Samaipata

Deli and I took a little break from the pandemonium of the city and headed out of town. This time in the opposite direction of Santiago and up into the mountains… not really the mountains the foothills of the Andes, but still gets pretty high pretty quick. At just under 5000ft we made it to Samaipata where we spent a pretty fantastic weekend. Here are some photos for your enjoyment.

Peter
God bless

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At last

so after so much waiting and me telling you: soon, soon. The contract has been signed by the mayor, Ruben Dario and the president of the gas company. At long last it is official, the music school has a set in stone budget for the next 12 months and a very good chance that it will be renewed for several years to come. I’ll let you know how this advances.

Peter
God bless

Hey

So I know it’s not wednesday any more but I’ll let you know what ended up happening.  On Wednesday we contacted the gas company to make sure everything was advancing as planned, and of corse they let us know that the president of the company was out of town… In this culture that is no big suprise that they set up a date and then it doesn’t work out. But they let us know that they had sent out the contract so that the mayor of Roboré could sign it and then they would send it to our office so Rubén could sign it and then we would send it off to have the president of the company sign it.  That all ended up happening yesterday Rubén signed the document and now we just have to wait for them to let us know that it is all a go.

Peter 

hey

So sorry once again, with my work, my classes and our new little apartment I have not been able to do this blog justice, but asides from being busy everything is OK. This is just a note, that on Wednesday we are supposed to (at long last) sing the contract between the municipality, the gas company and SICOR. So on Wednesday, or Thursday, I’ll give you the break down of how that went… and what that means for the Santiago music school and what that means for me and my work.
Sorry, it’s kinda lame of me to write a post that says nothing but hey check in again in a couple of days for something actually interesting… but just wanted to give the heads up.

Peter
God bless

Photos

Hello folks,

You can go to this site to check out the photos of the wedding and such. please let me know if anyone would like prints.
Peter
God bless

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=113643846708863243466&target=ALBUM&id=5621884082756748289&authkey=Gv1sRgCJ-jgaKzg-mNYA&feat=email

Advances… sorta

Howdy folks,
Long time no blog. Hope all are well. I have been terribly busy as usual does not help at all that I have homework for the class that I am doing for masters as well. Delicia and I have been doing well, settling into are new little place (and I do mean little). But recently in the work world things have been looking up, even though, strangely so.

I just got back from a little trip out to Santiago and got to have a meeting with the PTO of the music school, representatives from the gas company and the mayor and other folks from the municipality. Meeting when well, we had several discussions about who should be in charge of what. I had to a lot of defending of our institution since Rubén wasn’t there he ended up getting some flack. We ended up concluding the meeting, deciding that the parents and SICOR had to meet. So I called up Rubén and told him he had to be on the next train to Roboré. On Monday we met again this time with out the gas company folks… back tracking all this is to define parameters to sign a contract between the municipality, SICOR and the gas company to obtain funding from all three for the music school. The music school can’t participate in the signing of the contract even though they are the beneficiaries since they have no legal status… officially and legally they mean nothing in Bolivia, they are just a group of folks that get together and enjoy music. So SICOR being the music education reference institution in the country is signing on their behalf.
We ran into some issues. First of all Rubén is famous for being occupied and having many things on his plate. He’s also well known for being very meticulous in his work, he has tons of charisma (I mean loads open loads) so everyone looks up to him, and he’s a real persona, so the flip side of that, when he’s not around people really miss him and end up taking it the wrong way… he doesn’t care about us or our school or our kids. The other issue is the music school in Santiago is used to being autonomous and working on their own, even though Rubén founded it, and I administrated it the parents were always very important and fundamental in the decision-making. Now the reality the project that I wrote (for these three institutions and their funding) I did it as an employee of SICOR and made it in the best interest of Santiago but with the methodology of SICOR in mind (which in fact is the way that the school has really been running even if people don’t realize it). The only major changes being that the music school would now have a wind, or symphonic component, and also we would implement office and a Human development or social work team, that we have been working with in our schools in Santa Ana and the Plan 3000. The idea is to implement more seriously our methodology of social change by way of music, but placing more emphasis and proactively doing the social change part and not just expecting that since the kid plays violin that will mean that they will automatically do better in school and have a happier family. We have social workers, psychologists and educators on staff in Santa Ana and the Plan 3000, this for some reason was seen as something unnecessary for the folks in Santiago… or for at least some of them.
So this made me reflect, and I would like feedback on this, where do you draw the line between development, intervention and complete control. Basically we have a project (we being outsiders, especially me north American but also Rubén/SICOR, the gas company and the municipality, but not as much). So we are doing a development project in this local community and we are coming in with are project to help advance something that has always advanced (but with some outside help, like other north Americans and other sources of outside money). But who are we to come and change or take control of the local project… albeit that string music schools really aren’t truly local project in this area but have become so. My argument is (and is very biased) I wrote the project, I live in Santiago for two years… I have talked to lots of parents and kids, not just the directory, I have seen it work in other communities, and in these specific (music/social work) terms we are the experts not the community… so they should let us manage it and make the decisions… as long as the money isn’t lost/mismanaged whatever. So that is another pondering of mine.
As of right now the parents have sort of given in if you will, partly because the gas company told them please don’t reject the money (they just have the money to offer and have nothing to do with how it is executed, we (SICOR) are in charge of that). But the gas company is framing this as their star social responsibility project. The municipality likes that aspect of it as well. So as of right now we are going to go ahead and sign it, but we have heard and taken note of the complaints and issues of the parents and have told them that we will proceed accordingly.

