A Tour of My House

Starting with the outside view... note the little balcony!












....The entry room, fireplace included...

A view from the entry room: My bedroom and a guest bedroom in the left half of the photo, stairs leading up to the loft in the second half

A shot of the loft

And finally...the kitchen!

Why are there Chickens in the Classroom?

As we’ve learned in culture class, the adaptation cycle goes a little like this:

Honeymoon period--> Initial crash--> Initial Adjustment--> Second Crash--> Second Adjustment.

It can stop there or it can continue. Your honeymoon phase usually lasts the first 3 months or so. Since I’m not quite out of the honeymoon phase, I think I had a tiny tiny hiccup this weekend. Sometimes you are just so tired of living in a different place, dealing with a different culture, that your mind just gets overwhelmed and you are so excited to see or do anything that reminds you of home, of the normalcy of life, to feel like you are in your element or at least in an environment you understand. It leads you to do strange things, that you usually wouldn’t, and finding enjoyment in things that have just the slightest resemblance of what life used to be. For me, this all happened to me with a rock concert. Now for those of you who know me, you know I hate rock. I can’t stand the head-banging, mosh-pitting, crowd-surfing type music. Or at least I couldn’t when I was in the US. Here, I loved it. On Saturday night I went with three friends to see a Mexican group called Molotov. Just entering the stadium (I assumed a football stadium, since that is what we usually think of when we hear the term. Of course it was a football stadium, just if by football you mean soccer.) There was a huge stage. And lots of lighting. And speakers, huge speakers! Big Coca Cola bottles on the side- a little marketing thrown in. Except for the fact that they were speaking Spanish, and singing Spanish, I could almost close my eyes and believe I was back in the developed world.

We had great seats. The thing that sucked though was that I had bought tickets the day before and I lost them as we stood in a mile long line to get in. So I had to buy new ones (actually a pair of them since I was holding on to my friend’s ticket too) and it was 90 Bs! I was upset but not too upset, cause really 90 Bs is only $12 or so. But then, when you think of that in Bs, I could have done so much with it! Sometimes I get lost thinking in the exchange, thinking everything is so cheap. Then I revert to the fact that I am paid $60 a month, and I can’t believe how expensive a meal can be!

But anyways, back to the concert… My friends and I are rockin’ out to Spanish music, having a great time, when the lead singer comes on stage and introduces the next song. “I’d like to dedicate this song to the United States of America…” And my friends and I start screaming and make it 100% obvious that we are Americans and proud of it! And the guy continues… “We’d like to dedicate this song especially to the President of the United States…” at which point in time it dawns on us that they are about to bash the US, and bash it they did. The disturbing thing, since it’s not a surprise that other countries are not fond of the US, but the disturbing thing was that of the row of guys behind us, every one of them knew every word to the song! It’s not like we’re talking some slow ballad, where you listen to the song twice and have it memorized; we’re talking a politically charged song sounding almost like rap, that has to be played several dozen times before you know all the words. And these guys knew them all!

It’s hard to describe the feeling you get when you know that people around you hate you because of your nationality. I was genuinely excited to be at the concert and was enjoying myself immensely, but I must say that I walked away with mixed feelings about the event. I guess you don’t always recognize the power of the US, but it was called out loud and clear for us there. The other frustrating thing was that I know Spanish, but I don’t know the Spanish they were speaking on that stage. When do you get to fully integrate, fully understand another culture or another language? Obviously you never do, talking from the experience I have with my family. You can always try to assimilate but the reality is that you will always have the influence of your background that you cannot ignore.

The other thing is, here in Bolivia, I am not recognized as American. You can argue that I wasn’t always in the US either, but here, the initial conversations with people on the street, in the house, in the family, at school, in the community, or anywhere else, goes a little like this:

Stranger (Talking to my friend): Hi, how are you? Where are you from and what are you doing here?

Friend: Oh, I’m from the US. I’m here for two years working with the Peace Corps.

Stranger (Stealing looks at me): And where is she from?

Friend: Oh, she’s from the US too.

Stranger: Are you sure?

Friend: Yes.

Stranger: Well she sure doesn’t look like it. I mean, she looks like she’s from China or something.

Me (Interjecting): No, I’m from the US. But my parents are originally from Vietnam.

