So after my post about going out and having fun, I thought I'd talk a little about what work I've been doing:)
As health volunteers, we have two goals. Briefly, our 1st goal is to work with mothers of children under 3 years old: we help them to adopt disease preventing practices, provide good nutrition, and promote growth and development. Our 2nd goal is to work with adolescents to promote safe sex practices, encourage future aspirations, and create PEPs (Peer educators) to inspire classes to come. During training we are only focussing on the first goal and assuming the skills we learn will help with the 2nd goal during our service.
Our main task during training is to find and work with one mom in our community during our 11 week training. This includes 5 house visits lasting 30minutes to an hour. Last week we found our moms and this week we need to have had our first session. I had mine today! The mom I'm working with is named Emelin (I mistakenly thought her name was Emily, but the n just tends to drop off) and her baby is 9 month old Micaela. My host mom is good friends with Emelin's husband. Emelin is so nice and Mica is adorable, I'm excited to spend time with them!
During this first home visit we are to assess the mother's knowledge of their "CRED card". In brief, this is a card that a nurse fills out to track the baby's growth and development. It is great for the parents to visualize how well their baby is growing. It's a very cool, comprehensive paper with tons of information. Our role was to make sure the mothers knew about all the features, what they all mean, wand why they're important. Luckily Emelin is very educated and knew everything. When we go to our permanent cites, the people aren't as well off as they are here, which may lead to less knowledge and more malnourished babies. That's when us being there to clarify and educate will really make a difference. For now, we are just practicing to get a feel of how home visits work as well as learning Spanish so that we can properly and effectively educate people.
I'm so happy and proud to be a health volunteer! I love that we are able to work with moms on a personal level and really tackle the health disparities in Peru on a grassroots level. We have incredible tech trainers who are teaching us all we need to know. Fortunately, thanks to nursing school, I feel pretty comfortable the subject matter. Now all I need is better Spanish skills to really get work done!
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Weekend fun!
Friday night a bunch of us got together at Sabrina’s house
to try out Peru’s famous Pisco Sour. Her parents are super fun and made them
for us. I was expecting a Midori Sour type drink, but it was very different!
The ingredients include Pisco (a type of brandy), lime juice, egg whites
(whipped to create a frothy layer on top), and a dash cinnamon. They were muy
suave! Very strong but smooth and the egg white took off the edge a bit.
Sabrina’s parents (and the hippest abuela I’ve ever met) were such fun hosts!
They made lots of yummy food, danced with us, and had us play musical chairs,
which turned out to be tons of fun!
After that, the 15 of us headed into Chosica to dance at the
discotecha. There we met up with probably 20 more volunteers. The Peace Corps
has a rule of avoiding groups of more than 20 people for safety reasons as big
groups draw attention. With our large group, it is very hard to do. There
weren’t many Peruvians out so we kind of took over the discotecha. It was fun
to dance with each other, and let loose!
Saturday night we went to a town fiesta to celebrate the
founding of that specific town, 3 de Octubre. It was founded on October 3rd
believe it or not, but they had to celebrate a weekend early because it’s Election
Day next weekend! We saw some traditional dances of Peru, complete with awesome
outfits. There was a lot of music and dancing after that. Then at midnight they
let off fireworks. We were standing in a basketball court and they were
literally firing off the fireworks into the sky from a rooftop right by us.
They felt sooo close!
After that, they did something super cool: The made a papier-mâché
type bull that a person can stand inside and run around. Then they attached
firework sparkers to the bull. When they lit it, the bull was spraying huge
streams of sparks and running towards groups of people! I’ve never seen
anything like it and I’m surprised and glad nothing caught on fire! It was
really awesome to see and experience though. I’ve found that Peruvians enjoy
finding any excuse to celebrate, and I love itJ
Thursday, September 25, 2014
I saw my first Peruvian Llama today!
We took a field trip to a mountain town called Callahuanca today. The drive was about an hour up a beautiful mountain side. It was still pretty dry looking, but there was more green than we see at our site. Callahuanca is famous for their cherimoyas, a mellon type fruit that is extremely sweet and has countless medicinal properties, according to the town folk. They even have a Cherimoya festival every year!
