Tuesday, June 17, 2008

¿Que Novelas?

Crickets. Giant crickets. That fly. Arroz with every meal. Spending more than 90% of my day outdoors. NOT excercising, unless you consider lifting baby wipes instead of weights a form of excercise. My sleeping bag - that and my pillow are my most prized posession. Cold showers. Charlas. Awakening my creative side. Dressing down and no makeup. LOVING my short hair. Being pleasantly surpised daily - often. Coffee withdrawl. Alfahoras. White noise used to be ambulances and traffic in DC, now it´s roosters, dogs, ducks, and other wildlife. Potty-talk. The neighborhood kids. Guinea pigs. Pushing myself and learning so much. Being devoid of American/World news/pop-culture... (who wants to volunteer to send me US weekly!!) Cebiche. Crystal. Potatoes, hundreds of types. Rice. Potatoes. Rice. Rice. Rice. Get the point? La bicicleta! Outdoor classrooms... greatest thing since sliced bread. Mucho apoyo. Llamas! Combis. Chocolate cake... some things never change. Feelings of wonderment, humbleness, thanks, sheer joy, excitement and anticipation and dread, longing for home and the ¨status quo¨- but being so thankful for this experience. Poco a poco. It`s all very overwhelming. Dealing with a multiplicity of contradictions, and embracing the hell out of them. Making fantastic friends, and having so much in common. Toughest job I`ll ever love.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Earthquakes

Appropriately, this morning, my first day in Peru, I experienced my first earthquake with my 38 new friends. As we ate our eggs and ham, the dining hall began to lightly tremble... But since the waiters pouring cafe con leche appeared totally unphased, well, we laughed it off! It really was no big deal - apppropriate really - as I´m sure this morning was the first of many small earthquakes - real and metaphorical - that I´ll experience in this fabulous country. After lunch, Glenn tried to feed an alpaca some chocolate, but that rude little alpaca spit on him. We´re already rolling with the punches. The weather is amazing - 70 degrees in the dead of winter here. I love my group, training is wonderful, and our leaders are amazing people. I have absolutely no complaints whatsoever, and I am so filled with emotion. Tomorrow I´ll move into my homestay for the next 3 months... and classes start on Monday. Can´t wait. XO.