escuela

its been 30 seconds, but i thought i should write something about school too.
i'm pretty settled, but i'm first on the waitlist for another one, and if that happens to work out, it might be a difficult decision.
all in all i can't be disappointed with the results.
2 admits & 3 waitlists.



i've also decided recently, that i really want to go to mexico city. i'm not sure when though. i won't really have time this summer (though United seems to have round trip flights for under $200). and i'd like to go for at least a few weeks. 1st priority is Lima during the summer (maybe next Christmas break or something), but after that Mexico City is next. Unless Cusco is next. Oh, who knows....all i know is Mexico City is on the list.

patterson

so, i've been wanting to write about la fiesta de la virgen del carmen since last july. i'm finally getting around to it. of course there's very little written about chincheros, and even less (meaning absolutely nothing) on the actual fiesta, so i'm looking at a lot of fiestas patronas in the Peruvian & Bolivian Andes.
and in doing this research I keep finding things about Patterson, which makes me wish I had taken more advantage of my proximity to Patterson, NJ while here.
I'm starting to feel like my time here is winding down, which is both good and bad, and really if I'm in DC, which is what it looks like is going to happen, its very close. very weekend-trip-able.

also, there's a film I'm seeing monday about Sendero Luminoso women who were imprisoned. It looks so perfect. I mean, awful. But perfect. I'll make sure to write a good critique after seeing it.

chicha!

on thursday, i was given a code for ordering a free poster print from snapfish. I (figuratively) sifted through my pictures of peru on snapfish, settling on the picture of the ram's horn players at la fiesta de la virgen del carmen.

appropriately, as i was absorbed in the pictures, i got a phone call from jk. he was at a peruvian grocery store in rahway. he asked what i wanted and all i could think of was chicha morada. so, he bought me some and i drank it with (very tex-mexish) tacos this weekend. there's still plenty though. i'd like to experiement adding rum to it...???
what i really want though, is to go with him to the store, because i'd like to see if they have huancaina sauce. mmmmm i love me some papas huancainas. and the aroz for aroz con pollo. the green kind! funny how i wasn't entirely impressed by the food while there, but now i want some.

san luis

i was in the lou for the weekend. looking at a grad school. and i loved it. more than i thought i would. and now i'm very worried and anxious because i don't think i made a good impression
(and at this point you all reassure me i did--how could nell make a bad impression?)
there are few things i want badly. health for myself, friends, & family, a living wage, and.....school!
ah! i can't handle the suspense. especially because i think it will only end with heartbreak.
and this one will be far less pretty than the bright blue broken heart i drew for the picture blog last year.

but at least i know i've accomplished a lot in the last year. despite my stalled academic career, i'm moving forward in other areas (and backwards in areas such as "salary"). i don't believe things happen for a reason, but i've been a lucky person this far in life. hopefully that will continue. hopefully there will soon be two nellie hayneses in st. louis.

blogging para opcion

well, apparently today is the official blogging for choice day.
so i'm attempting to take part.

to keep with the lima theme, at work i've been working on a fact sheet about latin american women. its a very broad topic, but included are reproductive health and reproductive rights.


its very scary when one considers that the vast majority of women in the world really don't have much reproductive choice. barriers such as legality, economics, knowledge, availability, and stigma keep so many women in so many places from the true equality and justice they deserve. and the scariest part is that the US, a country slowly chipping away at that justice, has some of the most liberal policies.

oy, its so hard to work for justice in the world.

mucho celos

hasta un largo tiempo
kelsey's in lima now. i'm muy jealous. and not in the "oh i'm so jealous!" excited sort of way, but in a being on the verge of tears after reading her email sort of way. but its also really nice to read her emails and have very vivid pictures of the streets she's riding down, and the mar she's so close to.
and an opportunity to visit! although i think this is what really got me down. as things stand now there is absolutely no way i'll be able to afford a trip. even if i don't pay for much.
but at the same time, what she's doing is so wonderful, and i am really excited for her.
and nlirh is exciting and good and all that stuff. if not lucrative. oy. at least i can drink the water here.

salud, dignidad, justicia

i've now been working for the national latina institute for reproductive health and communicty impact consulting for almost a month. and december is a good time to start working here. I've averaged two parties with free wine a week. and i get the whole week of christmas off.
but the best part of it al is that a coworker made me a mix cd, and it has the song that i've been searching for. mi corazon. i love it.
me gusta la montanas, me gusta tu
me gusta nlirh.

