4. The Struggle

Perhaps the title is not only cliche, but also slightly misleading. There really isn't one struggle that I've faced or been faced with in my six weeks here so far. There are a lot. I've dealt with some personal challenges, such as overcoming my fears of saying what I want and expressing myself honestly and staying healthy despite all the cold/flu sickness that's been going around. I've also been faced with some more external struggles such as those of the people I met who the the Healing House aims to help and the compelling stories I've heard from homeless I've spoken with.

There's one struggle though that's really been hanging over me like dark cloud, although recently the weather here has been truly fantastic. That is the struggle to maintain a blog. It's hard enough to find time in the day to just meditate and reflect on my own life, but also to synthesize that into a readable post for friends, family, and colleagues elsewhere in the world is quite a challenge. Especially when you fall a bit behind and get off track, it feels nearly impossible to start back up again and get writing. I'm still a week behind in my personal daily reflections, and I feel like I need to catch up there before I can post here. Never fear, however; I'm overcoming that and getting back on track. Today is my half way point. I've been in Peru for seven weeks now and I'll only be here for another seven. Perhaps realizing that is what gave me that extra impulse to continue.

So a few weeks ago, I got a job as an English teacher at a bilingual school across town and started performing on the weekends with a jazz/rock and roll group. Both were incredible opportunities that have taught me a lot so far. Still, those new responsibilities coupled with my continued service at the Healing House got to be quite overwhelming. Preparing lesson plans, practicing songs, and even just finding time to work shifts at the House were enough already. The week that all started, my writing and daily reflection fell off to the side. Recovering from that has been tough. There's no way around it. Still, there will be longer posts about those experiences in the coming couple of days.

There's an even bigger underlying reason as to why it's been hard for me to blog. I do have some great isolated stories about the adventures I've had so far, but it's not what I planned in the least. The Saturday creative kids program at the House has gone well in the past couple of weeks, and I've continued to help out however I can with that. Still, I can't report triumphantly about how the plans I made while I was home have been a huge hit. Actually, we haven't been using the lesson plans I wrote. Each week at our creative kids volunteer meeting we decide on a theme and then come up with different art, music, and yoga activities that correlate.

This coming week we're going to just focus on art though. We'll be explaining to the kids about plastic and how the insane amount of plastic bags used here affect the environment. Then we'll be decorating tote bags that we had sewn out of recycled flour sacs to give the kids something cool to use instead. The main point is though that we get the kids to be more conscious how their individual actions affect the world. It's a really cool lesson, but I'm still skeptical of how effective it'll be. The reliance on plastic that I've seen here (and I mean they use plastic bags for everything) seems more like a symptom of something larger. Perhaps they're so widely used because it's just cheaper in the short run and not something everyone can afford to go without.

Anyway, this coming month each weekend Tori (my fellow FSU Global Scholar) and I will be carrying out our prepared lesson plans each Saturday. Tori brought with her some disposable cameras for a photography project and I've still got my plans and songs for a choir class. I'll admit I've amended them quite a bit given what I've learned and experienced working with the kids each Saturday, but I look forward to really taking the lead when it comes to this social project.

Well, that's all for now. Stay on the look out for a few more posts covering these past few weeks.

Paz,

Sylvia

3. Getting into the Jam

I'm going to start this blog off with a promise: I will think of better, slightly less cliche titles. (Still, did anyone catch the Electric Six reference?) Until then, there's a lot to be said about my first two weeks of service here at the Healing House and my life in Cusco in general.  If you haven't already read it, click this link to learn a little bit more about my various duties as a "volunteer intern." If you've already read it, you'll know that just like any other intern at any company, the majority of my time is spent doing small tasks around the House to help things run smoothly. Even though this is a nonprofit international development organization, it's still an organization that needs people to do small every day things (like cleaning and gardening) to allow it to grow and flourish. It's not all about swooping in and saving lives during all my volunteer hours, it's largely been about learning how things run around here and figuring out what sorts of things I can contribute to what's already going on.

So speaking of what's already going on, each Saturday here at the Healing House anywhere from 5-35 neighborhood kids show up in the afternoon to participate in our programas para niños, our creative kids programs. Both boys and girls anywhere from 5 to about 13 are here from 2 pm to 4 pm to do some yoga, sing or play instruments, make an art project, and have a healthy snack, all in that order. At least that's exactly how it's been for the past two weeks. The program has actually existed for much longer, and has gone through a variety of changes, but that's where it is now. It's quite successful in a variety of ways. The kids who come seem to really like it. We offer them a safe place to be and some cool things to do on a Saturday afternoon. Plus, the kids' parents, I've been told, really like it because to them it's free babysitting.  However, those of us in charge of the program have also had a few meetings so far about what we can do to improve. We've all agreed that we need some long-term objectives for the kids. That's a sort of hard thing to accomplish because most volunteers are here for a short period, usually around three months, and then they leave. We're all trying to work through that by making a lesson plan book that contains what we covered each week and ideas for the weeks to come. The idea is to have a theme that ties all their activities together each week, like talking about gratitude or our dreams and aspirations.

