¡Buenos días del Perú!
It´s another lovely day in Cusco -- especially since my cold is finally going away! I´ve been "resfriada" (sniffly, with a cold) for about 3 days now, but my nose is finally starting to slow down. Yay!
In other (more significant) news, here are some updates on la vida cusqueña (Cusco life):
- Saturday night (after I posted the last update) we had a wonderful meeting with Adolfo, where we sort of talked over the whole game plan for starting our project´s "pilot" soon. The highlight of this meeting was that we unanimously (the three of us) decided to look for a "mujer líder indígena" (indigenous leader woman) or two from whatever community in which we decide to work to partner with us and be on our "team". This is important because everything Daniel and I have read about voluntourism and grassroots cooperation in college has talked about the importance of valuing and including local wisdom, and not just assuming that we know everything because we went to college. (On the contrary, we can´t even talk to most of the townspeople because we don´t speak Quechua!) So we´re really excited that Adolfo sees the value of pursuing this also -- and we love how he´s incredibly smart and also willing to change his ideas when he hears something he thinks is worth including. =)
- Also Saturday night, we found an internet cafe where we were able to hook up Daniel´s computer directly to the internet, which enabled us to SKYPE with some family members, yo! It was super good to check in and hear some familiar voices (and remember how to speak English, haha), though it was also funny that Daniel kept being frustrated in his update-sharing by my notes.... which had already said whatever he tried to say. =) Sorry, Daniel!
- Over the past few days, Daniel and Adolfo have been working really hard to meet people at other NGOs (Daniel) and get a hold of people in potential target communities (Adolfo) so that we can start to lay the groundwork for the actual project(s) we will do. We expect to start having lots of meetings with people, so that´s pretty exciting stuff! One awesome thing on the radar is that this Friday the director of the Peruvian chapter of UNICEF will be coming to Cusco, and we´re going to get to be present at the meeting/chat/thing and meet him!!
- But what are YOU doing, Rebekah? you might ask. Well, I spend my time doing one of several things: coming along to meetings and taking notes/helping Daniel understand Spanish, reading and planning in preparation for the start of my school year this August (!), sleeping (I have been sick, after all...), and reading and planning the beginning framework for a "volunteer curriculum" that we would use when/if we have foreign volunteers come for our project. This latter probably wouldn´t happen until at least January, at the very earliest, but since I have time now (and won´t when I´m grading final papers over Christmas break!) I´m trying to get a jump start and think about what sorts of questions we´d like volunteers to be thinking about in an "optimal" voluntourism program. Yes, we have both talked about voluntourism being hard and gross... but it´s not going away, and we think the best way to tackle the problems is to try to do it a better way, where hopefully the people will stay longer and/or come back multiple times and focus on the relationships they make rather than on "collecting" exotic people, photos, and stories to display when they get home and then forget.
- We have enjoyed our stay in our lovely hospedaje, but we are excited that tomorrow (or the day after, but probably tomorrow) we will be moving into an apartment in Adolfo´s family´s house! We are excited for several reasons, one being that it will be much easier to meet with Adolfo, and the other being that this apartment will have a little kitchen! As much as we love our two favorite restaurants we´ve been frequenting, it will be nice (and a lot cheaper) to be able to cook for ourselves most of the time.
Well, that´s about all I´ve got for now. Hope you all are well and enjoying the (wherever you are) sunshine! =) Enjoy your "Spanish lesson", and keep in touch!
Un abrazo fuerte,
Rebequita y Danielito
VERY IMPORTANT SPANISH PHRASES
Lesson Two: Around the House
Cubra y hierva al fuego centro. (Cover and simmer.)
¿Tiene su cocina un extinguidor de fuego? (Does your kitchen have a fire extinguisher?)
No me gusta comer alimentos pesados por la mañana. (I don´t like heavy food in the morning.)
Hice los bizcochos con una mezcla preparada. (I made the biscuits from a mix.)
¿Podría traer un molino de pimienta, por favor? (Could you bring a pepper mill, please?)
Mi mesa se bambolea un poco. (My table is a bit wobbly.)
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