My Social Voluntary Year with kulturweit in Peru 2016/2017

Short video for you to get an impression of my social voluntary year

After my year abroad in Brazil, I decided very quickly that I wanted to go abroad again. This time I wanted to go to Asia. I chose kulturweit as an organization for a voluntary service because firstly it is financed by the Foreign Office (which I might want to work for later) and secondly, they offer social work on education (which I enjoy a lot). But since you can't choose the country at kulturweit, I ended up in Peru (in retrospect I am very grateful for that).

The preparation seminar started on the 1st of September 2016 at Werbellinsee near Berlin. We were 253 volunteers who would travel all over the world from Mongolia to Uganda to Mexico. For the next 10 days, we talked a lot about the topics of racism, colonialism, post-colonialism, and identity. Of course, I also got to know all the other volunteers. We had a great group and were often at the lake in the evenings. I also got to know the volunteers in my regional group (Peru and Bolivia) and made my first friendships. After the seminar, I went home for two days, and on the 12th of September, I flew from Berlin via Amsterdam to Lima together with 6 other volunteers. The 13-hour flight was incredibly exhausting. At the airport in Lima I was picked up by a taxi driver and drove for an hour at night on the Costa Verde (a big street next to the beach). I had such a magic moment looking out of the window and seeing the entire city being illuminated as I did in São Paulo 2.5 years ago - it was unbelievable.

I lived in 3 different apartments during the year. For the first month, I had booked a room with a Peruvian woman and her husband from Argentina on Airbnb. Both were super nice. They had two dogs and we got along really well. I got the suggestion about getting an Airbnb for the first two or four weeks and then looking for an apartment in the city from a volunteer who was in Lima 2 years before me. I would really recommend this for any kind of long stay experience abroad because it’s very difficult to find a suitable apartment from 11.000 km away especially since it has to be close to work or university and you can’t estimate distances very well on Google Maps (due to traffic). Although I thought the Airbnb I was staying in was great, I then moved into a shared apartment with people from all over the world for three months, as I had wanted from the start. Our house was closer to the school and there were 4 Mexicans, a French girl, a US-American, and eight Peruvians living together. It was a little dirty because of so many people, but that wasn’t a problem for me. In December I moved into a similar flatshare for the last seven months. This time it was in Miraflores, the most beautiful district in Lima (near the beach). I already knew this house from a few parties. Again, there were 15 people from different countries (Turkey, England, Spain, Argentina, France, Germany, Peru, Colombia, New Zealand, etc.). We only had one kitchen, but it was huge. We had so much fun!! Most of the friends I made in Lima were actually my roommates. We also had an amazing rooftop where we used to sit in the evening and talk or had great parties on the weekends.

Pictures: my roommates from Mexico and France from my second accomodation and my roommates from Peru, Turkey, Spain, England, Argentina and Colombia from my third accomodation

My job consisted of teaching German at the Instituto Pedagógico Nacional de Monterrico (IPNM). The school is located on the Panamericana - a huge highway that connects the United States and Chile across America. I was in Secondary school (grades 1 to 5, where the students were between 12 and 17 years old). Actually, there were two teachers assigned to teach German, but one of them only came back after six months because she had a short work experience in Germany. That meant that instead of helping, I had to give classes myself, which was really difficult at the beginning. I had to teach German, correct tests, and assign grades from the first day, and often write or read something on the blackboard. In the afternoon I was giving workshops. My first working group from September to November was to prepare the kids for the Goethe Institute A1, A2, and B1 exams. During the summer vacation, I also gave workshops in A1, A2, B1, and tutoring for 4 weeks in March. After that, I offered a workshop on German culture and continued giving workshops for the A2 exam.

In Peru, there are many events at school during the year. I find the so-called “dia del logro” (Day of Success) a very nice idea. On this day, which takes place four times a year, the students present what they have learned in each subject in the last few months to their parents. Another event is the "olimpiadas" in October when the different classes compete against each other in different sports. There is also an introduction ceremony with dances and even an “Olympic flame”. When the school year ends in December there are many events, like the handover of the flag from the elders who are leaving school to go to university to their successors. My favorite event is in July. It’s called "Dia del Maestro" (Teachers Day). On that day, teachers get presents from their students and there is a theater from the students for the teachers. This celebration is held to show respect to the teachers and I think this is so important because teachers are the ones educating the future generation. I really wish we would have a day like this in Germany.

Pictures: 1 Olimpiadas; 2 children performing Marinera (a traditional dance from the North of Peru); 3 flag handover at the end of the school year; 4&5 Dia del Maestro (Teachers Day)

In my free time, I was mostly at the gym. I also got a lot of new friends. Lima has an incredibly large and close ex-pat community for Erasmus students. Everyone knows everyone here. I often walked to the “Malecón” to enjoy the sunset over the Pacific. Parties are great in Lima. It's hilarious that every day there is a different club in the city hosting an amazing party. Here is our weekly party schedule:

• Wednesdays: Bizarro (later renamed Avalon)
• Thursdays: Help (later renamed Catalina) and la Casona
• Fridays: Gotica (now closed) or Antiqua
• Saturday: Frida (which was new at that time and my favorite one, but is unfortunately now closed due to an incident)

Pictures: 1&2 sunsets on the Malecón over the Pacific Ocean; 3&5 partying in Lima; 4 workout at the gym

I traveled a lot during the year especially because I had three months of summer vacation of which I only had to work one month. I was in Peru on the coast in Trujillo and Huanchaco, in the desert in Ica and Huacachina, on a glacier in Huaraz, at Machu Picchu, and in Cusco. I also spent four weeks in Chile with an AFS student I knew from Germany, three weeks in Brazil with my host families and friends, three weeks in Mexico with my boyfriend from that time, and one week each in Colombia and Ecuador.

