la parroquia en chimbote

i successfully arrived in chimbote at 3:30 pm yesterday. scott and i were greeted by 3 very friendly peruvian men from the parish, one of which spoke english quite fluently. driving through chimbote to the parroquia (parish) was a good view of my new home for the next 5 weeks. it is definitely much more poor than lima. most of the roads are dust, which they "water" each morning to keep it from flying up off the road. most of the houses are made from cement or from a plant that is native to this area (i forget the name), but it's a cross between bamboo and straw, only not as strong as bamboo and not as flimsy as straw. the parroquia itself is very beautiful and large, with many facilities to utalize. right now i'm using the internet in the bibliotecca (library of the parish) on my 3 hour siesta (break, or nap time) which i get everyday from noon to three. there is also an excercise room, and an entire quarters for the gringos, known as the gringo room, which is a nice place to hang out and eat. there are couches, books, tables, lockers to keep your stuff in - basically anything you may need while at the parish.

i honestly think i have fallen in love with my placement immediatly. i don't want to instantly assume that this place is a perfect fit, but so far it seems it is. after i arrived to the parroquia, i was taken to my host families home which is only 2 cuadras (blocks) from the parroquia. it's a large house, obviously much nicer than most in chimbote, and i was greeted by my friendly mother, who is japanese decent of some sort. she showed me to the room i'll be staying in, which is her daughter's room, but her daughter is studying in lima and only comes home on weekends, so apparently that's why i get her room. i didn't bother asking where she would stay on weekends - sometimes it's just not worth it. after i settled in, i was then introduced to person after person after person! first it was one of my sisters, who actually married a german and lives in germany with him. she speaks spanish, english, and german, so she converses with me in english quite often. i then met my adorable grandpa who loves to sit in the living room and stare out the window at children playing on the soccer courts right in front of our house. then therr is the grandma who is also adorable, and quite old, but still up and running, and apparently who makes declicious cuy (guinnea pig). then i met two of my sobrinos, or nephews, who lives in the house too apparently. i don't exactly understand where they belong in the string of the family, but they enjoy making fun of my spanish. that's about the whole interacction the young boys and i have had so far. then there was a father, but i do not believe he and my mother are married because he has a girlfriend. but both him and the girlfriend were over for dinner last night, and then he was there again this morning, so honestly i have no clue. then there was another man there this morning at the breakfast table with me. i have no idea who he is either, but i am just going to assume it is the boys father. and then i met another daughter after dinner, who looks about my age, who apparently works and is studying for exams so she can go to university in lima. in the backyard there are cages upon cages of cuy, birds, and rabbits, and then some chickens wondering about as well. so overall, i think there are 10 people living in our house, but there could definitely be more. they're all extremely friendly and love to joke around and have conversation with each other. we sat and watched tv for a bit last night and they enjoyed asking me questions. i told them i wanted to try cuy and they got so excited and promised me we would surely eat it.

this morning i wondered over to the parish around 8:30. everything here is so laid back and we were never given a time we should appear, so i just did what felt right. i couldn't find katie, my gringa contact person, so i just went into the gringo room where i found an english man who lives in ireland, who worked here for 5 years of his life, and is currently on holiday reuniting with old friends. he was apparently a priest, until he met the woman of his dreams, which at that point he quit the whole priest thing, got married, and then came to chimbote and worked in this parish. in any case, we had an interesting conversation and he informed me more about the dangers in chimbote and what all goes on in the parish. scott then showed up and we both went to search for katie, who we eventually found in her office. she took us across the street to a different branch of the parish (did i mention this parish is HUGE... and beautiful. with many different buildings in the 10 blocks surrounding the main parish). anyway, we were given to a man, who i already unfortunately forget the name of, and were told we would be under his instruction for the next 5 weeks. he works with the young children in the area as well as matt talbot, a halfway house for drugs addicts. also in the room was rul, a 28 year old from belgium who has been here for 4 months, not knowing any spanish, and now speaks spanish fluently, and english semi-fluently (did i mention im incredibly jealous of this?) also, i met a 19 year old guy from germany who has been here working for 7 months and also now speaks spanish fluently,and english semi-fluently. anyway, we made a schedule with our supervisor, which honestly now i have no idea what it is because everything was in spanish, but from what i can understand apparently i'm going to work on starting up a group at the church for girls 14-18 years old, because at the moment there is only one for boys. then in many of the mornings, scott and i will be making a garden at the half-way house for the men who live there. many afternoons we will be working with children and teaching them english, and sometimes i will be working with a women's group who weave chairs and rugs. apparently they'll teach me how to do it, which will be pretty awesome because these rugs they make are out of the same plants as the houses, and they're pretty awesome. i was hoping to purchase one and take it home with me. we'll always take groups to the river, which apparently is large and has beaches, or to the pool, or to the beach. tomorrow we're going to one of the three, but i already forget! (did i mention everything is pretty overwhelming at this stage? and the english speakers are only speaking to us in spanish because they say its the only way we'll learn, which is true, but extremely frustrating).