15 of us went there with our Language teachers for a new and different cultural and language emersion. I really liked it! It was great to see a new place and do something different with our day. We started out by talking with the Municipalidad (town hall/ government building) that works to organize and fund many programs around town. Understanding the Spanish was difficult for most of us, as the people speak much faster and less clear than our language teachers! From there we had lunch and ice cream.
Afterwards we went to visit a school and split up into groups to speak to the students. We weren't given any structure or instructions besides to introduce ourselves to the students. My group happened to be made up of 5 novice mid level speakers and me, an intermediate low.
*Side note about Spanish levels: the staff divided us according to our language level as determined by a phone call interview a week before departure. There are 3 groupings: novice, intermediate, and advanced. Within those groups are 3 levels: low, mid, and high. In order to pass training and become an official volunteer, we have to test out of training at intermediate-mid. I got put into intermediate low, so I only have one level to go!*
So even though my spanish is still really lacking, they all looked at me to introduce the group, so I did! It went alright; it's good practice to put myself out there even if I look and sound silly. We've been practicing the description for Cuerpo de Paz (Peace Corps) so it wasn't bad. We answered tons of questions the kids had about what part of the states we're from to have we know Top Model or have we met Barack Obama.
After that we just got to hang out with the students! The taught us a traditional dance and we had a blast dancing with the kids. We also got to meet a funny looking llama locked inside a gated soccer field in the middle of town! Overall it was a great experience and I can't wait for the next field trip :)
15 of us went there with our Language teachers for a new and different cultural and language emersion. I really liked it! It was great to see a new place and do something different with our day. We started out by talking with the Municipalidad (town hall/ government building) that works to organize and fund many programs around town. Understanding the Spanish was difficult for most of us, as the people speak much faster and less clear than our language teachers! From there we had lunch and ice cream.
Afterwards we went to visit a school and split up into groups to speak to the students. We weren't given any structure or instructions besides to introduce ourselves to the students. My group happened to be made up of 5 novice mid level speakers and me, an intermediate low.
*Side note about Spanish levels: the staff divided us according to our language level as determined by a phone call interview a week before departure. There are 3 groupings: novice, intermediate, and advanced. Within those groups are 3 levels: low, mid, and high. In order to pass training and become an official volunteer, we have to test out of training at intermediate-mid. I got put into intermediate low, so I only have one level to go!*
So even though my spanish is still really lacking, they all looked at me to introduce the group, so I did! It went alright; it's good practice to put myself out there even if I look and sound silly. We've been practicing the description for Cuerpo de Paz (Peace Corps) so it wasn't bad. We answered tons of questions the kids had about what part of the states we're from to have we know Top Model or have we met Barack Obama.
After that we just got to hang out with the students! The taught us a traditional dance and we had a blast dancing with the kids. We also got to meet a funny looking llama locked inside a gated soccer field in the middle of town! Overall it was a great experience and I can't wait for the next field trip :)
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Saturday Hiking Excursion
My first hiking trip in Peru!!
It was nice to have a break from the Training Center for a few days. Saturday morning I slept in a bit (7:30am!) and played cards with Marbeli until 9:30. I taught her "Egyptian Rat Slap" and she calls it "Juego de Jotas" meaning the "game of Js" because the Jacks are the most important to have to win! We have lots of fun with that :) Afterwards I spent some time at Austin's house talking to his 8 year old sister and playing with his 8 month old sister, so cute! I bought a bracelet from the older one for 2 soles (~ $0.70).
Then Austin, Katie, Graham, Graham's sister, dog, and I ventured out on a hike over the foothills behind our community and into the next community, Yanacoto, where some more volunteers live. It started out awesome with clear trails, etc. At the highest point we saw a beautiful resort/ country club complete with multiple pools, a lake, horse arenas, tennis courts, and soccer fields! After a little over an hour of walking up and over our hills, we started up the next set of hills and realized there was a huge wall that stretched from the bottom to the top as far as we could see. Our idea was to walk to the wall and then follow it down to get around it.
