What’s this!? More than one blog post in a month? You must be asking yourself if something is wrong. Fear not, nothing has gone astray, I just felt the urge to write. So please, enjoy the following banter.
I recently started my second week of class. Today is Tuesday, March 23. I just finished my classes for the day and am anxiously awaiting a fresh French press (that is kind of a tongue twister if you say it fast enough….try it out) of coffee to accompany my afternoon reading, music listening, and helping siblings with homework routine. It’s a pretty nice routine. Anywho, I doubt anyone cares about my coffee habits or what song on my iTunes I will put on. Although for those who might: I normally drink about a cup and a half of coffee so as not to get the jitters and have been recently putting my entire iTunes library on “shuffle” and enjoying whatever comes on.
Now back to business. Things here have been going great since last we talked (or you read, whichever it was). I began my classes in the high school and the elementary school. The elementary school has about 40 students total and the high school has about 100. I teach environmental topics Monday and Tuesday and switch to English and computers for Wednesday and Thursday. I really enjoy the environmental sessions. I get to apply all the cool things I research on wikipedia. That was a joke. I have a lot of great teaching lessons and materials form Peace Corps and my own findings, which enable me to piece together some cool yet informative classes. The kids seem responsive enough. I don’t know if that is because I am a crazy loud gringo who occasionally partakes in self-mockery, or the fact that I am an amazing teacher. I am going to go with the latter. The English classes in the schools are not as thrilling as my other classes, but the kids enjoy them as well. The last 5 minutes of class normally consists of me shouting out random vocab words in English such as “rain”, “cow”, “peter”, and “house”. So, classes are going well and keep me busy.
We have also been finishing up the tree-planting project with AgroRural. We put up a good amount of barbed wire fencing around the new trees and have lined a road leading through our community forest. It’s quite fun putting up a barbed wire fence. I can’t explain why, it just is. With the completion of the fencing we are about done with the forestation project for now. More to come in the future…hopefully with some native species as well.
Other fun facts from my life:
- Today I had to break up a fistfight between 2 ten year olds in my class. I assume they were fighting over which one has recycled more plastic bottles but it was hard to decipher the Quechua.
- I was stumped on my younger brother’s math homework last night. I always hated those story problems. It was slightly embarrassing and made me realize I have a lot of GRE studying to do.
- My two female cuyes are pregnant. I should have babies in 2 months time.
- We celebrated my little brother’s birthday on St. Patty’s day with a rabbit I brought home from the market.
That’s all I can really think of for now. Every day is an exciting experience; the above are just a few highlights that I remember.
Next week I am taking my first vacation in Peru. I know, very trivial, but I’m sure at least one of you is interested in this. We get semana santa, or holy week, off for vacation. I will be traveling to the beach to enjoy the coastal side of Peru for a few days. It should be a swell time. Then it’s back to “work”. I am going to complete my diagnostic in the next few weeks and then start working on some bigger projects outside of my classes. That’s the hope at least. Things tend to move at a different (and slower) pace down here. Fear not, I have plenty of time left to get some things rolling.
Well, I hope you enjoyed the read. I have no more exciting stories to tell and I’m sure at this point you have lost interest in my coffee, iTunes, and other ramblings. I hope all is well and until next time…
Pete
3/12/2010
ahh the six month mark...
Well, I realized that we have started yet another month (sometimes this takes a week or so to sink in). This realization normally signals: “Pete! You need to update your blog!” So here I am, sitting in my room drafting what will hopefully be a thrilling, emotional roller coaster for my readers…or at the very least fill you in on what I have been up to.
Ah February. What didn’t I do during this lovely month?? Shower, shave, eat meat? All very good guesses, but I was able to enjoy the aforementioned amenities (not the shaving part) during our second Quechua week in Huaraz. I am now pretty much fluent in the ancient language of the Incas. Yeah, that’s a lie. The Quechua has been a little more challenging than I had anticipated. I’m not sure why I would ever think it would be “easy” to learn however. Our classes will continue through this year with monthly classes in site. Our teacher will come and conduct class in our homes, towns, and farm fields. This should help to embarrass us in front of our community members but simultaneously help us learn a bit faster and in a more authentic environment. I’m not a complete failure though…don’t worry mom. I have convinced most of my community that I am indeed a proficient Quechua speaker. All this took was mastering such simple phrases as “yes”, “no”, “how are you?”, “I’m looking for a wife”, and “the rain is coming/the rain is not coming”. These phrases, whether in Spanish or Quechua, sum up the normal small talk around town. So, when I pull out answers in Quechua they have no other option than to think I am near fluent. Lets hope I can keep this up until I learn some more profound aspects of the language. After a little studying and a few more months up here in site I am sure I will pick up some more!
Besides Quechua, February followed the status quo. I taught my English class twice a week, harvested some potato, took the cows out to graze, played cards with my siblings (I’m up at least 20 bucks on my little brother), and finished up some work on my diagnostic. It was a good month. Then March crept up on us and the work has started to flow in. I might even have to scratch out my siesta hour after lunch...this would be devastating.
March started with an excursion down to an AgroRural tree nursery to load up 20,000 + eucalyptus trees to plant in the community forest. I had been attending meetings during February and January with AgroRural (a governmental organization that promotes rural agricultural development) to discuss this reforestation project, which is part of the 2010 budget for my zone. Well, we finally got out of the conference room and into the field (metaphorically of course…we don’t actually have a conference room here). The other week, 8 of us drove down the mountain to the nursery in a town about 1.5 hours away. We spent the day loading up the trees one-by-one. The trees had been in the nursery for about a year, allowing them to grow to about 20 cm in their bags. We then drove them back home and dropped them off in our community center. The whole way home we were trapped in the afternoon rain. Not usually a problem unless you are sitting on top of 10,000 tree seedlings in the back of a huge dump truck. It was a cold, rainy, wet, yet surprisingly fun ride home. Early this week we planted these seedlings in our community forest. It was a two-day event with about 80 workers each day. My mom, dad, and I made a good team of planters. Dad dug the holes and mom and I planted the trees. We finished our quoted 150 trees in about two hours. It was a good day for an environmental volunteer. Even though the project wasn’t mine personally it was nice to work under one of our program goals and get my hands dirty with some “MAC” type work. Yay trees!
I also had my first site visit from my boss, Diego, the first week in March. He came up with my fellow MAC volunteer and site mate Alex, our fellow site mate Kaitlyn, regional boss Nelly, and some representatives from SERNANP (the national park service). We had a meeting with the park service about options and possible projects for this year. It was a good meeting and it was helpful having Diego with us to help explain/petition our wants and needs in a more proficient and professional manner. In the works for this year is the creation of a native tree species nursery with the help of the park as well as incorporating some educational information about the park and the surrounding area in my classes this year. Classes you ask?! What classes?!
I have been coordinating with the two local schools and next week will begin teaching 4 days a week. Two days will be spent in the primary school right next to my house and two days in the “high-school” about a 30-minute hike down the hill. I will have a good mix of environmental education and some English (you just can’t escape the English). This should open up some opportunities not only to teach but also to do some hands-on projects with composting, gardens, and the like.
Now with classes starting, more projects with AgroRural, my upcoming in-service training, and the final due date of my diagnostic things have started to pick up the pace. I have made it through the first three months of service and am now entering the “real deal” if you will.
In other news I recently acquired a french-press so I can make real coffee. It’s amazing. No more instant. I also planted some broccoli in our bio-huerto (home garden), which should be a healthy treat in a few months. Other interesting facts that have happened since we last talked (via this blog that is): I bought an amazing cardigan sweater with llamas on it, purchased two of my very own cuyes, cemented my room and finally got my bed/bookshelf set up, and moved out of my suitcase. All very interesting and exciting stuff…at least for me. I am heading into Huaraz tomorrow morning and will be able to post this then, so hopefully you will all be reading this within the next 48 hours, depending on how often you refresh this webpage. Well, that’s all the update I have for now. I am hoping to put up some more pictures as well in the next few days. Keep your eyes peeled for that.
I hope things are going well for all of you and that you are enjoying work, school, and/or life! Take care, and email me if you have any more questions or updates of your own, I would love to hear from you!
Cheers,
Pete
Ah February. What didn’t I do during this lovely month?? Shower, shave, eat meat? All very good guesses, but I was able to enjoy the aforementioned amenities (not the shaving part) during our second Quechua week in Huaraz. I am now pretty much fluent in the ancient language of the Incas. Yeah, that’s a lie. The Quechua has been a little more challenging than I had anticipated. I’m not sure why I would ever think it would be “easy” to learn however. Our classes will continue through this year with monthly classes in site. Our teacher will come and conduct class in our homes, towns, and farm fields. This should help to embarrass us in front of our community members but simultaneously help us learn a bit faster and in a more authentic environment. I’m not a complete failure though…don’t worry mom. I have convinced most of my community that I am indeed a proficient Quechua speaker. All this took was mastering such simple phrases as “yes”, “no”, “how are you?”, “I’m looking for a wife”, and “the rain is coming/the rain is not coming”. These phrases, whether in Spanish or Quechua, sum up the normal small talk around town. So, when I pull out answers in Quechua they have no other option than to think I am near fluent. Lets hope I can keep this up until I learn some more profound aspects of the language. After a little studying and a few more months up here in site I am sure I will pick up some more!
