a toast to Ron Sieg.

today was quite wonderful.

i did not teach. i went to my spanish class first off. after doing half way well with getting the taxi driver there using my obviously steller spanish. i did try and get him to drive down a wrong way..but i regrouped and told him no problem, that i would just get out and walk the two blocks to the house...

the spanish classes are good. freakin overwhelming but good. my teacher is so helpful. we are working on irregular verbs. i am having trouble remembering them. not really having trouble working through the verb tenses or concept of them...just simply remembering them. virtually everthing that is told to me about the language. i understand...but then when it comes to having no paper in front of me, to remember the words is tough.

especially keeping in mind that i have two weeks to try and retain as much as i could about an elaborate topic. if i tried to learn quantum physics in two weeks. the broad concept might make sense,..i may enjoy the lectures...but i certainly would not walk away having retained more than 10 percent of what was told to me...it is a practice thing.

but i then headed to the job site..which is the same as the school site. an hour combi-bus ride up to the outskirts of town. today was cement the floor of a small school building day. i mean small...12 foot by 12 foot. but that is all you could do with such conditions.

they were waiting on the man with the concrete mixer to show up when i arrived. when he did it was a small concete mixer,..not a truck or anything...the engine started like one of those crank engine cars from like a hundred years ago. he got it started and left us to our devices. we used filthy water, cement bags and the gravel that was on the ground to make concrete.

there is one volunteer named andrew from the uk that has been the main construction force at the school. he does constructon for a living in the uk. there was a few other volunteers there to assist. i told him that i worked for a concrete company back in the late 90s. that officially made me the main cement finisher.

he had a thousand jobs..he had to make sure concete was being made properly, pointing folks in the right directions, over see the whole situation and not to slight the idea that he is the only one with a firm grasp of spanish...so everything falls on him....

well, being the main finisher and organizer of when the concrete is laid down was mine.

i would like to raise a toast to one Mr. Ron Sieg. he was the man whos company i worked for and the man who taught me how to finish concrete. although it was with large scale driveway concrete tools, a cement truck, american oranization and he still was the one who did most everything.

today, i finished my first concrete floor in a school building at the base of a mountain in peru with ultra subpar conditions. he was toasted this evening.

Ron past away a couple years ago of lung cancer. he was a good family friend and a wonderful person. he would be proud that such a humble skill to teach was used in such a way as today.

i am very proud of the whole experience. there is something tangible in ariquipa peru that marc ankenbauer made and would not be there if i did not show up to this country. or at least it would not have a nice M in the corner scratched in the floor with a trowel.

to ron,
be well all,

marc

Hello everyone. greetings from cusco, peru. day 10, week 2. wait that doesn´t make sense. oh well.

where to begin? i´m keeping extremely busy every day! i would like to walk you through a typical day being jessi adams in cusco, peru. for your reading pleasure.

the alarm goes off and i sprint to the bathroom. (can any of you actually believe that? i know.) i do this because i share this bathroom with 4 other people. (it is a race to beat out three other shower seekers.) i then dart downstairs for my coffee, and my house mom Gloria can´t believe i´m so crazy and late and unorganized. it makes her laugh. she has now just gotten out of the way of the tornado that blows through her kitchen seeking REALLY BAD, and i do not use that term lightly, really bad coffee. i believe it´s like some sort of scoop powder stuff. i bought a "to go" mug in a local market this past weekend. it is like a child´s thermos, only cheaper. like it should have scooby doo on it. i think i really shouldn`t put hot liquid in it. oh well.

Now it´s time for the bus. let me explain. i rush down the street about 3 blocks and stand at the bus stop. there are "combi´s" which marc explained, (picture mini vans with a few extra benches for good measure.) so the morning commute involves being packed like a pickle between a child going to school and a wierd old man who´s trying to sit real close to you and smells funny. oh and you have to yell "baha" really loud when you think it´s your stop. if you don´t, they won´t stop. then you´ll go on a nice tour of the city.

i go to one stop and change combis and hop on another for the ride up the hill to the clinic. the road is cobblestone, but rises above cusco to reveal the entire valley. it reminds me of missoula. this is the most peaceful part of my next 4 hours. and i did explain what riding the combi is like, for some perspective.

