjoy these =)

****Don't forget to look for links to youtube video clips on some of the picture descriptions****

Soy de estados unidos....

So.. everyone here thinks i'm a 'china' (pronounced cheena)... which is interesting to see the expressions on peoples faces when they ask what country i'm from and i say 'estados unidos'.. and they give me a ... 'but you're not tall and blond' sort of look... and then further when they ask if my parents are from the states and i explain they're from korea, they're again shocked because they thought i was, again, from china....

interestingly though... people here (more than in the states!) seem to know the difference between north and south korea... despite their automatic assumption that all asians are chinese... they don't ask the common gringo asked question 'are you from the north or south?'...

anyway, i do see it interesting that their automatic assumption of an asian is chinese considering they had a japanese president... though there are mostly chinese asians here... so i guess their assumption is usually accurate...

Things I want

Whoever is the next one to come visit me.. here is my running list of things I want:

1. Hat - Brentt has this hat and knows which one i want
2. Verb book - my mom has this, so she can mail it to you unless you can swing by Torrance..
3. Extra phone - Hey brentt... what was your phone brand/model again? is it a quad-band or whatever? the used phone i bought is shitty and i'd rather use your extra one.. (oh.. that's another thing folks.. so i bought a shitty used phone because everyone has been telling me that i should never use the one i have in public... I have a Tmobile Shadow.. not really flashy.. but I guess with where i work and live, i need a shitty phone)
4. Books - my books on taoism
5. Korean food... soon-du-bu....
6. My fire stuff - poi primarily... thought it would be nice to have my little fire sticks so i dont forget how to eat fire...
7. .....more added later

. Brentt's Sweater - Its one i stole from him on new years so that we could have our first 'date' after that...----may not be good for summer... so nevermind on this one...
. CHOCOLATE!!! - its buttloads expensive here.. and the one peruvian chocolate i tried tastes moldy (and wasn't expired..).. so please send to me...----I'm good on this one for now...
. Sprig of rosemary - I loooooove rosemary.. haven't seen it here at all.. and it would make me feel like home =) -----found rosemary here!!

BTW.. i could give you my address... apparently some people have received care packages.. some haven't.. some receive it in a week, some in 3 months... but i'm here for 9 months. so if you're willing to spend the money to send something.. and not care if it gets to me or not... then feel free to send it to me.. email me if you need my address....

Conditions and Politics

So... in the town where SKIP works.. theres an area called Alto Trujillo.. or maybe i was in El Porvenir.. it was hard to figure out where I was walking around.. but there are parts where there is no running water nor electricity... Even the homeless in Los Angeles have access to a shower, food and electricty... there are houses with dirt bricks.. a metal piece for a ceiling... dirt floors.. buckets for water... a hole for the bathroom...

the intake form even asks questions about electricty and water ... for electricty, it gives the option to choose candles...

on average the whole family makes about 200 soles a month (which is about $67).. and this is to house/feed about 7 people...

EDIT: so i take that back... i got more history on Alto Trujillo and El Porvenir.. apparently Alto Trujillo is doing alot better than El Porvenir... and Alto Trujillo is getting more resources because the mayor is actually doing stuff...


......


Oh.. i'm not sure if i mentioned yet that i saw a political rally.. hrm.. now as i'm typing i feel like i did type about it.. or maybe it's in my flickr pictures... either way.. some other interesting information.. so apparently voting is not a priveledge here, it's MANDATORY... you get fined if you don't vote and not voting could affect other things like owning a house, getting a visa, etc... also, you have to come back to your home city to vote even if it's 8 hours away (however, someone recently told me you could change that address)...

No me come, POR FAVOR!!!

UGH.. so the first week i was here, i somehow got a flea in my pants or skirt or something because over the course of 2 days i had just about 15 bites all over my feet, waist, and bra-line.. now, those bites have discontinued, but I have about 5 more MOSQUITO bites on me... seems like they like to come to me first.. I'm not sure why... it happened when I went camping too.. there were those no-see-ums and I was getting eaten alive while others thought i was just seeing things (or not seeing things??)..and i have flickr pictures to prove the bites! they were not imagined...

anyway, not good for when i want to go in the jungle.. i'll be the first target for these dang mosquitoes.. ugh!!!!!!

SKIP (Supporting Kids in Peru)

Hey folks!!!

