Two busy, busy days!
The last two days, I’ve had my first spanish lessons. They are great. Raquel (my tutor) is wonderful and speaks so very clearly. We are reading “Who Moved My Cheese” outloud and discussing parts of it as we go. It seems remarkably simple but is a very valuable exercise. I had classes both days this week, but starting next week, Paul and I will rotate days (me: M, W, F from 8-10; Paul: T, Th from 8-10). They are relatively expensive ($9/hour) but we would pay more than that in the States and I feel the quality is great. Classes are held on the rooftop of the house — protected by shade but still in the wonderful ocean air!
After class yesterday, I ventured out with Hilary, a medical student from NYC, to PRISMA. I experienced a first in Lima travel: we used the bus system (another place where being embarazadas — that’s pregnant, not embarrassed — gets you decent treatment). Hilary has been working at PRISMA as part of a fellowship she is on for the year and brought me there to meet the staff. While there, I helped her with her work. I also met a key staff member who I am helping with a journal article they are trying to publish (more on this later). This is all working out well: my volunteerism in exchange for networking and knowledge.
Late this afternoon, I met with Ruth, who is a public health nurse that Valerie (my advisor/committee member/local faculty) hires for help on her survey projects. I am also hiring Ruth as a cultural attache to orient me to some of the barrios surrounding Lima. The meeting went great — we all met at our house — but it started so late that by the end, Will was exhausted, it was way past his bedtime, and poor Paul was beside himself. We will learn to schedule things better. In anycase, we made plans for me to join Ruth at work on Monday in San Martin de Porras, a barrio (or pobres jovenes) in the northern section of the city. It will be about an hour ride and we contacted someone she knows to pick me up and bring me directly to her: there was concern of safety so they wanted to be sure I was with someone they trusted.
Tomorrow, Valerie and I are having a lunch meeting at her house with Phabiola, the staff member extraordinaire from PRISMA mentioned above. In addition, a doctoral student I’ve been in touch with from Hopkins may also stop by — we’ve been exchanging emails about meeting. She is also here working on her dissertation (but much further along than I!) In other words, everything is going great and the things I came here to do are actually happening!
