¿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.

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.

One Week

Here we go. I haven't written in a journal since I was six. Maybe five. I haven't written a paper in a year. Right now, I'm more nervous about sounding pretentious or self-righteous in this blog than I am about going to the Peace Corps, so bear with me.
So about that Peace Corps thing... I'm off in a week. I've been waiting for a year. Here we go. I haven't packed. I've started shopping for those little last-minute nick-knacks like hiking backpacks, duffel bags, day packs, you know... details. But the physical act of packing has yet to start. Maybe I should get on that so I don't induce a major panic attack before I begin THE greatest adventure of my life. (Am I sounding nervous yet?)
This year has been a complete whirl-wind... living in Ketchum and reconnecting with Peyton was by far the best decision I made this post-scholastic year.
This month has been a complete whirl-wind... I've visited almost every family member on my living family tree, played with the most adorable babies and kids who I am SO lucky to call my nieces and nephews, surfed, eaten my weight in: cheese/pasta/sushi/vegetables/fruit/allthingsIprobablywon'teatfor27months, stayed up til wayyy past my bedtime with friends from college and high school, stayed up til wayyy past my bedtime with my sister sharing the most personal and intimate stories, thoughts, fears, hopes for the future... I laughed, I cried, and I soaked it all in. My fuel for the next 27 months. Here we go.