Back to School

For those of you that know me, you know that I´m am a type-A nerd...but in my defense, I have relaxed a bit in these past years. Leaving college was hard not only becuase I was leaving my home of 5 years and my friends, but becuase I was leaving my place of learning! I loved going to class, taking notes, and juggling all my responsibilities. I couldn´t wait to get back in the "saddle," so to speak, which was part of the reason why I was looking forward to Peace Corps training. But alas, I have spoken too soon. ha. Now that I have homework everyday and on the weekends, I´m missing my freedom!

Training consists of 10 weeks Monday through Friday and occasionally on Saturday. My day starts with waking up around 7:30 am, eating breakfast, and going to spanish class at 8:30 am. The location of our spanish classes rotates around, so this week it was at my house, which was good becuase I got to sleep in an extra few minutes. I have 3 other volunteers in my spanish group and one profesora. We talk about a whole bunch of topics and use a lot of non-formal education, which the PC is big on. This last week we talked about Peru´s healthcare system, the geography of peru, how not to get robbed, our daily activities, and the current news. We also touch on a lot of grammar and of course, vocabulary. I think I learn about 50 new vocabulary words a day. But poco a poco (bit by bit), my spanish is improving. It helps to live with a family that doesn´t speak any english, although they speak quite fast most of the time. ha. Sometimes in our spanish class we go and give interviews to the people on the street about various topics. They must think we are weird, but they are usually very nice to talk to us poor gringas.

After spanish class, I eat with my host family and am off to the training center by 1:00 pm. We normally split up into our program groups at that time. There is Public Health, Water and Sanitation, and Environmental Education. Our tech trainers, Jorge and Javier, teach us different things everyday. Last week was a lot about non-formal education, which is big in the PC, and the goals our the health program. We already have a few projects, for example, we were all given "Mission Impossible" assignments. My assignment was to find a "casa naturista" or a health food store in Chosica. We started at a hindu temple, found a vitamin store and a vegetarian restaraunt that was closed, until we finally stumbled upon a health food store. We even sampled the yummy yogurt and fruit.

After our program charlas (talks), we either have a security talk or health talk. Yesterday, we had a talk about two of the biggest problems for Peru PC volunteers: dental care and diarrhea. Having talked to various PC volunteers, they all say its the most common illness that you will get. And we also learned a very interesting statistic. Nearly 70% of PC volunteers in Peru have diarrhea in their pants. Enserio! I laughed out loud hearing this statistic and I think it highly amusing and also a bit frightening. ha. But, I suppose when you have to go, you have to go. Hopefully, you will not be hearing from me on this topic in the next two years.

By then, it´s about 5:00 pm and training is over for the day. Being the physically fit group that we are, we´ve started running and yoga clubs after class. Every Monday and Wednesday, we have yoga and Tuesday and Thursday, we have running. There are also dance classes starting up, and even some Jizitzu classes! We are a group of varying abilities and interests.

When I get home around 6:00 pm, I eat my dinner and watch some telanovellas with the fam. My favorite so far is "Al Fondo No Hay Sitio." It´s very dramatic and has a lot of physical comedy, which is easy to understand. Last night, for instance, a character found out that his fiance wasn´t pregnant and was just lying! Que horrible! ha. Then, I normally sit down at the table and do my homework with my sister helping me. Then by 9:00 pm, I´m ready to hit the sack and nada mas!

Training sure takes a lot out of me, but I know it will go by so quickly...so I´m trying to take one day at a time...