PC Peru21: The Retreat

So since it was pitch dark when we got to the retreat last night, I had no idea how unbelievably gorgeous it is here. It was like a whole new world when I walked out of my room this morning. Also the climate here is amazing. It is winter in Peru right now, but it is definitely comfortable in a light jacket – about 65 degrees.

The view from my window

The retreat is very nice. The rooms are satisfactory. I volunteered to take a room with two beds, so I had a roommate again which was great because I am trying to get to know as many people as possible. Ha! It was the girl from South Carolina. She is super nice and seems really fun.

We are in classes all day, getting to know each other better and doing quick overviews about topics like safety and security, health, and our specific programs (youth development and business). We are also wrapping up some last minute administrative stuff – taking photos for our ID cards, signing banking info, verifying health status. We also had a quick course in Survival Spanish which was my first mini-freak-out moment. I realized how far behind I am. It has been about 4 years since I have been in a Spanish class and we don’t know each other’s levels yet, so I had the thought that I will be the only person really, really bad at Spanish. I had to get over that quickly though because we were on to the next class, but it still dampened my mood.

The food here at the retreat is really good. Breakfast was rather small – an egg, some bread and jam, and some fruit, but my breakfast in the U.S. is usually a granola bar, so this was more than I generally have. Lunch was really good – fish, rice, a small salad, and these potatoes in this amazing yellow hot sauce. Yum Yum!

Lunch

Where's D.D.?

So I found out this morning that the retreat has hot water. Apparently I just didn’t wait long enough for the hot water to reach my room. Fantastic! Glad I took that freezing cold shower at midnight last night. It totally helped put me right to sleep…Challenge to any American reading this. Just try one cold shower for me. Just one, but an entire one. No turning on the hot water half way through rinsing your hair! This is my life for the next two years! Let’s see some empathy folks!

We were done with classes around 4:30 and had a couple of hours to kill before dinner, so most of us attempted contacting friends and family in America via the teeny weeny WiFi connection. Then some people played cards. I took an hour nap J I was seriously nodding off during the last class. After dinner about 20 of us attempted to go explore the town, but the retreat is right on the main highway, so our director did not feel comfortable with so many of us walking down the highway after dark with no sidewalk. Several of us that were not going to buy anything anyway opted out and we either explored the retreat location or listened to music. One girl had the soundtrack to Pitch Perfect. Some girls exclaimed that they rock the Ace of Base song. Mini-freak-out moment #2. I rocked that song 17 years ago when it originally came out. So I definitely was reminded of my age which gave me doubts. Also, for the past two days I have been hearing about how many different languages and how many different countries these 20-somethings have experienced, and I felt like an outsider. I had to walk away and go play my antiquated Bejeweled game by myself like the old lady that I am. I also wrapped myself up in a sweater, knitted some booties, and drank some Metamucil just for good measure. LOL. JK. However, I reminded myself that my purpose for being here is not to make friends and feel like the cool kid in class for the first 10 weeks of my Peruvian experience. I am here to establish relationships, integrate, and make a difference at my community site, not at the retreat. Also, my age will have some advantages later. I was good after a talk with myself.

I later went in the tv room to watch the big Peru-Ecuador futbol (soccer) game. This was a huge event here. Several of my Peruvian instructors were either wearing their soccer jerseys or powered through their lectures so that they could get home in time for the game. Peru won! They are on to play Columbia in a few days.

I went straight to sleep even though I took a nap earlier. I was soo exhausted. When I got up the next morning, I was still half asleep and I just yanked my charger out of the socket. Well, I grabbed the cord by the adapter and shocked myself…really bad. Like screaming, cussing, gyrating shocked myself. I scared my roommate a little. I had two small little burn marks on my fingers. I later found out that I don’t even need to use the adapter! Rookie mistake!

More pics from the retreat: