Saturday, June 07, 2008

The Latest in Basketball

May 26th, 2008 Chulucanas, Peru

Basketball Games

Due to the rain the league never really organized. Instead we played a little three game tournament. Since Mario and I couldn´t be there our team lost the first game and thus we came in second place in the tournament with a 2-1 record. But last night we played a different kind of game. Every year a group of high school seniors comes from Philadelphia for a week to do mission work. Last year I played with the Americans and we won by 7 points. Everyone called me a traitor and told me this year I had to play for the Chulucanas team. Most Peruvian teams strictly play zone which makes it difficult to penetrate to the basket. Since the Americans tried playing man defense, I was able to drive to the hole quite liberally. It was a fun night as I ended up with around 20 points and at least 10 assists as well as at least a 20 point win. I can´t wait to get back into the routine of playing ball 3 times a week against good competition.

Work in Site

May 13th-25th, 2008 La Encantada, Peru

Work in Site

These next few months I hope to wrap up all my projects and try to make sure that they are sustainable and ready to pass on to the next phase. The dried fruit business is getting close to completing the formalization process. I soon hope to go on some trips to the capital city and pitch our product to the local grocery stores. I will continue to meet with the jewelry youth group and discuss gender roles and other such topics. It sounds like the artisan consortium is handling the export order well so far.

Unfortunately the primary school never got their act together and I will not be teaching computers there. I heard that the primary school had 10 computers available but no one to teach the kids. So last January, before summer break, I told the director that I would like to teach computers to the 5th grade class when classes began again in April. He seemed excited. Since the director is from Chulucanas and never comes to La Encantada, I had to wait til the first day of classes to reconfirm with the director. He then told me that the parents association would have to approve to pay a security guard to sleep with the computers overnight. A meeting was scheduled and then postponed. And then postponed. And then postponed. I will not be teaching computers these last three months. This is Peru.

What Comes Next

May 12th, 2008 La Encantada, Peru

Job Prospects

I guess I should start thinking about a job. After completing my service in September I will be traveling throughout Central & South America all the way up to Mexico until Thanksgiving. I plan on starting work sometime after the New Year. In the meantime I wouldn´t mind everybody keeping their ears open for the following:

I would like to work in consulting or as a financial analyst but am very flexible as to the position. Primarily I would like to work in the Chicago area but would am also interested in the following metropoliatian areas: San Francisco, Denver, DC, or even Dallas or San Antonio. Something international would be really cool too. Since probably only 3 people actually read this blog, I should probably put out some resumes but thanks to those who do.

COS Conference

May 7th-10th, 2008 Lima, Peru

COS Conference

Approximately 3 months before the end of our service, Peace Corps puts on a Close of Service conference. The conference serves many purposes including: a time to reconnect with volunteers for the last time, provide job search advice, and explain all the administration details necessary for leaving.

The day before the conference we all pretty much just hung out. As usual the boys played cards while the girls chatted. The next morning we left early for a retreat center outside of Lima. It was actually pretty nice. In between sessions on resume writing and culture shock we threw around the football.

The next night we headed back to Lima. I thought it was a rite of passage for the whole group to go out to the club and dance all night but apparently our group is lame. I think only 14 of the 32 volunteers hung out that night.

The next day we enjoyed lunch at this great gourmet buffet in Lima. I seriously have never ate better. Its all the steak and seafood and gourmet pastas you can eat. Afterwards, a few of the guys headed to the horse track. We spent the next three hours betting on horses, which in my opinion is exhilarating. I came out up a dollar but my buddy won $12 on the last race. We then headed directly to the bus station.

In conclusion, COS conference was anticlimactic since we still have 3 months left. It was good to be reminded how to do a resume and great to see everyone for the last time.

GMAT and Embassy Family

May 6th, 2008 Lima, Peru

The GMAT

Although I have no plans to attend a graduate school of business for at least 2 to 3 three years, I figured I should take advantage of the extra time I have to study. Therefore, today I took with the entrance exam to graduate business school. My buddy Mike and I took the test together. It went alright. It always feels good to get such things over with.

May 4th-6th, 2008 Lima, Peru

Embassy Family

Many families from the Embassy enjoy having volunteers stay in their houses so that they can connect with Peace Corps volunteers. Since my buddy Mike had stayed with Bob and Susan before we elected to stay with them instead of in a noisy hostel while we rested and prepared for the GMAT.

Staying with embassy families is great for many reasons. First of all, it´s always fun staying in a super nice house with all the amenities instead of some cheap hostel. Second of all, they treat you to all kind of nice meals and American food. The U.S. embassy has a little store with all kinds of imported food. Unfortunately, volunteers don´t have access to this treasure chest. But perhaps the most enjoyable part is sharing experiences with the embassy families. They are always so enthusiastic to hear about our experiences in the field. Susan is the director of the narcotics division of the embassy and is in charge of a program that trains Peruvian police in the management of the drug trade. So, she had a lot of fun stories to tell as well. Although the volunteers get together every so often and speak English and share our thoughts on development and everything else, it was nice to hang out with adults who were not our peers. Mike and I really enjoyed our stay.