Feliz Cumpleano, Senor Alcalde!

Let me start or end your day with a laugh (or a cry still from me). So the other night, I was invited to this grand party thrown in celebration of the mayor's birthday. Now let me assure you that not any riff-raffs were allowed in; only leaders and government mover and shakers. (People with whom I want to rub elbows with should I want to make things happen later on.)

Everything was going swimmingly until someone had the brilliant idea that I should help out with the cake serving. No big deal, right? That is until you take in the following factors: (1) It was dark and (2) there was a big ol' ditch in between the tables that I failed to see. So what happened next? Of course, I just happened to be holding a tray full of cake slices when I tripped over the damn ditch, yelled out a really ungraceful "WOOAAHH!!" which caught everyone's attention, then fell sprawed out onto the ground, with cakes landing all on one side of my face.

To add insult to injury, this spectacular fall was made right in front of the Mayor (yeah, Feliz Cumpleano a ti) and, as it was, there already wasn't enough cake for everyone.

No, I didn't cry...but instead hid in the next room. :( And even if I wanted to forget about the incident, I wasn't able to. As the people got drunker, they thought it would be a good idea to re-cap my fall for me right down to the "WOOAAHH!!" (Someone even told me that it was too bad they didn't have their video camera for You Tube!!!) So for the rest of the night, I relived it visually and verbally for gaw knows how many times.

That was my first--and, no doubt, last--invite to a government party.

Exito! Encontre un Chino!

Once upon a time, I heard of a magical place called "Huamachuco" that was filled with Chinese people with whom I could practice my Chinese with. On this particular day, I made the 2 1/2 hour journey to find out if that was true...

"Bastante Chinos," my arse! There was a grand total of 1 Chino, who was also the owner of the only Chinese restaurant in Huamachuco. This lone Chino didn't speak Spanish and was so happy to finally see another fellow Chino that he made me some Chinese pastry with ingredients that was imported from China (pictured below) and talked to me for two hours. (Him: "I can't believe there's another Chinese person here!") He was just so happy that he offered to cook me traditional Chinese dishes whenever I was in town.

Being the only Chinese in my town, I think I caught a glimpse into my own future. Or as my friend said, maybe I'm there already. "You traveled 2 1/2 hours just to see if there were Chinese people!" Hmph! I'd like to think that I was there for other reasons as well, like check out all the potatoes I found in the market. (Peru supposedly boasts over 1000 type of potatoes, but really, they all taste the same to me.) And look at puny little me standing underneath the church arch. (I'm even flashing a peace sign...How very Asian!) And anyways, I'd like to think that I was just trying to find a piece of home. Now with my Chinese friend, Cajamarca's Chinese population is up to 2!

Un regalo temprano para Navidad para ti

My first radio show on Monday was abysmal, a complete and total bomb. I thought they might fire me; I completely froze up. While I wrote for my school newspaper all throughout junior high and high school, I definitely do not think I have a future in radio. As such, today's show went a little better. I even got my first caller! If I don't get fired, I'm hoping that eventually I'll be able to use the show as a vehicle to whatever projects I'm working on...and it may be of use to other volunteers as well.

But here's an early Christmas present for y'all. I think you might be able to listen to it in live feed by going to the station's website: http://radiojasiel.com/ and then clicking under "audio en vivo." I'm on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 3:00 to 3:30 so I think that's 2:00 to 2:30 Colorado time. I must warn you that right now it's a little ugly and I'm so far using it as a mean to teach a little bit of English through music. Listen at your own riesgo!

Dos cosas...

So two things about this week:

1. I experienced the homesickness that everyone had warn you about. It was like I was happy to be in Peru, but something just always felt missing. So I tried to be hardcore and get over it. But in the end I had over an hour long conversation with my father and felt better. Still miss a lot of things, but that´s to be expected, especially since this is now the longest that I´ve been away from home.

2. One of the local radio stations interviewed me this week and my interview made it on air! There´s a videoclip somewhere, too. But anyways...After my 15 minutes claim to fame, I was offered my own radio show. Yep, you heard right. I do a little bit of this, little of that, throw in some English words here and there, and the youth of Cajabamba is also able to call in and ask for advice (think Delilah on KOSI 101!). Ok, stop laughing, you guys. (The advice thing actually wasn´t my idea.) Anyways, you can hear me every Monday, Wednesday and Friday after school and if I´m popular enough, maybe all five days of the week. The owner of the radio station thought I would be a good personality on air and that I had a beautiful voice. Hee hee hee.

This reminds me of a story. When I was in China, there was this Canadian dork who lived in China and who fashioned himself as ¨The Dragon.¨ Not that he was anything special, because he wasn´t--tall and lanky with glasses--but his claim to fame was that he was able to speak Mandarin perfectly. Thus, there came movie roles, interviews, CDs, etc. Eventually, he accrued so much wealth that he is now like the pimp of China with a wealth of women and everyone knows him by name.

So I´m thinking that maybe I´ll fashion myself as the ¨Burro¨and life will all be good for me here, too. Hope you guys are doing well in the states.

P.S. Since our father is leaving soon, please make sure to pack him a ¨snack pack¨before he gets on the plane. Otherwise, he might get hungry. :( Nothing too sugary nor salty.