After trekking through vegetation, a river, and realizing we were somewhere we shouldn't be, we ended up in front of a bungalow INSIDE the country club! We apologized to the renters, told them we got lost, and asked where the exit was. They were super nice and no one really seemed to suspect we didn't belong to the club! That is until the guards noticed we had a dog with us... She told us the dog couldn't be there so we apologized and said we had gotten lost and are looking for the exit. The guard escorted us to the exit and was soooo nice. She told us about all the club had to offer, how much it cost for a day, gave Graham's sister a pretzel: very nice treatment for trespassers!
Eventually we made it into Yanacoto and took refuge in Gillian's house to rest our legs and refill our waters. We also ran into Dale and Andrea. Their community is much larger than ours but similar in the way it looks. From there we asked for better directions and this time made it around the wall by following it all the way up until it ended at the top of the foothill. Getting up there was the hardest part so after that it was smooth sailing until we made it back home finally!
Our whole trip lasted from 10:15- 3:00pm, about five hours! It was really fun though, and my cold water shower never felt so good!
Monday, September 15, 2014
1st day of Training
This morning the other Chacrasana volunteers and I took a combi for a short ride to the Training Center in Chaclacayo. TJ's mom came with us to make sure we could do it, but tomorrow we will be on our own! I'm confident we can do it, it's not too bad. The other 58 volunteers who live in other communities came from different directions on the combi or are close enough to walk to the Training Center.
The Training Center is very nice! It has a few classrooms, offices, a kitchen, bathrooms. It also has a huge backyard and many lessons are held outside. This morning at 8:00am we started with an introduction and overview of the next 11 weeks. Then we jumped into Spanish class, which was great! I think I will learn a lot from our teacher, se llama Desire. Then we ate lunch, which had been packed for us by all of our host moms in tupperware, so cute! The second half of the day consisted of a safety lesson with Enrique, some Rabies vaccines courtesy of Doctora Claudia, and ended with a two hour session on diarrhea by Doctora Suni! The staff here is so incredible, we are very lucky!
Before going home for dinner all the Chacrasana peeps wanted to check out the big supermarket down the street. So a 3rd year PCV took us shopping at "El Metro." It was kind of like a miniature Target in that it had clothing, groceries, electronics, etc. but much less of a selection. It was nice to stalk up on shampoo and other supplies. Cheers to a successful first shopping trip!
The Training Center is very nice! It has a few classrooms, offices, a kitchen, bathrooms. It also has a huge backyard and many lessons are held outside. This morning at 8:00am we started with an introduction and overview of the next 11 weeks. Then we jumped into Spanish class, which was great! I think I will learn a lot from our teacher, se llama Desire. Then we ate lunch, which had been packed for us by all of our host moms in tupperware, so cute! The second half of the day consisted of a safety lesson with Enrique, some Rabies vaccines courtesy of Doctora Claudia, and ended with a two hour session on diarrhea by Doctora Suni! The staff here is so incredible, we are very lucky!
Before going home for dinner all the Chacrasana peeps wanted to check out the big supermarket down the street. So a 3rd year PCV took us shopping at "El Metro." It was kind of like a miniature Target in that it had clothing, groceries, electronics, etc. but much less of a selection. It was nice to stalk up on shampoo and other supplies. Cheers to a successful first shopping trip!
Chacrasana host familia
My house consists of my abuela Angelica who has three of her six children living in this house: my host mama, Yudith and two 18 year old twins (one has Down's syndrome). Then my aunt, Margot, and her daughter Marbeli (11), live here too. There's also an older man who is always around and yelling things at me (especially after I come home from a jog) but I can never understand him! I think he likes me though because he asked me to sit with him today for dinner:) It is a big house with two stories. My room is on the 2nd floor along with Yudith, Margot and Maribel's rooms. The boys live downstairs. It is a nice house! Solid walls and floors, tiled bathroom with flushing toilets. There is running water for the shower but the water is cold. They also have Wifi here most days so I am able to post on this blog!
Spanish is definitely a challenge... I can get by but I just want to have a meaningful conversation when Yudi asks me how my Spanish class was! It is clear that she has hosted many volunteers in the past because she is very patient with my Spanish, she doesn't over-serve me, she cooks lots of vegetables, etc. She loves to ask questions and chit chat. I'm excited for the day when I can answer in more than a few words! My prima, Maribel is 11 years old and we like to hang out. She loves the games on my Kindle, and has obviously played them before because she's so good! She is good at helping me understand things and has so much patience with me, it's really awesome.
