Thats Pablo, My Spanish Teacher with the Apple

I didnt get to use the internet yesterday, but heres a recap because I had another amazing day. Friday night, mis companieros and I played poker in a local bar, I had to cut out at 10 because we were expected to be at the training center the next day at 745, so I was playing aggressively and lost quickly. Saturday morning, me and the other trainees boarded a bus destined for la Agreria, which is according to our trainers the number one agriculture school in Peru. Apparently the acceptance rate is a whopping 3%, so move over Harvard. There, students specialize in development agriculture. That's to say, there wasn't a John Deere as far as the eye could see. While there we sampled exotic fruits from the rainforest, learned about potato farming, good and bad insects, good and bad trees concerning insects and agriculture growth, planted a few zucchinis, and went into a few different types of greenhouses. My Spanish has gotten a lot better; even though the presentation was all in Spanish, I could understand. I mean, words like celery and leek, yet to have Spanish translations for me, but if you point to a plant and start talking about it, I can understand something about what you're hypothetically saying. The school maintains its own fields, and is located just outside Lima. I would bet it was about 200 acres of land in total, with the students dorms located on one side of campus and the guinea pig farms and fields on the other. After this wonderfully humbling experience, I'm pretty sure I could handle a basic vegetable garden. This may make all the difference if my diet later is nothing but potatoes (hope not). Next me and a few peace corps volunteers boarded a bus headed to the music shops in the heart of Lima. There were 7 of us in total. After a brief stop at the local hamburger store, Picture 49th between Ave of the Americas and Broadway, you know, Sam Ash lane. Now picture it filled with 8 times more stores, three dimensional salons of musical equipment, little of which is truly new, and none of which was top of the line to begin with. Next picture them filled with shopkeepers, that aren't commission salesmen, no, rather they are private owners. Next picture 5 people who cant play guitar, yet looking for guitars, one actual guitarist and me. The result was pandemonium. I feel bad for james, he must have tuned, I don't know 50 or 60 guitars. The guitar buyers made out great, I think 5 guitars got bought after much haggling. The average price for a guitar here is 150 soles, or rather they start at 220 and the price drops the more of the shopkeepers time you occupy. The exchange rate is about 2.9/$ in Lima. So I suppose thats a $52 guitar. I made out better. I bought the absolute cheapest organ I could find for 160 soles. Thankfully I got a Chinese one, the Casio's from Japan, that actually play a note with ascending or descending volume depending on how hard you hit the key, run three times the price for no reason at all. Anyway, 50 dollars bought me 100 voices and 100 beats. When I got home, I immediately gave it to my 6 year old host brother, and he's quite excited about it. I needed a host family gift, and I figure I started on a Casio POS when I was 5 or 6. Now for the real news. Im not guaranteed electricity at my site, I don't play guitar, I was going to buy a recorder but I found something way better. I found a mini keytar with a mouthpiece off a tube that if you blow in it plays polyphonic f you're pressing a button. I dont think there's a legitimate name for this instrument but if there is I officially re-dub it Platypus. I spent the majority of the night following the marching band in my town around with my knew instrument. Think about it, its a keyboard, it doesn't need electricity, Its extremely portable, and its an instant conversation piece. That brought me to my next experience, there was a huge party in Yanacoto last night, La Fiesta de San Jose or something. Fireworks on man carried floats that chased kids around, dancing with the town folk, and a fully set up stage with PA system, that the marching band sat on once done marching. The band was very New Orleans style, and either you like that and find it amusing, or you know to be awful. The Americans weren't amused, but I certainly was. I wasn't really hanging out with them, I was kicking it with my host brother Nestor and Allen. I find that hanging out with Americans in groups is a mild waste of my time, I train all day with them anyway. Me and my host brothers stayed out until about 2 watching the festivities, by far the latest I've been both out and up since arriving, and I slept in until 10. I haven't done anything productive today, other than watch the Euro Cup Final. In case this surprises you, I was ruiting hard for Spain over Germany. Futbal is on the list of things in Peru that Im gonna learn to like on principle. Theres so much of it that to ignore it completely would be silly. Lastly, my host brother made an interesting dish today that I think Ill share. He mashes up potatoes, then sets about making potato look alikes, filled with beans, meat, hard boiled eggs, olives, and then closes them up, looking like big potatoes, smothers them in a beat egg, and cooks it in a skillet. I dont know if you can picture that, but it tastes like potatoes with meat, beans and eggs.
Su Pata,
Mateo

Another Big One

Sorry I haven't updated recently, Here's the scoop on yesterday.  After language class and lunch, encompassing the morning, the business volunteers accompanied Dennis and Ivan, our tech trainers, on a charla, presentation, on marketing and entrepreneurship that they were giving to a technical institute comprised of 16-20 year olds.  Admittedly, this presentation was given more as a training exercise for us than for the trainees than for the limited information given to students in one 3 hour presentation.  Upon arrival to the school, we split the volunteers into groups of three, and put three peruvians in each group, there were 7 groups in total.  After Ivan's powerpoint presentation, which was the basics of entrepreneurship (what is an entrepreneur, what does an entrepreneur bring to a community), each group was told to think of a micro-enterprise.  I've learned that creativity is not a main goal of peruvian schools.  Regurgitation is.  Teachers dictate from a text, and students are expected to know those words, rather than those concepts.  I heard a report of one trainee's host sister being deducted points on a test because she used the word "calm" instead of "pacify" when describing a historical figures effect on a conflict.  She knew the idea, but didn't use the right word, and this was history class, not vocabulary lessons.  Additionally, I'm fairly sure that English is built into the curriculum nationally, and so it is taught by non-english speaking professors.  Anyway, this relates back to the story as this.  Any idea the volunteers through out for our groups involving these mock micro-enterprises would be immediately copied as the groups idea.  The challenge of the day was in teaching marketing and entrepreneurship of our mock enterprise, while instilling confidence in the students to then, think of the concepts themselves.  Look, my group could win the contests and we could feed them all the information, but that isn't the idea.  I could careless about winning a contest with my fellow volunteers, several times I caught myself, and had to say, no think of another way of saying a similar idea, that one was mine.  They didn't understand this, they thought I was in their group to win the contest for them.  Also I worked with all girls.  Nothing, repeat, nothing is more shy, than the international co-ed who doesn't speak your language, and yet is instructed to learn from you.  Anyway, my group wanted to start a small scarf knitting enterprise.  They wanted to call themselves Alianza de Hermanas.   Another tidbit, these students are in attendance for "certificates".  Certificates are very important to Peruvians apparently.  As Dennis explained to me, every time a student attends an extra session on _______ the person that gives the session, if credible, gives the student a certificate.  When the student then goes on to a job interview, not only is the student asked to bring their educational credentials, but a book of all the "certificates" they've ever earned.  These are highly regarded, highly sought after, and whether or not your work gives out certificates may make or break the attendance rates at your sessions.  We were giving certificates for 4 hours of a marketing workshop, so attendance was high.  Yesterday I went to the best Chinese Food I think I've ever had, a bowl of soup, a heaping pile of rice, beef and vegetables, a beer, all for $3.50.  Anyone abroad in the EU, you likely have no respect for money.  Todays morning activities were sessions on Formal versus Informal Teaching.  We were taught how to make puppets, construct ovens out of bricks and wood, do slideshow-esque musically accompanied shows with themes such as washing your hands, and what else, oh some other team building exercise focusing on team-building.  According to our trainers, teamwork, hasn't yet made it south of the boarder.  I've notices this obvious fact in the markets as well, as 100 stores might sell the exact same thing in direct competition with each other in stalls set up next to each other.  Teamwork, people, TEAMWORK.  This afternoon were giving speeches because were having elections for our group. Im running for recording secretary.  However, I found out that I have to take the notes in spanish, so my drive to win the election has been a bit, how you say in English?, depressed.  Which is not at all how I am.  Tomorrow, I go to Lima to learn about environmentally friendly farming practices.  Community vegetable gardens are a big part of a different wing of peace corps, the environment volunteers and the health and clean water volunteers.  Ill leave you with this thought, do you know what a Latrine is?  There is no septic truck coming to Yanacoto that I know of.  One last thought, consumer choice.  There are a million more things to buy in Peru than in America, and there is one place to buy them all, in the market.  In a country where status symbols for clothes are relatively non-existant, you're free to wear a lot more.  Just about everything, from food, to clothes, to toys, to pirated dvds.  Theres no regional sales director from big companies telling everyone en mass what to buy.  The result of this disorganization is more consumer choice.  It might not all be standardized, it might not all be quality, or safe, but you can buy it.  Consumers have a lot more choice.  On everything, everything except technology.  Also, Peruvians are fiercely loyal to their own brands.   Inca Kola, the Coca Cola of Peru, albeit nothing like a Cola, is a great example.  When Coke came to Peru, what was their main purpose, they tried to put Inca Kola out of business.  After years of marketing campaigns, they couldnt do it.  Inca Kola survived.  So what did Coca Cola do?  They purchased Inca Kola, and now they produce it for the Peruvians that love it.  Alright, more another time. 

Su pata,

Mateo

Very Little to Report from Training

A day of Spanish lessons, a small business training task, a marketing simulation.  Nothing really to report today other than I'm safe and fine and will have more to write about another day.  Saturday were going to an agriculture school to learn how to make small community gardens.  Tomorrow, after remedial spanish, were going to see our tech trainers give a charla (presentation) at a local school about some area of needed improvement in Peru to college students.  Those should be more exciting days.

Maybe I'll get home and decide to write more.

Maybe not.

su pata,

Mateo.

Totally Writing These Before I go to the Cafe, and Thumb Driving it

Today I had a mind blowing day. Another fieldtrip. And Mail! I got mail! Chances are it wasnt from you, but its great to get mail. Anyway, we took a fieldtrip today to Ventanilla a town on the northern coast of Lima. What we saw there was predictable, another desert sea side town filled with dust, half completed civic projects, and a library. Up until this point, I was pretty sure that biblioteca was a word that my 7th grade spanish teacher made up in an effort to preserve political correctness in teaching us directions. Now, I know they actually do exist in some towns. Anyway, the town was the town, ya know, tiendas and hairdressers, and a municipality that didnt want to talk to us or answer our questions, and also one which kept asking for identification. I'm not sure what sort of person walks into a city hall and asks to talk to the mayor all the while falsely claiming to be peace corps volunteers from the united states, but regardless, they get quite flustered when we're like, um, well our government passports arent with us can you just answer these basic questions regarding your humble establishments anyway. We found out that the mining institutions close by had some negative externalities to operation, including air pollution that they believed was leading to a high rate of birth defects. Lima's air quality in general is not difficult to assess, on the whole I believe it to be harmful, and it turns your buggers black. Thats right I said it. Back to the point of identification, Im very very excited to be handed my peruvian identification card following swearing in August something or other. Luego, the police love to single us out, asking us where were from, what were doing, and eying us with general suspicion. Packs of 10 or more white people tend to stand out. Anyway, that activity over, and having hired the services of a driver for the day for the 10 of us, we proceeded to get lost. This was the crazy part of the day. I got to see, what must have been, a 60,000 person town made entirely of plywood, stretched out in a valley as far as the eye could see and up the hill. There was no way this place had plumbing, and Id bet only one in five houses had electricity. Im not kidding, this was a refugee camp. They call them pueblo jovenes, theyre plots of government, and sometimes private land, that people just build shacks on, and live on. Eventually if theyre lucky and enforce some sort of law and order, these places become shanty towns, then barios, and then perhaps, with the correct lobbying effort, bonafide towns. Im not kidding, 60,000 easy, plywood shacks as far as the eyes could see, jutting off a main paved road. It would be laughable to think that any of the roads that I couldn't see were paved. This is after passing through lima itself, which has its bad parts, but nothing like this. Lima is a dusty dirty city, but it tries, it maintains a facade of gentrification, this town wasnt trying. Lima exists in the United States, in parts of Florida and minor cities with poor local government, Its like Newark with nicer things to visit. This place hasnt existed in the United States since the Gold Rush of 1849 or possibly the great depression. We observed this from a moving car, on our way to the beach. Now the beach was beautiful dont get me wrong. But there was a freshly dead sea lion, id guess 3 days old, in immediate need of taxodermy service. Now nothing kills a day at the beach for me, well it was 30 minutes, like 800 pound carcasses. I guess it doesnt make sense for the municipality to clean the beach during winter, but this isn't going to rot away on its own for a significant amount of time, unless polar bears migrate south or Great Whites sprout legs. I picture it being slowly eaten by dogs. I also found out that my water proof boots, are only water proof if the water cant get in from the top, now this would seem self explainatory, but I just didnt have the foresight or else perhaps I miscalculated the strength of peruvian waves. I spent the rest of the day in soaked water proof boots. Lets see other gems, we found a voodoo doll on the beach. For those of you who dont know what that is, its a homemade doll with pins in every hurtful orafice thinkable. Finding a voodoo doll was my first experience with Peruvian witchcraft, which I hear is quite powerful. My fever's gone, fantastic. Im relearning reflexive verbs in spanish class, and let me tell you, nothing is annoying like going over what you do in a day, over and over, and over ad. nauseum. I have to make up most things, for instance, casi nunca me afeito. But my teacher doesnt want to hear that. And god forbid I leave out me cepillo mis dientes. The final gem of the day, was getting back early from our trip, which caused our tech trainer, dennis, to work. You see he wanted us out on this field trip all day, and when we came back early, his boss Katherine, was like NO WASTED TIME. Well waste time we did not. Another wonderful day, south of the columbian border. Seriously, It was a great day all in all. I should not have drank much water at lunch however, a lesson I am learning slowly. I knew I had a two hour ride home, on several unpaved or poorly paved roads, it does a number on the bladder, especially recovering from ailment. What Id give for wireless internet, a laptop without internet is just a typewriter. Keep the emails coming, I appreciate each and every one even if I don't respond immediately.