also, kelsey is moving to lima soon. she'll really be on lima time. maybe once i pay off some debt, i'll join her there. we can live a like a little rez outpost in south america.
me gusta miraflores, me gustas tu
me gusta zapallal, me gusta peru

mi corazon es un combi de america del sur
y tu eres tomando un taxi

soy una gringa de nuevo

friday night, jk & i went to a peruvian restaurant in harrison. it was called spondylus or something like that (something i couldn't translate/make sense of). it was way more authentic than mancora in manhattan (not all that shocking). i had chicha morada and papas huacallinas. muy bueno. jk had lomo saltado (chifa) and i tasted some of the veggie bits. muy bueno tambien. unfortunately they were out of both cristal and cusqueno beers. but it didn't really matter. i was going to ask for some pisco after my chicha, but they sort of ignored us blancos and never asked if we wanted more to drink. we had to actively hunt down the check for a good 10 minutes when we were ready to go too.

so some people might be deterred by this, but it just makes me want to go back. watch some futbol there and drink some cerveza at the bar. i'm not daring enough to do it alone, but maybe i can talk others into it sometime.

anyway, it really brought lima time back and made me miss it.

its been a while...

so, i intended to keep this up after lima. unfortunately, i became employed in a 12 hr. day, 7 day a week job for a short time. i didn't do much but sleep and work. there will be more on that later. i'm preparing myself to write thorough investigation of my experience.

now, on to more important things...

today, the rest of my family left on their vacation. i was left alone in the big house with just the cat and lizard to keep me company. so, tonight i fell back on my second family.
its funny, last time i hung out with the kids, they called me. this time i called their niece, and just happened to find myself invited to a family get together.

and i never really thought of them as family before, but i realized as i walked in the door, really, i've known this family aunts, uncles, grandparents, kids, parents, etc. since i was 5. i know there will be a certain point in the evening when the two young cousins will wander off to call boys. and then kerry will say something misogynist and bill will start arguing conservative politics. and stace & i will play off each others' gender theory in an attempt to raise some consciousness, but really, its just the cheap beer talking.

and i feel comfortable. and its almost like home.

in other news, tomorrow i leave for chicago, then the wedding in muncie. then the iowa state fair. hopefully. transportation has yet to be arranged.

but the closet is finally cleaned. i have a sizeable paycheck on the way (but still not the paycheck the engineering co. still owes me), and i'm about to have a good week.

just remember the two most important rules:

-don't ruin anyone's fair fun
-what stays on the road, stays on the road (yes, that's how its supposed to be written)

that pretty much covers it all. meet me at the racing corner tap sunday night. i'll buy you a boilermaker.

dios mio

i swear i came home and wrote a drunken blog last night, but it doesn't appear to be here, so all is well.

i was left alone last night with no car. i was seriously considering calling b.s., but then k&k called looking for my parents. when i told them they were gone for the weekend they offered to bring over beer in exchange for hot tub time. it sounded like a fair deal.

afterwards we ended up going to pit row where i recognized almost no one. except my sophomore homecoming dance date, who just passed his plumber's licensing exam.

today, i start working with my sister. this should be interesting....

time and space

coming back was strange. not for the normal reverse-culture-shock reasons really, but because it feels like i've been gone for about a week. everything feels very normal. which maybe further confirms these thoughts i wrote my first few days in lima.

que tiene mas? claro que tiene mas!

I was thinking about the lack of existence of space in the terms we so often think of it, as I was saying goodbye to my family via the telephone on Saturday. There I was, misty eyed, saying goodbye to my parents and sister before leaving for 5 weeks. Except that I live more than 1000 miles away from them to begin with. We may be in the same country, but we do not occupy the same space. We do not really have intersecting lives, except on those occasions where one is visiting the other. But the invisible borders make all the difference. Mostly because it would be far more expensive to call them from here. So, it is the implications of differential space, not the space itself that makes all the difference.

I was also thinking about this as I was waiting for the PATH back to jersey after exchanging moneys. I was certain that if I tried hard enough, I would still be in bed that morning. And every time I drifted off to sleep on the plane, I was no longer mid flight to South America. And this is all corroborated by the existence of pizza hut and mcdonalds and bk, chilis and tgi Fridays, dunkin doughnuts, united colors of beneton, keneth cole new york, and payless shoes in lima. and even la bamba on the radio. Or Grey’s anatomy on tv. As much as I hate to admit it, diLeonard was right. When you’re standing in the middle of GAP and you can’t remember whether you’re in Des Moines or Calcutta space no longer has the meaning it once did and by extension, I wonder what this is doing to culture.

