New Home

This past Sunday I arrived back in Lima after spending three days in my new site and I truly believe that I got the best placement I could have asked for. The little town that I will be living in is the district capitol and has about 3,000 inhabitants. Since I will be replacing two volunteers who lived in the caserrillos (small surrounding villages) of this town, there are already some projects in place that I will get to work on. My community counterparts are the president of the solid waste committee that the previous volunteers established and a teacher from one of the primary schools. I have not yet met the teacher but the president of the trash committee along with all the other members are enthusiastic and motivated so I have a head start on any project that I want to work on.
The house that I will be living in is a typical two story Peruvian home with an open floor plan and mostly cement floors (although we have tile in the living room which is considered luxurious). My room looks over a beautiful flower garden with cherry and plum trees in full bloom. My new host mother is an older woman named Ludivina who works at the municipality. She is at least a foot shorter than I am but has an enormous presence within the community. So far it seems to me that she is related to everyone in Pacora and surrounding areas either by blood or marriage. She is incredibly hospitable and already refers to me as hija (daughter). Her husband works in the neighboring department so he is only around every 15 days but the house is rarely empty because my host sister and her two teenage sons live upstairs. It is an excellent situation because I will be living with a loving family who is also very sensitive to my need for some space and independence.
On my first day in town, I went to the schools where I presented myself to each classroom. There are two primary schools and one high school so I ended up giving my little speech around 25 times. Each time I introduced myself and stated my intention to collaborate with the schools, the woman who was taking me around would add that I am willing to teach English and then would tell the students where I am living. Needless to say that by 3 o'clock that afternoon, kids had started showing up at my door, sometimes to ask for English lessons but more often to stare at me. By the end of the weekend I had taught about four impromptu English lessons but each time I ended with a quick environmental theme or activity. I am planning on teaching English to get my foot in the door with the kids and then I will transition to more environmental classes. I am even thinking that they can "pay" for their English lessons by planting a tree with me.
On Saturday night we traveled to Pimentel, a beach town about an hour away, for my first Peruvian wedding. Since I hadn't brought any nice clothing on my site visit, my host mom tracked down her one niece that happens to be over 4 foot 9 and borrowed a gown for me that miraculously fit. At first I was tired and hungry and a bit uncomfortable in my over the top sequined and beaded quinceñera dress. I was not looking forward to what I was sure to be a long night. Around about 9 pm the food started coming and then around 10 people started dancing. It turned out that everyone wanted to teach me to dance so I ended up on the dance floor most of the night taking breaks to snack on appetizers until dinner finally came at 1 am. We ended up staying at the party until 5 am until my 65 year-old host father was literally asleep in his chair! At this point there were no cars back to Pacora so we went to the after party at the bride's house where there was eating and drinking and dancing. I tried to rally but I ended up falling asleep in a chair. When I woke up it was light out and I was incredibly disoriented so I pretty much demanded that we jump in a car and head home. We got back to Pacora around 8:30 am and went to bed…finally!! Although I had a great time and met a ton of people, I really hope that these events are few and far between because I don't think I can keep up with my host mother!
After a long weekend, I was not ready to head home. I already feel like there will be so much that I can do in my new community. Between working with the solid waste committee, teaching English, and helping the teachers incorporate environmental topics into their curriculum, I will be busy and productive. I already helped my host mom start a compost so that she will have rich soil when she plants her vegetable garden in January. This weekend gave me tons of ideas and motivation for getting my service going. I am looking forward to heading back to Pacora for good this weekend. It is an adorable town and anyone who has the chance should definitely come visit me!

Also, thanks to everyone who has sent me mail! I have a new address now:

Dani Rueter
Cuerpo de Paz
Casilla Postal 208
Oficina Serpost, S.A.
Chiclayo, Peru

Hope to hear from you soon!