Te Vayas Bien

I landed on JFK’s runway and my brain still couldn’t comprehend what was going on. I was home? Or was home in Piura? This was my first time being back in the States and seeing family and friends in over a year of my service, and I was ready to take the time home to recarga mis pilas.

I’m not going through every detail of my time home, but I’ll give you the overview.

My first day home was filled with a haircut, California Pizza Kitchen (BBQ Chicken Chopped salad and Chicken Lettuce wraps), driving my car around with the windows down and the music blasting. I spent the day with my mom, dad and my grandmother and got ready to head down to Sea Isle CITYYYYY for 4^th of July.

The traffic gods were on my side and I made it down to Sea Isle in about 2 hours the day before 4^th of July.

I can honestly say I have the best friends a girl could ask for. I was greeted upon arrival with hugs that never ended. We hung out on the beach, ate great food, attended happy hours at the OD and wasted time around a blown up kiddie pool. I couldn’t have had a better time down there with everyone and I even got to see Go Go Gadjet play. Overall, my two days down at the beach were exactly what I needed. I will say… I had moments where I needed to slow stuff down. My body wasn’t completely ready to be thrown into crowded bars and a schedule of constant going, but it was still a great time celebrating the 4^th of July in America. ‘MERICUH!

I got back from the beach and I spent most of my days hanging around New Jersey and visiting friends that had recently moved into New York City. I got to see Josh Turner in concert in the VIP section (he is amazing live). I was also lucky enough to have my vacation planned over one of my best friends birthdays. Casey Jane McGuire, I am happy I got to be there for your 23^rd birthday.

Friday came and it was time for the “Free Bri” or  the  “she made it a year” party. My parents were amazing and had a tent and music at my house. I had an incredible time spending time with my closest family and friends. I was so happy that even my busiest of friends were able to take off work and come see me. It meant more to me than they’ll ever know. This is a big thank-you to everyone that attended the party! I am blessed beyond words to have you all in my life.

The day before I left I went to see Scotty McCreery in concert with my cousin Alexis. If anyone knows me, knows that I am completely in love with him and plan on marrying him one day. My mom was able to get tickets for my birthday to see him when I came home. It was an awesome concert and great ending to my time home. I spent my last day home just hanging around the house with family and friends.

But, being home was weird. There were moments at that I felt like crying and I couldn’t really figure out why. I had been waiting so long to come home and now that I was I didn’t feel normal. I was anxious. It was during my time back in the States that I noticed I really have changed as a person in some ways. For me, when I was home, I was able to fall right back into the place I had been in my relationships and other. It was as if Perú just disappeared, didn’t exist or was a completely different world. That bothered me because this country and its’ people, good and bad, are and always will be a huge part of my life. I watched a Law and Order episode where a war journalist who returns home says “It’s like I’m living in two very different worlds. My body is here, but I’m not sure my mind is yet.” That explains perfectly how I was feeling. By the end of two weeks I was ready to take on Perú again… one more week and I may have never made it back.

However, my time home was more than necessary. It gave me time to breathe, to reflect, to move on and the right mind set to go back. I tell people often that I feel like Perú had beaten me up my first 8^th months in my first site. I was a very jaded volunteer and I found myself really disliking the country before I went home for vacation. I was even debating staying back in the States. I was still carrying around the weight of Tamarindo . Some days I still felt like I had quit on people and other days I was so angry I hated myself for waiting so long to ask for a site change. The anger and bitterness and sadness of it all were ripping me apart. I carried some of that to my new site in Vice. But, thankfully, home was able to heal that. I remember getting on the plane boarding for Lima and thinking it was time to find a way to fall in love with Perú again.

I was ready. I still am. I plan on doing what I can in this last year of service. I plan on building on my relationships with Peruvians and volunteers alike. I’m going to take joy in the slow pace of Viceños, and compartir what I can with my community. I’m ready to REALLY make that fresh start and stop looking back on dark parts. This country is beautiful and its’ people are some of the most generous and loving people I have ever met. The Incan definition of poverty is “without kin”. I think that says a lot about the Peruvian people. People matter. Relationships matter. Taking the time to sit on the front porch of my house conversaring with my host father… matters. Invitaring watermelon to the local bakery woman…matters. Reading to little bright-eyed babies..matters. Holding my namesake and playing make pretend games with Bryanna…matters.  My service will matter. Perú and I have had disagreements at times, but I refuse to let that determine how I look back on my 2 years of service. 

Here are some pictures from home!

Me, the birthday girl and the McGuires for Casey's birthday

Casey and I at PrimeHouse in NYC

Casey and I at BLT Prime because we clearly could not get
enough of steak

Me before the "Free Bri" party

My brother and I

Casey and I at Josh Turner!

Megan and I

My parents and I at Tonic!

Lex and I

Aaron and I in Sea Isle for 4th of July!

My favorite Penn Staters :)

Abby, Me, Meg!

The annual Brandon and Aaron jump picture

Abby, Me and the OD. 

The fam minus dad the photographer.

Mom and I at Nellies

Parents and the classic "Free Bri" sign.

These two years will matter. I deserve it. Vice deserves it. Perú deserves it. 

Until next time,

Brielle 

Mira Mira Mira Mira Mira...

Who knew that a week of translating for a group of optometrists, ophthalmologists, opticians and nurses would be one of the most rewarding weeks I’ve had since I’ve been in Perú?