sincerely for really,

Mateo

RIP George Carlin, Sickness, and Letting Go

I have to let it go of the fact that my gifts with the english language are now meaningless. That I missed my cousins wedding yesterday. That I have a fever of 100.5 and have for two days. That dinner will no doubt be the same as lunch. That I havent had a meaningful conversation in 3 or 4 weeks that wasnt an email with my home life. What is safe to hold onto? What will be the same when I get back. I don´t know. I guess Ill let go of that too. I´d say I will be the same, but I doubt that. I should let go of my own self image as well, it sure doesnt fall into line with how peruvians see me. Ive been writing a song in my head, ok well its more of a mantra, ¨theyre no pianos in peru¨. Its ok, Im a little bitter my fever didnt go away thats all.
Matt

Sunday Thoughts

As im sitting here at the internet cafe, its occured to me that I dont think Peruvians know how to use google, cnn.com, anything ya know, relevant. At any given time in any given internet cafe in Peru, theres 4 or 5 under 10 year olds playing games online (i recognize this quickly as my brother, Jacob, is a huge fan of the online java game) and the 16-24 year olds are on MSN messanger. Now they may love to put some cumbia (peruvian for awful music i should start making in my spare time and selling, its like a cross between the worst reggaeton you know, salsa, and cher) at higher decibles than 757s take off at, but thats about it for them. Using the internet for, buying things, the news, I dont know, blogging, doesnt seem to be on the agenda. Why is this Relevant? If my pequenos negocias were going to start a website, noones going to visit it, except maybe an export market. And with the cost of mailing things out of peru that Ive seen, I dont know how feasable an export market really is for say, a group of artisans under my command. Other thoughts, I dont have to go to church today on account of my fever, noone even mentioned it to me, so I get the feeling that last weeks stint may have been a one time, show you off to the town kinda deal. Personally I dont mind as the chicas all get dressed up, and thats way important to me, than the sacrilidge of going to church. Now before you jump on me about going in the first place, let me set your mind at ease, if Jesus should ever come to me in a vision, hey Im all ears, short of that, I like to perform my own daily miracles, such as showering with a fever in freezing cold water, and the words of the Priest, in feiry spanish, have yet to tickle my fancy. Its about fitting in. For those of you who somehow stumbled on this site, rather than knowing me (Im jewish). Lets see, I love sundays, sunday is movie day on the television, and with my fever, I wanted nothing more than to sit on the couch, spanish dictionary in hand, and watch hombres de negros. Im sorry if that came off racist, racism awareness hasnt made it here, hombres de negroes es la pelicula Men in Black, for those of you who didnt know. I think its hilarious the little racist things that come out of peruvian mouths however. For instance all chines people eat cats, something I didnt know, find quite likely, and didnt have the spanish to question. Another one is that asians are ok with you squinting your eyes, holding them open with two fingers, pointing, and going chino chino! They have an endearing habit of calling people by physical features, my poor host sister goes by gordita to a good section of Yanacoto. That wouldnt fly in America, but as my father would say, the self esteem movement hasnt made it to the parenting here. My host dad won his sunday soccer match again, which is always cause for celebration, but it wasnt as bad this week. I need to get out of here though, Im running a fever,
Sorry If I offended anyone with this post, it may have been a bit of a rant.
your favorite gringo,
mateo

Lima

Lima is your typical modern city in the developing world, albeit with a beach, completely cosmopolitan edificially speaking, and split population wise, Miraflores, which I like to think of as the upper east side, could have easily been transplanted to Barcelona, and then parts that are more at home in Yanacoto. I dont know exactly what to write about it, its certainly a dusty city, filled with markets, hustlers, and American fast food chains, but It also has a distincly South American colonial look to its buildings. Some are beautiful, the Argentinian embassy and the Art Museum were absolutely stunning. But a few blocks away, children 4 and 5 years old are begging openly and looking for things to steal. I dont know what to think of it, some of the stores were at home in short hills mall, selling the finest Alpàca and pre'columbian gold replicas and jewelry, and others were the same tiendas Ive been accustomed to once a day buying a coke from and putting a little American back into me. Lima is the home of white peruvians. These are people who are the desendants of the spanish colonialists. I suppose they pool their wealth together, send their children to special schools, and try to ignore the povery around them. One thing I did not like, was my language instructor instructed us to stop a taxi and bargain with him about prices without any intension of buying a ride to anywhere. I took issue with this as immoral, to knowingly waste a business operators time. The definate Highlight of the day was absolutely not the 2 hour busride back, it was meeting up with Amanda Okafor and chilling at a resturaunt eating cebiche and mystery meat. We trudged around after that, but it was interesting to see what 6 months in Lima will do to a person. She didnt want to leave, and she openly feared reverse culture shock. She laughed at my wide eye wonder at the Limean life, and I laughed that she has a maid and hot water at her host family in Miraflores. I totally respect all my friends who didnt go to London, Paris, or Florence for their semester abroad, but rather left the western world. What wonders there are. Im running a fever today, 100.2, whatever. I feel achey and tired, 2 weeks of walking up and down unpaved roads, and sleeping on a lopsided mattress, have taken a small toll on my lower back. But my spirits are up and Im still alive so, what else could I ask for. Thanks for all who have read this, and keep emailing.

su pata,

Mateo

A few Pictures, for the curious

Lima

Chosica

Yanacoto



A group shot and Cebiche for the first time

Chosica again

Congratulations, a short second post for the day

To my brother for his High School Graduation, and also to my Cousin Hilary for her wedding this weekend. LIMA TOMORROW, gonna hang out with Amanda Okafor and shes gonna show me the Lima ropes. Also figured out that a phone card buys me 50 minutes for 2 dollars to land lines in the US, so email me your home phone numbers, and email me when to call you. Word.
Mateo
Happy Weekend.

yesterday

Not everyday is in the training center in Chaclacayo, Yesterday, After language lessons in Yanacoto, our APCD (Assistant Peace Corps Director) Dennis arranged a field trip to a factory just outside of Chaclacayo at a town called Huampana (spellings have been changed due to ignorance) This was a classic example of a possible site. There there was an Indurstial Organization that had factories for several microenterprises, however we toured a shirt making facility. It was telling of several key issues to business development. First, the people had invested in technological infrastructure (sowing machines) when they had received an order from Topi Top (peru´s gap) but had failed to have the forsight to make topi top sign a long term contract. This oversight left them with rooms of machinery, and no orders to fill once topi top pulled out after the first order. The president of the Organazation, however, knew enough to admit that it wasnt techinical assistance they needed, but business acumen. They had hard workers, and they had the facility to deliver a consistent product, but they fail miserably at marketing their products to middlemen suppliers, who would consistently return. Instead they would fill individual orders, and then be left high and dry. The workers at the machine make 7 dollars a day. I wouldnt work for 7 dollars a day, and Im a volunteer. Speaking of that, this doesnt feel exactly like volunteer work, past volunteers tell me that our stipend likely puts us at the 85th percentile of wage earners in our community. Going in with all the decent equiptment I have, and then making that level, If life is relative, is this volunteer work? More on that later Im sure. One thing is for certain, this is development work. Much of what we do in peace corps seems to be fighting against the legacy that NGO work is giving money with little accountablity. 2 years is a long time but I wont be dolling out any money while im there. The trainers have told me that Peruvians have caught on, and often formalize their businesses and group themselves into organization, in the sole hope of garnering NGO aid. Peace Corps doesnt do that, theres no money to dole out, just a bunch of college educated gringos with Nalgene Bottles.

and one more thing

Ive got typhoid, rabbies, and Hep B completely covered now, seriously, try and infect me, my body eats it for breakfast... yellow fever again next week, rabbies too I think. Flea shots, however, are not given... and flea collars make great host family gifts

An up day

Today we had another activity that wasnt nearly as frustrating, myself and the others from Yanacoto were required to do a FREESOP, which stands for a lot of things, all in spanish, anyway, I paired up with Kenneth and we hit the R which was Religion. Now I bet you didnt know this about me, but Religion is kinda like a minor hobby of mine, anyway, We were charged the task of getting a grasp on the religious services offered to the citizens of Yanacoto, Hey surprise its 85% catolica, but youd be shocked, theres a Mormon entity, a pentacostal thingamabober, and two evangelical churches as well. La iglesia catolica is closed, every day except sunday, and the father comes from Chosica every wednesday to hear confessional as well. I dunno, it was a joke of an assignment, definately didnt take all day to do, but Me and Ken got to abscond all over the place, and I had another plate of Chebiche along the way, and gosh darn it was a lot better than the first plate I had. I could eat this one more than once. The first time I tried it i was like, i guess, maybe if i was desperate again Id eat it, but this time around, not at all, I could eat that stuff all day long. After this little adventure, the other 4 communities, all had to present what they learned about their communities, I mean, roll your eyes all you want, theyre all the same, except Charasana had a water purification system donated by a bunch of round eyed canadians, cost them 250000 dollars, and now they dont have to boil their water.... big friggin deal. Anyway, theres one community called Narnia, cause they live on the bad side of a wall built by the well to doers who want nothing to do with their poorer compatriots, Its not funny actually, one side is south korea and the other is north. I dont know if this post is so far legible, but Im not concerned. Following my day, again I had to have my private lessons, my teacher basically admitted im in the wrong level of spanish, and that my spanish ability was actually two levels higher, but that I shouldnt worry about it. I was like ok whatever, Im content to review, as I go home, and dont understand a thing my host family says.... Anyway, I think my tiff with the host mother is resolved, she seems to believe me, but I had one of the better spanish speakers come in and explain my side of the story. Wanna know a quick cute fact, Planet Earth is twice as good with spanish subtitles and a 2 year old and a 5 year old completely amazed... I mean, personally I love the programming, but these kids probably couldnt point out peru if you showed them a world map, their amazement is worth the price of admission. I love eating the same thing for lunch as dinner, really I do... It takes the preoccupation and worrying out of the day, I dont need to fret over it, ya know, sorta know whats coming, no need to worry, it is what it is. Provecho, as they say. I havent showered in two days, who knows how many days in a row is healthy to go without showering... Seriously, the showers gotta be 34 fahrenheit. Whatever though, this is the easy part, in 3 months ill be complaining that the family unpluggs the refridgerator every night to conserve electricity, At least condensed milk out of cans never goes bad, survives earthquakes, oh yeah and it cost 87 american dollars to ship my blackberry back. Ive got a good sense of humor about this, no? Who on earth taught latin people to say, no? after everything they say... its tres annoying, no? I think so, no? look either you do or you dont know, no? Love it here, seroiously.
Peace
Mateo

