My Peruvian Undertaking

Photos

2010-12-11T16:49:00.002-05:00

Fun from my birthday party with the Cubas´, the students coming over to wish me a happy happy, and a little first communion baptism in the host family. We had the despedida last night and though I did not get emotional, it is starting to hit home more that I am leaving in two weeks. Very very soon. But I am absolutely loving the present and am enjoying every moment I am spending with the wonderful people of Peru.

730 Mark

2010-11-09T15:14:00.002-05:00

I don´t have much time to write with all the craziness going on with new volunteers coming tomorrow and Maureen´s birthday as well (we have a few good surprises in store). Nevertheless, I felt like noting that it is indeed my two year anniversary from stepping off the plane in humble ole Tacna, Peru. Everyone always said it would fly by, and it has, but don´t forget, there are still two months of fun to go!

Halloween Weekend

2010-11-03T14:14:00.003-04:00

Halloween weekend was a blast down here in Peru - and in retrospect, a great mix of cultures. Interestingly, in order to combat the external cultural influence of Halloween, the government here made October 31st Day of the Cancion Criolla. It didn´t stop us - and many businesses, nightclubs, and little kids - from having a little spooky fun though.

To start, despite high expectations from last year´s successful Haunted House (the students have been asking about it all year round), we pulled off a great one this year. We raised money for the upcoming Mes de Mision by turning our house into a dark, spiderweb-filled, scary graveyard (thanks partly to a neighbor who set up some dark lights and strobe lights that he usually rents out for parties). I took on the role of a dead person who the crazy scientist (Mo) was operating on. My guts spilling out were made of red food dye, oatmeal and spaggeti - and after the three hours of kids coming through and having this goop just sitting on my stomach, I was very much ready for a nice shower. Nate was a gravedigger, Cara a mummy, and Seamus some sort of goblin-like character that everyone joked looked like a tomato. The kids were very scared and enjoyed their little american candies we gave them at the end (some came through many times just to get more).

Sunday itself was more tranquilo as we went to the Dia Familiar for Cristo Rey (basically the big school celebration). There was good food, some good dances (the best were definitely the traditional ones, instead of the moderny Hip Hop types), good company (we went with Martin, Edith, Carmen Rosa and ran into many friends there), and good relaxation.

Monday - and All Saints´Day - was another impactful cultural experience for me. I went to accompany Martin and Edith to the cementary to visit Jason´s grave. Usually, it has been a very peaceful trip for me personally, but on Monday, the cementary had almost a party feel to it as many people (especially those from the highlands) were visiting and celebrating the life of those in their family who have passed on. Many of these groups (some of which had upwards of twenty people) were putting flowers, manna (a sweet kind of popped corn), a special kind of ¨dead¨ bread, and other trinkets on the grave while drinking and chatting around it. I think it sort of disturbed Martin and Edith because for them it interrupted the tranquility and sacredness of the cementary, but I at least enjoyed seeing what it was like and being able to be there with them.

Now, in less than one week we have the seven new volunteers descending on Tacna (a little gringo invasion) and life is planning and preparing for that. It will be another great time and really make this next month and a half fly by as I say goodbye to Tacna and its wonderful people.

October Vacations

2010-10-15T14:09:00.003-04:00

So, although my vacation week started off a bit slowly (though not in a bad way, I very much enjoy just spending time with my host family and friends here in Peru), it ended with a whole lot of movement.

On Thursday, I took a trip with Seamus and my host mother up one region to Moquegua to visit its capital. Known for its avocado and hot sun, we spent a wonderful day walking around, taking silly photos, talking about why we are volunteers, and enjoying the good craziness that is my host mother Carmen Rosa.

If you do not believe me, check out her poses in each picture and then keep in mind that at least three random dance parties broke out during the day.

After that, we returned to find our house flooded (though a neighbor had seen water pouring out under the door and had turned it off from outside) because a tube going into the bathroom sink had broken. The cleanup left Seamus and I quite tired and with little ganas the next day for an adventure. But, in the afternoon, after calling the son of the local store owner and finding out that he was planning to make the pilgrimage to a statue of the Virgen Mary called Virgen de las Peñas in northern Chile, we got ourselves up for the challenge.

After a couple hour bus ride, crossing the border, visiting the Walmart-like megastore and being astounded in Arica, then hiking for over three hours in the dark, we finally arrived. Though the trip was tough, the walk was especially enjoyable for a number of reasons. For one, it was neat having to find our way along with hundreds of other Chileans in the dark (it was like a giant treasure hunt). I was also really blown away to arrive at 3 in the morning to dancing and music and lots of energy in the little town (which is not accessible by road and celebrates - soberly, since alcohol is forbidden - for three days straight). Lastly, people of all shapes, sizes, and kinds made the trek; along the way, we saw elderly people, overweight people, babies being carried, and even a group of what our friend called ¨chico chicas¨- flamboyantly gay Chileans. These other photos show where we slept for four hours after waiting an hour and a half to saludar the Virgen when we arrived (a must), the church with the dancing at 4 something in the morning - including the people sleeping on the floor, and Seamus and Nate waiting on the line and partaking in a snack of Chocolate Cheerios that we had been saving for a special occasion every since my mom brought them down. Sorry that the photo is sideways.

Anyway, it was a hectic (we only spent 10 hours in the town, and so in the matter of around 36 hours did the whole bus trip there, the hike up, slept for four or five hours and then came all the way back to Tacna) last few days of vacation, as it will be a hectic and fun-filled October, November, December and January. But life is good - so who am I to make any complaints?
Also, bought my ticket and February 4th will be the end of the wild ride as I set foot on American soil once again. Woohoo.

Elections

2010-10-06T12:03:00.004-04:00

So it turned out that all of the guys tryng to run for reelection lost out. Our new mayor of Tacna was symbolized by a little drop of water (but all dressed up as superman). Ironically, since Sunday, water has been cut up in the center. Everyone claims its the ousted mayor´s revenge, which is funny and possibly true. It seems like democracy worked out quite well for the most part, as there is little discussion of any disenfranchisement or issues here with the voting. The lines were very long and slow, but if that is the worst there is, then one cannot complain too much, right?

It was actually a really exciting experience to be with some Peruvians as the polls closed at 4 pm. The radio kept playing dramatic sound effects and throbbing the word ¨flash¨ over and over again. They did that for about 45 minutes with lots of filler talk before finally anouncing the results. I don´t know if the results mean any particularly drastic in terms of changes for Tacna, but one of the neat developments on a national scale is that a woman won the mayor race in Lima, and she is the first female mayor in Peruvian history. I will miss some of the loud music, parades and general excitement a bit, but I hope the fact that Fidel Carita won here in Tacna means that we will still get to see the gotita (little water drop), all over the place.

A Short Update

2010-10-04T18:17:00.002-04:00

As the month of Halloween, the unofficial start of the Christmas season down here (I only say this because the delicious dessert of panetone - like a good fruitcake - has made its reappearance on store shelves) begins, there are many updates to bring. Right now, we have a week of vacation between our third and fourth bimester, which I am taking advantage of to visit many people, reconnect a bit with the school I taught at last year, and share some photos with you all.

So, firstly, in the middle of September, I went on a camping trip with Seamus, Maureen, and my homeroom of 27 16-year-old kids. It actually ended up being a whole lot of fun, though it was a little rough because we were sleeping in our sleeping bags on cement and trying to get that many kids to do stuff is always a bit of a struggle. I am putting up a couple photos so you all can see what the town was like (its called Locumba, and was actually celebrating its feast day, when lots of people do a walking pilgrimmage there to touch the state of Nuestro Señor de Locumba. That is why there are lots of tents). There are shots of how the kids cooked our food (on an open fire on the side of a street) and how we slept too.
One funny moment - at least in retrospect - was when the students pulled out boxing gloves on Friday night. As soon as I told them I was going to take them away, they started whinning and complaining and trying to tell me that I was sucking all the fun out of their campamento. They also made the argument that they would just end up fighting anyway and hurt each other much worse (that reason almost made me laugh). But outside of that, there were very little problems and some of the kids came up like champions (one was out in a blazing sun for three hours frying all the chicken over an open fire on Saturday for lunch). I think it really is those outside of class moments, especially when certain ones really shine, that hold the most meaning for me with the kids.

This shot is of the Cubas family, who I have become really close with over me time here. One weekend, they took me to the bosque - basically like a big municipal park (and really the only one in Tacna) - to see the zoo and pasear (which basically means hang out). They are very special to me and it will certainly be very hard for me to say goodbye to them in December, though I know we will remain in touch.

As part of the celebration of Dia de la Juventud (youth day), my school did a kite contest with elementary school kids that I was able to judge. It was a blast to see all the families out there in the sandy pampa trying to get their kites up. Some really suceeded, though a lot of the best ones ended up losing the kite as it flew off into the wild blue yonder.

Physical Education in Peru

2010-09-25T10:48:00.003-04:00

So, right now, all the rage in our school is the drill routines that all the classes of secondary and 4th, 5th, and 6th grade of primary have been preparing. Drill is basically rhythmic gymnastics and is absolutely hilarious to watch: http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoYr-p1Y67A. I don´t mean to mock it at all (especially considering I do step areobics http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmqZ_okcTfM with Edith - the mother of Jason, the student who died last year - at least once a week), but it is quite funny to watch.

I think the best part of it is how into the kids get. Their final performance on Monday will pretty much determine their physical education grade, but whole classes of students have been out on the streets of Habitat for hours after school practicing. It really has taken over here at school.

On a wider scope, the October 3rd elections have really come to dominate local discussions and local radio. Besides the flags and posters up all over the place, many of the campaign songs (simple remixes of all the current big hits) can be constantly heard and very often their are parades of the different canidates going through the center.

Elections here are very interesting - on the ballot, for example, they do not even put the canidates name, but simply their party´s symbol. These symbols range from a single letter to a number to a characterture of the canidate himself (the guy running for re-election as mayor of Tacna simply runs on his personality and so is known as the Gordito Simpaticon. He doesn´t really have any other platform than a subtle ¨you can´t help liking me, can you.¨ Check out his video, which has many shots of Tacna. Also, the big guy dancing in the background is the canidate: http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=2cJBO8k3QOs).

As a volunteer and foreigner, I don´t take any stance or support any canidate, but it is a little disheartening to hear the way many Peruvians see their political system: as one of corruption, manipulation of the voting procedures, and the buying of elections. Additionally, there is not any stable political party system. One interesting point, however, is that everyone must vote (if you don´t, one of the ways that get you besides a fine is not allowing you to make any bank transactions). I haven´t decided yet if I feel like that is good to make voting obligatory, but I definitely feel that it has wide ranging effects, especially when there is such confusion with a plethora of canidates.

Any thoughts from those out there?

Tacna Day 2.0

2010-09-02T09:41:00.005-04:00

This past Saturday was the 81st anniversary of Tacna´s reincorporation into Peru. Down here, each city gets together a big celebration for its day, and Tacna´s is especially intense considering its patriotism and civic pride. In both my years here, it has been a really enjoyable time to share with the people of this wonderful city.

This year, the festivities included a parade filled with dances and floats (my housemate Cara danced the traditional Saylla - she had almost roped me into doing it too, but it is an intense dance, so I stayed away from this one), an actuacion at school that had everything from kindergarden kids dressed as stuck-up, early 1900s folk to a procession with a big Peruvian flag to a marching contest (that my fourth year students were very upset to lose) to a sharing of traditional picante (made with cow´s stomach - not very appetizing, but the dish´s flavor is good), a Daddy Yankee concert (that I attended. Quite simply, it was a lot of fun, even though I am not a big reggaeton fan and they had separate entrances for males and females that meant I had to wait on line by myself for a long time), a parade down the main street with a humongous Peruvian flag (held only by women, since they were the ones during the years under Chile´s rule who celebrated in secret), and some more picante.

Then, as a community, we took a trip down to the beach for a four day retreat on social justice. It was a great chance to relax a bit, talk about issues of justice that we see (particularly the treatment of women in Peruvian society - though we did get into the different cultural and societal contexts that affect our views of such issues too, and how we have and use privilege as white, relatively wealthy Americans) and enjoy each other´s company.

Anyway, I´ve added some photos of the fun to give you all a little more of an idea of all the fun over the last week.

Cara is dancing in the back right of the group. This picture was also right before they grabbed me from the sidelines and pulled me out on the street to dance with them.

Though this kindergardener is a little odd in class (she will randomly scream nonsense), she was absolutely adorable dressed up for the actuacion. I had fun imagining that all the drama of the reincorporation into Peru really went down amongst 5 year olds dressed like this.

My tutoria of fourth years starting their march (very militaristic) for the contest.

The big Peruvian flag going down the main drag. It literally takes up the entire width of the street.

This is one of the ¨alfombras¨ that they make out of flowers and different materials on the morning of the parade. No one can walk over them until the flag passes down.

The Peruvian commandos who later paraded. Can you spot the camo one?

The community on retreat. Relaxed and renewed.

Funny Little Story

2010-08-17T16:50:00.002-04:00

This past weekend I went to visit Vinañi again because I had not been out there in awhile. Though I went to the meeting for the youth group I worked with all last year and through the beginning of this one, only one of the kids actually showed up. Mostly, I chatted with the young nun who runs it, and she was very excited because she will be travelling to the United States. Specifically, she will be going to Manchester, though I found it quite funny that she had no idea which one (nor does she speak English).

As I was walking around out there, however, I passed by two kids working on building a house with their father. One of the defining aspects of life in Vinañi is that there is always construction and improvements happening. Although a very poor area, it is incredibly dynamic and every time I go it feels like it is growing and developing. I have never witnessed such a rapidly transition before.

Anyway, I thought I recognized the two children, but I was not a hundred percent sure. So, I sort of smiled at them and was going to just pass by. As I was walking right by them, however, I heard the older one whispering to his brother, ¨Es el profe.¨ The younger brother, in turn, responded, ¨No, no es el profe.¨ Maybe three or four times they went back and forth like that, arguing in hushed voices. As I was about ten yards past them, I couldn´t resist turning back and shouting at them, ¨Sí es el profe y buenos días chicos.¨ I turned around, smiling to myself, and heard the older one say ¨Ya ves¨ (basically, ¨You see¨). It immediately brightened my day and sent me off in good animo.

I love little moments like that.

Vacation Recap

2010-08-10T09:27:00.006-04:00

As I mentioned before, vacations passed with some real excitement and great travels. I spent an incredible amount of time sitting in buses (probably around 60 hours total - not to mention the bus and train ride to and from Aguas Calientes at the foot of Machu Picchu), a lot of time drinking good coffee, hours having good conversations with Peruvian friends and with my mom, and ate a lot of good food. Here is more or less how vacation went down.

For the first few days, I organized my life, relaxed a bit, and generally just spent time with a lot of people here in Tacna. I visited the wonderful Cuba family - most of whom can be seen in the photo. They are simply wonderful, life-giving people who always make me feel like I am amongst extended family. Their two children, Jorge Luis (next to my mom) and Yessenia (third kid from the left), are absolutely wonderful and truly feel like my little cousins that I try to be a mentor to. Also during this time, we had the front of our house finished with a layer of cement by the local handy man, Capacute. It was fun to spend the day chatting with him and helping out a little bit (or as much as I could). The best part was how in the beginning he simply flung the cement willy-nilly against the wall (though this did lead to the jambing of our keyhole.

A few days later, I left for Arequipa, Peru´s second biggest city. I have visited there a number of times, and this was mostly a chance to get to visit my extended host family there and get out of Tacna a bit. I had a wonderful conversation with my host cousin, ate some good, Arequipeñan food, and got a campaign shirt from one of my host family members there who is running for office this October. His little symbol that you mark on the ballot is a smiling pepper (one of the great aspects about being here for the elections is seeing all the different symbols. Everyone pretty much has their own political party - except for APRA, which has been around for awhile and to which Alan Garcia, the president belongs. And each of these parties have an accompanying symbol that you mark on the election ballot. They range from a little tree, to a smiling water drop to a potato).

From there, I went on to Lima to meet up with my mom. I was in Lima early in the day, and so spent some time wandering around and then took a bus that took me all over Callao (Lima´s port) before reaching the airport. I have to say again how much I love the energy and movement of Lima, despite all its hecticness, traffic and crowds.

With my mom, we spent the night in Callao to be a bit more rested and then made our way down here to Tacna. Basically, I had to teach on Monday and wanted to show here my classes and Miguel Pro. Even though she woke up on Monday feeling a bit sick to the stomach, she gritted through it and we had a wonderful time especially in my primary classes as we sang songs, and played little games for the chocolate she brought down. Some of my students even made little cards for her that they gave to her at the end (very adorable even though, as I joked to my mom, that meant that they were not paying complete attention in class).

With my mother, I travelled again to Arequipa and then to Cusco. We only spent a few hours in the former, but that was enough time to have a meal overlooking the stunning Plaza de Armas, enjoy a good good cup of coffee and the accompanying conversation, and buy a little Ekeko doll for each other (it´s for good luck: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekeko).

Cusco was the main part of the trip and especially our two day adventure to Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu. But before we could even get there, we ran into a paro, or strike. Our bus simply stopped at about 4 in the morning and through the mist and fog, all I could see at the time was a line of stopped vehicles. As the hours passed, we came to find out that a bridge up ahead was being blocked and though the bus company assured us we would pass through in a few hours, there was no certainty and many people from other buses were getting off and walking.

My mom and I decided to wait it out and about 7:30ish, they finally told us that we were going to be let through, but that we would have to get off the bus and walk across the bridge before getting back on. The bus stewardess was very nervous, didn´t know what to tell us to do with our valuables and kept saying that sometimes they throw rocks and to be careful. Needless to say, this in turn worried me. But in the end, it was fine and they simply wrote some propaganda on the front of our bus and we made it through.

In Aguas Calientes itself, there was not much to do, but it was all worth it to get up to the top of Machu Picchu early the following morning and see the cloud cover move off and the sun rise. To me, that was the most spectacular moment of our trip up there, and you really felt a sense of something surreal or mystical. Later, the sun emerged, shining brightly and strong.

Machu Picchu is quite an incredible place, both for the architechture and history, and for its simp awe-inspiring views. Not to be missed, for sure.

Other than that, we spent most of our time in Cusco talking, enjoying the Obligo (bellybutton) of the World as it is called, and eating some good food. We stumbled upon a food festival with live music, sought out some falafels since I had a real hankering for one, and as I mentioned before, drank some good good coffee. My mom also sampled nata in the market on Sunday morning, a food that I had never heard of before down here in Tacna. Basically, they take the cream off the top of the fresh milk and spread it on bread (it sort of has the consistency of cottage cheese sort). It is all the breakfast rage up there in Cusco.

