I have officially been in the Peace Corps first real training for one week now. It has been full of ups and downs already, but it has been exciting nonetheless. They continuously tell us not to compare our experiences here to our experiences back in the USA, to other volunteers here in Peru, or other Peace Corps volunteers in other countries. But that’s what I did ALL the time back when I was a competitive runner.
How did you place? What was your time? Which workout did you do? What was your pace? Well on that course I ran a ??:?? so it’s harder / easier than other courses.
I realize that it’s not the best thing to do in this specific situation, but I’m going to try to convey some of the very positive parts of my service/training so far and then, how shall I say, unique challenges that I’ve faced.
Positive
The people that I have met so far really are some of the coolest, most open-minded, smartest, and nicest people that I’ve ever been around. And all in one group! I’m used to having to explain myself to a lot of people in the past. I have to defend my position on most subjects controversial or not, but the other volunteers here seem to have very similar viewpoints to my own and I love that. They have decided to do the exact same thing in their life at the same exact time of their life and I’m sure that I’m going to make some life-long friends out of this ordeal.
The Peruvian people that I’ve met so far all seem to be very welcoming as well. My host family is great. They are patient with my Spanish, my need to re-charge my battery alone in my room, my weird eating habits, etc… This is the first time that they have hosted a volunteer so everything that I do, they think that is what every American does. They have met a few other volunteers that came over to pick me up for a run and everyone was 6’0″ or taller. They now think that all Americans are white, tall, and tattooed. That’s not such a bad stereotype right? They even took a picture to commemorate that one time that they had 4 gringos in their house.
Even though I still feel very lost when it comes to my language skills, I do feel like I have improved quite a bit since my arrival. I even have those few moments where I think, “Wow, this whole Spanish thing is starting to sink in.” Sadly, it’s usually followed up by a semi-depressed state after my next conversation when I don’t understand anything. C’est la vie…
Challenges
The Peace Corps staff warned us that after the retreat we probably wouldn’t have access to hot or even warm water without having to boil it on the stove first. “No big deal”, I thought. Well, I was right. It’s not the most comfortable thing, but it’s not the worst. I am also lucky enough to have wi-fi in my house. That’s posh by Peace Corps standards. What they didn’t really warn us about is actually what I dislike the most…
The noise.
So many dogs. So many chickens. So many moto-taxis. They are all so loud. I fall asleep with earplugs in and yet I’m still woken up daily by the go-cart like noise of the moto-taxis, dogs barking all throughout the night, and chickens that crow at 3:30 a.m. every. single. day. I hope that I can get used to this noise as even living on Kingston Pike didn’t prepare me for this level of constant decibels.
If noise is really the worst thing that I encounter, I’ll count my blessings. Until then, I’ll just keep on trying to learn Español (more like spanglish) and take one day at a time.
Ryan Is Perúsing 