First Down Day

Definately had my first down day today, I dont know what it was, maybe it was the misunderstanding I had with my host mother today, which ok heres that story, So she wakes me up, mind you this is after being woken up at 430 by the god damn rooster, and then at 530 by the nino, and then at 630 by the families favorite past time of yapping outside my door while they prepare for work/school, and finally rousing myself at a wopping 7, and my host mother asks me where I was last night, which makes no sense to me, why? because I was asleep by 915 in my room, so I told her that and she says no, that I was out till two in the morning, now, Im just assuming Im not hearing her right because... trust me that happens a lot, but no after a few times, she really thinks I was out till two in the morning. Well I know I wasnt so I protest, that I was in bed by 915 and that I had been really tired all day with training and that I was lights out, and so this makes no sense to me, I was pretty certain that by the time I left the house, she was convinced that I was a liar, typical americans, just like tv, lying and staying out all night with multiple women, or something of that nature. So I get to training and Ive got this running through my head, and one of the other volunteers from Yanacoto asks me why I didnt come out last night, that the mother had knocked on my door and said I wasnt there. BUT I WAS THERE! Finally I figured it out over lunch, I totally fell asleep with my headphones blaring... Very frustrating. Spanish class in the morning, also couldnt have been more frustrating, personal descriptions of famous people in game format (guess who) is only fun for the ladies in my spanish class, look I have all the love in the world for ricky martin, enrique inglesias, and shakira, but Im not going to be able to guess who they are when the person playing the game on the other side speaks spanish as poorly as I do. For the record, I accell at political figures, my class which is made up of one girl from Nevada, one Girl from South Dakota, and one girl from South Jersey who loves perezhilton.com, couldnt guess who my person was when I said, soy el senator menor de massachussetts, I guess they missed out on the 2004 general election. Anyway, very frustrating to be in a spanish class with all girls, talking about physical descriptions of famous people... Next. Lunch was Fine, I spent it at the internet cafe, those of you that talked to me, que pasa... Next, ok second most frustrating activity since arriving in Peru, we broke up into groups and each group had to speak to the different strategies of development that 1 government 2 domestic ngos 3 international ngos 4 faith based initiatives and 5 peace corps all take. Now I dont know about you, but if I was thinking about joining a development organazation (hmmmm oh yeah I WAS) id have figured out the differences before I got here. Not everyone got it though, it was really, truly, and utterly, astounding. I suppose theres a moral here, patience... Finally at 5 when Everyone else got to go home, I had to stay for remedial spanish lessons before returning to my house. In fairness, I have to take remedial spanish everyday and its about a quarter of the group, and also the person whom I get my two on one spanish training with was a spanish minor at cornell, so that Makes me feel a little bit better, sorry for calling you out buddy. Alright thats my report on my first frustrating day, Dont worry, I still see the bigger picture : )
stay good everyone,
Mateo

Alcohol

Peruvians do not understand American drinkng habits. It seems that Everytime I leave my house, my host mother gives me a lecture on drinking. I thought this was a little odd, being that the only beers Ive had in her presence were at my birthday party, and I think I cut myself at two, possibly three. I now understand why. Peruvians do not drink socially. They drink to pass out. The concept of one beer or two beers with a friend eludes them. Its caused a bit of controversy among my PCV friends who, after a hard days training, want to pass the time with a beer. Weve learned not to drink at all in our host community of Yanacoto. The shopkeeper has a big mouth. This past day was filled with PCV stories about host fathers that took Fathers day to mean, drink... hard. My father was drunker than Ive seen anyone save Weeman in a long time. Why is this? I dont know. Its a little scary, Efrain the 6 year old, ran away when he saw his host father come to the door. I dont know what that means either. Some peoples host families went to the cemetary to celebrate fathers day and ¨poured a little out¨for their dead fathers. Now Im not criticizing, but it would seem to me, to my cultural filters, that Fathers day is a time for family, not drinking. But consistently, the story of the day was that the host father was smashed. Í am not in Peru to drink, and I am not worried about my drinking habits, but I know now to be on my absolute gaurd as to who is around me If I choose to enjoy a beer. The story from the PC office today was that if a Peruvians see you with one beer, I think they automatically assume that its going to be a long night for you. Female volunteers have reported stories of drinking a single beer, and being asked by their host mothers the next day If they remembered what happened last night. It seems that there may be general ignorance as to the concept of moderation. On another note, 4 volunteers in Yanacoto purchased guitars. This was joyous news to me, Im going to highjack them as often as possible. Its been really nice to hear from the several of you that have sent me personal emails. Please keep them coming. Dad, I gave my cell phone to PC office and theyre going to try and mail it via FedEx in Lima, Ill have an update tomorrow. Keep in touch everyone,
Mateo

The last Piano I touched

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J81FaAI3SSM

Cebicherias and trying to stop the Food Flow

Cebiche is the national dish of peru, well its one of two, the other is Coi which is Spanish for Gunneia Pig, which isnt Pig, but rather Rodent. Ive managed to steer cleer of the latter so far however today, was Cebiche day. Apparently its a Sunday thing. Anyway what is it? Gee funny you asked, its raw fish cooked in citrus, lain atop different varieties of potatoes. Why matt! That sounds like it will make you sick! Yes I thought that too, but so far so good. It tastes like nothing Ive ever had before, I guess its like spicy tuna sushi, just less organized in presentation, and reeking of lemon juice, or orange juice, or whatever the Peruanos think citrus is down here. Ive seen some wicked weird things pass as ¨fruit¨here. I mean, If they say its fruit I believe them, but if my host mom asks if I want a fruit after dinner, it is in no way a tangerine, apple, or pineapple. I was pumped when I was given mango one night, because at least I knew what to expect, even though mangoes a little exotic as well. The fruit here is of exceptional quality however. I imagine they truck it down straight from the selva, rainforest. Anyway... one thing I can not say about peru, is that their national soccer team is on par with the rest of the teams around here. Ive seen them lose three times since being here, and well... thats a let down because who else would I root for... Futbal is on tv twice a day, at regular intervals. It gives my host father something to do, his ripe old age of 55 is preventing him from finding work, so he stays home and changes arturitos diapers. I am great with kids, but I am happy I havent had to change any diapers yet. Mostly though, I come home, and artur wants to climb all over me, so I have to check him before I let him. Peace Corps decided my spanish was mal enough to give me private lessons one on one for an extra two hours a day in addition to the regular 4, whomever of you out there that majored in spanish, I feel bad for you, what a waste of money.... Im not even upset about it, Im actually pumped. I was given a workbook for spanish, and they gave me like 12 pages of homework, but Friday I stayed in and completed just about the whole book, so well see what the teacher says tomorrow. To all you out there who dont know who Tim Russert is, hes pretty much my Dad´s hero, so RIP timmy boy. I took some pictures in the market today, Ill get them up soon. Today is Peruvian fathers day, is it actual father´s day? I gave my host dad a yankees hat, eat it boston. This morning, I thought I was going to compete in a soccer tournament, there was one in my town that los otro americanos entered, but a misunderstanding brought me an hour out of town, to watch my host brothers Alen and Nestor compete and lose miserably. They at least looked good. It seems that if Peruvians own four things, one of them will be a pair of futbal cleats and matching socks shorts and jersey. I´m already fairly good at the peruvian flute, much to the enjoyment of my town, I bought a cheap one and walk around Yanacoto pretending I´m native. Much love,
Mateo

