Yesterday was both the birthday of Cara (my community mate who came down with Nate and I) and my mom. Even though it is a day late, I will officially wish them happy birthday here on the blog (don't worry, I did also do so yesterday).
On of the most striking aspects of celebrating these two birthdays yesterday was how I was struck by the fact that this is the second time I am doing so down here. I realized concretely that I have been down here for over a year. While it has passed quickly - especially when I start to think wow, it has been over two years since I first started teaching, it has been two and a half years since the end of college, the decade is just a couple of months from being over - obviously a whole lot has happened.
As a quick recap for those who have been following my progress this year:
November: Arrive, move in with host families
December: Celebrate birthday and Christmas, old volunteers (I love calling them voluntarios viejos in Spanish because obviously we are so young and viejo is quite a harsh word for someone old here, so it adds a fun bit of sarcasm) headed out, moved into the house
January: New Year's customs and celebrating on the beach, Mes de Mision. Enough said I think (or at least in my mind)
February: Vacation time and seeing lots of Peru, silent retreat in Arequipa, whole community adventure to Puno, going to Lima to get visas, getting excited for school year
March: Beginning of school year
April: Hearing that Father Jorge was being asked to leave Tacna for Lima, Holy Week with Viacruces and solemness (bloody Jesus' everywhere)
May: Hmmm, don't remember much right now about this month except that it was Nate's birthday
June: Waiting for vacations I guess.....but no, I think we had a good retreat in here and otherwise I remember reading a lot of news about it being summertime up there in the States and being jealous.
July: Worries about Swine Flu and early vacations, Jayson's death, getting ¨Typhoid,¨ fire at my school that burned the estera, Peruvian independence day, trip to Curahuasi and Cusco.
August: Extended vacations, time in Colca and Arequipa with Nate, coming back to school and having my classes taken away because of post fire lack of direction at school, day of Tacna.
September: Another bit of a blurry month, but I did return to teaching my classes in a open-aired room with dirt for the floor, the school's anniversary and afro-Peruvian dance classes
October: Reo-Diso retreat at the beach, thinking and deciding about next year, a Halloween haunted house extravanganza, Cristo Rey dia familiar
Obviously, other things happened in here - from trips to Arica (Chile), other very life-giving retreats, and long cold winter nights and days - but I like the idea of doing this exercise and sharing this with you simply based on what I remember. It must mean these specific events impacted my mind and my time here in a particular way, no?
Who knows what this next year will bring, but at the least, I am sure it will be full of similar experiences I will remember for the rest of my life.
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