Besides Quechua, February followed the status quo. I taught my English class twice a week, harvested some potato, took the cows out to graze, played cards with my siblings (I’m up at least 20 bucks on my little brother), and finished up some work on my diagnostic. It was a good month. Then March crept up on us and the work has started to flow in. I might even have to scratch out my siesta hour after lunch...this would be devastating.
March started with an excursion down to an AgroRural tree nursery to load up 20,000 + eucalyptus trees to plant in the community forest. I had been attending meetings during February and January with AgroRural (a governmental organization that promotes rural agricultural development) to discuss this reforestation project, which is part of the 2010 budget for my zone. Well, we finally got out of the conference room and into the field (metaphorically of course…we don’t actually have a conference room here). The other week, 8 of us drove down the mountain to the nursery in a town about 1.5 hours away. We spent the day loading up the trees one-by-one. The trees had been in the nursery for about a year, allowing them to grow to about 20 cm in their bags. We then drove them back home and dropped them off in our community center. The whole way home we were trapped in the afternoon rain. Not usually a problem unless you are sitting on top of 10,000 tree seedlings in the back of a huge dump truck. It was a cold, rainy, wet, yet surprisingly fun ride home. Early this week we planted these seedlings in our community forest. It was a two-day event with about 80 workers each day. My mom, dad, and I made a good team of planters. Dad dug the holes and mom and I planted the trees. We finished our quoted 150 trees in about two hours. It was a good day for an environmental volunteer. Even though the project wasn’t mine personally it was nice to work under one of our program goals and get my hands dirty with some “MAC” type work. Yay trees!
I also had my first site visit from my boss, Diego, the first week in March. He came up with my fellow MAC volunteer and site mate Alex, our fellow site mate Kaitlyn, regional boss Nelly, and some representatives from SERNANP (the national park service). We had a meeting with the park service about options and possible projects for this year. It was a good meeting and it was helpful having Diego with us to help explain/petition our wants and needs in a more proficient and professional manner. In the works for this year is the creation of a native tree species nursery with the help of the park as well as incorporating some educational information about the park and the surrounding area in my classes this year. Classes you ask?! What classes?!
I have been coordinating with the two local schools and next week will begin teaching 4 days a week. Two days will be spent in the primary school right next to my house and two days in the “high-school” about a 30-minute hike down the hill. I will have a good mix of environmental education and some English (you just can’t escape the English). This should open up some opportunities not only to teach but also to do some hands-on projects with composting, gardens, and the like.
Now with classes starting, more projects with AgroRural, my upcoming in-service training, and the final due date of my diagnostic things have started to pick up the pace. I have made it through the first three months of service and am now entering the “real deal” if you will.
In other news I recently acquired a french-press so I can make real coffee. It’s amazing. No more instant. I also planted some broccoli in our bio-huerto (home garden), which should be a healthy treat in a few months. Other interesting facts that have happened since we last talked (via this blog that is): I bought an amazing cardigan sweater with llamas on it, purchased two of my very own cuyes, cemented my room and finally got my bed/bookshelf set up, and moved out of my suitcase. All very interesting and exciting stuff…at least for me. I am heading into Huaraz tomorrow morning and will be able to post this then, so hopefully you will all be reading this within the next 48 hours, depending on how often you refresh this webpage. Well, that’s all the update I have for now. I am hoping to put up some more pictures as well in the next few days. Keep your eyes peeled for that.
I hope things are going well for all of you and that you are enjoying work, school, and/or life! Take care, and email me if you have any more questions or updates of your own, I would love to hear from you!
Cheers,
Pete
Well, I realized that we have started yet another month (sometimes this takes a week or so to sink in). This realization normally signals: “Pete! You need to update your blog!” So here I am, sitting in my room drafting what will hopefully be a thrilling, emotional roller coaster for my readers…or at the very least fill you in on what I have been up to.
