Changing It Up

4-3-2-1 months until Libby arrives in the United States of America on July 20^th! Welcome to my Count Down. You may want to ask me, “Libby, how does it feel to be leaving your incredible host family, your precious host sister that lights up your life, and the community that you’ve called home for the last 2 years? And you must be ECSTATIC to be returning to all that you hold near and dear, such as your family, Dr. Lee Hall Stringer, beautiful friends, Mexican food, coffee shops, intellectual conversations, clean bathrooms, and animals that you can cuddle with without getting flea bites and/or parasites.”

To answer the questions listed above, my best friend Juliane and I have made a little (long) list of all the things we’re going to miss and the things we’re looking forward to.

I'm looking forward to...

·       Driving with the windows down and singing at the top of my lungs

·       A plethora of restaurants and food options

·       Air conditioning

·       Anonymity

·       Pest control

·       Lunch dates with friends

·       English

·       Curling up on a couch to watch a movie

·       Baking and cooking

·       A schedule

·       Dishwasher

·       New clothes

I'm not looking forward to...

·       Gas prices

·       Pop culture obsessions

·       The election

·       Crying every day because I miss Peru

·       Superficiality

·       Cost of living

·       Trying to remember what is socially acceptable

·       Rules and regulations

I'll miss...

• Sitting on my front porch at dusk with my host family
• Swarms of children at my window
•  Having too much free time on my hands
• Being the most popular girl in town
• Fresh food and produce
•  Mango season
• The most delicious fruit to ever touch my taste buds
• Fresh fish
• Speaking Spanish
• Eating Pizza Hut with reckless abandon because it’s the only American food I can find
• Strangers gifting me watermelon
•  Peruvian food
• Dancing with my fellow volunteers and making fools of ourselves at the Discotheque
• Ease of travel and leisure time

I won't miss...

·       Parasitic infections

·       Silly old wives tales

·       Feeling unsafe in the city

·       Swarms of blood-sucking mosquitoes

·       Mean, scary street dogs

·       Scorching heat with no relief

·       Having the same conversation over and over and over again

·       Unpunctuality

·       Relentless whistling and pick-up lines

·       Waking up in the middle of the night, soaked in my own sweat

·       Machismo

·       My "Peace Corps" clothes (I want to burn them to nothingness)

·       Lack of creativity in children

In recent news:

I'm so excited to report that Lee got the residency position in Pain Management and Paliative Care at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. I’ll go ahead and brag a little about my very special boyfriend. He’s been slaving away in Billings, Montana for the last 9 months learning all he can about the field of clinical pharmacy, while giving countless presentations, writing long reports, and effectively limiting himself to 5-6 hours of sleep per night. You’d think he’d be sick of this residency thing, but my baby can’t get enough learnin’, so now he’ll be slaving away in Maryland instead of Montana, and specializing in pain management. Our long distance relationship has been subjected to poor skype connections, bad internet signals, and 2 full years of 2 lives lived separately, while trying desperately to maintain that magnetic connection that neither one of us can ignore. So…. I’m going to Baltimore, too.

The original plan was for me to get my Masters in Public Health at the University of Arizona. Well, despite my proudly received acceptance letter, I decided to decline and try something new in my life. I have every intention of accomplishing my goal of studying a graduate degree, but I’m going to take some time to learn more about the field of public health. I’m eager to get a real job, live in an apartment, have a schedule, and even pay real bills. It may be hard for you to relate, but most Peace Corps Volunteers  begin to crave these mundane things after living on $300 per month, sharing a home with a host family, and trying to fill hours of free time.

Besides being able to see my LeeFace every day, my dad and his family live in nearby Bethesda, giving me the opportunity to finally play a role in my brother and sister’s lives. Hannah and Joey have already been telling their friends that their sister is moving to Baltimore, and that just melts my heart. All in all, I feel like this is a good move for both Lee and I, and while it HURTS to think about a few more years away from my Arizona family, skype and a spanking new iphone will help bridge the gap.

 My last few months at site are going quickly. I'm halfway through with my adolescent mothers group and am only teaching 2 days per week in the high school. My mamas' group is going well. 8 women attend on a regular basis and we've made it to Stage II, where we focus on building mothering skills. We took a field trip to an educational institute and went to a mall while in the city. Most of the girls had never seen an escalator or ridden an elevator. They shrieked with fear and delight as they rode the escalator up and down. I'm hoping to maintain their interest and finish up the program successfully. 

  I’m spending 3 weeks traveling in the south of Peru, where I’ll be meeting up with my Nana and Aunt Rosie to explore Machu Picchu. I consider this trip to be the crowning glory of my Peace Corps vacations and I’ll be able to leave this country content. Hasta Luego Amigos.