this dead lamb is just chilling out on my roof
this is the work we did seeding...as you can see the bulls pulling the junta
this is how i wash my clothes by hand
thats the blister i got from walking an hour and a half uphill in my tevas
hanging up signs in town to help clean up and recycleSo, the other day, I just realized I have been here over a hundred days, 105 to be exact. It’s a pretty weird feeling and a good feeling to know that I have made it so far. I guess some reflections should be in order.
The first reflection would have to be regarding time here in site. The volunteers which came to visit and speak throughout training continuously emphasized the fact that training was nothing like your service in site. I must confirm this statement haha. Training was more like what we as Americans would view as a job. It was 8AM-5PM everyday junk full with sessions and even Saturdays included sessions. It was exhausting. It provided an easy escape from interacting with Peruvians because for about at least 8-9 hours we were with other volunteers. It was painful but indeed necessary. Here at site, I’m lucky to be busy more than around 3 or 4 hours at night. There really is no escape from Peruvians except my room. There is no structure and I still have yet to determine exactly what I will be doing. There exist many potential opportunities. However, when a Peruvian says he/she will do something or come to a meeting this can be far from the truth. This all sounds horrible and unbearable, but I’m starting to enjoy it. For one, I pretty much get to choose what projects I would like to take up and which I do not foresee as being worth my time. Second, the free time is welcomed since I lacked that summer of free time before heading off into the real world. I have tons of time to reflect and just ponder a lot of things. Third, the fact that I can’t escape Peruvians isn’t so bad. Luckily, my language abilities are pretty decent so it’s not too much of a headache for me to communicate. Therefore, it’s cool to speak Spanish everyday and a little bit of Quechua sometimes.
The second reflection would pertain to whether or not I feel as though Peace Corps is worth it so far. This is a rather hard thing to say only 3 and a half weeks into site. However, I can make predictions and these predictions are sometimes what keeps me going. I predict that after Peace Corps there isn’t any sort of environment or challenge that I would be afraid of facing. I predict that I will have so much patience I might sometimes be too patient after Peace Corps. I predict I will have amazing leadership and organizational skills which you could only get from being plopped in the middle of nowhere with the intent of developing the community but with not too many guidelines. I predict when I walk into my next interview it won’t be too hard to be able to answer any behavioral question posed at me. So, as you can see, I foresee this as being totally worth it still (which I think is a good thing).
The third reflection would have to be about Peru and Peruvians. I really love both of these things. Peru is about as diverse of a country as you can get in terms of nature and culture. You could probably spend weeks here doing vacations. Unfortunately, everyone just goes to Macchu Picchu and leaves. They seem to forget that Peru contains the deepest canyon in the world (where I live), lots of desert with a kick ass oasis, a corridor of I believe 32 mountains above 6000m, some really awesome beaches, Lake Titicaca( the saying is that the Peruvians get the Titi and the Bolivians get the caca, which means shit in Spanish), some amazing glacial lakes, the Amazon Jungle, must I go on? As for the people, they are the most hospitable I’ve ever met. We might dread the constant food intake sometimes, or the fact that we continually get offered to drink just one more drink before leaving but in the U.S. where could we find this? I know from experience that one more drink at a party might spur some sort of argument. I also know the same goes with food. The fact that most of the people in my town earn a couple of dollars a day and still will give me a meal speaks a lot I think. In addition, it seems as thought the people here remain happier than most in the U.S. even though they barely even have a shower. I think it says something about possessions in general. There are some things I could complain about, like the fact that everyone thinks my name is Bryan instead of Ryan, but my town has started to catch on after 3 weeks. I know really feel for all of my Indian friends whose names I have butchered. The more important thing is that I understand why they can’t pronounce my name. I think that’s an important breakthrough people should think about before getting mad at people. Everyone should step back and understand why the person is doing what they are doing before judging them or getting infuriated. It would make the world a better place and just a wiser place.
Anyways, I think that is all. Not too much is going on. I’m working with my artisans to get them to go to a fair in Lima. I’m going to start teaching computer classes next week. My community partner and I are looking into how we could possible set up a small business which prepares and processes meat so that they don’t just sell the animals to possible buyers (cut out the middle man). We’re also looking at processing crops or making organic crops. These are dream projects which who knows if they will happen. We are in the “What if?” stage I’d say. Hope all is well back in the States and keep sending me emails I enjoy them a lot.
