Do you think this is normal?

I spent yesterday afternoon relaxing downstairs in my house in Vice, reading Time Magazine while my brother watched sports on TV. Just like any other day in the States, right? Except that the magazine was over a month old (I still eagerly read it cover to cover) and the sport we were watching wasn’t American football, but soccer. In the past month or so I have definitely adjusted to life here at site. So much so that sometimes I don’t notice things that other Americans would notice and think strange. For example, every morning I go to run on the old Pan-American Highway before I start work. I run out of Vice and towards Letira, one of the casarios I work in, and pass various chacras where the people harvest rice, mangos, corn and other agricultural products. Inevitably, I always have to pause to let a herd of goats pass at some point during the run. I think nothing of this. The other day, one of the baby goats actually left the group to follow me and the boy who was in charge of them had to chase him down. An event that both I and the 5 or so other people watching thought was absolutely hilarious. I also want to mention that running here is basically unheard of. People get a kick out of me exercising and they all stare at me when I pass which was originally really really awkward but now I just don’t care. This explains why there were 5 other people standing around watching – there is usually an audience.

The thing about Vice is that it is a well developed town, definitely one of the biggest and most advanced out of the rest of my friends’ sites. I sometimes forget that not everyone in the town has certain things (like electricity or indoor plumbing). There are people here who have studied in the University or gone to medical school. My family has electricity, running water, and cable. The municipality has wireless internet. There is a library (although I have not seen actually books yet), auditorium, parks, internet cafes, restaurants, bakeries, and taxis. Therefore, I am always surprised when I see a little boy or girl walk outside of their houses and go to the bathroom 5 steps in front of the front door like it was nothing. The first time I saw this happen was enough to ensure that I always take EXTRA care not to step in “dog” poop. I was also surprised lately when my little cousins, ages 5 and 11, asked me what the piece of paper was that was stuck in between the pages of the book I was reading. I should mention that it is also REALLY weird to read here. I know that Peruvians see the advantage of exercising because some of them keep telling me that they want to run with me (which is kind of annoying because those of you who know me know that I like to run alone) to “bajar peso” or lose weight. However, they absolutely do not understand why anyone would like to read for fun. I guess this would explain why my little cousins didn’t know what a bookmark was or why I put it in my book, but it was still a surprise to me that such a simple concept that we take for granted would be so new to other people.

Despite all I have said about getting used to site, there are some things that I still feel weird about and I don’t know if I’ll ever adjust to. Breast feeding here is everywhere. So far I have seen mothers breast feeding their children (I say children, and not babies, because some of these kids can walk and talk) on the street, in meetings for the artisans, at artisan fairs, in the workshop, in restaurants, at birthday parties, and, wait for it, during mass. I have finally learned not to jump up and act surprised when this happens, but I am definitely not used to it. Peruvians are also very forward when it comes to talking about physical features. They call fat people gordos (which basically means fatty), tall people altos, and black people negros – to their faces like a nickname. They also call people who look like they MIGHT be Asian (any type of Asian – Japanese, Chinese, Korean, etc) chinos. A former president of Peru is Japanese and everyone, newspapers and magazines included, calls him the Chino. When I was showing pictures of my family to my cousins one day, I stopped at a picture of my brothers to prove that they actually were way taller than me (no one believes me because I’m already basically the tallest person here) and one of my cousins said, “Son chinos, no?” – meaning that they looked Asian because of their eyes!! So now, Andrew, you can no longer call Craig Chinaman, because you yourself are also chino. Anyway, back to the original story, everyone constantly asks me how much I weigh, which you absolutely do not do in the States. I have been using the excuse that I don’t know how much I weigh in kilos because we don’t have kilos in the States, but I tell them jokingly that when I know I will make sure to make a poster and hang it in front of the municipality so everyone can know. They don’t get the joke and always assure me that this would be a great idea. In my opinion, I am finally getting back into shape after a 4 year lapse of any real physical activity called college. However, my counterpart nicely told me the other day that I am “engordando” – getting fatter. Now, this is obviously not true as I do, in fact, know how much I weigh, but this is just an example of the types of comments that are appropriate here. He said it as a way to start conversation about the Peruvian food – because this is usually my cue to say “yeah, it’s because the food here is so delicious” blah blah blah. Needless to say everyone laughed and we continued with the meeting, yes we were in a meeting, like nothing had happened and afterwards I went to the Panaderia and got a big piece of apple pie.

So what have I been doing lately? Work has definitely started to pick up and I’m getting to know the artisans a lot better. I’m currently making an inventory of all their products and attending fairs with them to observe the process. There is a lot to do and I’m anxious to start giving charlas and improving their business techniques/introduce business techniques to them. However, I still have to work on my diagnostic, which is the document that is due in the beginning of December basically covering details of my entire community. I have to write a diagnostic in Spanish about health, education, government, demographics, history, ect. Then I have to present this document to community leaders. I have been interviewing leaders like the directors of the schools and health post to start the process. I have also gone to pretty much every meeting I have been invited to. These include a meeting about preventing domestic violence and promoting awareness by forming a group of promoters to inform the community about services available for victims, a meeting with at least 30 farmers about organizing themselves to better voice their opinions and rights, a meeting about the reorganization of the territories in Vice, a meeting of the Central Committee of Women that is in charge of activities for women in the community, and many, many more. I have also started teaching English in Letira and Becara, two casarios (or smaller communities) outside of Vice. Everyone wants to learn English so it’s just a matter of balancing my time and fitting everyone in without killing myself. I’ve also been asked to coach volleyball and give computer classes. I have also started knitting. Yes, knitting, and am currently in the process of making one of you lucky blog followers a fabulous gift. There is no point sucking up to me over email, Ive already decided who gets it! But dont worry, I think its safe to say that there will be many a knitted gift in all of your futures as the artisans get a huge kick out of this and its a great conversation starter. So basically, what I’m trying to say is that there is not a lack of things to do here in Vice – I always go up to my room exhausted after the day is over and I fall asleep easily. Life is good, and believe it or not, almost normal.