A letter to Peru 11

Dear Peru 11,

It is nearly 2 weeks till you are scheduled to pack your bags and embark on a 27 month Journey. You are feeling nervous and excited and you feel so in the dark about knowing what to expect that you don’t know if you should be scared for your life or saying good riddance USA. I know the feeling. The one thing I would have liked more than anything, would have been for somebody to sit me down and tell me what to expect. So I offer a few words of things I wish some one had told me before I started my Peace Corps Journey.

First off, don’t worry about being ready. Emotionally, mentally and all the stuff you packed in your suitcase will have to suffice regardless. The Peace Corps knows this and has done a really good job of helping you make the transition to readiness. It starts of course with staging. Saying goodbye to all your friends, family and home is hard. But I cannot tell you how wonderful it is you don’t have to go through all that emotion and step off a plane into an unknown land. You will say your goodbyes and travel instead to a big US city and get put up in a nice hotel. Then you meet your group. Its amazing to be around 30+ individuals who are going through exactly what you are going through. When I tried to imagine my Peace Corps life, I never imagined other Americans or Volunteers much, if any, role. I imagined being alone and only having Peruvians as a support network. It makes a world of a difference boarding a plane and traveling to Peru with a group of volunteers as opposed to going alone. These 30 strangers I met almost a year ago in Philadelphia are now my family.

The next step on the Peace Corps road to readiness is training. Arriving in Peru is not like ripping the Band-Aid off. You are eased into cultural assimilation. The staff tries to make this transition as easy as possible. If you are worried about your Spanish or lack of experience with youth or business, you will be given the tools you need over the 3 month training period to get you ready for the real show. Living with a host family may seem like an unbearable idea if you have been living on your own for years, but the families in training have already hosted 2 volunteers and will be broken in. I unfortunately was with the group who had entirely new families and had a really overbearing host mother who told me I wasn’t allowed to go out at night to see my friends. By now, she is used to the idea that young Americans females are self-sufficient and independent. But again, if you have a million questions about host families don’t worry. The last thing you do before meeting your host family is have a 2 hour panel discussion with current volunteers and you can ask every question you can think of. June 8, I will be one of the volunteers sitting on the panel. You can ask me personally.

I was amazed at how easy life was. I was really expecting to live the worst conditions possible. Things are definitely different from what you‘re used to, but modern enough it won’t be too hard of a transition. This, plus getting to spend everyday with some of the coolest people ever (Peru 9 I my case, Peru 11 in yours), made training one of the most fun times of my life. Training can make you feel like a child back in elementary school. Just try and harness the care-free novice inside you, sit back and enjoy the ride. It’s a whirlwind tour.

Also, don’t worry too much about having everything before you leave, especially not first aid or medications. You get absolutely everything you could need, even some stuff you don’t need. Through out your Peace Corps Service you will receive all pills, ointments and even condoms for free. You will have two of the greatest doctors at your beck and call. Getting sick is real concern. You will get sick. Some worse than others, but you will have the best health care you have ever and will ever have in your life. As far as making sure you have other essentials, don’t feel too overwhelmed. You can buy just about everything you need to here. The only really problem I’ve had is shoes. I wear a woman’s size 10 and that is next to impossible to find here. Also, before you come to Peru there is a lot of literature telling you how nice Peruvians dress and you should bring nice clothes. Peruvians wear jeans and tee-shirts (at least on the coast). I got tricked into bringing my actual nice clothes and wish I had a lot more “peace corps-like”-grubby clothes. Your clothes will most likely be destroyed after 2 years of hard living conditions and the washing style.

Lastly I want to say that nothing anybody can say can make the nervousness or the anxiety go away. Just remember that no matter what happens from the moment you say your farewells, you are a part of the Peace Corps family. And in that, I hope you find solace. You joined Peace Corps because you believed that it’s been working for positive change for 50 years, so they’ve got to be doing something right. Your in good hands, welcome to the family.