Stranger: Oh my god, she speaks better Spanish than you! How does she speak better Spanish than you? Doesn’t she speak Chinese?

Friend (in English): Oh my god Tammy, how many times are we going to have this conversation in one day???


And such is the life of a chinita in Latin America. The other day a girl on a truck pointed at me and exclaims to all her friends… “Oh my God, look! A china!” And they all turn to stare.


On the other hand, I have received love letters and gifts from teenage Bolivian boys who are just awestruck by my breathtaking beauty. ;-) To them, I am a model, a superstar that they want to take pictures with. What for, I don’t know. I’ve tried to keep a low profile, I really have! My mom has always said I talk too much so I try to be inconspicuous.

Last week we taught a week-long workshop at a high school. We taught them how to run micro-businesses and each class was required to choose a product and run a business. One group decided to throw a party, and it was such a funny party. I was back in highschool again. At the end, this boy I had danced with came up and gave me a present, gift-wrapped and everything, and took off running. I was at a loss for words and didn’t know how to react. So, not knowing what else to do, I open the present in from of all my American friends who are so curious to know just what I got, and I unwrap a framed picture of Mary and Jesus, underneath which are two shot glasses. To quote a current volunteer: “Tammy, you are in trouble. Your two years haven’t even started yet. You are in BIG trouble.” And that, I am.

And the Winner is....

I know I have been lazy in updating but we´ve been traveling quite a bit. There is some confusion as to why I have not been talking about my project, and the reason is that I have not actually started it. Peace Corps service in Bolivia commences with 10 weeks of training and only after being sworn in are we shipped off to our sites for 2 years of work. Site announcements just happened today and I found that I am going to Semaipata. It´s supossedly a really nice tourism site and I will be living with better accomodations than I had back home in the US. The challenge is that Semaipata is so overrun by Gringos and other internationals that it is hard to carve a place for yourself and differenciate your work from that of the other NGO´s. I will be a tourism volunteer focusing on pro-poor tourism, meaning that it is great that internationals do well there but I will but looking to create successful and sustainable opportunities for the Bolivian nationals.

A little info: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/01/AR2007060100708.html?referrer=emailarticle&sub=AR

I will post more as time permits. Training is winding down and it´s about to get real! We´re all a little nervous! To add to the excitement...I turn a quarter of a century old tomorrow! I will be the same age as my Dad when he came to the States way back when. So as far as settling down and having little niños goes, I am still on pace with him! There is also hope... Of a group of 20 volunteers who are ready to close service, I think 5 of them are marrying Bolivians. That´s some pretty strong representation there!!!

Feedback Please

You hear all the time that Americans live life in a hurry and that we never take time to slow down and enjoy things. One of my goals of life in Bolivia is to learn how to chill out a little. The only problem is, what do you do when you have nothing to do? Some volunteers are learning to play guitar. I´ve thought about learning photography and cooking my own meals (gasp!) , but it´s completely necessary in order to avoid eating lima bean and potato soup everyday. I welcome any other ideas or suggestions you may have.

The other thing.... Presidente Evo Morales decided to help out the poor communities by donating a $40,000 tractor to each and every farming community here in Bolivia. Thoughts on the impact this donation will or will not make? Or perhaps on the sustainability, practicality, or efficacy of such an act? I know you want to weigh in on it!!!

Prohibido Orinar En Este Lugar

Translation: Peeing prohibited here (From a sign in the park)


Who We Are

We are B46, the 46th group serving in Bolivia. We are comprised of 21 people- two married couples (one young and one older) and the rest singletons pretty recently out of college. I guess it was pretty much what I expected as far as demographics. There are two major life stages in which you can ditch what you have in the States and venture off into the unknown. One is right after college, or before “real life” begins, and the other is at retirement, or when “living life” begins.

I must admit I was a little nervous walking into the room in DC where I met my colleagues for the first time. I didn’t know if I had become too corporate without realizing it. They asked us to dress business casual and I didn’t want to be overdressed and therefore pegged with the yuppie label amongst a world of hippies. Fortunately for me, it was a surprisingly normal looking group of people. The Peace Corps hippie stereotype is woefully out of date. As for the Peace Corps “look” though- that only took about two weeks to get. Now when I look at the group, especially the males, it is obvious that many have gone without showers for several days, scruffy beards, hair still matted from sleep, and just an overall scraggly look. However, this is what passes as “business casual” in the Peace Corps. As long as you don’t have on flip flops, you are dressed as business casual. Hiking boots included.

