Weeks 2 and 3: You can communicate a lot without saying anything at all.

That’s right folks, the lesson of the past 2 weeks has been body language. I have relied on facial expressions to communicate mostly everything. If I don’t know what’s going on, I make myself look confused, unless I’m completely lost and then I just pretend to understand and say “si” a lot. I laugh, smile, and nod a lot. But I also have become an expert in reading other people’s expressions and can pretty much guess what they’re saying by the way they say it. It’s been one of the greatest tools in communication for me.

I really can’t believe that I’m already in week 4 of service. Next week on the 24th I will have officially have been in site for a month! It’s gone by really quickly and I’ve definitely enjoyed being here. Despite all I say about the language being difficult, I do think I’m starting to understand better. We watch a telenovela (soap opera) pretty much every evening and it’s been on since I was in Lima for training. When I first got here I didn’t understand a word of what was going on, but now I understand almost all of it (even though I’m still completely lost because I didn’t get the episodes at the beginning of the season). I never thought I would be so positive about a soap opera, but is has given me hope that I will eventually be able to communicate effectively in Spanish! Other than language being a constant struggle, I’ve had a great past couple weeks. Majority good or great days, with minimal bad moments. The only things that made for bad moments would have been the same in the United States. For one, I’ve been having computer problems which all of you know can be annoying so I won’t get into it and just leave it at that. The other has to do with the soccer players that lived in my town.

I mentioned them briefly in a previous post, but I’ll explain a little more in depth now. The team that was in my town was competing in the Copa Peru (Peru Cup) which is basically a national tournament for professional teams that are a few levels below the best teams in the country. From what I understood, they were a minor league soccer team. The guys on the team were between 17 and 29 years old and they all ate at the restaurant that my host mom owns. Since my family doesn’t really sit down to eat together since they all work in the restaurant, I was eating most of my meals with some of the players and actually have become good friends with some of them. They are from all over the country, some from Lima, some from Chiclayo (about 3 hours away) and some from Piura. They were my first and only friends at site because they are basically the same age as me and were really interested in what I was doing here in Vice. They also helped me to understand some of the differences between our cultures and taught me a lot of slang words in Spanish. ANYWAY, they tied last Wednesday, and the way the tournament works they were eliminated. They all left town, some of them to go home, some of them to reinforce teams that were still playing. I was definitely sad to see them go since we always had interesting conversations and also their games provided some excitement in everyday life here. The first couple days after they left were really slow, but now things are starting to pick up again. The tournament starts again in January, so hopefully some of the same players will be back to play for our team again then!

Things with my family are going really well. I have the most interaction with my host mom and her mother-in-law and they are both great ladies. My host dad was also actually in town last week and it was great to get to know him a little bit. He’s a musician (plays the saxophone) and lives and works in Huancayo (another department in the sierra of Peru). He’s got a ton of energy and loves to play cards which was perfect since I do too. I’ve learned tons of Peruvian games since I’ve been here but I have to say that Euchre is still my favorite. I also have gotten to know some of my host cousins as well. There are a ton (a huge family, as always here) but I’m slowly getting all of the information straight. This past weekend was full of family festivities. Saturday night I went to the Talent Show of the middle school where 3 of my cousins go. They all danced and had performances to celebrate the anniversary of the school. On Sunday we went back to see my little cousin Astrid be crowned as Miss Aniversario of the primary school. She was absolutely adorable with her little yellow dress, sash, and crown. On Sunday during the day I went to mass for the first time in Peru. It was exactly the same as in the States except for the fact that the church was packed. Standing room only, and we were late and had to stand. There were people outside selling tamales and baked goods and the kids were all running around like crazy. There are no “cry rooms” in Peru, that’s for sure. I took communion in my mouth for the first time in my life and have no idea if I did it correctly, and I was also really surprised to find that a TON of people at church (like more than half) hadn’t made their First Communion and didn’t go up to receive the host. I figured that since this is a majority Catholic country and that the people have been going to mass their entire lives that they would have received communion, but I guess not. After church, I went to the 1st birthday party of another cousin, Luis Angel, better known as “Chanito” (I have no idea why). You will be happy to know that it was just like an American Birthday, complete with a Winnie the Pooh theme, and a special appearance by Winnie himself! The one thing about Peruvian parties that gets me is that you go, sit down in a circle, and don’t really talk to anyone. The hostess brings around food plates and you take a little, they bring around desserts and drinks, but you never really get up from your seat to socialize. This works out great for me since I don’t know anyone really well and I can’t talk, but in real life I like to talk to everyone and wander around at a party. The majority don’t even dance, they just clap while other people do!

Work is also starting to pick up, I’ve started actually writing information down for my diagnostic of my town and artisan associations and hopefully in the next couple weeks I’ll start to write the actual document, which I’m dreading since it’s got to be in Spanish. This week (and all of them from here on out) I’m planning to meet with all four of my artisan groups twice. I went yesterday to one of the caserios and it went really well. The only problem was that I rode a bike there and completely underestimated how long the trip would take. It was about 40 minutes each way and this was the first time I’ve ridden a bike in probably 10 years. Needless to say my butt is extremely sore from the uncomfortable seat and this morning, the ride to my next meeting was not fun. But what can you do? When there is limited mobility you have to take whatever transportation you can get. This morning was the first time that a meeting failed for me. I went to meet another group of artisans and they weren’t working today. But I did talk to some of the people from that town and got to know a few more of the kids so it wasn’t a waste.

What I’m looking forward to: tomorrow there is a charla in the Casa de Cultura on domestic violence that I think will be interesting. The Mothers’ Club sometimes puts on workshops and this is one of them. I’m going into the city on Sunday night and staying until midday on Monday so I’ll get to see some of the other volunteers and get a little bit of administrative stuff taken care of. I’m also really looking forward the end of the construction on my house. There is still a hole in my ceiling which is supposedly going to be fixed by the end of this week since the mosquitoes have been eating me alive and there is literally a coat of dust on everything in my room. Im also looking forward to a concert Im going to go to in another volunteers town tomorrow night. Were going to spend the night there so it should be a lot of fun! Mostly I’m just looking forward to staying busy and getting to know the artisans and my work better.

Hope all is well at home! I’m bummed about the loss against Georgia, but I heard that the Gamecocks looked pretty good which is always encouraging. I’m sure it was a great time anyway! And I’m really jealous that we’re about to have our first home game this Saturday! I hope it’s a little cooler this year than last. I really enjoy all of your emails, if you have specific questions about what I’m up to just let me know and I’ll try to answer them in my blog. Hasta luego, cuidate!