Ancash and the really long FBT blog post

Photo Credit: Katy Halasz
Ancash

As you can see, Ancash really is better.

I really don’t even know where to begin.

It was time for Field Based Training (where we finally get to leave Lima to work in the field and see other volunteer's sites) for Peru 17 and Youth Development got split into three groups. My group got extremely lucky… we got ANCASH! Most of my group had been hearing other volunteers using the slogan “Ancash is better” whenever they would talk about this mystical place, and none of us really understood why- until we arrived in Huaraz. My group took a 7 hour bus ride on a “cama bus” which was more comfortable than first class on an airplane. I snoozed the whole way there. We arrived in Huaraz around 9am on Sunday morning.

Sunday

The first thing we got to do was check into the Cayesh Hostal- a Peace Corps favorite (which also became mine by the end of the week). The beds were comfortable and the water in the shower was HOT. It was my first hot shower since I landed in Peru.

After checking in we made our way to another staple to PCV’s in Ancash… California Café. This place is amazing. It had a travel book section, real coffee and amazing breakfast. It felt like you were almost sitting in a little café in America.

Once breakfast was over there was a PCV Panel. Current volunteers in Ancash sat and answered questions that we had.

John William, super volunteer and our FBT leader for the week, planned a “leisure scavenger hunt” for us around Huaraz. It consisted of going around asking basic questions to people in the streets.

Once the hunt was over my group headed back to the hostal for some hot showers and much needed sleep. The affects of the altitude were beginning to kick in.

Monday

We started off our day at 8 p.m. EN PUNTO ( without breakfast because John Williams doesn’t believe in it). The group took a combi to John William’s site called Jangas. It is only about a 40 minute ride from the capital city. It is a gorgeous site. My group (Britt and Jeff) had a session ready to teach English to the kids. Our topic was “food” (obviously, what else would I want to teach?) We played the game where we put English words on the board and the kids have to hit the word with a fly swatter-whoever hits it first wins the game. The prize was a lollipop but the kids had to say “I would like a (insert color) one”. We noticed after awhile the kids easily picked up single words of English, but it was really difficult to have them form a full phrase.

Teaching English in Jangas, Ancash

After, my group went to John William’s house to help cook lunch. Guess what we had for lunch?! CUY! Better known to those in the US of A as those cute little things you keep as pets and call them GUINEA PIGS. I walked in on Grandma Quechua ( John’s amazing grandma that only speaks Quechua) pulling the fur out of my soon to be lunch. I helped peel potatoes and learned a little Quechua while I was at it.

Photo Credit: Katy Halasz
Grandma Quechua killing the cuy

Photo Credit: Katy Halasz
Grandma Quechua, my best friend.

The cuy tasted like chicken. There really isn’t a ton of meat in cuy and I spent most of my time picking the little there was off the bone. However, it was delicious and I loved helping out Grandma Quechua. After lunch my group played some games with the youth of John William’s site. The altitude started really wearing on my body this day and I was extremely tired with a migraine by 5pm.

Tuesday

We made our way to Tumpa to visit another volunteers site. This was a really great and eye opening day. Tumpa was more campo than the other sites we had seen or heard about. Jeff, Britt and I had to teach the session of teeth brushing. We climbed a mile up a mountain to a tiny little building that would be the school we would be teaching in. The school was two very basic rooms. We did our “tag” dynamica and after we taught kids as old as 11 years old how to brush their teeth. Most of these kids didn’t even know how to hold the toothbrush. This is the part of the trip I will never forget. After our charla a lot of the kids had questions on how to keep their teeth clean.

The group in Tumpa

After, my group went to some thermal baths. They were… interesting. It was nice to be able to just relax, but I’m really not sure how clean these things were.

The Thermal Bath

Wednesday

 We made a long trip in a combi to the town of Caraz. In the morning our groups were separated and told to walk around the city and find the different resources. After, we regrouped and went to the market. Markets in Peru are always interesting. You can literally get lost in them and never come out.  The most interesting part is always the meat area, where you find dead animals just hanging around waiting to be bought and eaten. My favorite part of the market is always the fruit market. Peru has a million different types of fruit and it’s always fun to try them.

