Training, Week 5

Try to contain yourselves. I know that my blog entry titles are super creative, not to mention thrilling, but my brain hurts daily from the constant translating, so getting to speak or even write in English for a little bit is now more therapeutic than attempts to be witty.

The big event of Week #5 was finding out our site assignment regions. We did not discover our actual sites, just the region (i.e., coast or sierra). I can’t remember if I have told ya’ll, but there are three basic geographic locations in Peru. The coast, which is mostly desert – hot, dry, dusty. If you get the coast region that does not necessarily mean that you will be living on the beach. There are coast locations “muchos kilometros” (a whole lot of kilometers) away from the beach. Second, there is the sierra region. Cajamarca, where I went on my Shadowing trip, is in the sierra – mountainous, green, rainy (in seasons). Like I talked about a couple of blogs ago, it’s is absolutely breathtaking, but you need strong leg muscles and a good pair of lungs. Third, there is the rainforest. There are no volunteers deep in the rainforest. It is too dangerous to our health, but Volunteers vacation there.

We were given a brief presentation about both the coast and sierra regions – the different foods, customs, climates, etc. and then we were given a piece of paper. If the paper had a horse on it, you were going to the coast; if the paper had an alpaca on it, you were going to the sierra. I got coast. Yaaay! This is what I wanted, but it is still so very, very vague. There is such a variety of sites on the coast. Learning that I would be living in the coast was a relief because I knew at the very least that I would not be climbing mountains every day, but it still left of so many unanswered questions. I have deliberated numerous times about why the Peace Corps reveals our sites to us bit by bit, deep into training, when I am pretty sure that they know where we are all going very early on. I have put a lot of thought into this, and my professional psychological opinion is that they are sadists. The whole lot of them. Not really, just kidding, but when you are in the moment, it sure feels like it.

Another highlight of this week was that I survived my first real earthquake. I had experienced probably 3 or 4 tremors by Week #5, but never a full blown earthquake. Peruvians are so used to the tremors that they feel the slightest little movement. I barely felt one and I am pretty sure that if my host mom had not told me, I would have missed it. Anyway, on Friday I was giving a charla with another volunteer. I had finished mine and turned the reigns over to Karl. Karl was incredibly lucky. Instead of being saved by the bell, he was saved by the earthquake. At the last minute that morning, my original partner had to go the Lima for a doctor’s appointment, so since Karl was in a group of 3 instead of 2, like the rest of us, they pulled him to work with me. He gave a charla that he saw someone else give a couple of weeks earlier on our Shadowing trips. He did a good job, but he finished about 20 minutes earlier than we were supposed to. Karl thinks on his feet, and he started a game, but less than 2 minutes into it, alarm bells sounded, and everyone had to evacuate the classroom and exit to the courtyard because we were in the middle of an earthquake. I still didn’t know what was going on and one of the students had to tell me. It felt like I was standing next to the highway a big semi-truck whizzed by me, but that was the extent. Someone told me that it registered a 5.something on the Richter scale, but Idk for sure.

Hairless dog. Just thought I woud throw this litte guy in since
the pics are lacking in this blog. These boogers are so ugly, they're cute.
Can't help but think of Dr. Evil's cat everytime I see one.

Just want to say thanks to everyone that leaves me a comment on this thing. It is a bittersweet ordeal anytime that someone does. One the one hand, I know that I am not forgotten and that I have a lot of people who care about me, but on the other hand, it always makes me a lil homesick. I can endure the pain for a measly two years, but there’s always no place like home.