Work Update

My job...what exactly do I do for work here? Well, I do a variety of things depending on the day. Being a Peace Corps Volunteers calls for being very flexible and having an open mind to doing just about any kind of job from teaching, to painting and decorating, to working in the fields and with farm animals, to giving lectures and presentations and a large variety of other things. While my job can be really challenging and frustrating at times because of the lack of organization and punctuality that tends to exist in Peru, I truly feel like I have the best job in the world. My program in the Peace Corps is youth development which means that I get to hang out with youth all day, and take action to try to better their lives and future. In my opinion, I could not have asked for a better job! :) 

Where I spend 90% of my time: The school where I teach classes 

During these past few months, I have been spending the large majority of my time teaching classes at the local high school as well as working on my community diagnostic and "getting to know" Huallanca as a community. I've been teaching classes on subjects like: English (of course!), domestic violence, self-esteem, the environment, and I've started to touch a little bit on sex ed. I also recently have started a world map painting project. We are going to paint a world map on the outside of  a wall at the school. This is a Peace Corps tradition that was started in the late 1980s and is done by Peace Corps Volunteers all over the world. So far we have only sanded and prime painted out wall but we will soon be out there with out students painting the world :) 

Sanding down the wall where we are going to paint the world map :) 

I recently started a self esteem project with some of my students that we are all really enjoying. I am doing it in three different classrooms of the  younger students at my high school. We fist learned about what self esteem is and why it is important to have positive self esteem. We then decorated "self esteem folders" and each week we work on projects that help to boost their self esteem and self identity. Thanks to the people who sent me stickers-my students LOVED using them to help decorate their folders.

Decorating their self esteem folders

Something not so fun that I have been working really hard on lately is my community diagnostic. The community diagnostic is a very long report/presentation that I will turn into the Peace Corps about what I have learned about my community during the first three months. Over these past three months I have been giving surveys to my students and doing a lot of formal and informal interviews to learn more about Huallanca  and the problems that exist for the youth here. My community diagnostic is due in about 2 weeks which means its time to put all that I have learned into a big report. It also means entering into excel the 500 surveys  (with 50 questions each) that I gave out to my students in order to find out some data and overall conclusions about the youth in Huallanca. 

Entering surveys into excel has been my life for the past week.

Here are some photos of some adorable little girls that I pass on my way to work every day :) 

In the US most little girls play with baby dolls that they push in strollers like. Here most little girls put their baby dolls on their backs like they see their mom's do :)

My precious little Billy turned 5 a few days ago :) 

 I eat many weird animals parts living where I do...stomach is one of my least favorites. Just look at the texture and you'll understand why...I also think I don't like it because I've seen them clean out cow stomachs and its quite disgusting to say the least. I am definitely getting more used to eating weird things though. Five months ago if you would have served me cow stomach for dinner, I definitely would not have been able to eat it. Now I can "stomach" just about anything. 

Cow stomach has a very odd texture...I mean just look at it!! There are also some vegetables and french fries mixed in there but you can easily spot the stomach because it has the odd texture.

Bull Fighting

Bull fighting in Peru...I will never understand the obsession. I have attended several bull fighting shows with hope to understand people's infatuation with it and this cultural obsession. The way I would describe bull fighting in Peru is that its kind of like a rodeo but with only bulls and men who "fight" them. Its a long time tradition that comes from Spain and people here in Peru (at least in the mountains of Ancash) just LOVE it. LiteralIt kind of reminds me of rodeos in the US, but people fight bulls instead of ride them. Basically a man goes into a rink with a anxious, angry bull and the man (who is usually very drunk) tries to make it out alive. Sometimes they do classier versions in which they will dress like the Spanish bull fighters do and sometimes even actually fight the bull to kill it. I burst into tears the first time I saw the bull fighter kill the bull. Here are some photos of two of the many bull fighting shows I've been to in my few months in Ancash. And don't worry, I'll spare you all photos of the dead bloody bull that I saw killed. .

The bull stadium in Huallanca

My mom and my aunt at the bull show with their babies :)

The bull conquistador in action 

Me at the bull show with so me of my students

Like in rodeos in the US, they clowns who come out for entertainment

The bull fighting show that I saw in Chiquian, a town a few hours away (yes my family was willing to drive two hours to see a bull show). 

You wouldn't believe how many people they fit in this stadium which concluded of a bunch of boards tied together on poles in the ground that we sat on (literally). I thought we were all going to fall to our death. 

Spanish style

Baby Sister Update/Family Photos/Halloween

My new baby sister Luciana Camila is now over a month old and is doing well and healthy. She is so precious and beautiful! She grows and changes everyday and I am so glad that I get to be a part of her life and see her grow up for these next two years. I watch her for my host mom sometimes when she needs to go out of the house to do some errands and I love it! 

Here are some photos of her at about a month old:

Here are some photos of my dear little Billy (my cute little cousin who lives with us) that I have to share because he is TOO ADORABLE. 

My little cousin Billy who brings me joy every day!

Bustin' out the dance moves

I just adore him

My adorable 7 month old cousin Mercedes! She also lives with  us. 

The Peruvian way to carry around your baby-I love it!

With my cute cousins

I spent Halloween in Huaraz with some other volunteers. We dressed up and went out on the town. We had many different costumes such as: The sun (me), a lady bug, a flower, Che Guevara, Waldo (from where's Waldo), Frida, Kahlo, Pocahontas, a honey bear, Gandolf, a microphone, and some other fun ones.

The sun and Che 

A "nudist on strike" and Frida

El Señor de los Milagros (The God of Miracles)

So apparently October is the month in which they celebrate the God of Miracles in Peru. Peru is a very catholic country and they are always having parades, processions, and catholic masses to honor some kind of saint or god of something. For “El Señor de los Milagros” there was a procession in my town in which everyone dressed up in purple and paraded around with a big shrine of Jesus and Mary. Purple is suppose to be the color that helps bring miracles. People who wanted God to bring them miracles created purple alters outside of their homes and businesses and during the procession, they would stop at each shrine to sing, pray and give blessings to bring miracles to the home or business. Here are some cute photos of the procession:

They decorated the streets for the procession

One of the many purple shrines outside of the homes and businesses

The procession 

My little cousins all dressed up for the procession!

My sweet baby cousin and aunt during the procession

How cute is he?!

The "father" wanted a photo with me :)

They are so cute!