My Peace Corps Adventure Birthday Approaches

On September 15, 2006 I first set foot in the Lima airport. It was stressful, insane and in a city of 8 million people, basically nothing at all like my life in Rinconada Llicuar which by all accounts can be best described as tranquilisimo.

Now I'm kind of pondering what it is that I have been doing for the past year and I'd say it's about 60% getting people to like me, maybe 20% trying to take care of myself (bathe, wash clothes, eat, etc...) and 20% something that looks a little like community organizing. I've never had a job quite like that before. Coming out of doing research at Riker's Island, the NYC jail it's probably a good thing that I pay a bit more attention to how I appear outside the shell I developed there. I mean working at a jail is really not conducive to developing a charming image and lets be honest, neither is living in New York.

I was sworn-in as a Volunteer on I think Nov 24... It was the day before Thanksgiving. So it isn't my Peace Corps Volunteer Birthday quite yet. I still feel the need to celebrate. I want to celebrate the generosity of people in my town, a softer and gentler me, and the odd work of trying to be charming so that people listen when I say it's important to wash your hands and so that they accept me in their piece of the world.