I arrived here in Peru in September 2024 and spent three months in Lima training for my new role as a health volunteer. When I got here, I spoke very little Spanish and I was definitely nervous about living in a foreign country where I couldn't speak the language. The first three months of my assignment was spent in a training program, filled with technical classes and a lot of Spanish learning. I left the training in December, successfully able to hold a basic conversation in Spanish.
I arrived at my job site in December extremely eager but nervous. I live in a pueblito (little town) that's about four blocks long where everyone knows everyone. It is about 12,000 feet up in the Andes mountains and surrounded by chacras (fields). I wake up every morning to the sounds of birds, donkeys and sheep. I moved in with a host family who has been my rock throughout the past three months on site. My host parents help me with everything I need and I love my host sister who is about to turn three. I have spent the past few months here at site learning so many new things about the culture, the food, the people, and most of all the language. When I first arrived here I could barely say more than "hello" in Spanish; now, six months later, I am leading meetings with the entire school staff, teaching adolescent health classes and participating in activities with new moms at the health post. I can't believe how far I've come in such a short time.
