Sunday, July 11, 2010

Viva Olandia!

Today is the final World Cup game.  I wish we had gotten to Peru a little before the World Cup started (instead of THE DAY it started), so that I would have had more time to become familiar with the teams and the sport in general.  I have found it impossible not to get caught up in the feverish excitement though.  I love sporting events of any sort and this global fiasco is particularly fantastic.  I am glad I was able to play my first ever game of futbol the other day before this was over - even if it was three on three on three with three goals, and even if I did lose and even if I was all but useless to my teammates - I played!  I even took damage.  This one guy, Rob, I think he's going to kill me before training is over.

We are going to my friend Ryan's house to watch the game.  I went over there yesterday, to the town of Huascata, with him and Biz so they could set up the projector and a huge dirty sheet to show the game on.  I love seeing the variety of lives my compañeros are leading here and Ryan's was very fun to see for a couple of hours.  He is practically fluent in Spanish, so his relationship with his community is substantially different from what I have gotten to experience.  He even brushes his teeth every morning with all the little children at the school.  Hilarious.  So we hung with his brothers, drinking beer in a circle (I am getting used to not pouring my own beers), and we watched the Aliancia vs Universitario game on the big screen.  It was superb (well, the game left something to be desired, but our makeshift cinema was fantastic).  Today's game is going to be a blast.  I need to come up with another Peruvian appetizer to make today - good thing my grandma's in town, I bet she'll help me.

Went to another baby shower last night.  Another.  Really.  It was way mellower than the first one, which is fine with me - you really don't need much to be thoroughly entertained with a Peruvian clown for a few hours. Also, I have been having my standardly unpleasant reaction to this week's flu shot, so I was happy to get to bed before 2am.

We had our second language interviews yesterday morning and I don't feel like I did too poorly - though I possibly could have done a little better.  My Spanish speaking ability is very closely tied to my comfort level in a situation, I have discovered. Sometimes, I can sit and almost fluently speak about home, politics, books, and particle physics.  But then someone will sit me down and ask me what I had for breakfast and what I am studying in Pequeños Negocios and I will freeze up and not know a word of the language.  My interview yesterday was somewhere in between.  I am sure I will be advancing, but we'll see how far.  Regardless, I am confident that I will be comfortable enough in the language to function confidently at site, before this last six weeks of training ends.

We have divided into groups for Field Based Training, which starts in a week.  I am in a group with Biz, Edgar, and Jim and we are headed to San Marcos, Cajamarca, for a week.  It is up in the mountains and supposed to be beautiful.  There, we will be teaching a college course for a week on Entrepreneurship.  We are preparing well and I am certain that it will go swimmingly.  I will be spending this next week doing dry runs of my portions in front of an empty classroom in order to get more comfortable with the language.

Biz came up with an idea yesterday to put on a movie night here in our sleepy enclave.  I spoke with my mom about it, who is a strong informal community organizer in this town, and she has given me the necessary information to pull this off.  If all goes well, we will be showing a movie on a sheet in the church in a few weeks.  There will be popcorn and cheeseburgers.  My entire extended family voted on us showing the most recent Shrek.  We are going to donate all proceeds back to the church.  I am excited for this.

Ok.  Must go get Ashley and see if she wants to cook with me.  Gotta leave to watch the game in a couple hours.  I am rooting for Holland, who I understand is the underdog.

Ciao.

PS  I will not be doing a ton more uploading of photos until I get a battery charger and some rechargeable batteries.  I have been flying through batteries and thoroughly can't afford it on my two dollars a day.  Soon, hopefully, however.

1 comment:

  1. your blog is so beautiful little one. I love hearing every moment. Be well, happy and know how proud we are of you!

    ReplyDelete