After saying goodbye to my mom in the airport, I took an overnight bus back to good old Tacna. I still taught my classes on Monday after arriving in the bus terminal at about 7:30 in the morning. Seeing my mom, visiting Peruvian friends, and enjoying this great country, however, left me with lots of energy and animo, and I plan to use that boost to take advantage of this second half of the year!

Back in Business

2010-08-05T09:48:00.003-04:00

After a busy couple of weeks of being on vacation and covering most of the southern part of the country by bus (to Arequipa, to Lima, to Arequipa again, to Cusco and back to Tacna), I am finally back in the swing of things here at school. I will write a little recap of the travels, of seeing Macchu Picchu, of having my mom visit again, and how I feel looking ahead to my final months here, but for now I wanted to just make sure to let everyone know I am fine and back with lots of energy.

Also, I uploaded a number of photos with some captions to whet the appetite on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=13802227&v=info#!/album.php?id=9313&aid=2310124.

Unfortunately, that´s all for right now before my fingers freeze (its quite chilly - and definitely not Chile - here) and my classes start, but I promise more for later.

Time Flies When You´re Having Fun

2010-07-09T16:07:00.003-04:00

The last month has simply blown by. Between hosting visitors (the wonderful group from University of San Fransisco, former Tacna volunteers Dermot Lynch and Brad Mills, a month-long volunteer from Santa Cruz), watching and endlessly discussing the World Cup (kudos to Uruguay and Sanchez - the played truly like they had their heart in winning, and the refereeing has been terrible), and going on retreat with the community to reflect on our spiritual lives, June and early July have been action packed.

I have gotten to spend some wonderful time with my collegues when we celebrated Dia del Maestro (which, as a teacher, was nice to have a day of teacher appreciation). We also had a mass in which Father Fred (who has been here in Tacna for over fifty years and done some amazing things, like found Miguel Pro along with the best school in the city, Cristo Rey) addressed some important words to us educators about giving our best for the kids and always striving for magis (or the more, the better).

In community, we recently were sent the game Apples to Apples and spent some time at the beach bonding over its wonderful silliness (its a game in which you have a number of random nouns and must match them to adjectives), while also reflecting on how we can be fishers of men. One session I particularly enjoyed involved drawing a boat to represent ourselves and then its net being composed of positive qualities about us that the other members of the community see within us. We also rewrote the beatitudes for ourselves - a great way to digest a really wonderful and positive text from the Bible.

Lastly, having ex-volunteers come visit has also reminded of the incredible life, energy, and openness of some of the Peruvians I have had the joy of getting to know. It has inspired me to refocus myself as I come to the halfway point of this school year on enjoying and developing those unique relationships. These friendships - that at times do feel like they become falial bonds - connect despite the cultural divide. And for me, personally, I am uplifted thinking that in a foreign country and missing the comforts of a washing machine, a super market, health food, etc, I can feel at home and that there are people who care for me and want to share with me simply because I am me.

World Cup Fever

2010-06-16T14:23:00.002-04:00

So, I´ve been teaching all my classes the meaning of fever as I have clearly come down (along with a true case of throat nastiness) with some World Cup fever. It is very exciting to be in a place where all the kids and teachers are so excited that they find every little moment and way to watch what they can (I had some kids today during recess run into the room I was teaching and then hold a cord up in the air for 15 minutes - for some reason that made the TV work - to watch just a little of the Spain and Switzerland game).

I personally have been sacrificing sleep to get up at 5:30 to run before the early game and have made some grand and somewhat clever plans to work it into my own classes (especially since the next United States game will be during my fourth and fifth year class). These include having kids announce the game, do exercises using the past tense with passages about what has happened, and teaching the song Wavin the Flag (which I have also become addicted to). I saw one of the primary teachers I work with teaching about conflict resolution using a giant picture of Zidane´s headbutt from four yeard ago. Pure brilliance. Anyway, I am open to any and all ideas - I LOVE HELP - to incorporate this even more and spread my fever.

Oh, and I watched the entire game against England this past Saturday with a mixed group of American high school kids (a volunteer group from Arizona was down building a house), their host families, and our neighbors. It was so exciting to share that with everyone while eating lots of popcorn and canchita (basically popped corn kernels, but of the bigger, more solid type). The Peruvians have definitely taken on the United States to root for (despite my students jokes that Slovenia is going to win on Friday) and in turn, I have taken on Chile as a new team after being invited to wake up and breakfast at 6:30 this morning with our music teacher/pastoral director extrodinaire.

Go Team US!

Just Visiting

2010-06-03T09:55:00.002-04:00

As the summer descends on the Northern Hemisphere, it means the start of cold and damp weather (not fun) and of all the different college and high school visitors (more fun) down here.

Next week, a delegation from the University of San Francisco will arrive to do different teaching through dance workshops as well as organizing the painting of a mural on the outside wall of the school. Two of the coordinators have already arrived. With them, today we are busy organizing the kids to do drawings of what service means to them and then we will also put up the primer coat of paint to have everything ready to go when the muralist arrives in town tomorrow.

Also next week, a high school group from a Jesuit school in Arizona will arrive to build a house out in the invasions on the outskirts of Habitat. They will be staying with families here in Habitat (who are very excited to recieve them) as part of their volunteer experience.

The plethora of gringo visitors is a wonderful boon and boost to us Jesuit volunteers down here. As I have mentioned before, being able to share this experience and just in general connect with people from our own cultural and with similar values helps us to step out of the every day routine in which one can sometimes become stuck. Whether it be discussing American politics, striking aspects of Peruvian society, or simply life plans, these visits definitely remind me both why I am here and to take advantage of this unique time in my life. Additionally, having some graduate school of education professors and students amongst us (the two coordinators that are currently here are professors) has offered some great new perspectives and ideas to apply to the classroom.

So, all in all, its an exciting time right now despite the coming onslaught of winter. Hope you all are enjoying your toasty days up there.

Peruvian Cultural Fun

2010-06-01T09:33:00.002-04:00

While admist an impressive stretch of birthdays (Saturday was that of a 10-year-old student of mine from last year, Yessenia, who has an incredible and welcoming family; Sunday the lunch for our school psychologist, whose actual birthday is today; and yesterday we celebrated with an ex-JV volunteer who has been down here for awhile with her husband, J. P., who was a Peruvian volunteer a few years ago) a fun Peruvian cultural experience surprised me yesterday.

When I arrived at school, the fourth grade teacher came looking for me and began to ask me about my schedule. Uh, oh, I thought, she was going to ask me to take over her class today. I don´t mind helping out a collegue at all, but this particular class can be a bit movido (all over the place), especially when their regular teacher is out or their schedule is thrown for a loop. Any anxiety, however, was for naught, as she asked me if I wanted to be the judge for a contest.

I jumped at the opportunity - I love interacting and being involved with my students in non-teaching (or rather, non-class hour) activities. This particular contest turned out to be better than I could imagine as the teacher had done a contest with the class for Day of the Potato, which had come and gone this past Saturday with little fanfare in my life (too many birthdays, I guess).

When I arrived for the event just before lunch, I was stunned to see that each student (32 in total) had prepared a dish made in some way with potatoes. The culinary variety (almost assuredly prepared by the parents in probably 95% of the cases - one or two unintentionally funny students even mistakeningly said something along the lines of ¨my mother fried the potatoes¨ when we asked how they prepared it) included different types of pastel de papa http://imagenes.mailxmail.com/cursos/imagenes/5/3/pastel-de-carne-y-papas_24935_1_1.jpg, papa rellena http://peru-recipes.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/papa-rellena-stuffed-potato.jpg, causa http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9UIt4AiSmJ4/SQtm_1Nri1I/AAAAAAAAAQ4/jtszA5vM3pY/s400/causa-peruvian-cuisine-01.jpg, and many more.

As the judge, I listened first to a short explanation of why the potato rocks as the nutritional base for any meal (so many varieties and so many vitamins!). Then I had to judge each student in three categories: presentation, exposition and flavor. I sampled each and every plate. Oh, to be a food critic! Though in all honest, I don´t have the palate for it and yesterday I think I gave almost everyone at least a 5 out of 7 in flavor because I was too happy and enjoying myself.

The two joint winners turned out to be the first and last dishes, which were a papa rellena prepared with much detail by the daughter of the school cook (hmmmmmm, surprise surprise) and a pastel de papa that went along with its rocotto relleno (which is one of my infrequently eaten, but favorite dishes down here....). Also, as more than half of life down here focuses on food (those Peruvians love their food and are quite proud of it as I have noted before), I of course went from judging this contest straight to lunch.

More Dancing Pictures

2010-05-17T11:37:00.005-04:00

After getting involved with this dance group, we have now found ourselves ministars and have been invited (the group has been invited, I mean) to dance every weekend in this month. The nice plus side? Lot´s of good pictures and unforgettable memories. This past Saturday, we danced at a concert. So although people were not paying to see us, we preformed at a pay-to-enter event. Maybe the first time I have done that in my life.....

Even though it was at night and we are entering winter, Seamus and I were sweating like crazy.

We got to lead the way for our group and clear a path through the drunk concert goers, while stepping over bottles of beer on the ground. And even though we were not always coordinated, I think we did a darn good job.

This photo is from May 3rd, and the quality is low, but its the best shot of us dancing and in our full get-up.

Some Not-As-Exciting-As-I-Was-Hoping-Photos

2010-05-07T15:00:00.005-04:00

Here are a few fun shots from last weekend´s dancing.

Here is a shot of the end of the mass for the Fiesta de las Cruces in the Cathedral. There were over a hundred crosses parading out.

The four of us friends dressed up before heading out to dance. Seamus and I are Mistis, while Cara and our friend Karina are Cholitas. The costumes were quite wild.

We had to wait for hours before dancing, so to handle the anxiety, Seamus and I played around a bit in our crazy costumes. By the way, the whole idea of our role in the dance was to be real high energy, scream a lot, and to coqutear (or flirt) with the crowd. If I haven´t made it clear yet, I had barrels of fun.

Wild Wild Week

2010-05-06T09:08:00.002-04:00

Wow. Well, so, it is just after 8 in the morning on a Thursday morning and after not hearing the start of school bell, I went outside to see what was going on to find no students anywhere. Suddenly it dawned upon me that because of a 6.5 - that is right, 6.5 - magnitude earthquake last night, there would not be classes. (If you read Spanish, check out this website for news on the quake: http://www.correoperu.com.pe/correo/ciudad.php?txtEdi_id=6).

The quake last night was noticable and strong - we went running out of our house and power was knocked out - but I had no idea at the time that it was a 6.5. The epicenter was also just 60 miles away. Luckily there was no real damage and no injuries here in Habitat. The experience was thrilling in some ways and terrifying in others, but at least now I am glad to have a sense of what a real earthquake would be like and hopefully would know what to do.

The events of the last 12 hours are just part of what has been a bizarre and adreneline-filled week. It began on Saturday with Nate´s birthday, and then Sunday and Monday we danced morenada in the Fiesta de las Cruces (which was incredibly thrilling and wonderful and I will write more about this when I can post the pictures), and yesterday I found out that we actually won the dance contest on Monday night. Needless to say, it has been an exciting and fun time to be in Tacna, and I promise I will try to detail what the dancing was like when I get my camera back.

Outside the Classroom

2010-04-20T09:11:00.002-04:00

One of my duties as a co-tutor (tutoria is best described, in Cara´s apt words, as a beefed-up homeroom/guidance counseling) is to visit the homes of the students. This aspect allows us to better get a sense of the student outside of the school building and to build a relationship and level of communication with the parents for any issues or concerns that arise.

This past weekend I visited the house of a student named Leonardo, who lives on a farm about 10 minutes or so away by bus. On a small side note, his family gave me about 4 kilos of grapes, which I have been eating quite greedily (and suffering the consequences in my belly) for four days now). Leonardo had spent his whole childhood attending Cristo Rey, the elite Jesuit school that is the best in Tacna, on scholarship. At the end of last year, he was asked to leave because of his academics. Over the first few months of this year, I have found him to me an incredible worker and have a spirit to want to suceed, but also to be incredibly nervous and struggle with making connections from practice exercises to other work. Leonardo clearly has some learning and even emotional issues, but the extent to which he suffers from these truly only poured out at the house visit.

As we were sitting in his chacra (farm) and talking with him and his parents, I was trying to broach the subject of how he has been adjusting to Miguel Pro, and so I asked Leonardo about what activities he was involved in at Cristo Rey. This opened the way to Leonardo pouring out about he feels like he has never followed through with what he has started in his life (whether it be an extra taller on making ceramics, helping with teaching catechesis classes, or graduating from Miguel Pro). Additionally, he expressed the disappointment and guilt that his mother had been pressuring on him since the end of last year. He described in detail his last encounters with the teachers who supported him and his few friends, mentioning over and over how he felt like he lied to them by saying he would see them next year and not admitting that he would not be returning.

The tutor who I work with, Lizbeth (who happens to be eight months pregnant, work in three different educational institutions - she works until 5:00 on Sundays!) handled the situation very well, both talking with the parents about how they need to be supportive and help him follow through with his dreams, while also making sure Leonardo felt that he needed to be responsible too for his grades and the path his life has gone down.

For me, this student particularly hits a nerve because he is such a lonely, but good person (and works so hard), but clearly has trouble communicating with others, processing information, managing tension and stress, and just generally handling daily interaction and life. I want the best for him and I want him to become a Jesuit dentist (his two dreams that he adamently told his mother he could accomplish together), but there are so many obstacles and so much that he struggles with.

Anyway, I have some ideas and have undertaken a mission to at the very least help boost Leonardo´s self image. With my compañero Nate at Cristo Rey, we are getting his ex-teachers and his friends from there to write little notes letting him know they still think about him, are not disappointed in him, and that they all want the best for him. In English class, I have noticed that he can apply a rubric or a chart to exercises relatively well, so I make him his own for each new grammatical theme we discuss. And lastly, I am going to try to help integrate him socially into the 4th years as best as I can by bringing him into my recess conversations with the students or including him on different committees or in different activities.

I hope too that maybe, at the least, bringing a little more warmth and interest to his life will lift his spirits a bit. We will see.

Just a Musing

2010-04-16T12:45:00.001-04:00

As I sneak a few minutes of internet on the director´s computer (they finally put internet in the teacher´s lounge yesterday but then of course it stopped working), I hear the sounds of students marching outside as they prepare themselves to be policia escolar. Oh Peru.....

Holy Week

2010-04-09T11:54:00.006-04:00

Possibly one of the biggest deals of the year, Holy Week came and went here in Tacna with a lot to do. Despite having Thursday and Friday as holidays, I feel like I did more and slept less last weekend than I have all year so far.

It all started last week with a Friday night reconciliation service and then an early Saturday morning hike to climb the nearby sand dune. It was a small pilgrimage of sorts, and here is the evidence (look how tired my homeroom students look at 3 in the morning. If only they were that calm in class.....):

Wednesday with our first volleyball game as Team Habitat Forever in the local tournament. And though it pains me to say it, we are horrible. With all of the neighborhood out en masse to watch, we certainly provided a lot of entertainment with our inability to set each other up and numerous shots to the face. Oh well.

Thursday I took a nice little trip with my goddaughter (I was the padrino of her first communion, so it`s not quite Godfather-like, though she insists on calling me Padrino all the time) and her mother to visit the nearby valley of Tarata. There we did some walking around and for me it was super special to see Leslie enjoy the outdoors and the change of scenery. She had never travelled outside of Tacna before, so it was very special for her. We also ate some delicious fruit and I bought lots of yummy manna - kind of like big, sweet popcorn.

Friday I went to my host family, and since we are in a super Catholic country, there is no meat to be found in the entire country on this day. We feasted on some fried rice with seafood and some fried calamari - all homemade in the house. Then I returned to Habitat for some Viacruces, or stations of the cross. Although it was not as intense as last year, it still involved some scenes of cruifixtion and some carrying around of a big cross (see photo).

Saturday night I participated in an all-night vigil with the kids of the youth group with whom I worked last year. I have not had a chance to work as much with them since it is out in the neighborhood where I taught, but it was great to share this special time with them. We went to the vigil mass and then had some reflections, watched Passion of the Christ, and had a little celebration for the Resurrection. I got very little sleep though, and was very exhausted all Sunday. Easter was a food-filled day as we invited the neighbors over for breakfast and chatting (see below), then I went to my host family`s for lunch and chatted some more, and then I came home to run (to make space in my belly) and nap before a community dinner of quinua risotto (very very delicious creation made possible by Cara).

So, all in all, very busy and very enjoyable - but what more can you ask out of life?

When Life Strikes

2010-03-31T17:13:00.004-04:00

A few weekends ago, as I breakfasted with my host family (and was taking fire for being the chico light and choosing sleep over late night activities), some tough news arrived to the household. An uncle of the family--who was also the host father of a former volunteer and someone whose house I would visit once every month or so last year--had passed away. Though not particularly close with him, he was someone I had interacted with often since arriving down here and had even planned on visiting the week before he died (but had forgotten).
I don`t want to make it seem like all I thought about after this event was my own feelings and reactions (obviously, it was incredibly hard for the family and their emotional rollercoaster and attempts to process his death and burial was very moving), but I did feel particularly moved in ways that I had never experienced before.

One particularly odd moment of the day was when I found myself, dressed in a suit, with six other people in the back of a pickup truck, holding on by one finger for dear life, sweating because of the nervousness of preparing for reading a letter at the burial, and generally just emotionally overwhelmed as we made our way from the funeral mass up to the cemetary. I had been given the job of presenting and reading part of a letter from the volunteer who had been down here two years and become part of the family. My reading followed the family´s own discourse at the gravesite and I both felt incredibly sorrowful and out-of-place. I accomplished my task without any big mistakes and I do feel appreciative to be able to have done something for the family on that day, but I could not help but ask myself why I was there, with all the attention, and trying to do service to the incredible life of a man, who in contrast to the many friends and extended family there that day I barely knew. In retrospect, I believe that in some way it reflected even more on who he was (since he always opened his home and took in many at first ¨random¨ people to share and celebrate with).

Nevertheless, in my limited experience with death and the discomfort at times of being an outsider down here, I felt very torn at the time. If anything, those emotions speak more to my own doubts and my American culture; I don´t think there was a moment that anyone there felt that I would have been out of place. So many of the Peruvians we know have come to see us as one of the clan--and I feel incredibly blessed for that acceptance and inclusion. I myself have been inspired to write some heartfelt letters to my own host family, who is so giving, so joking, so inclusive, and just generally so happy to share with me. They will never replace those for whom I care and love in the States, but they have also made me feel a shared humanity across spaces of cultural and distance that I never had thought possible before.

