Kicking off 2013

It´s time to keep this thing updated!


I would say it´s a New Years resolution, but really it didn´t make the list. It is just something I really want to do. The slacking off in the blogging department is probably because I feel like my life is no longer an exciting, electricity-less, tiny village in Peru fun filled story. But that doesn´t mean that life in Big, Bad, Lima isn´t constantly full of pleasant and unpleasant surprises!

But let us start at the beginning.

Happy New Year!! We are now in 2013, and according to my internet investigations of my yearly horoscope, it will be a good year for me. Last year was the year of the dragon, and I am a rabbit, so it felt like constant stress and struggle. I started the year 2012 with a breakup and my third ACL tear, and had a job that challenged me in ways that sometimes left me bitter and frustrated.

Things have already started out differently in 2013! I made the decision to stay in Lima Peru another year. It was not a decision made lightly, and included many factors including getting more work experience, improving my spanish, not being sure about what I wanted to go back to the states for (job? Grad school?) and my boyfriend of now almost a year. I stayed with Peace Corps as a 4th year extension, something virtually unheard of. I am developing a Peace Corps response position in environmental education here in Lima.

But backing up again, I went home for the holidays! It was a nice trip that I broke up with a lot of side trips to see friends and family. I flew to Kentucky to see my Grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins and family. We had a lovely, calm Christmas together. My Mom even brought my dog, Botas Blancas, to the airport to greet me! We got filmed the local news and ended up on the news that night because of my Christmas eve re-uniting with my puppy. It was cute. I managed to visit a very good Peace Corps friend of mine in Connecticut, as well as my sister and many friends in Toronto all during my time home. I loved my Mom´s home cooking, as usual, and flew back to Peru with a few extra holiday pounds just in time for Lima beach season!

So what did I resolve for new years? Well, as always I resolved to eat better and lose those holiday pounds as quickly as possible. That was not helped by my boyfriend bringing me cheese from his home town! Some of the most well known and delicious cheese in Peru. It is too good to refuse! But I also resolved to be more assertive, and to make some real decisions about what I want to do with my life. I´m 25, still young but going on ¨old¨-er. I want to come up with some direction, something I want to strive for. I already have my ideas bumping around in my head, I just need to organize them and stop putting off making tough decisions for my future.

Now back in Lima and in the middle of my second week at work, I am feeling good and motivated. I feel like the tension of starting a new position wearing off. I´m loving sunny days, hot weather, cold drinks and ice cubes. I cant shake the feeling that this is going to be a good year!

My next entry will come shortly and I have decided to make it about something called ¨Piropos¨ or cat calling, a favorite past-time of Peruvian men. It should make for an interesting read and will highlight the more negative aspects of latino city living.

After that, I´m hoping to keep this thing updated regularly, back to my 2010 blog entry levels!  I will probably focus on issues around Peru that interest me, as well as fun life andecdotes to spice it up. 

Abrazos!