Saturday, October 9, 2010

A Day in The Life (Part 2)

So, I could continue to regale you all with stories of my transportation mishaps. But then I would have to change the name of this blog to Beth’s Transportation Adventures in Peru: Or How I Constantly Get Lost But Somehow Consistently Get Where I’m Supposed to Be. So instead of my latest story of combi problems let me answer a frequently asked question.

So, what exactly does a Peace Corps volunteer do? I’m sure you’ve been wondering. Actually, a lot of days, I am still wondering.

Every day here is different. So instead of trying to generalize what every day is like I decided to take pictures of today… an average Wednesday.

Well, I forgot to bring my camera to breakfast so I don’t have pictures of my tea and bread. But I promise it wasn’t too exciting so you’re not missing much. I also don’t have pictures of myself hitting the snooze button for forty-five minutes before waking up at 7:45.

Brushing my teeth with my Nalgene bottle – camping style.

After breakfast, I kicked back in my hammock and finished reading Born to Run.

After reading, I walked down to the colegio and past this common sight – a pig tied up by the side of the room.

I went to the colegio to make copies of a coloring sheet for my afternoon youth group and to hang up a poster advertising an art day next week.


After the colegio, I went to the health post to talk to the women who work there.

After the health post, I returned home and did some household chores:

I filled my tippy-tappy,

went to the store and tried to buy butter for lunch (they didn’t have any),

thought about doing laundry but couldn’t because the canal is still dry,

prepped for youth group (this sometimes involves actually creating a lesson plan but today it just meant that I had to color some example sheets),

and did my dishes.

Then I cooked lunch on my propane stove.

Which was delicious! Mac and cheese, with tomatoes, onions, and saltine crackers (instead of bread crumbs), a pear, and water. I don’t have a refrigerator so once I open a carton of milk I need to use it within a couple of days. I’ll probably be having this same lunch for the rest of the week.

After lunch, I sat outside and read for awhile. You might be able to see my “reading rock” next to my door… my book is on top of it. It’s a little less comfortable then it looks.

Then, I had youth group. We practiced our colors in English and the kids did a color by number sheet.

After youth group, I talked on the phone to a Peace Corps friend (so happy for free minutes) and ignored the kids who were knocking on my door. I’m trying to teach them that when the door is closed they need to leave me alone. After twenty minutes of knocking, they still didn’t get the hint.

I played Trouble with some of the kids from youth group.

And had fun with some of the kids who were watching the “really exciting” game.

I ducked out of the highly competitive Trouble game to talk to another Peace Corps friend who was in Huaraz and had called to report that the package from my parents still hadn’t arrived at the post office. Oh well, hope springs eternal… maybe Saturday!

I watched some 30 Rock, played Solitaire, and wrote an e-mail to Mrs. Hafeman’s third grade class, my World Wise Schools pen pal.

Then, it was time for dinner – spaghetti and rice! Delicious for the mere fact that it wasn’t soup. After I finished this plate, our 18 year old neighbor/relative came over with my 2 year old niece and brought tamales. I’m usually not a fan of anything with tamale in the name but these were actually pretty delicious. I finished my meal with a cup of tea.


And now, I’m back in my room writing this blog entry. When I finish, I’ll probably crawl under the five blankets on bed (I pull at least one over my head) and read using my headlamp for awhile. I can almost guarantee that I’ll be sleeping by ten, if not before. Oh, the above picture is everything that I wear to bed at night – sweatshorts, sweatpants, a t-shirt, a long sleeve shirt, a sweatshirt, two pairs of socks, and my knee high wool socks.

That was today… not too interesting but overall, pretty productive (by Peace Corps standards, at least). It was wildly different from Monday (when I had a cooking lesson from the daughter of a woman I met on a collectivo) and Tuesday (when I read for at least seven hours) but that’s part of being in the Peace Corps. You never quite know what each day is going to entail. Some days there is a lot going on and some days you have seven hours to read.

You can see more photos (and a lot of the same ones I posted here) at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2218069&id=69204952&l=ee9fa948bf