Struggling

Hello, you.

Writing these emails has been a great time-killer for me. At this time, I'm sure many of you are looking for distractions from midterms or work. Or you maybe you're just bored. So I'd like to return the favour. Please feel free to kill your own time by answering any/all of the following questions:

1) If you could elect anyone (excluding yourself) as LEADER OF THE WORLD, who would you choose?
2) What happened in your most memorable dream/nightmare?
3) You open your front door to find a baby in a basket. What do you secretly name it before bringing it to Child Services?
4) What has been humankind's greatest achievement?
5) Hit me with some gossip. Preferably about yourself, but not necessarily.

Now, back to MY therapy:

I'm still kickin' it in Peru. Ridiculous things still happen every day.

- Went to a Peruvian rock concert. Was very excited about finally seeing some live music in a town that generally does not support the arts in any form. Regretted my decision about 1 hour into it. Would have to wait 9 more hours, squished up against strangers and unable to move my legs or eat or go to the bathroom. While listening to Peruvian rock.
- Moved into a new apartment. Which is glorious. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and dining room/ living room all for the very reasonable price of $200/month.
- Almost got trapped into living with Carmen (the one who asked me to make her lunch every day). Before moving into the new place, my boss was asking me how I felt about it. I said I was really looking forward to it - I've never had my own apartment before. He looked shocked (and a bit afraid). I explained that I'd always lived with friends in the past. "Carmencita! You have to move in with Amy!" Carmen suddenly got this look on her face like, "...YES!" Luckily this time, I vetoed right away and said that I was really looking forward to living alone.
- Moved into my new apartment only to learn that I wasn't allowed to plug in the fridge because it uses too much energy and we share the energy bills. Spent a week or two awkwardly wrapping cold clothes around my milk and storing them in cool corners of teh cupboard. Bought a secondhand mini-fridge.
- Had an party to inaugurate my new digs. Cooked some "Canadian" food. Chocolate banana bread blew their minds.
- English names are surprisingly popular here. I'd say they're almost more common than Spanish names. I run met several people with the names Jhonnys (their spelling mistake, not mine), Gladys, Ruth, Shirley, William (not Guillermo), Edward (not Eduardo), and Aaron. Inexplicably, the most popular name of all? Percy.
- Remember when I told you about how Renato so slyly retracted his request to share the office by using the old "4th floor no good" excuse? I don't know about you guys, but I thought it was a total load of bologna. Turns out, I was too quick to call him a liar; I seem to have encountered a true cultural difference here. A few weeks ago, I accompanied my Peruvian family (who I lived with the first month) on a trip to Huaraz. Huaraz is GREAT. It's an outdoor wonderland. Despite all the opportunities for physical activity, my family was having none of it. We arrived at the hostel that Roger, my Peruvian Dad had in mind. We started climbing the stairs to check out the rooms and had gone one and a half flights. "Hold on. What floor are these rooms on???" "The 4th floor, sir." "What??? That's too high." So we went back down the stairs, got in a cab, and visited two more hostels before settling on one that pleased him. I asked Elena (Peruvian sister) what the deal was. She was just like, "oh, too many stairs to climb," as if it was totally logical. What the hey? Also, anytime we have to go somewhere 5 blocks away from work, there is no question that we take a cab. So be prepared - I´ll have extra padding when I come home.
- Have been dealing with some ridiculous office drama. Won´t get into the details now, but I have become very aware of the acute need for human resources in the NGO world. Since starting, 2/4 of the people I work with have quit. There have been email wars back and forth between my boss and coworkers where they use sentences ending in this many question marks: ??????????????????? Obviously sent in mass email form, so I get the gossip. Needless to say, it is a very unpleasant work environment and I´m counting the days until I get to peace out of there.
- Made friends with some artists and went to the opening of the FIRST EVER art gallery in Chiclayo. Even though Chiclayo is not my ´´happy place´´, it´s a pretty exciting time to be here from a development point of view. As a really young urban centre, development has been almost entirely concentrated in commerce (aka boring). We´re at a point now where all levels of business formalization co-exist. Within a three block radius are independent farmers selling their fruit on the street, indoor markets where you can buy pirated dvds from rented booths, and a huge outdoor market where you can get everything from fresh fish to haircuts. Within the last 10 years, more expensive formal businesses began filling the streets, like bakeries and clothing stories. And only 3 years ago came the supermarkets, malls, and Walmart-esque superstores. There is even a Starbucks opening the mall soon. Wonder how much longer the street vending farmer will be able to survive... (but that´s where my disfunctional NGO comes in!) Anyway, arts/culture have been completely neglected, despite the area´s rich history. So this art gallery opening is a huge deal, and from my point of view, marks Chiclayo´s entry into a new stage of growth. Maybe in 5 years Chiclayo will be a fun place to live!

Anyway, I have been totally negligent in writing group emails (partly because of the work drama, partly from spending a lot of time outside of the office, and partly from new office rules that prohibit anyone from being in the office during non-work hours, including lunch when I would normally right. So internet access has been diminished). But I am now at the half-way mark of my stay here and have many many more things to tell you! For example, at the moment I´m in Ecuador! My visa expired in Peru so I had to leave the country and get to do some tourism for a week. Much more has happened in this week that my entire stay in Chiclayo so I think that may call for another email next week. I promise the next one will be better; I´m at an expensive internet cafe right now and there´s no time for editing.

Love and kisses,
Amy

PS: In the meantime, enjoy this totally illogical list of items that you are prohibited from mailing to Peru:
Prohibited Items

In addition to items considered non-mailable matter by the Canada Post Corporation Act & Regulations (see chapter "Non-mailable Matter"), the following are prohibited:
Absinthe or similar beverages
Baby-feeders with tubes
Banknotes, coins, jewels, securities and other valuables
Bees
Calendars
Camping goods
Cartographic or geographic items misrepresenting Peru and its borders
Ceramic products
Contraceptives
Drinks manufactured under the brand name "Pisco"
Firearms
Flowers, artificial, and interior ornaments
Foodstuffs
Furs and fur clothing
Household articles of iron, steel, copper or aluminium
Leeches
Linen, household
Office supplies
Organochlorinated pesticides, their derivatives and components
Parasites and destroyers of noxious insects
Pesticides
Perfumery, soaps, cosmetics
Pyrotechnic products
Pictorial novels and short stories featuring violence
Plants or parts of plants
Playing cards
Publications of a seditious nature
Salt
Silkworms
Sound recordings and products
Stationery
Tobacco products
Toys known as "Yoyo Loco" or Yoyo Chino"
Travel articles
Used clothing and shoes
Used tires
Wooden utensils.