A Year of Yes: From Hollywood to Chocta

Back in September a fellow PCV in Peru wrote a really great blog about the importance of saying yes during our service. Here’s a link to that blog: read it! http://humandenominator.com/the-power-of-yes/, And as I was browsing books on my Kindle the other month, I saw one titled “A Year of Yes” with great reviews so I bought it and just finished reading it! It’s a really great book, very funny, light and yet thought provoking. Ya’ll you should read it too! It is written by the brilliant, hilarious, famous TV writer, Shonda Rhimes. She wrote Greys Anatomy and is writing Scandal now. It’s about her deciding to change her life after finding herself antisocial, overweight and unhappy. She decides to say yes to everything that is asked of her for an entire year.

Initially I wasn’t sure how this book would relate to me and my life at this point because Shonda writes about saying yes to making a speech at Dartmouth College, attending big fancy dinners for powerful women in entertainment, speaking on Jimmy Kimmel. She’s a women who through her TV shows breaks down racial and other minority’s barriers. She’s a mom. That doesn’t sound very similar to the life of a recent college grad who’s volunteering two years in an 800 person village in norther Peru picking potatoes and giving health education in broken Spanish. But it turns out, besides me laughing out loud loads of time, I found myself relating to a lot of what she writes and being able to use and apply some of the ideas in there.

Pretty much every chapter is themed in something she is now saying yes to. For example, yes to the whole truth, yes to her body, yes to people, yes to difficult conversations, and yes to “dancing it out” (which is what her favorite character, Christina Yang, and Meredith Grey do in Grey’s Anatomy if anyone out there catches that). I’m going to write reflections on my favorite chapters.

Yes to the question “wanna play?” Shonda wrote this about saying yes to her kids when they asked that to make sure she was always making time for them. Obvi don’t have kids. (Although you all wouldn’t know for sure, seeing as I’ve been gone almost long enough to have had 2 secret pregnancies! Hehe weird joke, sorry). But she talks about saying yes to 15 minutes of uninterrupted play time. Which could be indulging in some personal pampering time, reading a book, painting, all without being distracted or on your cell phone. For me it’s a trip to Chachapoyas to eat a pizza or have a drink with another English speaking American. It’s about loving yourself enough to give you that “me time” and not feeling guilty about it. Cause we work, we live better when we’re happier and we’re happier when we play.

Yes to Compliments. Shonda decided to accept compliments with a “Thank you” instead of an “oh no, really I’m not all that.” She talked about how negating someone’s compliment is like telling them they’re wrong, wasted their time, and in fact it’s insulting them. And you don’t appear cocky like some may think, but confident, and confident people are attractive. We are all great. I’m great. Sometimes I feel guilty about my successes and opportunities. Getting into a great college while others didn’t. Being a Peace Corps Volunteer while others can’t. But the thing is, I work hard. Those things aren’t given to one without cost. So when someone says I’m so amazing for doing when I’m doing, I’m gonna appreciate it without feeling guilty, but feeling proud and thankful that someone reached out and showed me that kindness. And vice a versa. We should compliment more. How often do we think something nice about someone, like his hair looks nice, or she gave a really good presentation. We shouldn’t be afraid to tell them so. A compliment makes people feel good. Do it. Whoever is reading this back home, you are amazing and caring and important to me because you are thinking of me when I’m not there. And don’t insult me by saying you aren’t all that great, because, really, you are.

Saying yes to no. This was an interesting chapter. What came out of it more was saying yes to yourself. Saying yes to me. Growing up, I remember my mom telling me, after finding out I agreed to something I didn’t want to do, “you’re too nice, you need to learn to say no.” She was absolutely right. No is not only extremely power, it is extremely important. If you’re offered drugs say yes to you and no to the joint. If a stranger comes up to you in a white van and offers candy, say yes to you and not to the creeper. If you’ve been drinking and are begged by friends to drive them home, say yes to you and no to your phony friends. If you are a truly self-aware person, you can make those decisions with ease. I may not have been self-aware or very self-confident as a teenager. But all this time out here being alone with myself and my thoughts sure makes me both of those things!

Yes to more year of yes. Shonda says although her year is up, she felt so good that she won’t go back to how she was before, in fact she can’t. No is no longer in her vocabulary. This is true for Peace Corps Service. After being so open minded to trying new things as we do daily for two years, and seeing the immense benefits, how can a person leave their service and not be like that forever? We are changing and will be changed for the long haul. We have become people who can overcome obstacles and defeat after defeat, people who understand that we can’t understand others if we don’t understand where they came from, people who want the world to be more connected, people who say yes.

Teaching English as a Community Health Volunteer, as a Nurse

Even though it’s always highly requested from our communities, a lot of volunteers avoid teaching English as a secondary project because it’s easy to get trapped into teaching a lot more than planned on, because it’s something that everyone wants to learn and wants you to teach them. I also thought I would avoid getting sucked into it, but upon arriving here last year I did Summer school English classes because it was an easy theme with where my level of Spanish was at, and the principle of the school really wanted it for the kids. And it was an awesome experience, it tremendously helped my Spanish skills, taught me about maintaining a classroom, making lesson plans, and allowed me to get to know the community. So because I enjoyed it and was begged to keep teaching once school started, I did. Every Monday during this last school year I had my English class in the elementary school. Whenever I had time I made my way to the high school to help their English teacher (who speaks maybe 2 words with terrible pronunciation) with his classes. But because that was the first thing I did, and something I continued doing, everyone in town immediately pegged me for the English teacher. Even after explanations of my main work during town meetings, after constantly correcting people when they introduce me as “profesora”, after explaining my background over and over again, after people seeing me work with the health post, and after participating in my health educational sessions, people still think I’m just the English teacher. It’s something I’ve corrected the whole year I’ve been here and I’m sure I will have to continue in the year ahead. Because on top of my health promotion, I do teach English. So I can see why people resort to saying I’m the English teacher when asked by outsiders what a gringa is doing in Chocta. It’s easiest for them to cognize and simplest to explain. If I’m not in the health post doing check-ups and giving vaccines, how can I be a nurse, right?

And as a nurse, with a bachelor’s degree in nursing science from a really great university, with 100s of hours of clinical experience, it was sometimes hard to swallow that everyone saw me as an English teacher.  I’m proud to say I’m a nurse and want to be recognized as such. So at first, I kind of regretted teaching so much English. As my service goes on, however, I realize the value in teaching English more and more.

Peace Corps has three goals: 1. Bring technical assistance to host countries to promote sustainable social and economic development and human capacity, 2. Promote friendship and understanding of the US culture to the host country, and 3. Bring an understanding of the host country’s culture to the people of United States. One goal focuses on the technical assistance we bring, and two of the three goals are cultural exchange. People here want to learn about the United States, they want to learn about me, they want to learn about my language. And when I tell them about my country, my hometown, my family, they are intrigued and leave a little more worldly, a little more aware, with their minds a little more open. And when I spend time with their kids teaching English and the kids show off at home naming their foods and greeting their grandma in a language she never had the opportunity to be exposed to, they are proud that their child is being cultured  and hopeful for their future with this admirable skill. And when people from out of town are told I’m here to teach English and thank me with complete sincerity for coming all this way to use my time and skills to make a difference in the lives of children, I don’t bother correct them and say I’m actually here for a different reason and English is just a side job.

 I hope babies will grow taller and teenagers will practice safe sex because of the technical assistance I’ve brought. I also hope this random, wonderful village in the mountains of northern Peru will have a better understanding of the people from the United States because of the knowledge I’ve shared with them and friendship I’ve shown them.

me with some students at the end of the year:))