Today was definitely one of the most frustrating days that I have had as a peace corps volunteer. It started off great, because for one, my bed was delivered yesterday so I slept last night with my new nice big mattress. Plus, this morning I also used the wonderful solar shower that my parents sent me, which was amazing and totally beats the bucket baths that I had been taken. But most importantly today started off great because I went to the school, which I had been hesitant about doing because I am so insecure about my Spanish. Well I sucked it up and went this morning because I had to submit a request to teach summer school and I was asking the school for a classroom to do it in. Well when I went, the kids first showed me the pictures outside of the classroom from my bienvenidos, I didn’t know that was there, then I was welcomed into the office by the director who remembered my name, and I was able to joke with him about the horrible spelling of his name on a letter from the Peace Corp office and then I gave him my request. He approved it, and then introduced me to the man that I will get the key from when it comes time to start the summer school. So I felt like it had all been such a success and I was so excited.
Well afterwards I went to the plaza to check for cell phone signal so I could send a text. I was approached by this guy while I was sitting there and at first the conversation was innocent, he just asked about my job and the kind of work I’ll be doing. Then he asked me about some of the differences between here and the US and then he got to asking me about a boyfriend……. Since I have told people here that I do have a boyfriend to keep away from any set ups or other questions, I have chosen to lie just to make my life simpler…or so I thought. Well this man begins to tell me about another American he knew that had a boyfriend in the US as well as one in Peru. As he is telling me this he begins crouching out of site from other people and is getting quieter. During this, I am doing my best to hang onto to words from the conversation so that I can understand what he is saying. Well then he precedes to ask me “hypothetically” if I would do the same, have a boyfriend in the Us and one in Peru. I looked at him and told him no. And then he seemed very confused because as he said “Aren’t all Americans equal”….I VERY firmly flipped that and asked if he is equal to all the other people in my town. Then I just preceded telling him that it was a horrible idea and I love my boyfriend very much and that sort of thing is just wrong. He honestly didn’t seem to get the point, and he sat down very close to me and asked if at night I’d like to teach him English. I told him that I will only be teaching English to the children, and he kept persisting that I could teach him English at night. Then, he continued to ask me to go to the bar another night and have dinner with him. I told him that I only eat with my host family and that I would not. Finally, I got smart and asked him to write down his name because I couldn’t remember it, so he did in my notebook, after asking me if it was a ugly name or not and telling me that I was the angel of Chipillico. So I decided to get the hell out of there and raced home. I was almost in tears. For some reason this conversation bothered me tremendously. I think mostly because this guy believed that all Americans are equal and we will just sleep with whoever, and that he had such nerve to ask me such ignorant questions. I was so frustrated because mostly I’ve only been approached by wonderful and nice people and that was so bothersome.
Well when I got home, I pulled out that notebook and showed his name to my host family and told them the kinds of questions he was asking me and how he made me uncomfortable. My host Mom snapped really fast and told me that that guy is not right, he is crazy! And my host sister said next time don’t talk to him and stay away from him. Oh my gosh, I am so thankful for them!!! Later on a walk my youngest sister showed me where he lives and said the same thing about him just not being all there.
I wish that I wouldn’t let something like that ruin my day, but I think I have become complacent in the past few weeks and having something like that happen reminds me that I need to remember where I am at, and as much as we have stereotypes about certain groups of people, other groups of people have stereotypes about us, and I may continue to be asked uncomfortable questions at times. I was proud when I was able to snap at him and tell him about people being equal, and hopefully with more time my Spanish will become awesome and I can tell him more about what I think of him!!!
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