My Family in Peru

September 18- We headed out from compound outside of Chosica and after a half hour ride we made it to the Peace Corps training site in Chaclacayo. Orientation seems like a process that will be going for the first few days of training if not longer. We met all of our teacher, doctors, secretaries, security staff, etc… But, the day in Chaclacayo was really about one thing, and that was meeting our new host families. I compare the feeling to the one I had before I went sky diving this summer, but this was that multiplied by 10. To calm down I just had to remind myself that everyone else was in the same boat as me. Alphabet be damned, I was the third person to be sent off with my new host mom.

My host mother walked up, we kissed each other’s cheeks and it seemed as though every word I knew in Spanish flew as fast as it could out my head. We exchanged the usual info on our ride back to our house in the moto and my next 3 months began. My family has 3 girls ages 16, 20, and 24. Alfredo  (52) is my host dad and my more than accommodating host mom is Ana Maria (52).  As soon as we got back to the house it was lunch time. This seems to be the biggest meal of the day, though no meals have disappointed at all yet. Chicken, rice, and potatoes with salada russo for an appetizer would be a feast for me in the US so I was happy as could be chatting with my family and enjoying great food. I managed to stumble my way through 2 hours of conversation with my family before I made it my room to unpack and take a quick break. My room has two large windows that open to a view of a roof top across the alleyway. I have a dresser, electricity, water, and a lot of privacy if I want it.  

After getting my room set up I decided to go for a walk and check out my surrounding community. I enjoyed a quick chat with an older local man and then another volunteer. On my search for a telephone to call home I stopped in at a local store for some change and there I met Hector. Hector is a 27 year old who worked and lived in the US for a small amount of time ten years ago. He knew less English than I know Spanish, but it was still great how hospitable he and his friends were with me. I decided I was going to buy one cerveza and then one little exchange about where I was from and why I am here turned into an hour and half of light social drinking and great conversation. There were a few older men in their 40s and 50s who didn’t speak any English and said only few lines to me here or there, but I couldn’t have asked for a better unplanned situation. Dinner with the family was great and the only little complaint with the whole day was that the king of the little annoying Scottish dogs was camped outside my window all night barking off and on, as he will be for many nights to come. With the large number of dogs on rooftops as guard dogs and the abundance of stray dogs in the community I felt like I was in the movie 101 Dalmatians and my friendly Scottie was rallying the troops.

There are ten or so other volunteers placed in the village of Huascaran but I have only seen where two others live as of right now. Our days will be packed full of training for 10 weeks as we prepare for a future assignments. The process is much more difficult than most people in the United States probably think. They don’t just drop us off in the jungle and say go. It is a trial period in which we have to demonstrate to them and to ourselves that we are ready to handle the challenge and responsibility that this job brings. The first day was more orientation with more vaccine shots, safety and health presentations, and group bonding experiences. We will be training at the Peace Corps center and in our villages 5-6 days a week usually from 8-5. This of course is never the end of your work. We represent the US and the Peace Corps at all times so you have to be aware of how you present yourself at any given moment. Integrating with your host family and with your community is just as hard and in most cases harder than going through the training at the center. At the center in our Spanish classes we are only allowed to speak Spanish, but the rest of the day is in English, including all other classes to a point and lunches with other health PCVs. In our villages it is shocking to find English speaking people. Besides my host sister Made and my new acquaintance Hector, nobody I have spoken to knows English. This is good for my learning, but it is certainly a new challenge for someone like me who likes to talk too much.

More training and more integration ahead but I’m loving every second of it, tough and easy.