Fue un buen dia...

I had a good day. First, I created a 3 page "Plan de trabajo" this morning and then met with my soon-to-be-boss. (It was my first plan in Spanish.) The professor actually told me that it was good! (What she doesn't know was that I spent hours working on this puppy and used the dictionary until my fingers went numb, but anyways...) As such, we also agreed that I would start teaching classes Sept. 29. Teaching will be one of the projects that I take on here, because it gives me the opportunity to practice my Spanish and, eventually, it'll also accelerate me to other projects.

Then I went to my step aerobics class. While I was sweating to the oldies, I looked out the window and saw a donkey just moseying on by with a National Geographic looking Peruvian lady by its side. Only in Peru, right?

Then after dinner, my host mother treated me to pineapple pie. We talked and ate.

It was a good day.

Estoy bien...No se preocupe

Sorry, I'm fine now. Just had a minor culture shock episode for a minute there, but I've decided the best thing to do is just to integrate myself more into the community. Luckily for me, while I was on a walk yesterday, I just happened to walk by a facility that looked interesting. In the middle of the Peruvian sierra where women are still in traditional dresses, with pigs and other animals in the backyards, it turned out that the facility was a gym...which offered yoga/step aerobic/muai thay/boxing classes...with legit Richards Simmons music...run by a dude who speaks English. Where am I? Here's a recount of that conversation:

• Katie: [in typical broken Spanish] Hola. Uh...Como estas? Este clase...uh...cuanto cuesta?
• Peruvian: Can you speak English?
• Katie: Oh my gaw, yeah, can you?
• Peruvian: Yeah, it's so weird to find someone who speaks English here.
• Katie: I KNOW!!!

Anyways, it turns out that he was born in Lima, but lived in Miami for two years. He has now moved to Cajabamba because sierra life is just much more peaceful. I went to his class today and it felt just like home (minus the Latin dance moves that he threw in). Yep, I failed miserably when it comes to moving my hips. I'm Asian...I don't play like that. Anyways, I plan on going back to the class everyday since it costs 1.5 soles for each class (ie $.50). :)

Also, I found a Spanish tutor today who will take me on for three days a week. Hopefully, I'll finally be able to communicate. I also start work pretty soon. I met with the director of a program today and she wants to see a work plan by tomorrow. So I better get working on that. Hope you all are doing well and sorry for the minor breakdown the other day. :)

Estoy escondiendo

It feels like it was forever ago that I was with my first temporary host family in Yanacoto. I no longer recall how I felt that first day. So, as a mean to comemorate my first day at my new permanent Peace Corps site--the place that I'll be staying in for the next two years--let me just say this: I'm currently hiding in my bedroom from my new world, my new host family, etc.

That's bad...I know! Hopefully, one day I'll look back at this and laugh. We are now without friends and the other volunteers, my host family and I don't have much to say to each other (I can't understand them and they can't understand me...It's like a whole new dialect here and I'm so frustrated with the Spanish all over again), people in this small town all know one another so they are staring at me like I'm weird, and I feel like I constantly have to make a good first impression since I'll be here for, like, ever.

On top of that, my new host mother, a woman who is so unbelievably good to me and who has hugged me 15 times today (probably more to compensate for my lack of Spanish skills) asked me to talk to this high school drop-out (graduate? See above for blurb being Spanish skill-less) to give her advice about staying (advancing?) in school. Ugh...I have no idea what to say right now that would even translate well. And who am I to be like, "School is cool?"

And then my host dad (who is a really kind feller and tells me all the time that the house is now my home, too) wants me to start working right away. This is probably because I told him (when I first visited two weeks ago) about how I wanted to work and learn right away blah blah blah. Quite frankly, don't we all just say stuff like that sometimes because you thought that day would never come? But, holy crap, that day is here and people actually expect me to do something in this town. So now I start teaching on Thursday with my crap Spanish and I'm teaching because the community has identified that as a need from the Peace Corps volunteer. And then they somehow found out about the dual degree thing and some people has started calling me "Profesora." WTH. It is my first official day here!!

So for these reasons, I'm hiding in my bedroom and I have no intention of coming out until I absolutely 100% need to go pee tomorrow. Yes, yes, I'm lucky to be in the Peace Corps blah blah blah and I truly couldn't stop smiling on the bus ride up, but it's a lot to take in, ok? I'm just a little bit (a lot bit) overwhelmed right now and could use a little bit of everyone's good juju.

P.S. Oh yeah, hope you guys are doing well in the states. Please be sure to update!

Mas fotografias...

So here are a few more pics from our graduation (see blog below). The first one is while a few of us are on the bus getting ready to leave for the night to Lima.

The final two is with my "old" host family that I am leaving behind-- my parents and my sister. It has been an incredible host family experience. I can't say enough good things about them. My family made me their United States daughter and told me that I should never hesitate to come "home" whenever I'm in Lima. They even invited me back for my birthday and Christmas. (I have yet to figure out how to break the news to my new host family that I will be spending Christmas with my old family instead.)

My host mom came to my graduation even though she wasn't feeling well and just went to the emergency room two days ago and my host dad even shed a few tears when I left. (This is big news because Peruvian men aren't supposed to cry.) It's amazing how much we bonded in such a short amount of time. I will definitely miss my Peruvian Yanacoto family!

Habia una graduacion...y horita, somos verdaderos voluntarios!

We graduated from our Peace Corps training on Friday, and now, we are true Peace Corps volunteers! The pictures you are seeing are from the graduation ceremony. A represenetative from the American Embassy was there (along with his secret service men...Very cool!)

