I Love Fan.

Well, we made it to summer. And as the days get hotter and I spend more and more time lying perfectly still on my tile floor to try and stop sweating, I finally gave in and purchased a fan. And what a glorious purchase it has been. The fan purchase is often bewildering to our Peruvian families, but so is most of what we do so since there’s no way around it I say let your freak flag fly. Cut to me doing P90X Kenpo Karate in my room while they stare at me through my window like a panda misplaced in the reptile exhibit at the zoo.

I was told summer would be slow work wise because the kids are out of school, it’s really hot, and a lot of people are on vacation, but thankfully I have found a lot to keep me busy. I realize looking at my past posts I’ve never really written about what it is that I do for work. Part of that’s because it is constantly changing and part of it’s because a big part of our work is somewhat hard to define and can’t be categorized into activities. Just being here and living and working and sharing our lives with our communities is a big part of our job. Probably the best and hardest part.

BUT let’s talk about categorical activities: right now we’re in the midst of “Vacciones Útiles”, literally useful vacations. Wednesdays I teach a geography/culture class to elementary and middle schools students. We’ve each made our own passports and every week we visit a new country and learn about their culture, history, and art, eat their food, and listen to their music. Super adorable! I also have a radio show with two other volunteers every Wednesday morning at 7:15 am (which you can listen to online here www.radiolanortena.com if you’re up that early and want to learn tips for a healthy, happy home in Spanish!).

I’m teaching an English class to high school students on Thursdays and starting next week I’ll be teaching an exercise class for women and mothers on Mondays and a dance class for  4 – 8 year olds on Tuesdays. I’m really excited for both, especially the exercise class because my hope is that it will offer these women something they can do just for themselves. They spend their whole lives taking care of other people and tend to neglect their own needs. Plus it’s healthy! Which is good because more than half the adult population in my town is overweight, I think mostly due to a diet heavy on carbs and sugar.

I’ll do all of this until March when school starts again, when I will hopefully begin what I plan to be my main project for the year: a sexual health program with my health post for the two big public schools in my town. The rate of teen pregnancy in Monsefú is super high and the information on sexual health that they have access to is horrifyingly scarce slash inaccurate. So I’m hoping this program will help to address some of these and other issues. I’m working on getting the project going now but everything in Peru is a very long, superfluously documented process. I also hope to continue with the exercise and dance classes throughout the year. But it’s all a big maybe, ya know? That’s Peru.

Anyway, this is more of a nuts and bolts type post but it seemed silly to have given you no information whatsoever about my tangible work, so here it is! I miss you and love you all so much. Thank you to all my family and friends who have been so wonderful and supportive of me. I feel like I can’t say that enough. Lastly, I AM SO FRAKIN EXCITED FOR THE ARRIVAL OF DANIELLE ZURALOW AND BRITTANY RYAN IN TWO WEEKS!!!! I JUST HOPE I DON’T STROKE OUT FROM THE ANTICIPATION BEFORE THEY GET HERE!

Peace, Love, and Ceviche,

Kimberly