Pictures

Hey, so those of you anxious to see more pictures please be patient. I’m waiting to put up pictures from our photographer to my Picasa page along with the ones we have from our friends and then (hopefully this weekend) I’ll send the link out to all you folks.

Peter
God bless

We’re Married!!

Hey,

Quick post,

Our wedding was a joyous occasion. Two of the commentaries that we liked most were that nothing during the service was memorized and both our cultures were represented. It was unfortunate that more of our family and friends from the US and Canada could not be present. We hope that you all will be able to join us in a reception that we will plan at some point next year. We will make sure to let you know of the date and pertinent details as soon as possible. I hope you enjoy this photo that a friend took in front of the Basilica San Andrés on the plaza in Santa Cruz.

Blessings,

Peter and Delicia

From Ecuador

howdy

hey, i’m in Guayaquil, Ecuador. What? Why am I in Ecuador? I got invited (replacing my boss) to a conference.

Very interesting

http://www.comunidadandina.org/index.htm

But before I arrived at the conference I had an interesting trip:

So i got up super early 4:00 got, had to get a taxi (for some reason i thought the flight was at 9:00 no at 7:00, and if it was at 9:00 i would have gone on the bus). but got to the airport ok in the taxi.
Got my ticket, got money from the ATM (there is a $100 limit) since i didn’t have all that much cash on me i got out all that i could. Paid all the taxes, went through immigration, paid my exit fee (resident aliens have to pay 100bs. every time they leave the country, aside from paying the local tax)
Got to lima.
The flight is a Taca flight that has a 12:00 hour layover in Lima.
Rubén asked me to drop off some documents while i was in Lima at this foundation that we work with (stromme from norway)
He needed some stuff signed and wanted me to bring a copy back with me… not sure how much putting a stamp on the stuff costs but he thought it’d be quicker for me to do it.
So went through customs, called the people because i didn’t have a clue where the office was, they told me. I went out and got a taxy from the national side of the airport, supposedly they charge cheaper then the international arrivals.
On the way to the office i forgot the direction so the taxi driver called up the office and they let him know, it is in Santiago de Surco
So we go chatting it up, get to the office he says if i want he’ll wait for me outside the office, i had told him i might just head back to the airport.
He said sure take your time
So i dropped the stuff off chatted a little bit with the people and about 25 minutes later i go out to find the taxi driver.
He’s there waiting and I ask him if we should go back go back to the airport, he said sure but first “you want to get some lunch? Cheap?” (it’s about 12:30 Peru time)
I told him sure; he had been really friendly about the price, and about the waiting.
So we go to some little whole in the wall place that he has known for a while, he drops some stuff off someplace that he needed to then we get to the airport.
I hurry on in and get in line.
Then they stop me and say that i need to pay an airport tax.
It was because i had gone out of the international waiting area.
It was 88 soles. $30.50
I had spent 90 soles on the taxi, 6.5 soles on lunch and like US$80 at the Bolivian airport.
I was about 19 soles short that was with the little of bolivian cash i still had on hand.
19 soles is like $6.50
I went to the ATM tried my Bolivian debit card and it didn’t work I tried my US debit card and it didn’t work. I tried my credit card and it didn’t work.
So I, understandably started freaking out, I went over to the money exchange place and made a quick calculation and that is when i realized that with the bolivian cash i had plus the 40 soles that i had left over i still needed another 19 soles
So…
I ran outside in search for the taxi driver, looked around and then I found him.
I chatted with him for a while and promised i would send him the money via western union, he loaned me the 20 soles that I needed.
He said it wasn’t just for any reason that we ran into each other and he decided to drive me and then have lunch together.

News

So I am currently in Cochabamba, I had to come here to get my Certificado de Solterio, or bachelerhood certificate. All it is, is a signed and stamped note that I declare that I have never been married before.
So pretty much all my documentation is complete, this only has to be certified by the chancellery office in Santa Cruz… what fun. I flew all the way to Cochabamba to pass 20 minutes in the consulate and the dude signed and stamped the little note for me.
But that is all.
I have some sad news. I got an email from National Geographic the other day, stating that sadly, I did not get the grant to do the documentary. This is a bummer since I was really looking forward to working on the project and had gotten a good network and background set up. At any rate.. I just might freelance it, and try to fund-raise some money to buy the computer software that I need to edit the film, and do it with just one camera instead of two as I had hoped.

At any rate, thanks for you prayers.

Peter
God bless