On that note, happy Easter to all, and my you all pass it well, in good health, and in the good company of family and friends.

Rights, Rules, and Responsibilities

2010-03-17T16:47:00.002-04:00

I like starting out my classes in the beginning of the year with a discussion of how the classroom is like any society. As citizens of the class, the students have responsibilities to comply with, and in turn recieve their rights. A citizen maintains certain rights (say, to walk the streets freely) because they comply with their responsibilities (respecting private property). When they break or do not comply with the responsibilities (say, robbing a bank), they lose their rights (can be arrested).
I understand that it may be a little simplified, but it works in relation to the classroom. Rights such as to ask questions or to participate in class may be lost in the case of not complying with important responsibilities as raising your hand or paying attention. I always add in a little section on rules too in order to stress some key non-negotiable issues (respect, etc).
In the third week on school (but the first full week since we started off with half days and meetings), I am starting to see how this same scheme can apply to my own role as a teacher. This year at Miguel Pro, I feel like I have more rights - I have the right to be listened to as an equal teacher (last year, it often seemed pointless to mention my ideas in a meeting)
, or the right to feel appreciated (which is new after last year) - that come with a coinciding rise in responsibilities.
In my tutoria, for instance, I have lots of different committees, routines, meetings, and events to organize now at the beginning of the year. Additionally, as Miguel Pro has more celebrations and events for its students (for instance, a reconciliation evening and an early-morning stations of the cross hike to follow), I have to juggle and help organize more outside-the-classroom activities.
Yesterday, I definitely felt a little overwhelmed by all the balls I had up in the air, but today have reached a better state of peace. I enjoy being busy and the feeling that comes with being accomplished and checking off each item on a to do list (whether it be a mental or written one). For that reason, I forsee this year as being more challenging, but in the end, more rewarding as well. I have started off very organized (I have even planned out the entire bimester´s development in a number of classes) and need to continue to stay ahead of the wave of responsibilities. I mean, as a good law-abiding, making-people-happy citizen, I really do love those rights.

Happy Women´s Day (and Second Week of School)!

2010-03-08T08:41:00.003-05:00

Peruvian culture in general is very machista - women (not all, but in general) spend all morning cooking lunch, will sometimes clean the house three times a day, and generally are limited to certain roles. But, on March 8th, they recieve at least a little recognition on International Day of the Woman.

Though I feel like the day is talked about and joked about more than actually celebrated, the work and role of women is celebrated with gifts or meals and ceremonies in the schools. In our house, I made some breakfast for my housemates (the crepes turned out tasty, but not as perfectly round and beautiful as I would like).

In other noteworthy developments, I start my second week of classes here at Miguel Pro. The first week went very well. Though each day felt long, I enjoyed getting to know my students, feeling like I am becoming part of the teacher community here at the school, and helping try to ease the adjustment of being a teacher for the two newer volunteers. I realized that this is actually the fourth time I have started a new school year (and at three different schools), and have become very comfortable with the return to the classroom.

One of my responsibilities here will be as a co-tutor (which basically means being half guidance counselor and half homeroom teacher). The role offers a unique chance to get to know the students, their families, and to extend my efforts and work beyond the four walls of a classroom. This first semester we will visit the homes of the students, organize Back to School Nights for the parents, a camping trip with the students, and in the allotted class time, discuss short-term and long-term goals in an effort to help the students recognize their abilities and their strengths.

I am working with the fourth year of secondary (basically sophomores in high school), who also were the students with whom I was on Mes de Mision. This connection will make the beginning of the year much easier for me. Also, I am working with the new communications teacher, who is a nice and calm woman. Only side point is that she is 7 months pregnant and so will be taking a short leave in May to give birth. But I am sure I can handle the tutoria on my own for that short time.

In other news, last night, La Teta Asustada did not take home the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. The hype and excitement of the nomination and chance to win spread across the entire country, infiltrating almost all of the news and a lot of the talk around meals this weekend. In English the title is The Milk of Sorrow and it centers on the effects of the Shining Path and the repressive government response on current generations in the Peruvian highlands. An interesting and well-done film, but unfortunately not an Oscar-winner.

So What Was I Up to in February?

2010-02-24T09:22:00.002-05:00

Well, it´s been a restful, busy, exciting and fun-filled month that has left me ready to start the new school year on Monday with ganas and committment.
The relaxation started on the silent retreat in Arequipa. I enjoyed the five days in silence with good food, lots of reading material, the opportunity to go for a little run each day, and really tasty coffee in the morning. The Jesuit who led the retreat did a great job of offering thirty minute talks with further reading and then just letting us go off and digest and reflect. Two particular Bible passages really stuck out to me (and although I usually only take much interest in the Bible as a metaphorical or storytelling work). The first one is on Love and is from Paul´s letter to the Corinthians:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

The other passage I really liked speaks more to how I view humanity. Specifically, I feel like all of my experiences in life have taught me that we share so much in common as people, despite all our differences. I know it sounds like a cliche, but I cannot help but strongly feel it down here in all my positive interactions we people so different from myself. It is also from Corinthians:

¹²The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. ¹³For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

¹⁴Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. ¹⁵If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. ¹⁶And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. ¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

²¹The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" ²²On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Alright, enough semi-proselytizing from me. But I thought about a lot of interesting aspects of life, my relationships with others, and my year that I have left here (I filled like 10 pages in my journal with really little writing).

Ok, so from there we went travelling (with most of our trips being 10ish hours and on overnight buses - though thankfully nothing too bad happened on the buses besides some very smelly and sweaty rides, some sore backs the next day, and some arrivals at dawn while the sleepy cities were just starting to wake up).

Trujillo is a beautifully designed city, while much colonial architechture and striking solid and bright colors. It´s Plaza de Armas is a nice and quiet place to hang out, though the sun was oppresive when we were there and the police would shoo us away from every spot in the shade other than the benches that we found. We also visited the beach there (Huanchaco) and spent a very restful afternoon swimming in the water, getting some good food (Pescado Saltado, which is basically like a stiry fry of fish, peppers and onions served over fried potatoes), and seeing the famous caballo boats the fishermen use (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_V0K7hsy8_7o/RpY7_CKoQ6I/AAAAAAAAADA/HIwdG6V0GWo/s400/100_5346.jpg)

From there, we went to Huaraz (in the northern highlands between the Cordillera Blanca and the Cordillera Negra), where we found ourselves on Fat Tuesday. Though we did not participate much in the parties that were going on for this pre-Lent celebration, we could not avoid the giant street water fight that took place.

Though I know this comparison is a little dramatic, it was like being in a harmless street war zone. Just trying to get to a place to eat lunch and then a tour office to ask about prices, we had to hide around corners, be constantly aware of who had buckets, who was lurking on rooftops, and always ready to sprint quickly away. There were brigades of youths roaming the streets ready to toss water or throw water balloons at you. Multiple times our little group of five American Jesuit volunteers had to rapidly disperse when we heard the war cry of ¨Gringos¨shouted from a group of these pseudohooligans. While sitting and eating lunch, we heard a police siren that had us worried until we saw a massive pack of probably around 200 youths of all ages go running by in the street in search of a refill station. In the end, it was a blast.

We also spent some time in Lima, and I am developing a good sense of some of the main parts of the capital city. I soak in its hustle and bustle and cannot help but enjoy the people watching and interactions that develop out of being in a true city.

For instance, while riding on a bus (and bus rides there just among main parts of the city can take thirty to forty five minutes), a young kid sitting next to me just began to talk to me. It turns out that he is 16 years old and while studying for the University tests and finishing up High School, he is also training and trying out for Cienciano (the professional soccer team from Cusco). We had a real pleasant little talk, shared across cultures and languages, he helped me out with where I was going, and I got off the bus with a smile on my face and a good vibe in general. Little moments like that are wonderful to experience down here.

It makes me happy even right now just to think that I still have a lot of those moments to go over the next year here. And I will be sharing them!

Travels Across Northern Peru

2010-02-22T14:47:00.005-05:00

Photo essay style! We ended up travelling through Lima to Trujillo and its beach and then down through the sierra to Huaraz before heading home. A recap is to come, but here are some photos to whet the appetite.

The male contingent of JV Peru 2010 posturing for the camera. Next to me is Seamus and then Nate.

Some shots of the snow capped mountains peaking through the clouds in the beautiful cordillera blanca.

Just a remarkably beautiful view in this national park. The lagoon is in the foreground with towering cliffs on either side.

Though it doesn´t look like much in this photo, this is overlooking the town of Yungay, that was completely destroyed (25,000 died) in an earthquake in 1970 when a chunk of the glacier that is behind the hill you can see came off and then slid down and covered the entire town like a blanket. It is a very tragic and eerie place: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yungay,_Peru

Me, the Plaza de Armas de Trujillo and an early early Sunday morning.

The lighting is a little off, but this is us at the beach Huanchaco by Trujillo.

The nighttime show at the Parque de Aguas (which has some Guiness record for most and biggest fountains)

Inside the Tunnel Fountain (I think I had been wearing those clothes for like three days straight because of all the overnight buses that we took)

Last, and almost certainly least, is a picture of this creepy clown they made out of the trunk of a tree and put randomly in a park in Lima

Quick Photo Update

2010-02-04T19:16:00.003-05:00

The whole community together in Sama when we went to visit Nate with Cristo Rey. They are building the staircase you see in the background, although the day we went there were some kids just sitting on the side playing cards. Very different from last year.........

My attempt to participate in the JVI Tacna male´s beard growing context over Mes de Mision. I think I only had some success with the ´stache.

At the clausura on the last day. The women in green was our wonderful cook, Olga.

My group and I (on the right) planting some corn. It is a pretty simple process and actually was some of the best work because you could do a lot, talk while working, and see what you accomplished afterwards.

I promise more to come, though maybe not soon. Sunday starts a five day silent retreat (which I am very much looking forward to. I definitely enjoy silence and time to reflect) and then we are traveling northward to Trujillo, Piura and whatever spontaneity throws our way.

The Return

2010-02-01T08:16:00.003-05:00

I want to say that I survived, but this year´s Mes de Mision experience was a lot more enjoyable and easy-going than last year. Obviously, every year many factors are unique to that year (the situation with the food, the type of work being accomplished, the students, etc) and the change from a Cristo Rey, the-kids-should-suffer mentality to a Miguel Pro, allow-the-kids-to-develop-and-mature-in-a-new-service-oriented enviornment both impacted the last month.

Basically, we spent the month pulling out Santa María (a type of weed that somewhat oddly has a holy name), cleaning and feeding goats, working with corn (weeding, harvesting, planting), and playing a lot of sports (from the small field soccer to volleyball to knock out - a wonderful, basketball-like game that we taught the Peruvians). We still had to deal with some of what I have come to see as the usual issues down here in southern Peru. At times, the government officials would tell us there was work, but never send transportation for us. At others, they would not communicate amongst themselves and we would be left hanging in the wind. Additionally, the lack of planning - although I have come to be better at simply being spontaneous, which us volunteers feel is a staple of the part of Peruvian culture that we have experienced down here - also wore on me a bit. I oversaw our finances and held on to all the money (which at the beginning meant carrying around the equivalent of over 1500 dollars in a fannypack all day and night) and my attempts to budget or organize this were expecially difficult with the lack of planning.

At the core of the experience, however, are the students and their personal development. This group of kids was especially respectful, fun-loving, and amiable. There were highs (one night, I was sitting alone in a corner of the school writing in my journal and a group of them came running over to sit around me and tell ghost stories) and there were lows (one kid spent an entire day pouting after I became very frustrated with his lack of participation in the catechesis class we led and told him sternly that he needed to get involved) as are to be expected.

There were many moments of laughter (one student loved throwing out random phrases in English and from time to time would ask me, ¨teacher, are you hungry?¨ when he saw me frustrated. He, of course, meant to ask me if I was angry, but with the silent h in Spanish, it came out in a way that always made me smile) and good bonding with my fellow volunteers and with the students (a hour-long, late night discussion about multiple universes over secretly-popped popcorn comes to mind). There was a lot of the same music (the kids loved to hear me terribly try to sing along to this song without knowing the words: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IEG3z7Ze3I. But let´s be honest, it is called ¨My Beautiful Girl¨ and is by Chino and Nacho, how could it now be wonderful to sing along to?) and some really good and greasy food (all the usual Peruvian cuisine of Arroz Chaufa - fried rice with hot dog bits - Ají de Gallina, Papa Rellena, Porotos, Lentejas, Chicharon de Pollo, Saltado, etc.).

Even though the passed in a much smoother way than last year, I still need time and space to process it and reflect. Next week, I will be going on a five-day silent retreat in which I plan to think a lot about the last month and begin to plan the steps I want to take for next December/January, when my time down here comes to a close. I promise there will be pictures and more thoughts to come!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2009-12-29T08:09:00.003-05:00

From Lima I wish you all a good holiday season.

I am finally feeling like I am on vacation as my mom and I have travelled to Arica and Lima post-Christmas and enjoyed the beach and the big city. Yesterday, while my mom was resting I just walked around a bit in Lima and all the people and life and energy reminded me how much I love big cities.

Of course, for all their good points, there are also the negatives. As we walked across the river from the center and into an area called Rimac, we were actually approached by a police officer who asked us if we were American and then told us that it was too dangerous to continue walking in that area and we should turn around. Imagine that happening in any American city! Then later, I took my mom back to the area that I had been walking around by myself because it was so full of energy and life (and good street food like choclo con queso - corn with cheese - and papa rellena - stuffed potato), and we suffered the consequences. As we were just walking down the street, someone came up from behind my mom and just grabbed her earings out of her ears and ran off with them. Not too much to do, and my mom handled it well, but it definitely clued us both in to the fact that we need to pay more attention.

We also walked around the center a lot, saw an interesting display of nacimientos in the national palace, bought a whole bunch of odds and ends as gifts for the states, and took a ride at night up to the giant cross on the sand dune right near the center. It was quite stunning to look out over all of Lima, and there was definitely a sense of peace and order on seeing it from so high up. But try to imagine a city of 9 million (bigger than New York), but not build vertically at all. Lima is just a sprawling, giant metropolis. And I think for that reason I really love it.

So, plans from here are to say goodbye to my mom tomorrow and fly back to Tacna to rest up before jumping in to Mes de Mision in Ite (if you can read Spanish: es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distrito_de_Ite). Hope everyone is enjoying the mid winter´s rest and the cold wintry weather!

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-11T07:41:00.002-05:00

Even though there has been tons of holiday cheer down here lately (I have been teaching Christmas vocabulary, all the classes have put up their manger scenes - which are the big Christmas decoration down here and they are quite elaborate with all the animals, random buildings, and painted paper for the earth and sky in the background - we had a Christmas mass, caroling session, and paneton - which is like fruit cake - celebration amongst a number of the Catholic schools, etc) it definitely does not feel like holiday season.

I was thinking about it the other day and I think that the mix of warm weather (it is very sunny and warm here around mid day) and the end of the school year (which for my entire life has fallen in June) leaves me feeling very strange about the whole Christmas spirit. That being said, I am not Grinch and am as into it as anyone else. Shoot, I almost ate a full paneton (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_0SjtK2-Ro9Y/SVJHMPRySxI/AAAAAAAAAJw/yNKYt_5yldI/s400/paneton.jpg)
by myself the other night.

Last week I also celebrated my quarter of a century on this Earth. The fact that I was turning 25 - halfway done with my 20s - struck me more in the lead up to the actual day. The day itself I passed in really good spirits and with just a general appreciation for life and this experience.

The night before, my host family threw me a little party with cuy (guinea pig) that was cooked how I like it (in this tasty red sauce instead of spread eagle and fried). The day of, I had my favorite breakfast of a yogurt fruit salad, and then went to school where they sung happy birthday, we played games, and I let the kids throw water on me (which they claimed was a Peruvian tradition, but I am a little suspect. It is a tradition to break an egg on the head of the birthday girl or boy, but they did not even suggest doing that). After school, I went to the house of one of the families of my students (actually my two best students) and they had a little birthday lunch for me. Later at night, we bought some beers and invited over neighborhood friends for just a little get together to sit and chat. It was a nice calm ending - exactly what I wanted - to a good birthday that was filled with eating good food. I may have had more picante (the typical Tacna dish made with cow´s stomach) than at any other point in the year down here.

Otherwise, like I said, the end of the school year is coming, so I am planning all my final tests, getting ready for my mom to come down and visit and trying to make sure the transition of Christa and Chelsea leaving and Seamus and Maureen moving in goes smoothly. We are working hard on the preparations for the going away party this Sunday, which will cap a busy weekend as I also will become a godfather of confirmation for one of my students this Saturday morning.

Hope everyone is having a happy (and most likely cold) holiday season in the states!

Photos from October Site Visit

2009-11-27T07:31:00.002-05:00

Now you really get to see my reality of teaching in Viñani - so feast your eyes. This is the ¨classroom¨ that until yesterday I was using to teach secondary.

Here is me working with some primary students (fourth graders)

Me with some spellbound fourth graders. I like how it even has a girl nicely raising her hand in the corner. Beautiful teaching picture.

This is me with Meghan (the director, duh duh duh) on the way to my school. This is just outside our house in Habitat.

The COMMUNITY on retreat at the beach. It was a great, relaxing, and enlightening time.

Photos!

2009-11-22T14:02:00.004-05:00

This is the cake that they bought for the occasion. I don´t know about you, but I love the taste of the Bible....

Here is my ahijada with her aunt, Edith. Christa and I were the godparents.

A celebratory reception lunch at the restaurante campestre El Patroncito, with the ¨poor girls¨dancing with the band in the background.

Whirlwind Weeks

2009-11-20T08:44:00.002-05:00

This time of the year is notoriously crazy down here and it is living up to the billing. I feel tired (but not down or depressed) and like there is much that I am not finding time to do (my laundry has piled up more so than at any other point in the year and my room could use a very good sweeping).

Nevertheless, I am enjoying life and taking advantage of all the interesting opportunities of life down here in Tacna. The school I will teach at next year, Miguel Pro, is having a camping trip with its third year of secondary students (who I will be going on Mes de Mision with in January) and I am excited to do that with them this weekend and travel to a part of the Tacna province that I have never seen. The school is also having the celebration of their dia familiar on November 29th and I, along with my housemates, am going to take part in the teacher´s dance presentation. We will be dancing this huayno (a traditional type of dance here in Peru): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTbtQG3o2kA

Simply fun.

A Little (Normal) Craziness

2009-11-17T07:06:00.003-05:00

The new volunteers (Seamus and Maureen) arrived here in little ole Tacna, Peru on Friday and we spent a fun weekend with them that included going out for a welcome lunch, going to a birthday party, and then capped it off with an introduction to Miguel Pro yesterday morning. I was included in that as that is where I will be next year, and it was very exciting to feel part of something new and all the energy around having new faces and new possibilities.

