After two robberies in two days and a confrontation that led me to find a new host family last weekend, I was having a bit of a rough time with my Peace Corps experience. The best way to get through tough times here has been giving myself little things to look forward to. Right now, I am looking forward to the women's empowerment conference that I have been helping to organize at the embassy. After this, I will be traveling to Arequipa or "The White City." An Andean city that is famous for architecture, food, and gorgeous surroundings. During this vacation, I will also travel to the Colca Canyon, home to the Andean Condors and Lake Titicaca. I can't wait for these events.
It is not only large-scale travel that keeps me motivated in tough times. There are certain personal and professional activities that I look forward to. Personally, I look forward to reading and watching almost disgusting amounts of movies and tv on my laptop. Right now I am watching all the Star Wars movies including the prequels. I have also become addicted to Lost, the Sopranos, House, Modern Family, Glee, Gossip Girl, and Friends. It is really funny watching friends because in some alternate reality that could be my life, hanging out with a group in a coffee shop all the time and having the comical adventures that twenty somethings have. Thanks to my cousin I have an entire external hard drive full of of movies and tv, which will definitely last me until the end of my service here. The first thing I thought when I got my stuff robbed last weekend was how happy I was not to lose my laptop. I don't know what I would do without my programs.
This weekend I got to attend a Peruvian wedding. It was a bittersweet event in that it was my friend's 17 year-old host sister's wedding resulting from her unplanned pregnancy. This young woman will not be finishing high school and will not have much say in how the rest of her life plays out due to cultural expectations and machismo. Seeing this firsthand inspired me to keep working with young women particularly on sexual and reproductive health and general self-esteem and empowerment to pursue personal goals. There was a mood of sadness during the entire ceremony and I couldn't help but note the contrast between this wedding and my idealistic and perhaps naïve view of how weddings should be. Despite all this, after the ceremony ended the fun began. There were six of us volunteers at this fiesta and we were in high demand as dancing partners. I went to bed around 4 am but the party was far from over, in fact, when I left the house at 9 am the next day, the party was still far from over.
After I went to bed crazy things started to happen that I did not learn about until the next morning. For no apparent reason, the huge group of dancers turned into a brawling mob. The other volunteers came into the bedroom where I was sleeping and watched through the window. Everyone present got involved. The groom was throwing punches and the bride was trying to break things up while still wearing her gown. There was even a woman with a child in one arm throwing punches with the other man. After putting the child down, she picked up a beer bottle and proceeded to chase him around the soccer field in front of the house. It was quite a way to finish an already emotional day.
After a wild wedding, I am ready to get back to work so in the upcoming weeks I will be building a model improved cook-stove. This model will hopefully inspire more people to do the same in order to use less firewood and not inhale so much smoke. It is unbelievable to me that so many people here still cook on open fires in their kitchens. Along with this, I look forward to giving my HIV/AIDS prevention workshops and classes and watching my gardens grow. This week I will be selling a bunch of recycling which always feels good because I get to turn over cash to the schools that they can spend to improve their school. I am lucky to have so many people to work with so that I can stay active and motivated.
The Peace Corps is a roller coaster both professionally and emotionally and the key is to ensure that there will be plenty of ups to balance out the downs. I got hit with a few unexpected free falls on this roller coaster last weekend and now I am on a slow climb back up by using the combination of personal and professional successes and, of course, THE FORCE.
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