For obvious reasons Peru does not celebrate Thanksgiving, but nevertheless we celebrated it anyway...twice actually! Last week was the annual Thanksgiving dinner with the professors of Miguel Pro. Father Fred said mass (which closed with dancing...I think it would be fabulous if every mass ended like that!) and then we had a Thanksgiving feast...with a Peruvian twist. Then Thursday night the volunteers gathered at the house to share a meal with a few other friends. Both occassions were a great opportunity to give thanks and reflect on some of those things I´m thankful for especially my family, friends, this opportunity to be in Peru and the hospitality and love that the people here have shown me.
Speaking of the love people have shown me, I recently moved in with a host family where I will be until mid-December, and that I will ideally be able to maintain a connection with for the next two years. They are a really great family! It´s a lot different than my own in the sense that there are always soo many people in the house! The parents live there with 4 kids ages 27, 25, 23, and 13 along with 3 dogs, a cat, a hamster, some birds and then tons of roosters at the farm. Unlike in the U.S. it´s not unusual to have older kids still living in the house when their in their 20s. It seems like people only really move out after they get married or if they go to Lima for college for example. So there are always people around whether it´s family, the kids´ boyfriends/girlfriends, neighbors, etc. It´s a really fun environment and they have really made me feel welcome. The kids call me their sister and the parents introduce me as their 5th kid. It´s really sweet and a real blessing to have that so far from my own family and home that I definitely miss.
This week Miguel Pro celebrated their 18th anniversary as a school, which coincided with the Dia Familiar this past Sunday, which was an opportunity for the families of the students to gather at the school to celebrate with food and lots of dancing!! Each class prepares a dance to perform for the event. They were incredible to see! Almost all of the dances were typical dances so the costumes and music were fabulous! Many of the dances were stories too, which displayed various aspects of life here or history...really fascinating! It´s a competition too so a lot of the kids got really into it. Not only did the kids dance, but so too did the professors! woot woot! We were decked out in a less-than flattering bright orange shirt with puffy sleeves, skirts, shalls, hats, and scarves. It was tons of fun getting to participate!! There will be pictures to come...as soon as I have access to a computer that won´t freeze as soon as I plug something into it!
In response to some questions that people might be wondering in regards to daily life:
The food- DELICIOUS!! Thus far I have liked the vast majority of the food I have eaten. The diet is quite different than what I´m used to though. For one, they eat a lot of meat! Sometimes the first course will be some sort of meat, followed by more meat in the main course! Plus, they eat an incredible amount of carbs in one meal. It´s not unsual for there to be potatoes on top of rice served with bread. eek! Tasty but maaayybe not so healthy! I´ve actually been feeling guilty lately thinking about how I´m concerned about gaining weight while a lot of people are not getting enough food. The schools for example offer meals to the kids that include a certain fortified bread to try and get the kids the nourishment that they might not be getting at home.
The Laundry- Wow...I have sooo much respect for people that do laundry all the time by hand...what a process! I seriously have a new appreciation for washing machines. As it is, laundry is not one of my favorite chores, but by hand...even worse! Luckily I had a friend (that has had lots of years of experience doing laundry by hand) as my laundry mentor! :) Right now I´m staying with a host family though that has a washing machine, so I´ll have to take advantage of that!
The Cuy- Yes I have tried cuy (guinea pig)! I was under the impression that it was something that a lot of people eat, but it´s actually pretty expensive to order in a restaurant so I tried a bite of one of the other teacher´s at a luncheon the other day. It didn´t taste bad, but I couldn´t get over the way it was served...it´s little arms and legs spread out and it´s head there with it´s teeth and all. I swear it was looking at me...
The Stipend- As you know, the challenge for Jesuit Volunteers is to live simply in an effort to be more in solidarity with the people we are working with. As such, we have a stipend of a little over $2 a day. I have been surprised though at how easy it is to live within that stipend. We have a place to live and also a separate stipend for food so really the main thing I have spent money on thus far is transportation. The bus to the center of town from my school is approximately 17 cents so even that isn´t too much of my stipend, which is good because I want to save up for a little bit of travelling in the future and also to maybe treat myself to a coffee or something like that! It is a little bit bizarre though, to try to change my mindset to not just getting things I want (mmm that piece of cake looks delish or ooohhh I want a coffee), but really limiting my purchases to necessities.
The weather- the sun is sooo strong here! I feel like if I don´t put on sunscreen my skin is just going to sizzle!! Sunglasses are a MUST! It´s kind of strange to be seeing all these Christmas decorations as I´m bracing myself for the heat rather than snow like at home!
Poco a poco I think I´ll start feeling a little bit more at home, but as for now it still feels sort of like an immersion trip of sorts. It still hasn´t quite settled in that this is where I´m going to be for the next two years!
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