i just want you to know that i am so happy, maybe the happiest i've ever been in life. can you believe that after all the brokenness and waiting and crying and hoping that i actually finally got here and it actually has been exactly what i prayed for? i thank god every single day for the countless joys of my new world.
today some friends had brunch. i brought the swedish pancake batter (there's still a liter left, as i grossly overestimated how much the "two very hungry people" recipe would make when multiplied for ten). others brought tamales, quiche, and sweet potato fries. mimosas were made, and when the oj ran out, we supplemented with papaya. pisco shots also emerged. this is my new community. this is brunch in peru. this is why i am [almost] never stressed out these days. this is why i love communion. i think jesus would give it the thumbs up.
yesterday i went running for half an hour. i don't think i've ever done that in my entire life, so you should be proud of me. i'm a pretty big deal. too bad brunch cancels out any health points gained.
my mattress is made of the cheapest foam in the world. i can feel the boards beneath my hips. i find myself pushing up against the sides to find comfort, but i always roll back into the center. we call this the problem of the taco mattress.
has anyone else ever noticed that people from other cultures often seem to exist in another plane of reality? today i knocked on a friend's door to invite her to brunch, and when i translated to her host mom the situation and asked if it was ok, she looked at me with such concern. it was clearly not ok, but she said, "si, claro." have you guys eaten yet? no. did you already prepare breakfast? no. are you sure it's ok? (deep concern face) yes. if it's not ok, then just say it's not ok. i can't read your mind, and even if i could, i probably couldn't translate it into english quickly enough. it sounds stressful, and in the moment it certainly is, but in the end, i think i like that we living on different planes. i mean, that is just a small, harmless example, but it keeps me humbled and helps me to be more understanding when crazy things happen. we're all different. there's no one way that works for everyone, and this is why we should not and can not impose are cultural values on other groups.
i like peruvian dancing. you hold hands and just step back and forth. there's no hip movement, no rhythm, no skill necessary. sometimes you get a twirl and that is very special.
my friends' cat is preggerz. i'm going to get a kitten!
the blanket on my bed smells like pee.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
prank e-mail from another staff member to me.
dear volunteer coordinator,
i really want to volunteer with your organization. i am extremely high maintenance and will require my own private suite with a bidet...for health reasons. also i can't afford the volunteer donation and i dont speak spanish and don't want to learn. let me know!
------
too true, too true.
i really want to volunteer with your organization. i am extremely high maintenance and will require my own private suite with a bidet...for health reasons. also i can't afford the volunteer donation and i dont speak spanish and don't want to learn. let me know!
------
too true, too true.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
generalizations
so life is all settled down. i wouldn’t exactly say that i feel at home yet, but i do at least feel comfortable buying candy bars (bad) and answering the phone (good). i have about a week left in my homestay. it has been incredible, but was i that annoying when i was a fourteen year-old, because i have never met anyone as whiney as my host sister.
ollantinos, like all communities i'm sure, have quite a few practices and behaviors that are astonishingly novel to the outside observer. i'm trying to remember them all, but i'll just note a few here:
first of all, if i could summarize this culture in one word, it would be "apúrate," which means "hurry up." it is the command i wake up to every morning at 6 am (or earlier), used to rouse children (unsuccessfully) out sleep, and it is the emptiest expression i have ever heard. everyone is constantly demanding that everyone else apúrate in the most panicked voice. it's like everyone's home is always on fire and we all need to grab whatever we can and get the fuck out of there before we roast to death. and yet....no one ever hurries up. the house is never going to burn down. the child is always going to be late for school. dinner will never be eaten in under an hour. now, this isn't quite the same as the cultural phenomena of latin american time where things always start late or people just don't show up. it's really just that everyone is panicked and no one is ever getting anything done. this basically leaves me in a constant wet blanket of stress.
additionally, there are very widely held beliefs about health around here. i can probably count on my hands how many times i've had cold water to drink here because it's so unhealthy? rather, water is always piping hot, which is why getting an aluminum water bottle is number one on my list of items to buy when i come home for christmas. i've gotten used to tea at every meal, even to the point where i'm starting to believe that the only way to keep my stomach from rupturing after five pounds of starches is with a little chamomile. but to think that having cold water at night, eating fruit after dinner, or taking a shower within an hour of a meal all cause infirmity is another matter. every time i tell my host parents that i'm feeling ill, they have some unheard of explanation, as if the fact that i'm adjusting to new water, fruits, vegetables, and hygienic levels had nothing to do with it. i also enjoy my host father's anecdotes about natural curatives. for example, did you know that women with frozen ovaries should just drink this certain herb in tea for three days and then they'll have babies? it's true. he knows someone who got pregnant just one month after drinking the special tea. also, if you have a "scared" baby (which i think means they cry during the night?), you should grind up this other plant and corn and mix it with alcohol and bathe your baby in it on tuesday, friday, and then tuesday again, and they will be better. but it has to be on those special days.
