Buenas tardes and happy last day of
June!
It’s sort of a strange feeling,
realizing that we’re done with five (of our nine) weeks of work – on one hand,
I feel like we’re only barely past halfway done. On the other hand, I feel like
we have a ton of work left to do! We’ve
decided that we will be done with data collection by July 13th,
which will leave us with two weeks for going through all our data: our numerous
interviews, focus groups, and surveys, as well as the reports and documents
we’ve received from various parties over the course of our stay. There is a lot
of information to sort through, but I think the diverse nature of our sources
will make for a rich final report (or that’s what I’m hoping!).
This past week was a mostly pretty alright
week. Monday we went to a celebration in Ondores (a few pictures are up) to a)
see what it was all about, and b) try to get some of our surveys done. Naturally,
the ride that was supposed to leave at 8 either didn’t have room for us or was
going to the wrong place (or was non-existent from the get-go), so we waited
around another couple hours and finally headed over around 10. There were
plenty of people to interview, and we got a good start on our surveys. We also
climbed a large hill (hence the view in some of my pics), which sort of
reminded me of my time in PC, going to a friend’s house to hike up his or her
mountain. This one was pretty small in comparison, though it did allow for some
astonishing views of the lake as well as the town of Ondores.
Tuesday and Wednesday we worked
around home for the most part, transcribing interviews, organizing data (I’ve
taken this on primarily, I enjoy compiling data and looking for patterns,
etc.), exploring the big market on Tuesday and going to a nearby town on
Wednesday for what ended up being a very long interview. I got to Skype with
Brian a bit on Wednesday night, before he went in for surgery Thursday morning.
For what it’s worth, I find it really difficult to be away from home when big
things are happening. My stepfather having brain surgery to remove a (benign,
thank goodness) tumor between his inner ear and brain constitutes a big thing
in my book, so I was sort of distracted much of the week.
On Thursday morning I woke up
feeling slightly off. I figured I’d feel better after a run, but after only
about two minutes of being vertical, I realized I just needed to go back to
bed… but I couldn’t get comfortable and I sure as heck couldn’t sleep. I like
to think I’m a pretty healthy person. In the States, I don’t get sick very
frequently, and when I do, it’s usually because I haven’t been sleeping enough
and my body freaks out. Here, if there is one thing for sure, it is that I have
been sleeping enough. It’s like in Africa – it gets dark outside and I start to
get sleepy. I easily bank 8-9 hours a night. I have absolutely no idea why I
got sick, but oh boy, I got sick. No appetite, no energy, both Thursday and
Friday. I am amazed at how much I slept, and I am, as my parents will tell you,
a champion sleeper. The cherry on top of all this (being sick and being away
from home while big things were happening) was that this Sunday (today, I
guess) was the half-marathon in Concepción for which I’d already registered and
planned to run. Needless to say, after two days of not eating, I wasn’t going
to try to run a half-marathon at 10,000 feet, even if I have been “training” at
13,400 ft. Seriously disappointing, but definitely the right choice.
Back to the surgery - thankfully,
everything went well. I got periodic updates from my mom (technology is
absolutely a wonder and a marvel), saying the surgeon had made the first
incision, or that they had started to remove the tumor. Brian spent just over a
day in the ICU where they monitored his neurological functions hourly and was
moved to a regular hospital room yesterday (Saturday) morning. Mom must have
also brought him his phone on Saturday since that was when we started texting –
again, technology is amazing (as is modern medicine). He’s hoping to leave the
hospital tonight to begin his 6-8 week recovery at home (hello, Netflix!). I’m
sure he’d be happy for recommendations of books/movies…
Like I said, it has been especially
difficult to be away from home this past week. When I’m sick, I crave the
familiarity of my mom taking care of me – cuddling up on our couch and watching
Disney’s Robin Hood while sipping Sprite, nibbling on Saltines and popsicles,
dozing in and out of sleep, but always having her there to check on me.
Obviously those days are long gone, but being sick in an unfamiliar place is
never fun, especially when people try to care for you differently. For example:
I grew up drinking cold water (and Sprite and popsicles) when I was sick (even
adding ice cubes to room temperature water), even healthy people here don’t
drink cold water. I was actually scolded for drinking cold water. Furthermore,
they believe that Sprite (or other sodas) are actually really hard on your
stomach, so I have been hiding the Sprite I have and graciously accepting cup
after cup of random herb tea (one was made from celery – probably the last
thing I want to think about eating/drinking when my stomach is upset!), and
dumping some down the drain.
Enough on being sick. Thankfully,
I’m feeling much better. I only took a short nap yesterday and then had
problems sleeping at night, so I think I’m caught up there. My appetite is
coming back slowly and I’m getting tired of white rice, bread and crackers. I’ve
actually been productive today (other than the hours and hours of knitting I
did yesterday) – I managed to run 3 miles (and was thankful I hadn’t tried for
the other 10). I sent some emails and tidied my room. My major accomplishment,
however, was my shower…
I got back from my run and flipped
the hot water switch to “on,” as I’d been instructed some five weeks ago. The
shower in my room is nothing spectacular (temperature is a bit erratic and the
pressure is way less than desirable, but hey, it’s a shower, which is way more
than I could say in Lesotho). I waited a few minutes, turned the water on, and
waited another minute to let it warm up to a civil temperature before getting
in. Not only was the water still freezing, it was barely even a dribble. I
climbed out of the shower and got my hot water bottle (I would have my shower),
dumped its contents into my large bucket, and started scooping (very cold) water
onto myself. I’d just come to grips with the fact that this would be a very
quick shower when the hot water started coming back… and it was definitely hot.
Then the showerhead started steaming and sputtering and sparking… I flipped the
water back to cold and began filling my bucket again. This went on for some
time, between cold water and warm water, which became hot water, which
apparently initiated the self-destruct function on the showerhead. Not exactly
sure why today was such an adventure in bathing, but I think it might have
something to do with the fact that we are in the “dry season” (even though it
still rains occasionally, and ice pellets fall from the sky other times), so
water may be more of a scarcity, especially into the afternoon. Tomorrow is
another day.
This coming week, we have plenty to
do (no surprise there). I haven’t looked at the team calendar in a few days,
but as far as I know, it’s just going to be more interviews, focus groups,
surveys, transcribing and translating. If I get my way, we may start outlining
bits of our report to take some of the pressure off the last two weeks, but
that will depend on how much else is going on and what the other two think. As
of right now, I don’t think we have any solid plans for the 4th of
July, but perhaps we’ll have to plan something with the PCV in town, even if
it’s just the four of us. I’m always proudest of my American-ness when I’m out
of the country… something about the grass always being greener? But for real, think
about it – America is pretty cool.
One more exciting thing! I get to
start planning for my week of travel post-Junín! So far, I know it’s going to
involve a lot of hours on a bus (20 hours between Lima and Cusco!), probably
some pretty touristy things, but ultimately Cusco, Machu Picchu, and hopefully some
other towns in that area of the country. Though plans are still in the making,
I’m hoping to catch a flight out of here August 4th, so I should
have just less than a month of real summer vacation before going back to school
in September. I can’t wait!
Now time for another chunk of work
before watching Brazil take on España in the World Cup Qualifiers… we’ll all
pile in to the living room and crowd on the couches to watch the tiny (black
and white) television… totally living the dream!
Hasta luego,
-k
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