Exactly one week ago, I arrived in San Clemente, Peru. Let’s just say, it feels like a lot longer… Since I’ve been here, I’ve met with the mayor, the school principle, the women from the soup kitchen, taught English, attended 3 sexual health seminars given by a Spanish NGO, met swarms of children, read fairytales to little kids, and helped lead over 100 kindergarteners through the streets of San Clemente while carrying posters proclaiming the importance of breastfeeding.
I’m continually asked if I’m adjusting well to the climate, to the food, to the people. If all of this is “agreeable” to me. My fellow community members are so caring and welcoming and they just want me to be happy. They are very proud people and they love their community. I tell all of them that I’m fine, that I’m adjusting nicely, and that I love the food (true most of the time) and the weather (true all of the time!). To those of you who know me, I’ll tell you the truth. I was a little overwhelmed at first. I have 2 years to work here but it doesn’t really feel like that. I feel like there is so much work to do and I can’t wait to get my hands dirty. When I’m relaxing or napping, I fee like I should maybe be doing something else far more productive. Speaking of napping, apparently, it is normal for PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) to sleep A LOT that first week. Well true to form, I slept over 9 hours per night and would still walk around all day feeling utterly exhausted. One day I took 2 naps! But things are leveling out now. I’m feeling much more active. I think my body was just trying to acclimate. Apparently, moving to a new town in the middle of a foreign country away from family and friends and anything even remotely familiar is DIFFICULT. I must comment here, though, that I’m quite happy.
Probably the coolest thing I’ve done since I’ve been here is hold children’s reading hour. I was helping kids with their English homework in the community library (think 1 room with 1 small bookshelf), when I noticed the little ones fighting over some ragged children’s stories. There are only a handful of kid’s books for this entire town! Anyway, I offered to read to them. Over the next few nights, my little group of 4 or 5 turned to about 20-25 kids circled around me for 30 minutes while I read aloud, changing up the voices and getting silly. They absolutely love it. Now I just want to make it a little more official. I’m going to start asking them interactive questions and maybe provide some incentive for attendance, like gold stars and cookies. I need to get some more story books because we’ll breeze through the ones in the library really fast. Also, I’m going to ask the municipality about buying a carpet to roll out, because we’ve been reading with their little butts on the concrete. I’m thinking this will turn into a great little literacy project.
Today someone hosted a party after mass. A typical event, it goes a little like this: the family spends a whopping amount of money on food enough to feed the entire community for a whole day. Scores of women show up to cook all day long. The men come and eat the food and start in on the drinking of chicha (a kind of moonshine made of fermented corn). First they prepare soup to be served before lunch, then lunch is served, and then the women just keep on cookin’ and serve up dinner! They’re like the freaking energizer Conejas (bunnies)or something! To get all kinds of involved in my community, I offered my superior serving skills. I made rounds serving food, collecting plates, distributing spoons, and being the random Gringa serving girl. The women were merely amused, but the men whistled at me the minute I turned my back on them after collecting a stray spoon from the ground. All the women were parading their sons in front of me, the potential “candidates” for the position of Libby’s novio. They were more than a little saddened when I informed them that I already have one. Long story short, this is going to take some getting used to.
Friends and family, I just ate a huge avocado mashed into my rice for dinner. Meanwhile, there’s a fiesta outside my house and the band is playing so loud they could be sitting in my living room, if we had a couch.. which we don’t. A few hours ago they set off a huge tower of fireworks, jerry-rigged between two posts, in the middle of town, . This is my life J
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