i go into the public clinic where you are first faced with wading through a long line of people waiting for triage, where i worked last week. patients need height, weight, blood pressure taken before proceeding upstairs. it costs 3 soles 50 centiminos, which equals a little over a dollar, to enter the clinic. beyond that, every service is free.
i have survived the line, and head upstairs. this is where the waiting room is. it is a circus. there are at any time 40 patients with wailing babies or extremely old parents waiting to be seen.
the waiting room is packed with people, and smells bad.
i would like to briefly mention breast feeding. the reason i mention it is because i witness four year olds toddling up to their mothers, lifting their mother´s shirts and going to town. i do not understand this. there is much breast feeding going on, fun for the whole family.

i now go into my new room, "topico," which i refer to as the "stitches and shots" room. this room is a trip. we have to keep the door closed while working with one patient at a time while others knock and try to bust in. Picture a famous singer trying to get away from crazy fans and the security guard is fighting with arms, legs, hands, etc. to close the door. that´s how it feels! i´m serious! i am not, however, a famous singer, and i hardly suppose they´re seeking me... anyway, i digress.
i´ve seen so many butts in the last two days, giving shots. it has been a festival of butts, if you will. keep in mind that as all of this unfolds before me, i hardly understand the language. i have never experimented with hard drugs, but this must be its equivalent.

so, the 4 hours at the clinic come to an end as i hop on the combi to go to my school. i meet with a local girl who wants to learn english as i want to learn spanish. her name is kelly and we talk for an hour. she is very good at english, i a dullard at spanish. kelly finds it helpful to correct my "tenses." (i feel a major victory when the point of what i´m trying to say is understood, needless to say what tense i say it in.) whatever.

i proceed throughout my day, and finish with my two hour spanish class taught by my new friend george, pronounced "horhay." we had some drinks last weekend and he is a hoot. needless to say i know way too much about horhay. anyway, my spanish class is fun. it is fun only because horhay is extremely patient and has a good sense of humor.

i end my day by rushing home for dinner. dinner is a formal affair. my housemates, gloria, pepe, their son diego, and joe cocker. joe cocker is their cocker spaniel, and pepe is very proud of that name. every time he says the dog´s name he looks at me, waiting for a reaction, because the first time i heard it i just bust out laughing, loudly, at the table. there are 7 of us eating dinner. they all chit chat away the hours while i play with my food. i see how many small bites i can take just to kill time...sure i understand what they are saying.
then there is dessert. dessert varies on how much time gloria had to go for it. last night, for example, was cherry jello with fruit. it was not set. so it was like jello soup. very interesting.

my treat is being able to watch "friends" with spanish subtitles in the evening. then i go to bed, only to start the whole cycle over in the morning.

i hope i have amused you. i am now at the section of my schedule where i pack into a combi and head home for dinner and hopefully a repeat of the jello...

love,
jess

the volunteer haps and tuesday aftermath in peru.

hola, que tal?

i am enjoying a well deserved lazy morning at the hostel. a few coworkers and i were going to try and get off work, pack packs and get picked up by a bus at 1am to be shuttled to a three day trek to colca canyon. the second deepest canyon in the world, next to the one that is right next to it. we decided we would do it next week, as it was a complete rush and stressing us all out.

so instead we all got to gether for a girls birthday from the house. played drinking games around a big table. about 80 percent brits. they are so entertaining to listen to. i love it.

so now i pulled a jess and slept till 11 and am drinking coffee at my leisure and going to go see one of the tourist destinations in town. a slow weekend up ahead, maybe a day hike somewhere tomorrow.

as for my day to day. it is wonderful i am going to easily see these couple or few weeks as the best part of my trip. i dont care where i go or what we see. this just feels great. it feels so good to have a purpose. traveling is often aimless, which is wonderful also, but to have such a defined purpose obviously is great. and to know where i am at, to take left hand turns through ally ways with purpose and with out consulting the map in the travel book..etc...
so, i officially have two crushes. or i should say i am the focus of two crushes. two 9 year old peruvian girls, stephanie and something like marliana or the like... it is "teacher" this, and "teacher" that.

