Good Golly, Miss Molly

You have to help yourself before you can help others. That's something that Austin, a sixteen year old volunteer at another social project in town, told me this week. He's staying here at the Healing House with a group of people also volunteering at the same project. He might just be going into his junior year of high school, but he's already got his goals planned through college. He wants to become a champion wrestler and I've seen him training every morning for hours on end to make sure he stays on track with that.

Anyway, that bit of advice really helped me make sense of a lot of what I've been doing here. I've really enjoyed being in a band with Giancarlo, Daniel, David, and some of the other local musicians here. I haven't really performed with them for the past couple of weeks, but I'll say there was a period of several weeks where we had back to back performances every Friday and Saturday night.

I definitely learned a lot performing with them, from the little things, like how to hold a mic well, to bigger things, like how to have a good stage presence and really take ownership of each song. Even just rehearsing with them taught me a lot. It wasn't always easy. I'll say my Spanish is definitely more than decent, but it was quite a challenge to keep up with what people were saying to each other. Musical jargon definitely doesn't translate so readily. Still, it was so cool to watch them communicate with little to no use of sheet music or any notation at all. These guys could harmonize songs at the drop of a hat. It was really impressive.

Giancarlo and I in the kitchen practicing some songs

Pouring so much of my efforts into my own performance skills sort of caused an inner conflict because I really intended to come here to teach music and help others get better. So, when Austin shared that bit of wisdom with me, I really felt some of my questions were answered. The farther along I get with my own music and the better of a musician I become the better of a music teacher I'll be and the farther I can take my students. That means though that I've got to help myself before I can help others. I do feel like I did indeed. I made a lot of mistakes in performances and there was definitely some miscommunication every now and then about who was going to come in next or what have you. I grew a lot from making those mistakes and being more clear myself about what I wanted to happen.

a Friday performance at the Marriot

Regardless of how perfect our performances were, I think the biggest lesson I learned was about myself and how much I really like to perform for others. At school, I really concentrated on how I was going to teach others, and don't get me wrong, I still love that. But I also just really enjoy singing for other people and being in a band. There's really nothing like just losing yourself in the music and expressing yourself so creatively. Also, I just really enjoy pretending to be Little Richard and I sure like to ball.

5. Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

The Healing House is a really transitory place. People move in and out all the time. Volunteers and residents come and go on their own schedules, according to their own plans. I suppose people come in and out of our lives like that all the time, but it's definitely accelerated and highlighted here. It seems that people move out just as you were beginning to get to know them. Just when you're getting used to things as they are, new people move in and the cycle begins again.

The ebb and flow can really get you. Last month, six people in the course of two weeks moved out. The house got strangely empty and quiet. The people I'd used to seeing around and gotten quite close with were suddenly not around anymore. The multitude of volunteers that we had shrunk to a just a wee little group of us that were supposed to keep things flowing here. After a week or so eerie quiet, perhaps just when it began getting peaceful almost, six people moved in all in the same day. Five of them were together, and one came here on her own and she certainly marches to the beat of her drum. Those people have been with us for about six weeks. Just this last week they all left, and coincidentally the one who came here on her own also left to go perform in the circus in the jungle.

This time around I'm more used to it, but it's really interesting to sit and reflect on the multitude of people I've already seen come through. What's even more amazing is to try to piece together how we've all influenced each other and how our paths intersect. I've met so many people from all different parts of the world, from Egypt, England, New Zealand, Canada, Lithuania, and Germany, just to name a few. I've learned great lessons from them, such as what herbs are good for certain ailments. I've learned all about how important it is to get out of the city every once in a while and just be in nature. I've even learned how to make an excellent cashew cream sauce (that tastes exactly like alfredo sauce!) The group of five people who came through consisted of a couple and three teenagers (their daughter and two friends) who were here for the second time. The couple knew so much about ayurveda, and the wife was an ayurvedic doctor. They gave an intense week-long workshop here, and always had great health tips and cooking tips. Thinking about all that, I feel so grateful that I got this opportunity and I get so excited thinking about how I'll apply those ideas I picked up (especially the one about the cashew alfredo!)

A new volunteer arrived on Tuesday. Her name is Valerie and she's from Canada. (She's the beginning of a new wave of people that should be moving in soon.) She's only been here a short while, but already she's made so many contributions to the way we run things here. Tonight, she even led our first meeting on how we're going to be doing our bookkeeping from now own, in a definitely more organized fashion, hopefully making our organization ready for our on-going growth.

Surprise Baking Fiend

Because we do have a lot of people coming and leaving, we also have a lot of going-away potlucks. In all of those, I've not only enjoyed celebrating others, I've discovered I'm actually quite good at baking.

One of our veteran volunteers, Kaki, moved out last month and was known for her amazing chocolate cake. So in her honor, I was enlisted to bake something for her going away party. I admit, I was quite nervous in my attempt to impress Kaki's refined palate. Still, I'm happy to say that on that rainy Monday evening all anyone could taste was success (and a hint of mocha).

my first made-from-scratch chocolate creation and I

After tasting that cake, Municky, a yoga teacher here from Brazil, requested--nay, demanded--I make something similar for her birthday. However, this time around I lacked powdered sugar, so I went for a recipe that used granulated sugar. That was almost a lumpy disaster, until I had a perfect epiphany moment and dumped it all into a blender. What ensued was smooth, rich chocolate perfection that I could easily spread on top of this cake.

The coconut detailing was done courtesy of Sarah.

I definitely didn't expect to be baking (or be any good at it) this summer, but here we are and it's undeniable I'm awesome.

That's all for now!