Cow head in the market, Photo Credit: Katy Halasz

Later, we went to visit the site of Elke called Amashca. It was one of my favorite sites.

Amashca, Photo Credit: Katy Halasz

The mountain view from the colegio, Photo Credit: Katy Halasz

Elke and her girls, Photo Credit: Katy Halasz

As you can see, the views are amazing. During this site visit we split into two groups: one did a socio drama about family relationships and my group did a charla on confianza and did a few trust falls.

Trust falls, Photo Credit: Katy Halasz

After the charlas we had a serious volleyball tournament. My team was called “Los Payasos” (The Clowns). We made it to the championship game where we lost to “Chaufa.” There was some trash talking going on in Spanish that was absolutely hysterical. It went something like this

Kyle: Los payasos en la casa!!!!!!!!! (clowns in the house)

JW: Tu vas a comer chaufa en el hospital (you will be eating chaufa in the hospital)

Thursday

In the morning we visited Colleen’s site. It is called Huaylas. Colleen is in Peru 13 and is done with her service next week. We went up to the school and we were suppose to watch a video on Teen Pregnancy, however, when we got to the school there was no electricity. A day in the life of a Peace Corps volunteer. So instead of watching a movie… we made up our own socio drama. It was absolutely hysterical and as soon as I can upload the video we got of it I will post it on here. After we had a few discussion questions for the kids. It was hard to get them talking about anything, but by the end they were up presenting their answers.

The view from the colegio was amazing.

Ancash group!

Friday

This was also an amazing day. In the morning we took a combi up to a glacial lake. It was gorgeous. It is tradition in Ancash to do a naked glacial lake jump… lets just say Peru 17 has kept the tradition alive. Here are some pictures of the lake!

Glacial LAKE!

Photo Credit: Katy Halasz

Photo Credit: Katy Halasz

The boys, Photo Credit: Katy Halasz

The roomies for FBT, Photo Credit: Katy Halasz

I obviously fell off the rock, Photo Credit: Katy Halasz

Glacial Lake :)

 In the afternoon we went to Beth’s site. Here we worked with the project Beth and John William created. They were able to get college students from Huaraz to travel into site to work with the kids in Beth’s site. It is a college mentoring program and unbelievably sustainable. Both volunteers are doing a great job with this project. We spent the afternoon reading books to the kids and playing different games.

Reading to the kiddies

The whole gang!

Later that night I unfortunately had the opportunity to experience the less amazing side of Peru. I was robbed within minutes of sitting down at a restaurant. My whole bag, which contained money, a credit card and my cell phone, were gone in a blink of an eye. It was pretty upsetting, and the worst part is that the next day I looked in the black market in Huaraz and spotted my phone being sold. It’s pretty aggravating seeing your stolen goods for sale right in front of you.

Saturday

 In the morning I went with my tech trainer to the police office and filed a report. Filing police reports in Peru is not easy and most of the time you have to keep coming back to do it. Luckily my tech trainer was able to get them to write up my report right away. After, I met up with my group and toured different colleges in Huaraz with a group of youth health promoters that John William and his site mate Kyle formed.

Later that day we made a pot luck dinner with all the volunteers and celebrated a birthday in the hostel. Around 1030pm we boarded a bus back to Lima.

Overall, FBT was an awesome experience and I’m really glad my group went to Ancash. It really is an unbelievable place.

Peru 17-Ancash FBT :)

This week PERU 17 has off for the independence day of Peru “Fiestas Patrias” on both Thursday and Friday. The new president is being sworn in! THEN, next Wednesday… is the big day. SITE ASSIGNMENTS!

“You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.”

-Woodrow Wilson

-Brielle

PS: As you can see most of these pictures were taken by a friend of mine in Peru 17. They are pretty amazing! Katy Halasz, you are one hell of a photographer. 

Baked Macaroni, No Hay Carros=SOL DAY

First off, I need to start out with the fact that this past Sunday another volunteer and I made Baked Macaroni for my family. We got all the ingredients at the market in Chosica, and my family loved it. 

