More Photos - Yay!

This is a good friend Rosa - who works selling breakfasts at the market near Viñani and who also cooked the wonderful wonderful food for us at the Reorientation retreat. She is a kind, loving woman and this was for her birthday.










Chelsea posing with Rosa while Nate feasts on Arroz con Pollo (which I also ate like three plates of and was amazing).









At the local corner store where we get a lot of our day to day needs. The womans name is Carmen and she is another amazingly kind woman who treats us very well. She also gets up every morning at 3ish to go to the market - and I went with her once in July to see what it was like (I had a lot of fun).







A day of Tacna picture (that is the mayor of Tacna to Caras left) - simply ridiculous the whole situation.












The famous artistas - as Carmen Rosa, my host mother who is to the left - loves calling us. Her sister, Wittis, is to the right of her. I had a lot of fun changing my Cusco shirt to a Tacna Pride one with some masking tape (though it isnt so visible in this shot).

Gringo For Life

I had an interesting little moment yesterday that very starkly made me aware of the fact that I am a gringo and will never quite fit in completely down here (although I do not see this as a depressing thought, but rather just a reality).

I was sitting next to my housemate Christa in the Cathedral as mass was beginning (the celebration was to mark 75 years of a consortium of religious high schools and so the church was filled with people and school kids all decked out in their finest. Each school also had its color guard complete with Peruvian flag and school banner - and these militaristic little units lined the side naves). Out of the corner of my eye, I see the local crazy man (my host mom calls him Tarzan - check out a new favorite of mine that I hear a lot down here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r0n9Dv6XnY - but he is just a sort of odd, roundish and bald loco who can be often seen around the center doing odd things) walking up the side aisle. He was behaving like nothing was amiss and he was simply taking everything in and coolly observing the whole endeavor.

He continued until he came all the way up to the front of the Cathedral and then slowly crossed to the middle aisle and in front of the bishop, who was beginning the mass. As he turned and walked back toward the back of the church, he had about a ten second staring match with someone in the front row. Just as this finished and he turned his head back toward the entrance of the church, he spotted Christa and I. In a loud (almost shouting) voice, he bellowed something about ¨ahh, allí están los norteamericanos mumble mumble mumble¨ (I could not quite make out what he said after that).

I probably blushed and was feeling very awkward. As he continued on his way, everyone turned around or gave us a good stare. In a great moment of realizing I have been making some progress on the culture shock in my 11+ months here, I had to grin just a little bit and take the moment in.

The whole experience served as a good reminder that even though I may feel like I am growing accustomed to life here in Tacna and know more of the ins and outs of the city and parts of its culture, I will always be a little bit of a celebrity or an ugly duckling (depending on how you view the foreign influence) and that is something I must keep in mind.

Back from the Beach and Reenergized

We just finished up our five day retreat at the beach with the two members of Jesuit Volunteers staff who came down to Tacna.

I feel refreshed (even though I could´ve used a little more sun in order to motivate me to frolick in the water a bit more) and filled with new ideas and excitement. We covered a lot of topics (doing a social analysis session, talking about the highs and lows we have felt from the last year, beginning to plan ahead to welcoming the two newbies in November, and spending a day in silence reflecting and for me, writing letters to people at home).

One great moment was reading my application from about a year and a half ago. At first, it made me feel a bit old (I mean, shoot, I am about to turn 25 in December. Not old, but definitely starting to internalize that in no way am I a child nor adolescent anymore). I also laughed a bit at some of the ways I phrased my ideas. Overall, however, it reminded me that I was seeking a program that would not simply give me the space to experience living and working in Latin America for two years, but would push my personal development and support me (through community and through prompts and spaces for thinking about the different ways of living, the difficult stories, the everyday challenges, and the everyday joys that I knew were to come). While I was sitting on the deck of the house watching the waves one morning (feeling good after a morning run and enjoying my coffee and a crossword puzzle), I felt very content with the choice of JVC. Retreats and aspects of the program like this are quite powerful. And after all, who does not enjoy a little r and r at the beach to recharge the batteries.

Also, my application contained a number of little nuggets that struck me. This quote from C.S. Lewis especially jumped out at me after almost a year of ¨experiencing¨ (which I know can be a very broad and general term): ¨Experience is the most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God, you learn.¨

The Coming Storm

The title of the post makes it sound more daunting than exciting, but the next three months are going to be a whirlwind of activity and movement through our humble little Tacna.

First, in the middle of October, our bosses from JVI will be down here to visit. More than an observation, I understand the visit to be a chance to share with them how everything is going, reflect on the past year, and think ahead to challenges and goals for the second half of this experience. We will be going on a six day retreat to the beach, and they will be stopping by for a site visit to my school. I have been thinking a lot lately about this visit and my site in general, and I believe I will be discussing with them the possibility of being somewhere else next year. I do not feel like I recieve enough institutional support (well, its hard to feel that I do when there is not even a director of the school around), which has affected how I view my own projects I have created and the animo I have. I will keep all updated on this front. On the positive side, I am helping to organize the plans for food over the retreat, which will be a medley of Peruvian dishes cooked by an awesome cook and amazingly sweet woman who is a good friend (she sells jello cups at the market near my school so I stop by and talk to her from time to time).

Next, at the end of October, we are going to do a haunted house in our humble abode. Nothing like sharing some cultural fun from the United States and getting to be silly and scare some kids in the meantime.

On November 16th, the two new volunteers will be making their way down here. I am very excited to meet them. Even though I am not so excited to see the old volunteers go, it will be very interesting to see how our community evolves and changes with new faces and personalities in it. As long as I have my early morning times to myself to run, do my crossword, and, on Saturdays, drink coffee, I am good.

December will be probably the most hectic. My birthday is the 4th, Christmas is the 25th, my mom comes on the 22nd (I am incredibly ready to share this experience and place with loved ones in a more real and tangible way than one can simply do in letters, calls, and pictures), and mushed into all that will also be the end of the school year, Nate and Cara´s respective families coming down, the newbees moving into the house after spending a month with host families, and the old volunteers leaving. Wild wild wild. And then comes Mes de Mision all over again.

Wow - its quite a lot even just sitting here early on a Tuesday morning and thinking about it. Well, I am ready for it (even though I was in a little bit of a funk Sunday and Monday) - and keep checking for updates on how it all goes!