Status Update

After two years in the Peace Corps, I've officially finished. What a journey it has been! I cannot account for all the ways that I've been changed by this experience, but I'll be damned if I'm not gonna try...

Flew September 17, 2010 from D.C. to Lima, Peru.

Landed exhausted and anxiously met people while we waited to leave the airport at 12AM.

Slept/woke up screaming the whole way to our hotel in a crazy combi ride.

Spent 3 months in training, learning Spanish and drinking beer in Santa Eulalia with a group of guys and one super tall, wild gal that I offended by calling "a mix between a super model and a neandertal". (I meant it as a complement, really. I mean, she's really freaking tall, especially in Peru. And then she looks like she stepped out of a fashion magazine.)

Loved my host family in training and my fellow trainees.

Went to Marcahuasi which is gorgeous and super cold. High altitude mountains that look like animals (the tortuga) and Jesus. Spooned Dr. Leavitt to keep warm in our tent. Intense dream: shouted the country director's name in my sleep and woke everyone up.

Visited my site for the first time and had an amazing camp-out in the Bosque de Pomac. Didn't shower for four days while working in the hot desert. Pooped in the reserve behind a boulder and then tried to hide it by stacking rocks on top of it. ...Quickly bragged about it to everyone else on the camping trip.

Got freaking sick from eating "Pollo a la Brasa" and ruined the dish forever, which is for the best considering the deforestation caused by the charcoal industry to cook this one popular food.

Went back to my training site and realized all my clothes smell like chicken poo and probably would for the next two years.

Swore-in as a PCV in Nov 2010 and cried when I had to leave them.

Went to my site and quickly forgot that I smelled like chicken poo.

Immediately took to my 5 year old host brother, Anderson. We communicated mostly through weird stares with big eyes and random exclamations. "Oye!" Edwin my older host bro was the youngest mayor I've ever heard of - elected at age 18 and in office til he was 26 (28 when I moved in). Grandma went everywhere with her walker - still working in the fields, collecting firewood, corralling the animals, howling. Marleni, my host mom, never really liked me. She made my 2 years harder than they needed to be. My host dad came into town every once in a while, but worked in another department. He was super interested in my work, young, muscular, and thoughtful. He took to making landfills with me for our trash! My aunt Rosa and uncle Cesar were also very special. Rosa always invited me to food, and Cesar was the only one who whole-heartedly appreciated my damn-good American indie tunes.

Went door-to-door for 3 months creating my community diagnostic and doing surveys. Reported that the community needed a health post and the mayor actually did something about it!

Got sick at least once a month my first year (took cipro, which is a super strong antibiotic, 13 times in my first 12 months)!

Talked awkwardly on our Peace Corps radio shows in Olmos "The Ecological Hour" and "Cafe con las Chicas" for the first few months and then grew into my personality in Spanish. Now, I could talk the whole hour.

Got drunk on pisco, jumped up on stage at a cumbia concert (Corazon Serrano). Played invisible instruments with every band member, and then tried to rip the shirt off the lead singer's body, all the while saying in English "it's okay, let me do it". I wasn't ripping the shirt off to be sexual...I had been looking for a shirt like his short-sleeve, plaid button-up for months! The video played all over Olmos for months, and a Baptist church I wanted to do environmental projects with told me I could not teach their children.

Celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Peace Corps at the U.S. Ambassadors house in Lima! Told a ex-president and presidential candidate that if he was elected we needed small landfills in Olmos. He looked at me like, "really? did you really just say that?"

Ran along the beach after getting rejeted by someone I liked and got startled by God's message in my prayer, "you underestimate me" each time to waves beat against the rocks.

Went to Chachapoyas (Kuelap and more) with Jackie, Brit and Sara. Sara left with the name "ball-busting Sara" because of her intense reactions to our guides lack of communication about the intensity of our hikes. "It's not that far, alli no mas". Met God at the waterfall Gocta - so holy, I took my shoes off...then got my feet all cut-up on the sharp rocks. Brit rocked my world with her amazing snacks! Jackie blew us all away on the trails - going through her break-up and taking all that energy out on the hike.

Put on camps throughout the 2 years with PCVs. Camp ALMA, VALOR, and with ICPNA for youth leaders.

Created my program Iron Man/Iron Woman - a youth development program - with my friend Carolyn. We taught those kids what it takes to go to college, how-to use a condom, how-to start a small business, what it means to be a real community leader, and more. Holocaust. Hip Hop and African American History. Debates on separation of church and state and pacifism. Diaries. 5K race in Olmos! Beach day in Pimentel for the kids who finished 80% of the program.

Learned the ins and outs of grant writing.

Fell in love and accidentally said it after the person nerded-out over their excitement to read their science book.

Participated in many events during the Festival de Limon including an attempt for a Guiness Book of World Record's title: eating the largest plate of cabrito (goat) in history - 500 goats, 15,000 people.


Trained for a marathon. Ran 10 miles around the city of Chiclayo the day the police were parading, 12 miles in the hills of Sincape, and then 15 miles in the Bosque de Pomac with Carol and Dani as horses ran wild and we kicked up sand. Hurt myself and cried as I walked back for an hour and a half from my attempt at the 16 mile run solo. Refused a ride from a creepy cop on a motorcycle (volunteers aren't allowed on motorcycles or alone with creepy peeps.)