We then all stayed the night in Lima on Friday to celebrate. Currently, I'm in capital city Cajamarca again and will leave for my actual site probably tomorrow. It's weird to be apart from the other volunteers. We have been together everyday for the last 2 1/2 months. In that time, I have made some amazing friendships. We experienced a lot together...learning to speak Spanish together, adjusts to Peru together, and they were definitely my comfort whenever I felt homesick or sad.

I'm sad that my friends will not be there anymore, but I'm excited to embark on my Peace Corps journey by myself. I'll be curious to see how I change in these next two years. Even only after 2 months, I can't imagine not being a better person after this. Thank you so much for all your support and encouraging messages. It means the world, er I mean, Peru.

Comida de los Estados Unidos!

Can I just spend the last 2 minutes of my internet time to blog about the fact that I miss food so much in the states! Of course I miss you guys, too, (DURR!) but there are food that I just can´t get here and I find myself constantly thinking about food. Sometimes I even dream about food and I wake up hungry!! For example, there is this bomb Mexican restaurant by my house called Las Delicias, Beau Jo´s pizza, gyros, Sara Lee 45 Calorie and Delightful Honey Wheat Bread with sugar free jam, corn flakes, sushi, my dad´s Peking Duck, my dad´s fried rice, my dad´s hot and sour soup (really, all of my dad´s cooking), Johnson´s Corner cinnamon rolls, vegetarian chili from this vegetarian restaurant in Laramie, WY, Hostess 100 calorie snack cake packs...

Oh crap! Time´s up...

Libros Para Los Ninos

We started a book drive in Yanacoto...one of our first Peace Corps projects! We solicited, made up flyers, announced it in the town speaker system...and ended up with about 15 books. Not a stellar success by any means, but we'll donate the books to the local school.

Depending on the needs of the community, it would be great if I could do something like this in my future site and maybe on a grander scale. My ultimate goal would be to have a children's library--like a safe haven for children to go to. I have no idea how to even begin such a project though so we'll see what happens in the next two years.

Mi vida antes Cuerpo de Paz

Some volunteers and I were just reminiscing today about how spiffy we looked before the Peace Corps.

In two months time, I´ve given up on regular showers, make'up, shaving, jewelry, regular washing of clothes...overall personal hygiene. But look what I stumbled across from my sister´s wedding. What a hottie I was! (I´m to the left.)

Mi nueva familia anfitriona

A picture of me with my new host family. The father is the director of education, the mother is a professor, and my host brother is 14 years old and really adorable. They were very kind and warm to me when I stayed there last week.

Still, I will really miss the old family. In truth, if I had a choice, I probably wouldn´t leave. Old host dad made a really touching speech that I will always be his daughter here in Peru and Yanacoto will always be my home. :, ( ¡Que triste!

Anyways, I also posted a pic of the new room below. This is the before-photo and I will post the after-photo after I get done with the makeover.

Soy una estrella!

So about the mayor... He came to pick us up and I felt like a big celebrity! (Even though it was only his pick'up truck...and we picked up some hitchiker along the way...but he did have his own driver...and this is Peru, after all!) The horrible thing is that I got really carsick because his driver was driving really fast through all the hairpin turns, but I was able to keep all my vomit in. Funny enough, in the midst of my carsickness, the mayor stopped at a restaurant for lunch and after a plate of Peruvian duck marinated in a beer sauce, I felt loads better.

Anyways, I did have to give a speech later on at a townhall meeting...in front of the general public, while the mayor was present, and with the local television station there. Yep, that´s right...I was on Peruvian TV giving my speech in my broken Spanish! Later my new host family and I watched it on TV and we had a good laugh about it, because apparently, I talk with my hands a lot.

I posted some pics of Cajabamba below. It´s a really interesting place. It´s a mixture of the Peruvian countryside and the beginning of a ¨city.¨ Cajabamba is a town of 8000 people, yet, we have the woods, a coliseum, a market, a jail, bulls just hanging out in someone´s backyard...All in one place.

Fotografias de Cajabamba...

En un carro con el Alcalde...

Only in Peru... Another volunteer and I are both volunteers in Cajabamba. We were supposed to get there on a bus.

But plans have changed.

The mayor of Cajabamba is now sending a private car for us. WTF, right? There´s also talk that we´ll have to give a speech to the town when we get there. I know that I was the Secretary of the Spanish Honor Society in high school (and all we did was sell burritos), but uh really, I´ve only had, like, 2 months of Spanish. ¿Como se dice, ¨overwhelming?¨

It´s times like this that I really can´t describe my life here...

Estoy seguro en Cajamarca!

Just wanted to write a quick post that I am safe in Cajamarca. We got here a couple of days ago and already I met my host dad, some government officials, a lawyer, etc. In a few hours I´ll be traveling to my site in Cajabamba approximately 3-4 hours away to meet the rest of my host family, see my house for the next two years, etc. I´ll post pictures as soon as I can.

Already I have some ideas of how I want to live my life here. It´s funny, in the states, you simply get a job. But, here, you have to find projects and work that will define your life for the next two years. It´s a lot of pressure, because there´s a lot that I want to get out of this experience. If yáll have any ideas, let me know!

But in the meantime, thanks for all your good wishes. I have received so many e'mails that have uplifted me on my days of homesickness. :) It really helps a lot. And, Amy, I do take time to read your comments as well. Thanks, guys! I wish you all the best in the states.