over my dome

I have now been in Peru for a bit more than a week but today buts the first full seven days that I have been within my home stay. It is a bit past 8 AM and it is Fathers day-Padre Un Dio. The odd thing about being away and realizing of course it has only been a week is not that I miss things terribly- it is the simple fact there is no remedy available. My father lives a bit more than two hours away from me in the States. I most likely would not have even seen him today but when I called him yesterday from a pay phone I was only able to leave a voicemail and when realization that I would not even get to speak to him set in it kicked the wind out of my sail a little bit. So I have attempted to remedy the situation by watching what I believe to be my favorite film "Stand by Me" in my mind it represenents and romaticices what growing up in the 1950's would be like. TV but only in doses and every event was a new one--things that had never been seen or imagined brought to life by the first sight of it on a black and white box. I wonder what was done to keep busy and I see the relation here as the kids spend their days playing kiwi (a Peruvuana version of kick the can), riding their bikes through the dirt roads of their unpaved neibhorhoods, and scrounging up enough soles to get on one of the local internet cafe. The internet cafe is simply a room in someones home with a couple of computers lined up composed of computers you or I would have ditched 10 years ago. I suppose this is the modern day version of tv for them. I can imagine my dad and his friends doing the same to go down to the boardwalk to pop pinball or head down main street to scour for some sort of outdated candy. More than anything the music that represented the time seems mythical to me....most likely because of my dad's love of music .
So far so good.....interesting-I am sucking wind related to the language. The only Spanish I ever had I payed no attention to and that was almost 15 years ago. I wonder why they put me here with everybody one of my volunteer mates knowing what seems to be a much more signifigant amount of the language I am to assist people with. I have had feelings of inaduecqy on more than a few occasions-to walk around and literally understand nothing, know nothing, and to be able to say nothing gets taxing and tiring pretty quickly. I have resolved myself to work as hard as I can and see what happens......the base line experience is a great one. I am in a constant adventure regardless of the task, the training they have is organized and well thought out, and this week upcoming we are taking a bus up to 12,ooo feet and riding the last thousand on horseback to see what a campo (rural) setting is really like. For the first time in a long time I have more unknowns then I do not know what to do with and that is both exherlirating and exhausting.

Comments

  1. Molly and Benno LauerJune 19, 2011 at 9:02 PM

    Hi Phil! Good to hear from you! I totally get the language frustrations - when I go up to the cashier to buy something from a store here in Japan, all I know is "thank you," so I just keep saying that repeatedly. They stare at me and try to determine if I want the meal I just bought heated, or the fruit I just bought in a bag or not, and I try to telepathically send them my answer. Fortunately for both you and I, we can both smile a lot and be friendly generally and hopefully that'll be enough! :)

    Hope the rest of your settling in is going ok too.

    Good luck with the rural setting (which I'm not experiencing in Tokyo) - enjoy evenings lit by the moonlight instead of by the TV screen!

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  2. Molly and Benno LauerJune 21, 2011 at 4:35 AM

    Hi Phil!! Feeling for you. I like your plan to try as best you can and see what comes of it. I wore out "Sorry, I didn't get that," "I don't know much Japanese," and "How do you say ___ in Japanese?" almost as soon as I learned them in Japanese when I came here in '06. Phrases like those tend to come in handy quite a lot!

    And don't be afraid to open your mouth and sound stupid. Best way to learn. --Benno (or Benón, if you will, ha ha)

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