Nine Months Ago…

As I draft this update, I am realizing that I left home exactly nine months ago. I knew Peace Corps would bring a lot of challenges, surprises and joys. There are many things that are very different about my life here in Perú from how it was in the United States. This is not to say one or the other is better or worse…simply different. I figured I should start making a list of some of the biggest differences between my life before and my life now while I can still identify the differences. So had you told me the following things nine months ago…

1. Sitting on a stranger’s lap is not forward or awkward. It is necessary. If there are already three or more people in the back of the car, the next two people share the front seat—however they may fit.

2. Do not expect to walk anywhere on the coast without getting cat-called, whistled at or to have smooching noises made at you, even if you do look extremely dirty, sweaty, irritated, unfriendly and frumpy.

3. Food is not only a major topic of conversation, but sometimes the only topic of conversation when the subject of weather is exhausted.

4. I feel unsatisfied when I have a meal without rice. I now crave it at pretty much every meal.

5. I have become extremely accustomed to the idea that no one can understand me if I am speaking English.

6. Silence is a fantasy. The number of completely silent seconds in my day…zero. Between neighbors’ music, the PanAmerican Highway, five dogs in our yard and countless dogs outside, silence lacks.

7. “Un poquito, poquito, poquito” (a little, little, little) bit of food is the exact portion size as a normal plate of food.

8. While running, I have three goals: to finish the run at a decent pace, not get bit by a dog and not get hit by a car.

9. Any of the first five questions people ask me when they meet me for the first time may include one or more of the following: Do you have children? Are you married? Are you in a relationship? Are you single? Are you planning on marrying a Peruvian? Are you the one who walks all the time? Do you go running every day? In different situations, I have answered “yes” to all of the questions except having children or marrying a Peruvian.

10. The biggest threat I encounter each day is being hit by a car on the highway.

11. I now feel most comfortable speaking an odd combination of English speckled with Spanish (Spanglish)

Those are just eleven of the differences. I’ll add more another time. Life is good. Change is good.