Host Families

Hola Mundo!

And tonight’s topic will be….tum tum tummmm…Host Families!

Let me start from the beginning. During our 27 month period in Peace Corps, we are assigned two host families. One during training in Chaclacayo, and another one in our site for 24 months. They help us integrate in the community and culture. They make you their family, and you make them your family. They can range from an older couple taking care of you, to a big family of many host siblings with kids, to a young family. Our Regional Coordinators do their research with families in a community for a volunteer and introduces rules to abide by for the host family.

You are assigned a room with a good door lock. During training, the room will be furnished, so you wont have to worry about buying anything. On your assigned site, it varies. You might get an unfurnished room, a partially furnished room, or an empty room. Peace Corps will give you a settling in allowance to buy some stuff depending if your room was furnished or not. Room sizes may vary, location of the room may vary, roof conditions of the roof may vary, “insulation” of the room may vary, and privacy may vary. You are also given an allowance to pay rent to your family, during training and in site (rent varies depending on different factors).

During training, families are, let’s say, recycled. Because Peace Corps groups get trained in the same community, a family may volunteer to do it again. Some families, in my case, have had like 8 volunteers. In my family I was the first volunteer to be a guy. At about the second day of training in Peru, we were received by our host parents in the training center and went away with our luggage; it was pretty exciting seeing all the volunteers meeting their new family. ...just lovely!
As people kept getting going with their families, I was just smiling, and thinking I was left orphan (not) but then all of a sudden she calls my name, I run towards her and give her a hug…to my new tiny mother. We then took my stuff and went home in a mototaxi, classy, hehe. I started meeting the rest of my family after I put the stuff in my room. I had two sisters, one 7 and another one 13. They were great! I had an older brother of around 30, and mom and dad of around 50. My room was pretty cool. Well, it was spacy. The BONUS side of my family is..that…they had an internet café there! WOOOT!! And a corner store (not too big). I was able to borrow some internet to upload the first YouTube videos I did for training. But after training, It has been pretty slow.

At home, everyone called my host mother “mom” including the granddaughters.  There are 2 dogs (one that got lost or died), 2 cats (one that got lost or died), a peacock, and a rooster. Outside, around 30 feet away, there was the central sports court. Where I sometimes played soccer (this got them to know me and always call my name when I was walking home). In that small community of “3 de Octubre” there was 7 more volunteers, 2 of them neighbors. I hanged out with 2 of them mostly, from that community. There was also a foothills nearby, and I liked going up in them. I didn’t want to run on flat roads. And there was also a lot of fog in that valley, at first I thought it was dust flying in the air…but I don’t think so.

NOW in my new site of Santiago de Chuco, I have had my other adventures. This was more of a first time for my families to have a volunteer, so they had to get adjusted to adopting a son. We had a site visit for a week before we fully moved in (we took some luggage though).
During that week, I got pretty sick. With food, elevation, the cold, blahhh. Elevation is 3,100 meters (~10,000 ft), makes it chilly and makes me have headaches for the first days. Food was a bit different (I love my family’s food though, it varies. Mom also takes in mind stuff I don’t like). BUT, they took care of me. It was sweet. They kept asking about my condition and giving me teas. At first, it felt I was the center of attention, but after the first months, you become more part of the family, I like that, I don’t want to be too special. It has slowed down, but for the first month and a half, they were always saying “carlitos” or “carlitos carlitos carlitos” out of randomness, after me talking to them, or after I made them laugh, my guess is they’re happy to have me there, and the feeling is mutual.
For the first week, they had given me a suuuper tiny room, as you noticed in my site visit video. After that, they had mentioned they had a living room that wasn’t in too much use, they were just worried it was too cold because of the cemented floor. But I didn’t care, and I moved in…yes, in a big room! From tiny to giant!  :D I loves.
They had a partially furnished room. I bought a few things. For the house, we have cuys (guinea pigs) and ducks on the roof of the 2^nd floor, to eat later. 2^nd floor has my old tiny room, my mom’s room, my brother’s room(18), and my sisters’ room(27, 31). 1^st floor has the kitchen and a small store, oh and me. :D  I wont talk about the town just yet, I’ll leave it for another blog. That’s pretty much about my families. They are respectful, sometimes religious, they have their traditions, they are fun, they are…my family. 

