October 6th-17th
I’ve done so much the last couple weeks and now I have been living in Peru for a month. Sometimes I have to take a step back and let that sink in because here everything has just become so routine. There are tough times when I miss people back home, hot showers, internet access at my house, and a list of other things, but overall the days are still great. Emotions are much more up and down here. I can go from having a frustrating morning where my Spanish isn’t exactly on target, but then in a couple hours I am in another type of session almost jumping out of my seat at the new techniques and technical info we are learning. Then I might go out with other trainees and have an amazing night and my Spanish will be back on at home with my family. The order isn’t exactly a pattern like this and everyday is different. The routine and all the random events thrown in here and there has made the last 4 weeks fly by.
Early on a couple of weeks ago we were introduced to SharePoint. SharePoint is an online resource and social networking site for Peace Corps Peru. All volunteers that have served in Peru since the site has been started have had access to SharePoint and have been able to upload helpful resources as well as smaller information, like what concert may be coming to Lima and soon and who would like to go, or maybe they are putting on an event in there province and need to get the word out to other interested volunteers. The amount of techniques and teaching resources is astonishing and beats any site I have ever seen like this and been a part of. I found out this week that I will be able to purchase a USB adapter that will give me wireless internet anywhere, all the way down to my room at my site. This will run a good 100 soles a month, but all things considered $35/month for internet in the middle of the Peruvian mountains will be worth it. I can’t pass up having SharePoint at my fingertips as well as the ability to communicate with people back home, and of course Google and Facebook.
I enjoyed another great night out in Chosica with a large group of PC trainees Wednesday and Saturday we got the group together again for Cubano Fest. After a couple hours of pregame hang out at the local bodegas in Santa Eulalia we all made it to an outdoor discoteca where we danced the night away even making it on stage to sing with the live band for a song or two. I also met a new Peruvian friend on the way to Santa Eulalia, a 26 year old writer named Diego who lives in Lima. It is nice to have a friend in Lima now like many other volunteers. When I make it in to Lima during service and need a friend to show me the town I know who I can call now. There are a few benefits of my room not being inside the main part of my house here. Being able to come home at 4:30 in the morning without waking up my host parents would be one of those benefits. It’s comforting to know that I know my surroundings well enough down here that at night and perhaps a little buzzed still I can make it home without a problem.
Saturday was also the first trip to Agraria University in Lima. We spent the day learning about different Peruvian vegetables and fruits among other things. We were taught how to make our own planters, how to make compost, what plants grow where and how, and we were able to do hands on work seeding plants and planting seeds as well. I knew a good portion of the gardening material, but in the end it really takes a long time and a lot of practice to know how each plant should be planted and the different care each specific plant needs.
For the first two days of the next week we had language training at my house. My parents went all out preparing snacks for my class and the convenience of sleeping in longer made the experience very easy and enjoyable.
We always have current volunteers come in from their sites to give presentations on their work and their specific areas of service and this week the youth and development volunteers came in and I was immediately interested. Working with kids has always been easy for me and once you get past their scared phase where they are awkwardly trying to figure you out it can be the most rewarding experiences out there in my opinion. There are a lot of clichés thrown around like children are the future, but down here in the work we might do it can often be much clearer truth. I sat on the edge of my seat listening for new techniques as well as initiatives that I could possibly be a part of in the not so distant future.
This last Thursday we went to the main offices in Lima for Peace Corps Peru. I had a meeting with the country director of Peace Corps Peru and we were given a tour of the whole site including introductions to every single staff member. After meeting the staff, other trainees and I are convinced that the Peace Corps has found the nicest, most helpful people in Peru to fill out their team. That night was the most anxious night for me over the last few weeks. I had my second language interview and my second interview with the Associate Program in Country Director (APCD) for the health program.
The interviews both turned out better than I could have hoped for. My language interview could have gone a tiny bit better, but it was leaps and bounds better than my first interview. In this interview I could actually have a conversation and not just throw random words together about the weather. My interview with my APCD was reviled incredible news. It’s not 100% official just yet, the Peace Corps always tends to have this game of suspense and ambiguity that they play from the very beginning, but with that said it’s looking like I am going to the department of Cajamarca. Cajamarca is north of Lima and Ancash, but it isn’t right next to Ecuador like some other possible sites for volunteers. It has hills and mountains in the two sites I may be going to and the beach is also relatively close. I might replace a volunteer who is in a site there now or I would be placed in brand new site. Peru’s largest Carnaval is in Cajamarca and the HIV/AIDS rates are much lower than all the other departments where volunteers are being placed. I don’t know my possible work still, but knowing a site and having two provinces to research in the next two weeks before I hear officially has given me a great goal to prepare for. Now that I know where I might be living for the next two years it can be a little hard to stay focused sometimes and not drift off thinking about how amazing it will be during classes. I was given much more information than most other volunteers, but everything is subject to change. We go to Ancash in a week and a half and after our five day trip in the Sierra many minds could change and many people could be mixed up again, who knows with Peace Corps.
Another trip to Agraria University topped off the great week of news and learning as we observed how to raise small birds like chickens, ducks, and turkeys. Not a big deal to people in the states, but here these birds can be the best source of food for your family or your community at site. The real fun started when we went to Mira Flores after Agraria and checked out the beach. It was my first ocean view in Peru and it didn’t disappoint at all. We were offered surf lesson and spoke with a very personable older vendor who had lived in the U.S. for two years 12 years ago. The beach trip put us all in a good mood for our next stop at OKTOBERFEST. I wasn’t sure if my brain was ready to handle three different cultures at the same time, but the night was a huge success and I now know why we are called poor Peace Corps volunteers, we always spend all of our money going out. While expensive, Oktoberfest was a blast. I went with different people than I have usually been out with and the entertainment and Cusqueṅa kept us going strong for hours before a few of us made our way out of the party to find some Chinese food and the way home.
My first taste of cuy in Peru!
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