Necesito bolfo

Most days I don't think I have the Peace Corps experience (except when I'm riding in a dump truck). My life now is far cushier than I ever imagined--ie I have a toilet and running water for 1/2 the day. But as a mean to be reminded that I am indeed a Peace Corps volunteer, right now my room smells strongly like cat pee and I think I have bed bugs/fleas. So it's Saturday night...I'm alone in my room...covered in itchy little bumps...scratching away until my skin bleeds...like some animal. :( This is not attractive. I am missing life in the states right about now.

Yo dormi en la camion de basura...Soy Oscar the Grouch de Peru

I spent the day riding in a Peruvian dump truck today...and it was great! Peru has a social assistance program called Vaso de Leche which supplies families of women and children with food/milk. All the food gets piled onto a dump truck and then distributed to families. I spent the day doing just that, handing out food in nearby towns. I felt like a celebrity. All the women waited for us to arrive. (Ok, maybe they were waiting for the food, but it was a really good experience nevertheless.)

At one point I got so tired that I took a nap in the dump truck. I felt like Oscar the Grouch! :)

Festividades en Cajabamba

So this past Sunday I went to my first festival in Cajabamba. I had a great time! First, I got to see La Danza del Diablo (The Dance of the Devil) which were put on by teenage boys wearing silky looking garments (while carrying flowers) and with a plastic mask propped over their heads. (In the picture below, I am modeling such a mask in the black shirt to the left.)

But the best part was when the Cajamarcans started the tradition of stabbing a really, really looong wood pole into a cement hole in the plaza. (Why not, right?) This thing stretched for a block 1/2. And someone even had the idea to attach a huge flag and neon electric-lit cross on top of it. To make matters worst, the men in charge of planting this thing into the ground were all getting drunk while figuring out how to do this. The concoction of choice--a homeade liquor called "Chicha" that is famous in the sierra. (I think it's made with fermented spit--yum--and can actually be dangerous if you make it too strong.) The only tools they had for planting were rope, wood, and manpower. (Yes, the word "shitshow" was not lost on me.) So while the drunk men were heaving away, I was standing in front of the church trying to figure out how this thing wouldn't come tumbling down on us all.

Fortunately for me, I didn't need much time to wonder. A minute later, the men had gotten it almost to an upright position when the pole started to sway and began to fall towards the church...ie where I was standing. I can't remember another time when I almost poop-in-your-pants panicked. The next moment, I was pushing, running, and screaming with the rest of the masses to try to get away. There were so many people that had the men not used all their drunken energy to save us all and upright the thing, I don't know if I'd be posting this blog now...alive and well. Whew! Only in Peru, right?

Well, the next hours afterwards passed by pretty uneventfully. The men somehow secured the pole into the cement though a technology of ropes and then they danced around it while pouring Chicha into the hole. Aw...my first festival in Cajabamba! And I must admit, if the Peruvians were able to do this just with a few pieces of wood and rope, then anything is possible in Peru!

Tengo suerte!

So I feel incredibly spoiled today when I opened up my second package that I received from home. Originally I had asked for a pair of jeans and a box of the Hostess 100 calorie packs, but imagine my surprise to see all this! I actually spent a good 5 minutes of straight pigging out before I realized that I had to make all this last. I was really touched that my sisters, Wendy and Amy, made such an effort to get all the things that I enjoy and even included a picture that was taken of us in March when Wendy got married. (This, of course, was when the waterworks started...)

I feel incredibly bad (not to mention spoiled) that my sisters spent all this money on me (+$60 in postage) but amazingly lucky at the same time that they made such an effort to help alleviate my food struggles (had you noticed?) and to bring me comfort from home.

Thank you so much, Amy and Wendy!

Cosas que me averguenza

So here's how much I like tea: My new host family used to just keep several teabags around the house, but ever since I moved in and drank every one of their packets, they mounted a 100 teabag contraption on the wall "so that I can have tea whenever I want." Sadly, I've only seen these things at the stores; people buy tea here just by the individual packets.

Yesterday I also handwashed all my own clothes. Quite an accomplishment considering I spent the whole day on it! :( (How do these Peruvian women do it in a mere hour??!) When it was all done, I counted that I had a whopping 17 pairs of undies all lined up in a roll. (I was going to take a picture of the line of undies, but I thought it might be a little gross.) Well, at least my host family knows that I change my undies daily, but we could really do with a good dryer around here. (Good fundraising project for any of you.) I'm going to start investigating into the flip-inside-out method. (I can hear you all judging me already, but hey, this is the Peace Corps!)

Last update is that I took on another project...I'll also be teaching at the local institute here on youth development. This is a good project, because finally, some people close to my age! Maybe I'll make friends!

P.S. Yesterday I went on a hike, got lost in the Peruvian sierra for an hour, and the only thought that comforted me was an advertisement for Mini Drumsticks (the ice cream cone, not chicken) that I saw in "People" magazine. (Another volunteer had the magazine sent to her from the states.) All that crunchy chocolatey goodness with sweet creamy vanilla ice cream...Thank you, Nestle, for keeping me alive in my hour of need.

Esta es Cajabamba...

My gym is just two blocks from me. It's weird to have this in the Peruvian sierra...

Y esta es Cajambamba tambien!

...And this is Cajabamba, too!