The other 11 volunteer's live within ten minutes walking distance with the closest ones right across from me and right behind me. On our first day, we walked around the community (it was not very big) picking up all the voluntarios. On the top of the hill there is a concrete soccer field; I hope we can go up and play there one of these days.
That night a handful of volunteers and some mamas took a combi (bus) to Chosica, a big central town. Our first combi experience went well! There are no bus stops, you just have to stand by the road and wave the driver down. It's hectic when you get on and there's a man (el cobrador) who collects your money. You tell him where you want to go and he'll tell you how much money you owe. Usually rides cost 0.50 Peruvian Soles which is about $0.17. Then he shouts when your stop comes up and you push your way out. The bus driver hardly stops much less pulls his parking break while loading and unloading!
Chosica was fun! It was full of people, street food, music, and vendors. We bought a few churros (not quite like Disneyland's ;)) and walked around. We saw a river and the famous Christo Blanko! TJ's and my mom had to do some grocery shopping so we hung out and everyone else left. Getting back was difficult as the combis were packed and we had grocery bags. But we made it home safe! I fell right to sleep and slept like a log :)
Spanish is definitely a challenge... I can get by but I just want to have a meaningful conversation when Yudi asks me how my Spanish class was! It is clear that she has hosted many volunteers in the past because she is very patient with my Spanish, she doesn't over-serve me, she cooks lots of vegetables, etc. She loves to ask questions and chit chat. I'm excited for the day when I can answer in more than a few words! My prima, Maribel is 11 years old and we like to hang out. She loves the games on my Kindle, and has obviously played them before because she's so good! She is good at helping me understand things and has so much patience with me, it's really awesome.
The other 11 volunteer's live within ten minutes walking distance with the closest ones right across from me and right behind me. On our first day, we walked around the community (it was not very big) picking up all the voluntarios. On the top of the hill there is a concrete soccer field; I hope we can go up and play there one of these days.
That night a handful of volunteers and some mamas took a combi (bus) to Chosica, a big central town. Our first combi experience went well! There are no bus stops, you just have to stand by the road and wave the driver down. It's hectic when you get on and there's a man (el cobrador) who collects your money. You tell him where you want to go and he'll tell you how much money you owe. Usually rides cost 0.50 Peruvian Soles which is about $0.17. Then he shouts when your stop comes up and you push your way out. The bus driver hardly stops much less pulls his parking break while loading and unloading!
Chosica was fun! It was full of people, street food, music, and vendors. We bought a few churros (not quite like Disneyland's ;)) and walked around. We saw a river and the famous Christo Blanko! TJ's and my mom had to do some grocery shopping so we hung out and everyone else left. Getting back was difficult as the combis were packed and we had grocery bags. But we made it home safe! I fell right to sleep and slept like a log :)
First few days in Peru!
I made it to Peru!
After a long day of travel (about 18 hours), we finally arrived to the site of our 3 day retreat, just outside of Lima! It was super dark when we arrived so no one knew where we were or what the place looked like. So in the morning we awoke to find a beautiful retreat center with a swimming pool, dinning hall, gazebos, and koi ponds all surrounded by mountains. GORGEOUS!
We spent the next couple of days learning about the Peace Corps' general purpose and objectives as well as our individual sector's objectives. I'm very excited for what the Community Health Sector has in store! Not only are there great plans to promote health and wellbeing for youth and mothers, but all the volunteers have great passion and life-experience. We will be a great team.
That is one of my favorite parts so far: getting to know the amazing people I am lucky enough to spend the next two years with! We are very different but so much alike. Everyone has a passion to serve and be adventurous. We all are excited to use our time to make a difference and to learn all we can from this culture. It's amazing to feel the connection when I meet someone who's ambitions and passions match up so closely to mine. A huge part of the retreat was bonding with the other volunteers, and bond we did! After formal lessons we hung out playing music, playing soccer, doing yoga, building human pyramids, etc. It did not take much for the 58 of us to become a close-knit group.
