Graduation all around

I figured that waking up at 5AM to the sound of a pig being slaughtered outside of my bedroom (thanks neighbors) would put a damper on my entire day. Luckily was I was wrong. I spent time working around in the puesto (health clinic) just visiting and getting some more information for my community diagnostic. The promoción for the primaria was supposed to start at noon, but like any good ole event in Peru, it ended up starting around 2:30-3ish. A promoción is like a graduation party, but a lot more extravagant than you are thinking. This one was at the primaria which is like the elementary school, but the girls wear formal dresses (think prom) and the boys wear suits. The kids are between the ages of 10-11 and there is a lot of dancing, drinking and food for all. The long and skinny clown balloons were given out to everyone along with a mask and whistle. There were dance circles and pictures being taken for hours. I have to say, it was a pretty good time for a Wednesday night.

In training we were given warnings about getting caught in drinking circles, which I have learned and experienced. I was asked at least 13 times to join a drinking circle, but this city is small and I plan on being the best role model for these girls that I can. Therefore, I had to tell them each about 8 times that I don’t drink beer and not even a little.

I made friends with a lady named Adea and she owns a store in town. She is super sweet and has invited me to come over before the secondaria promoción, which I have heard is bigger and better. Another friend of my sister and I, Adeta, her mom has invited me to come over as well sometime in the future. I spent a little time yesterday visiting with this older lady, Jesus, who is beyond sweet. I’m enjoying all the invites to people’s house. It makes me feel like they are starting to get to like me!

I left the party around 6:30 because I promised my sister we would secretly decorate the restaurant for Christmas so when her parents came in the next morning they would be surprised. They finally left the place around 8 and we started hanging things all over. It was tons of fun and there was lots of laughing…especially when her dad walked in half awake (he was sleeping in a bedroom in the restaurant and we didn’t know). He looked around confused with a smile on his face and we told him to go away. He laughed and listened.

Another thing I got to help out with was moving and cleaning up our puesto. My site must have received some money in the recent past because they added a second floor to the puesto that has 5 more rooms. It is just now ready to start moving the equipment up there and that’s where I helped. I played in all the medication and vaccinations like I knew what they were and what they do. Rocío tricked me into drinking at 10AM, go figure. I was terribly thirsty and she offered me “Pepsi.” I took a giant gulp of what ended up being ¾ sangria and ¼ Pepsi. Thanks. There was enough dust and dirt after moving things to choke a camel.

I spent most of that day on the phone crying with my mom about how I want to come home. I won’t get into all that right now because it’s mass confusion and I am basically lost…in the middle of a jungle-like area…in Peru…most likely crying as you read this. Let’s just say I want some normalcy in my life right now and I don’t know what to do about it. I just want to a constant flow of water and electricity. I would like a hot bath. I want to feel pretty for one day. I want GOOD food without wondering if I am going to poop my pants later for eating it. I would like internet and cell phone reception in the majority of the places I go. I want to sleep in a bed knowing that most likely I won’t be bite by a giant bug. I don’t want to hear or see animals being slaughtered. I want to wash my clothes in a washing machine, because let’s face it, no matter how hard I scrub them, they will always smell like dirt and sweat. I want to lose the 10-12 pounds I have gained from eating so much rice and potatoes. So those of you who can do or have at least half of that, you are lucky and I envy you. And I am considering joining your would in the next few months…to be continued.

As I typed all of that, the electricity went out. FML.
Anyway, I also watched Eclipse with my girls again. And again we gushed over how cute Edward and Jacob are. I am constantly surprised that my closest friends here are 14 years old, but it’s nice to be around some girls.

Due to this week being full of promocions, the big one was for the secundaria. Little did I know, I should have packed my prom dress here to fit in. All the girls were dressed like they were headed to the red carpet and I was wearing a black skirt, yellow tank top, a black pretty jacket with some black flats. Basically I felt like I was headed to a funeral, my funeral. The party started two hours late which put it starting at 10PM. There was at least an hour full of speeches and then another hour of photo-taking before the music, dancing and drinking started.

I was trying my best to blend in with the crowd because I didn’t want to dance, but being the only white person and not having a prom dress, that didn’t quite work. I ended up dancing with a lot of the students which was fun considering I will most likely be spending time with them. It’s fun how the dancing works at events like this. Everyone dances with everyone. It doesn’t matter the age, sex, if they are married or not. I saw my being asked by the high school boys to dance and I saw the student girls dancing with the mayor of the town. It’s so awesome how much fun these people have out of dancing.

The promocion for the pre-school wasn’t as great because we didn’t have electricity so that meant no music which meant no dancing. There was still good food and it was still a pretty good time seeing all the little kids. There is one boy in particular who cracks me up because he will randomly scream my name when he sees me. His mom is around my age and she is super sweet. Since we were fresh out of water and electricity, that night I spent time with my sister and Anita just hanging out in the plaza and ended up calling it an early night.

I headed to Piura Sunday afternoon after hearing another pig being slaughtered, thank you neighbors. Before I left though, Anita’s mom had me over for tortillas and coffee for breakfast. It was super delicious and afterwards we looked at about 200 pictures of their family. There was some type of festival happening in the plaza when I left, but I headed to Piura for a much needed mental break, which is where I am typing this now.

Just to let those of you who actually read this know, I am in the process of deciding if I should terminate my service early. I love Peru, the food, the people, the cultures and traditions. It’s a beautiful and diverse country that has so much to offer and is headed in the right to direction to becoming an even better country. I love it here, but I am not sure if I can continue living in Pambarumbe for 2 more years. I love the people of Pambarumbe, but again, I am not sure if all of this is for me and I don’t want to spend 2 years here being miserable. I am in the process of trying to get some good sleep and start weighing my pros and cons of coming back to the USA and staying here as a PCV. Please keep me in your prayers because times are rough and I have a lot of decisions to make that aren’t going to be easy.