Training-Time Activities

Well, you heard most of what training is like on one of my past blogs. I’ll need to catch up. We had different activities that we’ve done:

This is Chaclacayo, the town that included many of the smaller communities we stayed in. 

Traditional Parades

Shadowing Trip (Link)

This is one of the main streets in Junin, Junin

The Lake Junin Frog tadpole that we found on the project of the volunteer there

Field Based Training (Link)

Josh and I were the only adventurers that went all the way in our Cave Stop during FBT

MAC: Lima Trip to Lomas de Paraiso (TBD Link)

My MAC group in the back

Food day with Language Group

My language group (Deborah wasnt well) at Food Day, we made lomo saltado. Yummy!

Lima trip to History Museum and PC HQ

Patrick & Jessica wearing some of the Museum's clothing

Peace Corps Peru Headquarters

Soccer Game with few soccer fanatics

The Soccer fans at the Alliance vs Crystal Game

Placement Day

We popped the balloons, found out the person's placement, and so on. Here's the 22 training president.

Peru 22 Volunteers in the state of La Libertad

The rest of Peace Corps Peru 22 Volunteers

5k Run

I...was...not....ready...for...that...

Foosball ery’day

This was finals. I'd like to say I was third place, Oscar 2nd, and as we see here, Mark 1st. xD
Great memories!

Volleyball ery’day

My Team "Los Chupacabras" Won the Volleyball Championship!  :D

Site Visit in La Libertad, Peru

I just like this picture. She started playing with my "Secret Santa" Gift for a video clip. At Huanchaco.

Julia got a piece of Pizza for doing her Lil Jon scream. Beast!

Closing Ceremony with Host Family

We did a dance at the ceremony

Swearing in Day at US Ambassadors House in Lima

US Ambassador's House, Swearing-in Day. 

We all got invitations

Placed Department Capital City Days

Plaza in our "state" capital city

Moving into Site 

Our city has a nice welcoming structure, we took advantage of it. 

  

 Swearing in Day November 22, 2013

A short description of our Swearing day

National Anthem for US and Peru

Few words from man in Charge of Business from the US (translated from hand-out) (Michael J. Fitzpatrick)

Few words from the National Director of Peace Corps Peru (Sanjay Mathur)

Few words from the Host Family Representative (Mrs. Nelly Julca)

Directors’ Speech from MAC(Diego Shoobridge), Health(Emilia Villanueva), & WASH(Jorge Izaguirre)

Swear new volunteers in by man in charge of Business

Few words from two Peru 22 Volunteers (Natalee Salcedo & Deborah Vacs Renwick)
Closing speech by the Training Director, Kathleen Hickey

Beginning of Swearing-In Ceremony

Manejo Ambiental Comunitario (MAC) Director - Diego Shoobridge

Training Director - Kathleen Hickey

Director of Peace Corps Peru - Sanjay Mathur

Swearing In, Look I'm right there!!

MAC Group

MAC Group

Peace Corps Peru 22 Group 

Like I said, training went by pretty fast. It was a time where we immersed into the Peruvian culture, where we got to spend a few more months with more english-speaking people, and where we learned our path to become a successful volunteer for the next two years.
I spent a lot of fun times during lunch at the volleyball court and with my foosball buds. At my small community from Chaclacayo (3 de Octubre) I will miss the times where I just walked up my house, passing the soccer court, where little kids would just yell out my name. Even though I didnt know all of them. haha. This next experience with kids will be different, mainly because it is a city of 7k people here in Santiago de Chuco. 

My good buds

Training was a great stepping stone to our actual site jobs.
Great friends were made.
Great people were met.
& a was great stage we can never forget.

Transportation, Feces, Dogs?

Hello,

Training has passed by, quite fast. The reason for this is having a busy and eventful schedule. It’s a universal tangent.
I talked about on my last blog about the types of activities we have at the training center in Chaclacayo.
Through time, I’ve observed my surroundings. I’ve analyzed and compared lifestyles and traditions. We’ve had discussions on cultural differences, Peruvian & American. My point of view is a bit different though, just like a few in the group of 52. I’m a Mexican American, raised in Mexico with Mexican culture,