Ah February. What didn’t I do during this lovely month?? Shower, shave, eat meat? All very good guesses, but I was able to enjoy the aforementioned amenities (not the shaving part) during our second Quechua week in Huaraz. I am now pretty much fluent in the ancient language of the Incas. Yeah, that’s a lie. The Quechua has been a little more challenging than I had anticipated. I’m not sure why I would ever think it would be “easy” to learn however. Our classes will continue through this year with monthly classes in site. Our teacher will come and conduct class in our homes, towns, and farm fields. This should help to embarrass us in front of our community members but simultaneously help us learn a bit faster and in a more authentic environment. I’m not a complete failure though…don’t worry mom. I have convinced most of my community that I am indeed a proficient Quechua speaker. All this took was mastering such simple phrases as “yes”, “no”, “how are you?”, “I’m looking for a wife”, and “the rain is coming/the rain is not coming”. These phrases, whether in Spanish or Quechua, sum up the normal small talk around town. So, when I pull out answers in Quechua they have no other option than to think I am near fluent. Lets hope I can keep this up until I learn some more profound aspects of the language. After a little studying and a few more months up here in site I am sure I will pick up some more!
Besides Quechua, February followed the status quo. I taught my English class twice a week, harvested some potato, took the cows out to graze, played cards with my siblings (I’m up at least 20 bucks on my little brother), and finished up some work on my diagnostic. It was a good month. Then March crept up on us and the work has started to flow in. I might even have to scratch out my siesta hour after lunch...this would be devastating.
March started with an excursion down to an AgroRural tree nursery to load up 20,000 + eucalyptus trees to plant in the community forest. I had been attending meetings during February and January with AgroRural (a governmental organization that promotes rural agricultural development) to discuss this reforestation project, which is part of the 2010 budget for my zone. Well, we finally got out of the conference room and into the field (metaphorically of course…we don’t actually have a conference room here). The other week, 8 of us drove down the mountain to the nursery in a town about 1.5 hours away. We spent the day loading up the trees one-by-one. The trees had been in the nursery for about a year, allowing them to grow to about 20 cm in their bags. We then drove them back home and dropped them off in our community center. The whole way home we were trapped in the afternoon rain. Not usually a problem unless you are sitting on top of 10,000 tree seedlings in the back of a huge dump truck. It was a cold, rainy, wet, yet surprisingly fun ride home. Early this week we planted these seedlings in our community forest. It was a two-day event with about 80 workers each day. My mom, dad, and I made a good team of planters. Dad dug the holes and mom and I planted the trees. We finished our quoted 150 trees in about two hours. It was a good day for an environmental volunteer. Even though the project wasn’t mine personally it was nice to work under one of our program goals and get my hands dirty with some “MAC” type work. Yay trees!
I also had my first site visit from my boss, Diego, the first week in March. He came up with my fellow MAC volunteer and site mate Alex, our fellow site mate Kaitlyn, regional boss Nelly, and some representatives from SERNANP (the national park service). We had a meeting with the park service about options and possible projects for this year. It was a good meeting and it was helpful having Diego with us to help explain/petition our wants and needs in a more proficient and professional manner. In the works for this year is the creation of a native tree species nursery with the help of the park as well as incorporating some educational information about the park and the surrounding area in my classes this year. Classes you ask?! What classes?!
I have been coordinating with the two local schools and next week will begin teaching 4 days a week. Two days will be spent in the primary school right next to my house and two days in the “high-school” about a 30-minute hike down the hill. I will have a good mix of environmental education and some English (you just can’t escape the English). This should open up some opportunities not only to teach but also to do some hands-on projects with composting, gardens, and the like.
Now with classes starting, more projects with AgroRural, my upcoming in-service training, and the final due date of my diagnostic things have started to pick up the pace. I have made it through the first three months of service and am now entering the “real deal” if you will.
In other news I recently acquired a french-press so I can make real coffee. It’s amazing. No more instant. I also planted some broccoli in our bio-huerto (home garden), which should be a healthy treat in a few months. Other interesting facts that have happened since we last talked (via this blog that is): I bought an amazing cardigan sweater with llamas on it, purchased two of my very own cuyes, cemented my room and finally got my bed/bookshelf set up, and moved out of my suitcase. All very interesting and exciting stuff…at least for me. I am heading into Huaraz tomorrow morning and will be able to post this then, so hopefully you will all be reading this within the next 48 hours, depending on how often you refresh this webpage. Well, that’s all the update I have for now. I am hoping to put up some more pictures as well in the next few days. Keep your eyes peeled for that.
I hope things are going well for all of you and that you are enjoying work, school, and/or life! Take care, and email me if you have any more questions or updates of your own, I would love to hear from you!
