PS Please see blog ¨Need help!¨below

That´s probably more important for now. Thanks!

My Monday

So today was some Catholic holiday of San Pedro or another. Anyways, what´s really important is that I got the day off from training! Yippee! So I decided to walk along the highway for a mile or so to a pool that I see everyday while riding the Peruvian bus. (I wanted to see if they also had an indoor pool for me to do lap swim, but no such luck.)

Instead, what I encountered walking back was a vicious dog on the side of the highway who was ready to bite off my leg. (Dogs here are really vicious and everywhere. The only way you can fend them off is by throwing rocks at them.) Unfortunately, I didn´t have any rocks on me and the ground was littered with only pebbles. So I started to feign throwing rocks at the dog hoping that it would go away. No such luck. The damn dog would make the motion of dodging the non'existant rock and then growl more angrily. Just when I thought I was doomed to be attacked by some stupid dog on the side of the highway, a person saw what was happening and came to my rescue. Whew! Boy, I bet I looked so stupid...some short little Asian girl throwing imaginary rocks at a growling dog on the side of the highway.

But the real stupid part was that instead of walking the Peruvian highway which is littered with a mess of speeding cars, I could have just ridden the bus for .50 soles (ie .17 US cents). The stupid things that I try to scrooge on in order to save money.

Hope your Monday was less adventurous! Aye...

Need help!

Does anyone have a truly easy, but fabulous cookie recipe? So one of the volunteers made some chocolate chip coconut cookies today and my family went crazy for them. They were sugary and tasty, but quite frankly, hard as a rock! I think we can do better! Cookies here are different (ie not very good and not American style...think gooey chocolate chip). I even taught them to dunk the cookies into milk (evaporated milk, of course, as refrigerated milk doesn´t really exist here).

Anyways, my family doesn´t use the oven because it costs so much in gas for even a one time use. But they were so impressed with the cookies that a. I was sad that I only managed to confiscate 7 of them in my little baggie (Yes, times are tough and I have a family to feed so I snuck as much as I could in my little baggy) and b. They´ll even let me use the oven this one time just to bake some American cookies.

So, no pressure, but does anyone have a good, but easy, cookie recipe? I´ve never been a great cook to know a cookie recipe off the top of my head. Except for fancy things like peanut butter, shortening or lard, I think I should be able to find most things. However, money is tight so I would appreciate a short, but delicious recipe. PLEASE help if you can via comment or e-mail khui1234@hotmail.com. The fate of one Peruvian family´s cookie hunger depends on it. I will then post photos of my creation...if successful.

Lima...

Our first trip to the capital city. For the next month or two, we will be going there every Saturday. Here we are directly above the ocean. It's winter time here in Lima and I think we were all confused on how to dress. I've posted a few pictures below. Hope everything is well with you all.

...Lima!

Peruvian sushi! Aww... This was my most expensive meal, yet. Thirty soles or $10 US for 10 pieces of sushi of 2 different types. I saved up two weeks for this extravagant meal and it was heavenly! However, I think I will be eating a lot cheaper meals from now on.

...Lima!

Here we are at the center of Lima. It is a farcry from Yanacoto. Out yonder we can see the President's house to the left and through the yellow buildings lies a sacred building...Dunkin' Donuts! It boasts a free munchkin with every latte order.

Lima!

Here we are in Peru's own Chinatown.
I would like to think that I am a Chinatown connoisor having been to a few. As such, Peruvian Chinatown is different. For one, there are quite a few shops and Chinese restaurants...but a lot of them run by Peruvians. There is even Peruvian dim sum, but again, served by Peruvians!!! When there were Chinese there, they spoke either very little Chinese or none at all. Chinese Peruvians! Very odd indeed. I only found a few people to practice my Chinese with, and believe me, I dragged those conversations out to the max!

...finally my beloved guinea pigs

I call them my ¨bebes.¨ As if my family doesn´t think I´m retarded enough, my host family has a white cat also. Without always meaning to, I´ve been saying, ¨Bad kitty! Bad kitty!! MOOMMMM!!!¨in my best Cartman voice everytime the kitty did something bad. I just happened to look up the other day while I did that and my family were all staring at me with looks of pure confusion (fear?). Fudge, how come I never got a class on proper social etiquette as a child??!!

..And more pics...

Here are more pictures of my town. The daily climb up to my house is excruciating. I´ll have Arnold calves when I´m done. I know it doesn´t look like much, but it´s actually a very homey place.

