7 Month Itch

About a week ago, Peru 9ers celebrated their 7th month in site. On this day, one of the most laid back, happy go lucky guy posted on our group list serve, that he was having a bad day. He acknowledged that his complaints were merely gripes and was keeping in mind the bigger picture, but was really needing to vent. It was a simple list of things that were bothering him: the micro buses are made for people that are 5’6’’ or shorter, after 6 months people are still mispronouncing his name, people only call him cause they want something etc.

After he posted this, about 10 other group members including myself, responded with the same replies of being fed up with this or that, and providing a story of something that has really been annoying us lately. It is my observation that we have hit the infamous 7 month itch. The honey moon faze is well over, we’ve settled into our lives and learned to adapt to so much, but we have found the elements of society that truly disagree with us. There are just some things that we can’t adapt to and will inevitably follow us through our service. And come August 2009, it will be these things that when asked what are looking forward to about leaving Peru, saying goodbye to grievances A, B, and C will be a top of that list.

Machismo is usually at the top of the list for most females. And indeed, many of my frustrations stem from this cultural strong hold. But some of the things that are topping my list, don’t have anything to do with humans. One of the most maddening things I’ve been experiencing is mosquito bites. If I were to guess, I would say I have roughly 20 bites at the moment, and that’s been pretty standard over the past 4 months. They always attack in the middle of the night. I wake up around 3 in the morning ready to jump out of my skin at the 5 or more bites swelled to the size of golf balls I have just recently received. I don’t need to wear body lotion any more because my skin is now generously moistened daily by bug repellent and anti-itch cream. I was given a mosquito net that I could put up over my bed, but I spend so much time on my bed doing work and watching movies on my lap top that I decided instead of putting it around my bed like a cage, I cut it up to make a screen for my window thinking it would have the same effect. Well it doesn’t. Every night before I go to bed, I do a check for the tiny, menacing devils but I never find them until it’s too late. Hopefully this is seasonal and the mosquitoes will be gone with the sun shine.

The other non-human annoyance in my life are the dogs. I apologize now to any dog lovers who may be reading this. I really don’t have anything against dogs and I think dog lovers would have an even harder time dealing with this topic than I do. There are so many stray dogs that roam the streets. A lot of them aren’t even stray, they are like watch dogs for shops and vendors. But they are allowed to wander about and harass poor innocent passer-bys like myself. These dogs are untrained, dirty and probably disease ridden. There is a reason we are given rabies shots. As I lay in bed, I can hear the dogs fighting. The sounds of growls, screams and the sound of impact from massive 10 or more dogs in a viscous rumble. It’s very disturbing to listen to. And listening to this, I can’t help but wish they would just kill each other so I wouldn’t have to deal with them any more. I know that sounds harsh, but there is real animal control problem here. Unfortunately, stray dogs is not a priority on the long list of problems the Peruvian government needs to deal with.

March was a very fun and care-free month for me. I was feeling on top of the world as I played with my friends. But now that March Madness has settled down, I’ve had some pretty big calls back to earth as the reality of Peruvian society comes crashing back around me. So in contrast to my sing-songy blog entries of march, my next few blog entries will focus on a but on the darker side of the things I experience. This does not mean I am spiraling down into an endless dark abyss of pessimism or depression. It just means I will be sharing both sides of the story. The world is far from perfect and I hope you are able to use my next few entries as food for thought about your life as an American and the unjustness that exists on every continent. Stick with me through my seven month, and 10 million mosquito bite, itch.