Not to say that culture has to be “traditional” (Traditional as mutton sandwiches at McDonalds, I say), but difference is the key to finding beauty in life. So, it worries me a little.

mañana salgo

today was the last full day.

we went on a driving tour of the city. it was great. most of the places i had seen already, but it was good to put it all in perspective. plus there were a few things i hadn't seen. i wish i had time to go back and explore more....no such luck.

el museo del arte

we also had some Chifa, which was quite good, but makes me want to nap now.

i may be leaving, but never fear, when i get to the states, i'll put all the pictures in the blog. plus, starting wednesday, i'll technically be back on Lima time. Gotta love the midwest.

y ahora, necessito una siesta.

transportation (¡Ari!)

these are 2 things i meant to write before...

last friday in Zapallal I was riding around a lot with Jose the dentist in the afternoon. His car was a total rez car. the whole control panel was missing and in its place he had precariously placed pictures of his family. only they would fly around every time he turned a corner. he needed tape. to add to the rez-ness, it also only started about half the time. he had to tinker in the engine about 5 times that afternoon.

lunch stand in zapallal (not where we ate though)

on wednesday, coming back from Miraflores, I got the front seat in the combi. and it was great. it was one of the bigger ones too, not the vw bus size. first of all, it was nice to have a seat belt with all the quick stopping. and there was more room, the seat was comfortable, and it was nice to have a different perspective.

un combi en calle jose prado (not my picture,
obviously-check the date)

this morning i was up before simon, and talked to juana while i ate breakfast. she asked when i was leaving and told me i had to return muy rapido. and she gave me a hug. it was great.

not sure what i'm doing today. simon mentioned some spanish school bus trip thing, but its $25, not S./25, which seems like a bit much to me. i'm not sure what the whole story about it is though.

i can't believe this is almost over. i wish i could stay...

hace quatro semanas

this weekend was good. the irishman and I saw superman with rosario from the spanish school. it was about as expected. not a bad way to spend a saturday evening.

then yesterday, we went with the family to the Virgen del Carmen fiesta. It was great. The priest was late, so it started late, and it was a little cold (it was outside), but after the mass (i think it was a mass??? i don't know anything about catholicism though), there was a dance troupe, which was pretty impressive. They did a dance which satyrically reenacts the conquest of the spanish over peru. I was told that the dance has been done since this time. There was also food and dancing by the general crowd, which was of the -form a big circle, hold hands, and move to the rhythm- sort of dancing. which was fine. i can handle that. but twice someone drug me into the circle for a one on one sort of dance, which wasn't too difficult. more of the same. but i don't like being the center of attention in that sort of setting....
















but it was fun. and we got to see carmen again. (not the Virgen del Carmen, different one). and most of the rest of the family. it was good for picture taking too.

un dia muy largo

carlito picked me up at 8:30 as usual. i got to the U and left with Carlos to go to the rural community. we basically just drove around for several hours measuring the distance from schools to health centers, to water stations. etc. we also walked around a bit and took pictures. in the process i stepped in el feces de perro and was very smelly. it even got on my jeans. then, carlos dropped me off with a dentist so i could go to the promotoras de salud meeting with him. we continued to drive around and look for people who weren't home. the meeting was interesting, and all the promotoras were very nice. interesting people. and my spanish was actually working. sorta.

two pictures from zapallal. the photographer and i simply switched places

i tend to make stupid mistakes like use the wrong form or a past tense or say juego instead of jugo. pero esta bien.

getting home was a bit of a chore. the meeting started and ended very late. then there was much much traffic. and then the dentist had to get some dentures from his assistant at her home, but we had to wait in the car for 20 minutes for some reason. this was never explained to me. at least in a language i could understand. at one point i was sure that this was eventually going to result in my murder and burial in the hills outside of the city. but eventually, we got the dentures, got to his office in Pueblo Libre, he got me a cab, and I arrived home about 7:45. however, somewhere in this process, a pen exploded in my bag and got on my camera. fortunately, the lens cap was on. but still, i need to find a way to clean it.

the good parts of the day were being in Zapallal, getting free lunch, and the dentist gave me 3 things. toothpaste, a toothbrush, and chocolate. how's that for a combination. i should have had him clean my teeth....

and now, i'm tired. its friday night, but i'll probably just watch law & order in spanish or something and fall asleep fairly soon.

its my last full weekend here. i'm starting to get a little sad about it....

viernes....

last night, for cena, we had sandia. the largest one i've ever seen. and keep in mind i've spent a fair amount of time in agriculture buildings at various state fairs. anyway, juana couldn't cut it because of her hurt hand, so Irish stepped in. it took a giant knife, and a mallet for pounding. it was pretty amusing all around. and very very juicy. they just don't make watermelons like that in the states.

