New beginnings!

Buenas noches from Peru! I have arrived to Trujillo, my home for the next two months, and am all settled in and ready to start work tomorrow morning!
I landed in Lima last Saturday and was automatically reunited with one of the main people on staff (whom I love!) as soon as I left the baggage claim. From there, I spent the next two days helping pick up the other volunteers for VivePeru and getting to know them as we explored the city a little bit. We stumbled upon a ceremony in honor of the Eucharist in the main plaza downtown, which was really cool to see! I really love how much the Catholic faith is integrated into Peruvian culture. It is so important to them, which I can totally relate to! I have also gotten into running this past year and met a running partner from my program in Lima, so she and I were able to run along the Pacific coast twice the two days we were there! It reminded me a lot of my runs I love doing to Lake Michigan in Chicago, but it was so much cooler!! It will also help prepare me for the 5K I signed up to run in a nearby city, Pacasmayo next weekend. :)
After spending a couple of days in Peru's capital city, we bussed overnight to Trujillo. All I can say is Peruvians know how to travel- their busses are very comfortable! The seats can lean almost all the way flat, and each passenger is provided with a blanket, a pillow, cookies, juice, and tea!! Amazing! So after that comfortable bus ride that we all slept through, I was reunited with my host family once again and went back to bed for a few hours. It is so nice to return to a place that I haven't been to for a while because it reminds me of what has changed and what has not. It is crazy to think that an entire year has passed, that I am now about to turn 21 and enter my senior year of college. And yet being back in this house, seeing my old room- it makes it feel like nothing has changed. And sometimes, when a lot of change has happened in one year and more change is to come, that is a huge comfort!
Since my arrival here, I have been able to revisit some familiar parts of Trujillo. I remembered how to walk to the VivePeru office (which is about half a mile away) my first time back, which for me is a huge accomplishment! I have also revisited all the amazing souvenir shops downtown and have already begun my shopping...oh dear! Save us all. :P
I spent the end of my week learning more about my role as a coordinator with VivePeru and with helping the volunteers travel to and from their worksites. Something that will be a very interesting and educational experience for me is that a big part of my job is to visit all the hospitals my volunteers are working in to check in and see how things are going. There are 9 in Trujillo that I will be visiting throughout the week, so I will be able to see many different clinics and hospitals! I'm excited to learn more about the medical profession and maybe even see something cool!
Another main part of my job is to build relationships with everyone I'm working with and be their go-to person if they have any problems or need help with something. I am really excited about that part because I love getting to know everyone and being the one who can help them. Just as it was last year, I feel that each person here is so unique and interesting. The groups that volunteer with this organization always seem so positive, helpful, and wonderful to be around. I have actually discovered that there are some fellow Christians in the group too, which is always encouraging because I get to talk to people with whom I already have a strong connection right away. But I am really enjoying getting to know every person, and I feel that each one has something special to offer Peru. I'm excited to see what happens the next month with them and then with other new volunteers the month after!!
This weekend was very relaxing, as I napped and watched movies and spent time at Huanchaco, the nearby beach town. I also attended a Presbyterian church with friends of friends this morning, which was wonderful! Did I understand half of what was said? NOPE. But I definitely got the gist of it haha. It really helps that I am familiar with the way Presbyterian services go and with the Bible in general, but I never realized how quickly people say the Lord's Prayer until I tried doing it in a language I am not fluent in...goodness gracious! I think God would enjoy it just as much if we slowed it down a little!!!! I am really excited because I am going to try to get involved in a small group with the church, and I would love that fellowship! But funny story (but not really)...I got totally lost on the way to church this morning. I always do this! My friends with whom I went to church had told me where the church was, and I was pretty sure I knew where they were talking about. However, I am pretty directionally-challenged (I seriously think a part of my brain is missing...), so I decided to look it up on Google Maps. Well, I guess Trujillo isn't as well mapped on Google because it directed me to a completely different part of town than where I was expecting. So instead of walking 5 minutes to the place that I was already familiar with, I ignored my gut instinct and followed the directions from Google and ended up walking thirty minutes away from where I should have been in a...not-so-great part of town. I wandered around there and found the street the church should have been on, but of course it wasn't there! So here I am, all dressed up for church and looking the whitest a gringo could, also looking obviously lost. It seemed like there were groups of men standing outside, looking at me on every corner, and I just got super freaked out and avoided them at all costs. I eventually called my friend and ended up taking a taxi back to the place I had instinctively thought to go. Classic Ruth. But I made it and was only three minutes late to the service! Boom. I am very thankful that God protected me, though, because I know that could have been a bad situation.
Besides that eventful morning, I was able to see my friends surf this afternoon and enjoy the beautiful weather! It has been pretty warm here- around the 70's, which is my favorite temperature! It is strange how cold it gets in the morning and night and then how hot it is during the day. So bipolar!
We begin our first official work week tomorrow, so I am excited to take up more coordinator duties. And so begins the crazy, clumsy adventures of Ruth Hogle in Peru, take two!!!