I also had a wonderful weekend because I was the godfather for the first communion of a close neighbor of ours. During the lunch that we ate at their house after, I felt very calm and relaxed and enjoyed sitting there for hours just talking. I spent quite awhile in the kitchen discussing everything from love to family to cooking with Edith (the neighbor, who also offers the step classes in her house that I go to). She made some chicken in a pineapple sauce (chinese food style) and kept talking about how many calories it had and joking about it being a ¨pecado.¨ She is a wonderfully kind and humble women, and at times it definitely pains me to see these effects of, what I interpret as, low self-esteem. It is quite fun though to go to her classes because when she is leading an exercise class, she turns into a much more self-assured leader. Maybe that is partly why she focuses so much on that part of her life.

Well, the craziness arrived yesterday when I returned to school after having missed some time there on Friday to welcome the new arrivals. I found out that a student (actually, whose name is Jesus, had played Jesus in the stations of the cross that we did, and generally is known as a humble, but good kid around the school) was found to be dealing drugs. The whole story is a long he-said-she-said rumor mill, but basically it seems like he was dealing drugs and one baggie was confiscated from a second year (equivalent of 8th grader) and then the police were called in.

The whole aspect of drugs being dealt within the school and this particular adolescent falling victim to it is sad, but to me the greater issue was in how the school handled the whole issue. I believe it was right to call in the police, but in the impromptu meeting we held yesterday for an hour (while the students had no one overseeing them) was basically filled with accusations, shouting, crying, and at the end, maybe some positive decisions about how to go forward. But there was no discussion about the fact that there is no structure of discipline or plan of what to do in such situations. There was discussion about some of the greater issues we have with letting the students be relaxed (arriving late, entering the school grounds after hours and hanging out in the classrooms, not doing homework, etc), but no progress was made on that front. Also, many of the secondary teachers simply used the meeting to launch personal attacks on others or defend themselves.

I felt moved a number of times to speak, but my opinion is definitely not valued in such situations (even though I have a number of ideas, especially because of the at least semi-successful discipline setups I see at Miguel Pro and Cristo Rey), so I kept quiet. I was also going to make my big announcement yesterday that I would not be coming back next year, but I decided to leave that for another day.

Oh, and then in my after school, extra English class, a fourth grade girl just collapsed on the floor and began to pee her pants. She had not indicated any previous need to go to the bathroom and I just thought she was playing around. I felt really bad for her and for her older brother, but I tried to just help her find a way to the bathroom and then push on to minimize the embarassment.

What a day.

Post Birthdays (Not mine) Update

2009-11-13T07:19:00.002-05:00

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.

ONE YEAR - WOOHOOO

2009-11-10T07:07:00.003-05:00

Well, yesterday passed my one year anniversary of stepping off an airplane in the early morning sun of a quiet, humble, patriotic and southern Peru city of Tacna. Actually, I did not feel anything particularly special yesterday. If anything I was definitely having one of those days in which I was yearning a bit for home and the organization and structure of schools (in general) in the states.

I did, however, give myself a little one year present and I went to get my teeth cleaned. The dentist also told me I have three little cavities! I have never had any before in my life, and I most certainly blame eating habits down here. Well, if I were to be honest with myself, obviously it is partly my fault, but the do love their sweets down here and you really cannot say no to anything offered to you. For one thing, it is a bit offensive to refuse whenever anything is offered to you. Also, if you turn down any sweet or food, people automatically assume you are on a diet or are worried about getting fat and will not stop talking about it. But, I must admit, that is a pretty endearing part of the culture down here.

I just wanted to update everyone that it has been one year and that I am still alive and well. The most exciting thing to happen lately was a trip I took with the youth group to do some volunteer work at a retirement home run by some nuns. I really enjoyed talking and interacting with the elderly and I think they appreciated the energy the kids brought, even if the kids were pretty much having a dance party since they had not planned out well what they were going to do to entertain the adults.

More Photos - Yay!

2009-10-27T08:07:00.005-04:00

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

2009-10-24T10:37:00.004-04:00

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

2009-10-20T08:19:00.002-04:00

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

2009-10-06T08:14:00.002-04:00

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!

Positive Moments

2009-09-16T16:43:00.004-04:00

I realized that by spacing my last two blog entries apart so much, it might have seemed like that was two typical weekends. All of that happened over four days, however, that are the biggest fiesta days of the year here because it was the celebration of Tacna´s return to Peru.

Anyhow, I figured I should write about something maybe a little more touching. My school - Santa Cruz - has many issues of control and discipline (it was decided recently that they would hold out kids who came more than five minutes late of the first two hours of class while they wrote ¨I should not arrive late¨ five hundred times), but when there are serious issues at stake, it and the people in charge can surprise me. When it was discovered (though honestly I am not entirely sure) that a girl in first year of secondary was being sexually abused by her father-in-law and her mother did not know, the secondary teachers acted swiftly. They brought in the mother, met with her, discussed how to address it with the authorities, met with her and the man involved in this, and generally just seemed to care sincerely for the best interests of this girl.

I mention this story because shortly after I found out about all this, I saw her one weekend on a crowded bus. She was working as the assistant who opens and shuts the door, who collects fares, and who has to manage everything while the driver drives. She told me that she does this every weekend on Saturday and Sunday. I put it altogether in my head and realized that what I had taken as an attitude of not caring and being lazy when she was in my section for the first semester (she failed and was moved down) was in reality just probably an overwhelming mix of emotional and physical demands. I mean, what 12 to 13 year old can be expected to work all weekend, go through the issues she was facing at home and still have enough time and energy and focus to do what is expected of her in school (much less that of a class like English that is fewer hours and less intense than some others).

Since then, I have made an effort to reach out to her more (not to pry or try to get her to open up, but just to chat and joke), and she definitely seems more cheerful and more involved. I honestly do not know how everything has been settled at home, but I do know that everytime I get a chance to talk a bit with her, she always has a smile on her face. And that gives me more life too.

And the afro dance classes I started taking early last week are super fun (even though I am the only guy other than the teacher). I really enjoy moving my hips a lot, though I have not yet mastered the moving your feet, getting some hip twist and shimmying with your shoulders all at one. Here is a little clip if you are interested in what its like (though not so good quality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv8WDNHfVNE&feature=related

Tacna Day Weekend Continued

2009-09-11T16:24:00.004-04:00

Saturday: So although I am posting this long after the fact, it definitely warrants some ink (or computer space?). On this day, I went with my host mother and Cara to the Feritac (Feria de Tacna) that might be basically the equivalent of a state fair, but for Peru. It had all sorts of advertisement booths giving out free nonsense on different products (replete with free samples, but I will get to that later), some stands selling traditional candies and delicacies, a car show (which in its own right was bizarre because it was a car audio show and so it was all about who had the loudest sound system and some of the cars were crap), a horse show (also bizarre), and assorted other things.
We end up getting in because my host mother, who is a nut, goes up to a random guard at a random gate and starts badgering him about how she knows the head of the fair (possibly through some distant, random connection) and has free passes (untrue) and has been walking around the fair forever trying to find the right gate (also untrue). Her craziness/persistence/lack of shame makes things work and the guy just waves us through instead of fighting.
After strolling through the fair and seeing what it had, we entered the big building where all the little stands were. I would estimate that about a fourth to a half were wine, pisco, or ¨healthy drinks¨(everything from coffee liquors to fig wine to the like). We walked around sampling everything and getting a little buzzed off of all the free little shots of the different drinks. Though I did get a tired of trying to pull the ¨I might be interested in your product¨attitude.
Then we go to wait where they are going to have a food festival of different alpaca dishes. Showing her crazy brashness once again, my host mother goes behind one of the tables where the different culinary schools are preparing their foods and drinks and just pretty much steals a couple seats for us. So, we sit there for awhile, and then she starts to ask for samplings of the different foods from the different culinary schools, and most are friendly enough and buzzing too (they were passing around more pisco that they shared with us) that they were totally cool with it.
All of a sudden, next to us arrives the mayor of Tacna (a gordo named Lucho Torres) and he takes his seat right there. We have been thrust into the spotlight as the guests of honor at the left hand of the mayor! And since he was educated at the Jesuit school in Tacna, of course my crazy host mother starts talking with him and before I know it we are all friendly and chummy, he is giving us big servings of the numerous alpaca meat platters he is recieving (at one point, we each got our own couple of grilled alpaca ribs - delicious), serving us wine and pisco that they have given him, and we are being serenated as well by what looks like a fifties washed up lounge singer who is singing ¨typical¨ music for the occasion. By the end of the afternoon, we were invited to numerous pisco sours as well, saw some trick bartending, and basically just had a grand old time. I have pictures to prove it all that I will put up when I can.
Sunday: Birthday of this sweet old lady who cooks breakfasts at the market by my school. We go to her house for wine, a delicious cocktail of some sort and heaping portions of arroz verde (or arroz con pollo) that is simply outstanding.
Monday: The birthday of the communications teacher Rosalia. Needless to say, much alcohol (so much was being pushed on me that was trying to hide the glasses and ended the night with six or seven on the table next to me, all with varying amounts of alcohol) was served, some delicious large portions of food were doled out, and I became a dancing fool. I really enjoy those type of smaller, intimate gatherings that are just good times to share and relax.

Man, was I tired the rest of the week though.

Wild Weekend of Tacna Day

2009-09-04T08:27:00.002-04:00

Last Friday marked 80 years of Tacna rejoining the republic of Peru after a little interlude (of about fifty years) as part of Chile. It ended up being a pretty wild weekend because of this, and it almost felt like a minivacation because we stopped with classes at 11 am on Thursday (and everyday I teach from 11 to the end of the day so I missed a lot of class) in order to have a little celebration in the school. Here is a little day-by-day breakdown, with photos to come if I can figure out how to get around the password protection they have put up on these computers.
Thursday: The ceremony at school was definitely a little interesting bit of the whole weekend. The kids mached in with the flag, but dressed up as citizens of the city from 1929. People threw the typical Tacna flower, the bugambilla, and we all sang the national anthem (which I have memorized by now and I am quite proud of). The secondary students read some poetry from famous poets of the city and danced a polka (I have no idea how this became a typical dance of here, but I found it quite funny and enjoyed the way the boys got to just basically rock back and forth while holding their suit jackets). Afterwards, we shared some picante - a typical Tacneno dish that has cow´s stomach in it. Apparently it comes from the time of the Chilean occupation when the Chileans would take all the good cow´s meat for themselves and give the local people the stomach to eat, and so they cooked it with a ton of peppers and a thick sauce to make it less disgusting. Now it is the dish of local pride - funny how that works, no?
Other highlights of the day were a three to four hour school meeting where each person individually talked about their thoughts of how the school has been since the fire (the director made his monthly trip down from Lima and it was the first time he was around since the fire), and going out at night to celebrate a friend´s birthday. The band played 80s rock and randomly at like 1245 a military procession passed by outside on the main street.
Friday: Big old parade that was proceeded by lots of different organizations making these ¨carpets¨ along the parade root. Using different colored sawdust and flowers, they basically made these elaborate designs on the ground (I will put up pictures when I can), and until the big giant flag processed down, no one could step on them (so the first few groups had to crowd the sidewalks and step carefully as they paraded down to the main plaza). The highlight of the parade was a huge flag, followed by all the local politicians - and actually as it stopped for a second by us, Cara´s host family (I was watching it with them) rushed out onto the street
to serve a toast (or brindis as it is called here) to the main characters. Then there were a number of bands and many different groups from all the municipalities. And if one group was parading down without marching, the crowd would literally boo them and get angry (which I found quite humorous).
Also, I saw across the street a friend who had hosted us for lunch last weekend (and used to be in the military and is an older guy with tons and tons of Tacna pride. In fact, the week before at his luncheon, he shot his gun off into the air after singing the Tacna anthem and yelling Viva Tacna), and he shouted ¨Que viva las mujeres tacnenas¨(¨Long live the Tacnena Women¨). He then, using only improvised sin language, motioned to me that I needed to marry a woman from Tacna. He was quite forceful about it and everytime we made eye contact across the parade, he would do it again. He might have been a touch drunk and after seeing him with the gun last week, I figured it was better to just keep rolling with the joke and appease him.
Finally, the parade ended with all the military marching, from the military schools (not so intimidating) to the cavalary (not intimidating to me, but some people definitely backed away from the parade when the horse´s came down) to the commandos all painted up and armed to the teeth (very intimidating to me). I went with Nate and my host family to have lunch and we had some good picante and some delicious arroz con pollo (chicken with rice, but its a green rice that is super delicious).
Ok, so I will finish up the rest of the weekend later since I probably should get off to school now.

Post # 40

2009-08-14T09:02:00.003-04:00

It seems like everyday there is some indication of how long I have been down here (now it is going on longer than 9 months). Today's sign is this 40th post of the blog, which finds me in an interesting place. My regular English classes have pretty much been taken away from me - the lack of space as they construct the new classrooms after the fire is pretty much an excuse as I think it has more to do with issues amongst the Secondary teachers and especially how most have some issues with the Peruvian english teacher, Sandra, because she does not have to teach full classes because of me and isn't as involved in the school as most of them are. But we as a community are going to Arica, Chile this weekend for retreat (four days to discuss social justice and spirituality and that excites me).
Before I forget, a fun experience I want to mention from vacations was when I decided to accompany the elder woman who runs the local store we go to in Habitat on her early morning market run. It was my form of a birthday present to her although I was not able to provide much help, but rather mostly just companionship on the early morning chore. I am amazed by her ability every morning to get up at 3 am (yes three in the morning) and go to the big market in town and do all of the shopping for the store. To see this little, elder Peruvian woman running all over this big market to pick up everything from fruit to 800 pieces of bread to lemons to onions to little bags of liquified garlic to the chicken and meat was quite incredible.
Another fun little experience came as a surprise yesterday morning when I showed up to school and found out that the entire school was going to listen to a talk/show about important life values put on by the local municipality government. It was basically a talk aimed for younger kids (complete with a guy on stilts, funny sound effects, clowns and prizes of lollipops), but they did bring the teachers out at one point.
For whatever reason, I was really feeling into the fun and spirit of this whole event and so when they called up the teachers, I was running around getting my students to chant ¨lealtad, lealtad¨(loyalty), I was dancing up a storm during the dance contest and then got really into the prize-deciding contest. As it turned out, this involved one clown pulling out a little frog puppet and making each teacher play a part in this little dialogue:
-¿Te vendo mi sapito? (Can I sell you my little frog?)
-Pero, ¿asusta tu sapito? (But, does your little frog get scared?)
-No, no asusta mi sapito. (No, my little frog does not get scared?)
- Entonces, te lo compro. (Ok, then I will buy it from you)
I got really into doing the acting and having fun with this contest (including asking if the frog was especially scared of gringos). Needless to say, I was a co-winner and just generally had a blast. It was also definitely an ego trip when all the secondary students screamed and shouted when my name was called at the end. I guess in general it just felt like one of those moments when I threw caution or shame to the wind and really entered into the moment and therefore reaped the benefits of the experience. Too bad I did not have a camera.

Tragedies, Typhoid, Travels and Taking Photos

2009-08-09T16:49:00.007-04:00

It´s been a long time in coming, but after almost a month long vacation filled with many interesting details to relate, I am finally making myself sit down before the second half of the school year begins to post a life update. Also, as a side note, today marks nine months in Peru for me - I swear I am not counting down or counting up the days (we talk a lot in our community about simply trying to live in the moment), but it is still interesting to realize how long that has been.
So, to begin with the first T: Tragedy. Before I left for a two week trip during vacations, a very sad event occured in our neighborhood here in Habitat. There is a family of three who we as volunteers are very close to. The father, Martin, is a wonderful, McGyver-like, intelligent man who is our main source on Peruvian politics. He goes fishing to the beach with just a backpack of water and possibly some string and catches the bait for himself, and fishes almost all-night long in the water. His wife, Ediht, is the instructor for the step class that I go to regularly and a wonderful, though at times shy woman. She is a character as an aerobics instructor and like her husband and their son, very humble. The son, Jayson, had struggled his whole life with scoleosis (spelling¿) and if he had access to American medical care or was from a wealthier family, when he was young, it probably could have been corrected. As it turned out, his lungs were restricted because the curvature of his spine was so intense and it pained him to even walk the couple blocks to school. The school even moved his classroom down from the third floor because stairs were tough for him. Despite his problems, he was the best student in the school, was wonderful at English, and participated in almost every school event (including the month long service trip they do - mes de mision - where he helped cook and do other chores that he was able to).
The tragedy occured just before we left as Jayson became ill (first with a cold and a fever) and because of complications with his asthma and weak physical state, the illness developed into pneumonia and eventually took his life. To me, as to many, the rapidness with which this tragedy struck was stunning and I was left feeling empty and useless as I tried to process what had happened and also to support the family. The day after his death, his body was placed in the communal building for habitat and there was a all-afternoon and night vigil-wake. The next day they processed with the body to the church, held the funeral service, and then proceeded uptown to the cementary to bury him. Additionally, family and friends helped cook a large meal to serve to all those when they returned from the burial. To see the support and the coming together of the community to mourn and show their care for Jayson and his family was quite touching. For instance, the sudden costs of the treatment for the final days and then of the burial were quite overwhelming for Martin and Ediht, but after a collection was taken, the outpouring was more than enough.
A death is never an easy thing to experience, and for me it was one of my closest experiences with it. My maternal grandmother is the only real close friend or family member who has died in my life (there have been a few others, but none that I was particularly close to at the time of their passing), but I was in Colombia when that occurred and it was sort of a drawn out process with her weakening physical condition that it did not strike me in the same way. I still haven´t sat down and thought about all that I felt and saw (for instance, seeing Martin lead the pallbearers with his son´s body from the church is an image that will be etched in my mind for a long time), so I will keep thinking and writing about this probably.
A second tragedy (I promise, things get better with this one) was that half of my school, Santa Cruz, burned down. I found out early one Thursday morning during vacations that the estera (the bamboo-wood classrooms, which included the English classroom we had) had burned down in an overnight fire. I went to the school that morning to see the black and charred wreckage of about 8 or 9 classrooms. But immediately from the start there was hope as the local government officials arrived with many promises and there were bulldozers already on the scene ready to begin the work needed to make it ready for the start of school. When I returned this past Friday, I was standing in the entryway with the janitor-handyman and a hefty, important looking official arrived. He began to tell us how everything that was needed to complete the work was on its way and then he said goodbye. I later found out that that was the Mayor of Tacna and that the unfinished classrooms were being repaired and other prefabricated ones were going to go up this weekend to have the school ready to open tomorrow. I will see how it all turned out when I show up tomorrow, but the school could actually end up better than before vacation as these prefabricated rooms look better than the estera and they are finishing two of the cement ones as well. I heard that the news of this fire extended far across the country in the press and so the pressure was quite strong on the government to respond.
Phfewf, this is an epic one. Ok, on to Typhoid. Also in the beginning of vacations, I developed a very high fever one day (it reached up past 104 degrees) and had some extreme chills and weakness. When I went to the clinic, I had a blood test and the doctor noted that my white blood cell count was low (which I guess is not your body´s normal response to most viruses or infections - since it usually rises to fight the invader). The doctor called in the internist, who kind of did a whirlwind check and told me that I had Typhoid. In retrospect, his inspection was probably not thorough and they did not actually put me through the whole test for it (which at the time I didn´t know could be done). They did prescribe me some super strong antibiotics that I had to have injected into me with big needles (this kind nurse in our neighborhood came over to do it at night, though with the final injection, she had to stick me three times and cut up my arm a bit before she didn´t realize there was a piece of glass in the cotton that she was using to clean my arm - but let´s not harp on the bad, she was incredibly kind to me). Within a day, I didn´t have any more fever and I rested for the following four and a half days before going on my two week travels. I felt like I was ready to travel and was all fine, though a number of people expressed concerns to me that I should rest more. In retrospect, I had no issues during my travels and in general I think I probably had some sort of bacteria, but not typhoid (which does not start or go away that fast and is almost always accompanied by stomach troubles). But I will get a follow up blood test to make sure something else wacky is not going on, don´t worry.
Travels - so, I might expand on this later because I am feeling a bit tired out and my wrists hurt, but I will give it a short recap now. Nate and I visited the towns and cities of Urcos, Anadahuayllas to the south of Cusco, Cusco, Curahuasi to the west (where my host father is from and still has a lot of family), Arequipa (the white city) and Colca Canyon (which they say is longer and deeper than the grand canyon). All in all, we meet a wide range of incredible people who were very generous and incredibly welcoming. Whether it was the Jesuits in Urcos and in Arequipa or the more distant members of my host family in Curahuasi and Cusco, it was amazing how people accepted us into their homes and treated us as family without any second thoughts or complaints-grumblings. And because of this, I felt like I really got to know more of the country and definitely got to see some of its incredible views in the Andes of Curahuasi and Colca (where we saw some of the emblematic condors). I also got to see some guinea pig cooked, but through the whole process. In Curahuasi the kitchen area where we hung out and talked with the family was filled with them and one night they killed (by snapping the necks), dehaired, gutted, cleaned, filled with a stuffing and cooked eight of them. Even after seeing all the nastiness, they were still delicious.
Nate and I also got to bond and share a lot - from long bus rides overnight, to slowly sipping a good black beer in a bar overlooking Cusco's main square, to doing a ton of walking everywhere, to marveling at the attitudes and acceptance of the people we met along the way. He has a very affable, easygoing way about him that was wonderful to have as a traveling companion to mediate my bad moods and to simply at times walk around the new places to observe and soak them in. We had very few moments of high stress on the trip.
And now to give you a little sense of what it was all like, I have a good treat: pictures!
After climbing back to the top of Colca, Nate and I decided it was time for a picture together. He is standing in a very classic Nate pose.