i have to hold both of their hands on the way from the school to the playground. we were all dividing up for our daily soccer match. they walked up to one of the captains and explained in spanish to them that if they pick me they are picking all three of us. so i come as a package deal on the soccer field now.

i was goalie because i have been beating the hell out of myself everyday trying to keep up with these little peruvian kids at 9000 feet. (though, for a huge gringo, i think i hold my own). but, i was sitting in goal and they just stood back there and talked to me, asked me questions. kinda good for my spanish really. it is funny.

the kids in general are really taking to me. jess told me to be goofy. that they would love it. well it worked...

the word, "piscado" is fish. and we were playing word bingo and my terets syndrome (i dont really have terrets for those that dont know) kicked in and i kept singing this soulful version of piscado. you would have to be there. but they had me keep doing it...piscado...yeah...

what else. i taught them to hit the rock and yell bamm when they do it. i feel like i have already written this, but it is worth mentioning again. our friend, wes would be proud. that is one of his trade marks, in missoula.

so, when we score a goal, they all run back to me and hit my rock and we yell bamm. they ask me what in the world it means and i have to explain in terrible spanish that it is not even a "polabra" or word. they dont understand, but they still like it.

they also are completely taken by my bald head. keeping in mind that we have 9 year olds and we have 2 year olds. little kids have no issue with just walking up to you and rubbing your bald head. it is quite easy for them as i have to pile my entire 6 foot 4 frame onto a 12 inch high wooded childrens stool while we teach.

but in the world of everyone having dense, thick, never ending black hair. a huge, bald, white guy is an attraction that is not to be missed. one needs to reach up and just wrench on my head to touch it in wonder.

so in turn i taught them bald is beautiful. they think that is funny. "calvo es bonito". that one gets me pretty far.

the way to the school is about a 45 minute combi ride. the classic chicken bus, although in the city we have yet to have chickens...but in concept it is absolutly the same. i have gotten stuck standing a few times and the top of the bus is probably 2 feet shorter than i am so i am this enormous bent over gringo. they feel bad for me and try and find a spot to stash me. at least they tend to try.

what an experience the transit is in this country. the taxis are nuts and so are the busses. five minutes in the streets of a peruvian city is like a life time of bad driving in the states. it is not bad, it is just completely and utterly without rules. and what rules there are, certainly do not favor the pedestrian.

jess and i were writing each other about the concept of just blanking on our spanish. during class, my teacher and i are back and forth and i try to force myself out of my comfort level. tell a story in spanish and allow her to critique it. she laughs as i am animated with my attempts. but it helps. but when, i get out of the house and dont have a thousand note books and pieces of paper around me...i blank on the most basic things. but it is coming along. we are working on verbs and they just blew my mind yesterday with the most important 10 or so irregular verbs. i can work with rules but just memorizing every single version as they follow no rules is hard. welcome to english, we make language rules and shatter them within the same sentance. the kids tell me that espanal is "mui facile" but to me "es mui difficile". i am sure jess would agree.

on a completly different note. every american i have met has been floating along on a cloud of pride for the last few days. not even just americans as i have had 100 conversations or interactions with people from around the world who feel as for the first time in 8 years we have something absolutly good to look forward to. i would have loved to be in the states to celebrate with my peers, but that was not to be. i even have a friend who was at obamas acceptance speech in chicago,...what a moment that would have been.

i would also like to give a unexpected lot of credit.
john mccains speech was everything i could have asked for. he stepped out of his parties bias and anger and pleeded for his contingent to melt with the rest of america and make it whole again. he expounded upon obamas accolaids and asked for respect to be shown to a man who undoubtedly deserves it. for that he gained my respect. dont get me wrong, i am beside my self with happiness that the man did not win, but that was a respectful plea for bipartisan politics.

so, i will continue to explain our pride as a country to those from around the world who ask for my insight into the situation and there are many who do.

i am proud of all of you who changed the world on tuesday. we should be proud of ourselves as a country. we made truth and good prevail,..that is all we can ask for in this world.

to brighter days,
be well,
marc

Good day from Cusco!

