good lord

So in the past weeks many things have happened or not happened and then still needed to happen. I have felt that there are not enough hours in the day to fit everything I absolutely need to do in. It has been really hard not to exhaust myself though it is apparent in the pains that my body give me. The other week was literally the hardest week I think I have ever had in all my service. I was working behind myself because my project almost got stolen by some crazy doctor and then the funding paperwork got behind so I was receiving my materials at the exact time when trainings were starting. We trained the health profesionals and teachers about the causes, consequences, and prevention of malnutrition. The goal with them is that they can work as promoters where they work in getting all the community well informed and improving nutrition and hygiene practices in both their work spaces as well as the mothers of family. It was rather concerning how little the health professionals knew about malnutrition and preventative health. The same day that we had to deliver food to the small towns we received in large sacks and had to break down everything into smaller bags and weigh every one of them. The paperwork, the insistence. The not having the key to the office that was storing the food and not being to get things where they needed to be. The project is excellent in practice when we are working with the moms and a train wreck in between hopefully it gets better now that the funding nonsense has worked itself out. I am traveling to 4 smaller towns which adds an hour on to every day. I am running deparasiting campaigns. With cooking classes and teaching about hygiene. I am building cookstoves and setting up for a training for volunteers next week. I have felt fairly out of control and hoping to stay on point. I have lost weight and started streamlining coffee again. There will be 30 people in my site learning about cookstoves, latrines, gardens, and animal husbandry. It is officially approved that I can stay in my site though after these weeks of work my only reaction to the news was to cry at the thought of staying. And how I cannot keep up what I am doing and working at this rate for even the rest of this year without falling apart. I am learning how to delegate though it has resulted in people making errors that then have to be fixed and leaves me thinking it would just be better to do the things myself. But people have to learn and I do not have time to do everything anymore. I am so indecisve it is so annoying. spent some days resting though dancing with friends for hours on end helps the soul. well off to bed. hope all is well in your lives.

vacations go and life goes on

Well many things are happening right now in my life. As usual I know you people probably think that I am the poster child for the saying the only thing constant in life is change. So in these past weeks I am now in charge of a huge project and am a little short of time in my life to be doing 3.5 projects at the same time. But multitasking has always been a strength so just have to keep pushing. But lets go back to last week when my family showed up, so nice to have the chance to show my life off to my mom and sister. I think sometimes it is impossible to be able to describe accurately my day to day life. I know that I talk a lot about work and that is well because pretty much my whole life is work. However, it was great getting to show them around to the chakras or fields where I spend my little free time singing at the top of my lungs in English without fear that someone is watching or listening. Then we headed to my Sunday hangout the river to play with the fishes and they got a kick out of the mototaxis getting stuck trying to cross the river and laughed harder at all the bouncing and jiggling that is produced when riding in these mototaxis. They were amazed at the constant traffic jam of goats, cows, donkey’s with carts, or sheep. They instantly fell in love with Peruvian food and even more so with my host mothers’ cooking so good. After a very necessary shower because of being covered in sweat and dust, we headed to meet the boyfriend’s family. It was great showing them that I have such a solid and entertaining support system. For the most part the two people who usually have the biggest mouths my boyfriend and his mother had their tongues stolen apparently by the cat. After some private conversations the air seemed to be a little less heavy. And they all went to my dance recital that I had prepared. It was my favorite moment to see my sister and mom laughing at me shaking my bad thang. And checking out the all to short or revealing costumes. The next day I had a meeting with the mayor and my boss about the future. The general consensus was that I have done excellent work and my community would like me to keep working another year here. My boss then said that it was an option and seemingly necessary as there is still so much work to do in my site. I think she left overall very impressed with my achievements and so while it is not written in stone yet. There is a really strong chance that I am staying in my site next year to be able to do the second part of my nutrition project, develop some sort of youth development and pregnancy prevention techniques, and build the bridge of communication between the schools, the municipality, and the health center. Waiting for a phone call depending on the situation I will be in the states for Christmas however if I do not get my paid month of vacation I will not be able to come out to Colorado. Then we headed to the beach for a few days of what I describe as gluttony because it was great food, laying around, playing on the beach, sleeping in, and no schedules. I unfortunately stepped on some animal in the water the first day which left me with a bleeding and painful bottom of my foot. It was not a stingray so I did not die. Then we came back to the city to get ready for Desi’s departure headed to check out some of the famous artesian work. Lots of buying of pretty things. Then the best dinner I have had in so long. No just for the food or the environment but rather for the company and conversations, 3 hours and way too much food, drinks, laughter, and money spent I felt like maybe this had been the future all along. I am realizing that sometimes we focus so hard on one future that we forget to look up and see if something better is sitting right in front of our noses. On my last day with mom I showed her that you can also live the good life here too. Went to a museum, got facials, got lunch, got coffee, went shopping and surprisingly felt like any Saturday in the states. I am so grateful that they were able to come experience my life and see my Peru and not just partake in the touristy stuff. I think they understand much more the reality that I face both the challenges and the rewards of what I do. They now have met all the most important characters of my soap opera which we have lovingly named “Tropical Storm”. I believe that my mom feels much more comfortable with me living here knowing that my support system is incredibly strong and loving. I feel rejuvenated not so much from being on vacation but rather because their trip reminded me why I am here and how important what I am doing truly is. And while it is never going to be easy I know the best things in life are worth fighting for. Lots of love keep ya’ll posted I should get the answer of whether or not I am for sure staying or going.