Sylvia

4. The Struggle

Perhaps the title is not only cliche, but also slightly misleading. There really isn't one struggle that I've faced or been faced with in my six weeks here so far. There are a lot. I've dealt with some personal challenges, such as overcoming my fears of saying what I want and expressing myself honestly and staying healthy despite all the cold/flu sickness that's been going around. I've also been faced with some more external struggles such as those of the people I met who the the Healing House aims to help and the compelling stories I've heard from homeless I've spoken with.

There's one struggle though that's really been hanging over me like dark cloud, although recently the weather here has been truly fantastic. That is the struggle to maintain a blog. It's hard enough to find time in the day to just meditate and reflect on my own life, but also to synthesize that into a readable post for friends, family, and colleagues elsewhere in the world is quite a challenge. Especially when you fall a bit behind and get off track, it feels nearly impossible to start back up again and get writing. I'm still a week behind in my personal daily reflections, and I feel like I need to catch up there before I can post here. Never fear, however; I'm overcoming that and getting back on track. Today is my half way point. I've been in Peru for seven weeks now and I'll only be here for another seven. Perhaps realizing that is what gave me that extra impulse to continue.

So a few weeks ago, I got a job as an English teacher at a bilingual school across town and started performing on the weekends with a jazz/rock and roll group. Both were incredible opportunities that have taught me a lot so far. Still, those new responsibilities coupled with my continued service at the Healing House got to be quite overwhelming. Preparing lesson plans, practicing songs, and even just finding time to work shifts at the House were enough already. The week that all started, my writing and daily reflection fell off to the side. Recovering from that has been tough. There's no way around it. Still, there will be longer posts about those experiences in the coming couple of days.

There's an even bigger underlying reason as to why it's been hard for me to blog. I do have some great isolated stories about the adventures I've had so far, but it's not what I planned in the least. The Saturday creative kids program at the House has gone well in the past couple of weeks, and I've continued to help out however I can with that. Still, I can't report triumphantly about how the plans I made while I was home have been a huge hit. Actually, we haven't been using the lesson plans I wrote. Each week at our creative kids volunteer meeting we decide on a theme and then come up with different art, music, and yoga activities that correlate.

This coming week we're going to just focus on art though. We'll be explaining to the kids about plastic and how the insane amount of plastic bags used here affect the environment. Then we'll be decorating tote bags that we had sewn out of recycled flour sacs to give the kids something cool to use instead. The main point is though that we get the kids to be more conscious how their individual actions affect the world. It's a really cool lesson, but I'm still skeptical of how effective it'll be. The reliance on plastic that I've seen here (and I mean they use plastic bags for everything) seems more like a symptom of something larger. Perhaps they're so widely used because it's just cheaper in the short run and not something everyone can afford to go without.

Anyway, this coming month each weekend Tori (my fellow FSU Global Scholar) and I will be carrying out our prepared lesson plans each Saturday. Tori brought with her some disposable cameras for a photography project and I've still got my plans and songs for a choir class. I'll admit I've amended them quite a bit given what I've learned and experienced working with the kids each Saturday, but I look forward to really taking the lead when it comes to this social project.

Well, that's all for now. Stay on the look out for a few more posts covering these past few weeks.

Paz,

Sylvia

Just call me Sylv Master Fresh

Okay, okay. I know what you're thinking. Yes, I'm really that cool. Here's why:

leftover diced potatoes, fried sweet potatoes, onions, greens, and sliced apple

salad with caramelized onions, carrots, quinoa , and avocado

whole wheat pasta with sauteed chard, tomato, and oregano cheese

salad with quinoa, carrot, pomegranate, and avocado

These creations are all mine, I'll have you know. I feel quite happy with my progress as a cook. Part of harnessing your creativity happens in the kitchen. It's about feeling out the ingredients you have and deciding what you think will pair well. Because I have all those vegetables, I just make a lot of stir fry, soup, and salad. Still, some things you might not expect work really well together, like sliced apple in your with your hash browns or pomegranate in your salad. 

I've gotten a lot of inspiration from Sarah, another one of the volunteers here, who after hearing about my giant vegetable bag decided she'd like to split it with me. I admit that was really awesome, for two reasons. Not only is it now a lot easier now for me to get through my veggies before they wilt, but Sarah actually knows what she's doing in the kitchen. After all, her Strawberry Oatmeal bars did win our baking contest. And check out this creation of hers:

And that's not even her very best. So, I'm so excited to keep on trying different things and learning from the others here.

Well, I'll keep ya posted!

Sylvia

Top Chef - Veggie Style

So, I've started ordering my vegetables from this organic farmer comes to town a few times a week. He sells his stuff in huge, basically surprise bags with different greens, herbs, and roots that vary  from week to week.

The bag was actually really enormous.

I'm really excited to start trying to cook with these veggies, because some of them (like Chard) I've never had before, and I have no idea what I'm doing.

An impressive array of veggies, is it not?

I sort of feel like I'm on one of those crazy cooking shows where they give you weird, random ingredients that you have to incorporate, except, I have no real experience cooking. Thank God for the internet.

We'll see how this one goes. I'll keep you posted!

Sylvia

Going nuts for milk

So, this past year I got pretty hooked on our dining hall's soy milk back at school. It's so much better than regular milk. Still, the soy milk you can buy here has a ton of sweeteners and stuff. The other day I saw Selene, who lives here in the house, making her own Brazil nut milk. She explained to me that it's actually pretty easy. All you essentially have to do is soak the nuts in water, blend them, and then strain them. I tried it the other day and it actually came out pretty good.

Alright!