On the second day of the retreat we found out our site placements for the next 11 weeks! I was placed in Chacrasana with 10 other volunteers: Austin, Austin, Matt, Annie, Katie, Sabrina, Liz, TJ, Graham, and Jill. We will live in Chacrasana and take the Combi (public bus) to the Training Center in Chaclacayo (10 minutes).
After a long day of travel (about 18 hours), we finally arrived to the site of our 3 day retreat, just outside of Lima! It was super dark when we arrived so no one knew where we were or what the place looked like. So in the morning we awoke to find a beautiful retreat center with a swimming pool, dinning hall, gazebos, and koi ponds all surrounded by mountains. GORGEOUS!
We spent the next couple of days learning about the Peace Corps' general purpose and objectives as well as our individual sector's objectives. I'm very excited for what the Community Health Sector has in store! Not only are there great plans to promote health and wellbeing for youth and mothers, but all the volunteers have great passion and life-experience. We will be a great team.
That is one of my favorite parts so far: getting to know the amazing people I am lucky enough to spend the next two years with! We are very different but so much alike. Everyone has a passion to serve and be adventurous. We all are excited to use our time to make a difference and to learn all we can from this culture. It's amazing to feel the connection when I meet someone who's ambitions and passions match up so closely to mine. A huge part of the retreat was bonding with the other volunteers, and bond we did! After formal lessons we hung out playing music, playing soccer, doing yoga, building human pyramids, etc. It did not take much for the 58 of us to become a close-knit group.
On the second day of the retreat we found out our site placements for the next 11 weeks! I was placed in Chacrasana with 10 other volunteers: Austin, Austin, Matt, Annie, Katie, Sabrina, Liz, TJ, Graham, and Jill. We will live in Chacrasana and take the Combi (public bus) to the Training Center in Chaclacayo (10 minutes).
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Packing List
In case anyone is interested in what I pack for the next 2 years :)
Bags:
Jansport backpack, hiking backpack, rolling suitcase
Shoes:
Toms
tenis
2 flip flops
running
hiking
2 dress (heels + flats)
Clothes:
5 jeans
1 hiking/ rain pants
2 dress pants
4 shorts
2 work out shorts
3 leggings
1 sweatpants
3 skirts
2 dresses
5 Ts- 3 dry-fits 2 cotton
5 dress shirts (collared shirts)
5 short sleeve
5 tanks
5 long sleeves
2 blazers
3 cardigan
3 sweatshirts
leather jacket
Northface rain coat
2 scarves
15 undies & socks
Other:
2 purse bags
2 towels
Sleeping bag
blanket
pillow
water bottle
army knife
external hard drive
iphone
speakers
laptop
kindle- with ebooks
glasses-2
watch
photos
journals + stationary
toiletries- 1 month supply
One week left!
Do I really just have 7 days until I leave for Peace Corps service??
As I'm just starting to feel physically prepared, the reality of the situation is settling in. My packing list is just about finalized, my loose ends are being tied, and all that's left is a week spent with family and friends!
After that, I'll spend two days in Washington DC for staging (and some sight seeing I hope!). From there I, along with the 50 or so other volunteers, will fly together into Lima, Peru! That begins our three months of safety, technical, cultural, and language training in Lima. Near the end of this training I will be assigned a community that will become my home for the next TWO YEARS, scary right!? So exciting:)
Here's my address for the next 3 months should anyone wish to send me words of love and support:
Alexis Halstenson
Cuerpo de Paz/Perú
Calle Via Láctea 132, Surco
Lima 33, Perú
Wish me luck during this emotional last week in California!
As I'm just starting to feel physically prepared, the reality of the situation is settling in. My packing list is just about finalized, my loose ends are being tied, and all that's left is a week spent with family and friends!
After that, I'll spend two days in Washington DC for staging (and some sight seeing I hope!). From there I, along with the 50 or so other volunteers, will fly together into Lima, Peru! That begins our three months of safety, technical, cultural, and language training in Lima. Near the end of this training I will be assigned a community that will become my home for the next TWO YEARS, scary right!? So exciting:)
Here's my address for the next 3 months should anyone wish to send me words of love and support:
Alexis Halstenson
Cuerpo de Paz/Perú
Calle Via Láctea 132, Surco
Lima 33, Perú
Wish me luck during this emotional last week in California!
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