Pictures: 1 Trujillo; 2 Huanchaco; 3&4 Huacachina; 5 Glaciar Pastorouri; 6 Laguna 69; 7 Huaraz; 8 Machu Picchu; 9 Rancagua, Chile; 10 Recife, Brazil; 11 Bogotá, Colombia; 12 Equator, Ecuador; 13 Cartagena, Colombia; 14 Mexico City, Mexico

About two weeks after school started in March 2017, I was sitting in my room in the evening and suddenly I heard rain. I thought to myself “This can't be possible, it never rains here!” In Lima, it rains very rarely and if it rains then it drizzles. Happy with the rain, I stepped onto our terrace and briefly enjoyed the rain (yeayyy first rain since I arrived here in September!). But the joy only resisted very briefly. The next day at school I heard that the water was turned off in some areas of the city. We didn't have water at school either. I figured that we definitely had to have water at home because I had still taken a shower in the morning. Sadly, the water wasn't available at home that evening either. The rain had triggered mudslides (so-called Huaycos) outside of Lima and especially in the north of the country near Trujillo. To keep the mud outside the drinking water, everything was paralyzed. Some houses had a water supply but our water supply was used up very quickly because we were 15 people. The water in the supermarkets was bought empty and in some cases, even Coca-Cola and beer were sold out. At this moment you start to realize all the things you need water for: toilet, shower, cooking, drinking, washing clothes. Nothing worked anymore, the city was completely paralyzed. Classes were canceled for the next few days. As we weren't able to flush in our house, we decided to only keep one of the five bathrooms open just to pee because everything else would not have been a good idea. Boris (my landlord) had an uncle who lived in a high-rise building that had a water tank. Some of us were always showering (and using the toilet there) there. Another strategy: sign up for a trial workout at the gym and then shower and use the toilet there. It was crazy!! Cooking was no longer possible, so we ate outside. Every day they said that the water would come back the next day, but it didn't. I couldn't even enjoy my forced vacation because I couldn't travel. The roads to the north and south were completely closed, you couldn't get out of Lima and you couldn't get into Lima. Instead, I spent my days watching TV shows. One night the water came back. We woke up the whole house and filled up bottles and buckets with water and carried them to the attic on the roof - that might have looked funny :D Imagine 15 people in pajamas making a water supply chain from the kitchen to the roof hahaha The next day the water was back. I was incredibly happy and grateful. I learned how important water is and that we have to use it sparingly.

Pictures: 1 Halloween Party in Lima; 2 classmates from Brazil; 3 with my boyfriend in Mexico; 4 New Year in Chile; 5 Nicky Jam concert in Lima with my friends

After 346 days in Lima, I had to say goodbye on the 23rd of August 2017. It was difficult, very difficult. I drove for the last time on the “Malecón” while leaving a whole life behind. After being at home for two days, I went to my return seminar near Berlin for the last 5 days of my voluntary year (from the 26th of August to the 31st of August). It was incredibly exciting to see all the people again who were volunteering all over the world and to hear about their experiences. In the evening I lay by the lake again and watched the sunset. It was strange to know that this is all over now, like a life, a book, a chapter that is closed.

I am incredibly grateful for this year in which I experienced, ate, talked, laughed, cried, argued, discovered, danced, sang, and drank a lot. I traveled through half of Latin America, met new people from all over the world, made friendships and saw old friends, learned something for life, taught German alone in front of 38 loud and raging children without losing patience, went on an apartment search for the first time, lived with people from 10 different countries and found a family in them, locked me out of the house and waited in the cold, got lost, found myself, got on the wrong bus 100 times, climbed a glacier at 5.200 m, experienced my first earthquake on the terrace of my house (it was short and not so strong but it sounded and felt as if the earth was rumbling), was robbed, thought several times on the bus over the Andes and the speeds of the drivers (!!!) that I would die, questioned myself and got two tattoos. I grew beyond myself, left my comfort zone, thought outside of the box, and found a new home 11.000 km away from my home.

I would like to thank everyone who supported me, who gave me this opportunity, and who stood by my side during this time. This includes

• my parents and siblings, my best friend Sophie, Antonia (who just did a volunteer service in Kazakhstan) for the love and daily support
• kulturweit, the team, and the trainers for their advice, their help and this great program
• my colleagues Susana, Ruby, and all other employees and colleagues at the IPNM for welcoming me warmly and helping me grow
• my boyfriend Raul for our time together in Peru and for showing me his beautiful country Mexico
• My roommates Mario, Memo, Luis, Karo, Garry, Alice, Mathilde, Greta, Lia, Boris, Claudio, Sanchia, Juanka, Angela, Angela, Fleur, Katoucha, Matthew, Sinem, Abraham
• My kulturweit friends: Sophia, Pia, Paul, Audrey, Anna, Antonia, Pauline
• My students especially my A2-Group: Ariana, Diana, Sebastian, Mary Cielo, Paola and everyone else
• other friends in Lima: Perrine, Floriane, Laura, Melina, Clara, Nico, Hady, etc.
• my friends in Chile and Brazil: Josefa and her family, Deborah and family, Leticia, my classmates from 2014, Divina and family, Thaysa, Sara and family, Camila

During my exchange year in Brazil, an AFS girl from Italy had a status on her WhatsApp: “viajar é crescer” which means “Traveling means growing”. I always have to think about this sentence because it is so true. I will miss my school, my colleagues, my students, my friends, my roommates, the food, the buses, the streets, the shops, the parks, the Malecón, the malls, the parties, the music, and much more.

I am grateful for everything that I was able to experience, and I travel home not only with 2 suitcases weighing 23 kg but with a head full of new ideas and memories.