I now have an address where I´ll be for the next 9 months... but i forgot my notebook with it at home (and im at an internet cafe right now)... but email me if you want the address... but dont send me anything till i figure out a secure snail mail method.. (for family, i´ll be emailing you my address anyway, so sit tight)

i´ll have wireless and thus able to skype!! and i´m really excited (but not excitado) about the whole place!!!

I met with some of the folks yesterday, including the director... and i think it´ll be great! theyve got a cute, fairly large house... everyone seems really nice.. they´re all ´travelers´ (except for a few) so i´ll be with others who are pretty much in the same boat... theyve been there for a while tho so they know how to speak fairly fluently...

theres alot of program i can choose from to participate in.. from working with children to teens.. with their families.. doing social work.. or teaching english.. and they´re trying new sorts of things like ´summer camp´... and on the 2 weeks off, they often go to iquitos for vacation... so it looks like its just gonna be loads of fun... (tho loads of work too!!!)... ill be working full time monday thru friday.. and half days saturday.. and i have the option of working on a project with the director on sundays...

and it looks like they´ve made a huge difference thus far in El Porvenir.. the district where they work... other than some common sense security issues, it seems its not as dangerous as people seem to think it is... well.. its not the safest place.. but still...

more info later!!

Perros sin duenos

Alright.. no dog jokes here...

but yeah.. theres alot of dog walking around without owners.. its quite interesting actually to see them.. they seem so independent...

NOTE ADDED:
So i'm thinking of doing a week or so of a photography project.. of taking photos of all the dogs i see on the street that appear to be without owners (which seems to be just about all of them)... will call it... (how original...) "Perros sin dueños"

For your reading pleasure.. Peru News

Thanks to Brentt for this link... some news about a new pyramid discovered in Peru..
click here

Answering questions in comments section

Mostly julienne's questions

Q Do you have your address also? Where are you staying right now and for how long? Then where are you going next?

A I will be living 'cerca del centro' ... supposedly near the central area.. apparently NOT in porvenir (only working there).. which is good because even from a peruvian from the barrio, i hear its quite dangerous (in some parts)... right now im in a nice urbanizacion (neighborhood) that is safe.. im here until sunday when i move to where the other SKIP volunteers are
.. so apparently the snail mail system is shit here.. so dont send anything to me unless you dont mind it going to a peruvian instead....

Q I forget, did you take Spanish in high school?

A i took spanish in high school .. took 3.5 years.. dropped out of spanish 4ap cuz the grammar got too hard and i thought id flunk it... took sign language in college and did much better in that (and no it's not just making gestures with your hands)
oh.. so the other day i was talking to halmoni and i kept trying to talk korean and spanish words kept popping in my head...

More on Getting Personal....

THis post is to just send out a HUGE THANKS to those who have been so supportive and wonderful to me in the past couple weeks... it is getting much better.. and i am feeling less overwhelmed and I can see a light at the end of the tunnel =)

My spanish is sort of like this... i can communicate fairly well if the person i'm speaking to anunciates and speaks a medium speed without slang or complicated words.. heh... but thats as far as it goes... oh, also... i do much better in the morning ... and then about 6pm i'm just about done and all my verb tenses and vocabulary are screwed up ......

but considering i came pretty much not being able to communicate at all, i think its pretty good... and its only been 2 weeks... so hopefully within a few months i'll have a better hang of things... if anyone has any suggestions, send them my way.. of course other than talking to people, im going to watch a bunch of movies in spanish with subtitles to get the hang of hearing the language better (I'm much better on paper than conversation)....

love you guys!!

My host family

I just realized i haven't talked at all about my host family?!?! (or have i) I think ive been really lucky in my travel experience thus far... and its really a blessing considering how novice i feel... anyway, this family is the most warm, loving, fun, funny, nice, genuine, #everything wonderful# host home you could imagine.. the father has eaten with me (us/another student joined me in classes this week)..the mother and daughter has also joined us for a majority of dinners... other family members drop by (grandfathers, aunts, uncles) and everyone is so interesting and amazing... and they've been so patient with my spanish and we've had some wonderful conversations about family, friends, politics (can you believe, in spanish?!?), countries, work, etc etc.....

it almost doesnt seem real, but then it feels incredibly real and genuine at the same time... (if that makes any sense)...

you are immediately part of their family and feel right at home. its only been 2 weeks, but it feels like we've known each other for years and im sad to be leaving them..