We threw out loads of ideas, and last Saturday we did a jungle theme and talked about deforestation of the Amazon. Our yoga section featured a variety of animal poses, and for the music, we taught them "In the Jungle." This week one of the other volunteers, Tori, made a PowerPoint about the different jungle animals and what's happening in the Amazon. After that we made masks of our favorite animals for the art section.

a hilariously candid photo, credit to Tori

All in all, it went quite well, and I was particularly pleased with the music section. "In the Jungle" features the repeating awimbawe, awimbawe section that everyone can keep going while different groups of kids could take turns singing the chorus. That's a great way to keep everyone participating and engaged while keeping behavior issues at bay. We do spend a lot of time trying to get kids to focus, and that's a pretty creative way to accomplish that without stopping and asking them to listen.

I've had quite a lot of fun working on the music program for the kids. Two guys, Giancarlo and Daniel, already run it regularly. They live in Cusco and work playing gigs around town, but donate some of their time to help the kids on Saturdays. Most of my contributions to this creative kids program have been in conjunction with their efforts. They'll still be here after I'm gone, so I've been doing what I can to help them do their thing. The three of us do make a pretty interesting team with my classical training and their tremendous affinity for more contemporary music. We sort of balance each other out. I've actually gotten to know them pretty well over the past couple of weeks, having some late-night jam sessions playing and singing tons of classic rock favorites. They're pretty cool guys, and I look forward to working with them over the coming months.

Another program that I've recently gotten involved with is our Wednesday night live music yoga class. That's one of our more popular offerings, and I can definitely see why. That class is really focused on getting people to try new things, experiment and create within their personal yoga practice. Meanwhile, a few musicians improvise songs to go along with the general mood of the class. I'll be honest, we have rehearsed one or two songs as a good go-to and also to get people in the class singing as well, but it's mostly just 90 minutes of raw improvisation on our part. The class environment is very freeing, and I found that I've been able to really let go of some of my inhibitions and experiment creating my own stuff, without too much fear of noodling around before I figure out what key everyone's playing in. A large part of that is Shevaa, one of the House residents. She's absolutely wild about music and makes a lot of her own instruments. She's never had any formal training, but she's wonderful about just putting herself out there regardless and just making some noise. She's really nice and encouraging to others too. Having her there makes me feel a lot more comfortable about doing a bit of experimenting myself. Also, she's let me borrow some of her instruments for the class including her mini harmonium which is wicked cool.

So, I've really been learning a lot about the different programs offered at the Healing House, how they go about helping others (quite creatively if I do say so myself) and actually being helped out myself, freeing myself to experiment musically. I'm quite excited for the weeks to come and especially this Saturday. We're going to be singing a song one of the guys wrote and talking about our dreams and aspirations. It should be great.

Well, that's all for now. I'll keep ya posted!

Sylvia

2. Lazy Days on the Riverbank

Okay, okay. I haven't seen any rivers in Cusco yet; although, I did cross a few streams as I hiked up to the top of the mountain I now live on. After you pass one of the only non-cobblestone, two-way streets on the outskirts of Cusco, there is a really faint grassy trail you can follow to the Temple of the Moon. I got out there, but to be honest I didn't even go all the way out the ruins. Just the trail getting there is so beautiful, I had to stop and take it all in. Also, who could resist singing your heart out at the very top of the mountain. How lucky was I to borrow such an impressive place for my practice room that day.

my take on the quintessential "relaxing by the beach" picture

Still, that's what it seems these past few days here have been about. I've honestly just been wandering around town, trying to gather my wits about me. I'm pleased to report that I can now easily get to the two biggest, open-air markets where I've been buying all of my food, mainly avocados and papayas, except for bread which I've been getting at a nearby bakery. It's surprising how inexpensive fresh, raw foods are here versus packaged, processed goods. I can also find my way to the closest public library, several good cafes, and a variety of Catholic churches.

In my various adventures in and around town, I already feel like I'm slowly immersed into the "culture" here. In general, I've found Cusqueños to be very warm, friendly, and helpful with directions. People you've just met are quite likely to kiss you on the cheek, something I'm not quite used to, but I really appreciate the thought. Still, I've also had my bumps in the road. On my very first day here in Cusco, I had my digital camera stolen from me, right out of my bag. I even felt it being taken from me, turned around, and a man told me that the man who had taken it was long gone. Well then, that certainly threw me off and had me feeling anxious for days. I just didn't want that to happen to me again. What probably upset me most wasn't that something I owned was gone and now I'd have to rely on my somewhat unimpressive iPod camera, it was how quick I was to generalize that behavior. I was still afraid to trust I could have bad luck like that anywhere, I guess it was just more notable that it'd happen here, while I was still adjusting to being in a new place. It would be incredibly unfair of me to generalize that to all new people I meet here. The exact same thing could have happened at home, and I wouldn't feel compelled to mistrust everyone I met there. For now, I can say that it's been quite a learning experience in maintaining self-awareness and awareness of my surroundings.