So, this picture is terrible because you can´t see my face, but wonderful for the view of the plaza in Arequipa and the mountains in the background. This view of the beautiful city comes from the top of the Jesuit church just off the plaza.

We just had to stop at one of the little houses with a red flag flying from it in a small pueblo about 30 minutes from Cusco to try the chicha. It is a very typical beverage which is alcoholic and made out of maize. Only thing that can be said for it - the second and third sip aren´t nearly as bad as the first.

The world famous condor with the view of Colca Canyon in the background. When we arrived, there were five or six and though they are quite majestic, I was a little underwhelmed. But shhh, don´t tell the Peruvians.

After we climbed to the top of the hill (it was quite high up and also had an amazing view) next to Curahuasi, I set my camera on auto and got a picture of us four trekkers together. The girl and the little kid are part of my host father´s family who so warmly embraced us in Cusco and Curahuasi.

Twice in Two Days?

2009-07-15T18:40:00.002-04:00

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.

Box of Chocolates - Peruvian Style

2009-07-14T17:35:00.002-04:00

Wow, so life has definitely been a bit of a whirlwind down here lately. Though in retrospect, I feel like I am only fooling myself when I try to pretend that life could be normal and mundane here. With the cultural differences and challenges, every day offers its own little surprises and twists and turns. Because just like a box of chocolates that my family might send from the States (thanks for the packages - and I definitely do enjoy sharing American goodies with everyone down here) - you never know what you are going to get.

Ok, so whirlwind tour of whirlwind week:
- Last week, I was asked by my housemate Chelsea to accompany her on an errand that ended up being quite the experience. To put things as simply and straightforward as possible, a fifth grade girl marked that she had been sexually abused, which opened up into this whole realization that she was basically being treated like a slave by her father-in-law (who doesn{t like her to eat anything because they are poor and any food should be for his kids), has been left alone for long stretches of time, and has suffered some real serious physical abuse at times. Chelsea had the unenviable task of first getting a neighbor to take in the girl for the night and then going to tell the mother that the girl was not going home and that they were beginning procedures with the state for her to be taken away. I was the hired muscle to provide support. The meeting with the mother was overwhelming to me personally - at times, I wanted to believe and buy into her grief, at others I thought she was crazy, and in general, the gravity and the sadness of the whole situation just sort of seeped into me. Anyway, it turned out legally that the girl had to be at home to start legal proceedings against the family (go figure) and so she had to be taken back home the next day. At 3:30 that morning though, I was woken up when she came knocking to our door saying her mom had threatened to move with her and she was scared. Now, she was taken away by the state but is in an orphanage/foster home that is also for kids who have committed crimes and had serious behavior issues. Just a sad, sad story.

- Then, this past Friday, Alan Garcia - the president - decided suddenly that Swine Flu was such a concern here that vacations needed to be started early. But apparently it was not enough of a threat to actually shut down the schools right away (today was our last day). Basically though, it seems to be a political move. There have only been two deaths in all of Peru because of the flu and there have been a bunch of strong strikes lately since this month ends with the independence day celebrations and apparently everyone uses the flag for their own causes leading up to it. If you are curious and can read Spanish, here is a bit about it: http://www.perupuntocom.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=15357
Oh, and I will update what my plans are for this estended (though only by a few days) vacation when I firm things up.

- Lastly, our community went to the beach to a nuns house for a retreat this past weekend. There were about three dead seals on the beach (apparently they get killed by fishermen and just end up on the beach). It was real good because we had a chance to relax and work out some community things that had been causing tension lately. We also had a funny moment Saturday when we were playing a game called Phase ten and drinking a little bit of chilean wine. The five of us had forgotten to bring glasses with us, so our cups consisted of a bowl, a sport water bottle, an empty coke zero bottle and then the two halves of a plastic water bottle that I had cut in half with a knife (one side having the cap as the bottom). It was quite the little toast. The other neat part of the weekend was that our friend from habitat spent the night out on the sand fishing and camping out. We went to see his catch and him clean up in the morning and he was explaining to us all about fishing with nothing but a net and some string (he catches his own bait by grabbing little crabs at night). He clearly is the man to find in the case of the apocolypse, the collapse of the financial system, or a paralyzing strike (not so inconcievable here).

For You Dad

2009-07-06T12:29:00.004-04:00

In talking with my father recently, I realized that there are at least some people out there who read these thoughts, musings, and stories, and so it is probably worth it to keep it high on my priority list. Plus, what excuse do I have not to post since it was a three day weekend for Day of the Teacher (though it seems mostly like an excuse for a day off and a lunch/dance party - which I took advantage of on Friday to integrate more into the community of teachers at Santa Cruz and to wave my American flag with pride) and there is a high likelihood of a strike tomorrow or Wednesday by the transportation workers here?

Anyway, the story I feel like relating would also be something I imagine my Dad appreciating, so I felt this post would be aptly dedicated to him.

The other day, I was putting up an exercise on the board to with my fourth grade of primary students. I wrote a number of sentences with a blank, alongside the instructions. The instructions were to ¨Put a number in the space¨(I use the word space instead of blank often because it looks exactly like the Spanish espacio and so I feel like it helps boost their understanding of cognates).

All of a sudden, I see this one little child, Ivan (who is quite sweet and good natured, though he gets distracted often), gasp and start to look around at his classmates. I quickly realize something is wrong (I have learned to read students faces and my own mistakes quite quickly) and take a second look at the instructions. With my slightly messy handwriting, I had almost united the first two words of the instructions so that they read ¨Puta¨ instead of ¨Put a.¨ Anyone who knows Spanish will immediately realize my error, and for those who don´t, let´s just leave it at the fact that I had pretty much written a serious bad word.

I quickly erased the a with my hand and went through the instructions one more time to try to focus the students. Though that saved the day, I couldn´t help but giggle to myself and make a mental note so save this story as a good one to relate about the pitfalls of teaching across languages.

Elaboration

2009-06-14T12:19:00.002-04:00

To elaborate a bit and to fulfill two of my promises, I figured I would take advantage of a lazy Sunday after my youth group (we talked about upcoming encuentro juvenil activities and the order of the liturgy - and things went smoothly, which was nice after the group split in two because of my other two co-leaders not being able to work together).

So first of all, the Fiestas de las Cruces in which my community mates did the whole dress-up-and-dance-with-a-group (see picture) thing was an incedible experience. On a side note, incredible is a word I catch myself using a lot here (increible). Anyhoo, it basically involved them dancing for long stretches of time (but the morenada dance is a very easy and not so tiring dance), all of us recieving food and bastante beer (at one point, a truck pulled up an unloaded fifty cases of beer that someone was giving as a gift to the padrino of the party. What I really enjoyed the most was the spirit of camaraderie and sharing that penetrated everything. People just had fun, talked for long hours, danced, watched others danced, listened to the band and just generally enjoyed life. The darker side I guess would be that drinking within this context is not just to enhance the enjoyment or to be social - for many, it is to get to the point where they are no longer in control of themselves. This leads to such problems as drunk driving - I, for example, tried to stop a random guy I saw getting on his motorcycle and tipping back and forth as he tried to drive away. I failed in preventing him from driving off drunk, though my friends said they saw him the next day (so at least he survived).

On a little bit less of a mixed note, Chile was a great trip and I loved getting a new stamp on my passport (it helps my little jokes that I am making my way south down the continent - the first country in SA that I ever visited was Colombia, then Ecuador, now Peru and Chile). Arica is right on the beach and has the aura of a beach town. The houses are all low and many are brightly colored (in some ways, it reminded me of Florida in this sense). It has its huge supermarket - and I later found out that the chain is in fact owned by Walmart since this past January. It has a nice strip right in the middle that is closed off the cars and ends in a McDonalds and Blockbuster (oh my god!). I shared the experience with Nate and my host family, and we probably walked over five miles all told in the day (wowy). But it did finish with a stop in an artesanal ice cream shop where we had some sick dessert and cracked open a bottle of beer - which was a great relaxing way to end the day.

On a last, completely random note, this song has made many many many appearances in my life here recently. I´ll leave it to you to figure out: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1328k_boy-george-karma-chameleon_music

Photo Promise - Check

2009-06-11T13:06:00.003-04:00

Here is one of the girls in my community (Christa, Cara and Chelsea from left to right) dressed up for their Morenada dancing. This was the big ole block party extravaganza.

Here is a photo from incredibly westernized Arica. Starring front and center are Nate (my other housemate and fellow sports fan) and the Famosa Carmen Rosa - my host mom. She is loca, but oh so wonderful.

Teaser

2009-06-09T08:53:00.002-04:00

It´s been a long time since I have last posted and now I am just posting to say that I will post about everything that has happened - I promise.

But for a short, short update before running off to school:
- Participated in Fiesta de las Cruces in Natividad, which is basically just a big block party with lots of food, drinking and dancing (very fun)
- Had a strange experience at a Quinciañera (basically a sweet sixteen but for when you turn fifteen)
- Went to Chile (and walked everywhere with the crazy host mom)
- Learned a ton about the Peru/Chile War
- Saw Peru lose again in World Cup Qualifying....though they do play Colombia on Wednesday
- Taught a whole bunch
- Tried unsuccessfully to mend a feud in our youth group that has now led to a split (nooooooo)
- Am learning to love guayaba (though this is in French, at least it will give you an idea: http://ia.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guayaba)

I also promise pictures are on the way.

Random Moments in Life

2009-05-15T17:15:00.002-04:00

This morning I was really torn when I woke up. I could go to Miguel Pro, use the internet, have a slow start to the morning, and then show up at school with enough time to plan and get ready for next week. Or I could go into the center and be there for what was explained to me as vaguely some ¨thing¨going on in the offices o the bishop. All I knew was that some of the kids from school were going, I was asked if I could help, and there was somehow some vocational fair involved.

Well, the vocacational fair almost scared me off - I am often enough here mistaken for a brother or a priest and so did really not feel the need to be recruited to be one - but my sense of responsibility and generally just being more involved in life at the school convinced me to go. It ended up being a great decision because when I arrived, I ran into our of our students who had come from school by themselves to participate in a contest on the ten commandments and other catheticism (spelling?) related subjects. Actually, it was like a city wide test that also had an oral part and some pretty sweet prizes attached to it.

Anyway, these students had no idea what was going on either and I realized that I might be in over my head or might have to take more control/responsibility than I had previously assumed. As they were called up to sign in and register, I went up with them and was berated (the woman did it kindly, but it was still a beratement) for the students not having their official documents and not having an officio saying I was in charge of them and was over seeing them. While, it was news to me that I was overseeing them and I sure as hell had no clue what was suppossed to go down, but with a little questioning and playing dumb, I was able to convince (well, she probably just took pity on me and the students) the woman to let me write out a permission slip of sorts. Well, the Peruvians love their formality and their beauracracy, so I felt pretty small when I returned with a hand written, two line thing claiming I was in charge and had been put in this place by the director of the school. All of the other papers I saw came fully decked out with official stamps, stationery of the schools, were all a page long, included the numbers and important data on the participants and the overseer, and just generally were very official. I had to laugh to myself.

In the end it all worked out and the students were able to enter, but it pretty much is par for the course down here and as soon as it happened I immediately felt like sharing. And then I got off the bus early on the way to school in order to chat it up with these incredibly nice ladies (who were the cooks for the big retreat last year and sell little sandwiches and gelatin outside this fairly large market), who kept trying to stuff me with free shredded chicken or tunafish sandwiches.

I arrived at school about ten minutes before class - not quite what I had imagined when I woke up. But I was in good spirits and had a successul and happy day. When it comes down to it, what more can you ask out of life?

Weddings, Mother´s Day, Grupo Femenino Bolivia = Fun

2009-05-12T08:43:00.005-04:00

You will all probably be glad to know that while I have been very busy lately, it has not simply been a work fest (although the wide variety of English classes I have been teaching definitely keeps me constantly thinking and planning the next one. I actually find that the way I am able to handle the load - I mean, essentially I teach 9 different levels/situations - is to use similar concepts, ideas, and even at times worksheets, but to tailor them to the specific level I am teaching. I feel like this works very well and I am slowly becoming an expert on teaching certain topics that keep arising, such as commands in English). This past weekend, I definitely got to have a lot of fun and take advantage of the windows into Peruvian (and other) culture that life down here affords.

First Thursday. At night we went to a concert for this Bolivian folk/rock group that is composed of all women and was in town to celebrate Mother´s Day. It was actually a real blast and was held in the old Municipal Theater in downtown Tacna. The concert left such an impression on me just because it was such good music, it was definitely a cultural experience (hell, the singers even chose to drink the Peruvian Inka Cola over water when they needed a hydration break), and just some great moments, laughs and songs to share with my community. If you are interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n1fRj2lUvQ

Saturday night we went to a Peruvian wedding, even though I personally did not know anyone from the two couples who were getting married (a brother and sister were both getting married, so they held it jointly). It went all night long - though we left at 3 am. The dinner was served at 2 am and the progression of alcohol was from a chapagne toast to pitchers of this fruity mixed drink, to pitchers of Pisco sours, to pitchers of wine, and apparently later there would be tons of Whiskey (oh boy). But what I really enjoyed was just all the fun dancing and good spirits - though Peruvians really are sticklers for the dancing only in two lines.

The rest of the weekend was mostly Mother´s Day celebration stuff - which definitely made me miss home and my own mother in New York a lot. Down here it is quite the big deal and is celebrated in schools and in workplaces on Friday and Saturday as well. I also remember the International Day of the Woman being a much bigger deal down here and I wonder if because it is such a macho society in today´s modern world that these ¨holidays¨ which would offer some recognition to all that women do do in this culture have become days of great importance. Or maybe they just love their mamas (not mamacitas - though it was fun to make that joke all of yesterday).

Weather News

2009-05-05T09:06:00.002-04:00

Maybe not the most exciting topic, but does dominate life down here a bit and as I am missing the United States a bit more lately, I can only nostalgically think about the fact that spring time is blooming there and we are getting all cold and overcast here.

But basically, as we move into the Peruvian winter in the desert - lest I need to remind you we are technically in the driest desert in the world here - it is freezing at nights and in the mornings, but if the sun comes out in the day, it gets pretty hot still. The sun is the real x factor as it is very very noticable when it comes out, but there is also no such thing as a weather forecast down here and people never actually talk about what temperature it is.

This has left me having to guess each day on what I think the day will turn out to be. Yesterday I definitely guessed wrong and taught my classes while rubbing my arms or warmth. And we have still yet to experience the ¨rain,¨ in whatever form that will come....

Yesterday´s Moment

2009-04-28T08:58:00.002-04:00

There are a lot of noteworthy moments down here, and a lot that make me stop and think. Sometimes these small tidbits leave me pondering something deep and profound and sometimes I just have a chuckle or smile about the differences in culture that exist in this world.

I am still not sure where yesterday´s little moment falls, but it makes an interesting little story to relate. To begin, the center of town here is filled with casinos, but these casinos only have slot machines (alas, no craps tables - which might be a good thing most of the time, but definitely is an impediment to my attempts to lure my college friends down here). Apparently it is mostly Chileans who come up to use these when they come to town to shop and eat the good Peruvian food.

Anyway, yesterday I was walking home after a pretty successful day and a good extra English class that I offer afterschool on Monday and Friday afternoons. I saw two fourth year students huddled around this little machine that is outside one of the internet places out in Vinañi. I came over to them to say hi and saw that they were intently focused on this machine, which had some weird Pokemon drawings on it. I asked them what they were doing and apparently it is some sort of kid´s slot machine (with real money pay outs and all). As I was starting to think about how weird I thought it was in the middle of this deserty area, with houses made of estera and tons of poverty and what not, to have a slot machine just out on the sidewalk (well, there is no sidewalk - out on the side of the dusty dirt road with garbage all over it), the kids were trying to convince me that it was not a scam and you really win money.

