Ventimiglia Visits Ventanilla

Try saying that three times fast.  This past weekend I went to the beach in the nearby city of Ventanilla with my host family and some of their extended family.  Going to the beach was fun, but unfortunately I got sunburn, which never makes things fun.  Apparently the sun in Peru just doesn’t like light-skinned Americans, because everyone else who went to the beach with me did just fine with little or no sunblock.

It’s hard to believe that the end of January is almost here.  The summer in Peru continues to be hot and humid, and I’m told that it will probably be hotter in February, which I guess is no consolation for those of you experiencing the cold and snow of winter in the Midwest!

Thoughts of the Day

It’s been a little over a week since I arrived in Peru, and I am more-or-less readjusted to life here in Callao. The family continues to treat me well as always. My work at the school is also going very well. In addition to technical support work, I am starting to work on a project to develop a computerized system that will allow the school to better maintain the information it has about its students. The project will certainly be a big challenge for me, but hopefully it will produce a usable product for the school.

Some other random thoughts:

• The weather in Callao continues to be sunny and hot with highs in the upper 70s everyday.  That might sound like ideal weather, but the humidity remains around 70% all day, every day, which makes it even hotter and usually more unpleasant.  And no, there is no air conditioning.
• Living in summer-like weather during January is just plain weird.
• My host family bought a turkey last week to eat for dinner.  At the time I thought this would be a nice change from the steady diet of chicken.  Little did I know that I would be eating turkey for lunch, dinner, and yes, even breakfast, for the next four days.  There might have been one or two meals that didn’t include turkey during that time, but all I can remember eating is turkey.
• Time for a really random thought:  The printer and copier paper that people use here is not the standard 8.5″ x 11″ size that we use in the U.S.  Their paper is not quite as wide and about an inch longer.  It’s just one of those things that I’ve always found strange and slightly awkward for some reason.
• FYI for those of you who travel outside the country:  It is possible to use Skype to make free telephone calls to toll-free numbers in the U.S.  Oh, the things that you learn while traveling abroad.

Until next time, ciao!

I’m Back in Peru!

As you probably guessed from the title, I have in fact returned to Callao, Peru. I graduated from the University of Dayton this past December and decided to serve as a volunteer for a little while following my graduation. That decision eventually led me back to Peru and the Instituto Chaminade Marianistas. I will again be working at the school and helping out in the area of technical support. I will also be working on some larger projects along the way, which should keep me very busy. I will be in Peru until the start of August, about 7 months total, which should be very interesting since I’ve never been away from my family or outside the United States for that length of time.

I am again living with the same host family that I lived with during my ETHOS trip in the summer of 2008, which has made the transition to life in Peru much easier. So far, things have been going well. Today was my first day back working in the school, so we are in the process of deciding what tasks I will be working on while I am here. The biggest change for me has been the weather. Since Peru is located south of the equator, it is currently summer here. It was quite a change going from 20-degree temperatures and snow to 70-degree temperatures and high humidity, but I can’t say that I miss the cold!

I hope to update this blog more often than I did last summer. I’ll try to keep the posts fairly short since I usually don’t have a lot of time to just sit down and type. I updated the photo gallery with pictures from my trip to Peru last summer. I’ll be sure to post new pictures occasionally. That’s all for now. Ciao!