Site

So since I’ve come to site, I’ve been struggling to find a way to make a blog flow the same way as the ones I wrote during training. The truth is since I arrived at my site in Ancash just over 2 weeks ago, my experiences have been intense, random, curious, wonderful, challenging, and above all, totally fragmented. Coming out of training – 3 months of non-stop structure – and finally landing at my site – well the 2 worlds couldn’t be further apart. (Read: And this girl couldn’t be happier).
So I’ll do like I’ve been told in the past: write what I know. I know that I spent the past 2 weeks without a door to my room, and therefore absolutely no privacy. I woke up at 5am every day to wood chopping, crows crowing, family chatting (very loudly), music, and occasionally my host mom standing over my straw-mattress bed – Sophia! - letting me know her plans for the day, or whatever.
And the changes don’t end at the lack of doors and locks. I took my first (of two so far) showers like everybody else - with a big bucket in the middle of the patio in broad daylight. It was a slightly scary and very humbling experience, but at least I caught some rays. When you join the Peace Corps, things change.
I am one of the lucky volunteers with cell phone service, although spotty. I get a signal, but only when I’m on my tippy-toes hanging half-way outside my adobe kitchen window, so if you call and I don’t pick up, it’s because I’m currently not on my tippy-toes hanging outside my kitchen window. Leave a message, I’ll call you back. Actually, I probably won’t, my pocket’s a little light these days.
Lets see… more changes. I now eat guinea pig on a fairly regular basis. If deep-dish is to Chicago, guinea pig is to Ancash. And lucky me – that thing is packed with protein and kind of tasty. Seriously. While we’re on the topic of eating pets… I’m told there is an annual festival on the other side of the mountain where the townspeople slaughter and eat...cats. My host family is playfully threatening to prepare me cat but pretend it’s chicken or duck, and once I’m finished eating my meal, well, the joke will be on me. Mountain humor is somethin’ else.
One of the best parts of these past 2 weeks has simply been catching my breath and letting it all sink in. I’m starting to have those moments – “Oh my god, I’m in the Peace Corps, I’m in Ancash, I’m actually doing this!” – I finally have the time to let these realities sink in. And it feels great.
My host family is wonderful, funny and protective. My host sister is adorable. And my neighbors all seem really nice too. I am primarily partnered with a nurse, Feliciana, a modern and smart young woman – and she’s already really involved in community development. She’s full of ideas for youth development and we have some exciting activities lined up for this month. At the end of this month, we’re going to attend a Peace Corps Training Workshop on youth theatre groups as a way to reinforce leadership and community participation. Obviously I’m thrilled. Things are going well.
It’s one step at a time, and I’m slowly getting integrated – and acclimatized – in this beautiful mountain community that I am so lucky to call my home for the next couple of years.
I joined the Peace Corps because I wanted to experience something radically different than my life in Connecticut and DC, to gain a new perspective, and I’m embracing the changes.
Well, most of them.
Did I mention I have fleas?
Hasta la proxima!