Site Assignment

Drum roll please..... She is going to Ica!!!!
Yup, you heard it here, I will be living in a small town in the province of Chincha, in the district of Ica Peru for the next two years. What a relief it was to finally see where I will be focusing all my hard work for the foreseeable future. I found out that my town was devastated by the earthquake that struck Peru in 2007, and the community is still recovering. So the town is "not that pretty" as I was told by the volunteer who visited my site the day before. But I don't mind that one bit!
I will be the first volunteer in the province of Chincha since before 2002 (maybe the first ever?). And for this I am EXCITED. I also found out that the house I will be living in is (unusually) large and nice for the area. The same volunteer also told me that I would "love my house". For this I am RELIEVED. However, I am trying to bajar (lower) my expectations until site visit.
I will be going to Chincha for 5 days on Monday! I cannot wait. Although I am a little afraid because I don't know how prepared they are for me. Will I be sitting around twiddling my fingers for 5 days, or will someone take me under their wing and show me whats happening in Chincha? As we like to say in Peace Corps "vamos a ver..." (we'll see...)
The only other info I have for now is that I might be working with a group of artisans, a secondary school, and some sort of small agribusiness project. Rather than pretend like I know what any of that entails I will save the details for another blog, when I actually know what to say.
As for other news, I have been battling a series of cough, runny nose, and a massive cold sore on my mouth for the past week and a half. Lets just say I have seen better days... Thankfully the other trainees were able to look past my rough appearance and still treat me like I was not a freak. Only a few jokes were told (to my face at least). The faces you get from people when they feel sorry for you are pretty hilarious. What is even more entertaining are the looks I get from the locals because every time I cough they get a look of utter fear on their faces. What is going through their mind? Oh let me tell you, "That gringa is about to give me the gripe!!!" Or in plain english, "that American girl is about to give me H1N1!!!". For some reason Peruvians are convinced that all of us gringos are contaminated with H1N1 and we are bringing it into their country. Crazy thoughts.
I am still recovering, but feeling (and looking) much better. They say that the sicker you are during training the better. This is because your body acclimates itself to the new germs and by the time I go to site I will be like a rock! Or so I hope. Hey that reminds me, if anyone wants to send a care package, multivitamins are on the top of the list for me, because apparently Peace Corps Peru doesn't supply them to the volunteers. Ahhemmm.....
Anyways, everything else is going well. I have a few more blogs I am working on right now, hopefully will post them in the coming week. Sorry no pics this time. If there are any topics you would like to know more about please let me know. Sometimes I think I overlook things that people back home would be interested in knowing about. Hope all is well back in the states. Tell America I said Hola!!!