Life these days

Last week was the March Equinox, meaning temperatures are supposed to start dropping. All day I went around saying, “It’s the first day of autumn! It’s the first day of autumn!” and no one really knew how to respond, or was at least perplexed as to why I kept bringing this up. “Well, it sure doesn’t feel like it,” the secretary of the high school said as all of us wiped sweat from our foreheads and fanned our faces.

And sure enough, it’s still really hot. I’ve already decided that if someone were to make a Lifetime movie of my time in Peru, the actress would A) never wear makeup, ever, B) have a constant shine or gleam to her face and occasional bead of sweat fall off her brow, C) always be pitting-out or have boob-sweat visible on her shirt, and D) speak in an American-accented Spanish with frequent grammatical errors—the whole movie. She is also not allowed to wear more than a handful of outfits, which have to look more and more stretched and worn out as the movie goes on. But, no one is going to make a movie of my time here. While I think this little adventure has some good quality storytelling aspects to it, it’s not that interesting.

 

Things have definitely been slow lately, as school has started but I am still in planning stages with teachers and directors on my actual involvement within school. Thankfully this month I’ve had some opportunities to get out and actually enjoy the outdoors. I was worried January through March was going to consist of me trapped in my house hiding from the scorching sun and simultaneously roasting and suffocating inside, as my house is literally like a brick oven. My friend Zack and I (who lives in a site close by) made it a small tradition in the last month of summer to ride our bikes to the beach in my district on Fridays and spend the day exploring and hanging out. The beach town is about 11 miles from my town, and it is a small and desolate place. We pretty much have the entire beach to ourselves except for a couple fishermen. The highway out to the beach town is fairly desolate too, with a few small towns and villages on the way. The highway, as in the asphalt, was just laid down in the last few years. Before that it was a dirt road that I’ve been told would occasionally become obscured by the wind and drifting sand. Every time Zack and I rode through any of the small towns on the way to the beach everyone in town would stop what they were doing and watch us dumbfounded. Small children playing would stop to point and shout, “¡Mira!” Zack made the point that we are probably the first white people to ride our bikes out there, and I think he’s right. We’re probably also one of the first people to ride our bikes all the way to the beach from my town, as it is not really part of Peruvian culture to ride your bike for anything other than short errands or transportation to work, and if you need to go further you take public transportation. We got three bike rides to the beach in before the end of summer and our schedules filled up making it impossible to have such a day. It was really nice to do something that I probably would do in the U.S., like ride my bike with a friend on a summer day. 

Another fun part of the bike rides is it helped in my current plans to organize a “bicicletada” out to the beach as part of the town anniversary celebration this May. My host dad presented the idea to me after finding out I am training for the Pacasymayo Half-Marathon, which is in a town in La Libertad that was started by a volunteer (along with a 5K, 10K, and full Marathon). We’re not going to make the bicicletada a competition though, as the main idea is to get participation and people out riding their bikes. I took the idea to a group of youth environment promoters to give the bicicletada a healthy environment and healthy lifestyle theme, and of course involve youth in the planning of the event. The idea must be pretty popular, as the other day I ran into the mayor and he told me he had heard about our plans and wanted to get involved. (Which, in itself makes me giddy, because that means this might actually work!)

The next few months are going to be interesting, as they are going to be the true test of whether all of the plans I’ve been working on recently are going to come to fruition. This April I am planning on starting a health promoters group Pasos Adelantes, which is a Peace Corps created program to train a youth group on healthy lifestyles and HIV/AIDS and pregnancy prevention. The youth group then does their own presentations with their peers and classmates as well as run events in the community to promote HIV/AIDS awareness.

Partnered with that plan is to start an Escuela de Padres (classes for parents) that are twice a month to work on better communication with their children and talk to them about important topics like values, morals, responsibility, s-e-x, and just showing affection and love towards their children in general. On the coast it’s a little better, but a lot of Peruvians don’t show very much affection towards their children and even worry they might make their sons gay by hugging or kissing them. I am working with some of the teachers in the high school on this project, including my host mom, and it is the plan I am both most excited about and most afraid of. 1) I’m working with parents on behavior change; 2) I’m relying heavily on community members to make this happen. 

I’m still working with the NATS (niños y niñas, adoloscentes trabajadores) a youth group of children workers. We meet every Saturday and go over varying topics like self-esteem and right now we’re starting on leadership and teamwork skills. They are so quiet and have a hard time interacting within the group setting, and I think I kind of intimidate them. But, they come back week after week.

I’m also still working with the dance group once a week on vocational orientation. I know I’m not supposed to have favorites, but these kids are my favorite. They welcomed me into their group my first week visiting and have consistently wanted to spend time with me in the last 7 months I’ve been here. They’re older, between 16 and 22 years old, and they’re also my friends in site. I don’t just see them at our meetings, but I hang out with them every now and again. They don’t shy away from me and they don’t treat me like a novelty item either. They are the young leaders in the town, looked up to by other kids and trusted by authority figures. Some of them are also the kids in charge of the youth group of environment promoters. They have connections in the community that I need in order to get stuff done. They’re motivated, they’re young, and they really care about their community. They rock, period.

As to what things I will be doing regularly in the schools, I have yet to make any solid plans. I’m having a hard time because I have come to realize working in with every age group in the high school is kind of impossible. If I spread myself too thin just so I can make an appearance in every class and let them all know I want to work with every single one of them, then I am just doing quantity over quality. Not to mention, just like anywhere, some kids aren’t motivated to do extra work or projects. I really need to pick a group and focus on them, and while in some cases it is obvious who that needs to be, it is hard to have to tell kids I’m not going to work with them as much.

Well, I have Internet IN MY ROOM now, which means I should be able to keep this blog updated a little easier, as well as stay in touch. It hopefully will not mean a drop in productivity. I mean, I’ve had internet at my fingertips for years until I got here. Funny how being somewhat deprived for awhile makes me feel overwhelmed to have access to it within the comfort of my own bedroom. This could be dangerous.

I’ll try to post some good anecdotes and stories in the future.

Miss and love everybody!