Accomodations

So i've noticed pretty much everywhere there are no toilet seats... i think i already mentioned you need to bring your own toilet paper (tho thats in alot of asian countries i noticed)...

i noticed the streets are clean of debris... more tidy than los angeles...

Blog format

So.. ive decided to keep thought organized as well as possible.. for general topics (food, transport, etc) i'm just going to go back to those posts and add to them.. so unless you scroll back to other dates, you'll just miss general info that i add to those sections.. for new activities and other new info, i'll do a new post, of course...

also if you havent noticed.. im not much for punctuation or grammar when im blogging.. especially since i havent figured out these new keyboards.. heh...

My weekend: El Estribo, Otuzco, and the Spring Festival

On Friday, we (my profesora, my salsa teacher and I) went to El Estribo to practice my new moves and just to go see Trujillo at night... it was pretty fun.. Had some peruvian beer... listened to some fun music.. the cover charge was 5 soles.. almost didnt get in because i was wearing sneakers.. but my only other shoes are sandles.. when i have my flickr pictures up.. i'll also have a video up of the band.. they played some american songs.. heh.. so i took a vid clip of it....

Went to Otuzco yesterday.. a cute little traditional town with the most amazing catholic church i've ever seen... it was for la virgen de la puerta (i believe)... the ride up was quite horrendous... if i didnt take nausea medication id be puking (someone in our car had to puke every 10 minutes).. tried a popcycle from a freezer that wasnt very clean looking... but my profesora also got one too and said its great and i have to try it.. so i did.. and i'm not sick.... heh.. =)

Today was the spring festival.. so Trujillo is known to be springtime year around... so when its the first week or so of spring there is a huge festival with a queen for everything you can think of... and they sit on little floats across town... along with other ppl dancing in traditional costumes.. bands... etc... lady behind me kept yelling things out like... 'youre beautiful!!' 'you need to eat more potatoes!'.. and such.. it was entertaining hehe... 'dance!!'


now on to another full week of 10hr day classes

Food and drink

OH MY GOSH! The food here is so good and i'm going to get really fat despite all the walking i do..

well hopefully not..

but anyway, thus far i have tried various homecooked meals with my homestay family.. usually includes rice, beans and some sort of meat (chicken, beef), one time they made some beet mayo salad thing,

lots of times theres a 'menu' where you get a soup and main dish.. and a juice.. for s/4 (which comes out to just over $1)

---digression---
i dont know how i would have managed if i was vegetarian (on top of all the other stress of figuring stuff out in a language i dont know)... however there is alot of fish here, and i was more of a pescatarian than vegetarian, so it wouldnt of been that bad i guess)...... for those who dont know i was a pescatarian for about 5-6 years from high school through college
---end of digression----

some of the names of food that i remember (that ive eaten): papas rellenos, sopa de zapallo, yukita, acuna (yummy caramel nut thing), alfajor de castenedas (biscuit with sweet thing inside), ensalada de fruta, chicharrones (fried meat, had the fish one), jamoneda (often served with bread for bfast), cabrito, chupete (homemade popcycle), antichukos, cebiche (various seafood, and a black clam one), shambar (only served on mondays in Trujillo; wasn't really my favorite), pique (rocotto and aji), pepian de chocho, chupa de congrejos (the best soup i've ever had), maracuya (fruit), ajo de gallina (yellow cream chicken dish), olluquito (finely french cut potato with meat pieces), lomo saltado (sliced meat, bell pepper, onion over french fries), arroz con mariscos (fried rice, fish), budin (bread pudding, YUM), crema volteada (like flan), arroz con leche (rice pudding), chicha morada (purple corn sweet drink), papa a la huancaina (boiled potato with cheese sauce),

did i mention that bananas are so much better here!!! lots of the fruits and veggies have so much more flavor ... however i think i like tomatoes in the states better..

distinction: chicharron is pork rinds.. chicharron de pescado is fried fish...

hecho en casa means homemade....

so i was told traditionally there is rice, potato and/or beans with each meal.. ceviche is huge here (originated from here??).. i have yet to try cui (apprently its very delicious.. but i dont like alot of meat as it is, so its not something im dying to try)..

i had a peruvian beer called Cerveza Pilsen Trujillo.. street signs have this brand name on them!
and of course the pisco sour

i have not tried the quail eggs or the cuiy.. i'm not really inclined to have either.. i dont seek out red meat as it is... and i have opportunities in the states to try quail eggs and i wasn't interested then or now...

