(Don't) call me maybe

One of the most noticeable adjustments for me during our initial days in Peru has been getting used to being without a cell phone. The number of times I’ve instinctively started to reach for my phone in the past three days has made me very aware of how ingrained constant connectivity is in my daily life. When something reminds me of someone, when something amazing happens and I want to share it, when I realize the French Open finals are today and want to text my mom to ask who won – I am used to being able to instantly gratify these thoughts with a quick text or call. And it’s not just the result of being away from home and missing everyone I usually talk to - even during this first day flying solo with our host families, I’ve wanted to share things with other volunteers and have found my hand starting to rummage through my bag before I stop and realize I have no way of reaching them.

Don’t worry, I won’t be swearing off telecomms for the next two years or anything drastic, but I am going to try and be conscious of how my life is different during the next 5-ish weeks (until we get our cell phones). Also, side note while we're on the topic of connectivity - I've updated my snail-mail address on the "Contact" page; turns out the first one wasn't right, woops!

The first few days

The past few days have flown by - somehow it already feels like I left Seattle two weeks ago, rather than only four days. Our days have been jam-packed, culminating in meeting and moving in with our host families earlier this afternoon, so I thought I'd just share a few snapshots of what life has looked like the past few days...

Nearing the end of our 22-hour travel day on Friday, Peace Corps staff scored all 46 of us access to the diplomáticos line at immigration, so Peru 19 proceeded to enter the country in style.

Bolstered by four hours of sleep and an energy-assuring cold shower, we enjoyed our first Peruvian breakfast (tea, bread, jam, cheese) at the retreat center on Saturday morning.

After a day filled with sessions on survival Spanish, advice on host families, meeting the PC Peru staff, basic safety, and training overviews, we had some time to enjoy the beautiful weather - it's pretty much like a sunny Seattle summer here right now, which is lucky since I'm missing the one at home. As you can see in the photo below, the retreat center was a valley paradise surrounded by the foothills of the Andes.

I got dust all over my "business casual" clothes after an hour-long juggling circle attempt to reach 50... when our record maxed out at 29 we decided it was a parallel for life as a PCV: starting out believing you can change the world, then adjusting to the slightly-more-feasible reality of just doing what you can. After dinner we laughed our way through about ten different group games, the majority of which involved strange sounds and/or movements. It's amazing how fast our group of strangers has already come together to feel like great friends, and I know that will only grow stronger.

Saturday night represented a small miracle, as it not only included lots of fun with new friends, but then a HOT shower and 8 whole hours of sleep! Life was good, and it only got better with today's big event of meeting our host families for the next ten weeks. Here's me and my new host mom, Gudelia.

And here's my new room!

And, last but not least, the view out my window. My house is located in the community of Huascata, about a ten-minute combi (shared van/bus/taxi) ride from the PC training center, still within the municipalidad of Chaclacayo (a suburb of Lima). We are nestled right in the hills, with the big carretera central (highway) just a short walk down the hill. Huascata is nicely small and walkable (total population is about 800), and I live just around the corner from two other volunteers.

Now it's off to eat dinner!

We made it!

For those of you (Mom) worried about my arriving safely, you can sleep soundly tonight - I am safe and sound in Peru and had a great first day of training. More to come soon!

Feeling the love

The 46 members of Peru 19 (so called because we are the 19th group of volunteers to arrive in Peru) just finished our staging event at the ever-so-classy Holiday Inn Georgetown, and it has been a whirlwind couple of days to say the least. There's not much to say about staging... pretty much your standard intro/orientation day, with the plus of meeting a lot of really awesome fellow PCVs (Peace Corps volunteers), who I feel lucky to get to spend the next two years with.

But as I do the final bag pack in preparation for boarding the plane to Peru tomorrow morning, I just wanted to take a moment to appreciate the immense outpouring of love and support I've received over the past week. Phone calls, hugs, well-wishes - I will be carrying all these things with me on this adventure, and I can't thank everyone enough for sending so much love my way.

That's it for now - next post will be from Peru!

New chapter: Peace Corps Peru

For those of you new to this blog, welcome! If you're reading this, you likely know that I'm about to embark on a 27-month long adventure in Peru as a Peace Corps volunteer. During that time, I hope to use this blog to keep friends and family updated on my life and work in Peru. However, while a blog is the easiest way for me to share stories with you all, it can be a very one-sided means of communication. I'm counting on you to overcome this - read a post, then write me an email about what's going on in your life! Being away from those I care about for 2+ years is by far my least favorite piece of Peace Corps, so please keep in touch. Of course, visitors to Peru are also welcome at any time :)

Now, by way of introduction, answers to some questions I've been hearing repeatedly over the last few months:

Why did you decide to join the Peace Corps?
The Peace Corps is something that's been in the back of my mind since high school, if not before, as a unique and challenging adventure that always sounded right up my alley. For one, I love to travel, experience different cultures, encounter new people, and learn too many languages. But perhaps more importantly, I am passionate about international development, particularly the areas of women's empowerment, microfinance, and education. While Peace Corps has its faults, it remains a great opportunity for a young/inexperienced, yet passionate/motivated person like myself to get on the ground and work collaboratively with a community to solve issues that limit their freedoms and well-being.

