So My Journey Begins

Hey my family, friends, future Peace Corps Volunteers, and random people!

Welcome to my blog that I am finally publishing. I miss you all, but really can't say that I'm home sick yet. I have been in Peru since June 4th and it is incredible here, so I'm going to use this blog to keep you all updated. I already have a ton of pictures, letters and stories built up that I guess I should first catch ya'll up on, so I'll get started. Here goes nothing...

As I was wrapping up my Undergrad at good ol' TCU in December of 2009, I decided to apply to the Peace Corps. Actually I was talking to Maury in Doctor Thompson's marketing class when I figured out that I wanted to join the Peace Corps to be a Business Volunteer...and after that everything happened really fast. I had my interview in February where I was nominated to go to Latin America in June, and around mid March they told me I was leaving on June 4th to Peru as a Small Business Volunteer (6 months!). The Peace Corps has this crazy way of keeping you in the dark about pretty much everthing you're getting yourself into so these past 7 months have been really wild. For example: I still do not know were I am going to work as a volunteer for the next 2 years, and I've been here for nearly 2 months (maybe I'm an optimist, but it makes it way more exciting this way).

Until August 21st, and for the past two months, I will be in training in a town called Chaclacayo that is outsided of Lima, Peru. I live with a great peruvian family in a little community and I love it here. By the way, if your computer won't load the pictures of my community, just drive down Paisano in El Paso, look across the river into Juarez, and that should be pretty close. It is weird how similar it is, and I think I could stay here for ever. Right now I am usually in Spanish classes from about 8:15-noon, and then from about 1:30-5:00, I'm in Business or Peruvian culture classes.

After training I will be sent to a village somewhere in Peru (that I will find out on July 24th), where I will live for the next two years. I get to give a little bit of imput as to where I would like to live, but the final decision is up to the Small Business Coordinator, Alfredo...who, if you are reading this Alfredo, is really cool, my role model, wise beyond his years, really funny, and I assume excellent with the lady's. We'll see where I end up!

For my job, I'm going to live and work in a community with Small Business Consulting, Youth Entrepreneurship, and Community Economic Development. That all sounds pretty technical, so I promise to post some pictures and to give some real life descriptions later.

If you read that, sorry it was so long winded but I wanted to give you some sort of quick set up for what you are about to experience.