Oh.. btw.. CHIFA ... apparently means cook rice in chinese...

Getting personal here.............

So.. i dont think of myself as a traveler.. i like stability, security, being close with family/family.. and although i've done quite a bit in my life on my own, i rely heavily on the emotional support of the people i love.. so this whole traveling solo thing is incredibly difficult.. when i was in preschool, i was one of those kids who cried when their parents left and was sad for a very long time... im also very close to my mother and even for college i was only 2hrs away...

i hope im not making myself sound all sheltered and naive.. because throughout my life i have pushed myself pretty hard to accomplish alot independently.. i think what it was though was that i had this physical security (mom is only 30 mins away if i need her!)... so being so physically far away is a bit frightening for me.. but i'll get through it.. over it.. and stronger, of course...

but i want to experience a new culture and language (all the while trying to give something back globally).. so i'm doing it.. despite feeling totally out of my element...

on that note, i have a local SIM card and therefor cell phone service here, so please call me!!! email me for the phone number ... i get free incoming calls hehe, and id love to hear from you...

incidentally the phone system works like this (thanks brentt for figuring it out!!)
you dial 0 11 51 44 949 (then my 6-digit cell phone number)

Do not tell people you are excited.....

So i was really excited that Brentt was going to call me, so i was pretty much telling every one I knew (tho that's not many people here)... the unfortunate thing is that, like many other words, it doesnt directly translate into the same meaning... i have to warn you! when you are learning spanish, dont tell people you are 'excitado'.........

because you're telling them that you are horny!!

so.. after i got over the absolute embarrassment that told them i was horny over my boyfriend calling me.. (and the fact that it was at lunch and 4 hours had gone by before i was gonna be home again..) i was able to build up the courage to bring it up at dinner time with my host family (as a conversation piece) and they thought it was the most hilarious thing.. the father told me he knew what i meant when i had said it earlier... hah...

my profesora was the one who told me about the error, right after lunch...

oh.. and if memory serves me right, i think i told the guy sitting next to me in the bus that i was 'excitado' about being in trujillo... i may have told another person that i couldnt sleep well on the first night in trujillo cuz i was 'excitado'.. nice eh?!?

but apparently im not the only one with embarrassing language moments.. A was telling me that shes seen ppl use embarazado thinking theyre saying embarrassed.. but they are in fact telling people they are pregnant...

Tabby's Hope vs. SKIP (Supporting Kids in Peru)

So Ive told pretty much everyone that I had planned to volunteer for Tabby's Hope... well in the last couple weeks i was in the states, i hadnt heard from them so I went ahead and applied for Supporting Kids in Peru (links to both are on the left).. though i told them that my first commitment is for Tabby and if that shouldnt work out I would like to work for them... totally last minute...

------warning digression here-------- so apparently i had applied for SKIP last year in october some time.. i totally dont remember, but they had accepted me.. i was pretty sure i kept all my emails from different organizations and didnt see an acceptance letter from them, and dont remember applying.. but oh well..
------end of digression-----------

SKIP emailed me back saying that they knew about me from 1. applying before and 2. TAbby informed them about me because they work together often ......and..........

it turns out that Tabby's Hope is (temporarily??) shut down... and therefore i'll be soley working for SKIP... so there are pluses and minuses to this.. more pluses of course... the only minus was that SKIP was a bit more of a volunteer fee.. and since i'm income-less that's an issue

---------warning another digression here----------
people keep asking.. so how much are you getting paid... i'm not getting paid.. and in fact i pay a volunteer fee, which goes towards funding the program, room/board, and one meal. i guess what people dont realize is how poor the economy is here (thus why i am volunteering here) and they have NO money to pay people for these services... so i am not being paid.. i dont have income... but ive saved up money over the years and this is what im investing money into...
----------end of digression-------------------

SKIP seems to have been around for a while.. i like what they provide for their volunteers (wireless internet!!! i'll be able to skype on my computer!!), and they do the same thing that TAbbys hope does, so i'll be doing what i want to (which by the way if you want to know.. look at the social work section of their website linked at the left of this page)... Ive been fortunate to have been temporarily sponsered for some of the cost.. so it although it is slightly more to volunteer for SKIP, it wont break the bank...