When they actually did win one sol and began - goodheartedly - to shout for joy and bicker over the 5 twenty centimo coins that came shooting out, I had to go.

Take out of it what you will, but it definitely left a mark in my memory.

Community Time

2009-04-24T08:29:00.002-04:00

I realized while thinking about something to post today that I haven´t talked too much about my community or the type of things that we do all together. It is an important part of why I chose to do JVI and is such a prominent (both for better and for worse - well, not worse, but at times a struggle) part of life down here, that I feel like I should share a bit.

Every Sunday night we have community night, and that can range and include from playing a game like Spinners (a really fun form of dominoes), to going over house issues, to talking about some interesting issue with some informational prompt (like when we watched a documentary on immigration and discussed it), to simply checking in with each other on how we are feeling and doing.

Every Wednesday night - though with the business as the school year has reved up, this often changes around - we have a Spirituality night. Last night, our in country coordinator - a Jesuit named Father Dolan - came over and we celebrated mass with just our community. I really enjoy those little celebrations because we get a chance to share our own petitions, ask him questions about different parts of the mass (I had not realized before last night that the symbolism of the mixing of wine and water was that they can never be separated once they are mixed). We also sometimes do guided reflections or discuss some issue of spirituality. It usually is just a nice time to relax and reflect a bit - and again, to share in community some feelings and thoughts.

One of the nice things about stressing these times and community dinners (we have three a week in which all five of us committ to being there to eat) is that when the conflicts or little issues arise, we have enough of a foundational relationship of trust and understanding that usually we can discuss the problem from a positive place. For instance, if there is an issue with dishes being left in the drying rack and not being put away or not being cleaned all the way, it is brought up and discussed and usually resolved (though maybe not perfectly). Obviously there are other times when the issue might be harder to discuss or it might brim beneath the surace, but our desires to support each other and the bonding that we have shared definitely helps it all out.

On a different note, I had my second adult English class in Habitat this past Tuesday. Adults are definitely a different challenge to work with (and I am finding that a lot of the interesting resources like worksheets and fun activities out there, that I can find at least, are for children). I am still sort of nervous about the classes - mostly I think because I try to think how I will fill two hours of time - but I am starting to feel like I at least know what my group of students will be like (a little consistency) and what their levels and interests are, which definitely helps.

Another little tid bit - I went on retreat this past weekend with Cristo Rey, which is the wealthy school with which I did Mes de Mision. In the middle of the retreat, as a little exercise, the priest in charge (who happened to be Fr. Dolan) asked the kids if they wanted to continue with the retreat. No one responded and after some awkwardness and a lot of silence, eventually half of the kids did end up leaving. Whoops. I guess it shows that there are spoiled kids and kids who don´t want to be involved in school communities/personal formation everywhere.

A Little Story

2009-04-17T18:17:00.003-04:00

I found this little story funny the other day. I was in the library at Santa Cruz (which means I was in the room with two book shelves of books that also serves as the director´s office, the storage room, my and a number of teacher´s lunch room, and at times the movie viewing room since the tv´s stand does not have four function wheels) and decided it would be a good idea to pick up the Mario Vargas Llosa book they have to get in a little Peruvian reading.

Little did I know that this book, called ¨Eulogia de la madastra,¨ was his foray into erotic fiction. The story was about a mother-in-law who ends up having sexual relations with her husband´s pre-teen son. Additionally, random chapters go into the fantasies of this husband and wife pair - covering everything from ancient royalty (a particularly wierd chapter in which the king bets his right hand man that his wife´s but is better than any of the man´s slaves) to abstract art on the wall. So, anyway, it was a quite bizarre read and I felt a little awkward walking around in public and reading from it (it didn´t help that the cover has a picture of a naked women kissing a little cherub angel - which should have been a forewarning I guess).

Well, so here I am, self-conciously reading this book and walking along the side of one the long roads without a sidewalk (and probably the inevitable likelihood that I will be hit by a car or maybe just a motortaxi) and with tons of trash and dust along its edges, when a fellow walker passes by me. All he says to me as he passes is, ¨Hey, Gringo, leyendo la biblia, eh?¨ The man must have thought I was a mormon - which I feel like I get.

This erotic Mario Vargas Llosa book is about the farest thing from the bible that I can imagine, so I had to have a good laugh. Maybe you had to be there though....

Photos - Yay!

2009-04-11T11:18:00.003-04:00

The overnight caminata (hike) that we went on. We climbed this big sand dune and the sun was just rising and this was the amazing view (check the post below for more info).

This is what I did for five hours in the sun and dust on Friday. I pushed the megaphone cart (which was loaded down with stuff) as we did the Stations of the Cross across the whole neighborhood. You can see some of the youth group members dressed up as they were doing the acting at each station.

Yes, they actually put the kid playing Jesus up on the cross. But he did a really good job - very focused and very somber - especially for a five hour walk. He is a great kid who I have seen really come into his own since I got here. And his name is Jesús.

One of the stations at an altar set up by the local community association. It was really unique to me how these were done and some were quite pretty and especially noteworthy amid the estera, polvo and poverty of Viñani.

Not the best lighting (nor the best picture of me), but from left to right this is Andres (who played Pilate and is in my first year of secondary class), Juan (who is a good friend and the librarian of the school - though he kind of does a little bit of everything. He and I and a sister lead the youth group), and Eduardo (a fourth-year student who is Jesús´brother and another real cool kid. Their family is also extremely, extremely poor).

Holy Week

2009-04-10T11:19:00.003-04:00

This week has been a real whirlwind affair and even though yesterday and today are feriados (holidays here), it certainly does not feel like it.

I will begin with last weekend, when I found myself sleeping in the Miguel Pro science lab in order to wake up at 3 am and walk with the entire school above fourth grade on a five hour hike/Stations of the Cross. It was actually a great experience as I was able to know some more of the kids, spend some time hanging out with Martin (who is the father of a student and just generally an awesome, McGwiver - spelling? - like figure who knows a ton about different crops, Peruvian politics, how to fish with nothing but some string, etc.), and witness a great view of our part of Tacna from the top of a big sand dune that we climbed at the end of the walk. I promise I will put pictures up since it was so neat. After we did the second to last station at the bottom of the hill, the woman running the show just told the kids to basically go wild and run up the sand dune. It created a massive, chaotic, and very cool free-for-all as some ran, some walked, many complained, and all made it up to the top, where we did the last station.

Today I have a big Stations of the Cross walk in the community where my school is. Basically the youth group that I co-lead was put in charge of doing this and each little neighborhood community takes charge of one station and we walk from one to the other and at each station our group is doing a little acting out of the scene. It should be a very unique and community-building experience, though it does mean three hours of walking out in the sun and dust of Viñani. Don´t worry though, I will put on massive amounts of sun block and will wear a hat.

We actually did a similar - though much shorter - Stations of the Cross at school on Wednesday. In typical Peruvian fashion, it was bizzarely organized (each class did a station, but they only came out to do their station and then when it was lunch time and we were still going, all the little kids were released anyway and so you had little tykes running up to Jesus as he was on the cross or playing tag through the entire procession that we teachers were trying to keep somber and focused). I did not find the whole experience so religious, but it was nonetheless fascinating for all its little cultural and community aspects.

Also, of big note down here has been Fujimori´s conviction recently, which I will go into further detail at some point since it is fascinating, but is a little too much for right now. So, I will just leave you now with this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/world/americas/08fujimori.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=peru%20fujimori&st=cse

Good Days and Bad Days

2009-04-03T08:57:00.002-04:00

So, I played a big ole April Fool´s joke on myself Wednesday (even though I didn´t even realize what day it was until the afternoon). I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and with a mindset that it was just going to be a tough day.

Needless to say, it was a self'fulfilling prophecy as it ended up being one of the roughest teaching days I have had so far. I guess what really bothered me is that I feel like I have done a really good job so far with being patient, dealing with issues with students after class, and generally recognizing when a class is going array and steering it back on course.

On Wednesday, though, I just felt like I snapped a couple of times and could really feel the frustration bubbling to the surface. I know those type of days are bound to happen, but I am definitely going to try in the future to be aware of my own moods from the outset of the day and realize that it will take extra work and focus to handle what might be a long day to push through. And after having these issues on Wednesday, I do think I did a bit better on Thursday, when I woke up also a little out of sorts, but really tried to have patience both with myself and the students. My classes did not go perfectly, but I didn´t give out any snap punishments and at least turned those curve balls that came my way into singles if not home runs (by the way, I cannot believe that the baseball season starts this weekend - in some ways it feels like it has been super short and in others super long since the last season ended. And it blows my mind to think the yankees and mets will be opening it up in different stadiums. Someone please go and send me some pictures - though I will be super jealous).

Oh, on a sports-related note, this past Sunday Peru, who cannoty make the World Cup, played Chile and lost 3 - 1. The defeat definitely hurt national pride and there was even a movement to boycott the national team´s next game because they had played so badly. Ouch.

My Weekend

2009-03-29T16:15:00.002-04:00

I just felt an urge while I am on the internet a bit to mention that I have been doing a ton of reading and movie watching down here. I think it comes from having a decent amount of down time and no tv or internet that is easily accessible. I don´t want to make it seem like that is all I do, but it is a big and enjoyable part of life down here.

Some books I have read or am reading:
Autobiography of Bertrand Russell (kinda boring, but I finished it)
The Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes
La casa de los espiritus by Isabel Allende
Mi planta de lima-naranja by some Brazilian dude
The White Man´s Burden (my bro sent it down)
Three Junes (I forget the author)

Some movies I have seen down here:
The Reader (I really didn´t like the love story part in the beginning but it is interesting)
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (A sad, sad, sad Holocaust tale)
Blindness (not nearly as good as the book, but I thought some of it was real good)
The Case of Benjamin Button (not a fan really at all - especially of the stupid hummingbird symbolism)
Slumdog Millionaire (I thought it was pretty good - especially for the window I thought it kind of offered into a world I know nothing about)
Also, some El Salvadorian film about a kid during the civil war and the movie is really really good, but our copy down here is fried halfway through. So, if you figure out what movie I am talking about, please do not ruin it.

Teaching the Little ´Uns

2009-03-27T08:54:00.002-04:00

I have come to actually really enjoy my marathon hour-and-a-half long English classes with the fourth grade kids. Although there can be definitely moments when it is overwhelming (say, when they are all coming up to you, shoving their notebooks in your face to show you that they finished copying the alphabet and demanding that you write excellent or perfect so that they feel validated), it is really quite enjoyable too.

A good example of a fun moment from yesterday´s class with 4b was when I was singing a basic good morning song with them (to the tune of Frair - I have no idea how to spell that - Jacques). Now, a gringo with a terrible singing voice is funny enough, but then I let them also pick what style I would sing in. We went through abuelita, niño, baby, mujer (they loved that one), and finished with monkey style in which I jumped all over the room and scratched my armpits and what not while singing. I guess I just was in really good spirits and feeling very into being silly - a formula that definitely seems to work to a tee with the young ones.

I have also implemented a system in which I have the kids broken down into teams. I find that it helps me keep the discipline positive - for instance, instead of getting frustrated with a kid or telling him to sit down over and over again, I can be like ¨oh man, I really think that this team does not want to earn points because they just don´t seem to be listening¨ or I can focus on the positives of what are going on, like ¨team monkeys are really working hard, they are looking for some serious points¨- and the kids have latched on to the idea. When I go team by team at the end of class giving points and explaining how each team did that day, the kids are just spell bound. And I imagine that as more time passes, they will be thinking about it more and more in the class itself.

Another little moment to share from yesterday was not quite as positive, though I think I handled it well. In my fourth year of secondary class, my brain was spazzing a lot for some reason and I kept having to erase what I had wrote or add something else in with what I had been explaining. I could tell the kids were quite lost and myself was feeling very much all over the place. So I just stopped, sat own on a desk and asked the kids how they were doing. I said, ¨let´s talk about something else for a few minutes¨ and then just chatted a bit with them. Then I apologized for being all over the place and confusing and told them we would go back to the beginning and go over it all again. They seemed to understand it much better the second time and I personally felt like I was being much clearer and precise with the present simple tense (which we were reviewing). So a negative scramble did have its positive ending.

Oh, and one more thing - I am definitely struggling with getting kids to actually do their homework and have tried to add in more reminders (stopping by the classes on days I don´t teach them, reminding them at the beginning of the day) and talked with them about why this is happening, but am very open to any and all suggestions on the matter. Please help!

Finding a Rhythm

2009-03-17T09:47:00.002-04:00

As the school year is starting to get into the flow of the third week, I am definitely finding myself getting into a rhythm of teaching and just generally life here in Tacna. I have my schedule for running and step class, have planned out an entire week ahead of time (although I am still trying to get a feel for what can and what can´t be accomplished in my 45 minute and hour and a half blocks of classes), have found a regular lunch vendor (instead of trying to brave the hordes of kids and parents around the school door trying to pass lunches back and forth only to eat at a street cart or the same chicken everyday at the women´s house who sent us food last year, I and my good friend Juan have settled on having one of the kids mother´s send it into the school for us), and perhaps most important, have begun to feel like a real teacher.

Other than that, not too much else new to note. In our community, we are struggling/discussing the issue of whether or not to invite neighborhood kids over to the house to perhaps hang out, or cook something, or play guitar (and I still harbor hopes to learn myself how to play during my two years here). There are many issues at stake (the privacy of a home, Peruvian versus American culture, worries about the kids becoming dependant/infatuated with us, etc), and I think a number of us in the community feel really strongly about it. We have handled it really well (yeah for Community - and yes, with a capital c) and are discussing the issue with multiple perspectives and advice from others.

On a perhaps more interesting note, the most popular band in Peru came to Tacna on Sunday. I really wanted to go, but partly because of the fear of it lasting until like 4 in the morning I did not. As evidence of why this might have been the case and just generally more Peru craziness, the ads about the city were split between some saying it started at 3 pm and some saying 6 pm, but as of 6, there was no one even in the venue (and, apparently at these types of concerts, the opening act and the main act can go on for like 3 hours each - yikes). Also, this group - they are called Grupo Cinco and play cu-cu-cu-cumbia (said like the bird that goes I´m cu-cu-cu-cu-cucu for coco puffs) is just generally hilarious and here is a picture of them if you want a good laugh: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bAo4_wj7mig/RovcNL1ywmI/AAAAAAAAAj8/Cui0nZjBSuU/s400/grupo5.jpg

Second Week - Grabbing Life by Los Cuernos

2009-03-09T17:00:00.002-04:00

Last week, I was definitely frustrated by the lack of organization at Santa Cruz. I felt like
I just could not really do anything and the excitement I had to start the year was waning as the other English teacher and I did no planning, we had only five students (when the class sizes are 30 to 40) in some classes, the schedule was still up in the air, and just generally there was chaos and confusion.

Talking with my community mates helped a lot and starting late last week I have just decided that I need to be more active and just take the initiative. With this in mind, I made placement/diagnostic tests to help us figure out how to divide up our classes (in secondary - which is basically middle and high school combined - there is one other English teacher and we split each class in half and I take the advanced/more interested students and she takes the others.). I also decided I would take it upon myself to make sure we recognized International Women´s Day, which for those who don´t know was yesterday. I chose a nice little poem to read that I borrow from a community mate and the only movie I could find to show was ¨Frida.¨ It ended up being a real interesting choice as it is very racy and has a couple real sex scenes, but I think the constant thought that I might not skip those parts kept the kids more interested. Also, she is a good example of a strong Latin American woman and someone new for them to learn about.

To give everyone out there a little bit of a sense of how my job will work, here is what my schedule for a week is like. Mondays I always get there early - at 7:45 - for Lunes Civico, during which they sing the national anthem and have a general school assembly in which the Director, Padre Jorge, usually goes on about puntuality and other assorted issues. It is always a little funny to me that he is giving the lecture on puntuality to the kids who arrived on time, while the late ones have to stay outside the school until the assembly is over.

For each of the five years of secondary, I teach three pedagogical hours (forty five minute blocks). But since the English teacher - her name is Sandra - also teaches somewhere else in the morning (it is not unusual for teachers here to have two jobs or even to be working two jobs and still taking further career development classes - which is part of the reason why they tend to only spend the hours they need to teach at the school), these classes never begin until 11:15. In the mornings, I do some prep, chat up different teachers who are around and Padre Jorge (both of which I found is the easiest and best way to find out what is actually going on around the school), and hang out with the kids during their 15 minute recess.

I also am starting this week my primary classes, for which I will be teaching 2 pedagogical hours in a row with each of the 4th year classrooms. Last year, the classes I sat in on or helped teacher with these little uns was quite an experience and I am trying to think of how I am going to handle it this year. I think I am going to really emphasize movement (singing, dancing, etc.) and maybe alternative means of grading as opposed to simply tests. Last year, each time we tried to do a worksheet or a test, it was a real struggle to have them focus, not cheat, and generally the grades came out quite low.

Outside of this weekday/teaching stuff, I also am on of the co-leaders of the Youth Group for the parish that meets on Sundays and I am involved in coordinating and running the tutoring program for which students from the most wealthy (and probably best) school come on Saturday mornings to Vinani. They come from Cristo Rey, which is the school where Nate teaches and with whom I went on Mes de Mision.

Just the Second Day of School Blues...

2009-03-03T14:55:00.002-05:00

So this afternoon finds me a bit down and a little bit shell-shocked. There is still the issue of not really having classes (even though school has started, there is no schedule because of teachers having issues with the way it was done because it leaves them with blocks in the middle of their classes where they have nothing - god forbid they have to be at school when they are not teaching, some classes only have four or five students showing up - even though school HAS begun, some classes are just left on their own for long stretches because the teachers are just sitting around talking). But on top of all that, here are two interesting, to say the least, events that took place today:

1) The beginning of the day was interrupted when the five primary school teachers that the government is trying to place in the school showed up with the police. The padre ended up having to call in the school´s lawyer and go into court, but the basic issue now is that this still isn´t resolved between the teachers from last year (who the Padre has chosen and wants in place) and the state-appointed ones. It seems to me like it is definitely affecting the school and the kids in these lower school classes. The situation boggles my mind - especially that it is still not resolved - but I am trying to remain sympathetic and supportive since I do believe that much of the school community spirit and just generally the sense of justice dictates that the old teachers should stay.

