525,600 Minutes

How do you measure a year?

In friendships? In bug bites? In kids taught? In new vocabulary? In centimeters? In kilos gained and lost?

525,600 minutes, how do you measure the difference you’ve caused?

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY PERU 13!!

Today (June 6th) marks the one year mark. I (along with my fellow Peru 13-ers) have officially been in Peru for a whole entire year. Do you miss me yet? Believe it or not, I can say that it flew by, AND despite the uncountable awkward moments, uneatable meals, and lonely Friday nights, I have had a great time. I have learned A LOT this year and have had the amazing opportunity to experience tons of new things. I know that I could have been better about keeping up with my blog so I’m going to give all of you faithful followers a little taste of what’s been going on in the past year here in my wildly exciting life.

New experiences – Year 1: (including but not limited to)

• Seeing and swimming in the Pacific ocean.
• Traveling to South America, Peru, or basically anywhere I’ve been since then. All new.
• Spending holidays – Thanksgiving, Christmas, my birthday (definitely a holiday) – away from home.
• Going to a concert in a language other than English.
• Having my butt grabbed while riding a bike. I don’t want to talk about it.
• Giving a speech in front of a mayor.
• Showing up an hour after the scheduled time for meetings.
• Bartending.
• Translating for non-Spanish speakers (aka Mom and Dad).
• Being constantly sick for 2 months. Don’t worry, I got over it. Not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing…
• Throwing rocks at dogs. Sad, but true.
• Downloading Latin music.
• Not cutting my hair for 9 months. Yikes.
• Feeling an earthquake.
• Celebrating my birthday during the summer (childhood dream come true, even though we didn’t go putt-putting or have a pool party).
• Learning Spanish!
• Living in a culture completely different than my own.

What I’ve learned (about myself and life) – Year 1:

• I am not a patient person.
• Invitations are really REALLY important.
• I am self motivated.
• I would rather be crazy busy than bored.
• Follow-up is the key to success in any activity.
• I REALLY value my personal space and alone time.
• 5 minutes of talking with someone on a personal level gains you more confidence with them than you can ever imagine.
• I like watching soccer.
• Don’t give a Peruvian your phone number unless you really want them to call.
• I am unfortunately not a gifted language learner.
• Keeping in touch with friends and family keeps me sane.
• Making plans to look forward to can help you get through the rough times.
• I never want to be a celebrity.
• I have a high tolerance for discomfort (18 hours on a canoe. That’s all I have to say.)
• The simplest things can make or break my day.
• Living in another country is COOL!

Of course, none of this would have been possible without the support of all of you. I luckily have amazing friends and family members who have taken the edge off of hard times by sending emails, cards, and packages. So there are definitely some people I want to thank for being there for me this year:

First, Mom and Dad! My first (and up to this point – only) visitors! For calling me all the time and sending like a million packages. Robyn, whose upcoming visit I am SO excited about. Kara, who sends me the necessities, makes my die laughing with her packages and cards, and spends unknown amounts of money calling me to make me feel normal. Maggie, for telling me that Michael Jackson died and calling me when Emmy had her baby! Cappie, for basically decorating my room. Aunt Karen and Uncle Roger, for constant emails and great books. Christina, Mezher, Dana, Emily, Meredith, Russ, Donna, Casey, Caroline, Andrew and Craig, for sending me all the cards that decorate my room and some pretty bad-ass packages. You all have no idea how much of a difference you have made for me. A little something from home is all it takes to make my day/week/month. Thank you. Thanks also to everyone who may have sent me things that for whatever reason I didn’t get, and also to anyone that I may have forgotten.

I also want to thank ALL OF YOU for the emails you send me all the time. Seriously, at the moment I know I have like 20 emails to answer when I go to the internet. Staying in touch and hearing about your lives is so exciting for me and keeps me grounded. You make me feel so loved! Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who still, after a whole year, reads my blogs. I also want to thank all the parents of my friends and friends of my parents who are constantly asking about how I am and are interested in what I’m doing. It means a lot that you’re thinking about me.

To the Peru 13ers… pues. I know that a select few of you read my blog (even after I have specifically told you that I don’t read yours). So SUPER GRACIAS because without you I would have gone back to the States to be unemployed a long time ago. You’re the best.

I want to thank everyone for one more thing. Thank you for understanding that I can’t always be there. One of the hardest parts of Peace Corps is being here in Peru when someone I care about is going through a difficult time. Or when something amazing happens that deserves to be celebrated. Thanks for cutting me slack, keeping me filled in, and tagging me in Facebook pictures even though I wasn’t there.

So, in summary, been here a year, lots of new things, thanks for everything, couldn’t have done it without you, be back soon.

525,600 minutes. 525,600 moments so dear…

And counting.