Twice in Two Days?

Yup, I am at it again to give everyone a little vacation update.

Today was a nice and relaxing day (instead of a community dinner, we had a brunch and then went over a halfway point in the year evaluation, and then I watched The Pianist - which was a lot better than Up. I saw that one last night and just thought it was real out there), and I am looking forward to vacation being along the same lines.

The big highlight of the two and a half weeks that I suddenly have will be the service trip I am going to help chaperone from the 24th until the first. My housemate and community mate (I decided to add community since it is much more than just living together down here - it is intentionally building community and supporting/challenging each other) Nate works at a much wealthier Jesuit school here in Tacna and is continuing with doing an alternative volunteer break trip with a select few of the fourth and fifth year of secondary students. This year, they are going to some small towns just south of Cusco for the week and I will be helping Nate in leading the trip. Though it is not a Macchu Picchu/sightseeing trip, it will be a great opportunity to get to see more of this wonderful (and at times confusing and frustrating) country, to continue to serve, and to bond with Nate some more. Should be a blast.

It also seems to be the vacation of birthdays as the older women who owns the store here in Habitat we always go to is celebrating her birthday tomorrow, my dads birthday is Friday, my host aunt is Saturday and my host mom is Monday. A funny side note on that is that all three of the women are named Carmen (in some form) because it is also the time of celebrations of the Virgen of Carmen. I find that very interesting for some reason.