2) For the last few minutes of my last class of the day, I kept hearing some booms coming from nearby. As there is a lot of construction going on and generally random noises or smells or random assaults on the sense, I did not think twice about it. The noise ended up coming from a shootout between the police and some of the people who had set up invasiones (these are the estera homes that people just pop up) on private land. I think the police were coming to clear them out and this crazy shootout broke out. And so what does our school do? Well, we let the kids go just as this shootout is moving closer and closer to one of the compound´s sides and just tell the kids to be careful. Of course they all end up running over that way to see what was going on and I almost had a heartattack. I was sure something was going to happen and thank god it did not, but again, I am left very confused.

I mean, I keep trying to maintain an open mind and remember it is a different culture, but sometimes isn´t there a limit to what makes sense or should happen?

The Last Hurrah

2009-03-01T12:13:00.008-05:00

So, tomorrow classes finally start for me. It´s been almost four months and I have spent a fourth of it in a small town working with adolescent boys, a month of it traveling, a month living with host family, and just a few weeks sprinkled here and there actually living in Habitat and on a routine. I have to say, I am sort of looking forward to finally getting into the meat of the experience. Also, I have to say that I have been feeling odd about living like a tourist and enjoying the benefit of my host family and status as a Westerner who is living quite comfortably. I am sort of looking forward to the challenge of involving myself more in the lives of my students (who are poorer and have much fewer resources than even I do). And I want to do this not because I see myself necessarily as helping them a ton or being able to offer them something, but just because I want to try to accompany them and come as close as I can to feeling and knowing what life is truly like for these Peruvian children. Whether or not I will be able to overcome the obvious obstacles to this, we will see.

The only down side to it all is that pretty much nothing is planned and ready for tomorrow. I know I will be teaching 16 hours of classes with the secondary kids - but I have no idea of my schedule and haven´t planned out anything with the other english teacher. If we do it like we did last year, I will be teaching half of each class (the advanced or ¨better¨ half). I also will probably be teaching the fourth grade little ones. I really need to do some serious brainstorming for some opening activities, so if anyone has some good good ideas, please feel free to post them as comments to the blog!! I also am not too worried because I know I will not be jumping into teaching right away and I have a sense of the school and the kids since I did spend about two months with them when I first arrived.

This past week I spent in Lima - which is a suprisingly enjoyable 20 hour bus ride away. The buses - and we did ride and nicer and thus safer as well line - are pretty nice. They serve meals, the seats pretty much turn into beds, they play almost continuous movies (though quality varied from Spider Man 3 to Norbit), and they play bingo for a free return ride (which I won coming back from Lima and which will serve no purpose for me since you have to use it in a month). Some highlights of the city included the beach (which is like right off the edge of the city with this cliff, so it has some amazing views and little touristy spots), getting pooped on by and pigeon in one of the nice old churches and then being sketichly cleaned off by some random Peruvians (who may or may not have been trying to pick my pockets as well - and that isn´t just paranoia), eating some tasty tasty anticuchos on the street (anticuchos are the cows heart and it was a dollar thirty and so amazingly tasty - I can´t use that word enough), seeing some random traveling band from France perform in the middle of one of the nicer parks, and just generally enjoying city life. It made me realize how much I miss just a real real city and I was soaking up all the observing of the different markets, people, and general hustle and bustle of the city. The bus system is especially interesting as it is all privitized and so the result is a million buses going like crazy men trying to pick up fares and without any real rhyme or reason.

As promised, here finally are some photos with the accompanying, hopefully helpful-enlightening captions:

This was one of the ways we got to and from work most days on Mes de Mision. This was the safer way....

Mes de Mision (with the laguna that we checked out and provides much of the electricity to the region in the background)

This is a picture of some of the dances going through the street in Puno during the fiestas. They were all this wildly dressed.

Street meat - Lima-style. Look how happy we are!

Latin American Bureacracy (Oh My!)

2009-02-20T14:30:00.002-05:00

So I learned a lot this week about Peruvian Bureacracy - and yes, I think it deserves the big old capital B. Basically, even though school starts on March 2nd, the teachers,since they are not technically contracted, had to go through this whole crazy system of taking a standardized test and then worrying about whether someone who scored better on it would take their job.

While I still have time - because I have to run - I just want t mention that the test is basically a bizzaro version of the SATs in Spanish with sections on local history and law that are real real specific. One of those questions was like, what is the number of the law that says this about education or according to this random theorist, what should 5th graders know. Everyone takes the same test and all the non contracted jobs are decided by placement order from the test (U went to see this process take place and it was real real bizzare as they call people up to the front of this big room and they just pick jobs off of a list). Also, some oif the math/logic questions were like this: Who is Ernesto´s fathers´s son? or Which of these coins would you not use to buy food?Then of course there is hours and hours of paperwork - just real nonsensical to me personally.

On another fun random note, I have been going a lotto the step class that this woman in Habitat runs out of her house. It is possibly ne of the most challenging phyiscal routines I have ever done (and I say that only partly in jest). She is this super intense, but also very interesting, way of sdoing things while absolutely blasting (you can hear it all over the neighborhood) techno pop remixes. It also takes place in her living room, she dresses up in spandex, she yells ¨vamos chicos, vamos¨quite often, and the normal slate f usual suspects is us gringos and a randm array osf older women from the neighborhood who really do their own thing because they cant keep up.

It´s amazing and I promise photos.

Post Dia de Amistad (St. Valentine´s Day) Down Time

2009-02-16T10:23:00.003-05:00

So, I am currently writing from the apartment of not even my Peruvian host family, but their extended family here in the city of Arequipa. All I can say is that I am definitely feeling like I am playing the role of the mooch a bit, but they did invite me to stay a day longer, so I must be entertaining them/pulling at their heart strings at least a bit.

The last couple of weeks I traveled with my community mates to Puno to see the fiestas de la Virgen de la Candeleria - which is quite an experience as everyone is dressed up in interesting clothing and dancing in the streets and the beer is absolutely flowing (I will put up some fun pictures when I return to Tacna) - then I took part in a five-day silent retreat here in Arequipa (which after a month with the adolescents was quite nice. I spent a lot of time just reflecting on life - deciding I am very happy and ready for the new school year, but must enter it with more patience and willingness to not have as complete control of my classroom as I had in Harlem at St. Al´s), and am now visiting some of the sites and eating well with the extended host family. Yesterday I had ricotto relleno - which was absolutely amazing and had peanuts in it, which I adore - and shared much good conversation, Cusquena Malta beer (my favorite), and Pisco. I also helped them make a cake, but had my self-esteem as a cake baker shot down when I learned that one of the family used to work as a bread/cake maker. Oh well. The family is super interesting though because there are 11 brothers and sisters in total and are very proud and long-established Arequipenens. They are very gregarious and four of the families still live in this big old house (with a new wing) in an old part of town that couldn´t help make me think of ¨One Hundred Years of Solitude¨.

Anyway, Arequipa is beautiful and has this volcano that overlooks the city. I am a little ready to get back home to Tacna, but I am also really enjoying the vacation time and meeting new people. I did go into a giant supermarket they have here the other day and was pretty overwhelmed. I am growing much more accostumed to the little corner stores and markets (where I could spend hours just looking around). The other day I almost bought frog juice (they literally just have live frogs in a tank that they are ready to plop in a blender and serve to you. It´s supposed to be good for the brain), but decided instead on a coca-cola zero. I felt pretty boring afterwards to be honest, but I swear one day I will take the plunge.

Thinking back on Mes de Mision, I think it was just very tough mentally for me to be 24/7 with these kids and especially having them constantly complaining (and constantly comparing their food, work, priveleges with other groups) and mocking my Spanish. One lesson I will try to take out of it is definitely to be able to constantly laugh at myself. Some of the best moments were definitely when I could share in a hearty laugh with them (and make fun of myself). By the time next January comes around, I will be looking forward to it again, I think.

Just as an update, I will return to Tacna tomorrow, begin going to meetings at my school (though there is so much up in the air there that we will have to see how things will play out for the new school year - which is part of the reason I am not rushing back), and then the school year should start in early March (it is summertime here and the year begins in March and ends in December). Keep checking in for some neat picture updates!

Mes de Mision Part 1 - ie, I´m Alive

2009-02-02T11:46:00.004-05:00

It´s true - I survived the month of cleaning plazas, shoveling rocks and dirt, cleaning out mud, grass and debris while shoeless in canals, managing 8 kids on my own and, in general, being one of 8 adults with the responsibility of handling 53 15 year old, kind of spoiled brats. I learned a lot about picking my battles, about having patience, about laughing at myself, about my own self-esteem, about where my limits are , and about Peru.

The best way to describe the whole experience is an emotional rollercoaster. The stress of working like this and dealing with these kids 24/7 (and their constant questions, their constant complaints, and their constant mocking of me and my Spanish), along with the frustration of plans and decisions always changing (one of the things my kids mocked about me was that I always said ¨Todo puede cambiar¨in response to their questions because I never really knew what was going on or what would be happening next), made me break down a couple of times during the month. Other times, I just felt extreme extreme depression - and I think I only got through those moments by writing letters and talking with the other American volunteer Nate.

I really don´t quite know how to process the whole experience yet - I am hoping that the five day silent retreat in Arequipa will help me think about all that I lived and dealt with - but wanted to at least put an update up with some information. This pueblito is home to 350 people and is a tiny, humble place in a valley, surrounded by high mountains (me and three of the asesores - the adults - one day just left early in the morning and climbed one of these and the views from there were just incredible). The people mostly raise cows (the area is famous for its cheese), grow zapallos (which are kind of like pumpkins) and aji (hot peppers), and generally are very poor. The municipalidad of the region only recioeves 3000 soles per month to run everything of the government (and that is equivalent to about 1000 dollars). It was a pretty beautiful place, and very very tranquil, but I very seldom got to experience that because I was trying to deal with these kids and getting them to listen/work/become involved in the experience of living simply and for others for a month. Also, the area is known because there is a lagoon there and they use the water both to irrigate a lot of the crops in southern Peru, but also for electric power that covers the entire area of Southern Peru from Tacna even up to Lima.

Our work mostly consisted of using picks, machetes, shovels and assorted other things to clean out the canals. I had a lot of fun at times with the work, although it could be exhausting. One of the best stories (or funniest) came out of one day when I cut my pinkie with the machete. I was shoeless in a canal and covered in mud because I had been trying to use the pick to get all these roots out of the middle of the canal. I was cutting some grass along the edge and badly cut myt pinkie. I screamed ¨mierda¨and grabbed my finger. I jumped out of the canal and began to run toward the little medical outpost of the town. But since I was a little frightened, I didn´t put my shoes and was running through rockey fields of alphalpha and short cornstalks holding up my left hand and screaming very quickly, ¨f*ck, f*ck, f*ck¨and trying to step really lightly. Since I was descending, my group of eight kids were up in the canal laughing and laughingat the crazy gringo. About ten minutes later, I arrived at the medical outpost with my hand covered in blood, shoeless and with my legs and body full of mud. The nurse there gave me the strangest look - like I was absolutely insane. Needless to say, it turned into one of the kids favorite weays to joke about me (to mimick the way I was cursing and high stepping it through the alphalpha fields).

There are a million other little stories and for all the bad moments and couple times I even broke down in tears, there were some real good one-on-one conversations with kids and times when I just realized how much I value certain things (like talking with my mom or being able to sit and drink a cup of coffee and do a crossword puzzle). I learned a lot about how Peruvians operate - and everything truly can change from one moment to the next here - and about the things that Peruvians value (it was pretty touching to see these 15 year old punks break down in tears when they recieved letters from their family or met up again with their family at the end). I will try to write some more about everything I went through and post some more photos, but for right now, here are a couple I took at the end of the experience showing some of the physically changes I went through (losing a bunch of weight, getting my legs and arms all cut up, and growing an ugly ugly beard). Later I will get up the more interesting ones showing what the area was like, who the kids were, and what not.

Please continue to read up and email and write me - I miss having regular contact with a lot of you and am feeling like I am losing contact with a lot of the people who are important and who I value in my life.

Feliz Ano Nuevo

2009-01-02T09:21:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year to all the friends and family out there!

I passed from the old to the new on the beach here with the other volunteers and some friends. There is basically a huge party, most people do not sleep, they set off tons of fireworks on the beach, burn dolls meant to represent the old year, and dance all night long. There are also a million traditions-superstitions out here and I participated in probably about half.

First of all, yellow is the color to wear (down to the underwear) and it means good luck. Then, one should eat 12 grapes at 12 o´clock. Then, one should also be hiding under the table at New Years (this one makes no sense to me). Then, one should put lentils and rice (uncooked) in your pocket or wallet and this will bring you money in the New Year. Then, if one wants to travel, you should take your suitcase and run once around the block when midnight comes around. It´s all pretty wild.

Despite all the festivies--which I did enjoy--the holidays here did not quite feel like the holidays. Part of it is that I didn´t pass them with good friends (I would not quite yet consider the community here good friends, but rather in the process of getting there - though I do get along quite well with everyone and have had many a deep conversation on everything from sex before marriage to social justice to family secrets) or family. I have come to realizer that despite one year in Colombia (when I was about ten and my family went down there), I have never passed the holidays outside of New York and Conn. I have never not watched some sort of countdown on TV for New Years and never not participated in putting up our Christmas tree or saying Merry Christmas to my family the morning of. Also, normally the holidays fall in the middle of working and so they are a vacation-holiday. Here, the school year just ended, so they are more of a release (though in some ways like a holiday because on Sunday I start Mes de Mision).

Oh, I am not sure I will get to post again before leaving for Mes de Mision, but here is some info: I finally made the decision to go with the wealthier, all-male Colegio Cristo Rey because I felt the need for another person was stronger there even though my heart wanted to go with the community in which I live. I will be gone from Jan 4th to 31st and will be with 7 other adults and 52 kids in Curibaya, Tacna. It´s a couple hour bus ride away and this is about all I got for ya from the internet: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distrito_de_Curibaya

Noche de Paz

2008-12-29T14:07:00.003-05:00

So I haven´t posted since before Christmas and would just like to start by saying Feliz Navidad y Prospero Ano to all of those out there who are still reading over a month and a half into this adventure.

Also, as a forewarning, I will be on hiatus from January 4th till the 31st, but not because I am giving up on my blog, but because I will be out of contact on Mes de Mision. So please come back and read in the beginning of February - I promise whatever thoughts will come out of it will be exciting.

So Christmas - wow. Everyone here stays up until midnight, and on the radio they play this grand countdown (which always used to be live, but then apparently they got worried about the age of the announcer and it is taped now - remind anyone of Dick Clark...). Then, everyone is together in one room (can range from immediate family to 30-40 people) and when the clock strikes 12 and the countdown ends, everybody hugs, there is a champagne toast and then the whole city - and I mean the whole city - goes outside to light fireworks. From the roof of where I was, we could see the whole city and for like fifteen minutes it is just a grand display of everything from bigger booms to the little firecrackers. I thought it was pretty amazing - though I have heard that in some places in the US it is celebrated similarly. Then, everyone has the big meal afterward and people spend most of the day of the 25th itself resting.

Other interesting traditions include having manger scenes that are chaotic as possible (with as much Christmas junk and snazzy, but real tacky lights - that blink in bizarre ways and play really crappy versions of Christmas carols), using a real baby and real involved costumes in the presentations of the first Christmas, and sharing a chocolatada many many times (a chocolatada is basically making hot chocolate - usually super greasy - and eating paneton - which is basically fruitcake, but more doughy. It might sound delicious and it can be, but also remember that it is the middle of the desert here....

Two other events to note:
- They finished building the roof to new classrooms at my school and in celebration cooked some local fare - picante al la taquena - for the workers. This overlapped with the Christmas dinner amongst the teachers that was shared. I have to be honest - I was a little disappointed with it as a party as it started super late (and so I and many other teachers couldn´t stay late because it is hard to get back to the center from there) and was divided into like three groups: the workers who were in a circle drinking beer, some of the teachers - all males ones and almost all of the male ones who were there - standing around in a circle and drinking, and then the rest of the teachers - mostly female - inside eating and drinking a bit. Food wasn´t particularly good and people were not really dancing, which I was hoping for (I have come to really really enjoy dancing). The most exciting part of the night was when I hung out with the workers for a bit and made fun of my gringo self and just generally bonded with them. The school doorman, who was drinking with them, also was still drunk at 9 am the next morning when school started and then still drunk or maybe redrunk at 3 pm when he passed by my house to introduce me to his son (who was thoroughly embarassed). That whole experience definitely reminded of some of the cultural norms (if that´s the right word for it - I don´t know, I feel like I am losing my english sometimes, haha) of Latin American cultural.

- I went yesterday to check out the petroglyphs that are nearby Tacna in a town called Miculla. They are pretty cool and really old, and according to my host mom, are part of a magnetic center that attracts extraterrestials or something like that. At the least, wack job groups who believe in that stuff make pilgrimages there from time to time. I had one of my lowest moments yet though when my host mom took off down the road without me when I was exploring the rocks. I felt really abandoned and upset as I saw her practically running down the road (and everytime she turned around and I tried to wave her to stop and wait, she ran faster). I got angrier and angrier (also, I was pretty hungry by that point) and was annoyed at myself for acting a little childish instead of just running to catch up and play the whole thing as the joke I knew she meant it to be. When we finally reached the road where the buses passed about a half hour later, she told me it was all just to get us to lunch faster. A good lunch of choclo and grilled lamb, accompanied by a malta beer, definitely did the trick for making me feel better.

Lastly, there are MORE pictures up on my facebook, so check them out!

Movin´ On Up

2008-12-22T16:01:00.002-05:00

So, yesterday I finally moved into the digs in Habitat (of which there are a couple pictures on my facebook). Habitat is basically like a poor suburb - its quiter than the city, its more of a community, you have to take a bus or collective taxi (no SUVs - pretty sweet) to the center, and its got its own school (Miguel Pro - with whom I will be doing Mes de Mision), but the people live very simply for the most part and it was built by a collective effort with support from Habitat for Humanity.

I think a perfect little anecdote of how I expect life to go is my first overnight experience. After an exciting night of unpacking, moving stuff around, hanging out with the community mates and eating avocado, wheat thins (Christa´s mom brought some from the US), cheese and some grapes (of which I will keep eating and eating until my stomach hurts), I slept well until about 3:30. From then on, between my own restlessness and the gallos going cockadoodledoo all the live long morning, I pretty much slept terribly. At 5:30, I went for a short run, which was both rough, but very enlivening. As I was finishing up, I passed by one of our neighbor´s houses and stopped to talk to her a bit as she was gardening out front. After I nice chat, I went back to our place. About half an hour later, her middle daughter showed up asking if we had a pitcher they had lent to us the other day (I couldn´t find it). Then ten minutes later, one family member (though I didn´t see which) brought over a gallon jug filled with this awesome banana shake stuff. Ten minutes later, her younger daughter showed up asking for two plastic coca-cola bottles (had to be coca cola). Meanwhile, one of my community mates was in the bathroom with a bit of an upset stomach, which I mentioned to the girl. Almost as soon as she left, there was a knock on the door again, and this time it was the mother who had come by to see what was wrong and offerher advice on how to handle a rough stomach.

