I'll need a few days to be able to explain how I felt in the last days, or how I feel now. I could almost be on a bus to Huancayo rather than Minneapolis, but the streets are too smooth, too wide, and there's no terribly dubbed film playing at beyond max volume. People converse softly and no one has gotten on to offer me drinks, nuts, chocolate bars, or slices of fruit: what terrible service. Now that the sun is up, I can also see the miles and miles of trees and greenery that should be familiar. It is, but it's familiar in the way that white faces and blonde hair are familiar. I recognize them as part of where I come from, but at the moment I can't help but stare in curious wonder. Why do all the cars stay in their lanes? Who waters all these trees? It will take until the first true rain I've seen in three months for it all to make sense again: I'm not in Kansas anymore (ironically, it's almost the exact opposite). Peru is a sort of home for me, although I'm always an outsider because of physicality, my accent, or some of my mannerisms. The one fully positive thing I can say about being back is that no one has stared at me since yesterday at 10pm. I am normal again, and people don't make conversation with me because my hair is unusual. In fact, it's reversed: a couple was speaking Spanish on the train from the airport, and I felt the urge to join in. Peru isn't a society that teaches multiculturalism: it's either foreign or it's not. Foreign things are longed for, and likewise foreign people. Here, greeting someone who is speaking a foreign language is unusual, or maybe rude. Greeting someone is strange enough.
Be on the lookout for the website showcasing the Conectados project, complete with summaries of results and student work. It should appear within two weeks at www.wasiymiwasiki.com/conectados.
Thanks for following. See you again in 2011!