Yummy!

Yesterday, training was canceled because the transportation of Lima decided to protest the government. The government is starting to enforce stricter rules and trying to cut back on the amount of combis, taxis and other modes of transportation in and around Lima. MOST of the people in Peru count on the transportation for their daily activities, and for many driving these cars are their way of making a living. SO... Peru 17 got a "SOL" day. I woke up a little later than usual and went over some session plans for my youth group and then spent the rest of the day laying in the sun at a pool near my house. It was nice to finally get a chance to relax. For lunch I had an awesome salad con palta (avacado) with really good dressing. Overall, my SOL day was a success.

So since this was a rather dry blost post... I'll leave you with some lists

I miss:

-Ice

-Clean, normal dogs

-People who follow the rules of driving

-HOT SHOWERS (this may be the most missed)

-french vanilla iced coffee 3 splendas

-Italian combos

I don’t miss:

-my cellphone

-watching TV

-driving

-the fast paced life in America

I like:

-the patience of Peruvians

-the kindness of Peruvians

-la HORA PERUANA!

-that my name is screamed every 10 minutes very loudly "BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIEEEEEEELLLE!!"

-being called Flackita 

- Peru 17.

Me, Slacker and Kerry

I don’t like:

-cold showers

-hand washing my clothes... my jeans are now 3 times their normal size.

-tamales for breakfast (thankfully I have a 3 year old sister I can sneak my food to)

-pulgas (better known in America as...fleas)

I’m getting used to:

-almost dying constantly in combi and collectivo rides

-dogs all over the place (jumping off roofs, walking down the aisle during Mass and hanging out in the market in Chosica)
- having no clue what i'm eating

- the bread man screaming at 6 in the morning

- having zero privacy

I was talking with a friend, Katherine (better known as Gato in our group)... and we decided that we walk around Peru completely confused 90% percent of the time. One example: all of our sessions for tech training are now completely in Spanish. More than once I can hear others around me saying "but seriously... what is going on?" Clearly we are all on the same page... or as Gato likes to say "Nosotros somos en el mismo pagina."

I leave for Ancash on SATURDAY. The packing has begun! I will probably have very limited internet access, but I'll have my KINDLE for those of you who actually email me :) 

Alex Nix: you are up there on funniest email so far. Thank you for taking the time to write that amazing masterpiece. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'll be responding soon. 

"While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do." -Unknown

-Brielle

Happy 1 Month in Peru, Peru 17.

 

 

 

Peru 17 Youth Development- Happy One MONTH in Peru :)

It's been one month since I touched down in Peru. I'm already finding it hard to blog about the things going on around me because most of it is beginning to feel very normal. I haven't watched a full program of T.V. since I've been here & it's normal to wake up on day 4 of no shower and NOT have any water. It's normal to talk about how many flea bites you recieved in one night or how you have an ongoing battle with the dog down the street. 

A month ago I arrived in this country with strangers... that have grown to become family- sometimes a very dysfunctional one, but one I've grown to love nonetheless. I also began my adventure of living with a new family who I don't want to leave after these three months are over. I never had sisters, and now I realize how nice it is to have a 3 year old sister that will steal the food I don't want to eat and a 24 year old sister that is always on the same page as me (even in another language). 

Bryanna on her way to school! My host mom, Carmen and Dasha with her.

Mi hermana, Melissa, turning 24. This cake was made by my mom Carmen... que RICO!

It's official... I'm going to ANCASH for Field Based Training. My group leaves around 8 p.m. on Saturday for a 7 hour bus ride to the regional capital called Huaraz. The slogan for Ancash in the Peace Corps is "Ancash is Better". Ancash is a department for possible site placement.

A view in Ancash

I'm really excited for a week filled with HOT SHOWERS, and it's the first time we are going to really feel like Peace Corps Volunteers. We are spending the week visiting current Peace Corps volunteer's sites and teaching our own lessons. The Peace Corps has told us that we come back from this week completely ready to take on the next couple weeks of training, which is nice to hear because training is very exhausting.

We had another school visit this passed week and I loved it. I was able to teach a whole class (about 20 kids) of 10 and 12 year olds.. ENGLISH! They were able to sing the heads, shoulders, knees and toes song by themselves at the end of the session. It's really great watching kids excited about learning something new. The next school (this week) visit we will be doing session plan lessons on self esteem and healthy lifestyles!

It's time for bed! I made baked mac and cheese for my family tonight and it has put me into a FOOD COMA! Hope everyone is well back in the great U. S of A! Please email me! brielle.colby@gmail.com I would love to hear from all of you!

videos of my awesome 3 year old host sister

Bryanna One

Bryanna Two 

"The world demands the qualities of youth: not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, the appetite for adventure over the life of ease." - JFK

-Brielle

On a More Serious Note

When a person goes through training for Peace Corps, you often here trainers and other volunteers telling someone that will experience extreme highs and lows through training and service. They are right and I got to experience one of my highs this past weekend in Lima. 

I was completely exhausted Saturday morning and really didn't feel like getting up at 7am to bucket bathe, walk to the center, take the hour and half trek to Lima in a crazy traffic and then have to take the 2 hour ride back (traffic). However, I'm glad I did. 

Youth Development finally got a taste of the severe poverty that goes on just few hours from our humble abodes in Santa Eulalia. We got to visit a program called "Programa Educadores de Calle". Before the trip we were told NOT to wear any bright colors, wear any jewelry or bring ANYTHING with us. We would also be going with small groups and to each group there would be a security person. When we got there... I understood why, but I was also completely and utterly stunned.

I had seen poverty first hand in Honduras, but that doesn't mean when you see and smell the extreme poverty people live in on a daily that it doesn't affect you emotionally. The program is for kids that work in a market (that looked more like a mud pit) with their parents. They wake up around 3am and start selling whatever goods (vegetables, patatoes.. etc, etc) they can. The kids then head to school in the morning and return to sell after school. This is repeated 7 days a week. The program gives them a place to go after school to work on homework, etc. I wish I could have brought a camera because there really no words to the describe what the scene looked like.

However, its not that easy. Most parents NEED their kids to help them sell. The program has people going around the market finding kids and talking to their parents about the program. Educadores de Calle does have many kids, but there are also many parents that will just NOT allow the kids to go to the program. For the first couple minutes our group got to hang out with the kids in the building, and then we had the chance to go with a security guard to see what a normal day in the market is like for the families. It was heart breaking. The smells were horrific...children were picking up dirty and rotten fruit that had be left for garbage to sell.

After the tour of the market we were brought back to the building where we hung out with the kids more. I handed out my "firma" (signature) to all the kids, and talked to them and by talk to them I mean answer their 100 million questions they had about me. I also taught a few kids "head, shoulders, knees and toes" in English. This is where I noticed my Spanish had started to really come along, and it also helped that little kids are very forgiving when it comes to speaking their language. I left that place telling my Tech Trainer that I would LOVE to have this type of work as a primary project. It is most likely not something I"ll be doing, but it doesn't hurt to ask. However, there are other Peace Corps volunteers working with the program in different areas... so we shall see. 

I'm heading to Lima tomorrow with half of Youth Development. We are going to the Peace Corps head quarters to have our chats with the Country Director and APCD. Next week marks the halfway point of training and all of the seminars will be in Spanish starting next week. 

Also, I know I didn't get to tell everyone... but I hope everyone had a great 4th of JULY! Luckily, all the volunteers, got to celebrate with some amazing burgers, American flag cake and American football! I miss everyone! Please email me at brielle.colby@gmail.com if you have any questions or anything interesting to tell me :)

"Life will kick you around like a World Cup soccer ball. Keep your bounce. Enjoy the ride. Fear and excitement are best friends. Stay in good company. Don't try to fill anyone else's shoes. The world doesn't need you to be Mother Teresa, Ghandhi, Martin Luther King, Michael Jordan, Maya Angelou, or Bill Gates. The world needs you to be you." - God Never Blinks

-Brielle