Training came to an end with the swearing in of our group. The ambassador was there, and we all took the oath. It was a pretty cool day, but sad at the same time. We had all gotten to know Peru together, as a group, and now we were getting ready to head out and be volunteers. New sites, new families, but the biggest change is that we are all going out alone. Some of us will have other volunteers near us, but its still much different. Going from seeing everyone every day, to maybe once a week and in most cases, once a month with the people in your department. The people outside of your department, maybe after 3 months when we can start taking vacations. It was also very hard leaving behind the families in Santa Eulalia. My first Peruvian family, Mamita, was all I had known, and Santa Eulalia had become my home. A place I could relax and feel comfortable. Leaving, knowing that I wont be back for a long time was tough, but I was lucky to have the family I did, and this is all part of the process of being a volunteer. This is also a really exciting time because the job and the real challenge finally begins.
My first week in site was relatively unspectacular. To be honest, a lot of it was sitting around reading or watching movies, doing my best to make this place my home as quickly as possible. Settling in is always a tough part of the process. My family is great, my mother, Lucha, is a teacher but also makes her own Cafe Liquor, which is delicious. She has a daughter who studies in the capitol city, and Esthela who works in the house. Esthela has a 1 year old, Margot, who gives me a big smile and wave most days when I walk in. Its a nice greeting to come into.
My town San Miguel de El Faique is small, about 2000 people, with 10,000 in the surrounding district. All the people seem really nice and give me a hello and a wave when I'm walking around. Of course this is after staring at me from the shock of seeing a 2 meter tall, white guy walking around their town. I think I will have a lot of work opportunities here, and I am excited to get started and see the possibilities. The language in site is a bit harder to deal with, because I am the only English speaker in my town. Sink or swim seems to be the general rule, so hopefully my language level will increase quickly, at least to where I have a good idea of what's being said to me.
I have had some interesting moments in site already. A few mornings ago I was awoken to the sound of a chicken. This is really no surprise because most people have chickens roaming around, our neighbors have 4 roosters which they tie up in front of the house on the sidewalk each day. But this morning the chicken's clucks seemed to be coming from the wrong direction. I hear some scrambling so I walk out to see a chicken running around the house, and my host mother chasing it, trying to get it out. The chicken left after minimal damage; a broken bottle, the peace of the house, and my sleep, but those are all minor inconveniences. The price of fresh food, one might say. A few days later, I was outside on the phone with Teddy, chatting it up like a lonely volunteer is prone to do, when out of the corner of my eye I see something crawling on the sidewalk. I take a closer look and its a tarantula, about the size of my hand, give or take. I go inside to take a picture, since I've decided to tag all pictures of tarantulas I take as Thomas. My host mom sees me and comes out to look at it, laughs and says "I hope it doesnt try to get in the house." I laugh at this too, pretty unlikely I would say. So I head into my room to read, I am reading Infinite Jest at the moment, when I hear a scream from the living room. I run out and the tarantula is cruising about the living room. Lucha calmly looks at the hand sized spider making a visit, walks to the back and picks up a board, comes in a squashes it. Squashes it as if this is nothing out of the usual, and to be honest, I dont think it is. 
Dude check out the documentary "King of Kong." It's epic.
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