The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

The past week and a half has been pretty crazy. Last Tuesday, the 6th I believe, we left for our second field-based training, FBT. We took a 10-hour night bus from Lima to Trujillo which was actually quite comfortable. Everyone was all jittery about the election but luckily one of the other volunteers who was still in Chaclacayo made sure to call us when the results were in and we were able to rest assured that our country was in good hands. Once we arrived in Trujillo we sped off to have breakfast with La Libertad´s regional coordinator and volunteer leader. We separated into two groups of seven, sierra and coastal, depending on where our sites are located and we rushed into separate buses. Though I knew I was only saying goodbye for a two-day trip, I´ll admit I got a little teary-eyed and now I have no clue how I´m going to keep it together after we´re sworn in and get shipped off for to start our two years of service.

I was part of the coastal group for FBT and we spent the next two days in the small town of Chocope about an hour north of Trujillo. We worked with a WASH volunteer who has been living there this past year and was just getting ready to start a cocina mejorada project in one of Chocope´s annexes called Molino. We spoke with his socios in the municipality and health post, practiced interviewing people of the community and built two cocinas for Molino´s Club de Madres. It was a jam-packed couple of days and we were BEAT and ready to rejoin the rest of our group on Friday night.

The next couple of days were a blur. Little by little our WASH group got smaller as we were split into our department groups and shiped off to our respective regional capitals. Because I´m going to be living in La Libertad I was already in my regional capital and didn´t have to go anywhere. It felt like we were cast members of the Real World or something, saying goodbye to everyone on the last day (yes, I just made that comparison because I´m obsessed with reality TV). By Monday there were only six of us. We spent the day with our volunteer leaders and got to know the regional capital (post office, market, crazy bug mall, etc) and then spent the afternoon at the beach.

Tuesday was "Socio Day". We met people from our sites who could be potential counterparts for our projects over the next two years and a person from each of our new host families. For me, a nurse from Guadalupe´s hospital and my host mom came. The day was overwhelming and full of information but by 4:30pm I was on a bus to my new site for the first time.

Today is my third day with my host family. Tomorrow I´ll be heading back to Trujillo and then back to Lima on the night bus to finish up the last week of training. There are still some chunks missing from my re-cap of FBT and site visits so I´ll finish up with the good, the bad and the ugly; however, I always like to save the best for last and end on a positive note so we´ll start with the ugly.

THE UGLY
After returning to Trujillo we were checked into a hotel for the next couple of days. As mentioned before, we were leaving for our sites at different times throughout the weekend so the room pairings were all mixed up. Our second night there I was moved to another room with two other La Libertad ladies and the ladies heading down to Ica that night kept their things in our room for the day. In the mix of five different people heading in and out of our room and the busy hotel, we were robbed. When we returned at the end of the night three of our backpacks were gone, one being mine. Aside from my car being stolen in high school... haha, well yes that was a big deal, but aside from that this had never happened to me before. I was shocked, scared, and hurt. The worst thing was that there really wasn´t anything useful to someone else in there. Here´s a list of things this thief now has ownership of:

-two moleskine journals, probably what I´m most upset about
-my crusty retainers, gross but I definitely need them
-my number one pair of glasses
-a bag my parents brought back for me from Turkey that had my mini-harmonica necklace!!!
-all my extra nose rings, super important cuz i haven´t seen any tattoo parlors around here
-my favorite shirt
-my best bra, sorry if that´s too much information but all you other ladies can feel my pain
-some t-shirts, leggings and about a week´s worth of underwear (not something I really want to buy here cuz it seems to be sold in giant bins on the street)
-my pencil bag with all my colored pencils and a SUPER nice pen that I got from my dad´s friend as a graduation gift
-my bus ticket back to Lima and other program specific papers

The other ladies who´s backpacks were taken are missing important and meaningful things, as well. It was just a violation and such a damper on the rest of the trip for me. I feel like I generally trust people and like to give others the benefit of the doubt but this experience has definitely chipped off a chunk of my confidence in others. It was a rough start.

THE BAD
Saying goodbye to everyone in the WASH program as we set out for our sites, even just for a couple days, was super dificult. In that sense, I have no clue what my state of mind will be like after swearing-in when it´s time to say goodbye for good. I´ll be seeing people from my department about once or twice a month and will be having trainings throughout the year with my WASH group but there´s a good chance that I won´t be seeing friends I´ve made outside of the WASH group until close of service. THAT IS INSANE. I can´t even wrap my head around it. I´ll be making good use of our free calling network between volunteers, that´s for sure.

THE GOOD
My new host family is AMAZING. There are three teenagers in the house and they are all so helpful. My host mom is super sweet. She´s a cosmotologist and said she´ll give me a manicure whenevs, oooh yeeea! The town is nice and small but not too small and I have a site mate! Her name is Amanda and she´s a Youth Development volunteer. She´ll be here until July or August and has already asked me for help with some of her projects. The training center always warns us that if we aren´t keeping ourselves busy and getting out in the community we will most likely have trouble adjusting and may even consider coming home. With Amanda´s help and the help of my new host family, I don´t think that will be the case for me.

Things are still overwhelming and I know it´s going to be difficult sometimes but I´m gonna keep moving forward. Gotta give it an honest shot. I´ll be posting pictures of my current host family, new host family and swearing-in within the next couple of weeks so stay tuned!

¡Hasta la próxima vez!