..And more pics...

And then this is my room. Like I said, I feel very safe when I´m in there. I have two metal locks, one of which being a padlock.

..And more pics...

This is my home. My host family runs a preschool so the bottom left part is actually my room and the room strictly above it (the room that´s boarded up) is actually where my host family of five lives. I know, I am very spoiled. My room is equal the size of their ¨home¨ for a family of five. I feel awful that they are so crammed while I have so much room. The other rooms you see are used for their classrooms.

For meals/tea time/socialization, I join my family upstairs. They are always eager to go over my day with me. One day, I even taught them about the 7 types of poo that one can have. (Yep, they teach us this stuff in Peace Corps training! Sorry, your tax money well spent!)

More pictures...

Sorry, everyone, it´s rare when I do remember to take my camera, but here are some photos that I did take and can finally upload! I`m doing one per post as the internet in Peru is horrible and I keep getting the signal in and out.

This is me in my town of Yanacoto. I´m not even at the highest point of the town, but it´s definitely a desert mountain town here.

Guinea pigs

Here´s what I wrote to my friend via e'mail today and I thought I´d share:

¨I don´t think I´ll be able to eat guinea pigs here after all. One of the other volunteer´s family keeps them in a cage (for consumption). When I approached them, they were so fearful of humans that they started squealing and huddling together! Then they turned their cute little faces up to me as if to say, ¨Katie, please don´t eat us!¨ I then went home and asked my host family if I could keep one as a pet and they looked at me like I was retarded. I then explained that Americans keep them as pets and have toys for them and everything, and that made them look at me with less skepticism. Sigh. Before coming to Peru, I was game to have a little guinea pig feast but now I don´t think I can. :(¨

I survived the strike!

Ok, it really was nothing really, but they shut most of the roads down just in case. Lima had some troubles, but here in Yanacota, I spent the day hiking, visiting with friends, and baking an Argentinian chocolate cake with my host sister. Life here is just so wholesome. Supposedly, the mountains close to where I live house some hieroglyphics done by ancient Peruvians. One of these days, my host dad is going to take me on a hike to show me where it is.

Some members of the group and I were ¨drinking¨ today after class (ie one sip of beer for me). We were reminiscing about home. We have been here for one week now, but it seems so much longer. Someone mentioned Olive Garden today, and I can´t believe that I will not have Olive Garden for two years! I think the realization is beginning to seep in that we have 26 3/4 mos here still. I´m enjoying my time here, but my goodness, that seems like such a long time!

I am beginning to develop a personality in Spanish. Before I was able to just say the basics like, ¨I´m hungry!¨ Ï´m thirsty!¨ etc. Now, Í´m starting to joke in Spanish and catching up on my Peruvian celebrity gossip. (See President Alan Garcia and affair with illegitimate 7 year old child.) It´s exciting to see progress and I study daily.

Some people here are fascinated by my ¨look.¨ I guess I look different than other Peruvian Asians? They stare at me and ask me all the time if I´ve ever used chopsticks. So far, I have not been able to find a single pair in Peru. I wrote some things in Chinese for my host family and they think it´s just great! They´re keeping the note paper.

Anyways, I send my best wishes to everyone. I try to keep up with the US news as well and was saddened to hear about the shooting in DC. Ciao for now.

So I ran today...

Yep, started me exercise! The bad thing is that it has been freakin´cold here today and our shower with the freakin´ice water is like an outhouse-y type thing. So, in short, I stink. Since we´re approaching winter soon, I wonder how many days of showering I´ll be able to skip?

Some pictures...

So, on the left, I posted a picture of how very well protected I am in my room. Because I live apart from my host family and have a room all to myself at the first floor (they live on the second level), here´s how to get into my room. I padlock myself in every night. :)

On the right, is our Peace Corps training center. So nice, right? My house is nothing like that and I´ll post some more pictures next time. But, specifically, the Peace Corps wanted a safe place to host us when we do have classes there.