there seem to only be three songs at a time that everyone in peru listens to. my host siblings listen to the three songs on repeat all weekend long. also everyone here is tone deaf, which only elevates the painfulness of listening to huayno (appropriately pronounced "whine-o"), which is the indigenous musical style that traditionally involves some heartbroken old lady wailing as mournfully as possible with gentle harp in the background. contemporary huayno has keyboards and a bunch of other synth shit, making it nearly intolerable, but for some reason, everyone is always blaring it with their speakers out to the streets. on repeat. i actually kind of like the classical huayno (it's the joanna newsom side of me), but holy shit, not at that volume and frequency. i have also heard reports of host families playing U2's "new year's eve" or whatever on repeat for hours, and i thank god that i've avoided that fate.
people here rarely have toilet paper in their bathrooms. my host family will go a week or more without it in the house. i can't explain what they are (or are not) doing in light of its absence, but i have certainly taken to buying my own tp and stealthily tucking it into my pocket every time i go to the bathroom.
it's election day today. since before i arrived here, there has been a constant loud drone of election jingles and propaganda from cars and rooftops, not to mention candidate graffiti on walls, rocks, and bridges. it is more than a little disheartening to see large boulders spray painted with propaganda about how environmentally-friendly someone claims to be. it seems harmless, although there has been a ban on any peruvian purchasing alcohol for the last couple days, as apparently tonight when the winner is announced there will be fights, fires, and bottle throwing. people look at me in astonishment when i tell them that it is not illegal to drink on or during the days leading up to election day in the states. because we're so civilized.
so those are just a few of the amusing novelties of my new life. and now it's time to go to a pig roast.
ollantinos, like all communities i'm sure, have quite a few practices and behaviors that are astonishingly novel to the outside observer. i'm trying to remember them all, but i'll just note a few here:
first of all, if i could summarize this culture in one word, it would be "apúrate," which means "hurry up." it is the command i wake up to every morning at 6 am (or earlier), used to rouse children (unsuccessfully) out sleep, and it is the emptiest expression i have ever heard. everyone is constantly demanding that everyone else apúrate in the most panicked voice. it's like everyone's home is always on fire and we all need to grab whatever we can and get the fuck out of there before we roast to death. and yet....no one ever hurries up. the house is never going to burn down. the child is always going to be late for school. dinner will never be eaten in under an hour. now, this isn't quite the same as the cultural phenomena of latin american time where things always start late or people just don't show up. it's really just that everyone is panicked and no one is ever getting anything done. this basically leaves me in a constant wet blanket of stress.
additionally, there are very widely held beliefs about health around here. i can probably count on my hands how many times i've had cold water to drink here because it's so unhealthy? rather, water is always piping hot, which is why getting an aluminum water bottle is number one on my list of items to buy when i come home for christmas. i've gotten used to tea at every meal, even to the point where i'm starting to believe that the only way to keep my stomach from rupturing after five pounds of starches is with a little chamomile. but to think that having cold water at night, eating fruit after dinner, or taking a shower within an hour of a meal all cause infirmity is another matter. every time i tell my host parents that i'm feeling ill, they have some unheard of explanation, as if the fact that i'm adjusting to new water, fruits, vegetables, and hygienic levels had nothing to do with it. i also enjoy my host father's anecdotes about natural curatives. for example, did you know that women with frozen ovaries should just drink this certain herb in tea for three days and then they'll have babies? it's true. he knows someone who got pregnant just one month after drinking the special tea. also, if you have a "scared" baby (which i think means they cry during the night?), you should grind up this other plant and corn and mix it with alcohol and bathe your baby in it on tuesday, friday, and then tuesday again, and they will be better. but it has to be on those special days.