Family

I live with a very nice family, rather well-off compared to the rest of the community. My host mother (if she can really be termed my “mother”, as she is only two years older than me) has two children, a little boy of three years and a daughter of six. She was extremely poor as a child, no money for shoes, for food, for schooling or anything else. Her father left the family when she was about three years old, just one week after the birth of her youngest brother. She did not get to attend college because her mother could not afford to pay for it. However she married a long-time family friend almost 10 years her senior and they worked hard to make a living. They now have a new house with an oven, a fridge, a shower, and a toilet. That’s living it rich.


Facilities, cont.

Many of you found my family interview to be rather humorous. Facilities before family, terrible I know. Even more terrible when I find that just because you have a shower doesn’t mean you can take one. We have had no water coming to the house for the last four days. I am reaching my limit as to what I can take. My head itches.

Safety

There are certainly horror stories associated with service in the Peace Corps. Stories of rape, abduction, murder, etc. Though they are rare, they do happen. Bolivia is unique in that it is the only country in which a volunteer has just completely disappeared. It happened back in 2001, when a volunteer went to the capital of La Paz and was never heard from again. They are still continuing the search for Wally and this week brought in search dogs that are again searching the La Paz region.
As such, Peace Corps Bolivia has implemented increased safety regulations, including a 10:00 curfew for the first three weeks of training, and moved to midnight thereafter assuming we are on our best behavior. My class is the first class to have the restriction imposed, but I guess we don’t worry nearly as much. We have numerous safety classes trying to scare us to death, but I have only taken away two major lessons:

Lesson #1: The Rock Fake Out

Dogs roam around everywhere. They are not pets- they are guard dogs. They bite. They may have rabies. But the one good thing is Bolivian dogs are afraid of rocks. And so, when a menacing canine is headed your way, bend down, pretend like you a picking up a rock to hurl at it, and it will suddenly sprint in the other direction. As many of you know, I am scared of dogs. I freeze and scream when they run at me and can´t think fast enough to look for a rock. Therefore, lesson learned. Walk around with a pocket full of rocks.

A sidenote- someone fed the dog at my house poison and it died. The next day my host mom bought one from the woman roaming up and down the street selling puppies. It cost her 20Bs, or $2.50.

Lesson #2: The Tuck and Roll

There are many forms of public transportation here in Bolivia. One is a bus that takes a predetermined route. This is called a trufi. Then there is a shared taxi that takes a predetermined route. This is the taxi-trufi. Then of course there is the taxi, and then on top of that the radio taxi, which you phone for ahead of time and it comes to pick you up. A secure option but takes some time. All are considered pretty safe except for the taxi. So if you are ever in a situation where you took a taxi against your better judgment, you begin to get a bad feeling in your gut which is then confirmed when the driver won’t pull over to let you out, you do the tuck and roll. Tuck, and roll the heck out of the taxi.


Please do not let either of these scenarios scare you. I have been vaccinated against rabies and I plan to use a radio taxi for all of my late night transportation needs.


Health

I”ve heard that you will never be healthier than the two years you spend in the Peace Corps. I can certainly see how this is true. We take vitamins, we get shots, we receive a first aid kit with a miracle known as Pepto Bismol. We get to do a #1 and #2 in a little plastic cup when we get sick, and then get to take our little bundle of happiness in a brown bag on an hour long bus ride to the lab where they analyze the aforementioned liquids, and I do mean liquids, to determine whether we have amoebas, parasites, or just a bad case of food poisoning. We’ve learned the difference between diarrhea and dysentery, and what exactly things must look like and how long it has to go on before we can technically say that we have either.

I, luckily, have not had anything more than a mildly upset stomach. My bout with food poisoning that landed me in the ER in Vietnam could have led to irritable bowel syndrome, where my stomach would be even weaker than it was before. Instead, my body decided to take the other route. I have now eaten hamburgers, dumplings and ice cream off the streets, against the advice of the medical office, and have lived to tell the tale.

