The Hardest Part...Adjusting to a new culture

After living almost a year in Peru I often reflect on my experience here and how I have changed. One thing I know of for sure is that my English has gone down hill. I find it hard to write and of course I forgotten a lot of vocabulary that I once knew. On the other hand, my Spanish has improved to the point where I can say just about anything I want plus I can understand when people talk to me given they speak Spanish well and don´t use a lot of slang (Jerga).

I remember when I first arrived to Peru that everything was exciting and new. Peace Corps volunteers often talked about how lucky we were to be in such a cool country and not some other country. I remember the day we left training to go visit our future sites and meet our new Peruvian families that were assigned to us. It was a very exciting time but also very scary for me because I had grown very close to my host family in training and had got accostomed to the simple life in the small town where I lived. I would now start my Peace Corps service in the big city 14 hours away with a new family.

Well now I am here with almost a year behind me. I can´t imagine going home in a year. I am not ready yet but think I will be in a year or so. It will be hard to adjust to the new life in the states after adjusting to a completely different culture.

Coming from an individualistic culture I was use to having my independence at an early age. In Peru, and other Latin American countries the cultures are collectivist and the people shun independence. I think that is the hardest part about my Peace Corps experience. I struggle with maintaining my personal space, my independence, and privacy daily.

In Peru the idea of personal space doesn´t exist. The idea of walking to the corner store alone is definately odd. Most people like for someone to accompany them wherever they go. The other thing I struggle with is the gossip. I live in a city of 350,000 but that isn´t big enough be anonymous. I hear from friends around town what I did weeks ago and it could be things as simple as I saw you go to the store the other day and you bought some apples. ¨Who cares what I do, especially when I go to the store! Don´t you have better things to be concearned about!¨ Believe me it gets very annoying to have talk about you.

I know Peruvian´s see me differently. I walk down the street and people look at me like I am an alien. Though at first I was really bothered by the stares and whistles I am now use to it and prefer it. I feel like I am a B rated movie star (famous but not famous enough to have mobs of people take my picture). I know when I get back to the states I won´t get attention like that. I think that will be hard. After adjusting to the collectivist lifestyle and how challenging it is being for me I imagine that adjusting back to the individualistic lifestyle in the states will be challenging as well. I know the things I complain about now I will probably miss when I go home.