Festina Lente

It is not my style to use my weblog as a medium through which I can complain or get things off my chest. BUT, I have gotten several comments about wanting to know all the depressing, sad, or otherwise unhappy details of my life here in Peru. So, here goes (don’t judge me):

The noise for one: sometimes, I just want to have peace and quiet, but ever since electricity arrived (I’m guessing), stereos have been blasting Salsa, Nectar, or Grupo Cinco all day every day loud enough to make your ears bleed. If it is not the stereos, it is the dogs barking, or the chickens caw-cawing, or the horns blasting. Most intersections lack stoplights, so cars and trucks just honk before they get to every intersection – or pretty much non-stop. I still haven’t seen two cars arrive at the same time, but I guess whoever has the louder horn wins (?). Anyways, if you are thinking of joining the Peace Corps in Latin America, might I suggest an industrial sized box of earplugs – it is my most valuable possession here in Peru. I am 100% serious.

The language for two: I don’t think I ever posted the results of my final language exam. I was bumped up two levels again to advanced medium which is one spot below fluent (advanced high, then superior, or fluent). Hooray! I was really surprised and excited. So my Spanish is the bomb at present, but still, sometimes it is so wearing to speak in another language all of the time. Moving to Lambayeque meant (means) getting used to a whole new accent and new slang. Sometimes I get so excited about the stuff I’m talking about and I JUST WANT TO TALK IN ENGLISH, but no one understands it. Another bummer is sometimes I really feel like I hit these plateaus with my language level and it is frustrating to not be able to express myself exactly the way I want to. An additional gripe is the accent; now that my grammar and sentence structure is better, I’ve been trying to perfect my pronunciation with little success. In particular, words with ‘rd’ in them such as guardaropas or tarde are difficult for me to say. My little 8 year old brother always asks me to say those words, so I’ll say them and then he will point and laugh at me. This wouldn’t be so bad if the rest of the family did not also start laughing.

The efficiency (or lack thereof): things get done a lot slower here, and while in most circumstances I really am embracing this new pace of life, in others it can be frustrating. Case in point; I lost my bank card my first day in site (super smart, Danielle) and right away called the Peace Corps office to get events set into motion so I could get a new one. This was almost two weeks ago now, and I was told it would take up to a week to get a new one. I’ve called several different people and keep getting the same response: we’ll let you know when you can go pick it up. Grrr.

Lastly, and most important, the getting sick. I haven’t talked about this a lot in my blog, but since my site visit I have been having on and off stomach problems for almost a month now. It is not bad or serious, mostly just annoying. I’ll be fine for three or four or even five days, and then have between an hour up to an entire day of really bad stomach cramps accompanied by the big ‘D’ and the big ‘V’ (that is diarrhea and vomiting). Again it is not debilitating, mostly just bothersome, but I’m almost getting used to it. AND, it is definitely tapering off (I HOPE I PRAY!). I’m pretty sure what is going on here is there is something in the water that wasn’t in Lima, and I’m just getting accustomed to it. Such is life, but some days it can definitely be a downer, especially when I have to put on a happy face when meeting new people.

So, the worst it can get: I’m feeling really sick, and there are stereos blasting all around, and dogs-a-barking, and horns honking, and I have to explain to my Mom or whoever in espanol why I keep running to the bathroom (I guess it is a little worse if there doesn’t happen to be toilet paper).

Okay, now back to the peppy, fun-loving, dreadlock-growing* Peace Corps volunteer you all know and love!

*just kidding!!!