On Wednesdays we get shots, sometimes up to four at one time. Some leave your arm quite sore and results in a lot of yelling when someone inadvertently gives a friendly punch in the recently vaccinated area. I have received 2-3 vaccinations each week since I’ve gotten here. I don’t even know anymore what I am getting. I don’t know if all these vaccines will really keep me safe… I think a better idea is to give all Bolivian men a shot against yellow fever!

One of These Things is Not like the Other Ones

To quell the concerns you all might have- I am alive and well in Bolivia. I arrived about two weeks ago and stayed in a hotel for the first few nights, then left the city of Cochabamba and moved in with a family in what you may call a ¨suburb¨of the 4th largest city in Bolivia. Internet access is a half hour ride away by public transport so I will do my best to get to a computer here and there.


Contact info:

Mailing Address:

Tammy Truong PCT
Cuerpo de Paz
Casilla #1603
Cochabamba, Bolivia
South America

If sending a care package (please!), make sure it is under 4 lbs and that you write that it is of zero value or I will end up paying quite a bit to retrieve it. USPS is the cheapest service to use.

I also have a cell phone now. All incoming calls are free to me. From the US what you dial is 011-591-79714189.

Living Conditions

Living conditions here are quite similar to what I experienced in Vietnam and Central America, though I must admit the city was much more impressive than I imagined. There are nice highrises and even a sushi restaurant one block from our hotel! As for my homestay, unlike many others in the Peace Corps program, the only major annoyance are the nightly bathroom runs. The Peace Corps requires that we sleep in mosquito nets as to not be bitten by the chincuca bug, the carrier of Chagas disease- a horrific affiliction that causes your internal organs to swell and ultimately results in heart failure. This makes it difficult to run out in the middle of the night as I have to unzip the mosquito net, manuver my way out of the 2 foot long opening, unlock myself out of my room, unlock myself out of the dining room, and run down the sidewalk being sure not to be surprised by the family watchdog before I arrive at the bathroom.

But at least I have a bathroom! We had interviews when we first arrived regarding host families, and mine went a little something like this...

Interviewer: What are you looking for in a host family? Are you outgoing? Would you prefer an outgoing family?

Me: Yes, I love to talk. I want a family that will hang out with me and take me to the community events.

Interviewer: How about living conditions? Remember that many families only have latrines and no showers. (At the training center are several varieties of latrines to make sure all volunteers understand how to use them.)

Me: Oh, I can rough it. I would prefer to have a shower if possible, but I can certainly make do with a latrine.

Interviewer: So what you´re saying is family before facilities.

Me: Yes, of course! Family before facilities! People are important. That´s what makes the experience!

Interviewer: Well that´s great! If it were me, I´d definitely want a shower. And a toilet. I can´t take all that squatting. It´s uncomfortable and my legs get tired and god....

Me: Um...wait. Now that I think about it.... I do get sick a lot. And it would be awful to have to throw up into a latrine...and then all the other stuff too.... Uh, I think I´m going to need a shower for sure. And can I go ahead and add a toilet? I changed my mind...

Interviewer: So you´re requiring both of these now?

Me: (rather sheepish) Yes please.

Interviewer: (Cracking up). So what you´re saying now is facilities before family.

Me: Definitely.

And as a result, I have an insanely clean house with a hot shower and flushing toilet, while my cohorts dump freezing cold water over their heads from a bucket each morning and build their quads from frequent squat exercises over the latrines. I´m not sure I know I´m living in Bolivia.


Language

I tested into Advanced- low, the highest of all volunteers in my group but not the highest level possible. I am in a class with one other student and we spend 4 hours every morning trying to improve our spanish. The ultimate goal is to test into superior, which means I have to get past advance medium and advanced high. The little twist however, is that high level spanish speakers may get phased into an indigenous community that speaks another language. So next week I may find myself halting the Spanish and instead learning Quechua or Guarani, languages of the native South americans. At first I didn´t think I´d be interested, but heck, as long as we´re at it, what´s one or two more indigenous languages anyway??

Me, my sis, and my mum

The family at the going away party

You gotta love ´em.

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Will you leave your world a better place than you found it or will your world know it´s been found at all?