My volunteer work didn't officially start until Wednesday, so the days leading up to that we're really quite interesting and relaxing. Of course I had to take it easy to adjust to the altitude, something that still catches up to me whenever I try to climb upstairs or move too quickly, but I was really excited to jump into that metaphorical river from my cheesy title and get started. I did have a meeting with Niki, the founder of Healing House, on Monday about getting my music class project off the ground, but in addition to that the other volunteers and I are in charge of keeping things going at the house. Cleaning up the kitchen, answering the door, making flyers, working in the garden, etc. are all part of my duties when I'm on the schedule. So, on Wednesday my first assignment was to paint one of the walls in the foyer. Part of it was already painted with chalkboard paint for us to write our yoga/meditation class schedule, but there was a need for an announcements section. So, one of the volunteers and I found the rest of the chalkboard paint, eye-balled an alright amount of paint thinner for our assignment and just went for it. And actually, it turned out alright. I did make a mistake at one point and painted down past where we were supposed to go, but I was told that if it looked too bad we could just turn it into a bit of artwork later on. My shifts have been going quite smoothly since then, and meeting new people and answering questions at the door has been pretty interesting. And it's an excellent opportunity to practice my Spanish.

My involvement with the music classes here is what I'm looking forward to most. There are lots of opportunities to get involved with the weekly kids and young adults programs on Saturdays. I'm also working on getting some to come for a separate chorus class outside of that. Tomorrow, I'm actually going down to one of the local schools that hosts a very large Saturday program for children and parents that can't send their kids to school. I sat down with the principal today, and he was very happy to allow me to observe and offer the music class to those kids, for me to gauge interest levels and work out some logistics to making possible for as many as possible to come. I was able to meet him and have this opportunity thanks to Alvaro, a House affiliate who teaches music at that school.

I suppose I'm just dipping my toes in the water (sorry to the that mediocre river metaphor going) but I'm really happy to be here and finally start my volunteer work and contribute what I can to the good that's already going on here.

1. The Calm Before the Storm

As I'm sitting here at terminal J7 waiting to board my flight and sipping my deliciously bold  Starbucks' Three Regions Blend coffee,  it finally starts to sink in. This is probably the last time I'll even see a Starbucks. How am I ever going to survive the next three months? (I'm only half-kidding.)  Still, I can't believe how much I took something as simple as that for granted. Living here in the United States, it seems you can never wander too far from all-too-popular franchise. However, the more I think about it the more I realize I'm not too upset to be getting away from all that. As much as I do enjoy Starbucks, I can hardly imagine what different kinds of coffee I'm bound to try while in Peru. 

Maybe I'll even get to see a llama up-close and personal for the first time. In that sense, I'm still the naïve young girl excited to go to a new place and meet new people. I can't believe how lucky I am that I can go abroad and experience something like this. Even though this is a volunteer internship, it's undeniably  true that I'm going to get so much more out of this than those who I'm supposed to help. Sure, I know everything won't be peaches and cream all the time, but I think even the multitude of challenges I'm also sure to face will be such great opportunities for my personal growth. Maybe I won't be saying this in a day or so, after I experience the altitude sickness associated with being high up in the Andes mountains or I get lost in Cusco for the first time and in my freaking out forget all the Spanish I know. For now, I'm eager to get going and start already.

I just really don't want to forget anything that we've covered so far in the EdGE course. I feel like I've been getting a lot out of each weeks readings and discussions. In these past nine weeks, I've had my apparent preconceived notions about this trip challenged quite a bit. I'm so glad we've discussed how good intentions can lead us astray. I'm more aware now of how easy it is to make implicit assumptions of what others need, and I hope that awareness stays with me in the coming months. Also, I feel like I just a lot more lenses for understanding and making sense of the situations I'll find myself in this summer. I wonder what other perspectives on inequality I'll encounter. I certainly hope I can keep enough of an open mind to empathize. Perhaps I'll even be able to share some of the many stories I'll hear.

So, even though I'll be away from all the familiar faces (and coffees) I know and love, I'm really looking forward to this. I've finished packing, I have all the documents I need, and just a little while ago, I waved good-bye to my mom and dad after getting through airport security. Tomorrow morning as the sun is rising, I'll be just flying into Cusco. I guess I should have typed this, my first "pre-departure" post a lot sooner, but hey, my plane doesn't board for another twenty minutes. Technically, I haven't left yet, but the adventure has already begun.