Photos down below

Spanish Class, my spanish Instructor is a little peruvian gent named pablo, his twin brother is pedro. The creativity cracks me up. Continuing, lets see, I went back to Chosica today to the Serpost which is short for servicios de post office or something like that, and turns out that I cant mail a cell phone according to them, they werent just jerking the americano around either cause I had two peruvians with me, and they pleaded but no. This was the first thing I wanted to do in country that I have no answer for. I suppose If I take a bus into Lima (I havent been to Lima proper yet) I could find a DHL or a FedEx, perhaps, Ill have to ask Peace Corps on monday what to do. An expose on cold showers, I love cold showers, I am so lucky to have a shower, an a bathroom, albeit one with bucket flush. Dave, a fellow PCV, has a latrine, and I am not envious of that, and what does that mean, no running water, he gets water from a pipe outside puts it in a bucket, and prays he doesnt have to make too many trips to wash himself... Thats rough. So I smile everyday because of my running freezing cold shower, and gleefully wash myself. More on the markets, guess what I found today, a Casio keyboard vendor... no i didnt buy it, Im gonna try and bargain him down on prices, but Im absolutely getting a keyboard, and every kid in my town is gonna know how to play God Bless America by the time I leave and theyre gonna think its by Mozart. No, Im kidding, but that would be pretty funny... well Im not kidding about getting a cheap keyboard, and Im not kidding about teaching. Its interesting, the open markets have such a clear organization to their complete chaos, the costume makers are with the costume makers, the flower shops with the flower shops, the electronics with the electronics, the locks with the locksmiths, the zappaterias with the zappaterias, about the only thing thats prevelent everywhere is cell phone vendor booths, who sit at the booth and charge you per call, internet cafes, and bootleg dvd stores, where you can get just about any dvd, and they all come in spanish and english, I wasnt the one to test out that theory, but serveral PCVs have told me its true. Yesterday was another PCV birthday, and we had another Party in Yanacoto. I like parties, theyre the only acceptable time you can drink a beer. No quiro ser un borracho en los ojos de los peruanos. The hill up to Yanacoto, a solid 1/2 mile straight up, makes me feel awesome everyday, the walking is pretty much my only excercise, Im not jumping to do push ups and sit ups on my concrete floor, and theres no weights to speak of. One thing I like about Peru though, is that everything is pay as you go, from cell phone service to gymnasium fees (join a gym, no pay when you go), to internet, to anything really, noones making you sign up for things. Id imagine that this is because people dont have the credit for it, if they have credit cards at all. Should I ask them to take down the depiction of the Virgin Mary at the peace corps training center¿ Maybe ill ask the ACLU what they think... Im kidding about this, but things like this are the difference between America and here, Id be crazy to ask them to take it down, the staff, which is largely peruvian, would have no idea why that would be important to me. Im sensing that religion isnt important, but belief is. Im sensing that they wouldnt care if i told them I was jewish, though I havent, as long as I didnt say, THERE IS NO GOD ON HEAVEN ABOVE NOR ON EARTH BELOW. I would bet anything that this is because the terrorists groups in latin america, are largely marxist. While catholicism is the dominant religion, there is a mormon church in Chosica, two Evangelical churches, and even a Hari Krishnah Krishnah Hari Hari Krishnah Krishnah Hari Hari Krishna whatever they would call their sanctuary. No jews though. Im not in Lima though, Im in boonton. What else. Im gonna get some cool pictures soon I promise, I just dont want to be all touristy yet, Ive got plenty of time. Besides it would be better If I could explain them. Does anyone think I should try and live in the mountains, I mean, absolutely every PCV I talk to from the mountains, loves the mountains, and thats where the artisan groups and weavers are located, Im kinda a little worried that with my art history background, theyre gonna put me there anyway. Bringing business to the people, etc. Anyway, theres nothing to worried about, the glass is half full, I havent had one bout with sickness, my food, while very rice and potatoey is made with a lot of love from a very caring host mother, and today she washed my clothes, which was a relief because those of you who know me know that clothes washing is probably my least favorite activity. Its very nice to not be treated like a boarder, but as one of the family, I think this family, which is highly educated considering, understands the peace corps mission well and wants me to be successful. Spanish is coming along. Take Care.
Mateo

Living quarters

these are my two dogs, and this is my room, remember this is temporary

Mission Impossible

Ok so how many of you spoiled brats have been to a true open air market... no Jerusalem doesnt count, thats for novices. Today I had a training exercise called mission impossible where I had to go to market, talk to the shopkeepers and report back on their accounting practices... Open air markets in Chosica Peru are... extensive. Every cut of every piece of meat you could possibly imagine is displayed in full gory detail. They have fruits here Ive never seen in my life. They have every bootleg movie thats not even out yet I could ever need. Shopkeepers sit proudly by their wares, trying to sell you everything imaginable, from 15 year old electronics to 10 day old pigs heads to still living guinnea pigs, which are the national dish of Peru. The shops are all organized, the shoe stores are with the shoe stores, the second hand shoe stores with the second hand shoe stores, the meat with the meat, the fish with the rest of the fish market, the rice with the rice, etc... beyond this basic market organization however it stops. The watch salesman may very well be next to the other electronics, however, within his own store, which he rents from a market ¨president¨, he has no organization, thats ok because most likely he is his own boss, if another employee were to come in, im sure the bewilderment as to the placement of the wares would drive him loco. This is to say that there is no basic marketting to the shops, there is no product placement, everything is everywhere. If it is a watch store, the timex´s are next to the fake rolexes are next to the casios are next to the real rolexes. I dont even know if this is confusing to the costumer, its just normal. As another part of the assignment I had to hunt down 4 car mechanics and ask them about wages, number of employees, lunch breaks, fire extinguishers, prices for oil changes, for total engine flushes... every place had a different price, number of employees, different everything, I chuckled to myself as in america, if I wanted to talk to the car mechanic, chances are Id still have to be speaking spanish. Luckily, people seem to know what the Peace Corps is and are happy to help me out if I explain who I am, soy mateo un esperante con la cuerpo de paz y tengo preguntas para un actividad... ah si senor mucho gusto, qual puedo ayudarte... etc... After this activity, I walked about an hour back to Yanacoto, and slept for about an hour, I guess the activity was supposed to take longer, but it really didnt, the trainers right now assume you dont speak much Spanish, so the assignments are short, my host sister Kenia gave me a giant list of Peruvian slang, and Ive been trying to learn it, the look on the Peruvian´s faces when you use a slang word instead of some gumbled up Spanish, is worth the time, they really appreciate it, fuggedaboutit