This is a quick one, I just want to make sure we all keep track of my rapid grasp of spanish...Yesterday my supervisor was asking me for something, did I have "blahblahblah?" It seemed like she was in a hurry. I was digging through my pockets in front of the whole waiting room and got excited as I realized she must want the crumpled up toilet paper in my pocket! (Why I thought this I have no idea.) So, I pulled out my stash of toilet paper and handed it to her, proudly! She laughed so loud as she explained to me that she was asking for a pen..
Then today, I tried writing with a thermometer. What? It looked like a pen. I´m glad that was infront of my supervisor as well. I am making an absolutely stellar impression. I know it.

On an exciting note though, I got to work with patients all morning. I got to observe a young mother breast feed for the first time, with a team of "mothers" (nurses) around her. At one point my supervisor must´ve been talking about her own experience, because the next thing I know she´s decided to show all of us her breast. So she just took it out and showed us.
The End.

Love,
Jess

WWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Obama is our president!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When it was announced that he won, I was in a pub in the center of Plaza de Armas, Cusco Pero. I won´t forget that for a long time. There were mostly Americans in the bar, eyes glued to the tv, and when he won I think there was this split-second moment of shock, then it sunk in, then we jumped and cheered. When I heard Obama´s speech I cried. I couldn´t believe this wonderful man is about to be our leader. I love this man & I love his family.
My sister asked me via e-mail this morning if I woke up with a smile on my face like she had. I did. I´m not even in the country and I feel like a weight had been lifted off of me! I have a renewed faith in this country and am so excited.

So back here in Cusco.........This morning I wore a white coat and was a nurse. After trying to communicate that I was there to volunteer, they gave me an enormous lab coat. (I think it said ¨pharmacy¨on it.) That must be why so many people were asking me the same question that I didn´t understand while holding a small white piece of paper...
Anyway, I put that on and went into a tiny office at the end of a hallway stuffed with people. I took people´s weight, and blood pressures. I did this without comprehension of spanish numbers, so that was fun. Then I weighed people on this old old metal scale where everyone´s weight was in kilograms. I spent two hours trying to learn how to say blood pressure and weight. The words just wouldn´t stick. I was a shining star. Mom, Dad, I made you proud. Trust me. Either that or you would´ve just had a good belly laugh. One of the two.

Isn´t it interesting how life just seems to work out sometimes? I ended up in this tiny office with about 5 young nurses and an older nurse and they are all so friendly. Within an hour we were out sitting on a bench in the sun helping each other learn our languages.

I´ll wind this up with a few examples of my exemplary grasp of this language. After eating lunch yesterday, I walked into the kitchen to return my dishes and wanted to tell my host mom that the watermelon was delicious. I walked in, handed her my plate and declared loudly, "Nice to meet you!" Bless her heart, I think she choked trying not to laugh as I realized my mistake...

And finally, when asked last evening how long I would be in Cusco, I declared proudly, "One table!" I was serious. I was also infront of the entire computer lab.
The end.

GO OBAMA!!!!!!!
Jess

Hello,

Greetings from Cusco, Peru!

I can´t wait to update you on all of my news, but I think tomorrow will be much more comical as it is then that I start my volunteer position at the public health clinic. I´m cast to the wolves. Thrown off the dock.

On to the topic at hand....can you believe this is election day??!! I sit here in South America getting my information from both the internet, and a very static radio in a taxi this morning.. GO OBAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I thought I´d pass the following along, because it´s heartwarming and honestly to me, very emotional. In the past three weeks of traveling I´ve had the opportunity to speak with people from all over the world. And, would you believe-every single one of them, without exception-from New Zealand, Germany, France, Peru, and on, ranging in age from 18 to 60, wished me luck for Obama to win. That´s a powerful thing to hear in general, and even more powerful as their thick accents prounounce his name, Barack Obama.

It´s not just our country that wins, it´s the world. There will be eyes glued to tv´s tonight everywhere from Wisconsin to Beijing. This evening I will sit in the upstairs bedroom of my Peruvian family, the eight of us gathered around their small television, crouched on their floor and most likely on their bed, and just watch. My host mother offered to buy champaign. That´s how real this is. How much bigger than we realize. A memory I won´t soon forget, I´m sure.