Ran a 10K in Pacasmayo. Met Carol and Dani at the finishline when they finished their marathons. Carol cried as she ran into our arms. "I really thought I was gonna die."

Bulla, Carol, Sara and Lisa planned a surprise party for me for my 25th birthday. Even though I had hurt my leg, I was probably in the best shape of my life that year.

Ate all-you-can-eat sushi with Rob, Tina, Speare, Sara Leavitt at Magma in Lima. Sooooo full! Saw the world famous female boxer Kina Malpartida in a jugeria with Monica.

In August 2011, I went to Ancash with all the environment volunteers from Peru 16. We were at the base of Huascaran - the tallest mountain in Peru - with it's snowy peak. We dipped our feet in the cold glacier lake...some of the boys ripped off their clothes and jumped in naked in front of about 40 people including out Peruvian counter-parts.

Love PERU 16!!!!

Dressed up as Peter Pan for Halloween with Bulla as tinkerbell (which ended up looking more like a stripper costume).

Had Thanksgiving with Carol's family in Sincape (Peruvians don't usually celebrate Thanksgiving). We cooked our favorite dishes and ate like... Americans!

Headed back to the States for the first time since I had left that Christmas (2011). Got all teary-eyed at the "Welcome to the United States" video they put on in the plane as we touched down. Shouted to everyone in the lines at customs in Miami, "there are water fountains! and you can drink straight from them and not get sick!". Got a "Fat Tire" beer the second the plane landed in the DFW Airport - only seven dollars at the TGI Fridays! I've never said so many "thank you's" to a waitress before. Was in a sleepy-state on my last plane ride from DFW to LBB and woke up trying to order a drink in Spanish at the Asian American flight attendant. "Este jugito...eso...eso!" Gained 10 pounds in the 2 weeks I was home.

Went back to Peru and was really sad for a few months. It was tougher going back than I had imagined.

Projects started rolling - the project for trash and trees that I would do for the next 8 months only for it to fail. 116 families invited, only 8 participated.

Me and Carol wrote a manual for our Iron Man Program that is now being replicated by volunteers all over Peru including Laura in Yauyos, and Willa and Allison in Ancash. The 24 Lambayeque volunteers helped to put on camps all throughout the 2 years, and we did an Iron Man version in June 2012.

Started my "Escuela de Padres" for parents to learn more about how to be better parents and help their kids succeed academically, nutrition, self-esteem,passing on values, etc.

Reported the principal of my school and my community partner to the police for forcing my 13 year old high school girls to kiss him.

Did a lot of events again for the Festival de Limon. Annie was the Reyna del Medio Ambiente, Sara the Reyna de Reciclaje. I sang our environmental parody songs on huge speakers for the whole town to hear. About 10 thousand people were there to cheer us on.

Heard the words, "I'm just not ready to commit". Cried a lot.

Danced to "Lejos de Ti" at the Amaya Hermanos concert in Picsi and was remembered months later by a band member when I introduced myself. "Yeah, I remember you making about 20 attempts at the jumping photo in front of the stage."

My last project was the "Ama Tu Peru" video series you can find on Youtube - thanks Olmos volunteers and participants! Approximately 20,000 people will see these videos on their televisions in Olmos over the next 16 months! They air during prime-time hours - "Al Fondo Hay Sitio" and "Esto Es Guerra".

One of my teachers beat one of my students and then all of the other teachers went to his birthday party the next week and cancelled school. Frustrating!

My alumnos (students) sang to me (Lejos de Ti) - "far from you, I'm going to die" - on my last day of work and wanted me to write in their journals. Sweet song.

Made a "Gangnam Style" music video for our going away party with all the Lambayeque volunteers. Phil got a breakdance crew to dance for us, because he knew I loved them.

Taught the new group of environment kids (Peru 20) in Lima as the volunteer of the week my last week as a PCV. Cried in front of them. Made them dance the sea-walk for my Hip Hop class. Gave an appropriately cynical view of my service and experience. Group hugged them as I left.

Went to Carolyn's Halloween party dressed as pollo (chicken) and Annie went as arroz (rice). Together we were the popular Peruvian dish "Arroz con Pollo". Lots of cool costumes were their like the 3 little piglets, cookie and the cookie monster, Twitter, and then there was Hurricane Sandy - tooooooo sooooon!

Found out one of my students ran away with a 20 year old, and she was a key witness in the case against my director. Now the town thinks she's a whore and the director might come back. He's been sending threatening messages to the teacher who helped me turn him in. She's scared and I don't know how to help her.

Couch surfing at Carol's house until my mom and sister get here tomorrow at 4am.

We're headed to Machu Picchu and then back to Lambayeque for a going away party with my community. Rest assured that there will be lots of crying during the goodbye's and toasts. My students are planning to sing our environmental parody songs we created for our radio show.

Then me, my mom and sister will head back to the States along with Bulla's cat...who will be going from the hot desert of Peru to ALASKA! Poor cat!

I've got an interview with Teach For America in December and a trip to Vegas the following day for a college roommate reunion! Buying a fancy sweater-vest in Cusco for the occasion.

We'll see what happens next...