Interview Etiquette: How to give and receive in a different language

A couple of weeks ago I went to Villa Salvador, a "pueblo jóven" (shanty town) in the Southern Cone of Lima, with two friends: Mikey and Sara; they are doing their volunteer work with Building Dignity: http://www.buildingdignity.org/ an ONG started by Macalaster graduates and faculty working for justice with the Community of Lomo de Corvino.  The program of Building Dignity focuses on Community Education and Leadership.  Mikey and Sara work at the center on Monday afternoons during tutoring hours.  This was a great opportunity to see a completely different reality in Lima, and learn about Peruvian education in a vastly different environment from la Católica; once again, I challenged myself to get as uncomfortable as possible (I am terrified of children).  Unfortunately, I could see that the quality of schools in the poorer parts of the country is abysmal; the problem starts with the generation before: the teachers, although they often have good intentions, are ill prepared and many of the parents have also received education of a very low caliber.  A lot of the assignments involved copying information from Wikipedia or sketching images from "laminatas" (laminated sheets of information about such themes as the solar system and Catholic Saints).  Not trying to point any fingers, but there is a clear lack of government interest and funding.

For obvious reasons I didn't bring my camera, but here is a shot of Villa Salvador from: http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/679435.jpg.

Last Monday I was "webiando" (jerga for hanging out) at Católica and I got approached by a long haired Peruvian.  Now if you are picturing Viggo Mortensen in Lord of the Rings or Ted Neeley in Jesus Christ Superstar or Adam Beach in Smoke Signals stop now; the effect of his tresses was like nothing I had ever seen before in or out of Hollywood.  Digressions aside, after introducing himself he told me that he had a radio show about travel at PUCP and asked me if I had time for an interview.  I was clearly not doing anything; so I agreed-before I realized that he wanted to interview me live in Spanish about my experiences in Lima as a foreigner.  I wanted nothing more than to refuse, but it was too late.  Plus, I have been trying to make myself as uncomfortable as possible lately, and no one actually listens to university radio stations, right?  The interview itself was pretty painless; once I had warmed up the room, I fell right into my normal role as the strange, funny gringa.  Don't really remember what we talked about, but I know food, traffic, and "piropeos" (catcalls) came up at some point.  Plus, I got to meet some Colombian exchange students and my new friend bought me chocolate.  Allegedly the show is going to be posted online, but I couldn't find anything.  Regardless, here is the link to the Zona PUCP blog: http://blog.pucp.edu.pe/category/2786/blogid/1021.

Photo credit Julia Moskowitch:

Webiando en el fondo de la Católica...there is an exhibit on rural technology.  What is this country?

Casually chasing bunnies on a Wednesday afternoon at the University.  

Yes, I cut off all my hair.  In a fit of rebellion against latinos as a matter  of fact.  There is a very limited concept of beauty here, and I am not trying to fit into it.  The best part: almost no "piropeos" (catcalls) unless I am wearing a dress.  

Later that day I went to track practice to talk to the coach about my injury, but before I could start to explain he informed me that he wanted to take my BMI.  All I could think was, "Oh no, BMI is really not a flattering number for me".  They have this machine that "supposedly" measures your BMI by measuring your body's water retention or something through metal plates, but really I am convinced that its just a glorified scale.  Regardless, when I was standing barefoot on the scale I heard an intake of breath, and "pesada" (heavy).  Oh boy...After the test we stepped outside, and the coach informed me that I was a "little bit fat" and that if I wanted to run faster I would need to loose weight.  He proceeded to give me dietary suggestions, and show me the BMI of another girl and tell me that her weight was more acceptable.  He informed me that he wanted to weigh me every week to see if I was making progress.  I had a clear choice: I could have gotten indignant or I could just laugh.  Naturally, I just started laughing-which confused the coach.  Apparently he was completely serious.

I told a friend about this experience, and she was shocked that I wasn't more upset.  But I wasn't interested in getting upset about something that was purely a matter of perspective.  To begin, I don't know exactly what level I should hold people accountable for accepting social norms that are purely cultural.  In Peru talking about body weight in an open manner is not taboo; nicknames such as gordita (little fat girl) are completely acceptable and strangers, usually women, have commented that recently they've gained "a little weight" to me while chatting on the combi.  In the US you never talk about a woman's weight, but here the line is blurred.