Vision Health International (http://visionhealth.org/) is a group of people who come down once a year to Piura, and they always ask Peace Corps Volunteers to help with translating. I decided to take part in this. At first, I was a little skeptical that my Spanish wouldn’t be good enough, but by the end of the week I felt more confident about my Spanish than I had in months.

If I went into every detail of this week this blog would be 100 pages long. I’m not going to bore you with details. The week consisted of translating for surgeons pre and post operation. Post operation, which we started with every morning, was the best part of the day. I was able to look at patients that were once cross-eyed and tell them they were going to straight eyes and better vision. I was able to let the cataract patients know that their eyesight was going to better within days. I was  thanked and given God’s blessing left and right and I didn’t even perform the surgery. Talk about an ego boost.

The latter half of the day was spent in Peace Corps Volunteer’s communities measuring people for glasses. This was the longest and most grueling part of the campaign. We would see 80-100 people a day and fit them for glasses. I repeated the same lines over and over again for hours, however, on the 2-hour car rides home I felt tired but the good type of tired. Accomplished tired. 

There is one day that I think I should describe.

I woke up in the morning to do post-operation translation and before I knew it one of the nurses thought it would be a cool thing to let volunteers see the emergency C-Sections going on in the O.R. The rest of the volunteers had already been in to see one so it was my turn. It was awesome to witness a baby being born, but not that awesome when the baby wouldn’t breathe… for 5 minutes. The entire O.R. stood in silence until the 10-pound baby screamed for the first time. Relief. The baby turned a normal color and was whisked away for measuring.

The next part of the day was spent in PCV Mallory’s site of Salitral. Salitral is about a 2-hour car ride from Piura and when we got there we had to forge a river with 2 small cars to get to the health post. My day was just getting crazier. When I walked in the health post I noticed in one of the rooms a young girl with her baby who was laying on one the medical beds. I asked her what was going on and she told me that her family was waiting for a car to go the hospital in Piura. The baby was born really early and was not doing well. I wished her the best and had to rush away because 100 people were waiting for glasses.

The day ended around 7p.m. and I walked back into the room where the girl was waiting with her baby. She had not moved. Neither did the baby. I asked what had happened and she told me that there were no cars to Piura because of the river and that the mayor had not given them enough gas to go in the town’s ambulance. At that moment I could not just leave without trying to do something. I was not going to go home that night with the thought of the baby laying there on that bed in the condition it was in. My parents raised me to never turn a blind eye. There was something we could do.

I passed the story on to some of the doctors that were there and right away they were digging in their pockets for anything they had to buy more gas. A few minutes later we were able to put the baby, the mom and her mother in the ambulance to go to the hospital. (Side note: I visited the teen mom and her baby in the hospital the next day and everyone should know he is doing well! He was hooked up to I.Vs and was put in a heating bed. He was going to be released a few days later).

The day didn’t end there though. We forged through the river again to go home and on the Pan-American Highway we ran RIGHT over a donkey going 100 mph. The donkey decided to take a snooze on the highway. There are no lights and we had no idea it was coming. Sparks were flying. We swerved into oncoming traffic. I saw my life flash before my eyes. The only response the driver had after we were all safe: “un burro” (donkey) as he kept at the same speed we were at before we hit it.  Oh, Perú.

Working with Vision Health was a very different experience than my typical work in Peace Corps. For the first time, in a long time, I was able to get immediate satisfaction. I got to see people get their vision back and I was a part of the team doing that. The work of a Peace Corps volunteer sometimes is never truly seen for years after a volunteer has left, but with VHI it was an incredible feeling to be valued and appreciated right away.

So, I know what you all want! Pictures! Here are some incredible pictures of the week I spent with unbelievable doctors and nurses!

The ONLY public hospital in Piura where the surgeries were performed.

Dr. Richard doing one of many cataract surgeries

Post-operaton cataract surgeries

Translating for my very favorite doctor.

The all-star post op team

Anna Kingman doing post-ops on the child surgeries

After a cross-eyed correction surgery!

Day 1 of the Eye Glass Campaign in Anna's site

The waiting room in Anna's site of Paltashaco.

Justin, Me and Dr. Richard waiting to start the day in Christina's site of Serran. 

The waiting room in Serran

Justin translating and fitting people for glasses!

Inspecting a 96 year old man's eye.... 

The 96 year old had been without a chunk of his eye for 2 weeks after getting hit with a stick.
Miraculously, there was no infection. Applied a few eye drops and off he went. 

Me, Kris and an old woman who came in complaining she couldn't
see her rice when she was cleaning it. We were able to fit her for glasses
and she left with 20/30 vision. She left grateful and overjoyed. One of
my favorite ladies I met during the week. She even showed up in pajamas, woman
after my own heart!

The best part of my job? Being able to hold chubby, little
Peruvian babies all the time!

Helping students in the town was a great feeling! Hopefully they
will go on to continue their studies :)

Forging the river to Mallory's site

Saying for the 1,000 time that day "Puedo leer para mi Seńora?"

Dr. Randy measuring for glasses!

PCV BJ and Ray all smiles!

The older woman were always so grateful, tapping me on my head
blessing me and kissing me and Kris before they left.

Anna Kingman giving a speech on behalf of the Peace
Corps Volunteer translators at the final dinner!

This blog post will never do the week I experienced justice. Vision Health International does an amazing job of changing lives and I am so happy I got to be a part of it. 

"A day spent without the sight or sound of beauty, the contemplation of mystery, or the search of truth or perfection is a poverty-stricken day; and a succession of such days is fatal to human life." - Lewis Mumford 

Until next time,

Brielle