When do you leave?
June 6: leave Seattle for a one-day orientation in DC. June 8: leave DC, fly through Miami, and on to Peru!

Where will you be?
Until mid-August, I will be in Chaclacayo, a community just outside of Lima (the capital), for in-country training. I won't know my final site placement (where I'll spend my two years) until midway through training, and it could be anywhere from the beach to the Andes. During training I'll be with a group of 47 volunteers, but at post I could be flying solo in a village or in a larger town near a few other volunteers. I will be living with a host family throughout my time in Peru.

Will you have internet? A cell phone? Electricity? Running water?
Internet: at minimum once a month, at most in my house or town. Cell phone: eventually yes, but cell phone service could be another story. Electricity: likely yes. Running water: possibly. These things vary a lot between different sites, so I won't know the details until I'm assigned.

What will you be doing?
My official title is Small Business Promoter, and I will be serving as part of Peace Corps' community economic development program. Each volunteer's work is different, and the projects you pursue depend very much on the needs of your particular site, but some of my potential activities include: working with artisan co-ops, setting up micro-savings groups, promoting entrepreneurship among women and youth, teaching business and/or technology classes, etc.

Are you excited/nervous/happy/scared/insert-favorite-adjective-here?

Yes.

parties and princes

i just emerged from the family room of my house here after a major two hour event: the watching of the video of my host brother's engagement party. the party actually took place two fridays ago, and i unfortunately had to forgo it in favor of the only free weekend i had left to do my jerusalem trip. still a worthwhile trade-off, but BUMMER that i missed the shenanigans of the engagement. number one most important shenanigan: the attendance of prince hamzah. yep, that's right, the king's brother himself was at my brother's engagement party and i was not- opportunity to become the next queen noor= lost (haha, kidding, hamzah is already married). anyway, for the past four months whenever we discuss ala''s engagement, my host mom will be sure to tell me (in these exact words every single time): "ah, sure, family sousou like this (intertwines her fingers to demonstrate closeness) ma'a family melek abdullah". to decipher this sentence you need to know the following: a) my host mom continues, after four months of living here, after my continuing to speak to her in arabic, after discovering that i am indeed in the 5th level (of 6) arabic class here, and even in spite of the fact that my host brothers giggle at her every time she does it, to speak to me in english as much her vocabulary enables it, thus the arab-ingleezi mix; b) ah= yes; c) sousou is the name of my brother's fiancé; d) ma'a= with; e) melek abdullah= king abdullah of jordan. thus, i guess it should have been no surprise to me that prince hamzah attended the engagement party. okay, second highly entertaining party shenanigan: first ala' and then shortly after amr and hameed (my other brothers) being thrown headfirst into the pool. lucky for me the professional videographer hired for the event captured each of these precious moments, and i think it might even have been funnier to watch after the fact at how the way they each went in the water reflects their personalities. anyone could see from the start of the video that ala', the oldest and the engaged, was obviously going to get tossed in the pool at some point during the night- it's his engagement party, how could he not? next came hameed, my lanky goofball of a youngest brother- ala' pulls himself out of the pool, acting perfectly normal, then with one easy yank throws hameed into the water just for kicks. last came amr, the jolly middle brother, but not til five minutes or so had passed and he thought he was safe, dancing and chatting with sousou when he found himself being dragged towards the edge of the pool. despite his attempts to hang on to sousou as protection, he was overpowered and plunked head-first over the side. all three of them enjoyed the experience entirely though, and it was equally priceless to watch my host mom's reaction of trying to hide her amusement as she chided them for being soaked, while my host dad looked on thoroughly pleased with the situation. all in all the party looked like lots of fun (and lots of money), with lots of dancing, including its fair share of dabkeh of course.
but watching the video and laughing with/at my host brothers made me realize i'm going to miss the cacophonous mess that is my family here- as crazy as they often are, their quirks have become endearing and it will definitely be a big change to go back to the relative quiet of my own house. (...aside from soph-soph of course, haha)