So.. by the way... not to scare anyone (especially my mom.. "dont worry!! i'll be safe!!).. but apparently there are parts of el porvenir that police dont even go to.. we were asking the driver how much it costs for a ride from where i am now to el porvenir and he said.. "well to the front part of el porvenir its 8 soles, but i dont go beyond that" (all in spanish of course) "está roja!" they get international volunteers all the time, so i doubt they're putting us anywhere dangerous... and its just like LA right? ... its not like im from some small town.. i have some street smarts =)

i'll know more about where im staying next wk...

Pequena

So apparently I'm not really short here!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I'm not the tallest person (obviously) but I'm sort of about average... well maybe on the shorter end of average.. but whereas, pretty much every day in the states i'm told 'awe you're so short, how tall are you?' (which is slightly annoying because i'm just thinking, well take how tall you are, and subtract an estimate of how tall you are and there you go.. because do you really need to know the number anyway?!?)... anyway i digress.. so yeah.. i have not been told once that i'm short! hehe

Preparation : what was helpful... guide bk vs. en vivo

so it seems like as far as what i brought i did pretty good.. (you can see my packing list at here http://travelforlizcass.blogspot.com/ (that was my travel planning website). i forgot one language book on verbs that i really wish i brought.. other than that, i dont think i brought too much or too little for my own needs... so im quite proud of myself... one thing i didn't necessarily do on purpose, but was quite helpful are the jackets and pants i brought have lots of zippered/buttoned pockets...

so in the guide books they mentioned about never flagging down a taxi or get into one that you did not call for first... even two other people (including a peruvian one that lives in lima) told me not to do that... however while i've been here in trujillo that's pretty much all we've done (well my spanish teacher does it, and i just get in the taxi heh).. but i've been safe so far... she said the key thing is to look for an ID hanging, look for phone numbers and an agency name, and she takes a subjective judgement of how the taxi driver looks...

another advisement is to not drink the water.. which i've been very good at not doing.. AND i haven't gotten sick yet... first week and no sickness.. actually i was a little sick before coming here.. (bad sushi in torrance?? tho my mom and brentt did not get sick)... anyway i'm mostly careful... most of you know about my strange phobia of worms and freakiness about parasites... and even the thought of taking a shower in water that you're not supposed to drink is weird to me... actually i already had to get used to drinking it after its been boiled (the whole time in my mind i'm feeling like im drinking cooked amoebas)...

the other thing the guide book mentioned (and other websites) is that they only give 3 mo visas... ) i told the guy im volunteering for 9 months and he gave me a 6 mo visa!! nice eh!

Cars vs pedestrians vs. buses

hrm.. so i'm not exactly sure why asians get all the grief for their driving because its pretty darn crazy here!! forget about stop signs, lines, driving on your side of the street, etc... also cars seem to have right of way rather than pedestrians.. good thing i was good at playing frogger when i was little.. its pretty much like that.. actually the other morning i saw someone on the ground, surrounded by a bunch of people and an ambulance just arriving.. he was moving his head, but it looked pretty serious...

theres also alot of honking... with different horns too.. like horns that sound like car alarms.. very loud.. like steam engine horns (or whatever)...

thought i already posted about the buses.. but maybe not?... so there are these very old buses that is the public transit system.. theres a driver and then a guy who hangs out the window and yells stuff out.. and the bus hardly stops long enough for you to get inside and get pulled into the bus... it only costs 1 sol to go anywhere pretty much.. so its really cheap..

Language program

So.. the staff brought me to my homestay... which is a cute little room behind their house... i get 3 meals.. hot shower... and im on the internet right now in their computer room (i was using the internet cafe a couple houses down until recently).. the host family is really nice.. we've managed to talk about our families and whatnot..

So for 2 weeks (week 1 is almost done) my schedule pretty much looks like this..
weekdays: grammer 4 hours, salsa dance class (provided by language program), lunch, conversation 4 hours, cultural visit 1 hr... dinner at home..
weekends: cultural visit 6 hours..

so to say the least, i'm quite exhausted... its also incredibly daunting and i have fears that my spanish language ability wont improve, etc etc etc.. but then its only been 1 week and apparently its pretty certain that it gets better, heh.. =) hopefully soon!!!!!!!!

i pretty much walk everywhere.. its about 1.5-2 miles to the school... 1.5-2 miles back...
for cultural visits thus far we've gone downtown... to some catholic churches (amazing and beautiful by the way)... today went to otuzco, a cute traditional peruvian town with an amazing church... as a general rule, i dont talk much about religion.. but i'll just say i'm not catholic.. so thats been an interesting topic when other people bring it up.. ive ridden the public transport system (this buses called micros) once..

