My first day in Peru!

Its my first day in Peru and I have some free time, so this is a great time to write my first blog post and introduce you to my upcoming adventure here! I arrived last night and was very nicely met at the airport by Kendra, a woman who is in charge of running the activities and logistics for the house where all of the volunteers live here. As soon as we left the airport, I almost felt like I was back in Mexico because of the crazy traffic and little mototaxis buzzing around everywhere. I am going to be teaching English with an organization called Light and Leadership which is located in Huaycan, a poor city about 45 minutes outside of Lima. The organization has a house off the main street of the city where currently 10 volunteers live together (all woman, so it almost feels like Smith!) When I arrived in my room, a crazy rooster was crowing outside even though it was midnight! I have decided to name him Loco (which means crazy in Spanish). I have a very nice roommate from St. Louis and there are people here from Canada, England and the US! Everyone has been very welcoming and I am very excited to get to know everyone during my 4 months here. This morning I chatted in Spanish with our cook, Dina, who makes very delicious and healthy meals for us. It is very dusty and brown everywhere- we are located in a dessert and when you look out at the horizon, you see brick houses, cacti, dogs and water barrels- the only bright spots of color are people's laundry hanging on their roofs to dry. I went with Kendra to the food market today and the streets are lined with people selling all kinds of fruits, potatoes, meat, candy and random things like one woman was just selling little yellow rubber ducks. The entire time we walked around, I did not see another "Gringo" (American). Everyone was very friendly and one taxi driver blew us a kiss. Despite the poverty here, there are all kinds of things being sold on the street and elegant couches are displayed beside piles of rustic potatoes. It is definitely going to take time to get used to this world, although I feel like Mexico definitely prepared me and I don't feel an extreme feeling of culture shock. I don't know if I will ever get used to crossing the street though- no one ever stops for pedestrians! Tomorrow I will meet with Lara, the director of the program and find out more about what kind of English classes I will be teaching and where. I am excited to meet the kids and start teaching them even though I know its going to be a challenge and lots of work! Thanks everyone for reading my blog and I promise to post some photographs and more information soon!