Peru has some interesting political struggles right now. And it´s weird to be concerned about something else other than celebrity gossip. (But how is Jon and Kate doing?? Updates, people!! And Britney, too? Oh! And maybe Miley..?) Anyways, there is going to be a demonstration in my neighborhood this Thursday, so we don´t have school that day due to danger, accessibility, etc. So I´m just going to lock myself in the room. (And if you don´t hear from me this weekend, then you know it ain´t good.) :(

And as if that wasn´t enough, we had a big lecture on security and safety today. That´s freaked me out, too, of all the things that have happened to volunteers. :( Now ¨constant vigilence!¨ (See ¨Harry Potter¨4) Otherwise, due to my sister´s request, I will post an address later on in case any of you want to send anything. I do accept charity, but it´s not necessary. (So if you don´t send anything, no worries! I´m fed well) My host family enjoyed the candy that I brought for them at the DC airport so much. They have stored it and seem to be slowly savoring it so it doesn´t run out. :)

Otherwise, doing well still! I´ve taken up running and yoga since there isn´t a clean pool around. Yáll would be proud of the dirty but newly fit me! Ciao for now!

I´m in Yanacoto!

Í moved in with my first Peruvian host family yesterday. About that, these people are so nice. I´ll be staying with them for the next three months...the duration of my training in Yanacoto, a small community just outside of Peru. I can´t speak much Spanish, but they speak really slowly to me so that I understand. Today, they had a family member walk me to our training center and they also packed a lunch for me in my ¨lunchera.¨ After class, they had my host sister pick me up and walk me home. Then, my host dad helped me with my Spanish homework. It´s like kindergarten all over again! (And, sadly, I rather enjoy being taken care of.) The house sits up on a hill, so it´s a hike just to get down to take the bus to take me anywhere.

Last night, I took my first shower here. Oh...the things I miss! A hot shower! There is no hot water at my house and the water is absolutely frigid! I jumped in and out for maybe thirty seconds. Being that we´re in a desert area, there is not much water either. Truthfully, I sometimes do not wash my hands after going to the john, and that bothers me immensely, but I´m learning to adapt. The toilet also gets flushed once a day, so at night time, it´s a little jenky.

My bedroom has two ¨doors.¨ My host family live upstairs while I have a separate room downstairs complete with prison-like bars for doors. So each night, I will padlock myself in so that no one can get to me (or I can´t get to others...?)

After three months, I´ll be moving to another site and with another family who probably won´t take care of me as much. I´ll be without my 36 other volunteer friends and there might not be anyone to take me to work. By then, I should also be sufficient enough with my Spanish to not have class anymore. :(

As for money, each day, we get 8 soles, which equates to less than $3. We´re paid approximately as much as the people in our community. Today, I went over by 3 soles, because I bought two water, a phone card, some toilet paper, and crackers. Tomorrow, I will be more careful.

Otherwise, I´m a little dirtier and hairier, but healthy and happy overall. I wish you all the best in the States...Enjoy your warm showers! ¡Ciao!

Í´m in Peru!

Just a quick post to let you know that I´m safe. We got in at 3 30 a.m. last night after a lightning strike severely delayed us in Miami. I´m traveling with 36 other Peace Corps volunteers. We´re doing a lot of moving around. Tomorrow, we´re traveling again to our training site where we will be at for the next three months. Afterwards, I´ll be placed in my permanent Peace Corps location.

There are lamas just roaming around at the retreat that I´m staying at. And this morning, we started our breakfast with papaya juice, cafe con leche, and a type of cheese bread. Last night, even through my exhaustion, I sat on the bus and thought, ¨I can´t believe I´m in Peru!!¨ What a colorful little life!

I'm in DC!

Hi, guys, I just wanted to let you know that I made it to DC. I had to say some very early good byes this morning as my flight departed at 7:30 a.m. My father actually woke up at 5:00 a.m. to say good bye to me at the front door. Even though he never admits to being worried about me, I think he was this time. Usually, we just tell each other good-bye and that's about it. This time, he stuck his head out the front door and kept waving until our car left...even though it was raining pretty crappily out. :( Then, I said good-bye to my BFF, Willie, and shed a few more tears. (Not too many though, because I am still hardcore. And, no, Wendy, Willie is still my BFF only...not my "Booty Call." Please, Josh, spade Wendy soon before it becomes too late for all of us.)

Anyways, today was a pretty busy day. Because I got in kind of late, I was only able to fit in the art and space center at the Smithsonian. Then, I took a walking tour of the monuments and memorials. The tour guide was very good...very knowledgeable. Tomorrow, I have an appointment to tour the Capitol. I'll then visit the visitor's center at the White House (keep your fingers crossed that I might run into Obama if he gets back from Saudi Arabia early), mosey onto Chinatown, history museum at the Smithsonian, Farmer's Market, and wherever else my short little legs can carry me.

Three more days until I'm in Peru. Still scared (but not too much because I'm fierce!). Wish me luck.