Sisters

I have a sister...she´s older and we´re not that close for various reasons. I have a brother also and we are close, although, we were only raised together for 6 short years. I am the youngest. So I have pretty much been alone all of my life. Recently, I have been spending a lot of time with my host family. I have three younger sisters and a little brother. My sisters call me Manita (sister) and say that I am their older sister. It makes me feel good and it makes me nervous. I am a role model for three young girls. I´ve never been a role model but I think I make a damn good one. Recently I took them to the Hermanos Yaipen concert (a Peruvian cumbia band) and we had a blast. I will spoil them till the day I have to leave Peru and that day their will exist an emptiness in my life that never would have existed otherwise. This makes me sad, but I will deal with that when the time comes.

Things have been so clear to me lately. Am I growing up, finally? Or is the hard knock life setting me straight. Whatever it is, I like it. Recently, I´ve been thinking about how Americans, as a culture have to analyze everything so much. When is it too soon, when is it too late? We second guess oursleves too much. The latine culture is the complete opposite. They just say how they feel all the time, even if it´s too soon, even if it´s harsh. I don´t agree with either culture completely but we have to be capable of finding a middle ground, right?

Looking up...

I presented my community diagnostic to my mayor, boss and some other folk today. I was ridiculously nervous and didn´t get any sleep last night. That being said....it went GREAT!!! Better than I could have ever hoped or imagined. My mayor agreed to support me on building a micro-landfill for the community which may not mean anything to those of you that are reading this but is a HUGE success for me. I am happy as a pig in shit. What this means is that I am doing my job and hopefully will see some results when my two years are up! I am happy...