Making Progress and Judging Beauty Pageants.

The first three months at site are to be spent doing a community diagnostic. This is basically getting to know what your community wants and what it needs. I need to do interviews, surveys and research. However, to keep myself busy I wanted to start teaching English. The director in La Libertad has given me 3 classes to teach on Wednesdays... as well as teaching 2 TUTORIA class on Friday. Tutoria is basically like healthy lifestyle, self asteem and other subjects. I also got to talking to him about the summer vacation, which starts for Peru in January, and he was really excited to help me run a camp. I will be teaching English, computer classes (for the kids and their parents) and doing charlas (lessons) alongside the women in my health post during the week. 


Later that day I went to buy myself a new dresser and some rugs for my room. I also got to eat some amazing POLLO A LA BRASA. I came home and finally organized my room and put all my pictures up. So to all my friends I love and cherish... your faces are looked at on a daily basis! I miss all of you so much! Please start emailing me about your lives. I like to hear myself talk... you know this... but I also like to know what´s going on in everyone´s lives. You can also send me snail mail. The address can be found on the side of this page. I hang up all my letters and cards on my wall as well. Currently I have letters from my parents, Abby, Eldad, AJ and Claire.  You guys rock :) 

This won´t be a long post becuase once again I´m in my muncipality and I hate the keyboards here. The charger on my computer is broken and one is being sent. I should have it within the week, but until then there will be no pictures to upload right now. Other great news is that my wireless internet USB is also in the mail. So as soon as my life is all back together I´ll be able to add pictures and skype everyone from my little room in Tamarindo. Yay!

After returning home from my regional capital meeting in Piura City... I came back to a full house and I really wasn´t sure why. This didn´t worry me though because I spend more than half of my time in Peru completely confused. My host mom let me know it was my host sisters birthday (who is pregnant.. possibly with twins). We had a huge lunch with the family and then spent the rest of the day out on the front porch talking. I decided to go show face at the municipality to talk to my socios and on the way there I noticed all of Tamarindo was outside of their houses. Again, confused. I found one of my youth group kids and asked what was going on. She stated, like it was completely normal, someone blew up in the campo and now they are having the procession. My jaw dropped. First, I thought I had translated that completely wrong... so I made her repeat. A woman, who lived in Tamarindo, was working in the kitchen of another campo and blew herself and the house up while using a gas tank to cook. The casket was being processed by me as all of this was being explained. Just another normal day in Tamarindo.

The next day I had meetings with all the directors of the schools in my town. I have one segundaria which is kind of like a high school and 2 primarias which are kind of like middle schools. The director of the segundaria is letting me observe an English class tomorrow and then start teaching English in the mornings on Mondays there. I was really excited to hear this. THEN, I went to the primaria in La Libertad (an annex of Tamarindo) and the director could not have been more excited to work with. 

Today. I judged a beauty pageant in the town over from Tamarindo. I was not sure why I was going to the health post for another town´s anniversary but the ladies in my health post rushed me away. I sat around waiting for an hour. My life these days are made up of confusion and waiting. Then I was told I was going to be a judge for the health posts beauty pageant. It was interesting to say the least. I got my own judges table, chair and complementary water and empanada. I wish it was video taped... I spent 3 hours in the scorching sun laughing at my life. 

So my life has improved dramatically since last week and I´m really growing to love this little sandy pueblo more and more everyday. There may not be water every day... or every 4 days. There may be flies completely covering my kitchen table where I eat. The farm animals and cats that run across my roof may keep me up all night. I may have no idea whats going on 90 percent of the time. And I may feel like I spend most of my time here waiting for things to start, and I may sometimes feel like all I want to do is go home... but deep down I remember why I chose to do this and poco a poco... Peru will become home. 




¨Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong.¨ - Ella Fitzgerald


Until next time,
Brielle