taller de danza

When I arrived in my community, many of the kids in the high school expressed interest in having dance workshops and learning different dances. Because this has been one of my ideas since I decided to join the Peace Corps, and I have some background in dance, I was thrilled! It brought me back to the days of WAHS Dance Team. We decided to start with a dance to prepare for the school's anniversary in mid-July. I let the kids pick out a song they wanted to dance to and then I choreographed a routine. It was definitely a lot harder than I thought it would be, considering the fact that none of the kids had any experience in learning choreography, the difficulty of yelling out moves and steps in Spanish, and the pure cultural contrast in discipline. When I said we would have dance classes two days a week at 3 o'clock, everyone needed to come prepared, and if you want to participate in the anniversary show, attendance was mandatory, I was going by my North American customs and expectations. But I soon had to learn that I would be forced to adapt to the customs and expectations of these teenagers. So the 3 o'clock classes started no earlier than 3:45pm (sometimes 4:30pm), kids would often skip or show up for just half of the class, and I often left the classes with a little bit of a headache.

Before the big show, I was a bit frustrated because not everything had gone according to my plan. But I took a step back, and saw how much fun these kids were having. They rarely have opportunities to learn and dedicate themselves to something outside of the classroom. I thought back to how much I enjoyed all of my extracurricular activities in high school, and probably took them for granted. These kids had a fun after school activity and had worked hard to learn something very new and different. I could see in their faces how excited they were to show off what they had learned to their peers and community. It was very rewarding to see the kids perform. It also felt great to share my passion of dance with these kids; because I could tell that they were having as much fun and were as anxious/excited before the show as I was when I was in my high school dance shows. Hopefully we will continue with our dance workshops and continue to improve and have fun dancing!
Here's a clip of the anniversary show:

bebe jesica

A few days before my family's visit, a baby was born in my host family. Roxana and Raul (Gloria's brother) gave birth to a baby girl. After meeting my beautiful sister Jessica (who during her visit was called “Princess,” “Barbie” “Really White,”-which is a good thing, etc), my host family fell in love with her. They are still talking about her and how beautiful she is. In fact, her legacy will live on for quite a while because the new baby was named Jesica! This is the second Peruvian baby named after a family member. In Julcan, if the baby was a girl, it was going to be called Rebecca Marcia (Marcia, my mom, and I got left out because it was a boy.) The new baby was named Steven, in honor of my dad, who the family never had even met.

I'm not quite sure why they like us, or at least our names, so much. It's flattering, I guess. Peruvians are very enamored with all aspects of North America and its culture. They are always asking about it and curious about life there. For example, I have heard WAY too much about Michael Jackson's death in the past week. I'm not sure how big it is in the news in the US, but Peruvians want to talk all about MJ with me.

Anyway, back to baby Jesica. As I've talked about in previous entries, a huge part of Peruvian culture is having madrinas and padrinos (godparents) for EVERYTHING. I've been a madrina for an elementary school graduation, a high school graduation, an inaguration, and, now something new. I was asked to be Jesica's madrina for her earpiercing and first nail cutting. That sounds as weird and confusing to you as it did to me when I was asked to be the madrina. It is an honor to be someone's madrina, but I didn't really understand. Well, I had to do exactly what it sounds like. I pierced the baby's ears! And then cut her nails. It is tradition that a chosen godparent cuts the fingernails for the first time for all babies. And for girls, a godparent pierces the baby's ears. I freaked out a little bit, when I saw the earrings the mom's hand and she asked me to just stick them in. I declined at first, because I would NEVER do that sort of thing in the States. But they begged and pleaded and I decided to embrace yet another bizarre part of the culture. So I pierced Jesica's ears, and then cut her little nails; she barely even cried. And now I am the godmother of her ears and fingernails.

¡visita de mi familia!

In mid-June my wonderful family came down to visit Peru and my site. It was so great to visit with them and to share with them the wonders (ups and downs) of Peru.

I met my parents first in Trujillo (my old capital city). We toured the ruins of Chan Chan, the capital of the Chimu culture from around 800 AD. It is a city completely built of adobe and the largest Pre-Colombian South American city. We then visited Huaca de Luna, ruins from the Moche culture that ruled during 100 AD to 800 AD. In Trujillo, my parents also got a chance to meet some of my fellow Peace Corps friends, Josh and Javi.

We then took a night bus (which was quite an experience for them) up to Piura (my new capital city). We got to spend Father's Day walking around the city and also do some shopping. My sister, Jessica, arrived in Piura and then we headed to my site, about 3.5 hours away from the city.

We spent the week exploring my village and meeting my host family and new friends. They got to do everything including share some North American books and toys with the children in my host family, attend some of my community meetings, see a traditional rural Peruvian parade, to eat homemade ceviche, experience the life on a farm with donkeys, guinea pigs, roosters, pigs, goats, etc., adapt to surviving without running water, and learn how to climb over the pigs in the latrine when you need to do your business.

After having some amenity-free days at my site in the “campo,” we treated ourselves to a few days at the beach of Mancora, which is a couple of hours from Ecuador. Besides enjoying hot showers and other wonderful amenities from the developed world, we soaked in the rays, ate some good seafood, and enjoyed each other's company.

I am so happy that my parents and sister were able to come down to visit and see what my Peruvian life is all about. My Peruvian host family took quite a liking to my North American family, and vice versa. It was hard to say goodbye to my family, but it was great that both of my families got to connect, for at least a week. Although I'm going to miss my sister and mom and dad, its great that they know that I have a loving family down here in Peru.