Hey all! Hope the new year is bringing lots of fun and good times! I spent New years with my family, even though all of the other volunteers got together in Asia, Lima to celebrate on the beach and sleep in tents on the beach. That sounded like lots of fun. But I couldnt refuse my family when they said they were going to burn a doll of me, in my honor. Weird. Its actually a scare crow, filled with hay. We made it the day of new years eve, hung out and ate lo...

Oh sad time it is for peace corps volunteers! Christmas away from home, in a strange place with strange customs. I spent christmas with my host family here in Ica. Its a custom here in peru for the family to stay up until 12 am of the 25th of december, and then we put the baby jesus in its cradle onto the nativity scene, and eat a full meal at 1 am. We go to bed about 3 am. It was fun, but still nothing like the feeling of christmas at home. No snow, no tree...

oh sad day!! Last night, around 1 am, my host grandma died. We all woke up in the middle of the night, went to the city of Ica to collect her body, put it in a casket, and bring it back to her house in La <Venta. She had stomich cancer for 6 months before passing away. We spent the whole day today at her house, crying, looking at her dead body. It was a pretty heavy load. I dont understand why things keep dying here. In the last three months, I have prob...

Hey friends! Its another exciting day at the office! I still have no project, but I am working on it. Current volunteers tell me that one of the hardest thing about serving in the peace corps is finding out what the heck I am supposed to do here! Which is proving to be a bit difficult. But my socio (community partner) is back in town tomorrow, so I am going to talk with her on Monday. Because I am really ready to get projects started and get some work done! ...

Hey everyone,I hope things are well in the states. I am still onsite, and am still becoming accustomed to Ica. As I wrote before, my family has 5 puppies. Well, one died about half a week ago. My family says she died because she was eating dirt. But really, she died of starvation, since she was eating dirt because there is not enough food for them to eat. That was pretty hard to watch. But then, a few days ago, we noticed that none of the puppies were eati...