Wonderful, without privacy, action-packed--I think this is pretty much what life is going to be like.

Other things of note:
- On the way from my host family down here on Sunday, we passed by a passed out drunken guy on the side of the street and the taxi driver and I spent a couple minutes getting him into the shade and getting him awake and alive with some water. Always scary to see something like that - and from what I hear, happens quite often here.

- I have become a baking master. At the host family´s, I made a banana bread, a carrot cake-bread, a chocolate banana bread, an apple banana bread and a chocolate strawberry cake. I have been loving it. The other day I also helped make some ceviche - which is incredibly easy to do (just a helluva lot of dicing) and incredibly incredibly tasty. I have been talking so much about different cooking things and am so excited. I will promise to post about how my X-Mas baking plans go.

- Spent a last great day with the host family and we laughed, talked about the times I got frustrated, talked about all the ¨silly¨ things I did - which to me were just innocent cultural mistakes, but they find overwhelmingly hillarious (like when I say policia with the accent in the wrong place or made some joke about the host father being papasnatas - long story - which apparently means stupid or dumb here) - and went to eat some grilled cow´s heart for the last time with them. I will definitely miss them, but am planning already on doing a bunch with them (including eating Christmas dinner there).

- The former volunteer at Santa Cruz left and so today it was just me. In a weird way it gave me a boost of confidence, though it was also a bit tough to handle at times with the students (who are already sort of checked out anyway). But I definitely comfortable in my own skin there, so to speak, which I think is a real plus.

Almost Community Time

2008-12-14T15:02:00.002-05:00

Instead of talking about what I have been up to (nothing super exciting - a going away party for the ex volunteers, doting over the package my brother sent me that had everything from the useful - reading materials - to the fun - chocolates - to the head scratchers - instant mashed potatoes -, teaching some classes, going to a huge mass that was given by the bishop and had the atmosphere of a southern revival), I figured I would just briefly talk a little bit about what I am thinking about on the horizon.

Next weekend, I move out of living with my host family and into the place where I will be permanently for the next two years. Needless to say, I am super excited and pumped to do that. Life will be much simpler - at the host family´s, everything has been given to me that I asked for, we have gone out to eat at restaurants a bunch, they are almost insulted when I try to help out, and while I have felt very welcome, I have just generally felt too like I was a visitor. Now I will be settling down into much more simple digs where I will have to cook, do my own laundry and work with others - but also will benefit from (and I guess at times struggle with) having people that I feel like I can talk and share things with from my own own culture and with similar struggles.

But just to give everyone out there an idea, the house is pretty small, we always have flies about, always have visitors (often students or family connected to Miguel Pro - the school in this area where three of the volunteers teach) from the community dropping in to talk or just generally hang out with the gringos, we do everything ourselves, and perhaps most importantly, we live simply. That means everything from doing it all ourselves to intentionally not using many creature comforts to being conscious of our water usage. It will be both a real challenge and a real learning experience - I am sure.

And I guess when it all comes down to it, I can always give the old host family a buzz when I want to enjoy some of the benefits of the life I have led for this month - which is a true testament to their openness, friendliness and kindness.

p.s. Sometimes I definitely feel my english slipping away - like the other day when I spent hours trying to think of the word non sequitur.

Birthday and Continuous Parties

2008-12-09T15:28:00.002-05:00

Lately, everything has seemed like it has been celebrations after celebrations. At times, I wonder how all of this celebration (and along with it partying, at times a bit of drinking - though mostly tasty homemade wine, and generally not working as much) fits in with my mission here, but I keep telling myself that I just need to enjoy the good times and embrace all of the cultural experiences that come with it.

My birthday went really well and I probably danced for about 5 hours. We had an afternoon party up in this chacra-farm and danced there. Then we had to end that to go to dance practice for the traditional cumbia dance that we performed at the big school party day on Saturday here at the school that is in the community where the JVI house is (this school is called Miguel Pro). From there, we went to a bar to drink a bit and then to a night club where we danced even more. I probably have danced more in the last five days then in the five years before it. Tiring, but fun for sure.

Saturday brought the birthday party of one of the volunteers who is leaving and the evening brought some cake baking and learning different dances and dancing around with the host family on their patio. There is one ridiculous one that is african influenced (I think) and is basically hips in and out and hands pumping the air - I definitely look the most ridiculous trying that one.

Sunday was the day of the big school party here and our traditional dance went off pretty well. I promise at some point to have pictures up from it (though I am finding it frustraitingly hard to get photos online). We did our little dance and then in the evening danced a whole bunch more when we were invited to the Promocion of the seniors (which is kind of like a mix of graduation ceremony and prom).

On a more reflective note, I have been noticing some of the growing pains of culture shock. I love the host family I am with and am really grateful for everything they do for me (and all the good times they are showing me), but am also starting to notice all the little things and how much they annoy me at times. Everything from how they taunt me about any mention of any female (long story, but trust me, it was nothing at all to do with a relationship and it was real frustrating to get it constantly from them) to how they tend to repeat a lot of times what I just finished saying without actually listening to it or how they call me Gabrielito all the time (especially annoying when they have nothing to say and just go ¨Gabrielito¨in this real cutsy voice). It feels a little nice right now to be able to just vent a bit, but like I said, I am very grateful and they have been awesome. For instance, after the dance, they were cool with taking me to the nicer chicken place in the center again so that this time I could try anticucho (cow´s heart). Man, that´s some tasty tasty grilled meat - probably my favorite.

I guess I just have to keep that in mind - new cultural experiences have to have their ups and downs and that even during the lows, those awesome moments that I would never have otherwise will return.

Bautismo and more food

2008-12-03T10:03:00.003-05:00

The old volunteer at the site I will be teaching became a double godfather this past weekend. It was a pretty interesting experience all around - from the fact that it was a mass baptism of 10-12 people ranging all ages, to the fact that the priest arrived late, to the way he had to ask for volunteers from the audience to do the readings on the spot. On a random side note, the lack of timeliness and the way I am mocked for mine is starting to get to me at times. I have to find a way to adapt or work around this aspect of life here - its so different than what I am used to.

But all in all, it was pretty incredible - this humble, poorer family clearly was very happy and excited by the event. They invited me, Brad, and my host family - who came to support Brad since they know him well - to dinner at their place afterwards. They of course gave us these giant portions of choclo (the type of corn they have a lot of down here), big potatoes that came from the highlands and were indeed more delicious, and chicken. It was one of those tough situations where they clearly served themselves less, but as a guest, you are almost madated and it does make them happy when you finish it all off. We talked for a couple of hours and they come from the highlands and basically are just good people trying to get by. The father is away all week working at the beach and was lamenting that he didn´t have any friends there and how life is just kind of passing him by. I will need to make sure to stop by from time to time on Sundays or to invite them over - their openness and hospitality were just touching, and I think very common in the sierra.

On another food note, I had cuy (Guinea Pig) on Sunday and it was served spread eagle and fried (also with big potatoes and choclo). We had it at this nice touristy restaurant, though you still go at it with your fingers and inevitably make a mess. Also, you eat everything - and I mean everything. Probably strangest part of the meal for me was riping the testicles off of the little body and dousing it with some of the hot sauce in order to make myself brave enough to try it. But all in all, it was a tasty and awesome experience. I probably should have saved the head for posterity´s sake, but I did take pictures and will get those up online at some point.

Belated Feliz Dia de Accion de Gracias

2008-11-28T15:26:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to wish anyone reading a belated happy thanksgiving day. Rest assured - we had a good feast of epic proportions with grilled chicken, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, apple sauce, apple pie, stuffing, a casserole of sweet potatoes and bananas (delicious), wine, beer, some milky type fruit drink (I have no idea) and good company. My stomach was so full afterwards - I honestly do not think I have eaten that much in a long time.

An interesting Thanksgiving related side note, it was sort of fun to explain the holiday to the different classes. But I did also think more than once that I could have totally lied to them and told them some bogus reason for why we celebrate it. Not that it would be particular funny or useful, but if for instance if I had told them that it celebrated the day when the first Americans expelled a ravage horde of rabinous spider monkeys from the country, I am pretty sure most of my students would believe me. I guess it just shows how much my word will probably be taken as gold as an embassador of other cultures and how careful and responsible I need to be.

Oh, and as has become par for the course, I had to teach a forty five minute lesson on tag questions without having ever seen the material yesterday when the teacher told me she had to leave the room all of a sudden to meet with a parent who showed up. I might stop mentioning these moments since they have become so common.

Jergas

2008-11-26T19:22:00.002-05:00

A lot of what I have been experiencing has felt at times overwhelming, but one thing that I have definitely loved while being here so far is that I feel very much like I am learning so much everyday. Whether it is simply a word here or there in Spanish (like codicioso today in the 4th grade class I observed - it means greedy) or something more profound about Peruvian culture or myself, I am always playing the role of student.

One thing that I have been really picking up on is the use of slang here. On Sunday, we had a party at the house of my host mother´s sister and as we sat around and drank Herbalife (the name my host mother gives to this delicious fruit milkshake with a splash of pisco - which is a hard liquor made out of grapes), I learned from the younger kids all about the words. As I soon came to realize, everything has to do with sex. Even the word ¨cosa,¨which literally means thing, is a word used for a woman´s vagina. It is quite astounding how many basic words relate back to sex in this culture.

What might be the most interestng, however, I gleaned from a conversation I had later with my community mates about this. In general, Peruvians are very weary to talk about sex and sexually related things - as I learned during my man talk I had to spontaneously give to a class of seventh graders the other day - and sex is sort of a taboo. But in certain ways, this sexual frustration or reticence, or whatever it is, really comes out strongly. It´s sort of like the whole culture is stuck in mid-teenage adolesence when it comes to this.

I don´t want to be judgmental about it, but it is interesting nonetheless.

Also of note lately: they really really hate fruit flies here. Last week, some people from the government (including two dressed up in a big costume of a fruit fly eradicator and one as a fruit fly) visited the school to educate the kids on the dangers of fruit flys and how to eliminate them. This entire week has then been devoted to reinforcing these things. So, if you ever cared to know: la mosca de la fruta can lay 10-12 eggs in one fruit, the best ways to deal with an infected fruit are to burn it, put it in a bag and bury it, or to drown it, and the only two provinces in Peru that are currently free of la mosca de la fruta are Tacna and the neighboring one. How interesting, no?

Chevere

2008-11-22T09:27:00.002-05:00

I feel like the blog might just turn into me relating a series of random moments I find interesting, but it is hard to find time online that I do not feel at least a bit rushed. Anyway, here are two more fun things from yesterday:

1) I was observing a religion teachers class and when it ended there was a 15 minute recess. As I went outside to hang out with the kids, she called me back in and proceeded to ask if I could give a talk on my experiences with finding the meaning of life (el sentido de la vida) in her next class, which was on personal development. She handed me the teacher´s edition of the textbook so I could read through it.

To say the least, I was a little bewildered. In the end, however, I was saved because she didn´t even have class thanks to two visitors from the Ministry of Agriculture who came to speak to the students on Fruit Flys and the importance to the Patria on keeping them out of Tacna and Taquenan fruit. It was a bizarre half hour of unexpected surprises, to say the least.

2) At night, I went with my host family to their friend´s place which was only a few minutes out f town in an area that has a lot of touristy restaurants. The area itself, however, is very rural and has a lot of fields with different things growing. About a two minute walk from the Panamerican Highway, we entered this farm with figs and grapes and all sorts of things growing everywhere. It felt like we were entering a different world and when we reached the house, there was a party of about ten people. Wine was passed around (serving each from the same little cup as seems to be a Latin American mainstay), gringo jokes were made (especially about dancing), some roast lamb (like the ribs of the lamb - which were delicious) was brought out, and generally a good time was had in celebration of this one guys birthday. Oh, and especially important - the wine was homemade - footpressed on premises - delicious, and apparently only brought out by this guy on special occasions.

The highlight of the night, however, came when this guy´s friend, who we had passed on the way in, came on the main radio station for Tacna (Radio Uno) and wished the guy a happy birthday. As the guy was doing this, he also put in a shout out to all the guests, and did not forget to mention the Gringo who was with them (me). He even mentioned me a second time to say how strange it was to see one and that he didn´t know where I came from.

First time I have ever been given a shout out on the radio....

Lo Bueno y Lo Malo

2008-11-19T16:53:00.002-05:00

So, why not start off with the positive aspects of life these last couple of days. I have moved in with a host family who could not be nicer and more generous. The mother has gone on and on about wanting to adopt a new son (not really, but one of us volunteers) and has already in two days taken me walking all over the city. She has taken to saying that God has given her an angel (since I tend to introduce myself here with a joke about being like the Angel Gabriel) and also calls me Gabriel Light because I am not too big on the sugar and am concious about what I eat. She, in turn, is the closest thing to a Peruvian health nut that I have come across here, so I am happy as a clam.

The one sort of odd thing is that the family is definitely on the upper end of the class spectrum here. Although I will only live with them for the next month (while the friendship and visits will last the entire two years, for sure), I still feel a bit uneasy. I think the best perspective to take is really that this allows me to get a fuller perspective on life and the people here - one that will provide me with a better understanding of the way poverty shapes the life of my students and also remind me of all the blessings and true struggles that I have committed to once I return to our modest home in Habitat.

To move on to the more negative news, I will return to my work at Colegio Santa Cruz. Hopefully many of you have gotten a chance to check out my facebook photos and seen a little bit of what the poverty and situation is like. I am now there everyday helping out the current volunteer Brad, talking to other teachers, getting to know the students, and just generally showing my face to try to make the transition as smooth as possible.

Yesterday, I learned of a horrible situation, however, that has befallen the community there. A few weeks ago, one female student and four male students from the fourth year of secundaria (kind of like middle school and high school combined) were all drinking and partying. The girl passed out and then the boys video taped themselves raping her. The video eventually ended up on a computer somewhere in Vinani - the neighborhood where the school is located. By now, the news has spread to the whole school, and only yesterday, after a few weeks, were the parents even brought into the school.

I know that I need to try to keep my judgments - especially with such minimum exposure to everything so far - in check, but I can´t help but feel appalled both by what happened and by the way the school has handled it so far. And while I could go on for hours about this, I will leave it at saying that there is definitely a culture of domestic abuse and machismo outside of the school that shaped this event and there is definitely a lack of structure and discipline within the school that made the response so ill-fitting (at least so far) to the situation.

I don´t want everyone out there to think that this school is so terrible though - there are a number of teachers and the director who are very much invested in making it a stronger and wonderful school and many many of the students are good, warm-hearted and friendly kids. But as my fellow new volunteer Nate would say, I have had my ¨not in Kansas anymore¨moment.

Moments that Make You Think

2008-11-17T08:54:00.004-05:00

So, just as a quick update while I have a few minutes online - which I am realizing may be precious, especially in the first couple weeks here as I move in with my host family today - I wanted to relate a bizarre story from last week.

The two other new volunteers and I were discussing the history of the colegio where I will teach (Santa Cruz) when our discussion was interrupted by a six-year-oldish student. The student politely asked for permission to interrupt and it was granted. The little cute kid then proceeded to ask for a whip. The head of the school - a priest of the Santa Cruz order - kinda of looked at us and smiled and then asked the student what he needed it for. The kid replied that the teacher wanted to hit a student and that sounded reasonable enough to the director that he reached into his desk and pulled it out to give it to the student.

Apparently, corporal punishment down here is illegal, but.....

On another note, I have been recieving a whole lot of information on the people down here and the levels and statistics of poverty. I will go more in depth with this later, but just an interesting stat to throw out there: 70 % of the families in the area where we are living make less than 500 soles (about 3 soles to the dollar) per month. If you use an average of a family of four for this group, it means that the higher end of this group has a per capita per day income of around $1.25. A per capita per day income of $1 is extreme poverty - so these families aren´t starving, but they are struggling definitely to get by.

P.S. For photos, please check out my facebook page - and if you cannot get access to it, just email me and I will make sure you can.

First Impressions

2008-11-11T10:15:00.004-05:00

So, while I have my first minute online, I figure I will knock off a quick update.

It is really deserty down here, and I have no idea why that surprised me as much as it did. It is super hot and sunny during the day and chilly at night. The terrain - and I promise I will get some photos up soon - is very flat, big sand dunes in the not to distant landscape, lots of rocks and sand and garbage everywhere. Our community house is in this little bizarre suburb that is about five minutes from downtown Tacna. It is a bit of a strange place - maybe five blocks by six blocks in area, and then around it is just the sand, rocks, and garbage, with a few of these invasiones - or impromptue huts of brick and straw that people build on government land and take over as essentially squatters.

The area where I will be teaching is a whole neighborhood of these invasiones and the school itself is actually half real buildings and about half of these huts made of estera (as it is called en espanol). They have a plan to make all the classrooms real buildings by next year (when they will also have their first graduating class) and generally seem like they are well on their way to making the school more established and official.

The politics are super interesting as well down here and we are right now in a cease-fire between the government and these strikers in the city who actually burned out the national government building in the middle of the city last week. The whole back story is complicated and I will detail more as I learn it, but basically apparently we are waiting right now to see what happens today to know whether or not it will start up tomorrow. If it does, school will be canceled probably and each day canceled has to be made up at the end of the year in late December. So much exciting drama.

The Beginning

2008-11-08T05:22:00.001-05:00

Just two days ago, I left Jupiter, Florida after a whirlwind week of knocking on doors, coordinating rides to polls, being inspired by Barack Obama and the people he in turn inspires, and sleeping very little. I now look forward to my trip today down to Tacna, Peru. It's suitably long and includes an overnight stay at the Lima airport - all of which I feel is a legitimate and needed passage that will really force me to realize that this is finally happening as well as give me a mental transition from life as it has been to the upcoming future.

I will especially try to keep this updated and with my many new experiences and adventures in the early-going, as it will be an exciting and hectic time. But for the general time frame for the next few weeks, it will work like this: get there early in the morning (if the state of emergency declared in the province doesn't shut down the airport: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7712257.stm), have some chocolate chip pancakes with the volunteers already down there, get some real sleep, eventually move into a homestay for the rest of the school year (which goes until mid-December) , visit my school and the other schools, do some practice teaching, and enjoy the December holidays.

For now though, wish me good luck on my flights - and my next post will be from Tacna, Peru: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacna.