20 students and three chaperones have headed to Peru during Thanksgiving Break to learn about the culture and work on service projects in some of the communities. Throughout the trip we will hear from students as they share about their experiences abroad.
Today's update is from sophomore Corrine Lian:
The morning started with more work on the garden for the girls’ dorm. The work was really tough but memorable for me. The sun here is really hot and strong. This is undoubtedly hard for students that almost never do this type of work in a garden. I try my best to help them feel better about it and get a little bit use to the environment. However, the second day is still a challenge for all of us. Fortunately, the lunch is really “delicioso”.
In the afternoon, the work was much easier because of the cool breeze and cloudy skies. We worked together to remove the grass and sand the logs for the garden fence. It is really hard to remove the grass as their roots are twisted and crisscrossed, but we conquered that problem as we worked together. Sanding the log is the work that I have never done before. We needed to sand the logs to make them smoother. The best part was that we all danced together with music as we completed the work to encourage ourselves and have fun.
This is the last day that we will do this service work. To celebrate, we had dinner with the local students and our guides. The food was perfect! After that, we had a time to talk with the students and say goodbye with hugs. They are really sweet. Everyone hugged us and said something either in Spanish or Quechua, the native language of the people. We used three languages (Spanish, English, and Chinese) to show our appreciation and respect for the students.
This trip is not only about helping the girls at the dorm but it is also a time to try to understand their culture. It is also about building connections with each other. We are talking, playing games, and working with old friends and new friends. It is really worthful to be here and do this community service project because it gives me a strong sense of responsibility and achievement.
