I officially left California one month ago. It seems like these past 30 days have flown by. But at the same time, it seems since forever ago I was home. My overall analysis of my Peace Corps experience is so much better than I expected. I was pretty scared to leave, but much to my relief, this has been one of the most exciting months of my life. I definitely miss everyone from home so much, but today it hit me that I have already made so many new and wonderful life long friends. I really hope I get placed in a site by one of my good friends.

This is a list of the highlights of the past month

I’ve eaten alpaca and cow hearts

Played over 100 games of free cell

Played with a little boy with no arms

Flushed my toilet with a bucket

Thrown up into that bucket

Showered with that same bucket

Explained to my host mom what a tampon is

Got my first taste of GI

I haven’t worn a single piece of make up since I left Cali

I’m the only person who got moved down a level in Spanish class

Been given a curfew for the first time in 6 years
Received shots for Rabies, Hep A, HPV, Typhoid Fever (and I sill have way more shots to go)Cried once

Laughed more times than I can count

I came home today and my mom was out front washing the shower curtain by hand. It never ceases to amaze me how clean Peruvians keep their homes. Today is Thursday, which is the day we go into the school to do our youth group activities. The only problem is that there is a big nation wide teachers strike that started today and could possibly go on for weeks. There were no teachers at the schools, which means there kids which means we have no youth group. My technical trainer says this is good practice cause this is what Peru is like. There’s always something going on keeping you from getting your work done. So we talked about what we are going to if the strike goes on for a long time. I hope the teachers get what they want, cause the kids need teachers. But there are so many unions striking right now, there is no way everybody is gonna get what they want. Well, at least I feel like my presence is actually useful in this country. If the strike goes on for weeks, hopefully we can form a youth group so that we can give presentations and plan activities so the kids have something to do. The teachers strike is something familiar I think to teachers around the world. Teachers receive tenure after a few years and then they can’t get fired. But after teachers get tenure, many of them stop putting in the effort required to effectively teach students and simply put, it sucks. So the state wants to take away tenure to “motivate” the teachers to not suck. Oh, and they want more money too.

I ate so much sugar yesterday at all the 4th of july activities I got a tummy ache in the middle of the night. There is a major theme in my life where I feel like I’m a little kid again. Getting a tummy ache in the middle of the night definitely falls under that category, but I didn’t have my mom here to wake up and stay with me till I felt better. I wonder how my moms iron stomach will hold up Peru’s developing country bacteria. Anyways, apart from being sick, everything is really good. I got another letter from Danielle’s mom. Danielle cried when she read it, and then it was passed around the room for others to read. Hopefully it motivated others to update their blogs more so they can get fan mail too. As far as the candy is concerned Robin, I love it. I don’t eat a lot of sugar here, so when I get a little present in the mail, I feel no guilt treating myself. It is such a wonderful feeling to get mail AND a sweat treat.

Just a couple pictures from our 4th of July festivities. Above are our pseudo hamburgers and to the left is the classic water balloon toss.