I still havent had time to respond to birthday greetings, If you find yourself in peru, My number is 989624996, if you dial 011 in front of that, you can get me from america as well, but I have no idea how much that costs, its good though, in Peru, if you run out of minutes, you run out of minutes, I think incoming calls might be free, but I doubt from America, and no telling what that would cost you...

Steve or Nina, please say hi to Grandma for me, I havent had a chance to talk to her in a long while, and the internet still eludes her.
Thats all for now,
Matt

An actual entry

Hey guys, below youll find a few pictures from my new peruvian life. Anyway, I am completely overwhelmed with all the well wishes Ive received for my birthday and I want you all to know that if I couldnt respond yet, please dont take offense, I buy my internet 15 minutes at a time. Anyway, I was expecting a really sad birthday and you guys wouldnt let me have it but BOY DO I GOTTA TELL YA my host family went all out for me. My host mother broke out a serious witches pot, and filled it to the brim, and invited every peace corps trainee in yanacoto (which i think is 16 if us) to a party filled. Everyone had their own beer, 4 potatoes, and a significant amount of chicken, an I want you all to know, that this could not have possibly been easy to aquire or pay for. In addition, other host families came, one brought me a bottle of wine, which was interesting tasting... i cant put it any better than that, and another gave me a stick of deorderant, I dont know exactly how to take that, but again it was a real gesture. There will be pictures of this event eventually, however I was not the primary picture taker. In addition to this, they had a cake, which they bought in town, a real proper cake that said ¨feliz cumpleanos mateo¨... oh yeah... Im mateo now... Ive found out some things about my family that I didnt know before, my host brother Efrain and Arturo are actually my host nephews, as they are Kenia´s children. Kenia has a boyfriend that lives and works in Mexico where there is more work. I dont know why they didnt just tell me this, but I had to find out from a neighbor partygoer. Either way it doesnt matter, they live in the house... I love Efrain, hes great. Arturitos a little young, and he like me, doesnt yet speak the language... We bond with blank looks.´ Today I went into a larger neighboring down, Chosica, to buy a sim card for my phone, and I now have a number, although the phones charging so Ill have to tell you all next time what the number is... but never EVER call me on it, call the american phone if you must. Those of you who have called me and whos calls Ive missed, Im sorry, I work ya know, cant always pick up the phone... What else, today was my third day of training and my spanish is getting way better, at this point though it is in the understanding, I am understanding better, but not yet speaking. There is so much jerga, slang, to know, for instance a peruano no tiene amigos, peru tiene patas. I was able to have a long talk with my host mother today about Fujimori, who apparently is a very bad man who embezzelled much, and will forever prevent the peruvian people from wanting to pay taxes again. That seems like it isnt a huge problem for most though, my business classes have taught me that 75% of peruvian businesses are unregistered, and non taxpaying anyway. Thats a staggering number, more to come... thanks a lot for all the birthday wishes, I will write more about the food and my travels and training at another time... Im so sorry I dont have time to respond to all of you.
su pata,
Matt

More Pictures

these are some community shots, anyone been to south america? es typical.... i cant wait for it to get more primative though... dirt roads and ferrel dogs is in no way enough for me

Some Pictures

i live in that little yellow house, the one on the bus is my daily commute, those kids playing with fire are my host brothers efrain and arturo helping to cook my birthday dinner, and that is my host mother, elana disassembling the final product