(Then of course we will proceed directly to a pub in the center of Cusco and hopefully CELEBRATE the most moving election in my lifetime.)

I wish so much that just for the next 24 hrs. i was back in the states. Know that I´m cheering just as loudly as you are, just from a point farther south.

Love to each of you,
Jess

ariquipa and election day well wishs

hello from ariquipa, peru...

i have arrived in the city that i will be doing my volunteer work..and taking spanish classes.

when i arrived, i did not dig it, really at all

the hostel was quiet people wise and loud as any place i have ever laid my head in respect to it´s surroundings...i found out today that the hostel is actually at one of the busiest intersections in downtown.

so in the morning i´m going to pack up and take a taxi over to a new place...it seems wonderful

so for one more night i will endure the outright screaching of taxi horns..for what reason...my god, i have no idea..they have so many reasons for honking..all of them i´m sure make complete sense to them..

i will enjoy my tiny television and watch something on hbo in spanish subtitles. it is remarkably helpful when it comes to figuring out a language..

so, on to the work. the main point in all of this...loud hostel aside

i love it..
i went to the office and met a few of the main players..nice people..
spanish classes will start tomorrow at 10 to 12,...

12 to 145 i will,.... i don´t know..study, eat something..etc...then catch a collectivo to the school...

i went and worked today...
the area is about 45 minutes away..it is on the outskirts of town up against a dry excavated mountain side...little mud block stuctures that are houses but are the size of a shed in an american back yard..and next to them is one complete block structure and three incomplete mud block structures...that is the school...

there was four little tables in the building which is hardly high enough for me to stand up in..tiny little stools for the kids...a dry erase board on the wall with the days of the week in spanish and english on it.

it is funny i am to teach them english but my spanish is so bad that i am teaching my self spanish in turn...i can benifit from the basic stuff that that four year olds are learning...

and little by little the kids started to stream in...little ones, middle sized ones...little ones that bring their snot faced two year old sister with them because they need to be watching them...about 6 dogs that come and sit out side and try and come in and hang out...just awesome...

we worked on body parts today and the clothes that go on those body parts...
so, i ended up at a table full of 4 year olds having them repeat, knee, leg, nose, ears, eyes, mouth, hands, feet, etc...over and over again...it was the bomb...

then we had play time...teach for an hour and then we go to a concrete area with soccer posts...we just all freaked out and played soccer for 45 minutes...me in my sandles...need to wear boots tomorrow...they all can´t say any thing other than teacher over and over again in little peruvian accents...but they sure can school me in soccer...even the tiny ones..

i took a couple pictures and they loved it...i could take 400000000000 pictures of these kids and they would not get enough...as long as i show them the picture of them when i´m done...

there was this one little girl who took to me and just came over and sat on my lap and said all kinds of stuff that i in no way understood...hopefully i can work on that...but she was great...

so that is the story...all is well, the job is good, the hostel is going to get much better and soon i will start taking spanish classes...

and as of tommorow morning, i do not have to listen to litterally the most honking that i have heard at one intersection in my entire life...
so, all is good in ariquipa...

oh, and before i left lima..jess and i got a bunch of hard candy and walked around passing it out on halloween...we eventually ended up in this playground in the middle of downtown miriflores which for the parents out there is a very nice, safe neighborhood...kids in costumes everywhere. and i handed a few kids candy..yelling feliz halloween

then came the onslaught of kids...tiny little peruvian kids all dressed up and yelling feliz halloween...i handed out candy as fast as my hands could pull it of. i felt bad, i wanted jess to be a part..she loved it though..6´4 me being mobbed by hundreds of 3 foot kids in costumes..she just smiled and took pictures...some which i will try to get on the blog someday...

other than that i felt a tiny little earthquake...shook a couple of windows...folks took a minute,...looked around..and went upon their way...i guess it happens pretty often.

that wraps up my side of things..

pick up someone and take them to the polls tomorrow,

to the end of the worst administration in american history..may we stand up and make our voices heard, finally..

not just for us but for the good future of the world as we hope it to be.

may our great country stand for truth and rightousness once again, unfettered by pirates

may we march on to election day,

as we storm the polls, an army with the most poweful weapon at our disposal...to vote

to the united states of america

be well,
marc