  learning Spanish first.
With that said, Mexican lifestyle is still different from Peruvian. A lot of differences that Americans see, are pretty explanatory for me, they are not strange. For example, having dogs outside/in roof. People here don’t see them as “man’s best friend.” Sure, anyone can learn that after a few days, but at the first glance, yes, it is strange. Outside dogs are scared of strangers, pretty much like a wild animal. And that is a very good thing for their “survival” or human abuse.
Every place is unique; every place develops depending on many factors. Ok, this is just general talk. Let me get into more of the specifics that don’t really happen anywhere else:
Car taxi driving is crazy as a roller coaster adventure. To be a driver here you must really have guts, you must really know the size of your car, and you must really calculate future paths (I do that when biking J). I think it makes driving more exciting. As I observe a driver, it is always a pretty lonely and tedious job. I put myself in their spot and only have one thing in mind, this is just a job that will sustain my family, pays well with no hard labor and no brain needed. Let me give you a scenario for mental visualization: Driver takes you in his red light, you deal with lowering the price so he doesn’t overcharge you, tell directions, takes off like an ambulance, changes lanes without signal, drives in two lanes, is passing then somebody cuts him really close, he shows no surprised expression, speeds up again, traffic jam, tries to get into other lane, gets as close as 3 inches from mirror touching the other vehicle, tries to get in again, the other car moves ahead too, taxi moves fast and makes it over passing by inches away from other…this goes on until out of the main city.
Now we have the great combi. This is pretty much a small bus that stops really fast, and takes off really fast. They are great because of their speedy method. But the driving style is the same as described on the taxi. Combis are cheaper, like 20% of taxis sometimes.
We move to street/town structure. Because of the varied topography that Peru has, the road structure can be really crazy. There is a lot of hills. Many people just love having their houses on high places or nearby cliffs, crazy. Usually the hills make a valley, this is where there will be the main highway. Most used roads are paved.
Lets get into bathrooms now. Ever heard of latrines? Maybe? Right, they are a kind of chocolate ice scream! Or not, I kid. They’re more of the chocolate, that goes in the toilet. Yeah, sorry for that, but poopie talk for us volunteers is pretty much normal now. Traveler’s diarrhea, happens often. Our body is not used to the food, so it tries to spray out when ever you’re on an important activity or meeting people. I havent had a shart or dirty pants yet, but we shall see.
Back to latrines, they’re just bathrooms without toilets and piping.
Another thing related to the bathroom, when ever a guy wants to pee. He literally just pees, in a ´´hidden spot´´. I have two examples: One time i went to a concert, the peeing station for the guys was literally by the entrace, by the full bathroom, leterally making a big pond of pee. Yeah, lovely. The other one was in the middle of town, in the middle of the street, a guy talking on the phone just peeing. haha, eventually all of these things will be normal to me. Very normal to where it is not even worth talking about.

That is what I have now. My next post will be very visualistic with pictures of most of the events we did during training. AND also keep up with my videos. I got all the footage down, and some finalized. I just need some good internet to upload them.

Hasta luego amigos. Hope ´murica is treating yall great!

My blog and vlog post frequency will depend on the type of activities I make, my own observations of Peru and life, and when i have internet. :D        

Yo Quiero Tacos, Missing the Foods! &What Is PC Training?

Hello world, 

I feel that I’m lagging on writing my blog and concentrating on my vlogs. Well yes, they’re more fun to make. I dont think I've talked about anything on training. So you'll get a few showers of that, plus a few thunderstorms here and there.

Training mainly consists of training a Peace Corps Volunteer for their actual site. During training, we dont have serious community projects yet.
It consists of classes for: community engagement, community relationships, health related issues, tips on handling projects, section information (mine is MAC, Manejo Ambiental Comunitario), community management techniques, AND for like almost 50% of the times, language training.
Language training is not necessarily just learning the spanish language, it is also learning about Peruvian culture, working with a few community projects, stranger conversations, and aid on our section small projects.

If you've done your research on Peace Corps, it is composed of different sections. Check out this link to find out more. We Peru 22, have only: MAC (Manejo Ambiental Comunitario), WASH (Water, Sanitation, & Hygiene), and Health. I am MAC, waddup!
We have three basic goals: to plant trees, to manage trash in the community, and implement environmental education. There are also some people that will be working with SERNANP (Servicio Nacional de Areas Naturales Protegidas). I was told I would be working with them because of my previous NPS (National Park Service) experience, & THAT is Great!

When we first arrived, we were given a 10-week schedule of our training. I'll take a picture a page later so you can see an example. Some days go pretty boring, others days go pretty fast. To this point, it has a good speed, and excited for future activities to come.