there seem to only be three songs at a time that everyone in peru listens to. my host siblings listen to the three songs on repeat all weekend long. also everyone here is tone deaf, which only elevates the painfulness of listening to huayno (appropriately pronounced "whine-o"), which is the indigenous musical style that traditionally involves some heartbroken old lady wailing as mournfully as possible with gentle harp in the background. contemporary huayno has keyboards and a bunch of other synth shit, making it nearly intolerable, but for some reason, everyone is always blaring it with their speakers out to the streets. on repeat. i actually kind of like the classical huayno (it's the joanna newsom side of me), but holy shit, not at that volume and frequency. i have also heard reports of host families playing U2's "new year's eve" or whatever on repeat for hours, and i thank god that i've avoided that fate.
people here rarely have toilet paper in their bathrooms. my host family will go a week or more without it in the house. i can't explain what they are (or are not) doing in light of its absence, but i have certainly taken to buying my own tp and stealthily tucking it into my pocket every time i go to the bathroom.
it's election day today. since before i arrived here, there has been a constant loud drone of election jingles and propaganda from cars and rooftops, not to mention candidate graffiti on walls, rocks, and bridges. it is more than a little disheartening to see large boulders spray painted with propaganda about how environmentally-friendly someone claims to be. it seems harmless, although there has been a ban on any peruvian purchasing alcohol for the last couple days, as apparently tonight when the winner is announced there will be fights, fires, and bottle throwing. people look at me in astonishment when i tell them that it is not illegal to drink on or during the days leading up to election day in the states. because we're so civilized.
so those are just a few of the amusing novelties of my new life. and now it's time to go to a pig roast.
Friday, September 10, 2010
in ruins!
so this is my town. to the right are our finest incan ruins. our town used to be mainly agrarian, but with the influx of tourism in the last ten years due to the refurbishing of ruins coupled with its prime location between cusco and machu picchu, the local economy has rapidly changed.
ollantaytambo is called the "living inca city" because a substantial porton of the homes and the streets are built on actual ruins. many people have walls in their homes that are hundreds of years old, making this the most incredible town in the whole world. basically.
five minutes from my house behind some corn fields are these ruins. no big deal.
that's pancho, my host dad and ultimate ruins tour guide. he doesn't like my name, and prefers to call me "victorina" based on the main characters of a popular telenovela here called "victorinos." the basic premise is some incan witch doctor made a prophesy about these dudes named victorino who were born at the same time. if they ever meet, shit will hit the fan. i can't exactly tell why, but it seems pretty serious. i would take this name change as a compliment except that it's mostly only because no one here can pronounce kaitlyn.
snowy mountains, farmers in the chacra, and ruins. that basically sums it up.FAQs from friends and family in my first weeks:
1. how are you!? i'm awesome! the first week took a little adjusting with the new diet, but overall, this place is meeting my expectations, which is pretty rare (as many of you may know about me).
2. how is your host family? they're awesome! i live in a lovely home with pancho and balvina, the most wonderful parents in peru. they have three kids and a ten year old aunt who also live with them. meals are huge. comaraderie is always present. i am teased constantly. it's the best. there are really only two problems. 1) people here wake up at 6 and start sewing in the room next to me, which sounds like construction work. there seems to be no respect here for late risers, and i'll pretend that i don't mind...but i'm sleepy! 2) toooo muuuuch foooooood.
3. how is work? it's awesome! i have never considered myself to be a particularly organized person, especially considering my most recent job where i felt like i was the least "with it" of all the admin assistants, but holy cow...people here do not respect the beauty and value of protocol. it's nice to feel like i'm good at something. additionally, i really enjoy connecting with volunteers, listening in on all our organization's amazing brainstorming, and being handed the responsibilities of directing some projects. i feel like i'm actually going to gain some skills beyond the basic mail merge, photocopy, and receptionist duties. this is the greatest news of my life.
4. how are your coworkers? they are awesome! people here are bright, passionate, laid back, and great. i definitely feel like i'm on the outside still, but doesn't it always take time to get to know people? it certainly helps that we've had a couple new volunteers come in the last week, making me less of a newbie. great news.
5. how is your health? well, it's not awesome. you asked, so i'll tell you, my little body doesn't love this starch-heavy diet. i'm actually craving fruit and vegetables if you can believe it. AND i've hardly eaten any candy in the last two weeks. that's probably the biggest problem. what am i supposed to do without sugarsugarsugar? it's hard to say. i'm sure i'll figure it out, but i definitely feel like i'm going through withdrawal. meanwhile, i've had the please of a toilet de-clogging demonstration from my host mother (their sewage system is VERY sensitive), which made for a great second day in town. at this point, i'm a master with that precious plunging tool. i think i also puked from over eating? but poop, vomit, and sugar aside, i'm feeling pretty good. i wish i had some weights to lift, buuut this town doesn't really have much in the way of extraneous stuff.
so there! that's my big update! now you know all about me. i would also like to add that i'm already feeling like the idea of keeping in touch is going to be daunting, so if you love me at all, please remember to take initiaitive. it's easy to shoot a bunch verbal diarrhea into the interweb, but it is something else entirely to receive personal love notes. hope you are well, and hope to hear from you soon.
