My first week in site proved to be as awkward and overwhelming as so many promised it would be. I will be perfectly content if I live the rest of my life without being ´presented´to another director, alcalde (mayor), school, or any other group of people. However, even with the awkwardness and mass confusion, I am eternally grateful for the amazing welcome I have received.
I am a replacement volunteer, meaning I was sent to a site where another youth development volunteer recently left after her 2 years of service. Being a replacement volunteer has its pros and cons - on the one hand, the majority of the community know what Cuerpo de Paz (the Peace Corps) is and I have lots of community members willing and excited to work with me. On the other hand, I am constantly told what Amanda (the last volunteer) did and am expected to dive head first into work. Thankfully, Amanda left me with a great set of potential socios and good relationships with the municipality and local schools.
So here is a glimpse of how my week went:
After convincng a collectivo to load up all my luggage and a mattress and drop me off directly at my host family´s house, I arrived in Ucupe just in time for lunch. I found my room ready for me complete with balloons and signs of ¨Bienvenidas¨ from Valeria and Dayana - my two host sabrinas ages 8 and 5 respectively.
I spent the afternoon unpacking a little and beginning to settle in. I intend to continue working on my room, which will aslo serve as an office of sorts, for the next several weeks - gradually getting things in the capital city and getting organized. As for now, the floor suffices as a dresser and a desk. My host mom had many members of the family - aunts and cousins who spend every night in our house - as well as 5 or so women who live on my street over for dinner to introduce me to everyone. It is nice to already have familiar faces on the street and people looking out for me in the tranquilo pueblo of Ucupe.
Tuesday I ventured to the municipality to be presented by and to members of the muni. After waiting an hour - a typical occurance in Peruvian culture, I was escorted to a room set-up with a table and ¨Bienvenida Caroly al Distrito Lagunas Mocupe¨ displayed on the wall. I think they ran out of letters to actually write Carolina ;) It was a nice reception led by a member of the municipality staff who recited a poem to me. It also included ¨palabras¨ or speeches from directors of the local schools, a representative of the regional government of Lambayeque, my host mom, and the tenant alcalde and I had a song sung to me by another member of municipality staff. It concluded with the tenant alcalde giving me a dozen roses, refreshments for everyone and each person introducing themselves.
Following the muni presentation, I walked with my host mom, muni representative, and director of the high school to the school. In case everyone hasn´t already noticed the new gringa walking around, I was particularly conspicuous carrying a dozen glittery roses.
The school presentations continued for the next 2 days as representatives of the muni and my host mom took me around to 10 or so schools where I was once again ¨presented¨ to directors, professsors, and students with varying levels of interest and excitement.
My crew of municipality works and host mom also took me to the beach in Lagunas, only 30 minutes from my house so I am excited to visit the beach lots this coming summer!
Overall it has been quite a week that will continue into next week as I begin helping at 2 schools. As many awkward moments I had being ¨presented¨ over and over again, this week gave me great motivation to fully get to know my community and truly dedicate 2 years of work and life here. Visiting many small caserios, schools, and directors proved there is no shortage of work and energy here. No, the tough part will not come in finding partners but in choosing where to focus energy and where I can have the best impact.
Thanks for the awesome welcome District of Lagunas!
*Also, I hope to share pictures of these adventures soon. Unfortunately, my computer has broken so don´t have a way to get them from my camera now. I will be working on this and hopefully sharing pictures before too long.
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