Now let the title be named in the body! Yo quiero tacos, I AM missing the foods from north america!
Yo quiero tortillas, yo quiero frijoles fritos, yo quiero tamales de Mexico, yo quiero hamburgesas, yo quiero posole, PERO Peru solo me da arroz blanco con una pierna de pollo. Well, it's a typical plate, so I understand. But having too much of something, kills the uniqueness.
Anyway, Mexico is still pretty on top food wise. No country will ever beat that. Then U.S. & then Peru. No offense Peru, maybe I'll fall in love with your food more deep into service.

So maybe you're wondering what I do when I'm done with training (from 8am to 5pm). Yes that time.
Wellz, I likez to do what I love. Sure, that includes chilling with friends, socializing. But I'm not the best in that field. Still, we have a few trips to the bars every week.
When I'm at home, I will be talking to my family. Playing with my host little sister for, a lot. She's 7. Other times I get in my room and just love my computer time. Making videos, surfing the lovely internet (I got lucky, I live in an internet cafe), watching movies/shows, etc.
I have my active side, but it get lazy sometimes. So I mix it with hiking. I've gone up the hills besides our community and hike up, instead of running around town. It'll get me ready for future hikes when I go to Ancash (a mountainous department(state)). Sometimes we stay late at the center, for me mainly because of playing volleyball and/or foosball. That's pretty much it so far. 

Well that's for catching up. Check out the vlogs for some visuals.

Vlog 1

Vlog 2

Vlog 3

and check out my flickr page for some stills here. 

Peace Corps Staging at Washington DC

Hello world,

As of right now I’m not sure how I’m going to organize my blogs. Either chronologically, maybe like a journal (sounds too much). Or monthly, sounds typical and fitting. But who knows. I’m also not a fan of writing, poetry, or grammar. I will be posting a video about staging. 

I’ll be talking about staging mostly chronologically. 

Once upon a time…

After Carlos saying goodbye to many of his friends and family members, it was hard to believe how this trip would be very different from the rest, a big change in time. But Carlos wanted to give it a try, no regrets. The story begins…

After spending A LOT of money, I tried fitting the limits in luggage (2 50lbs suitcases, the duffel bag, and a carry-on). 

I bought: a new sleeping bag, a 65L backpacking pack, a tent, a pair of chacos, 2 flashlights, working gloves, toiletries, business casual clothes, game cards, duct tape, new socks, new underwear, among others. If you want specifics, Google that, other blogs have exact counts. 

Well, so it begins with more goodbyes. On September 10^th we drive up to Houston Intercontinental to sleep there overnight. Early September 11^th I check in the two bags, and head inside to the terminal for United Airlines. The Internship movie came up, I really wanted to see it but my eyes were just taped up during the flight. 

As I arrive there, I see Brad and Brittany, so we all carpool to Capitol Skyline Hotel. Right away, I change in the bathroom to business casual and get in line for check-in. 

We 55 volunteers get a passport to use on the way to Peru, we get a $120 credit card, and an itinerary. We’re all tired. The informationals were from 1pm to 7pm with a few breaks. After that I hanged out with my “long-time-no-see” cousin Fernando. We walked all the way to the White House in my chacos, damn they hurt. 

September 12^th we head to Reagan airport again to wait for our next flight, YES, Houston Intercontinental. Whoop, back to h-town. No big deal though. Then to our next 7 hour flight to Lima. We arrive, go through customs, then get on two buses. Takes us like 1.5 hrs to get to some nunnery place. Stayed there two nights. September 13 we had more informationals there: intro to Spanish, Peru culture, get syllabus, get a big nice medical kit, get our picture taken (I smiled, hopefully I wasn’t the only one), and we got 40 soles (~$7). Our family also gets 27 soles per day. 

September 14 we head up to the Center at Chaclacayo, where we’ll be doing training at. In the morning current PVCs give us an overview of life in training with a family. At noon we head up to see our family. Really excited. It was funny and joyful just seeing everyone leave with a Peruvian “mom” or “dad.” 

Well I’m getting ahead of myself. That’s going more into training. I’ll tell yall about my family on the next blog.

CLICK BELOW FOR THE VISUALS

Peace Corps Peru - Staging

Trying to Upload my videos with Peru Internet, No Hope...

The internet is reallllllly slow, it freezes up my pages