1. how are you!? i'm awesome! the first week took a little adjusting with the new diet, but overall, this place is meeting my expectations, which is pretty rare (as many of you may know about me).
2. how is your host family? they're awesome! i live in a lovely home with pancho and balvina, the most wonderful parents in peru. they have three kids and a ten year old aunt who also live with them. meals are huge. comaraderie is always present. i am teased constantly. it's the best. there are really only two problems. 1) people here wake up at 6 and start sewing in the room next to me, which sounds like construction work. there seems to be no respect here for late risers, and i'll pretend that i don't mind...but i'm sleepy! 2) toooo muuuuch foooooood.
3. how is work? it's awesome! i have never considered myself to be a particularly organized person, especially considering my most recent job where i felt like i was the least "with it" of all the admin assistants, but holy cow...people here do not respect the beauty and value of protocol. it's nice to feel like i'm good at something. additionally, i really enjoy connecting with volunteers, listening in on all our organization's amazing brainstorming, and being handed the responsibilities of directing some projects. i feel like i'm actually going to gain some skills beyond the basic mail merge, photocopy, and receptionist duties. this is the greatest news of my life.
4. how are your coworkers? they are awesome! people here are bright, passionate, laid back, and great. i definitely feel like i'm on the outside still, but doesn't it always take time to get to know people? it certainly helps that we've had a couple new volunteers come in the last week, making me less of a newbie. great news.
5. how is your health? well, it's not awesome. you asked, so i'll tell you, my little body doesn't love this starch-heavy diet. i'm actually craving fruit and vegetables if you can believe it. AND i've hardly eaten any candy in the last two weeks. that's probably the biggest problem. what am i supposed to do without sugarsugarsugar? it's hard to say. i'm sure i'll figure it out, but i definitely feel like i'm going through withdrawal. meanwhile, i've had the please of a toilet de-clogging demonstration from my host mother (their sewage system is VERY sensitive), which made for a great second day in town. at this point, i'm a master with that precious plunging tool. i think i also puked from over eating? but poop, vomit, and sugar aside, i'm feeling pretty good. i wish i had some weights to lift, buuut this town doesn't really have much in the way of extraneous stuff.
so there! that's my big update! now you know all about me. i would also like to add that i'm already feeling like the idea of keeping in touch is going to be daunting, so if you love me at all, please remember to take initiaitive. it's easy to shoot a bunch verbal diarrhea into the interweb, but it is something else entirely to receive personal love notes. hope you are well, and hope to hear from you soon.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
I'm here!
Hola queridas,
Well, I'm finally here! And I keep saying that in my head over and over because it really hasn't sunk in yet. On the one hand, everything is overwhelming - swimming around up in my brain - yet nothing has soaked in, nothing has hit me yet. I have hardly even looked at the mountains hugging my little town because if I do, I'll probably fall over from the wonder of it all. I'm here! I'm here! I'm here!
I don't even know what to say yet, except that I am safe, sound, happy, and very VERY well fed. I have a lovely host family, comfortable accommodations, incredible coworkers, a wonderful job, and all the potatoes and rice anyone could possibly imagine, let alone eat! I think I'll keep it at that for now, but here are a couple photos just to make you little jealous of the view from my casa. Love!
Well, I'm finally here! And I keep saying that in my head over and over because it really hasn't sunk in yet. On the one hand, everything is overwhelming - swimming around up in my brain - yet nothing has soaked in, nothing has hit me yet. I have hardly even looked at the mountains hugging my little town because if I do, I'll probably fall over from the wonder of it all. I'm here! I'm here! I'm here!
I don't even know what to say yet, except that I am safe, sound, happy, and very VERY well fed. I have a lovely host family, comfortable accommodations, incredible coworkers, a wonderful job, and all the potatoes and rice anyone could possibly imagine, let alone eat! I think I'll keep it at that for now, but here are a couple photos just to make you little jealous of the view from my casa. Love!
Monday, July 12, 2010
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