jerusalem

my trip to jerusalem brought me face-to-face with a lot of questions: questions of faith, of diversity, of coexistence. it is truly a fascinating and unique city in the strength with which multiple religious traditions are coabiding and sharing reverence for the same land. within the walls of the old city especially, i could sit and watch for hours the intermix of orthodox jews in their traditional black hats, veiled muslim women, camera-wielding tourists, and all those in between. the old city on a map is divided into four "quarters": muslim, jewish, christian, and armenian, but this made me wonder how this plays out in practicality- how hard-drawn are the lines, do you only buy from or interact with people of your quarter/faith, are there lines at all or is it just neighbors among neighbors no matter which quarter your house is in or what sort of clothes you wear or what language you're speaking, is there resentment between certain groups of neighbors, is politics discussed or avoided, etc.? so many big questions, and only three days being there means they're all still unanswered haha. i wish i'd had the opportunity to talk with more people there, and i think that would make for a fascinating research project. what i saw in my brief stay was a middle ground: i certainly witnessed friendly conversations between jews and muslims, but more common were the conversations between those of the same faith, so it's hard to tell what the overall situation is. one thing is sure, it is easier to draw the quarter lines on paper than in reality- the old city generally looks the same no matter which quarter you're in, and it would be difficult to divide it- but that would be difficult in any city, it's not what they're made for. borders are just lines drawn in the sand, and they're arbitrary compared to the disproportionate amount of emphasis the international political system places on them.
one thing i loved about jerusalem was that multiple languages are always present. signs are in all three of hebrew, arabic, and english, and most residents speak at minimum two of these. also, i have realized at long last what my hours upon hours of arabic studying were for: a souq merchant immediately cut the quoted scarf price in half for me because i addressed him in arabic :) just kiddinggg (but it is a definite perk haha).


jerusalem is in fact a highly complicated tourist assignment on a weekend, since what with muslim friday, jewish shabbat, and christian sunday there is no such thing as standard operating hours/days. my first day i ventured out into the new city to mahane yehuda market, site of all things delicious (and also some not so delicious such as the full size shark for sale by one butcher shop, yikes). i snacked on lots of fresh fruit and some mini chocolate croissants that seemed to be the treat of choice to bring home for shabbat dinner since all the bakeries were rolling out HUGE trays of them.




on my way back towards the old city i took a stroll through mea she'arim, a very orthodox jewish neighborhood. it was like stepping into an old-world town: the whole community preserves traditional customs of dress and appearance. for men and boys this means black pants and jacket with white button-down shirt, a borsalino black hat, gartels (cloth prayer belts), and most with long beards and payot, which are the long curled sideburns. women and girls all had long hair simply tied back in a braid or ponytail, and wore long-sleeved dresses or skirts with tights. walking around here i heard a lot more of "shabbat shalom" than in the old city.



later that day i followed a massive group of tourists along the via dolorosa, which is the street route along which jesus carried his cross. i think i would have taken this way more seriously if i was christian, but even as it is it was interesting to see the significance the walk held for so many others, and to actually be on the sites of SO many biblical events. the walk ended at the church of the holy sepulchre, which is an immense, echoing, stone church that is majestic in an unassuming way, built on the location of golgotha or calvary, where many christians believe jesus was crucified/buried/resurrected.





later on i stumbled upon the simple but beautiful st. anne's church, known for its heavenly acoustics. the church is open to anyone or any group who feels so moved to sing songs of worship, and i sat a while listening to the voices echo off the church's crusader-era arches.


that night i watched the sunset from the roof of my hostel, and the great view made the slightly steep price per night more than worth it. the next morning i climbed the spiral stairs to the tower of the lutheran church and was treated to some more spectacular city views, this time in the morning sun.




i then headed off for a half-day visit to bethlehem (for more on the west bank see post below). modern day bethlehem is not the rural manger town that our christmas carols might lead you to believe- it's an everyday west bank village that happens to get a lot of tourists passing through. its main attraction is the church of the nativity, built over the site where jesus was born.



coming back into jerusalem i stopped for a lunch of fresh carrot juice and a falafel sandwich, two things that are cheap and ever-present in the middle east that i will definitely miss when i'm back home. my lunch was so delicious that i took a picture of it, not knowing that it would later be photographic evidence of the falafel that gave me the worst bout of food poisoning EVER :(


that afternoon i walked through kidron valley then up the mount of olives. the silvery sea green of the ancient olive trees made for some beautiful gardens, and small churches dotted the hillside as i took in the view of the old city across the valley. it was also interesting to see the separate but side-by-side cemeteries for christians, muslims, and jews, as well as mary's tomb at the base of the hill.






my planned adventures the next day had to be downsized due to my still feeling close to death from the falafel incident, but i was not leaving jerusalem without going to the temple mount even if it killed me. thus, avoiding the idea of food/breakfast, i packed and set off in the 90+ degree heat to visit the western/wailing wall, and then the temple mount with al-aqsa mosque and the dome of the rock. the sign below at the entrance to the western wall cracked me up- obviously it would be awkward if it violated shabbat for jews to go to the wall, so the rabbis declared that metal detectors were not in violation of shabbat :)