The first reflection would have to be regarding time here in site. The volunteers which came to visit and speak throughout training continuously emphasized the fact that training was nothing like your service in site. I must confirm this statement haha. Training was more like what we as Americans would view as a job. It was 8AM-5PM everyday junk full with sessions and even Saturdays included sessions. It was exhausting. It provided an easy escape from interacting with Peruvians because for about at least 8-9 hours we were with other volunteers. It was painful but indeed necessary. Here at site, I’m lucky to be busy more than around 3 or 4 hours at night. There really is no escape from Peruvians except my room. There is no structure and I still have yet to determine exactly what I will be doing. There exist many potential opportunities. However, when a Peruvian says he/she will do something or come to a meeting this can be far from the truth. This all sounds horrible and unbearable, but I’m starting to enjoy it. For one, I pretty much get to choose what projects I would like to take up and which I do not foresee as being worth my time. Second, the free time is welcomed since I lacked that summer of free time before heading off into the real world. I have tons of time to reflect and just ponder a lot of things. Third, the fact that I can’t escape Peruvians isn’t so bad. Luckily, my language abilities are pretty decent so it’s not too much of a headache for me to communicate. Therefore, it’s cool to speak Spanish everyday and a little bit of Quechua sometimes.
The second reflection would pertain to whether or not I feel as though Peace Corps is worth it so far. This is a rather hard thing to say only 3 and a half weeks into site. However, I can make predictions and these predictions are sometimes what keeps me going. I predict that after Peace Corps there isn’t any sort of environment or challenge that I would be afraid of facing. I predict that I will have so much patience I might sometimes be too patient after Peace Corps. I predict I will have amazing leadership and organizational skills which you could only get from being plopped in the middle of nowhere with the intent of developing the community but with not too many guidelines. I predict when I walk into my next interview it won’t be too hard to be able to answer any behavioral question posed at me. So, as you can see, I foresee this as being totally worth it still (which I think is a good thing).
The third reflection would have to be about Peru and Peruvians. I really love both of these things. Peru is about as diverse of a country as you can get in terms of nature and culture. You could probably spend weeks here doing vacations. Unfortunately, everyone just goes to Macchu Picchu and leaves. They seem to forget that Peru contains the deepest canyon in the world (where I live), lots of desert with a kick ass oasis, a corridor of I believe 32 mountains above 6000m, some really awesome beaches, Lake Titicaca( the saying is that the Peruvians get the Titi and the Bolivians get the caca, which means shit in Spanish), some amazing glacial lakes, the Amazon Jungle, must I go on? As for the people, they are the most hospitable I’ve ever met. We might dread the constant food intake sometimes, or the fact that we continually get offered to drink just one more drink before leaving but in the U.S. where could we find this? I know from experience that one more drink at a party might spur some sort of argument. I also know the same goes with food. The fact that most of the people in my town earn a couple of dollars a day and still will give me a meal speaks a lot I think. In addition, it seems as thought the people here remain happier than most in the U.S. even though they barely even have a shower. I think it says something about possessions in general. There are some things I could complain about, like the fact that everyone thinks my name is Bryan instead of Ryan, but my town has started to catch on after 3 weeks. I know really feel for all of my Indian friends whose names I have butchered. The more important thing is that I understand why they can’t pronounce my name. I think that’s an important breakthrough people should think about before getting mad at people. Everyone should step back and understand why the person is doing what they are doing before judging them or getting infuriated. It would make the world a better place and just a wiser place.
Anyways, I think that is all. Not too much is going on. I’m working with my artisans to get them to go to a fair in Lima. I’m going to start teaching computer classes next week. My community partner and I are looking into how we could possible set up a small business which prepares and processes meat so that they don’t just sell the animals to possible buyers (cut out the middle man). We’re also looking at processing crops or making organic crops. These are dream projects which who knows if they will happen. We are in the “What if?” stage I’d say. Hope all is well back in the States and keep sending me emails I enjoy them a lot.
2 comments:
that was a really amazing entry! keep up with good work! you have a lot to be proud of.
Try having a name with a "th" sound in it. There are about 4 languages on earth that can make a "th" sound and that means most people can't say my name. It was always easier for me to just not correct people because otherwise they would get frustrated when they couldn't say Nathan
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