Furthermore, I like to judge my body by how it feels, and not by the empirical tests of some machine or the opinion of a stranger.  I consider it ignorance to let a number change the way you think about your body, but that doesn't mean that everyone sees the world that way.  However, this was the last straw so to speak, and I made the decision to quit track.  There is a weird paternalism that surrounds sports in this country.  Although the guys on the team and the coach are great people, I feel machismo more at track practice than I do anywhere else in my life.  I think there is the expectation that women are physically capable of less and inherently less suitable for athletics.  This mentality is something that I have never believed for a second in my life.  Glad I tried, but its time for something new.  Plus, its about time for me to take a long overdue hiatus from competition.  Right now I am not exercising-not even a little bit-as I give my foot a chance to heal.  My MRI came back and its just a fluid filled contusion which should resolved itself in a couple of weeks.  Gracias a dios.

In Castellano, one of the courses for IFSA, our final project is to write a 5-10 page paper about a Peruvian topic that interests us, and to do interviews with people in the streets.  Not joking-that's the only information we have for assignmente.  Well, every day on my way to Católica I walk along the incredibly commercialized Avenida Universitaria from La Marina to the gates of the university.  I pass Plaza San Miguel (a giant shopping center), Wong (a Chinese owned super market chain), and Ripley (a Chilean owned chain department store).  I am assaulted with advertisements and publicity.  I started to realize that the models were all white-not something I necessarily expected to see in a country as diverse as Peru.  Consider this article from La Republica from 3-28-2013 about the new faces of Ripley: http://www.larepublica.pe/28-03-2013/conozca-los-nuevos-rostros-de-ripley in which Norberto Rossi, the executive director, commented that (and this is an extremely rough translation), "In Ripley we are happy to have as the image of our company three incredibly distinguished women as representatives of the Peruvian women.  Their careers and achievements show that with talent and dedication you can accomplish your goals."  But these are the women that are supposed to represent Peru and encourage women to reach for the stars?  Can anyone spot a trend?

The new faces of Ripley: Stephanie Cayo, Colombian singer and actress, Maju Mantill, most beautiful woman in the world and Peruvian actress, and Vanessa Saba, one of the most famous actresses in Peru.  

My friend, Adrienne, and I decided we wanted to ask people their opinion about beauty and publicity in Lima; our professor suggested we conduct interviews in hair salons and spas in different parts of Lima.  During the past week or so, Adrienne and I have embarked on expeditions to El Centro, Pueblo Libre, and Miraflores to try to tease out the Peruvian concept of beauty and the racism inherent in this concept.  Our interviews started out with easy questions: name, age, where do you live in the city, etc.  Despite the fact that we were only conducting interviews in three districts we met men and women from all over Lima: Rimac, San Juan de Lurigancho, la Victoria, etc.

Then we asked about daily beauty routines-a concept which is surprisingly difficult to manipulate in a different language-and popular hair and make up styles of the moment.  Most women like to think that they wear "natural" make up, and that they only do so on special occasions, like going to the bank.  We asked people to select the most attractive man and women from a group of images, and then asked about the most attractive personal traits, and physical characteristics in a significant other.  One women with a bright red pixie cut, when asked about her most attractive trait, answered, "My hair because it attracts attention."  An interesting limitation of Spanish is that it is impossible to be gender neutral when you are asking people about their partners.  Many of the people we interviewed really valued the physique of their partner; good bodies are very important in this country.  Finally, we asked people about their opinions of publicity in Lima and the racial make up of advertisements.  

At first Adrienne and I were super nervous; we got manicures at the first two places to make it easier to talk to people.  But after we had a couple of interviews under our belts things were easier, and we had a great time exploring.  Now when I wander around in Lima I almost have a sixth sense for beauty parlors.  Choleando is a super interesting Peruvian documentary that looks at racism: 

In Peruvian Social Reality we have to write a research paper about an issue pertaining to the course; again a super broad assignment with essentially no structure, but I figured this would be a great opportunity to learn more about a theme related to geology.  My professor put me in contact with the National Coordinator of Human Rights: http://derechoshumanos.pe/ who was all too willing to help.  In light of the fact that Católica plans to launch a new specialty of Geologic Engineering: tp://puntoedu.pucp.edu.pe/noticias/especialidad-de-ingenieria-geologica/ I emailed a PUCP geologist to ask for an interview.  Yesterday, at 8 o'clock I found my way to the Section of Mining Engineering not exactly sure what to expect.  What followed was a fascinating hour long conversation about the realities of geology, and scientific research in general, in the developing world, and scientific responsibility, ie should scientists be activists or should they remain neutral in order to protect the impartiality of their research.  We touched on social conflicts from the Arctic Circle to Peru, and I got to learn about exciting CAMP research underway in Peru.  Truly a priveledge!