Report on my first host family night

Cockadoodle doo! no need to set any alarms. Promply at 530am the house comes alive with the sound of chickens, barking dogs, and by six the house is stirring. My room is a concrete box with one window that looks out into the courtyard, which is a continuation off of the main house. In the courtyard my host mother Elena is already busy doing laundry by the time I am out of my room at 630. This is fairly normal for me, my mother loves to do everyones laundry (wink wink) but not necessarily in a bucket and a washboard. Actually I think my mom could handle it, hi mom! My desayuno was sitting and waiting for me, one egg, boiled water and instant coffee and homade juice, which was delicious, and my lunch was waiting in a lunchbox for me to take to training, which is a short combi (bus packed overcapacity) ride of 10 minutes to the center of chacalacaya where the training center is located. Like I said, I am in Yanacota, which is a beautiful, but definately poor section of the region of Lima, about 35 to 40 minutes from the city center. Id say if Lima was New York, the Chacalacaya would be Montclair and Yanacota would be Boonton. Relatively speaking in every aspect. I especially like the analogy because I am on the top of a mountain, a desert, rocky rocky mountain. The few flowers that do grow, are quite beautifully pink, but mostly this place is populated with cactus and people. Pêru got MURDERED by Mexico last night, for any of you soccer fans, que lastima (a shame) as my house, which has cable tv was a central location to view it, as I met lots of very disappointed Peruvian nationals. Ken (a fellow PCV in Yanacota), Sal (same), and I challenged the local teenagers to a game of futbal yesterday, a trick being that Ken has played professionally for DC United´s practice squad. That was awesome. My host brother Efrain (6) is currently sitting next to me enammored with the games that he is playing, hes adorable. The dogs... there are a million dogs in Yanacota, and they arent all friendly. So guess what the PCMO (peace corps medical officer) gave everyone today... RABBIES shots!!!! fantastico... I immediately felt dizzy, and had to lie down, one of the PCVs passed out. The two dogs that my family have are both friendly, but the bulldog, whose name ive yet to learn, I suspect to be battling something, as it can not sit still, and cannot stop scratching itself. Anyway, while some of the volunteers health has been slowly deteriorating, I am holding up just fine with absolutely no complaints. The food here is amazingly rich. My host mother gave me pasta with topping (what the topping was I can only guess) for lunch and a fantastic desert made with condensed milk, mollasses, fruit, and rice. I get the impression that food is not a concern for this host family, the kitchen is absolutely stocked with all sorts of fruits and vegetables and I was served chicken with last nights dinner. At training today, we were given introductions to our language instructors as well as the methodology behind how they teach. There is no english spoken in the training center, except during the business training sessions which also began today. Also today I received a Peace Corps Medical kit which is filled with millions of drugs and bandaids and stuff I pretty much took anyway because I just didnt know. The gifting of this kit was met with a one hour instructional talk on how to avoid diahrea and other ailments, including dyssentry. Everyone gets sick at some point; I´m resigned to this fact as are most of the other volunteers. However, the graphic presentation was the perfect levity for the seriousness of these illnesses. If anything happens for more than 2 weeks in a row, Ill let yall know. I have eaten good food, and though my lodging is not luxurious, the combi ride clearly shows that I have faired well. Even compared to my fellow volunteers, I think I am extremely lucky. Some of them have host mothers that follow them around or have set curfews for them, or who temporarily live next to ¨women who have many men¨. My host mother has a large family to run, and I am the least of her problems. To show you the value of the dollar here, my family takes me in for 20 nuevo soles a night, and feeds me three meals a day. That is equivelent to about 6.50 a night for room and board. A beer costs about 75 cents to a dollar depending if it is large size or not, and this hour on the internet will run me about 30 cents. No complaints. Pictures to come!
TOMORROW IS MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!
Love as always,
Matt

Hello from my first night with my first of two host families

Hey! So today I went for the first time to the training center for the peace corps peru. It is a mansion, by peruvian standards, with a full gate, medical offices, many meeting rooms, and a swimming pool that liability prohibits me from ever entering. After a brief final orientation specifically concerning what to expect from our host families and a lunch with our spanish language instructors, BAM! we met whomever of our host families that came to pick us up. This person for me was 32 year old Kenia (pronounced as the country is pronounced) whom is one of my host hermanas... now you may wonder how many of these I have. Well other than Nestor Quispe (my host papa whom i have still not met because I guess he is at work) and my host mama (Elana) I have 2 host sisters, Kenia and Gracia (13) and 4 host brothers, Alen (28) who is a lawyer, Efrain (6), Nestor Jr (19) and Arturito (2)... that is a lot of people under our roof... SOMEHOW i have my own room with a lock on the door (but only on the outside of the door) so I can not lock myself in, only behind me... I am in a small town called Yanapoco... i think... if I need a spelling correction Ill get it in a later post... I spent the day playing futbal in the indoor soccer court which of course is outside. There is no grass here. There is nothing green. It is truly a desert of rocks, cactus, gorgeous mountains framing every direction I look, and dust. I live on a steep hill. The combi (small bus) that we took from training to here must have had 15 people all our luggage and 7 seatbelts. My spanish is improving with every conversation, every relative that I meet. In Yanapoco, about 8 other volunteers will also live and we will all take the bus into training together. Guess how many shots I get to take tomorrow... 6 including Rabbies and Yellow Fever... definately pumped for that... So far I am diarrea free although I expect that to change as soon as I begin to take my meals with my family. Tomorrow official actual, not just orientation, but actual training begins. This will be eleven weeks and will probably be a blast. Anyway, I know most of you wouldnt want to switch places with me right now, but I am very happy, the townspeople are extremely friendly so far, and the many many many dogs have yet to cause me any problems... My host family is the proud owner of two of them... benji a little runt of a dog and a HUGE bulldog that I have made a mental note of not to look at the wrong way. More to come,
Much love,
Matt

Hi from Peru!

Hey Everyone,
After 2 days of scare the bejeezes of you, note all the bad things that can happen to you, safety precautions, I still got on the plane (along with everyone else of the 38 of us in my training group) and so here I am about an hour outside of Peru, which at 1230 when the flight was over, was not a welcome extra hour. Tomorrow, I will move from the training center to a host family, with whom I will stay with for the first 11 weeks. Peru is already shaping up to be quite an amazing experience, my co-workers seem to be dedicated idealistic individuals like myself, and the food so far has been amazing... I have nothing negative to say about the experience at all, other than it was probably pretty cruel of PC to put us up in the Westin at Miami because, its obvious that accomodations here will not be quite as luxurious. I had my first earthquake today, yes thats right, at breakfast this morning a clear rumble could be felt and heard, and all of my fellow volunteers not from california, looked at each other in panic. It was nothing to worry about though! they happen all the time! I am in an internet cafe right now, sadly my blackberry does not have the internet capabilities the verizon salesman assured me it would. Fortunately, I can still make voice calls. Soon I will figure out skype, and be able to call... My skype name is Ivanhagar, as is my AIM screen name. Since I am at an internet Cafe, I am running out of time, but I miss you all very very much, and am currently adjusting to a very new, very awesome, new reality. I am very safe and happy for the moment, and Look forward to hearing from many of you soon. My Spanish is already coming back to me! It is not going to take long until I master my surroundings. The flight by the way, may be the only flight American Airlines has left that still serves dinner. Adios Amigos.
Love,
Matt
PS. I AM IN PERU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BEAT THAT!!!!!!!

heres the deal on contacting me

calling me costs 1.29 a minute on my end, although its probably free or free-ish for you since it routs to a jersey number, (973) 600-2318.  if you must hear my voice, please keep calls briefer than brief.

email is free (duh), please use mattrosen610@gmail.com, not mrosen1@brandeis.edu

i don't think peace corps gives me an email address

my mailing address during training is in the right hand sidebar 

please forward me your mailing addresses.

i will do my best to respond to all personal emails, as well as personal letters.

again, i will train with the Peru 11 through august 22

but then I may be in the booneys, and in addition, my mailing address will change

please keep this blog on your mind, it is the only thing i promise to update every time i can.

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