I'm beginning to find a rhythm to life here. I wake up and always have at least a few tasks I can accomplish. I have my standby hard-boiled egg, apple, and coffee breakfast, made all the better with the arrival of my french press mug in a Christmas package from my mom.
The food situation is so much better than at training. I'm in charge of my own breakfast and usually make myself a salad in the evening, so I can say I'm too full for potato noodle soup. It's amazing the difference produce and protein make for how I feel physically and mentally. I had a hard time during training with all the fried stuff and rice. I still am disheartened at lunch every once and a while, but eating starch on top of starch is deeply ingrained in the culture here. I'm infiltrating by starting to cook for my family every once in a while. I've mostly been making desserts, but I slip the occasional big salad in. Look at all the beautiful produce I bought at the market today for 3 soles. That's just a little more than a dollar.
Vegetables aren't unattainable here or prohibitively expensive. Potatoes, white rice, and noodles definitely have more calories for the price, which is something you can't ignore in a cold and poor region. But it seems like most people have enough to eat. I went to the health post a while ago, and the doctor said that one of the issues they're seeing are the joint illnesses of obesity and malnutrition. I thought that was primarily a first-world problem, but it seems like a diet based mostly on potatoes will do that to you. Healthy cooking classes are one of my goals here. Folks have access to so much here, but don't use it fully.
Speaking of packages earlier, yesterday I received wonderful ones from my mom and my prima, Casey. They made my day a million times over. It's funny how good it feels to see familiar things and get letters from people that care about me. And I got some new clothes that meant a lot. I didn't bring too much down with me and I wear the same things over and over. Peruivans do the same thing, but it felt really nice to have a fancy new purple jacket and fun underwear. And Reese's. Here I am enjoying some of the things I received.
In the states, Cosmo is usually too trashy for me. But I hadn't seen anything like it in so long and was fascinated. I haven't thought about hair or makeup in months, and there were pages and pages dedicated to it. I count it as a victory if I shower once a week. And there were pictures of shirtless men! I haven't seen anything besides people's faces and the occasional hand since I've been here. I barely see my own body because I have to change quickly due to the cold. So strange!
Anyway, I've been splitting my time between household tasks, hassling people in the community with questions and surveys, going to the municipality, and helping other volunteers with their projects. The weeks have been slipping by. Many former PCVs say that the days are slow but two years go by without you even noticing. Two years still seems like forever, but I'm starting to see how that can happen.
It's funny how different regular tasks are. It feels like I'm camping when I brush my teeth outside in a cup. Here's where I do my laundry. It can take several hours from start to finish and I'm not convinced my clothes are ever fully clean. At least they have less visible dirt on them and my exercise stuff smells slightly better. It will be some time before I take a washing machine or hot or drinkable water from a faucet for granted again.
I lucked out big time with my family. They are so nice and attentive and fun to be with and I think they like me. They're also starting to figure out that I'm not totally useless and getting used to my weird habits, which is gratifying. They don't gasp anymore when I eat a raw vegetable and are used to the thundering that happens when I exercise in my room.
Exercise has been a tricky thing. I want to get plenty because it helps my mental well-being and I'd like to get back to my pre-training shape before the beach in March. I love to run, but it's often raining or lightning-hailing. When the weather cooperates, there are lots of ladies out with their sheep and wow-wows (aggressive dogs) along the route I like. None of the dogs have bitten me yet, but they do a really good job pretending they will. I've taken to using exercise videos in my room half the time. I can't find weights and don't want to pay for them anyway. A big part of the Peace Corps is making it work with what you have.
I've been taking charge with some of the animal care around the house. Peruvians in general don't seem as concerned with their pets. They aren't overly affectionate and often provide a minimum of care. I had started trying to talk to my family about it, but now it's action time. I realize that my opinions on this are very estado unidense, but oh well on this one. I think that most domesticated animals benefit from affection and enough food. I started with the dogs by giving them lots of pats and my extra bread. Now they follow me everywhere and are really jazzed to see me.
We have three tiny kittens (we used to have four but one died) that were looking a mess forever. They weren't growing, were super skinny, and had gross eye infections. I started cleaning out their eyes and bought them real cat food. They're not any bigger now, but they're livelier and their eyeballs look better. The boys in my family used to play really rough with them, grabbing them by their legs and throwing them around. They didn't mean anything bad, but they got a talking to from me every time they'd be too rough. Now they do it a lot less. I don't want to push too many American values on them, but hopefully this will help the cats grow up healthy and not crazy.
I recently got my PC vest and it has tons of pockets. Many of them are kitten-sized.
I've been doing some work on my room as well. It's still a bit disorderly and I still sleep on the floor, but it's looks like a place somebody actually lives.
I could only afford one piece of furniture last month, and the dresser with the sweet tiger drawing on it beat a mattress. I felt so much better getting my clothes organized and my sleeping pad has been serving me well. I'm also really proud of my cinderblock and scrap wood kitchen. It has chopping and cooking space and look at all the cubbies there are in the blocks!
Getting my pictures up made me happy, too. There's everything from my grandparents to myself as a little bean to grad school. I hope to add a bunch of Peruvian adventures to it before the two years are up.
All in all, life is good. I'm still sick more than I'd like to be, but I think it will get better with time. I can't wait for the new year when hopefully my projects will start to get off the ground.
Here are some gratuitous pictures of guinea pig and kitten lunchtime and a rainbow. Happy New Year!
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