this morning after our meeting, rul, scott, and i, along with a pack of about 10 boys, set off walking the streets of chimbote, knocking on doors and talking to girls about their participation in a girls group if one started at the parish. many were very interested. it was crazy to see the poverty they live in. one girl was only just 17, she had a two year old son, and was living in basically a dirt home. she seemed very excited about a group getting started and wrote her name down excitedly. we only found about 4 other girls, but i'm hoping this continues and we can start up a group. then all the boys requested we play a match of futbol (soccer) so we all went to another building owned by the parish, which actually has an amazing open soccer court inside it. i sat down with a 12 year old girl and we had a conversation about my family at home and about living in lima, which she informed me that everyone in lima is rich, which is a huge assumption but is what many rural peruvians believe because supposidly lima is where the opporutinity is, which is also an assumption made by many because lima itself actually does not have very much opportunity. that is a whole different topic to talk about though...

as i was chatting with this girl, a little boy ran up to me and handed me a fruit icy, which was delicious and quite sweet of him to think of me. the girl knew some english and loved to ask me what different words were in english. i told her i would only tell her if she promised to help me with my spanish. apparently we're meeting again at 7:30 pm, although i don't know where, so perhaps i will see her again and we can both help each other out! which i don't mind a 12 year old tutor at all...

anyway, im supposed to meet back with our supervisor at 3, and then i think we're getting a tour, more or less, of everything that is here, and then who knows what we'll do. i already love this placement because it is so laid back. we have a large variety of things to work on. everyone is friendly, joking around quite a bit, and they all have such extremely large hearts.

i don't completely understand everything this parish does, or how it came about. i obviously hope to learn more as the days tick by, but essentially what i understand is father jack, a priest from the united states, started this parish back in 1970 something. he and sister peggy, who i havent met, devoted their live to the work in chimbote and built up this extremely large and functioning parish, which appears to be a major asset to this city in extreme poverty. not only do they have a working half-way house, as well as many groups of women and children, but they also have a hospital, a hospice center, orphanage, women's shelter, food kitchens, and other programs i have not even encountered yet. it's pretty amazing to see all the different volunteers here, and to see how many people have given up time in their life to work at this really incredible place. as it is a catholic parish, i'm pretty excited to learn more about the catholic religion, especially here in peru, and see the "good side" of it (as my parents in lima were hard core evangelicals and didn't care much for the catholics, therefore all i heard were the "bad things" about the church - which this in itself is again a totally different topic i could talk about for days).

well, i think that's about all i have for now. i will surely have more i want to say at a later date. in fact, i'm sure each minute there will be something i want to share with someone, but alas this is an experience i need to have on my own. therefore, once again, even though i have computers at easy access, i'm going to limit my time spent on them just to insure that i'm immersing myself here and not staying too connected to home. i do want to continually inform you on my happenings though, so count on hearing from me occasionally!

i hope all are doing well, and i love and miss you very much.

ps. cj posts photos on his blog, so if you would like to see some of the things i talk about, you should check out his block which i have a link to on the side of my page. i would put photos up, but honestly it's just too much work, so you'll have to wait to see them until i return!