Real. Strong. Women.

Interesting foods I have tried:

-Alligator: tastes like fishy chicken!

-Fried cheese, as in cheese in a frying pan with bread and jelly

-Turron: A dessert only found in October made of honey bread, honey, and sprinkles (delicious)

Real. Strong. Women. This was the motto I lived by in college. It was the motto of my sorority, Alpha Chi Omega, and something that I really tried to identify with. Back then being a real, strong, woman meant giving 100% to school, golf, and friends. It meant doing the right thing, giving back to the community, and creating opportunities for my future. After being in Peru for two months now, I have seen many different, but equally important definitions. One of the most powerful images I have seen is the women who carry a baby on their backs, a sack of potatoes in one hand, and hold the hand of their other child as they walk down the street. I can barely walk down the street with a sack of potatoes, let alone with two children. But that is what she needs to do in order to provide for her family, so she does it. To me, that’s a real, strong, woman.

My days at work have become incredibly busy! Which of course is a good thing for me. I am designing and preparing Christmas cards so that they girls on Saturdays can put them together. We then sell the cards so that the girls learn how to work hard and earn money. It’s a fun project for me that definitely challenges my creative abilities. My desk is constantly covered with paper trees and ornaments, and my fingers always have glue on them. But I get to listen to music or talk with the girls in the office while I make them, so I enjoy the challenge.

The other main project I have taken on is teaching the young girl who comes to our office three days a week, to read. She was working with Carol, a teacher from Brazil, but when Carol returned to Brazil, they asked if I would help her. Yep, that’s right, me the one who is still learning Spanish and has no teaching experience whatsoever, is teaching a young girl to read. However, it has been a really good experience so far! Luckily she is far enough along that she can read syllables, so we slowly read stories and poems. She also draws pictures for me, and writes a few words every lesson. Carol told me that progress would be slow, but poco a poco is the theme of my life here, so that is nothing new to me. The great thing about teaching is that I am learning more Spanish words and how to pronounce them correctly. What a good learning experience for us both!

As I work on all of these projects and continue to learn more about the Peruvian culture and the language, I sometimes feel like the woman I described earlier. I feel as if I am carrying too much, I am being challenged to the max, and I’m learning skills that I didn’t know I had. At the end of the day I am exhausted, but I am also extremely happy. Though sometimes is feels hard to do, I know I am doing something important. I am helping, growing, and learning. I am also creating a new definition of a real, strong, woman, for myself, while appreciating all the examples of a real, strong, woman that they women here give me daily.  

 "Greatness lies, not in being strong, but in the right using of strength; 
 and strength is not used rightly when it serves only to
 carry a man above his fellows for his own solitary glory. 
 He is the greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own." - Henry Ward Beecher

                                          Christmas Cards!