Cheers,
Pete
Ah February. What didn’t I do during this lovely month?? Shower, shave, eat meat? All very good guesses, but I was able to enjoy the aforementioned amenities (not the shaving part) during our second Quechua week in Huaraz. I am now pretty much fluent in the ancient language of the Incas. Yeah, that’s a lie. The Quechua has been a little more challenging than I had anticipated. I’m not sure why I would ever think it would be “easy” to learn however. Our classes will continue through this year with monthly classes in site. Our teacher will come and conduct class in our homes, towns, and farm fields. This should help to embarrass us in front of our community members but simultaneously help us learn a bit faster and in a more authentic environment. I’m not a complete failure though…don’t worry mom. I have convinced most of my community that I am indeed a proficient Quechua speaker. All this took was mastering such simple phrases as “yes”, “no”, “how are you?”, “I’m looking for a wife”, and “the rain is coming/the rain is not coming”. These phrases, whether in Spanish or Quechua, sum up the normal small talk around town. So, when I pull out answers in Quechua they have no other option than to think I am near fluent. Lets hope I can keep this up until I learn some more profound aspects of the language. After a little studying and a few more months up here in site I am sure I will pick up some more!
Besides Quechua, February followed the status quo. I taught my English class twice a week, harvested some potato, took the cows out to graze, played cards with my siblings (I’m up at least 20 bucks on my little brother), and finished up some work on my diagnostic. It was a good month. Then March crept up on us and the work has started to flow in. I might even have to scratch out my siesta hour after lunch...this would be devastating.
March started with an excursion down to an AgroRural tree nursery to load up 20,000 + eucalyptus trees to plant in the community forest. I had been attending meetings during February and January with AgroRural (a governmental organization that promotes rural agricultural development) to discuss this reforestation project, which is part of the 2010 budget for my zone. Well, we finally got out of the conference room and into the field (metaphorically of course…we don’t actually have a conference room here). The other week, 8 of us drove down the mountain to the nursery in a town about 1.5 hours away. We spent the day loading up the trees one-by-one. The trees had been in the nursery for about a year, allowing them to grow to about 20 cm in their bags. We then drove them back home and dropped them off in our community center. The whole way home we were trapped in the afternoon rain. Not usually a problem unless you are sitting on top of 10,000 tree seedlings in the back of a huge dump truck. It was a cold, rainy, wet, yet surprisingly fun ride home. Early this week we planted these seedlings in our community forest. It was a two-day event with about 80 workers each day. My mom, dad, and I made a good team of planters. Dad dug the holes and mom and I planted the trees. We finished our quoted 150 trees in about two hours. It was a good day for an environmental volunteer. Even though the project wasn’t mine personally it was nice to work under one of our program goals and get my hands dirty with some “MAC” type work. Yay trees!
I also had my first site visit from my boss, Diego, the first week in March. He came up with my fellow MAC volunteer and site mate Alex, our fellow site mate Kaitlyn, regional boss Nelly, and some representatives from SERNANP (the national park service). We had a meeting with the park service about options and possible projects for this year. It was a good meeting and it was helpful having Diego with us to help explain/petition our wants and needs in a more proficient and professional manner. In the works for this year is the creation of a native tree species nursery with the help of the park as well as incorporating some educational information about the park and the surrounding area in my classes this year. Classes you ask?! What classes?!
I have been coordinating with the two local schools and next week will begin teaching 4 days a week. Two days will be spent in the primary school right next to my house and two days in the “high-school” about a 30-minute hike down the hill. I will have a good mix of environmental education and some English (you just can’t escape the English). This should open up some opportunities not only to teach but also to do some hands-on projects with composting, gardens, and the like.
Now with classes starting, more projects with AgroRural, my upcoming in-service training, and the final due date of my diagnostic things have started to pick up the pace. I have made it through the first three months of service and am now entering the “real deal” if you will.
In other news I recently acquired a french-press so I can make real coffee. It’s amazing. No more instant. I also planted some broccoli in our bio-huerto (home garden), which should be a healthy treat in a few months. Other interesting facts that have happened since we last talked (via this blog that is): I bought an amazing cardigan sweater with llamas on it, purchased two of my very own cuyes, cemented my room and finally got my bed/bookshelf set up, and moved out of my suitcase. All very interesting and exciting stuff…at least for me. I am heading into Huaraz tomorrow morning and will be able to post this then, so hopefully you will all be reading this within the next 48 hours, depending on how often you refresh this webpage. Well, that’s all the update I have for now. I am hoping to put up some more pictures as well in the next few days. Keep your eyes peeled for that.
I hope things are going well for all of you and that you are enjoying work, school, and/or life! Take care, and email me if you have any more questions or updates of your own, I would love to hear from you!
Cheers,
Pete
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