A Step Up

This week has been a bit abnormal, to say the least. For the past 4 nights I have been staying with the American ambassador in his house in Lima. This place is a far cry from my site in Lurin. It is a large, luxurious, house that feels more like one of the palaces I've toured in Europe than anything else. I am staying there because I have a friend who was invited to stay with him and his family and she didn't want to be alone so she called me up and here I am.

We both feel a bit out of place in this mansion. We don't really know what we're doing and giggle a lot about stupid things we have done. Next to the grand dining room, there is a smaller, more intimate dining area that looks out to the patio and the pool. The first morning we got up, went down stairs for breakfast and found the table cleared except for two place settings. It was 8:30 in the morning and the rest of the family was already off at work or school. We sat down and looked at each other not knowing what to do. "Should we go into the kitchen and tell the wait staff we're here?" my friend asked. Next to my plate, there was a small remote control with a single button on it. The button had a musical note and we looked at the wall to the speakers. "this must be the remote to turn on the music" I said, "maybe if we turn on the music they'll know we're here." My friend agreed it was a good idea, so I pushed the button. We heard a bell off in another room. Turns out, this was the bell we rang when we wanted service. With in a few seconds a butler hurried in and found us bright red and holding back embarrassed smiles. He asked us what we would like to drink and how we would like our eggs prepared and swept out of the room. When he left, we didn't know what else to do but laugh. We're Peace Corps volunteers, who just summoned a butler by remote control bell. It just didn't seem right, we felt so bad. The next three mornings we have gone into the kitchen to let them know we were there and we never intend to use the bell again.

The ambassador and his family are really great, apart from letting two very silly girls stay in their hose and disrupt their lives. I've greatly enjoyed listening to the ambassador talk about his views on Peru and his past work in Africa and Europe. I've been living in my little bubble at site, trying to make my tiny difference with a few kids and it has been really good for me to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. The reason I am here, the reason Peace Corps is here, is to help Peru become a developed country. Even though the ambassador has a much more celebrated and glamorous job than I, he too is trying to make a difference in this crazy world.

So me and my friend have really been trying to take it all in and enjoy this amazing experience. We even got to meet the ex-president Alejandro Toledo. But you know you're a peace corps volunteer when taking a hot bath actually trumps meeting an ex-president as the most exciting thing you did all week. I'll be staying with the ambassador for at least a few more nights and am trying not to do anything else embarrassing and enjoy this incredible opportunity.