some old man tried to set me up with his son, who lives in Atlanta today. I didn't really know how to react. i just laughed. he also told me that women are much stronger than men, because they can give birth. i'm not sure what marrying his son had to do with that. well, i can see the obvious connection, but you know what i mean.

i also was given coffee this morning, at the university, and didn't really want to drink it. blch. but i loaded three heaping teaspoons of sugar into it and it was drinkable. sorta. now i'm wired, and jittery. but i still am tired and want to take a nap. how is that possible?

well, that's all for now.

hoy no es el dia

well, looks like i have the day off. the dr. didn't call last night like he said he would (shocking) and when i finally got ahold of him this moring, he said he'd call me back later.
so, i'm off to miraflores.
i'm not a big fan of pineapple juice. its too strong for me i guess, but i had the fresh real stuff this morning, and it was quite wonderful. unfortunately, ever since, i've felt like i'm going to throw up. this is in addition to my other lovely (but common) stomach condition of South America. what a day...

hoy es el dia

i woke up this morning in a bad mood. i didn't feel like speaking spanish today.

but things quickly changed. i got on brilliantly with the 4 brits i met today. they were 4 different incarnations of rhino's dream girl, except they lack specs appeal. but all the same, a good group.

we all went to an impoverished town outside of Lima. we toured

the public health center and a school. and it was magical. i thought to myself, "this is what i've been looking for" but i wonder, does it make me exploititive, and no better than Mr. Bruce Parry himself? that i get excited and perhaps even thrive on being in places where people are living in conditions that would be considered horrific by most of the "1st world" and now i'm orientalizing, and auto-occidentalizing, and getting confused, but yeah, i worry that its not a good thing that i'm interested in these people from an academic standpoint. sure its better than totally ignoring them, but i imagine if i were truly a wonderful person, i'd be trying to help rather than theorize about them.

at the maternal health center in zapallal

but enough. the other highlight of the day was lunch. deep fried cauliflower. now, i've never been the hugest fan of cauliflower, but in its deep fried form, it resembles something one could get at the Veggie Table at the Iowa State Fair. and as if that weren't enough, it was garnished with tomatoes and avacado. pure heaven.

what a day

el ultimo partido

i have to say, the best part about the world cup is hearing ol' Irish say "third place" this is not quite Kearney and he's certainly no replacement for Art, but wherever you go, for whatever reason, its always nice to hear an Irishman say "third". or Irishwoman. no gender discrimination here.

we went to Jockey Plaza (a mall) to watch the final game on a giant wall of tv screens in the food court. i had some fries and a coke from Bembos while we were there. It didn't get too crazy, but its amazing how the world stops (almost literally) for the world cup final.

















tomorrow i go to an impoverished community with the doctors. it should be interesting. from the pictures, it reminds me a bit of the rez. only with even more language barriers. but i'm going with a group of students from england, so at least it won't be like friday, trying to explain my project through broken spanish, to native french speakers.

and cuzco is officially out. i'd like to go, but time, money and motivation are all conspiring against me. next time.

i guess that's about it. only 2 more weeks here. which isn't that short of a time, but i wish it was a bit longer. fortunately, when i return to the states...i have the fair to look forward to.

¡finalamente!

finally, today, i met up with the dr. and went to the University. my Spanish failed me, as usual, but it was pretty helpful. i got some good information, and writing articles was even mentioned. perhaps pre-maturely. anyway, looks to work out well.

also Irish & I went to a dance class. salsa. good times. stupid young kid from jersey, who i tried to make jersey conversation with, but he blew me off as if i didn't know what i was talking about. he was talking big about how he´d already traveled around peru, he was just here, this time to learn spanish. then he said he had lots of quinces to go to. then his dad picked him up. stupid kid.
there was also a german girl who had been traveling in south america since february. and i ask myself, ¿who are these people? how does one have the time/money to travel for a year. mostly the money i guess. i know what the answer is. i have friends who do it. but i have loans to pay off and credit cards that need payments, and well, i know have a grand total of about $900 in savings (and that's only because my last paycheck hadn't come by the time i left the US). i guess though, i'm glad to know that, at least for some people, there is an escape from the system. and god, i'm lucky to even be doing this for 5 weeks. i just wish i was one of the luckiest that could do it for a year. maybe if i wasn't paying rent in the goddamn most expensive place on earth...well, next to tokyo i guess.

anyway, i was also thinking about the rez tonight, and how i'm never sure i'll find a place that has that magic for me. or maybe i just haven't given this place enough time. or maybe it was just the vodka. and the bilagaana clan. so, here's a shoutout to all my mailmen. i miss you. and maybe next year...the rez.

ok, enough nostalgic waxing. today was good both for morale and research. Peru!

for now, dinner.