¿Te aumento?

It's funny, one of the first things people (regardless of nationality) ask me about being in Peru is whether or not I'm liking the food. I guess it's a reasonable question seeing as food is rather central in daily life and it is also the most likely way to cause illness while in a different country. The food itself, though, hasn't been so much of an issue as has my relatively small appetite. The altitude, it seems, has shrunk my stomach, so what I would normally consider to be half of what I would eat is just about perfect. This seems to worry host families to no end, and they constantly ask ¿Te aumento? (shall i give you more?) and then look at me with a face that says they're worried I'll get sick. But really I feel great and my body seems to have adapted (knock on wood) to the food quite well. I may even gain weight! They load me up with yummy chicken broth based soups that contain sliced vegetables, a small chunk of meet, and potatoes, then give me a plate of more potatoes, rice, and something else like fried egg or fish. Actually my favorite thing is oatmeal and bread in the morning, it's warm and seems like just the right way to start off the day.



Speaking of days, ours have been filling up more and more the past week and will become almost hectic next week! We have been doing small tasks like painting the bathroom/shower of the Posto de Salud (health clinic thingy), and have been getting going with larger projects, like teaching english (and frisbee!) to local kids (adults have expressed interest, but are generally incredibly busy). Yesterday we actually had to "break in" to the Posto in order to finish our painting job...which involved me climbing on adobe bricks through a very open window and passing the paint, brushes, and a ladder out the window to Maren and Daphne. I actually quite like painting; it is methodical/meditative and I feel quite useful while doing it. Kids also think painting is pretty cool, so the first day we had a couple of watchers and one girl who helped me paint the bottome of one of the walls. This girl, Jemina, is the daughter of Paula's (the mother of my family) sister and can only be described with one word--traviosa. She is not shy in the least, is very independent, is always competing with the boys, loves calling my name, and is 5 so has the cute factor going for her. She is also perpetually dirty--a sign of how vigorously she lives life.

Along with Jemina, the other children of Chijnaya have been one of the best parts of being here. Yesterday and the day before Maren, Daphne, and I had our first English classes, which turned out to be quite successful. The first day we only had two kids for a while, but they were both super into the "Lotto" game we played with them, so when other kids showed up the excitement just escalated to excellent proportions. Yesterday we started off the English lesson with a bit of frisbee, teaching a couple of boys how to throw the disc, then when more showed up we played "five-hundred" in English, only we used the numbers 1-10. Later on we played Lotto again (which they absolutely love) and the kids started getting rambunctious and energetic, with one boy commenting on everything in Quechua, which just made all the others collapse in fits of giggles. It was pretty great.

Besides English and painting I've helped bring the cows and sheep (who much more rascally than the cows) out to pasture, which is rather challenging when they bolt for the alfafa (which isn't so great for their stomachs) and generally requires two people. Maren, Daphne, and I also attended a knitting workshop...at first we weren't exactly sure what it was, so when we got there and it turned out the women had a teacher, we felt pretty silly, especially since we didn't have anything to do. Maren and Daphne ended up leaving (but with the urge to buy some knitting goods) and I fetched my weaving and brought it down for a little demonstration. The women told me to come back the next day to do some more proper teaching, but when I arrived it turned out they still had a lot to go over in the workshop, so I ended up taking photos for the teacher instead. I really enjoyed being in the company of the women, as they are easy company--always laughing, curious, lightly gossiping, and ready to tell me anything I might want to know about Peru and their community. I had a similar experience with Paula's mother, a vigorous, good-humored, and confident woman who speaks with me very plainly and openly, telling me all about how to embroider, the site near Lake Titicaca from which the community moved in the 60s (she wants to take me there), and asks me lots of questions about the food, landscape, and climate of the United States.

The immediate family that I'm living with continues to be generously hospitable and a whole lot of fun. I continue to play cards with Richard and Beto pretty much everyday, as well as playing with Davis (chico), the toddler. I've had some great conversations with Richard and Cèsar about everything ranging from traveling by airplane to traditional Andean stories (of which Cèsar knew approximate 1.5). Yesterday I taught Paula a little weaving, but she kept dozing off! She works incredibly hard, running after Davis all day, taking care of the cows, and serving cervezas to mine workers until late at night from their store (among the many things she does). Cèsar continues to be extremely helpful, talking with us to the Director of the high school to get teaching schedules figured out, telling me about local issues, and asking tons of questions about the U.S.

This family has some truly wonderful moments. Yesterday and today, for example, Davis has been wearing a sweater vest that is basically like a knit tunic on him and an awesome knit hat that looks like a mushroom and makes his head look twice as big as it is. Last night we all were frantically running around my room trying to trap a mouse (which Cèsar tried to stomp on!), but to now avail. Basically, everyday there is a lot of smiling, laughing, and skirmishes between siblings.

Well, until next week!