My goings-on, as told through the three goals of Peace Corps

Well, I am back after a considerable blog absence. The absence was due, at least at first, to an incredibly boring lull in activity. A good amount of time was spent in my room, absorbing books, TV shows on DVD, and movies at an alarming rate. I tried to write an entry about two weeks ago about how bored I was, but then thought better of inflicting my boredom on my blog readership. But this brings up a good point: I’ve gotten a fair amount of comments from people about to join the Peace Corps, saying they read my blog to prepare for what’s coming, so let me note that I only write about the most interesting, say, 4% of my life. Just so you know. Peace Corps = lots of spare time. Get ready to have the time to learn a language or an instrument, get in shape, knit a lot of sweaters, or if you are like me, watch the same 22 episodes of “Arrested Development” over and over and talk to yourself a lot.

In summary of that really boring month or so, let me just say that I now consider myself conversation-ready on the following pop culture topics:
Seasons one through five of “The Sopranos,” “Dog Day Afternoon” specifically, Al Pacino’s hair generally, Thomas Friedman’s The World Is Flat, “Guess Who” (starring Ashton Kutcher and Bernie Mack), Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father: A story of race and inheritance, “The U.S. vs. John Lennon,” Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and why Adriana was the best Sopranos character ever.

And then salvation came in the form of Amy, a Volunteer in Ica. Amy successfully did the environmental certification project in her own community, and since traveling there was impossible for us following the earthquake, she visited Santo Domingo to lead the workshop that led members of the Municipal Environmental Commission through the steps of doing an environmental diagnostic, plan (20 years), and agenda (two years). Moreover, she kind of led me through what the next year and change of my service is going to be like with the task of setting up an effective, sustainable, and transparent environmental management system in Santo Domingo. It’s interesting to note that, since the community members will establish their own environmental priorities, I have no idea what projects I will actually be taking the first steps on in the next year. It could be reforestation, organic agriculture, preparing a trail map of the campo, setting up an interpretation center for all the archaeological artifacts sitting around in the schools’ libraries, improved wood-burning stoves, anything people see as a priority, really.
Somehow, with Amy’s visit, it’s sort of like time snapped, and suddenly I’m done counting months into service and thinking “will it never end,” and I’ve started thinking, “how can I possibly do all these things with the extremely limited time I have left?” I’m sure this won’t be the end of me having spare time, but probably the end of me not being able to think of a single productive thing I could do for days on end. I will be “helping the people of interested countries in meeting their needs for trained men and women,” indeed.

Right before Amy’s visit, there was a town party for the high school’s anniversary with a questionably famous live cumbia band. I gulped down organic coffee before leaving and beat my record for how late I’ve stayed at a Peruvian party. At exactly 3 a.m., I became a huayno rockstar. I heard some gossip afterwards (it actually reached another Volunteer’s site) that I am an excellent dancer. I wouldn’t be unhappy if, at the end of my service, the vast majority of the population cannot remember what I actually accomplished in my work, but they know for certain that I am a great dancer. (It would also be great if they did not remember the massive quantities of beer required before I show off my mad skills.) At least, I think that’s what’s meant by “to help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.”

And then, just five days ago, one Andrew Cornelius finally made his way up to Santo Domingo for three days. It was good to have him here, if somewhat anticlimactic. I think other people’s sites are hard to get excited about on any given day. “Look! Look! It’s that teenage couple that always makes out on the stoop outside my window, like I told you about!” is not exactly something to write home about. The mountains are also not at their prettiest right now; four months into the dry season, the dominant landscape is mostly dried fields with some scrubby trees separating one person’s field from another’s. It’s a far cry from the rainy season, when it seems incredible that the English language only has one word for the concept “green.”

But Andrew’s visit was good. We hiked, waded in a currently quite shallow river, made eggplant parmesan (quite a feat if you’ve seen my "kitchen"), watched some movies, and did the requisite introductions to the big players in SD. Mostly I think the value of visiting someone’s site is not in the visit itself, but in the frame of reference for every future conversation. It was pretty weird to be dating someone who had never seen the place where I spend, on average, 11 days of every 14.

It is probably time to stop putting off actual work with extensive blog entries. Unless you consider blog entries work. I think “to help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of all Americans” leaves that open.