Training

It's only been two days of training and already we are all exhausted! We have an enormous amount of material to learn in only ten weeks before we start our two years of service. Today we started to learn about Youth Development in Peru and how we will be implementing that in our communities. We will be working with youth in our two year communities in the areas of "family life and health", "the world of work", and "active citizenship". So like I said, we have a ton to learn about the Peruvian culture, politics, and the best methods to go about youth development here in Peru. Obviously we can't just march into a community and try to take over as though our methods are the best. That is not how the Peace Corps works. Which is why we have such intensive training about culturally integrating ourselves into the community and collaborating with the local resources.

As I mentioned in my last post, I was placed in the highest level Spanish class which I found out in class yesterday means that I am basically in the Spanish class that has all the volunteers who are native speaker...shoot. When I found that out I was a bit intimidated because I am in class with people who grew up speaking Spanish in the home. But then I realized that our class is actually a lot more relaxed than the classes that are at low levels because they have a lot of pressure to drastically improve so that they can do their job and communicate. If they don't make it to a certain level by the end of the training then they won't be able to be sworn in as a volunteer. So I am glad to not have that kind of pressure on me but I still really do want to improve my Spanish even more!

So now for a bit of a strange topic for the general public but a topic that seems very normal in the Peace Corps world because of all the digestive problems volunteers in third world countries tend to get. Yesterday the Peace Corps Peru doctors came to give us a presentation on diarrhea and how we're all going to get it basically all the time and how we will probably all poop our pants at least once because it happens to pretty much every Peace Corps volunteer....oh joy. Being an American who is use to high sanitation standards, it is easy for us to get bacteria problems in our digestive systems. I never had these kinds of poop/diarrhea issues when I lived in Mexico and Ecuador and the two time that I did eat something bad in Ecuador, my body went into vomit mode for a few hours and then I was okay. So I am hoping that means I have a stronger stomach and that I will be one of the lucky volunteers who avoids pooping their pants. Some of the volunteers in our group have already been  having digestive problems, poor things! We keep joking about who is going to be the first to poop their pants. The doctors said we should make a bet on it and put in money. Hahaha ohhh the life of a Peace Corps volunteer. The doctors gave us this huge med kit that has every medical supply in it that we could ever need for almost anything under the sun. And if we have an unlimited supply of this stuff so all we have to do is ask for more if we run out.

Cambiando de tema, I still adore my host family. I'm glad that they have had volunteers live with them before because it makes it easier for them to understand that I don't want to eat heaps of rice and potatoes and that I like to exercise and drink a lot of water (all unusual things for Peruvians).  Every day, my host mom sends me with a lunch that she made in a lunch box. All of the host mom's do this for each volunteer and we've enjoyed feeling like we are in elementary school again. Especially when our parents took us to the training center on our first day. How cute! The weather here in Lima is very pleasant! It is very hot and sunny during the day and cooler in the morning and at night. It isn't humid or uncomfortably hot but the sun is very strong. My current least favorite part of the day is showering...it's so cold!!! I better get use to it though! Last night, some of the volunteers in my neighborhood got together to play soccer with some of the local boys. Its moments like playing soccer with the little Peruvian boys that really melts my  heart and makes me really appreciate where I am!

My on the first day of training with the lunch box that my host mom send me with every day.

At the training center during lunch break with a fellow volunteer  named Kaeli.