Steaks with Spoons

As I was sitting at my second inauguration yesterday (this time the inauguration of bathrooms at one of the primary schools – I have no idea what they did before they had these bathrooms), after I unveiled the plaque of the “obra” in front all the dignitaries of the district and was avoiding eye contact with anyone who might ask me to dance in front of everyone, the staff and parents of the school served everyone lunch. The second course is a huge plate of rice and some kind of meat/steak – whatever it was it was deliciously spiced and really tough. Like the title of this blog entry suggests, they give us a spoon to eat this with. I don’t believe that I have talked about the differences of eating habits between our cultures, mainly because I don’t see it a lot since I have the freedom of eating whenever I want and usually by myself, but I think this offers a great opportunity. Peruvians eat almost exclusively with spoons. Soup, rice, fish, meat, etc. When I told my little cousins that we usually only use spoons for yogurt and soup (they don’t really eat cereal here so the comparison would have been pointless) they were incredulous. The reason they can get away with using spoons so much is because they use their fingers a whole lot more. It’s totally normal to pick up the steak with your hands and gnaw at it with your teeth. To eat a crab leg (which has already been sitting in soup), you’re supposed to pick it up (while it’s covered in soup) put it in between your teeth to crack it (hoping you don’t crack a tooth, although this would explain why many Peruvians don’t have teeth) and stick your finger inside to scoop out the meat.

The past few weeks have passed pretty quickly. I can’t believe I’ve been at site for over 2 months now! There have been some funny moments and some really good days, but I have also gotten to the point where I don’t think everything is great anymore. I get annoyed more easily with people and frustrated with the culture when people piss me off. I knew the honeymoon stage would have to wear off eventually, but I’m definitely sad to see it go.

One great part of the past few weeks has been that I’ve gotten to travel a little bit around the department of Piura. The artisans had fairs in Piura City and in Morropon and of course I went with them. I’ve been to Piura a bunch so the city was nothing new but it was my first experience at a fair with the artisans. I also went to Morropon which is in Medio Piura, meaning that it’s in between the coast and the mountains. The department of Piura is unique because it has both Andes Mountains and desert coast so we have volunteers living in completely different landscapes. It was really nice to see a different town and a change of scenery. The higher up you go, the greener it gets, and in my opinion, the prettier.

Last weekend I got the chance to go visit my friends Madeline and Vince at their sites Canchaque and El Faique in Alto Piura (in the mountains) for a workshop for their artisans. The country side would take your breath away and I was struck by how clean and fresh and dust-free it seemed! I stayed the night at Madeline’s house and we all had a great night just chatting and eating some good old fried food. The workshop was a success! On Sunday I gave a presentation on promotion and spoke in Spanish for 45 minutes! I also led an activity afterwards for the artisans to design a logo to put on their own business cards, brochures, and signs. This was definitely a huge confidence booster. I know I’ll be ready when I start giving presentations to my artisans in a month or so after I finish my diagnostic!

But, as you all can expect, life in the Peace Corps is not all work without play. A few weeks ago I was approached at my house by a few women from Vice that had heard that I play volleyball and wanted me to “support” their team. I said of course, that I would love to observe and practice with them, that I love volleyball, and that I’m looking forward to seeing them play in the game that night. They then asked me to be the “madrina” or godmother of the jerseys for the team. Everything here has a madrina, whether it’s a new section to a house, a new car, whatever, someone baptizes it and there’s a ceremony. So, having the experience of baptizing the new classrooms at the school and knowing what to do, I baptized the jerseys, said a few words, and that was that.

A little background on the volleyball tournament going on in Peru right now: It’s exactly like the soccer tournament for men called “Copa Peru” for volleyball. Amateurs play on teams and there is a tournament for the teams to represent the district, then the province, then the department, then the nation. The winners of the tournament get $1500 dollars to split between the members of the team so it’s kind of a big deal. The first game I went to was of two teams from Vice playing to represent the district. I soon discovered upon arriving that I was not just there to “support” the team, but to play. I politely declined and said that it was necessary to practice with a team before playing with them in a game, etc, etc. The teams played and the team who had originally contacted me won the game. I went to practice with them the next night and it was a lot of fun to actually be playing again, and of course they were all excited to have a “matadora” – hitter, especially since the tallest of the players is probably 5’2”.

We reinforced our team with players from the other team (because you can take from other teams once they lose to make your team better) and were ready to play in Vice on Thursday night to represent the district in the provincial tournament. We played against a team from Sechura, the provincial capital, and they were really good. They probably played at about a JV level for Ursula and we were maybe at a 7th grade level, MAYBE. They obviously beat us but I had a few blocks (which no one here has seen before) and some decent kills and the kids were chanting my name “Estefani Estefani” and I was laughing the whole time really wishing that someone else could be there to witness this ridiculous spectacle. Alas, you are all in the United States and I did not capture this on camera, but trust me, it was really hilarious. After the game everyone was SO excited and wanted to touch me and hug me – I guess they didn’t believe me when I told them I played volleyball.

We played the next night in the site of one of the other volunteers, Rinconada, and we won but I had a bad game (still scored majority of the points) and was in a bad mood. I missed the next two games for the workshop in Madeline’s site, but we ended up losing and getting eliminated. But not before everyone figured out I played volleyball and wanted me to play and practice with them. I got back from the workshop and who do I find camped out at my house waiting for me but the team from Sechura, the team that advanced to represent the province in the departmental tournament. They wanted me to join their team and go to the tournament with them. They were willing to practice in Vice instead of Sechura and to only practice during hours when I was available. Although I was very flattered, I had to decline this request on the basis that Peace Corps would not be happy with me leaving me site all the time to play volleyball in the national tournament. Everyone in Vice wanted me to play on the team and I continuously have to explain that it’s not part of my job and that I’m really busy with a million other things. In spite of all this, I heard from my aunt yesterday that it was in the paper that “una norteamericana,” and then it said my first name, was going to reinforce the Sechura team for the tournament. I had to smile, I’m already getting press.

I have to admit though that it’s not the first time I’ve been in the papers here. You will be happy to know that my photo made the regional paper when I attended an informational presentation on the formalization of micro y pequenas empresas with my artisans. I was so thankful that I picture didn’t go in about the volleyball scenario. All the kids were taking picture of me with their cell phones and I wouldn’t be surprised if someone had given a picture to the newspaper. Yikes.

One last side note before I end this lovely blog post. I get all kinds of ridiculous requests as a volunteer here. Lots of people don’t understand why I’m here and think I’m magic and can produce all kinds of results. I think I’m going to start a section of every blog where I’m going to record the crazy things people ask me for and actually think I can do.

Ridiculous Request of the week:
My artisans asked me to pave the roads of their town.

On a slightly less ridiculous note (and only slightly), my host mom from Lima asked me to be Mario’s godmother. They are going to be baptizing him in December. I said that I need to think about that. Usually being a godparent here means that you are expected to get your godchild a really nice gift (which I don’t have the money for). And in the States, it’s typically a pretty big responsibility or commitment (which I’m not sure I’m ready for). I’ll keep you updated on the status of this new dilemma in my life.

Hope you are all doing well, thanks for reading!
Saludos!