Getting to Lima, In Lima, Leaving Lima

My flight was pretty nondescript... i didn't lose any luggage and i slept most of the way... had a short stop in San Jose, Costa Rica...

at the airport i was greeted by the driver of a hostal i was staying at that night... this is where i began using a little bit of spanish and feeling incredibly overwhelmed.... the hostal was pretty nice.. had internet... nice owners.. was in miraflores, a nice part of Lima.. i managed to change some money at the western union (believe me this was a bit of a feat and i was proud of myself!).. finally managed to figure out the phone system enough to call a friend of a's to hang out with for the one evening in Lima...

i can't tell you how nice it was to hang out with someone the first afternoon... she spoke a bit of english and she, her husband, and her mom showed me around lima.. some fountains, squares (like central areas with statues), and they took me to some restaurants to introduce me to some foods... including chicharones (warning, spelling may be horrible), yukitas, antichukos, and pisco sours (apprently THE drink of peru)... this decreased my overwhelmed scale from 20 (out of 10 heh) to a 10 =)

on sunday, i managed to think it was saturday all day and was very confused why none of the stores were open... blah!!!

got a ride from a taxi to the bus station (alot of the arrangements were made by the language program i signed up with for 2 weeks.. will have a diff post on that).. the taxi guy pretty much ripped me off, but on the other hand it wasn't that costly.. basically you can get pretty much anywhere in town for about 4 soles, 8 if it's quite a drive.. well we didn't go that far and the guy charged me 15 soles.. i didn't know the going rate at the time, so i just paid him.. by the way 15 soles is only like $5... so i didn't mind...

at the bus station, an employee chatted me up... just the usual.. where are you from (which incidentally, i keep forgetting that i dont look like i'm from the states)... he knew a few words in english adn at one point he said something that I thought was 'give your buttox' we finally managed to figure out that he was trying to say 'baggage' heh.. but that was weird for a few seconds LOL... (i'll have another funny language story later so stay tuned!!)

in the bus, i had a first class sort of seat... the ride cost about $35 USD... it was like being on an airplane.. you were served food.. there was a movie... there was even a bingo game hah.. the guy next to me was very chatty... nice guy.. he stayed with me for a few minutes while i was waiting for the language program staff to get me from the airport... i was a bit panic'ed because they got there late and i just kept reading how dangerous it is at night...

Almost there

So Ill start with the awesome day i had before I left for Peru... it had worked out perfectly that some new york friends (james and samina) and oregon folk (kurt) were in town, and others (michael, britta, cassanna, brentt) managed to take the day off to celebrate my last day here... the theme of the day was doing something you or someone else had not done before and everyone has to participate... we started the early afternoon downtown riding the metro! ... some of us already a bit buzzed off of some vodka tonics... =) then we went to the griffith observatory to walk around before heading off to a nice long parking lot where i was taught to drive stick... i must say (and others will agree!) that i learned pretty quickly and im quite good despite having odds stacked against me (being an asian woman---- just kidding!!!!) anyway, i got to 4th gear and was doing pretty good.. i did stall once though... then we went back to michael's house to prepare for my going away shindig... i was pretty heartwarmed by the folks who showed up.. =) it was quite a spectacular evening for me to have everyone there (alot of people who didn't know each other).. britta concocked (sp?) raver-ades... charades where you guess what sort of (electronic music) dancing we're 'making fun of'... =) they were mostly our own moves.. but pretty much everyone guessed what sort of thing it was... (washing machine, zombie, washing the car, etc)... i received some wonderful parting gifts.. like a photo album that has been awesome in so many ways (relief of homesickness and its useful for conversation when you have limited knowledge of the language), a journal, photo album... disk with pictures from my last day and the party (talk about instant!!) anyway, i had to leave the party at 11... mom took me to the airport and brentt, cassanna and michael caravanned along... it was a bit of a sad gbye ...