Lots of Catching Up!

Hey friends and fam! I apologize for majorly neglecting my blog lately...Last week I started having SO much to write about that I kept putting it off even longer because I was kind of overwhelmed thinking about all the things I had to tell you!
But I finally am getting around to it and I'll give you the highlights of the last fourteen days.

Two weeks ago, we had another class period with Carlos Ferrero (the Congressman who we talked to before). This time, we were talking about racism in Peru and it was SO COOL because he brought a guest with him to share her experiences with us. Her name is Paulina Arpasi Velasquez and she was the first indigenous Congressperson to be elected to office in Peru. Now, I think there are 3 or 4 members of Congress who are "indios". It was cool to hear that things are changing enough that there can be a greater diversity among government officials, but Paulina said that there is still a lot of racism that she has to deal with everyday. She talked about a bunch of different times when people have said or done things to her in Congress. The example that I remember most clearly was that she arrived late to a meeting once and went around to greet everyone (I know I've mentioned this...but the way people greet one another here is a kiss on the cheek. And when you arrive somewhere late you have to go around the table/room/whatever and kiss every single person! You can't just wave a general hello like we do in the US!) and after she kissed a fellow Congresswoman on the cheek, the woman wiped off her cheek with the back of her hand. Another time, someone else came late to a meeting and went around greeting everyone and simply skipped over Paulina. It was just really sad to hear these kinds of stories and I really can't fathom what it would be like to have to deal with that kind of stuff everyday...They are little things but all the same...Paulina mentioned that its mostly the gestures (or lack of gestures) that are hard to deal with. She said that she wishes people would say racist things to her instead of using non-verbal ways to express how they feel because then she would have a chance to respond. But if they just use body language, etc. its a lot harder for her to call them out on their behavior.
There was another really interesting element to this whole talk as well. The whole time, Paulina kept saying how much she has appreciated the help of Ferrero because he has really encouraged her and is always reassuring her that she is an equal member of Congress and just as good as everyone else. So, at first I thought that Ferrero must be much more open-minded than the other Congress members. But as the conversation went on, he kept jumping in and interrupting her in the middle of a story to kind of add his own opinions, which was fine, but he did it in a pretty condescending way. And whenever any of us would ask Paulina a question, Carlos would repeat it to her very slowly, just assuming that she couldn't understand it the first time it was asked. It was very subtle but I definitely could feel this undercurrent to their relationship that kind of set Carlos Ferrero up higher, as her mentor-he was kind of steering her towards what he wanted her to do and say and I got the sense that he thought she couldn't handle our questions on her own, even though she ovbiously could. I talked to other people in the class who felt the same way. It was just so interesting talking about the topic of racism and seeing it happen right in front of us.

Last week, we had another talk with Ferrero (just him this time...) about terrorism in Peru. I didn't get as much out of this talk as the others, but it was interesting all the same. Learning about the terrorism that was going on in Peru in the 80's and 90's is kind of intense. Its so difficult to imagine what it would have been like and its super interesting because most of our host parents and professors lived through it. They remember what it was like when curfew was at 9:00 pm and if you broke that you would probably get shot. They remember what it was like to not be able to stop at stoplights when you were driving because you would definitely get robbed. (Someone told me that this is one of the reasons the traffic is so crazy here and there aren't many rules...people got so used to just running redlights and driving crazily during the years of terrorism. Don't know if that is totally true..but its probably a factor.) Its just tragic to think of all of the people who died here and in a lot of other Latin American countries...and we never even learn these things in the US. I had no idea before coming here what a HUGE affect terrorism had on Lima and on Peru in general. If you can, you should look up info on the Sendero Luminoso (the Shining Path), which was the major group leading terrorist activites here. I won't go too far into it, but it was a terrible situation because the SL wanted to recruit campesinos (people from the small rural villages) to help their cause. They kidnapped children and would brainwash them into working for the SL. They would basically kill anyone who wouldn't help them. At the same time, the government army was doing the same thing...they were trying to discover who was a part of the SL and would go to the small villages and kill whoever wouldn't help them. So the campesinos were in a terrible, terrible position because either way, they had a very good chance of being killed.
A few friends and I went to a museum last week and there was a huge exhibit dedicated to terrorism in Peru. There were hundreds of photos of things that went on during that time period and it was a really hard but really fascinating thing to see.
The class we are learning about all of this for is Ethics...I really like this class a lot. It just makes me think a lot and its so so so interesting.

Hmmmm. What else has been going on?

OH! Well, tomorrow I am leaving for a whole week (!!!!) to go to Mancora, which is a beach area in Northern Peru. It is supposed to be absolutely gorgeous. Everyone I've talked to about it has been really jealous! :)
My friends and I are renting a house (which was actually cheaper than renting rooms in a hotel) and it looks like paradise!!! Here's a link to pictures of the house: http://www.mancoraperulosalgarrobos.com/condo/index.html
There are also some pretty important archeaological sites nearby which I'm definitely planning on visiting. The last weeks have just been so jam-packed...I'm looking forward to relaxing and finally having some time to read a few books and just hang out with people.

Yesterday was a really good day for me...We went to a birthday party for my "grandma". She is turning 81, but doesn't look like it AT ALL. If I had to guess, I would probably say she is in her late 60's! She is really sweet and it was fun to meet all of the extended family. Two of the older girl cousins were SO nice to me...they were just really helpful in explaining things if I seemed lost. I sometimes feel really bad because I just sit there, listening to everyone else talking, my eyes bouncing back and forth between people. When there are large groups of people talking, its all I can do to just follow and understand the conversation...I can't even think about trying to speak as well!!! I wish that sometimes I would be confident enough/have a good enough idea of what is being said that I COULD just jump in to the conversation...I don't want them to think I am boring or don't want to talk to them...
But these two cousins were really really helpful. One of them is studying to be a translator. Other than Spanish, she speaks German, French and English. The other one is a tour guide. She does tours all over Lima and also other places in Peru, but doesn't go too far because she has a little boy. She studied anthropology in school and lent me a book about Peru. She said I should try to read it and then we are going to get together for coffee and discuss it! I was so excited!!! It was like i was meant to meet these two girls!!! I just felt really confident talking to them in Spanish and it was so great because they've both studied things I am really interested in!

Ok. Well...I think that is it for now because I haven't even started packing for Mancora and we leave in about 4 hours!!!!! I'll post pictures, etc when I get back!