Entrenamiento

This week flew by. Some of you may know this already but I am still a Peace Corps “Trainee” and will officially become a Peace Corps Volunteer after training. On August 19 we are being sworn in at the U.S. Embassy in Lima. Currently we are in the process of learning how to create formal letters of request to local government agencies, translating our resumes into Spanish, learning business terminology and concepts in Spanish, etc. I just finished up a lesson plan for some high school students we will be working with tomorrow. The goal is to help them write their own resume and instill in them why it is so important to have one.

Another project we are required to do prior to swearing in is a “community-based project.” After brainstorming and talking to several locals, I decided I wanted to do my project at an orphanage. I asked around and found one really close to our training site, San Francisco de Asi. I decided to take a visit on Tuesday. A nurse opened the door and come to know that this place was for disabled kids. I sat on the couch as I waited for the director to come and kids started coming down the stairs for lunch, all in crutches. I heard babies crying upstairs. As I introduced myself to the director and the staff there, I had a knot in my throat the whole time. I explained to them the purpose of my visit. They decided to give me a tour of the place and told me all about the kids that were abandoned, beaten, badly burnt, etc. These next few days I will start brainstorming on ways I can help. Weather it be grant writing, organizing an awareness campaign or recruiting volunteers. We will see once I get more assimilated with the way they do things.

I also started running and took my first dance lesson this week. I found a great track near our training site and went there twice this week. Also, one of our language trainers is offering Peruvian dance lessons at our training site and I attended the first class. It was sooo much fun! They are dances from the “Costa, Selva and Sierra.”

Friday after lunch, we left to San Pedro de Castas. After the terribly unsafe roads, passing by numerous cliffs and breathing in about two bags of dust we arrived to the nice little town at around 5 p.m. All the houses were made of adobe. We still had to ride the horses up another two hours to reach our camping site. The horse ride up was the most unbelievable experience! It was right at sun set when we started going up the mountain and by the time we reached the top, it was night time. The thing is, we could see perfectly fine with the light coming from the full moon. We were so high up in elevation it looked so close to us. It was absolutely breath taking. We started a fire as soon as we got there because it was freezing! A Peruvian lady started heating up our dinner: chicken soup. It was quite delicious and salty. Afterwards, we roasted marshmallows and all sat around the campfire. The sleeping was pretty rough but I managed to get through the night with three thick jackets, two sweat pants, two socks, gloves, and a thick sleeping bag. The next morning we woke up at 6 a.m., had oatmeal for breakfast, and then hiked for about two hours. I can’t explain how amazing the scenery was. I am posting up the pictures on my Facebook so you can see! The ride back home was just as awesome but exhausting. I loved every moment of the trip.

Today, I played volleyball, basketball and futbol with my 10 and 5 year old neice/nephew. I also went to Plaza Vea, which is like Wal-Mart in the states. It is insane in there. I felt like I was playing bumper carts with my shopping cart. You could not walk around without stopping every five seconds because it was so packed. Overall, this week was great but exhausting. I am usually in bed by nine and fast asleep by ten.

This weekend, we will be exploring Lima! Don’t forget to look at my pictures!

That is it for now! XOXO